In 2011 I have also gathered a great bunch of friends in the wedding photography industry, having photographed as a second shooter for a handful of great operators, met up with some awesome people at our group meets and shared and received some advice on all things photographic and business. This year will see my first proper venture into fashion (i’ll tell you more about it in a coming post) as well as some weddings in gorgeous locations. This year will also focus on getting me more industry training, some website massaging including a new gallery system, an improved contact page as well a products section and maybe some new and exciting printed products being added to the already fantastic range I offer.

 What I want to share with you today is my 40 favourite images of 2011 that I hand picked myself for no particular reason other than I just liked them. Each one has its own story to tell so I won’t bore you with caption after caption; they all were picked, not to sum up my portfolio or to show you my best work, just to show you the amazing moments I froze in time with the press of a button. These photographs show me either an unrepeatable slice of time that got unnoticed by 99% of the people at the wedding, they show some very emotive moments that were captured and remind the couple of the feelings they felt when they get the pictures, photos I may have captured by pure fluke or by chance, photos that pushed my creativity, photos that may have taken a long time to setup or the light was just perfect and it was the star of the show.

I also chose some photographs that I remember I was having a great time myself, either by laughing my butt off when the boys were running amuck during their shoot or when the moment was so perfect I fired off so many frames my camera’s buffer filled up before the memory card could write them. Luckily I don’t use film anymore!

Keep an eye out for long overdue blog post for last few weddings of the last quarter of 2011, I just have been so busy and I have put my client’s product delivery first. Also a big thanks to my previous clients and the Flickr group for your support, it means a lot. Now off to do the last adjustments of the last wedding of the year so I have a clean slate for 2012!

I hope you enjoy the images.

Up until the 14th of February this year, take advantage of the MV Photography Valentine’s Day  special at just $299 which includes a two hour couples photography session at a location of  your choice in Greater Melbourne, Melbourne CBD or around the Eastern Suburbs, full set of  low res edited proofs in digital form, a beautiful 8x12inch print in a matted gallery style frame and 6 loose 4x6inch prints of your choice.

This will make a great gift to your loved one on Valentine’s Day, that is different from the rest and will last forever. Just think, when was the last time you had some nice photos as a couple and are scared to go to the established studios in fear of being railroaded into buying thousands of dollars of prints. There are no gimmicks, what you see is what you get, great quality photography at a great price with excellent service attached. To make your purchase, email Marcel on marcel@mvphotography.com.au with ‘Valentine’s Day Special’ in the subject line and we will return an email with a welcome and payment details. Once payment has cleared (Paypal or Direct Deposit) you will receive a printable Gift Voucher in return to give to your partner. After Valentine’s day you will be contacted with available shoot dates along with an info package and agreement. A meeting can be arranged if required to sort your shoot details face to face.

A couple of snap shots I took on route to see family near Castlemaine, Victoria. The one on the left was just on the side of the road near the Taradale Viaduct and the one on the right in the main drag of Chewton. I’d be happy if anyone can tell the type of flower it pictured.

Taken with Canon EOS50D and Sigma 50mm f1.4 lens, handheld.

One of Cape Patterson's most southern points after sunset

From MV Photography Happy New Year and all the best for 2011. Thank you to all the readers, clients, family and friends for your support over the past year, it wasn’t as busy I had hoped but 2011 is shaping up to be a great year for my photography.

Above is an image I took while I was down in Inverloch for my annual Boxing Day trip at Cape Patterson on the South East coast of Victoria an hour 40minutes from Melbourne. I surveyed the area during the day looking for a spot so I didn’t have to hurry around when I got there for sunset. Unfortunately the sunset wasn’t anything to write home about so I pointed the camera at the rocky peninsula I was sitting on. This particular photograph was the second last picture I took of the evening about 20minutes after the sun had gone down. To the naked eye you could barely see this as it was quite dark. I ended up using a 30second exposure to render the scene visible and I used an aperture of f8 to get good depth of field and to keep it in the sharpest range of the Tamron 17-50mm I used. To maintain optimum sharpness I used the mirror lock up feature in camera to lift the mirror before the exposure was taken and a cable release so I didn’t have to touch the camera. I used my monster Benro tripod to hold the camera steady. A smaller tripod would rattle in the wind and the picture would be soft as a result. The focal length used was 35mm (approximately 56mm in the old film scale) and I needed to guess the focus point because it was so dark and I forgot to bring a torch (there is a lesson for you, always pack a torch for sunset photos, not only to help you focus, but also to see you way back to the car). The photo was entirely processed in Lightroom 3.

Until next year, keep safe, relax and have a good time.

An image of some rain drops on a flower from my new Canon G12 Compact

 Hi all, it has been a busy December for MV Photography, so what’s been happening:

• Just completed a job for fellow photographer Justin Hill of Dekuji Photo. He is an amazing photographer with an exceptionally creative vision, and it was a pleasure to work for him. Watch this space for photos which will come right after they are delivered to his clients.
• All specialised print and mounting cut offs as well as any book orders for the print lab have past or are fast approaching in the next day or so. I am still taking orders for loose Kodak Lustre prints up until midnight 18th of December for delivery on the 24th in local areas only.
• After Christmas time I’ll be releasing an exclusive and beautiful product available for purchase, which would have been better released before Christmas, but time has got away from me this December. Keep an eye on this space to see pics and pricing.
• Just completed a product photography job for a local gift shop called the Pirate Chest. Images coming soon.
• The Christmas holidays will be time to catch up on some behind the scenes business stuff as well as we’ll be taking a small holiday down to the South East coast so MV Photography won’t be available at this time. I hope to come back with some nice pics too. In the New Year we’ll see a new business card, some new Photobook Samples, a Landscape Art price list, probably a revised weddings price list and hopefully some website structure revisions.
• I am liking my Canon G12 camera purchase. It operates much better than the Nikon P7000 I had for my Honeymoon and the pictures are, so far, sharper and more lively.
• A new lens came in the mail the other day, but it was faulty! Another one coming soon hopefully as this will surely change my shooting style a bit. I’ll make a post when it arrives.
• Don’t forget to keep an eye on the Facebook feed to keep up with all the latest posts.