Digital Photo Gallery of Ted Szukalski

Christchurch earthquake

Ted Szukalski — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:28:54 PDT

Photograph: Christchurch
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

I have just seen the news about the earthquake in Christchurch. I must say it is a devastating news for me and my family as we hold this city close to our hearts as it is one of our favourite destinations.

There are so many interesting, historic buildings in Christchurch. I hope they survived the 7.1 on the Richter scale earthquake.

I wish all the inhabitants of Christchurch all the best, speedy recovery and all the help necessary to return the city to its usual glory.

Cave Beach

Ted Szukalski — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:54:14 PDT

Photograph: Cave Beach
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

Here is a location I must revisit one day. Some time ago on our way home from QLD, we stopped at Cave Beach. The weather was nice and we had a picnic on the beach.

The famous cave was very tempting for photography, but the ideal light to do so would be at sunrise, with light coming low from the east. We were there closer to midday and the contrast was impossible to handle. Not having a tripod with me did not help. I have taken 3 hand held photographs and actually abandoned the photo without any hope for good presentation.

Today as I was cleaning my disk I revisited the photographs from Cave Beach and under closer look decided they will stack OK using HDR technique. I could not hope for perfect alignment as they were hand held, never the less the result surprised even me. Unfortunately color noise was significant thus I have opted for a rare for me landscape rendition in black and white resulting in the photograph you see here.

The Barefoot Man

Ted Szukalski — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:13:50 PDT

Photograph: The Barefoot Man
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

After few postings about important issues such as elections and photographers rights today it is back to basic street photography. I have captured this image few days ago just opposite Sydney Town Hall just in front the Woolworths shop. There was a man standing barefoot at the very busy intersection. He was looking constantly back as if he was waiting for someone. His unkempt appearance may indicate he was one of many Sydney homeless.

Finally some skepticism

Ted Szukalski — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:50:41 PDT

Photograph: Finally some skepticism
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

I have to give full credit for the title and the scene find to my friend Rebecca, who spotted this rather unorthodox sign on the board of Gosford Anglican Church.

??? GOD ???

Masked people in George Street

Ted Szukalski — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:38:40 PDT

Photograph: Masked people
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

A group of young, masked people passed me by on George Street. They were wearing very creative masks, but I am not sure for what purpose as they did not stop when I took the photographs. Since one of them had a professional video camera I can only guess this was intended for some production or promotion.

Justice Dance Crew at Martin Place

Ted Szukalski — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:38:25 PDT

Photograph: Justice Dance Crew at Martin Place
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

Today, as part of self promotion Justice Dance Crew performed a very brief dance at Martin Place surprising the lunchtime crowd. The performance was announced only 30 minutes earlier on Facebook not giving a lot of time to their fans to gather in any tangible numbers. Never the less quite a few people in addition their own film crew with cameras showed up. The 3 minutes routine got a well deserved applause and the Justice Dance Crew disappeared into the crow as quickly and unexpectedly as they appeared.

Rally for photographers rights

Ted Szukalski — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:54:39 PDT

Photograph: Ken Duncan in Channel TEN interview during photographer’s rally
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

On Sunday 29th of August almost 700 photographers gathered at the Campbells Cove, Sydney to protest against various rules and legislations around the country limiting photographers’ activity. I was there proudly wearing my “’I'm a photographer, not a criminal” t-shirt.

Over the years photography has been hit with numerous, inconsistent conditions and fees from councils, national parks and other authorities and lack of understanding from general public. In all of these cases the photography takes place on public land. The regulations are turning photographers into “criminals” because of these overzealous regulations. Photography is an art form journaling the nature and our lives. It is important to stress here those restriction apply to all photographers, not only professionals. If anyone takes a photograph in some places in Sydney, or in fact Australia, and subsequently sells it, they may be subject to criminal prosecution. This may apply to a good holiday snapshot you have taken on your last holidays thus it applies to anyone with a camera (even mobile phone camera).

