Giving it his best shot

By Emma Sun
GRAEME Hort goes to extreme lengths for his photography. He rises before the sun, crawls through grass and doesn’t sleep until way after midnight – all for the perfect photo.
The Tynong resident has trekked around various places in Australia, including the high country, high plains, the bluff, the back of Mansfield, Innamincka outback, Tibooburra and right along the Great Ocean Road.
One of his favourite pictures for the year is a picture he took while spending a weekend camping at Craig’s Hut in the high country.
“I was there during the day and I took some pictures, then I wandered around and took some of waterfalls and went to a lake,” Graeme explained. “I thought I’d camp at Craig’s Hut so I set myself up and during sunset I took some pictures of the front of the hut. The next morning I got up and went to the back of the hut.”
Graeme managed to capture the image with the moon in the background and the light hitting the wood of the hut, which brought out the colours of the wood.
“It’s all about getting up early in the morning,” he said. “I like to get up into the high country but you’ve got to get out at first light of the morning and last light of the afternoon because that’s when you get your best colour coming through – that’s what I’ve found anyway.”
The photo has been featured in both the Warragul National and the Pakenham National exhibitions. “I had to do something with it!” Graeme laughed.
Graeme also likes to take pictures of things up close using his macro lens, which often sees him lying on the ground.
“I find that with my macro lens you see a lot more stuff than what you’re used to seeing because you wouldn’t normally look for it,” he said. “All the time you’re walking through the scrub – I like walking through the scrub – you’re looking for stuff to take photos of.
“I find mushrooms, orchids, little flowers, wildflowers – it’s a bit soft but yeah. I’ve tried taking photos of bugs but I can’t get them to sit still enough.”
Graeme originally joined the Pakenham Camera Club because his daughter had an interest in photography and made him accompany her.
He now actively goes to every club meeting and has even surpassed his daughter in the photography ranks, going up to A Grade recently after four years of photography.
“It takes a lot of practice,” he said. “I’ve found the more you use the camera, the better you get.”
While photography may seem to be an expensive hobby, Graeme said timing was more important, along with a good lens.
“It’s not so much the camera – the back of the camera just holds the photo but it’s the lens that does the work,” he explained.
“To me, for what I do, you’ve just got to be there at the right time when the sun’s in the right spot and you’ve got the right clouds.”
Graeme’s other hobbies include fishing, and he used to enjoy a bit of gold mining.
While his interest in his other hobbies may drop in and out, Graeme said he would continue with his photography.
“I really enjoy it, it’s really good,” he said.
“I’d like to be still getting my gold, but that’s too hard. Photography is as good as gold. I don’t make as much money out of it, but it’s good fun.
“I think you always need a good hobby.”