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Exposure: Adam Spence

18-year-old Adam Spence showcases his photography of his hometown, Canberra, and beyond.

Lexy Savvides
Lexy is an on-air presenter and award-winning producer who covers consumer tech, including the latest smartphones, wearables and emerging trends like assistive robotics. She's won two Gold Telly Awards for her video series Beta Test. Prior to her career at CNET, she was a magazine editor, radio announcer and DJ. Lexy is based in San Francisco.
Lexy Savvides
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Biography
Adam Spence is an 18-year-old freelance photographer from Canberra, Australia. From an early age, fostered by growing up in Australia's capital city, Adam has shown a keen interest in nature and capturing its beauty through the lens. In 2005, Adam's adoption of digital equipment opened up a whole new range of possibilities.

Adam cites leading Australian photographers such as Steve Parish, Ken Duncan and Rob Blakers as significant influences. At age 16, Adam established a gallery in a prominent Canberra restaurant, and later that year photographed the Victorian coastline from a helicopter.

For all his adventures around South Eastern Australia, Adam enjoys nothing more than capturing the beauty of his hometown. He is the owner of Adam Spence Photography.

Equipment
Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon EOS 40D, Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM, Extender EF 1.4x II, Speedlite 580EX II, Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX, Panasonic Lumix FZ20, B+W filters (UV, Circular Polariser, NC and Grad-ND), Macbook Pro, and Mac Pro with Adobe Creative Suite 3.

Cygnet II
Originally, I was frustrated when trying to take this shot in Commonwealth Park, Canberra. I wanted a picture of one of the cygnets only, but a swan and another cygnet kept swimming past in front. It was only when the other swan and cygnet kept still to the left of the frame that I noticed the pleasant framing effect of the shot and the slight angle of the cygnet I was trying to photograph.

Settings: 1/512, f/8, 400mm, ISO 320

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Bee
A macro photograph of a bee taken at sunset resulting in pleasantly warm colours.

Settings: 1/60, f/2.8, 100mm, ISO 200

)

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Carillon
The National Carillon in Canberra, a gift from the United Kingdom celebrating the creation of Australia's capital, is a landmark in the centre of the city. On this day, the broken cloud formed a striking backdrop for the Carillon, creating a very powerful composition.

Settings: 1/256, f/11, 24mm, ISO 100

)

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Crimson Rosella
The Crimson Rosella is a common sight in the parks and gardens of South Eastern Australia. This one was located in the shaded areas of the National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. A long lens and fill flash were used to capture this bird.

Settings: 1/395, f/7.1, 400mm, ISO 1250

)

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Cygnet
A portrait of a cygnet in Commonwealth Park in Canberra. The cygnets tend to move quite quickly so several shots were required to get the ideal focus and clarity. Heavy shadows and some harsh lighting were corrected using Nik Viveza in Photoshop CS3.

Settings: 1/644, f/8, 400mm, ISO 320

)

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Family portrait
A close family moment captured. Converted to black and white and some contrast adjustments made.

Settings: 1/640, f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 200

)

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Gum tree
Photographers know a lot about the great effect that light has on their work, particularly the change in light throughout the day. Wake up early and you'll be rewarded with a crisp warmth bathing the countryside. In the afternoon, a softer warmth returns as the sun sets. Here, a gum tree is photographed against a pale pink sunset in the light of dusk.

Settings: 1/83, f/4.5, 84mm, ISO 500

)

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Melbourne
Melbourne skyline photographed from the Rialto Towers observation deck.

Settings: 1/320, f/11, 18mm, ISO 200

)

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Misty lake
An abstract piece depicting some reeds and a duck silhouetted in the morning light and partially obscured by mist rising off Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. The reed leaning towards the right of the frame provides an interesting leading line from one subject (the reeds) to the other (the duck).

Settings: Panasonic FZ20, 1/250, f/4, 43.5mm, ISO 80

)

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Monoliths
Two monolithic limestone stacks off the Victorian coast near Gibson Steps. Image converted to black and white, contrast adjusted.

Settings: Canon EOS 350D, 1/500, f/14, 18mm, ISO 400

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Purple flowers
The closest purple flower is in focus while the second flower forms part of the diffused background.

Settings: Canon EOS 350D, 1/400, f/5.6, 100mm, ISO 1600

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Rowing on a misty morning
Morning mist rising off Lake Burley Griffin on a brisk winter morning is a classic and quite picturesque sight in Canberra. On this morning, I photographed a crew of rowers who appear as ghostly figures as they disappear into the mist. This was one of my earlier images, taken with a fairly simple point and shoot, but the capture was spot on despite the difficult lighting conditions. I cropped it in post-processing, converted it to black and white and made very minor contrast adjustments.

Settings: Panasonic FZ20, 1/3200, f/4.0, 57mm, ISO 80

)

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Seagull
This was one of four images taken in burst mode of a seagull in mid-flight near Lake Burley Griffin. Some filters were used to preserve the natural lighting of the seagull while heavily dimming the background, leaving only a streak of blue lake water.

Settings: 1/664, f/9, 310mmm, ISO 500

)

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Abstract nature
A grass tree photographed up close creates a striking abstract pattern.

Settings: Canon EOS 350D, 1/160, f/4, 100mm, ISO 100

)

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The farm
One of the many farms on the outskirts of Canberra set against the ominous dark clouds of an impending storm.

Settings: 1/512, f/9, 200mm, ISO 200

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Tulip
One of the many tulips at Canberra's annual Floriade festival. Use of a selective focus and vignetting has created a uniquely soft and radiant portrait of a flower.

Settings: 1/166, f/5, 105mm, ISO 100

)

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Wallaby
A very tame wild wallaby photographed on the Freycinet peninsula in Tasmania. This wallaby seemed perfectly happy to meet a group of cyclists and pose for some snapshots.

Settings: Panasonic FZ20, 1/160, f/4, 428mm, ISO 80

)

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