Apps

Guns & Basketball … PNG & Cairns …

What a difference a week makes …

Chalk ‘n’ Cheese …

One week I’m in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, shooting (if you’ll excuse the term) images of camouflaged ‘Special Services’ police heavily armed with automatic weapons … and the next week I’m banging away at fourteen Commonwealth Games basketball games and the heir to the British throne. That’s why I’m thoroughly rapt with the job I’m privileged to do.

The story in PNG … with words by excellent ‘News’ journalist Charles Miranda … was based on gun running into Australia’s closest neighbour in the lead up to the visits of the World’s leaders (including Trump and Putin) to the APEC conference in Port Moresby in November. The story and pics got a great run in many News Ltd mastheads around the country including The Daily Telegraph, the Courier Mail, The West Australian … and more that I haven’t yet seen.

Back in Cairns in time for the XXI Commonwealth Games and the mens and womens Preliminary and Qualifying Finals basketball games with teams from India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nigeria, New Zealand, Canada, England, Scotland … and Australia. (Sadly … the one game featuring England was disastrous if you hailed from across ‘The Ditch’ … they were duly thrashed by the Cannacks.)

Basketball, played in a perfectly lit but sterile indoor environment, is generally formulaic to shoot … but I did spend a few valuable minutes attempting something a little different during a couple of games … including an image I was a little pleased with (middle pic below) made during the Australian win over Nigeria. A slow shutter speed combined with a bit of vertical panning …

Prince Charles also made an appearance at the basketball and, as the ‘Pool’ photographer, my images of Charley were made available to all of Getty Images, the European Press Photo Agency (EPA) and my ’employer’ Australian Associated Press (AAP). Security, protocol, time restraints and bully tactics by broadcast media meant that good images were a challenge … but I did produce what I thought a nice comprehensive set.

So … a rewarding couple of weeks work … and variety is certainly the ‘spice of life’.

Below … one of my images of PNG ‘Special Services’ officers … and just one of the published ‘News’ feature pages (The Daily Telegraph) … pics from my Commonwealth Games basketball coverage (Australia V Nigeria and Scotland V Nigeria) and the visit of Prince Charles.

Images © Brian Cassey, News Ltd and AAP

Papua New Guinea 'Special Services' police - image by Brian Cassey

Papua New Guinea 'Special Services' police - The Daily Telegraph - by Brian Cassey

Australia's Angus Brandt (left) and Nigeria's Prince Orizu contest during the Men's Preliminary Round Pool A Basketball between Australia and Nigeria at the XXI Commonwealth Games Cairns, Australia. Image by Brian Cassey

Nigeria's Musa Usman goes up to shoot as Scotland's Alasdair Fraser tries to block during the Men's Qualifying Finals basketball game between Scotland and Nigeria at the XXI Commonwealth Games in Cairns - image by Brian Cassey

Britain's Prince Charles (with former Australian and WNBA basketball player Lauren Jackson to his right) during the India V New Zealand women's basketball game at the Commonwealth Games, Cairns - image by Brian Cassey

 

 

Everyday, Australia and the World …

Delighted to be invited to be part of the ‘Everyday’ phenomenon currently running riot on Instagram.

The story of ‘Everyday’ Instagram feeds began in 2012 when photographer Peter DiCampo and writer Austin Merrill founded @everydayafrica to showcase the best documentary images of the African Continent. It now has a following in excess of 113,000. Since then, many other accounts have been born including @everydayasia which has amassed more than 50,000 followers and, most recently, @everydayusa which grew to a similar number in just a matter of months.

This week I received an invitation to be part of  the new ‘Everyday Australia’  @everydayaustralia feed curated by current Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year and all round consummate photojournalist and good guy Andrew Quilty. I didn’t have to think twice!

Andrew’s creation of @everydayaustralia makes it the sixth continent to be covered by the official ‘Everyday’ network. DiCampo and Merrill have both been very enthusiastic about the launch of @everydayaustralia, as has Teru Kuwayama – Facebook’s photo community manager – who made the account name available.

Since late 2014 all the various ‘Everyday’ feeds have been loosely connected under a Global umbrella feed “Everyday Everywhere” @everydayeverywhere which acts as a World wide “Best Of” window. The @everydayeverywhere feed on Instagram is controlled by a central curator who searches for recent hash tagged #everydayeverywhere images from the various ‘Everyday’ feeds and reposts at least one every day.

