Tuesday 29 October 2019

A Hi-Fidelity 360° Tour of Sydney for Travellers

One of the things I like to do when travelling is to jump onto google maps to check out landmarks and locations in advance of visiting them. While this is helpful I often wish there were better images, not just better stills, better 360° panoramas too! As I mentioned in my last post, equipment is no substitute for a photographers eye to really highlight a location and give it a sense of place. I am a little surprised that tourism agencies, museums and landmark locations have not embraced professional 360° photography more energetically; when I see great pictures it's a big part of my decision to visit and I know I am not alone in feeling and acting this way.
Sydney Opera house in Hi-Fidelity 360° panorama view by Kent Johnson
How can 360° photography work for travel and tourism? Well it can work in a number of ways, you could have your classic tour type series of shots that are a detailed walk through of a specific place. Or you could simply show highlights that are like a tasting menu of the sights on offer. This is the approach I've taken in a very broad manner to create my very own Tour of Sydney. Starting with the Sydney Opera House, then moving there are various locations in the adjacent Royal Botanic Gardens, Observatory Hill on the far side of Circular Quay, and some special Sydney Sandstone Landmarks, all linked and mapped so you can put each place on your travel bucket list if it's not already on there. Sydney for travellers in 26 pictures? Of course you can - just click the play button below to begin the tour.

If you are looking for a 360° Virtual Reality photographer who understands your business needs - please contact me, Kent Johnson to discuss your project. I am available for assignments world wide.

Monday 21 October 2019

A Creative Vision For Computational Photography

Part 1 - Film Days..

There is a lot more to a photograph than the equipment used to make it. When I started out in photography I needed to learn how to make an in-focus, correctly exposed picture. I learned how to do that again and again, in a wide range of situations with a wide variety of equipment. I trained in film photography, 35mm, medium format cameras and large format 5 x 4 inch sheet film cameras - with movements. Film and paper, these consumables were expensive! Mistakes not only cost time but they could also cost a lot of money.

There are many many photographer and assistant horror stories revolving around film. Things that did didn't and should not have happened to and-or with the film. Wrong exposures set.. Film not loaded correctly. Exposed film being loaded twice.. bags of exposed film being lost! Or nearly lost.. whew!!! If you were a client about to put a serious amount of money into a marketing or advertising campaign you really wanted a photographer that knew their stuff. Knew their equipment and their team.

While a lot of the essential knowledge I learned at college and in the field as a photographer can now be done by the camera. Lets face it, hell, it can be done by your phone! Not surprisingly there's been some flow on effects for photographers as a result all of this innovation and 'disruption'. I call it the commodification of photography. When people believe it's the camera that 'takes' the picture, then a price based commodification of photography is inevitable. It's begun already with websites offering you an UBER driver who moonlights as a photographer.. Taxi driving has been commodified too because, well that's a different story, sort of.

Some professional photographers only have themselves to blame for this. If you qualify your fees, your 'price point' based on the cost of your cameras (etc) then the net result when the camera does 'the  job' itself - focus, expose the image correctly - the photographer using the marketing model 'I've got the latest equipment' inevitably becomes either redundant; or interchangeable for any other photographer with the latest equipment. This is great for people looking to save money, they don't really need a photographer any more, they simply need a digital camera operator - but we will call them a photographer to keep them (the operator) happy.

I hope this does not sound too cynical, I think it's a pretty obvious outcome if you link the quality of your photographic work, more or less exclusively to the equipment you use. And that's why I have never positioned myself as a photographer based on equipment I use.

Part 2 - Creativity and experience are not commodified yet

Yes there is a lot more to a photograph than the equipment used to make it. With dare I say, the emotional component being the most important. That part of the image is not in the camera settings - through they are working on it - portrait mode anyone, with very obvious oversimplification. Since taking on full 360VR panorama photography; many of the ideas I have held about photography have been brought into sharp focus - no pun intended. Seemingly simple things like, where to put the camera? This is something the computer does not really know. I say computer not because the camera has circuit boards in it. I say computer as there are 360 apps out there, mapping your environment and telling the camera operator where to place the camera next - so you get a complete map. Which is good news for cartographers; but not so important for the viewer, your customer, your client. I mean the person you are hoping becomes your client based on photography, based on the pictures that portray your business.

