doing some photography work for The Cobar Weekly in recent weeks.
Talented local freelance photographer Klae McGuinness has not only been doing some fantastic shots for The Cobar Weekly in recent weeks but is also having a lot of success with his unique and beautiful way of capturing different Cobar subjects.
During an interview with The Cobar Weekly it was evident that Klae is extremely passionate about taking photos.
He said his interest in photography began about two years ago after using the Photoshop program to play around with some digital illustrations.
Klae said he was not initially into photography but then when he started taking photos he found that he really enjoyed it.
He is now studying a Bachelor of Photographic Imaging with the Billy Blue College of Design.
Once he started taking photographs Klae said he began to look at the world from different aspects.
“The landscapes I’d been looking at forever suddenly had more detail and colour,” Klae said.
He recently took some stunning photographs of the birdlife at the Newey and talked about the detail in the birds’ feathers, the curves of their wings and the intricate details in their features; things he said he would have never noticed before had it not been for photography.
“My favourite subjects are action shots; subjects that are moving,” he said.
Motocross photography is one of his most loved subjects and, being a former motorbike rider himself, he understands where to position himself on the track to get the best shots.
His inside knowledge of the sport helps him to predict which way the riders will lean and what moment will make for the best photo.
Klae’s talent has seen him pick up some work for the local mines where he’s captured some environmental images for their reports, as well as doing some photos for their promotions, while others have been presented as gifts to international visitors and executives.
He was eagerly anticipating his first trip underground last week to capture the action that happens within the heart of the mine.
Cobar Shire Council has also been getting Klae to update their catalogue of local tourism images.
While in Ballina, Klae did some photo shoots at a couple of music concerts which he said he enjoyed as the coloured lights gave him a different subject to explore with the camera.
Klae’s won several photographic competitions including a Facebook Photos of NSW Outback competition; he’s been an Australian Photography Magazine picture of the month finalist several times; and locally won prizes at the Festival of the Miner’s Ghost.
The ABC also did a feature on Klae’s work after he won their Picture of the Week competition with a long exposure photograph of mine truck lights in the New Cobar open cut.
Klae says he doesn’t like to do too much editing of his photographs on the computer.
“I do remove any powerlines. I hate powerlines in photos,” he said.
He likes to neutralise the light in his images as he said this helps to make things look more real.
He prints his own images and has a gallery of his work on display which is for sale at the family business, Maddie’s Café.
Klae also likes doing restorations of old photographs that have worn over time.
He’s got a few tricks that he can do to revamp them and make them look good again.
