Simon Osicka
When it comes to favourite photographs this image of winemaker Simon Osicka – standing in the doorway of his Heathcote winery, with his dog – could well take the cake. The light was low, I had the wrong lens, the scene was exquisite, and somehow a usable image was created. Simon Osicka is a not only a heart and soul winemaker of Australia, he also crafts bloody great wines. The bush-vine grenache project he has going is ultra exciting too.
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I took this shot with a Fujifilm GFX 50R camera. This is/was my favourite camera of all time, for landscapes or the like; just saying the model number brings on a reverence. The 50R can be a great portrait camera if you have the right lens or the right skills or both, and I had neither. I was using a 50mm prime with a maximum aperture of f3.5. ISO was 640, shutter speed weas 1/60th, neither of which sound dramatic but I felt as though I was pushing it. Simon and the dog are moving and so 1/60 is so very risky. In any case the above was the result and in environmental portrait terms I doubt that I’ll ever do better. That there is medium format goodness.
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Simon Osicka features in the review of Ansted & Osicka Cabernet here. They didn’t send me subsequent releases of this wine, interestingly.
