About

Gday

A photon checks into a hotel and porter asks if he has any luggage. “No, I am traveling light,” replies photon.

The Bounced Photon website and displayed artwork is created by Sydney photographer Rod Kashubin.

Why

For quite some time while walking on a Sydney street I was passing by an African gentleman. On a side of hot and busy walkpath he was playing guitar and smiling. Day after day various happy melodies were flowing through the crowd. Playing to no one in particular and smiling to everyone. Take all the people away from the street and music will go on. Most of the times I would carry on without stopping. And yet I would have a quick look, notice his relaxed style of playing and catch few happy tunes. One day I decided to hang on for few minutes and listen. I must say there is something special about a person who is simply doing what he loves. It gives me an inspiration. I was standing there and asking myself, what is it like? How would I feel being on a street all day? What will make me smile? A month passed and I`ve stopped a second time. After a small chat with Moussa I left with my wallet $20 thinner and as a proud owner of Afro Trios CD.

I spend most of my time doing photography and I often ask myself why. Why does it work, why do I do it, why do other people enjoy it? The obvious reasons are to explore cultures, to learn about our planet, to get closer to nature, as well as a perfect way to waste hours deleting most of the pictures taken to leave only the best few. Yet, it feels rightful to follow a creative passion. I think, above all, photography and art are great ways to show our goodness and get people inspired. And that is very powerful, it forces a mind to concentrate on good ideas. Once it gets into us, even if for a brief moment, it teleports us to a happy place, showing the life and the world how it should be. I believe inspiration is one of the greatest and least understood features we have. It is our internal magical switch that transforms us into the people we always want to be.

On The Trail To Mount Cook / Aoraki

On the trail to photograph sunset at the Mount Cook/Aoraki, New Zealand

How

My first digital camera was Canon Digital IXUS 330. Its 16Mb memory card and battery allowed me to take about 30 shots. Through 1.5″ display I could get a rough idea of how picture came out, but with limited roll of memory I had to choose my subjects carefully. The quality was awesome for such small device and it allowed me to share first photos of Sydney I took. I like one photograph most of all. It was an autumn evening just after the rain. Sun was setting down and fog-like clouds were lit with bright colours. I was walking along the Garden Island and was glad I had a camera with me. It is pretty much as it was, with no adjustments at all.

Colourful sunset over Sydney's Garden Island after the rain

Colourful sunset over Sydney’s Garden Island after the rain

The second camera that I used was Canon Digital IXUS 30 that I`ve got from my friend. From now on I was not limited on a number of photographs I can take. It was with this camera that I started experimenting with panoramas. I would make several overlapping shots and then combine them together. It greatly expanded the view that I was able to capture with my little IXUS 30. Below is a panorama of HMB Endeavour replica at the Australian National Maritime Museum. It is a stitched photograph of 3 vertical shots.

A 3-shot panorama showing HM Bark Endeavour Replica at the Australian National Maritime Museum

A 3-shot panorama showing HM Bark Endeavour Replica at the Australian National Maritime Museum

A pursuit for better quality finally led me to my first DSLR. Nikon D90 got me further experimenting with night photography, long exposure, and HDR amongst other things. The amount of extra detail that could be brought out after combining multiple exposures is simply amazing. For the picture of the fighter aircraft below I took 3 photographs within a second and then combined them together to get more details in the surface and darker areas.

Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk on display with a smile after a day of aerobatics at Temora Aviation Museum. P-40 is all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft designed in US and used in 28 nations during the World War II. It was the main fighter aircraft used by the Royal Australian and New Zealand Air Forces. This particular one was assembled in 1st Aircraft Depot at Hobsonville, New Zealand in June 1943 and assigned to 2nd Operational Training Unit. After the war it did escape the fate of being scrapped and was eventually bought by Allan Arthur. It took 8 years to fully restore the aircraft and I was lucky enough to see its amazing display that day at Temora. Only 19 of them remain airworthy out of 13,738 built. This is a tone-mapped HDR from 3 RAW files shot handheld with my Nikon D90.

Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk on display with a smile after a day of aerobatics at Temora Aviation Museum.

Buy License Buy Print

Many photos later I decided it was a time to get a full frame camera. The first shots from Nikon D810 blew me away. I remember it was a dark and windy evening at Kurnell. I was standing on the rocks balancing camera in one hand and tripod in another trying to not slip on the rocks and get wet from the incoming waves. Blue hour moved over pretty quickly and it got so dark that it was hard to see horizon through the viewfinder. I was taking pictures without seeing much. When I looked at the photos back home most of them were similarly looking, with hardly visible dark rocks on the foreground and distant port lights. With a slight movement of the mouse, however, the dark areas got brighter and for the first time I realised that camera can capture light better in a single shot than what I could see. Nikon D810 with its ISO 64 can do magic.

Looking over the Moon-like rocky shore at blue hour at Kurnell, Australia

Looking over the Moon-like rocky shore at blue hour at Kurnell, Australia

I spend many hours and sometimes days detailing over a single artwork. I enjoy every moment of it and hope my work will inspire people to pursue their passions. Together, focusing on what is good around us we can make world a better place.

Behind the scenes view on the helicopter flight over the Whataroa mountains in New Zealand.

Behind the scenes view on the helicopter flight over the Whataroa mountains in New Zealand.

If you are considering using my artwork in a project high-quality images are available for download via the Shop. I also have finest work available as stunning art prints and numerous other products (t-shirts, calendars and even wall clocks!) at RedBubble.

Sydney skyline at blue hour

Thank you for the visit and your interest. If you didn’t find what you were looking for or have an idea to share please feel free to Contact me.