In fact - terrible statement isn't it, in fact.. since I started shooting 360, I have renewed admiration for all the non-equipment aspects of photography that I had really just taken for granted, for years and years. There is nothing like working on a picture that needs to look good all-the-way-around to give you an appreciation for the correct angle and lens choice made as a photographer, even with your non-360 work. It's called having a vision for photography, and people have been telling me I have it, since my earliest days with a camera.

Creating a picture, any picture, to do a specific job, make the people and clothes look wonderful, the room as luxurious as it truly is, the destination, worth seeing - the viewer perhaps just a little envious, stimulating their interest and motivating them to get in contact. Book - Visit - Buy. There's never been a camera that did that.. It's always been a photographer with vision.

If you are looking for a 360 Virtual Reality photographer who understands your business needs - please contact me, Kent Johnson to discuss your project. I am available for assignments world wide.




Saturday 5 October 2019

Photographing Sydney's Iconic Ocean Pools in Hi-Fidelity 360VR

While showing my Sydney travel photographs to the marketing manager of a boutique hotel in Italy; the show stopping picture in my portfolio was a 360 image of the Andrew (Boy) Charleton pool. Nestled on the edge of the Domain Parkland in the heart of Sydney, a liminal space between land, water and desire.. Well what was actually said to me was along the lines of  '(gasp) is that a swimming pool on Sydney harbour, OMG it is so beautiful, I really want to visit Sydney.' And there I was in Venice thinking 'this is the most beautiful and exotic place in the world!'
Bronte ocean pool, headland and beach in full 360VR photography by Kent Johnson Travel photographer, Sydney, Australia.
Back home in Sydney wondering what I might photograph - as a portfolio showcase in 360VR Panoramas - that would compliment the travel imagery that I had created in Italy... Sydney Opera House, Ferries at Circular Quay and the Harbour Bridge; I've heard it said, that is all there is to see, to photograph in Sydney! Well I personally don't think that is true; but then.. you don't have an architectural Renaissance masterpiece on every block - as you do in parts of Italy. Aside from those previously mentioned local Icons; I had that useful clue from Venice as to what I could travel-photograph at home in Sydney.
North Cronulla ocean pool in 360VR photography by Kent Johnson Travel photographer, Sydney, Australia.
When I started to think hard about what is most special, most unique, most distinctive, even the most architecturally exclusive aspect of visiting Sydney. Memories of the reaction to my image of the pool on the edge of the harbour came back to me. So I decided I should bring my photographic vision to bear on Sydney's ocean pools and the harbour pools too. Beaches with nets, swimming pontoons, or a boardwalk over the water qualify as pools (or baths), and are usually referred to as such. So the project has begun and I think it is really quite different to other ocean pool projects I have seen. So far I have avoided the dawn and sunset approach (maybe later..) and focused on sparsely populated pools, blue sky, blue and aqua green water, ochre rocks, white sand - or concrete and timbers.. as a unifying approach to the imagery. You can view all of the 360VR panorama Ocean Pool Portfolio on the device of your choice (large screens recommended) HERE.
Domain and Boy Charlton Pool  in 360VR photography by Kent Johnson Travel photographer, Sydney, Australia.
Thus far I have photographed 18 ocean pools producing over 50 full 360VR panoramas of which 22 are currently included in the portfolio. All of the images are available for licensing, just drop me a line here kent@artcommunication.com.au or should you require high quality custom 360 images to promote your destination, tourist attraction, hotel or resort, please feel free to contact me for a consultation. In the meantime, please enjoy the Ocean Pool 360 project and my Hotels and Views of Venice here!
Collaroy ocean pool, headland and beach in full 360VR photography by Kent Johnson Travel photographer, Sydney, Australia.

Locations photographed - Andrew (Boy) Charleton (Domain), Bronte, Camp Cove, Clovelly, Collaroy, Coogee, Cronulla, Dee WhyMaroubrahMurray Rose (Point Piper), Parsley Bay, Nielsen ParkNorth Narrabeen Rockpool, Watsons Bay, and more to come.

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Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia.
0433 796 863