Ken Duncan gave a passionate speech to the gathered photographers and repeated the message to a number of media outlets in subsequent interviews. The message was repeated by landscape photographer Peter Walton and Leo Meier. In the country where photography has a rich and noble history the treatment of photographers in recent years is dramatically deteriorating. We may end up being a generation of mass digital media and no historical documentation of our lives because of bureaucratic restrictions.

I had a brief chat with Ken Duncan after the rally and expressed a view that majority of general public is unaware of the restrictions and various legislations and thus will not understand the protest, as on the surface it may appear only to benefit the professional photographers. I am an amateur photographer and I know this is not the case. I think it is important people realised again photography is not a negative activity.

I’d like to quote a number of banners used during the rally, as I think they carry an important message:
“Artists have rights to sell their works”
“Guilty of promoting Australia “without a permit””
“Don’t censor our sensors”
“Artists have rights”
“Capture the moment not the photographer”

Australian Federal Election 2010 – No clear winner

Ted Szukalski — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:04:06 PDT

Photograph: Man with curious facial expression
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

Democratic processes sometimes take a strange turns. I believe yesterday’s vote is one of these eye opening statements by the electorate. The vote may be and will be interpreted in many different ways, however, the fact that neither of the major parties could form a majority government is a clear message that the public voice and opinion cannot be taken for granted by anyone.

With number of seats still not decided this may change in few days but most analysts predict a hung parliament. A minority government is never easy to run, especially that balance of power in the senate is also held by 3rd party – Greens. It exposes the potential for deals, which may not have otherwise sanctioned by the government in order to gain support of the independents and greens. Other words, less than 3% of House of Representatives Members may have a control over the country. It does not seem right. At one stage of the election TV coverage it was mentioned a very high informal vote of 8 to 10% in some electorates. That is a significant number that could have totally altered the election results. I do not know how but I think since voting is compulsory a vote has to be cast. Perhaps the representatives of the Australian Electoral Commission should have a special right to verify each vote is a valid one.

The photograph of a young man with a puzzled facial expression is unrelated to the elections or its results. I have presented it here as an individual human expression of uncertainty many people may feel today.

Wire figure sculptures dancing

Ted Szukalski — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:10:01 PDT

Photograph: Walking in time a sculpture by Dominique Sutton
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

I have passed these wire frame figures on George Street hundreds of times in last few years. I have taken numerous photos of them but they never returned a result I wanted. Just by chance I walked one day in the opposite direction and saw them in a totally new light with their long shadows on the pavement. They seemed to dance. This perceived movement is not visible at all when you approach them from the front.

On totally unrelated subject: Australian Federal Elections 2010. I was surprised this morning how many people turned up to vote. We tend to cast our votes roughly at the same time at each elections and in the last 11 years we simply walked straight to the tables to collect the ballot papers. Today there was a 20minute long queue. I wonder if people somehow feel more passionate these elections. The conversation in the queue was not encouraging however. The man directly behind me said “I wish I did not have to vote”. Quite sad. It is strange to me how people do not appreciate that they live in a democracy and how little attention they pay to the fact that their vote can indeed make a difference.

Following my own principle of “credit where credit is due” I have renamed the photograph to “Walking in time” a sculpture by Dominique Sutton.

Australian Federal Election 2010

Ted Szukalski — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:10:55 PDT

Photograph: People silhouettes
Photographer: Ted Szukalski.

Australians will tomorrow cast their vote to elect a new Federal government. Personally I think the current elections are particularly difficult due to a mix of policies on offer from both major political camps. However, this blog is dedicated to photography and not to politics thus I am going to hold to my opinions.

I was made aware the advertising company is serving political ads to my blog and I would like to clearly state I do not expressly support or endorse any of the political parties via this blog. People need to make their own voting decisions based on their own political view, performances of the parties they support and in the best interest of Australia.

Choose wisely!

PS: Please remember, you do not vote for a Prime Minister – you vote for a political party, which will govern Australia. (Technically you elect members of The Australian House of Representatives and senators of The Australian Senate)