Do you recognize themes in your work? I do, in mine, like this:
Th
Dutch bicycles, a never ending source of inspiration.
Theme
Reply
Old friends/same friends.
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.
Gouda (2)
A better photo. Why?
Ow. As in “How Now, Brown Cow”.
Gouda’s town hall (take that, Oakville):
And yes, it is Gouda as in “How”, not Goodah as in “Who”.
Amsterdam.
Booth
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?
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.
Busybusybusy!
Apologies to all my faithful readers for the slow posts these months. But they will return to the usual frequency soon.
Meanwhile: my second ZL1 (“Zee El One”) on top of my first ZL1…:
That is a cropped and rotated and adjusted version of this:
A little attention to detail goes a long way, no?
Trillium Talk Tonight
Tonight, I am addressing the Trilllium Photographic Club on the subject of “Composition and Light”. See www.trilliumphotoclub.org if you want to be there!
The Trillium Club is an outstanding club, whose members range from total beginner to established pro.
East Plains United Church, Pearl Hall,375 Plains Road East, Burlington, ON L7T 2C7
Warm day
It was a warm-ish day today, so I went and took some car photos.
Since the sun was out, it is no surprise that I found available light a little boring:
So.. I added a flash, on a light stand. But as you will have guessed one flash was, of course, not enough to light a big subject like a car…:
…so I added two flashes. Left flash: half power manual 600EX, aimed direct at the car starboard side (zoom=50mm). Right flash: half power manual 430EX, aimed direct at the car front (zoom=50mm).
And that gave me this photo:
Desaturated slightly; otherwise this is the way I shot it.
But… say what—Two light stands? Fired by pocketwizards? Isn’t that complicated?
Yes, yes, and no, respectively. It is not complicated. And the results, as you see, get you immediately beyond the “snapshot”. And that is satisfying.
Michael teaches flash and other photography subjects; at Sheridan College and privately; and at his own school. If you want to know more, come to one of my regular courses (see www.cameraworkshops.ca).