BOGI 2012

Last weekend was the annual BOGI Fair which I photographed last year. I managed two short visits (family commitments notwithstanding), took about 230 photos which I have (fairly speedily) processed in Lightroom alone using some of my new post-processing skills which I am working on. I am quite happy in general with the results.

Technology:
Using my new camera on the day went pretty well, but I definitely need to read through the rest of the manual to get to grips with it more. I had trouble focussing in the portrait orientation a few times and I'm not sure why this is yet. Using high ISO settings worked well, and I shot in high quality JPEG and RAW, though plan to phase out my JPEG capture unless the exercise tells me otherwise. The camera feels solid and comfortable in my hands. A couple of the buttons seem to be in strange positions, for example the 'info' button which I use to check my histogram is a bit hard to reach. But I'll get used to that.

I'm feeling more comfortable using Lightroom now. I created a couple of presets for 'bright backgrounds' and 'boost contrast' to speed some of my work. Being able to adjust the images in the program I use for photo management is a real plus. Even things like cropping are non-destructive, and can be undone, so that is a bonus. I also have experimented with the adjustment brush and gradient tool to add selective processing to certain areas of the photo - similar to using masks in Photoshop, but much quicker and easier (and all non-destructive).

Shooting the event:
It was my second time shooting this fair. I found this time I had less time for photos (family commitments , but I still managed to take some good images. I spent more time talking to people - I felt more comfortable with this than I have previously (just shows what practice can do!) and feel that I was better at asking people if I could take their photos. This meant I could have a few goes at getting it right, adjusting position/framing etc. This is definitely an advantage. I used manual mode for most images, and this was more successful in the end (once I got settings I was happy with). I didn't experiment with different lenses, mostly because of limited time. And I meant to try some long exposures with people moving but I missed the opportunity in the morning with lots of people there to do this, and later on it seemed a bit sparse. Nonetheless, I feel like my images (the best are shown below) are generally quite good and capture the feel of the day. I certainly feel like they are an improvement on last years, though I didn't get any 'behind-the-scenes' shots which would have been nice.

The images:

Enjoying the treats on offer

Having a chat with the competition entries in the background

Chook admiration

 Ideally in the image above I would have included the chickens more carefully...

All welcome! (he was checking out the chooks!) 

 As seen in the above image - I'm loving having proper wide angle lenses again (full frame camera!!) (24mm)

A stallholder

Foodconnect storeholder

 Lots of blown-out backgrounds were hard to avoid with the strong contrast between the shaded area and bright sunshine behind.

A transaction in progress

Carrots to try

A punter

Interactions between stallholder and purchaser

Checking out what's on offer

Something looks good

BOGI Seeds for sale

The wide angle in the photo above shows off the range of seeds available and also captures the surroundings of the fair nicely.

Checking out the herbs and spices for sale

Late in the day people still rolling in

Tea for sale

Animated chatting

 Oops - shouldn't have cut off his hand!

The auction in progress

Auctioning off the competition entries

Serving food

 In the above image I would prefer to have captured her eyes in the photo

Paying for a winning bid in the auction

Pleased with her purchase of native raspberries

Overall I am happy with the way these images have turned out - they make a strong, colourful, diverse set of photos which capture the day quite well. I hope to do some more 'event' photography  soon.