Just keep looking.

Finding time to take a photo a day can be tough as we all have busy schedules.  I combat this by always looking for something that I can work with throughout the day.  Some days this can be taking an ordinary object and looking at it from a unique perspective. Other's can be of family activities or having go to ideas that one can count on.  These last ten days had me using all of these in continuing my streak of consecutive days taking photo's.

January 7.  Sitting on the couch I was looking at the remote and using the iPhone was able to look at it from a different perspective.

January 8.  It was a wonderfully warm day after a nice dump of snow the previous day.  The boy's wanted to go sledding and I positioned myself down the hill with my iPhone.  They almost took me out but I caught the expression of the moment.

While waiting I looked at the setting sun and how the clouds were lit with a bit of drama.  Another iPhone shot captured the scene.

January 9.  I had to kill some time while Cool was at his vocal coaching so I dropped by the family print shop.  As I walked around the presses and equipment a few items caught my eye and I turned the iPhone on the to make these images.

I personally like the look of this big wheel on the old Heidelberg press and how the light reflected off of it.

January 10.  One of those good to images, not so much the subject but the style.  I take a simple object and using a mirror place it on it to create and interesting design.  Using the Canon 7D and using the 24-70mm on it's minimum focusing distance.  I used one of  my Alien Bees with only the reflector on it to catch the light on the widget just right.  I finished the shot off in Perfect Photo Suite 7 to add the white pinstripe.

January 11. My boys love to play in the tub and Cool has developed his own way to blow bubbles.  I positioned myself with the iPhone so I could get his lips between the circle of his fingers and waited till he got the bubble to be a fairly large size.

January 12.  I went for a walk in Fish Creek Provincial park with the idea to do a self-portrait as part of my on going project this year of creating a new one every Sunday.  As I walked around I noticed the sun setting with these cattails in the foreground.  I moved in close and lowered my angle to frame up the cattail with the sun low in the sky using the iPhone.

Soon after I found a location that I thought would look good in the self-portrait, namely this fallen log.  I set up the tripod and got my settings and put the self timer to 10 seconds.  I wanted a contemplative look and enjoying a nice winter's day.  I tried a few different positions before I got one that I really liked.

January 13.  Another snow day and as I walked around the area around the school I found a number of shots that captured the essence of the day.

January 14.  Another one of those days that I used the mirror to create a reflection with an everyday item, in this case a pencil and sharpener.  I carefully sharpened the pencil to get the shavings to form an interesting pattern and then place it on the mirror.  I used a small softbox this time on an Alien Bee as the light source.

January 15.  The first night of shooting with my basic lighting class at SAIT.  Tonight we were doing high key and after the students had done their photo's I made some adjustments at the end of the session as I knew what I wanted, in this case a semi-silhouette.  Breanna struck the pose exactly as I wanted and using Perfect Photo Suite 7 to finish the image.

January 16.  What a difference a few weeks make.  The snow is melting under the +7C temperatures and revealing all sorts of little gems underneath.  Some like this leaf was still encased in ice and using the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone I captured this photo.

I then found this nicely shaped leaf still encased in the snow.  Quickly I had captured to different and unique images.

You take what you are given.

Over the course of a busy day we sometimes get so engrossed in the activities that the thought of taking a photo sometimes slip our minds.  Thus it can be easy to miss a day if we are not careful.  So we have to take what we are given in order to create an image.  Today after picking up some groceries at Safeway I was given one of their Texas Hold'em scratch and win tickets.  Upon returning home I scratched it and saw three Aces and the phrase WINNER.  I thought it might make for an interesting photo so I added the lucky penny that I used to scratch the ticket.  I'm not sure what the prize is yet as it is an in-store prize and I have to take it in to claim it.  Still it was a lucky day as I got my photo and a prize.

Self-portrait Sunday's

The self-portrait is a time honoured tradition in photography. From Hippolyte Bayard's "Self Portrait as a Deadman" to Cindy Sherman's "Untitled Film Stills" photographers have trained their lenses on themselves to tell stories and create fantastical scenes.  While challenging to create when they are well done they can be works of art.

The advent of digital photography has made it easier to create the self-portrait as one can now see the results of one's set up immediately to make adjustments in pose, lighting and set-up.  We can also easily incorporate multiple elements to create strange new worlds or fantasies.  Working with our self as the subject we have total control of the project.

However digital and smart phone's with cameras have tainted this form of expression as the "Selfie" has become common place with people taking snaps of themselves in all types of situations.  While I have no problem with capturing a moment and people turning the camera on themselves, I do have a problem with it when the images are less than inspired.  On many of the photo sharing sites I see people who have nothing but selfies in their feeds and most have a similar look thus making them nothing more then fluff.

