2011 has been another busy year for me. It has been busy at work throughout the year, and I spent a number of weeks on work-related travel, visiting Melbourne (three times), Adelaide, Calgary (Alberta, Canada), Brisbane, and a remote mine-site in the north of Western Australia near Kununurra.
I took a camera with me on most of the work-related trips, and in most cases, managed to find some time for photography.

ore stockpiles

remote mine-site, Kimberley, Western Australia

snow-covered mountains in the mirror

Spray Valley Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada

I also spent three weeks in the Netherlands on a family holiday - the first time I had been back for about 13 years. I came back from the Netherlands with nearly 3000 photos.

view of Elburg from Sint Nicolaaskerk

Elburg, Gelderland, The Netherlands

As I indicated 12 months ago, I made a start in kite aerial photography (KAP) this year, using an old Canon PowerShot G5 point-n-shoot camera. I also had an Introduction to Kite Aerial Photography guest post published on DIY Photography.

KAP self-portrait

taken with remote-controlled camera suspended from kite

Southern River, Western Australia

I recently purchsed a GoPro Hero2 camera, and used it for a few KAP sessions earlier this week (photos from those sessions coming soon). The GoPro Hero2 is smaller and lighter than the old Canon G5 I was using, has a wider angle lens, and will provide 11 megapixel still photos and full HD video.

GoPro Hero2 camera in its weatherproof housing

Early in 2011, I also did my first new-born newborn baby photoshoot - taking photos of Zoe Madison when she was two weeks old. It was a lot of fun, and the parents and I were happy with the results.

Zoe Madison

In 2011, I shot a few weddings. While I enjoy shooting weddings, I do not want to take on too many weddings, due to the time and effort it takes.

Marius & Alice

University of Western Australia

Throughout the year, I also went out on a few photowalks with friends, family, and colleagues, to a variety of locations.

lonely

Warnbro, Western Australia

Hovea Falls

John Forrest National Park, Western Australia

dugite snake (pseudonaja affinis)

Harvey Dam, Western Australia

My cheapest gear acquisition in 2011 was a DIY camera wrist strap, made out of cheap paracord. After several months of use, I can say that I'm definitely finding that it works well for me, and I am not missing the neck strap at all.

DIY camera wrist strap

One of my more exciting gear acquisitions was the Phottix Odin, a wireless TTL flash trigger. The Odin provides full TTL functionality for multiple remote flashes - and does so wirelessly, using 2.4GHz RF, providing more reliable triggering and much better range than Canon's built-in infrared triggering.

Phottix Odin transmitter control unit

I have used the Odin for a couple of weddings, as well as various family shoots and product-type shoots, and have been very impressed with the functionality and features it provides.

Adrian & Roslin & bridal party

shooting into the sun, with two bare 580EX flashes triggered with a Phottix Odin, in TTL mode

The number of RSS subscribers continued to increase during 2011.
According to Google Analytics, of the blog posts that were posted during 2011, the most popular were:

• Review: Phottix Odin TTL Flash Trigger
• Review: Phottix Strato II Multi Trigger
• Understanding Your Camera: F-Numbers, F-Stops and Stops
• DIY Camera Wrist Strap
• Understanding Your Camera: The Manual Mode Myth
• Understanding Your Camera: Camera Modes Explained
• Long Exposure at Point Peron
• KAP Self-Portrait
• Visiting the Solicitor
• Analysing Lens Usage
• eBook Review: 100% Reliable Flash Photography
• Newborn: Zoe Madison
• Yes, Filters Do Protect Your Lens

As shown by the list of popular post above, gear-related posts continue to prove popular.
Due to insufficient time, I only posted three articles in the series I am writing as I teach camera basics and camera operation to my children (and all three show up in the most popular posts above).



I intend to write more articles in the Understanding Your Camera series as I continue to teach camera basics and camera operation to my children.

Nicholas

Glen Brook Dam, John Forrest National Park, Western Australia

Bookings for a couple of weddings for 2012 have already been received, and I may look at writing some posts about what happens while shooting a wedding.

More gear reviews are planned, as well as a number of book reviews and ebook reviews.


Thanks to all the people who have responded to posts with comments over the last years, and I wish all my readers the best in your 2012.

If you are not a regular reader of this blog, you may want to consider subscribing via RSS or via email, to ensure you don't miss out on any new content.

Some rough-cut wooden clogs in a clog workshop, in the historical Dutch village of Marken.

wooden clogs

Marken, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @42mm, 1/50 sec, f/5.6, ISO250

Phottix are offering a 5% discount on all purchases from their online store until 25 December 2011. Use the discount code 5offxmas to receive your discount.
If you have been wanting a Phottix Odin TTL flash trigger, or maybe a Strato II multi trigger, now is the time to submit an order!

B&H have instant rebates on numerous items, including lenses, camera bodies and more, until 7 January 2012. Have a browse through their list, and see if there is anything you need while the rebates are available.




Commercial photographer Chase Jarvis once said "The Best Camera Is The One That's With You". In other words, it doesn't matter if you've got a great camera sitting at home...because if you don't have it with you, you can't use it! Chase has been a big fan of using iPhone cameras and similar, as a phone is something you normally always have with you in your pocket.

I don't carry my DSLR camera with me every day, as it's too large and heavy, and inconvenient to take with me everywhere. I've had a company-provided Nokia phone for many years, but the camera in my current Nokia 3120 Classic is only capable of very crappy photos!

I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S II Android smart phone, which has a camera that is capable of 8 megapixel still images (with a 28mm equivalent focal length), and full high-definition 1080p video at 30 frames per second. (Check out the interesting advert for it here.)
While the camera on my new smart phone will never replace my DSLR, it will provide me with the opportunity to take photos in situations where I previously did not have a camera with me.



I recently bought a GoPro Hero2 camera. It's a tiny camera capable of 11 megapixel still photos (with a field-of-view of 170 degrees!), full HD video, and comes complete with weatherproof housing and various mounts.

Check out this video on YouTube for some interesting ideas on how these cameras can be used.
I am intending to use the GoPro Hero2 camera for kite aerial photography.

Here's a photo to show just how small this camera is.

GoPro Hero2 camera in housing

photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S II phone

B&H do not yet have the GoPro Hero2 in stock, but have the older GoPro Hero Original and accessories for both the Hero and Hero2 avaiable.
GoPro cameras can also be ordered directly from gopro.com. I ordered mine from gopro.com, and it was delivered (to Australia) a week after being ordered.



Want to look through some cool tilt-shift photos? Want a place to show off your own tilt-shift photos? The tiltShifted.com website is an online showcase for tilt-shift photographers. You can submit your tilt-shift photos for inclusion - a couple of my tilt-shift photos are visible here on tiltShifted.com.



Here are some great selections of photos to inspire you.

• Tiny People's Wonderful World of Food
• Incredible Photos that Capture Day Turning into Night
• 100 Awesome Illustrations of Forced Perspective Photography
• yowayowa camera woman diary (Natsumi Hayashi, a Japanese girl who posts levitation self-portraits - see here for some background info)
• levitation photos by Denis Darzacq
• Create Wonderful Sliced Fruit Images

A sneak peek at a wedding I shot a few weeks ago. Here's the bride pretending to drive away in the very cool Kombi that they used as their wedding car.

getaway car

Roleystone, Western Australia