cal
lo
life
Smart photography puts
the Hawkesbury in focus
by Penny Webb
whole lot of Likers and Followers.
Brenden started to focus on his
account when health issues and
Local Brenden Davis is the person
circumstance forced him to step
behind a stunning and popular
away from his property maintenance
Instagram account that profiles and
business. To help pass the time he
shows off the Hawkesbury landscape
would get out and about the local
in all its natural glory.
area capturing beautiful landscape
Operating under the Instagram
imagery.
account name of @hawkesbury_
“About a year after I first got sick,
photography , Brenden takes all the
I got my first iPhone. The quality was
photos on his smart phone and does
really good so I started taking more
the editing within the Instagram
photos and downloading editing
application. The result is a feed of
apps and it went from there,” Brenden
beautiful images of our region and a
explains.
Eighteen months
ago he started the
Instagram account and
now has over 3500
Followers. Brenden and
his partner also started
the hub account @
nature_skyshotz on
Instagram.
A hub account is a
way to expose your
work globally with
some hub accounts
having over 30,000
Followers.
“When you tag a
hub account with a
specific tag, you give
that hub permission
to feature your photo,”
Brenden says.
“Our hub @nature_
skyshotz features
landscapes images
from all around the
world. From sky shots
Farm just outside North Richmond. Photo: BRENDAN DAVIS
to landscapes, anything to do with
nature. It’s how we can share other
people’s photography online.”
Brenden now takes his photos on
a Samsung Galaxy S5 which provides
him with higher resolution and better
quality images. While he was taken
with editing apps in the early days of
his smart phone photography, he now
keeps editing to a minimum.
“I edit within the Instagram
app. I don’t use filters. I just use the
adjustment functions in Instagram,”
he says.
“I like playing around with colour
and contrast and brightening up the
photo a little. Sometimes I’ll take
up to an hour to edit one photo! Or
I may step away from it and come
back a day later and finish it off.”
As for Brenden’s favourite places
to shoot, he says it’s hard to go
past the Vale of Avoca in the Blue
Mountains National Park accessed via
Grose Vale.
“It’s a great spot. It overlooks the
Hawkesbury side of the Grose Valley
down to the left and over to the right
you can see the Grose River,” he says.
Brenden heads out just before
sunset most days not just to capture
fantastic light but also to have some
quiet time.
“Most of the places I take photos
of are really quiet just before sunset.
It’s the time I have to myself. It’s a
good time to reflect on things and I
enjoy being out there.”
Hawkesbury River looking towards
Freemans Reach. Photo: BRENDAN DAVIS
Follow Brenden’s Instagram
account @hawkesbury_photography.
Vale of Avoca Lookout. Photo: BRENDAN
DAVIS
HAWKESBURY DISTRICT INDEPENDENT NEWS www.hdinews.com.au
ISSUE 60 // MAY 2015 13