Issue #8
Roving-Eye Gallery update and newsletter for November 2020

Hello and thank you to the new subscribers this month.. welcome aboard!

The circle of readers continues to grow steadily each month and I thank you very much for your support and interest!

It was a very diverse month with a record 35 new images covering everything from landscapes to wildlife so I hope you enjoy the variety as much as I do!

Check them out at https://www.roving-eye.com/whatsnew

It was ironic that the discussion on storms and lightning in the last newsletter came just a week before what was the most active storm I've seen here in the 3 years since moving to Port Macquarie!

Thanks to wonderful apps and websites it's possible to be notified of active lightning heading your way to make sure you have the ideal storm shooting configuration ready in anticipation and wait for it to appear on the local horizon to see where best to go then.

Once I could see that it was on the southern side of Port I headed straight to one of my go-to locations I have already scouted out for various directions to get a nice placement of Tacking Point Lighthouse in the foreground and the lightning in the backround.. perfect!

Once setup I let the camera roll for frame after frame to record the fantastic amount of flashes occurring and to see it move from west to east out to sea giving plenty of scope for a full horizon of lightning by the time the rain came and it was time to go!

This was also a much waited for opportunity to test some of the advanced features of the Olympus to overcome typical shooting limitations. In standard shooting practice you have to commit to a fixed exposure time and risk missing, or ironically getting too MUCH lightning and over exposing the image.

The Olympus on the other hand will let you accumulate the image for as long or as little as you want and so you can tailor the exposure time to vary with the storm's typically unpredictable nature.. perfect.. it passed with flying colours and a print has already been made, framed and sold from it  with more interest besides!

One by one the traditional barriers are being removed so I can achieve better and better results!

Wildlife featured prominently this month as I wanted to broaden the repertoire and cover such as wildlife, Australiana and all manner of other subjects as much as possible from now on to complement the land and seascapes.

Luckily there are some good fields only a short drive away that has a great range of birds.. it was a very different experience to my traditional camera work in that I needed to walk slowly and listen a lot and get in tune with the birds and sounds around me so I could focus on some very elusive birds, some not very big at all and very fast moving!

The only trouble I found with standing still for any length of time in the middle of the bush are the things that like to fly over and sting or take a bite out of you! 

I had received many orders for the calendars and they were a sell out with only a small batch coming to cater for markets which are being re-opened after most of the year without them!

I had some excellent feedback on sizes and content and I will respond with 2 options to select from next year to give choice.

Also I have been booking in more personal or family shoots since I have been requested for them and have all come from my concerted efforts at local marketing and raising awareness.

While I will never do formal event photography such as weddings (they need a whole different mindset and equipment to do well) it has been fun to do personal shoots as long as they are limited in time and located outdoors.. then I can get people with the great outdoors and be paid up front to do it which has been great in a unique year of virtually no markets all year to show my wares.

Things are locking into place for the anticipated expansion of the business in 2021 and likely I will have the first of a number of key items of equipment ordered by the time the next newsletter comes around to hit the ground running.. stick around.. I expect a VERY exciting 2021 on the photography front and I hope to get the lenses into some pretty unique and interesting places and YOU will get to see it all!

In a final housekeeping note the "what's new" and newsletter web pages and navigation have had a major overhaul so it's MUCH easier to dive into and go back and forth from month to month to see what has been happening!

With Christmas fast approaching and the next newsletter and gallery update not due till early January I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and seasons greetings and hope it is good for you in all that you may wish from it :-) 

Thank you again for being a subscriber and I hope you are enjoying the images coming out to the gallery each time as much as I am enjoying capturing them!

Don't forget.. all newsletters are available in an indexed archive so you can go and (re)read everything published to date at any time! .. just go to https://www.roving-eye.com/whatsnew-index

'Till next time.. take care!

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