That was a good meeting, yesterday in Ajax. I presented “Developing your photographic style”, an all-new presentation, to the Ajax Photography Club, my favourite club.
I shall publish some excerpts here, in the next little while. First, though, one more trip to Europe tomorrow. I apologize for the tardy blogging in the mean time, but that will change.
A few images of Rotterdam:
….is how photography goes for me. Now, I am sitting in an airport, looking at 25 hours to complete an 8 hours flight… and reflecting on how few photos I made in Holland this time. It was not a holiday, so I may perhaps be forgiven. But I did shoot pics of my friends, some long-lost.
(I met Bob, above, once in Libya, in Ghaddafi’s birth town. He drove in from Tripoli, I drove in from Marsa El Brega. We met half way. Small world.
Photos bring it all home.
Do you recognize themes in your work? I do, in mine, like this:
Th
Dutch bicycles, a never ending source of inspiration.
What an great evening I just had in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Met up with an old friend, super-talented NOS journalist Jeroen Wielaert. Even though we hadn’t seen one another for almost 40 years, we had not changed one bit where it matters. Personality, stories, language, all the truly important things. A wrinkle or two more, or in my case a hair or two less, makes no difference.
And you owe it to yourselves to, if the same happens, take a proper photo, not just an iPhone shot.
And yours sincerely:
Great evening, all I can say.
A better photo. Why?
Gouda’s town hall (take that, Oakville):
And yes, it is Gouda as in “How”, not Goodah as in “Who”.
I spent Sunday night shooting pictures at a wedding—photo booth pictures, to be precise. And while some photographers think of this as a low-end endeavour, I love it, and I recommend it to all.
“Photo booth” means photos of people using props and funny poser, and printing images on site.
This needs a computer and special software:
And a tethered camera with a studio-type lighting setup:
And, ofcorse, props…:
And finally, technical knowledge as well as people skills.
The printouts people are handed look like this:
Look, by the way, at that last picture. How do you fit around 15 people in front of a backdrop meant for two? Here’s how!
And that’s why I love booths: all my varied photography knowledge comes together for this single purpose.
The result: as the bride told me: “They will remember this wedding because of the booth photos”. If that isn’t the best compliment ever, I don’t know what is.
Which one do you prefer?
The point is not that one is better than the other. The point is that cropping a picture, or getting closer/farther, materially changes the nature of that picture. Think carefully when you compose (or afterwards, when you crop) a photo.
And by the way. B&W (Black and White, or monochrome) is still with us, and I suspect, and hope, that it always will be.