The area around the centre of this city is so photogenic…there are a million different angles…

Really looking forward to the annual Vivid Sydney festival where they project images and animations on to the Opera house and various parts of the CBD…

Here is a shot my boss took last year…

Copyright Ryan Lahiff

After work on friday I went for a wander around the CBD and shot some slow exposure stuff, and then met Flo and we went for an epic dinner at Altitude restaurant on the 38th floor of the Shangri La Hotel above the harbour. Somehow we managed to wangle window seats despite a 2 week reservation waiting list and the food was amazing too… Best dinner here so far by a LONG way.

I shot a bunch of timelapse stuff too which I will put up once I work out why my version of Quicktime pro doesnt work anymore and my version of Final Cut pro is now not working properly either…gggrrrrrr

78 properties, 3400kms and a bunch of new suburbs…that was March.

Shooting properties can be a weird job…I see everything from pokey studios in the inner city to decadent mansions by the beach, and everything in between. I see inside a lot of peoples homes and lives. I have found myself in some places I would never ever normally have been in, and I guess it satisfies an inquisitiveness.

The style that is used when shooting properties in Sydney is unlike anywhere else I have worked. Technically I have learned a different style of shooting termed HDR or High Definition Range which is still in its infancy. It essentially means the end product is a lot closer to what the eye sees than a photo can usually replicate. The example above is a blend of about 10 images covering a whole range of exposures to show the shadowed and highlighted areas at the correct exposure. In some instances I find the result ridiculously over processed resulting in a painting like effect while in others it works well. It is a style pioneered in Sydney and the biggest agent here is one of our main clients and seems to love it!

You may also notice that it is always a sunny day. I can assure that it is not always sunny when I shoot!

It is also pretty evident that there isnt a huge amount of creativity involved. In a sense there is a set format and my attempts to mix it up have not been met with much enthusiasm so far. Still, it can be enjoyable work and as long as I can shoot other subjects to keep my photography interesting, I am content with it to pay the bills. It sure beats office work…

I put up some of my favourite shoots from my first couple of months in Sydney here.

I had an hour to kill before a job in Newtown, so I went for a wander around the back streets. There is new graf, stensils and other random tagging and different forms of expression going up all the time. In some places it seems to be a bit of a free for all…

It is a place that I always like to wander around as it is a melting pot of run down, densely packed houses and lanes full of creativity…

Some of its very well done, some of it is mindless, make up your own mind…

This is a random selection of things that caught my eye, all within about a 4 block area.

We live in a weird world. One of the areas where human imagination manifests itself the most on the face of our world is architecture.

The results often stretch the realm of what is possible to build, not to mention sometimes looking pretty ridiculous…

Full list of 50 Strange buildings here.