I certainly don’t. But this guy does…

Busy as ever since being back in Adelaide – who said Adelaide isn’t a ‘happening’ place?

I’ve got plenty to share from my recent work, but right now I just want to admire the light we’ve been getting of late. Winter is really only good for one thing, and that’s 6 decent hours of morning and afternoon light that give amazingly long shadows and skies summer could only dream of producing. I really have to get out there and shoot more of my own personal work at this time of year – it’s really so inspiring to see light like this.

At 9.19am after a really tough “mondayitis’ start to my week, I received a phone call from an unknown number. A very chirpy, bubbly lady asked me if I was the Dan Peters who entered the Yorke Peninsula Photo Competition… I obviously answered to the affirmative. She gave me the news I’d won the comp and there was a cheque being signed off as we speak – pretty stoked to say the least! I took the winning photo on my little point and shoot camera one morning a few weeks back, and I had totally forgotten about the comp until mid last week… one day before the cutoff!

The shot was taken on a little Canon S95, which I believe is one of the best little point and shoots out there at the moment. I think I could easily shoot a small campaign off it if a client wasn’t sitting over my shoulder Seriously, if you’re wanting something small and awesome – go get it!

Here’s the shot. My little man splashing around in Moonta Bay. I told him to pull blue-steel but he thought a smile would be more appropriate.

Check out the rest of the competition here… on Yorke Peninsula’s Tourism website.

Shot this campaign three weeks ago in a Melbourne location… pretty amazing place. Loved the feel of the gritty black and whites – thanks to Paul @ KC for letting me go nuts on the grit – really suits the look of the denim. Also, awesome work by the boys at KC to produce this fantastic denim range. Seriously great work by a few local Melbourne lads. These guys are going in leaps and bounds at the moment!

A few shots from the campaign:

And a campaign vid shot with the huge help of Louis Maddiford – video guru.

Kiss Chacey – The Birth of Denim from Kiss Chacey on Vimeo.

I was in Melbourne two weeks ago for Kiss Chacey’s new denim campaign (which I’ll show you June 1st), so on the way home I decided to have some ‘Dan Time’. Shot some frames without the client leaning over my shoulder which was a really nice change!  The weather wasn’t amazing for shots, but I got some great tones anyway. Check them out… if you guys ever want any prints done btw, please just hit me up and I’ll get them printed and shipped in a jiffy!

Two covers in a row for Australian MTB which I was totally happy with. This time on the cover is young Adelaide rider Conor Fearon. The kid can ride I tell ya. Plus he’s patient and let me shoot about 40 “one more times” for the money shot. Really happy with the layout and it looks insane in print. Go grab a copy – see how sharp my 70-200 is

Here’s a quick shoot I had for Nena and Pasadena the other day. Their new women’s range is awesome – hope it all goes well for them.

So much going on at the moment. Taking on some big projects which is fantastic, but super busy. I’ll keep you posted with some more stuff real soon…

I’m very proud to lanuch my new fashion and advertising galleries on my site this week. There was a whole lot of work put into those shots, so it’s always a nice feeling to get great feedback on things. Thanks to all that helped out on shoots, and to all the people giving me feedback on the images. I’ve got a few more shots to upload in the not-too-distant future so I’ll let you know when that’s all ready to go…

If you haven’t checked it out… go to www.danpeters.com.au and click “fullscreen”. It’ll certainly give you the right view on my shots, that’s for sure!

As for the folks checking out my stuff on an ipad or iphone – I’m terribly sorry to say you can’t view it yet. It’s flash based so you’ll have to jump on a desktop or laptop to have a look!

Here’s one of my favourite shots from the gallery:

A lot of you have heard the news of Grant’s HUGE crash a couple of weekends ago. I was there shooting it, and obviously witnessed it first hand. I’d have to say it was one of the most horrible experiences I’ve ever had being involved in MTB’s, and I wouldn’t wish any of it (spectating or riding) on anyone. Grant is one of the toughest guys I know, and when you see someone that hurt it really hits home hard.

We were out shooting an enormous 60ft gap Grant had built and as he took off from the lip, his bike soared… the guys there watching all looked in astonishment at how high he went. It was like he’d hit a bmx lip. Unbelievable. He overshot the landing by about 20ft and the forces of the bike going up through Grant’s body bucked him and sent him hurling down the downramp. He slid to a stop unconscious but breathing. At that moment it seemed like someone had switched the automated button and all the lads spectating went int action – two guys were on 000, two guys helped me get down from my 20ft winch up a tree, a couple of guys ran to Grant’s side and started tending to his injuiries. The biggest thing we had to do was stop him from moving… just in case (which I think was the single-most important thing we did all day in the end).

The next half hour was a total blur… ambo’s, helicopter, SES, the works. He was airlifted to RAH in Adelaide and within an hour and a half of his crash, he was being seen by the best surgeons we have in Adelaide.

I caught up with Grant last week to see how he is, and I guess re-live a little of what happened. I printed off the one shot we got of the jump (nailed it btw), and gave it to him as memoirs. He had a pretty solid smile on his face when he saw it.

The one thing that I have seen the whole way through this ordeal is Grant’s amazing upbeat nature about everything. His zest for living, and his uncanny ability to keep positive throughout the worst times is just phenomenal. I was texting and calling him and his wife (Mel) since hour 1 and the whole time I have been getting amazing messages back. One message I received read “I can feel my balls!!!”. What sort of guy can find the positives in having hardly any feeling in his legs shacked up in a hospital? Gnarly dude.

Here’s to a speedy recovery Grantly. Hope everything at Hamstead rolls well with your body and can’t wait to see you on your feet in a couple of weeks!

Friends of mine Mr Nice and Dj Ego are rocking a HUGE 4 deck AV Visual feast at the moment. They’re touring with it and slaying the crowd with a mind boggling show. Seriously cool.

Shot some footage for them during their Perth gig on NYD, and they’ve just released their promo vid. Pretty cool 60 seconds.

Nice and Ego 4 Deck AV Show Teaser from Ego on Vimeo.

Check them out at Nice and Ego’s blog for more info!