Day 365, 365 Day Project

Leaping for joy! Leaping into a New Year! Whatever you want to read in to this Auto-portrait I can say I am thrilled to have completed this project. It was quite a year and I had many challenges as anyone who attempts this series knows. Sometimes you are not creative, tired or just plain frustrated. Other times you see something on the super of the moment, that fleeting light that you just have to capture. Then there are the times you plan and work to execute the image as you envisioned.

There is the joy of discovery in doing a photo a day. A chance to get back to the sheer pleasure of taking pictures. You also have carte blanche to experiment with new tools, techniques and ideas. For me it was discovering first what the iPod touch and then the iPad and iPhone could do. When those could not accomplish what I wanted, I knew exactly what my Canon 7D and 24-70 f2.8 or 70-200 f2.8 where capable of in order for me to get the right perspective. I also discovered the apps available for the portable devices as well as plug ins for photoshop. This greatly expanded my capability to achieve the artistic vision I was searching for.

In showing this project I have had many comments and some of the images have been selected as images of the day and a variety of websites around the world. This is very humbling as I know I am no more special then many of you who are following me. It has been such a blessing to have comments from people I respect like Jonathan Marks, Tony Blei, Joe Paulicivic, Ricco Scheepers, Christopher Raun Leth and my many students who have helped encourage me along the way.

Although my next project is entitled "Project 12" which will consist of a new assignment every month with a final product of some type being produced. This could be an e-pub, a book or other type of presentation that will help me continue to grow as an artist and as a person. I still plan to shoot and post images on a regular basis, but not being confined to the 365 day ideal will allow me to post more when i have them, but also to take a break as needed. I do plan to put together a selection of images from the past year which I intend to make available both as an e-book and a printed version through Blurb.

In closing I have tried through out the project to talk about that days image and the process behind it. I had decided a few days ago that this was the image I wanted to do. To show myself for those who don't know me. I set up the one Balcar Mini z monobloc with a small Chimera softbox in my basement studio space. Since I wanted to have my main tool's in completing this challenge in the image I proceeded to bring out my trusty Canon 40D and attached the 10-22 f3.5-4.5 lens to it. Setting it up on a tripod I attempted a few with the timer but decided I needed to call on my assistant Cool to come and give me a hand. I attached the cable release and told him to press the button whenever I clicked my heels together. The Shutter speed was set for 1/125 @ f8 and 200 ISO and the focal length was 20mm. After shooting the image I downloaded the file and picked the one I liked best, cropped it, did some minor adjustments, resized and then uploaded to my iPhone. There I used my favorite app "Snapseed" to add a little more drama to the shot using the Drama Dark 2 filter. I then used PhotoToaster to added the edging that I wanted.

So thank you my friends for your support and please feel free to comment here or by e-mail. Wishing you and your families all the best for 2012.

Day 364, 365 Day Project

Sometimes with this project you capture a fleeting moment, one where you barely have time to grab the camera a snap a shot. Today was one of those as I was working in my office and noticed a stream of light leaking through the blinds and illuminating the handle on my 100 year old antique barber chair. Grabbing the iPhone I had to careful position it so I would not cast a shadow and ruin the wonderful reflections on the wall. I got in close to get the composition I wanted and snapped a frame. Less then a minute later the sun had moved and the drama was gone. I then brought the photo in to Snapseed and used the Drama 2 filter and the frame to get the final result.

Day 363, 365 Day Project

As time runs down on this years project I seem to have photographed every nook, cranny, corner and object in the house. Still maneging to find something to use as a subject, this time the holder in the shower with the various sundries we leave there. Shooting with the iPhone I brought the file into Snapseed where I used the Vintage 3 filter to alter the tone and add a texture. Then I used Real Camera+ to finish up with a frame I felt would work with the photograph.

Day 362, 365 Day Project

The game of "Perfection". One tries to get all the pieces in place before the time runs out and pops them up. Sitting around this afternoon playing with Luke I thought I would try to capture the pieces as they popped up. Having had experience with the iPhone and movement I was sure I could get some frozen and others with movement. I tried a number of times with varying degrees of success until the above image happened. Happy I then processed it in Snapseed doing some color correction for the tungsten light source and taking out some of the saturation. I then finished it up with a frame.

Day 361, 365 Day Project

Just a few days left in 2011 and then it is on to new projects and adventures. Every year when we hit these last few days I start planning out the year ahead. Tonight we decided as a family that we would be taking a family vacation in February and head down to Disneyland for the boys and then stop in Las Vegas on the way back for the WPPI convention. I pulled out a map to show the route and Cool and Luke had fun as I drove the toy car down to Anaheim and back. I pulled out the iPhone and shot a close-up shot of the Hot Wheel's car which was then processed both in Snapseed and Real Camera+.

Day 360, 365 Day Project

I was watering our plants in the basement which allowed me to notice that one of the Christmas Cactus's is in full bloom. I went to my office and picked up the Canon 7D and the 24-70 f2.8 lens and placed them on a tripod with a cable release. There was some beautiful natural back lighting happening and I wanted to isolate a single flower. The background, however, was distracting so I retrieved a piece of black matt board from the production room and slid it carefully behind the flower so as to not block any of the light. I then exposed it for 0.5 of a sec at f10 with the lens at 70mm (see original image immediately below).

When I started this project a year ago I would have been satisfied with the straight shot. However as I started to experiment I found there were certain things that I like and can enhance the image. This is one of the beautiful things about photography, it can be very subjective. I liked all three of the images posted here yet the top one that was brought back on to the iPhone and processed with Snapseed just had a little more pop in my opinion. This effect was done using the grunge tool where I moved the centre point and feathered it out then adjusted the saturation slightly.

The last image here was another version done with Snapseed and using the Drama 2 filter which gave a different look altogether. It is fun to see what one can create as it gives you more options when preparing images depending on who your audience might be.

Day 359, 365 Day Project

Today's image is of the Christmas present I bought myself. It is Tim Mantoani's "Behind Photographs - Archiving Photographic Legends". I supported Tim's project by investing in it prior to publication at Kickstarter.com I was intrigued by the book as it had a number of photographer's whom I have had a good fortune to meet inside of it. So I but down my support of the book on faith from what was presented on Kickstarter.

I was not disappointed. The book arrived on the 23rd but as I am teaching my boys the value of patience, I wrapped it and did not look at it until today. The end product is beautifully done and is one of the finest book of photographs of photographers, all created on the giant 20x24 Polaroid camera. The book itself is 11x14 and has been printed to make the photographs stand out. Besides the stories about the photographers and many of their iconic images, there is valuable research in to the history, art and culture of the medium. As I am about to launch a new course at SAIT on this particular subject in May, the information in the book will be an invaluable resource.

I created the above image with a few things in mind. First was to show the book and a selection of the participants for the project. I choose these three individuals, Michael Grecco, Douglas Krikland and Ron Galella as I have been very fortunate to spend some time with each of them. Though I already knew the stories of the images they had chosen to show, I enjoyed seeing them here in the book.

I also wanted to try an new app called Frametastic which allows you to add a variety of images in to a selection of different panels. Knowing that I would have trouble on the small screen of the iPhone, I shot the images of the cover and pages inside using the iPad. This allowed me to size the photo's to fit the frames and then save the final result as one image as seen above.

So if you are a lover of fine photography books or wanted to learn more about some very fine photographers and their stories I highly recommend this book. You can learn more at Tim's website http://www.mantoani.com/