Now there are still some photographers who have embraced the self-portrait as a means of expression and share them through social media.  Artists like Brooke Shaden and Lori Andrews have come up with themes and topics that resonate with viewers and they have developed a large following.  Both are imaginative and create wonderful photographs.  However I commented to one of them that it is easy to create a stir in the photo world when you are a young, attractive female.  Would it be the same with an average looking, middle age male.

So in addition to my photo-a-day project I plan to use Sunday's photo to create my own self-portrait.  Today I started simple using light as my main tool in trying to create a dramatic look.  I plan to use the week before each Sunday to come up with a theme and then gather what I need in order to take the photo's on Sunday afternoon's.  It is my hope that as I progress along that I will unleash some of that creativity and imagination  that I may have been missing the last while.

Trying something a little different.

Even though I have been taking photographs for a long time I am always searching for new ideas or projects to try.  Today I discovered a YouTube video by Bryan Peterson where he demonstrated a technique of photographing an object in a vase with sparkling water.  He did his out doors on a picnic table using natural light and it looked very intriguing. So I thought I would give it a try this evening.

Now as it is winter time here shooting out doors was not going to happen so I brought a mug down to the studio and set up one of my Alien Bees with a small Chimera soft box.  I set the ISO at 100, shutter speed at 1/250 and aperture at f5.  I used my 70-200 mm lens with a 36 mm extension tube for macro.  After using a clothes pin to hold the orange slice in place I used a can of Sprite as my liquid.  I took a number of quick shots as the bubbles interacted with the orange.

After downloading the files to my computer I choose the one I felt had the nicest bubbles and then cropped and did some minor exposure adjustments.  Using OnOne's Perfect Photo Suite 7 to add a border that I liked.

It is fun to try new things again and that is one of the joy's of photography.  I plan on doing a lot of experimenting in the upcoming year.

1100 Consecutive days of photography.

It was a highly productive day as my consecutive days of taking at least one image reached 1100.  I worked with my Canon 7D and the first four photo's were taken using the 70-200 f2.8 lens with the 2X converter. I did this as there were some big snow piles between me and the bushes with the berries on them.  Luke had come out to be with me and he was leaning against one of the drifts when I trained the camera on him for the tight shot.  I then removed the converter and photographed the trees silhouetted against the sun.

In the evening I took Luke over to the Confederation golf course for the annual Christmas light display.  While he took photo's with his iPad (see the last photo) I shot these with the 7D and the 24-70 lens.  My ISO was at 2500 and then shot at 1/80 sec at f4.5.

The holiday's are for family.

One of the nice things about the start of a New Year are the boy's are off school and I have a break from my teaching schedule.  With my wife Lysa home today as well we got a chance to have some quality time as a family.  We took down all the Christmas decorations together and cleaned the house then sat down and played the board game "Life".

Now yesterday I had come across a Hailey Bartholomew talking about her 365 Grateful project and it sort of resonated with my post from yesterday.  This link will take you to a short video with her explanation of her philosophy about taking a photo a day, You take zillions of photos with your cellphone why not try something new with them?  Sometimes you just have to show a small snippet from your activity to capture that moment that you are grateful for such as I did with the time I had with my family today.  It maybe a simple iPhone capture but it was part of our day. 

To continue this theme I share a few other family images from New Years Day.  These were done in the afternoon after I had posted yesterday's blog.

The family Playing in the snow after sledding.

Luke's snow angel.

Making fudge with marshmallows on top.

A few tips on taking on a 365 photo a day challenge.

One of the greatest advantages of digital is the ability to shoot and view photo's immediately.  FOr some this is also one of the problems as millions of photo's are taken every day of all types of boring or useless subjects.  There are two type's of photography that digital makes easier and can either be a great advantage or just plain awful.  The first is the self-portrait (or selfie in the current vernacular) and the Photo-A-Day project.  I will leave the former for a future post in the next day or two while I address the later today.

With the simplicity of the digital medium there are many people who start and finish a Photo-A-Day challenge and many more who fail because they get overwhelmed by the idea.  With so many people attempting it some of the work can be uninspired or not all that good. The question that comes to mind here is "Why should you take on such an endeavor?" Now everyone will have their own idea as to why they want to attempt it the best reason I can think of is that it help's to improve your photography.

