Ralphs Bay Twilight - June 22, 2010

Over 6 years ago, I was loving life here in Tasmania (who wasn’t), I was a bit younger (who wasn’t), and I was shooting with Digital SLR’s that couldn’t capture anything but noise in low-light (remember those days fellow photo-nerds?). And, along with my local community, I was also faced with a dire threat to our home, our way of life, and our values – a mainland developers plan to build a Gold Coast style canal estate in, over, and on top of the Ralphs Bay Conservation Area.

On March 17th, 2004, I began a personal project documenting what was to become the Save Ralphs Bay campaign. I could never have imagined where those first few noise-filled JPG images would take us, how they would test us, and how the events would change our lives. On June 22nd, 2010 I covered the final Save Ralphs Bay media event – where the Tasmanian Government announced that the proposed “Lauderdale Quay” development had been rejected and also signaled the intention to bring in a Tasmanian Canal Estate Ban.

For me, as a photographer and a coastal advocate, the 6 plus years of the Save Ralphs Bay campaign would end up teaching me much of what I know about photography, my community, politics, the media, and ultimately, myself. Most importantly it allowed me to meet so many amazing, courageous, and passionate people. The following visual document of the 6 Years, 3 Months, and 5 Days of the campaign is dedicated to them.

6 Years, 3 Months, and 5 Days (short version) from Thomas Moore – Photographer on Vimeo.

For those of you involved in the campaign – or if you are just interested – there is an even more indulgent and longer version linked here.

For Tasmania’s precious coastline – we fought them on the beaches – we all Saved Ralphs Bay.

And after the boat docks and the parties over there’s nothing better than a fun little visual production to lock in those moments and share with your mates. Happy Birthday Donna.

One night on the river from Thomas Moore – Photographer on Vimeo.

Narissa is an accomplished woman of science doing research in the area of deep-water corals. We chose a “coastal” setting for our shoot to make a link with Narissa’s marine-based research focus.

Thank you Narissa.

An important lesson learned this week was that when looking for models for a grueling personal project at the very last minute whomever happens to show up at your door is always a good place to start. Even better if he’s also one of Tasmania’s top portrait photographers himself.

This weeks PotW is none other than Jon “Janne” Jarvela - Tasmanian Professional Portrait Photographer of the Year for 2010.

Thanks for the fun session, Jon.

Bridget, known as “Max” to her mates (named after a comedic reference to former Australian cricketer, Maxwell Walker), needed a “casual but slightly-corporate” headshot for a business biography.

We had fun, if not as much time as we wanted. Thanks “Max”!

Fun in Chicago

Chicago, Illinois is one of my favorite cities in the world to visit – the culture, the food, the art, the architecture, and the urban vistas all appeal. It seems that the pundits over at Portfolio.com agree? They’ve cooked up what they call “The Fun Index” for cities in the USA -

“The process began with the collection of federal statistics for 14 relevant types of businesses, from retail stores and restaurants to gambling casinos and golf courses. Each market was graded on both the volume (total number) and the concentration (rate per 100,000 residents) of such businesses.

Results were then grouped in seven broad categories of fun: shopping, food and drink, culture, popular entertainment, gambling, and high-impact and low-impact sports. The best scores went to markets that performed well in a wide array of categories.”

New York City came out on top and Chicago was number 2. [Check out the full top 100 list at Portfolio.com]

Cheers to you Chicago, you really are my kinda town.

Photo thanks to AIPP Tasmanian Professional Portrait Photographer of the Year, Jon Jarvela - www.jonjarvela.com

The Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) has announced the Tasmania’s best professional photographers at a special awards ceremony held at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Launceston.

The Epson AIPP Tasmanian awards received numerous entries recognising the state’s top professional photographers.  Entries were individually critiqued and scored via a scrupulous peer-review judging process to determine the highest-scoring prints across the different categories.  The judging process was undertaken by some of Australia’s best photographers.

The Epson AIPP Tasmanian entries were judged in categories covering specialised forms of professional photography including General, Portrait, Wedding, Wedding Album, Highest Scoring Print overall and Highest Scoring Print Emerging or Student Member photography. The coveted awards acknowledged the high level of professional photography found across Australia’s beautiful island state.

This year the judging was, in the words of an anonymous AIPP veteran, “brutal” with exactly ZERO Gold awards being given out. I was surprised and humbled to capture 3 Silver Awards and the prize for the 2010 Epson AIPP Tasmanian highest scoring print for an emerging or student member category. This was my first year competing in the premier Tasmanian professional photographic competition.

The “emerging member” category winner

Mates

I need to thank the sponsors, including Epson, my incredibly talented (and understanding) printer – and amazing photographer in his own right – Ian Jeanneret, and the AIPP Tasmania council for what was an awesome event any way you looked at it.

I was buoyed by the spirit amongst the competitors and the judges, many of whom shared valuable advice and opinions on my work which will help me improve my entries for the AIPP National awards in June.

Certainly a highlight for Thomas Moore Photography this year.

The remaining two Silver Awards

The People

Haily

I’m having so much fun using my iPhone for photography, and since it’s my phone it’s always here when I need it. The biggest irony? My current fave iPhone photo-workflow brings back not just the look of film but the joy and surprise of film. Go figure.

Question for self: Will I enter iPhone based prints in the AIPP / APPA / TPPY awards in 2011?

Cafe Later

One piece of sushi

Time to go

No Exceptions

The Thomas Moore Photography “Super Studio” was there to capture the mayhem ( and it was mayhem of the most fun kind!) . Enjoy if you DARE!

Hobart Halloween 2009 from Thomas Moore – Photographer on Vimeo.

Music
Artist: Click Click Click
Song: Romance Keys

We can bring the Super Studio to your party or event – give us a call on 0409681127 or drop us an email.

Note: due to popular demand a new, higher-res version of this clip is currently cooking in the oven. Mmmmm,mmm smell the goodness. Patience people.

Update: Ahhha . . . here she is in higher-res glory.

The non-profit community organization has been fighting against a proposed canal estate development on the Ralphs Bay Conservation Area at Lauderdale, Tasmania. The group of unpaid volunteers recently won a draft ruling in the Tasmanian Planning Commission and the media event was to celebrate this ruling.

Thomas Moore Photography covered the event and produced this audio-visual document:

Save Ralphs Bay – “One Step Closer” from Save Ralphs Bay on Vimeo.