Rodney Campbell's Blog

Harbour Trails

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S @ 20 mm, 10 sec at f/2, ISO 320 x 303 Frames

The early Vivid preview nights I photographed were around the time of the new moon

So late one night after photographing some of the preview sites on my way home I stopped in at Blues Point to try something I’d been thinking of in my head. Star trails over the colourfully lit up SHB, SOH and Pylons

Lo and behold the final result was better than I’d hoped really …

To shot astro, stars, star trails you need to a few things:

Besides the gear (a fast (wide aperture) lens, a good intervalometer, a camera that can shoot in manual mode)

You also need the right environmental conditions:

• Clear skies – absolutely no clouds for the duration – as it happened we had some very clear nights – tick
• No (or very minimal) moon in the sky – it was near the new moon – tick
• No (or minimal aircraft) for the duration – it was late and after curfew – tick
• Dark skies, no light pollution and no ambient lights – OK we’re in the heart of the largest metropolitan city in Australia and I’m pointing right at some insane light sources – so alas not so much 🙁

I wasn’t exactly sure this would work so I took some frames to use at the very bottom of the final image and then started the hours worth of star trail captures which actually ran till the battery ran out

Normally if it was dark skies I’d be shooting individual frames at 45 to 120 seconds at an ISO somewhere around 800 to 1600 depending on how dark the sky was

Here the ambient skies were so bright I shot 10 seconds at ISO 320 – something like 3 to 5 stops below my ideal. So I wasn’t all that hopeful I’d have a lot of trails in the final image. Planning and settings however appear to have paid off

Invincible Corals

NIKON Z 7 + Laowa 12mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 15 sec at f/8, ISO 64

I spent a couple of hours enjoying and photographing the content at Vivid House. I also spent much of the time chatting with the artists of various content as they were previewing the final touches in the space

Two of them were Singapore based artist Henry Hu with his work titled Invincible Corals, and Sydney based Billy Ryan from Babekuhl with an infrared psychedelic dreamscape titled AMA

Towards the end of the evening we arranged to have some of their projections paused at some key locations so we could get some nice clean longer exposures at base ISO (64) and stopped down to f/8. Henry and Billy are in a couple of the frames of their work in the attached animated GIF sequence

NIKON Z 7 + Laowa 12mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 15 sec at f/8, ISO 64 x 22 Frames

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Vivid House

NIKON Z 7 + Laowa 12mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 1/10 sec at f/2.8, ISO 400

Vivid House is back again this year at Vivid Sydney 2023

It has moved to The Cutaway at Barangaroo and has expanded in size. The “room” is quite a bit larger and has capacity for up to 400 people. This year we have twenty seven (27!) projectors which put content onto all four walls and the floor of this large space for a near seamless experience when you’re inside

This is one Vivid location that I’d highly recommend you visit if you have the chance

There are five different sets of content available this year: AMA, Australian Oceans, Infinity, Invincible Corals, Wildlife & Wild Places (partnered with WWF)

Each runs for approximately 5 to 7 minutes and provides a complete 360˚ experience

Thankfully I was able to photograph the space before it opened to the public and the crowds filled the room; but in some of the images I’ve included a few people to give you an idea of the scale of the room. In the first and second image that’s me in the “foreground”

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Vivid Chillin

NIKON Z 7 + Laowa 12mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 1 sec at f/2.8, ISO 400

Infinity

NIKON Z 7 + Laowa 12mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 1/20 sec at f/2.8, ISO 800

Secure Their Future

NIKON Z 7 + Laowa 12mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 1/13 sec at f/2.8, ISO 800

Vivid House – WWF

NIKON Z 7 + Laowa 12mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 1/20 sec at f/2.8, ISO 800

Infrared

NIKON Z 7 + Laowa 12mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 8 sec at f/8, ISO 64

AMA Dreamscape

NIKON Z 7 + Laowa 12mm f/2.8 @ 12 mm, 10 sec at f/8, ISO 64

Opera Australis

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S @ 43 mm, 25 sec at f/8, ISO 64

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S @ 43 mm, 25 sec at f/8, ISO 64 x 25 Frames

Another set of images which are only possible when freezing the frames of the fast paced animation on the Opera House sails

We preselected 35 frames during the sequence that we liked and played them back one minute for each at a time on each frame. So we could take nice clean images at base ISO, f/8 and a nice long shutter

This set is from down near the water at the overseas passenger terminal. The four projection towers are right above me so we get the beams from above and the nice colour reflections in the smoother harbour water below

Biotechture

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S @ 41 mm, 1/8 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1600

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S @ 41 mm, 1/8 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1600 x 41 Frames

Biotechture imagines what it would mean if our human-made structures were living and breathing

Peeling back the ASN Clock Tower’s facade, Biotechture is an otherworldly view into the arteries, bones and all behind the building. It’s also a reminder of the beautiful architecture that makes up both our city and the natural world