I say this with a bit of experience behind me.  I have been a photographer for more then 40 years and have shot just about every genre there is.  On December 31 2010 I took up my first 365 day challenge with the hope of just completing it.  Now three years later I continue to march forward taking at least one image a day.  There have been day's when I have had a photo's that were less then inspired but not that many.  What I want to share here are a few tips that can help you complete a year in photo's.

Tip 1.  Don't let the 24 hour's of a day be a barrier.  There were many days when I shot my image in the final hour and sometimes those were my most popular or creative photo's.  Just relax and look for something to photograph.

Tip 2. You don't have to go far.  I have found that close to 80% of my photo's were created in a 15km radius from my home and a large amount of that in my house it's self.  I have used a variety of knickknacks as subjects and tools for light.  Use natural light, flashlights, flash or any ti=hing that emits light.  You will be surprised by the results.

Tip 3. Always have a camera handy.  One of the great advantages with the new technology in phones is that they have become very capable cameras as well.  While some will dispute this I think that if you learn the limitations and strengths of this tool that you have with you every day you can create some wonderful shots.  The small and unobtrusive nature of the camera makes it possible to find subjects while you grocery shop, ride the bus or just about any time during the day.  When this camera does not suit your vision, chose a better tool.  I still use my DSLR and the lens selection I have when I need them to create the vision in my mind.

Tip 4. Improve your sense of vision and become aware of the environment around you.  Look for and observe light whether you are taking a photo or not.  Be aware of where it is coming from, is it direct, being reflected off of a surface, is it hard, is it soft.  Look for pools of light and how shadows work to create depth and mood.  Look for subjects in the every day, things or scenes you might have otherwise walked by.  You will be pleasantly surprised by the opportunities there in front of you.

Tip 5. Change your angle and point of view. Get low, get high, move closer, back up, angle your camera.  These are simple ways to make your shots more exciting.

Tip 6. Be aware of your framing and pre-visualize your final result.  By this I mean as you frame up the scene in your viewfinder look at areas that can be distracting and think about how you can minimize them.  This can be done knowing how you want to crop the image and thus you shot it the way you choose knowing that your presentation can eliminate certain distractions. You can also eliminate distractions by going back to tip 5.

Tip 7. Post-processing is our friend.  There are very few images that can be considered a pure photograph.  Journalistic images should fall in this category but otherwise photographs have been manipulated from the birth of the medium.  How much post is up to each individual.  I will selectively spot images at the very start eliminating bright spots that draw the eye or dark spots that stand out against light areas.  If they take the eye away from my subject I remove them.  After that I choose whether an image needs to have areas lightened or darkened or to apply filters for a certain look or effect.  While photoshop is great for this there are apps such as Snapseed, iPhoto, Jazz or others that can be done on your mobile device and are quick and easy to work with.  Explore them and learn how to use them.

Tip 8. Share your work.  Get in the habit of posting your image of the day to a variety of social media sights.  I start be posting my photo's to Instagram as it allows me to then share to my Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler and Flickr feeds.  I also share to Streamzoo, Tadaa, Pheed, EyeEm, Mobli, Tuding, Pressgram and OkDoThis which are photo sharing communities I access through my iPhone.  I also share to a couple of local meet-up groups.  By doing this it keeps me motivated and gives me encouragement and feedback that helps to keep me going.

Tip 9. Finally the most important tip I can give is to have fun.  This is for you and you alone.  You can experiment and try new things and learn techniques through taking a photo a day.  Once you start making the choices and create the vision you see then it really does not matter what other's think.  There will be nay sayers but there will also be helpful critiques that you can choose to use to make your photography better.  After all it is for you and that is what makes this project so enjoyable and intriguing. 

To illustrate some of my thought process I will share my photo for today.  I woke up and came to my office and notice an interesting pattern of light being cast on the wall from the sun through the blinds.  I picked up this Ironman figure that I had on the shelf and positioned it on a small box with the light behind.  I then got a flash light and had my son hold it with the beam of light on Ironman.  I adjust my Canon 7D to shoot at 800 ISO at f5 (to soften the edges of the light beams on the wall due to depth of field) and 1/250 to eliminate camera shake.  I left the whit balance on daylight so I get the warmth of the tungsten light.  I rotated and cropped the image in photoshop and added the frame with OnOne's Perfect Photo suite 7.

One final tip.  Don't be afraid to include your family photo's in your challenge.  This is especially true on special days like New Years day.  My youngest son felt that since it was the start of a new year we needed to start the day with a special breakfast.  He and my wife made a fruit salad (with marshmallows and chocolate chips added).  It was a nice way to start the day and I wish all of you that have read this far a very happy and prosperous New Year.