the I DONT DELETE revolution!

So in my short life as a photographer I have established at least one major rule with my camera.

NO DELETING! Only I can delete!

One of my pet hates is when someone goes through the photos on my camera… gives a loud squeal followed by a “OMG!” I brace myself for a potential loss… turn around and with all my might yell out… DON’T DELETE IT!!!!

This is usually followed by a very upset photographer (me, if it is deleted), or a series of convincing arguments on why they should not delete the photo…

As photographers we are great at setting up shots, especially with an SLR.

photo genius goes to Rachel for setting up this great shot!

People are more than willing to pose for extra long until the man behind the lense lets out a sigh of relief and an expression of satisfaction @ not only the photo but towards the momentary models who excitingly scurry over to the see what magic was captured through the lense.

While i love the set ups…

i love the candid moments even more!

Those photos that you never meant to take because your finger slipped or the photo turned out nothing like you expected but in a good way…

i didn't expect so many people to be blurred with Bec clear in the middle

or when an everyday moment or item becomes the object of your camera’s affection.

bumpin into a giant one-eyed burger on the streets of Melbourne

Why candid?  Because candid captures the truthful moment.  the straightfoward moment.  the frank moment.  Emotions are raw and real & that one particular moment is lost in history only to be remembered in our memories.

Going for a bit hit during Beach volleyball at Philip Island Adventure Resort

But the other benefit of random candidness is the ability, with the help of some trusty photo editing software, to transform that photo you almost deleted into a photo you’d want framed on your wall.

the neatest rubbish bin ever. the aftermarth of UQ's market day.

i have no idea who or what moment in time this photo was taken. almost deleted but decided to keep it

had to take a moment to crash at BDO so while my friend slept i entertained myself

a barenaked tree in the middle of winter

playing tennis with the guys & girls from Voltage

a multiphoto function on Dad's camera, the playback on the camera is like a movie but when you upload it on to the comp its like this... was originally cut but not nemore =D

walking through some trees to get to a gate. kinda creepy ay

while driving down the coast we kept seeing houses in the middle of no where... don't know why you'd want to live so far from the city

couldn't help but notice this plant growing up through the salty water at a small town called Urunga

some shattered pieces of glass in a carpark i am all to familiar with caught my eye as they caught the light of the setting sun

talked about how cool it would be to take a photo of the birds... so i did by just pointing my camera at them in auto mode and just kept clicking.... the original photo isn't so spectuclar until i played around a bit

can you guess what these are =D?

(Photos taken on my Nikon D90, N97 Camera phone, Canon ixus80 & edited with CameraBag)

So what are my tips for the candid camera?

#1. ALWAYS carry a camera on you.  Before i got my Nokia N97 i had a phone that wasn’t even colour screen (yes ancient technology but i still love that phone more than my N97!) so i would keep my canon ixus80 compact in my bag at all times.  And we all know that a camera phone or compact camera is much more convenient and much more discrete than a huge SLR.

#2. if it catches your eye, then catch it with your camera!  there have been times where I’ve thought about it and just walked away… come home and regretted not taking at least one shot

#3. not everything random is photogenic.  its ok if your random photo looks crap… the point is you tried … and it is random so it is a luck of the draw at times.

And here are the 10 Golden Rules from the worldwide Lomography community!

1. Take your camera everywhere you go
2. Use it any time – day and night
3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it
4. Try the shot from the hip
5. Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible
6. Don’t think (william firebrace)
7. Be fast
8. You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured on film
9. Afterwards either
10. Don’t worry about any rules

Join me in the I DON’T DELETE REVOLUTION!