At the moment the contributing photographers to @everydayaustralia are Oculi collective members Andrew, Dean Sewell and Raphaela Rosella, WA based Michael Wilson … and myself. STOP PRESS – two more contributors have just been announced – Darwin’s Glenn Campbell (‘fotostrada’ collective) and Newcastle based Simone De Peak. Look out for their first @everdayaustralia posts.

Generally speaking, depicting daily life in Australia is ‘raison d’être’ for @everydayaustralia. Work is documentary in style but also not excluding portraits, news, events etc.

Please take the time to find some great mobile device photojournalism and daily life work on @everydayaustralia and @everydayeverywhere.

Below are my first couple of contributions to @everydayaustralia
 … a click on them will take you to the feed to see the stories behind these two images and more from the other contributors. My personal Instagram feed is @brian_cassey.

Instagram iPhone images © Brian Cassey

EDAYarrabahBlog

 

EDASamValstroBlog

Instagrammification …

… is the title of a new book I’ve just published containing a selection of 80 images from my Instagram collection. Random images – no particular theme – and no text to speak of.

Just the images … all taken on the (now nearly antique) iPhone4

‘ INSTAGRAMMIFICATION ‘ is 7″x7″ (17.78cms x 17.78cms), available as a hard cover edition, soft cover or eBook … and … if you are interested there are more details and order information on my web site ‘Books’ page here.

Below is image of the cover … © Brian Cassey

Instagram, The Australian, and me …

I’ve spent my entire career making images of other people from the back side of a camera.   So it was a little daunting and very different to be asked to supply an image of myself “Instagramming” for an article in The Australian newspaper on the rise of the social media photography application.

“Instagram” has quickly grown to 27 million iPhone users in just 17 months … and a version for Android users is due to be realised any day now.

It is widely used on a daily basis by a growing number of Australia’s top photojournalists who delight in the creativity and competition that the app invites.

The article in The Weekend Australian – written by journalist Chris Griffith and published across the entire top half of page 7 on Saturday March 24th – tells of the rapid rise and the possible future for the “Instagram” app, and my experiences using it.

The main pic in the spread was an image I (reluctantly!) shot of myself using the iPhone at beautiful Mission Beach … and this was surrounded by some of my most ‘liked’ “Instagram” images. (I promise not to get into the habit of taking pics of myself!)

Below I’ve posted an image of the top half of page 7 showing how The Weekend Australian ran the story.

The text of the article can be found here … and The Australian’s gallery of some of my “Instagram” images – all taken on a now ageing iPhone4 –  is here.

If you wish to follow my work on “Instagram” look for … @brian_cassey

Instagram … Instant Gratification …

Apple has just announced that it’s “iPhone App Of 2011” is the ‘photographers Facebook’ – “Instagram”.

Media photographers in Australia have certainly embraced the much lauded image sharing application and fierce rivalry is rampant. It certainly is addictive …

The idea is you make photographs on your iPhone (other image capturing devices are generally frowned upon), compose in a square (6×6 like) format, apply filters etc and then post it to “Instagram” where your followers and other viewers comment on or ‘Like’ you efforts.

The process is certainly rewarding, competitive and cathartic … and the list of top Australian pro snappers that ‘can’t get enough ‘ is impressive – Adam Taylor (@adamtaylorphoto), Brad Hunter (@hunterphoto), Dean Lewins (@deanlewinsphoto), Lisa Wiltse (@lisawiltse), Nick Moir (@nampix), Quentin Jones (@heycharger), Steve Christo (@christo1966), Toby Zerna (@zerns), Wolter Peters (@snapperwol), Craig Greenhill (@saltwaterimages), Mark “Crusty’ Baker (@crustybaker), Rob Griffith (@griffgear), Brett Costello (@brettcostellophoto), Glenn Campbell (@glenn_campbell), Greg Porteous (@skipper_aust), Mark Evans (@evohood) and partner Jenny Evans (@mrs_evo) – and many more … (apologies to those I’ve forgotten!).

It certainly encourages some real creativity and is a welcome diversion from the day to day press image grind.

My recent foray into “Instagram” is under the moniker @brian_cassey.

I’ve posted below some images from my  “Instagram” efforts – clicking on the pics will take you to their respective address’s in the app where you can see “likes”,  “comments” and how the app actually operates.

“Instagram” is free …

All Images © Brian Cassey