Shooting Rabbits

Before you get the wrong idea, let me reassure you not a single living creature was harmed in the conception of this blog post.

Everyone in Sydney, it seems, from Hasselblad handling aficionados to smartphone shutterbugs, has been photographing these giant, inflatable, cute-as-a-button bunnies, one of the most popular installations at Sydney's Vivid 2014 Winter Light Festival.

It's Vivid's 6th year, and a combination of more venues spread around the CBD and beyond, including the beautiful Gothic buildings of Sydney University, as well as unseasonably balmy weather for most of the two weeks, has enticed more Sydney siders than ever before to leave their cosy homes and experience the bright lights of our city.

The lights come on at 6pm, and between then and midnight every evening we've photographed the brilliant patterns projected on the giant concrete sails of the Sydney Opera House from every conceivable angle.

Then we've Instagrammed them and sent our photos round the world via MMS.

We've uploaded them to Facebook and Flickr. And of course we've blogged about them. If you're social media savvy you couldn't have avoided seeing pics of the Sydney Opera House all dressed in colour, as we love to do.

We've gaped in amazement at the huge animated light show projected on the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA).

We've watched enthusiastic volunteers mount a platform, choose a piece of music, and conduct the imaginary instruments as a sound and light show dances across the facade of the Customs House, transforming its walls into swelling, swaying and pulsating blocks of stone.

And hundreds of amateur photographers have joined nightly photography walks, eager to capture all this magic.  I think I was fortunate to experience one of the best last Saturday night, as part of a group of 8 mentored by Cameron Zegers for djb photography.

Our walk took in the north side of the harbour, starting at Luna Park where, with a few helpful tips from Cameron, I captured these shots of the bright lights, using a tripod and long exposures.

I'd long admired pretty shots like this on Instagram, and thanks to Cameron I now know how to produce this effect of the spinning Ferris wheel for myself!

This was another special effect, from a long exposure trained on a ride. Pretty! I know, small things amuse me.

Inspiration also came from the other photographers on our walk. I was excited to be able to create this radiating effect by altering the lens focus mid-shot. I would never have discovered this myself.

I visited Vivid three times in all, but I must say this exciting photography walk gave me the most pleasure and satisfaction (even if I was the most mature aged student in our group :-).

In the interests of transparency I'd like to say this isn't a sponsored post, and I have nothing to gain from telling you about djb photography. I'm simply a satisfied customer :-)