On Friday morning I was finally fed up enough with being in iso that I ventured down to Bronte for a sunrise. Turns out I wasn’t the only one with the idea. Bronte was absolutely packed, but people were still maintaining their social distance while they “exercised” - or at least thinking about how they were gonna look like they were exercising if the cops rocked up.

I’m pretty stoked with how this turned out given conditions weren’t amazing. Showing up at 545am for blue hour and seeing a bunch of low lying cloud on the horizon was exactly what I didn’t want to see. In fact I was almost about to pack up and leave when I realised I could wait until a few minutes AFTER sunrise and maybe catch a pseudo sunrise when it popped up over those clouds. I’m glad I did, but I may have been a few min late to work..

Now that the Band-Aid has been ripped off again, I’m excited to get back out and start shooting the beaches again!

Quick question: If I’m curling my tripod it counts as exercise right?

The good word has finally come.. The beaches are open again! Well, the Randwick side of the East Subs is at least (Bondi and the rest on Tues).

Having yesterday off my day job and the temperature hitting over 25 degrees, Jana and I hit up Gordon’s Bay for a very long awaited return to the ocean. I have to confess, I was pretty sure there were going to be half a million people crowding the beaches and water. To my surprise, however, it was actually fairly empty with everyone adhering to social distancing. Yay us!

The camera came out for a few shots, but it really wasn’t the purpose of our journey. I wanted, no NEEDED, to throw myself into the ocean. It’s amazing how much I missed the water, and it really solidifies how important the ocean is to me and my mental health. The thought of ever moving inland away from the sea is just crazy talk. I’d give up my job and go back to flipping burgers before leaving the salt. Ok well maybe that’s a bit over the edge. I’d consider moving inland if someone built me a personal wave pool to surf - consider.

What’s something you’ve realised in iso that you can’t live without? Let me know in the comments or on fb/insta!

- Nelson

I’ve been going through some of my old photos only to realise one thing has never changed. Well, one opinion. Presets SUCK.

So I agree, this title is a bit misleading. Of course, most of my RAW photos are edited in either Capture One or Photoshop (or both) prior to uploading into your eyeballs. Presets, however, do not find a place in my workflow. In my most non-humble opinion I think presets sold by other photographers and instafluencers are a waste of your money.

Why so harsh you ask? First and foremost, using presets doesn’t help the amateur photographer learn how to properly compose and process their images. There’s no originality in using someone else’s presets, and you end up slapping the same preset on all your crappy instagram photos thinking they look better (protip: they don’t).

Now don’t get me wrong, for some professional photographers presets are a lifeline. If you are a wedding or event photographer, you might take 500+ images of a single event. When you do this multiple days per week, that adds up to a shit load of photos that require editing. In cases like this, presets are king, but these are individualised presets made by an already experienced photographer and editor.

For the rest of us, especially amateur photographers, it’s time to save that $19.99 and get back into manually editing those shots!

Actually.. scrap that! Presets are GREAT. Stay tuned for a WORLD FIRST NC Photog Preset Pack 1 coming out holidays 2020. :P

Stay safe and sane in iso peeps!