Day 5 started off with waking up very early! Just what I needed!! Not!
Barry suggested we head into Melbourne and go to a community festival. As it turned out, this was a big deal because a famous Australian cricketer, Merv Hughes (link) would be there. We got there with our cameras and Barry had brought the big guns! His 400mm F2.8 Canon lens. This lens is huge!!! Trust me when I tell you that everybody gets out of the way when this massive lens walks with you! So cool…
There was some Bollywood Indian dancing, food, bag pipes, dance music, etc… around the festival.
Here are some images from the festival…

Shooting action shots is quite challenging. This was the best of the bunch. Merv Hughes about to catch the ball...

I love this frame because in the UK, it is now troublesome to photograph police officers. When I saw this view, I very quickly took the photo as it has police officers and a very big lens!! Obviously, its fine to photograph police officers in Australia as I wasn't arrested! ;-),

Indian Bollywood dancing... Photo by Barry Johnston. Taken on a Canon EOS 1D Mark II N with a 400mm F2.8 lens.
After a very active shooting session, we headed back into down town Melbourne for something to eat (with a well deserved beer).
After the pasta lunch, we headed over to 2 locations to shoot with flash. First up was a car park right opposite some of the large sky scrapers of Melbourne. We set up our gear and took a few frames.
All the above city shots were taken with Barry’s camera with a wide angle lens (16-35mm F2.8 L). Oh man… I really need one of these!!! My widest focal length is 24mm on a 1.6x cropped sensor which makes it around 38mm. 38mm is simply not wide enough for shots like this. Dam I need one!!!
We then headed over to some graffiti and only had time for a single setup. I’m sure we’ll go back there as there’s loads of other shots to be had. Barry asked a lady if she would pose for us and she happily accepted. Excellent as it makes much more interesting pictures than just Barry or I. Actually, there were about 3 or 4 wedding shoots at the same location.
We got home and I was very tired! I had been up since 2:30am and by 8pm, I was finished. Time for sleep…
Stunning pictures! You seem to have a very good time, donΒ΄t you? One could be easily envious :))
Have a good day! Radmila
Thanks Radmila! I’ve been chilling out a little since… But will hopefully do some more shooting soon…
So Gwyn, did you take any of those with the 400mm on your 40D?
Hi Paul, not on this shoot… Barry had the 400mm on his 1D and I had the 70-200mm on my 40D. Today however I used a 16-35mm, 70-200mm, 300m and 400mm lenses. I have to tell you that 400mm on my 40D body is insane!! π hehehehe Love it!!!
Hey Gwyn,
Enjoying seeing your photos and keeping up with what you’re upto while over there, looks like you’ve got plenty of subjects to photo and an excellant guide too.
Reading your above post though, you say that Barry “asked a lady”. Did he know her, or just grab a suitable looking subject? If so then I really admire the confidence.
Thanks Steve. Yes.. having a great time! Today we turned a brewery into a studio! hehehhe π yeah!!! Pics to come tomorrow… Yes, Barry just asked the lady if she would pose for us… She was on holiday from Brisbane (I think) and we had never met her before. She was a lovely person and we had a lot of fun taking the images. I wish we had chosen a less noisy background. A much simpler graffiti design would have made a much more stunning image.