At the beginning of the month I had a the honor of photographing another fall wedding, the couple whom I worked with was Tyler and Erin, and they were wonderful to work with, patient, understanding, and just a joy to work with. With unpredictable weather that day we were able to use the sanctuary of Knox Presbyterian Church which provided a beautiful back drop for the portrait work.
I had a chance once again to go and photograph the CNE Airshow over the Labour Day long weekend, specifically the Friday show. Of course part of the experience is talking shop with various other Photographers around. It was rather impressive the number of dSLRs there. It also gave me a chance to try out different camera modes. For the most part I found myself shooting in manual mode, just so that I could under expose the image, and then I could edit it later to keep the sky exposed correctly and then manually adjust it so that the planes would stand out. I also experimented in Shutter Priority mode (mostly setting the speed to 1/2000″), just to capture the planes mid flight.
The US Navy’s Blue Angels of course, in my mind, stole the show. Here are a few of my favourites from the Angels.
A selection of photos of the US Navy’s Blue Angels. They’re flying F/A-18 Hornets
The rest of the Airshow Images can be found at my flickr account.
This time the Civil War. This weekend I was at yet another re-enactment doing the photography thing (I have one expensive hobby, I cannot afford to pick up another one and join them out in the field! Maybe one day!).
It was a lot smaller than the Siege, but just as enjoyable as the spectators were a lot closer to the action this time around, and they had horses! I spent most of the morning taking photos of people and chatting with the various folks around the camps ect, several whom had also been at the siege. However the most impressive work came out of the battle at 3pm (they had to move it back an hour because of a wedding happening at the same location, can’t have the vows happening while rifle and field gun fire were going off).
All my photos from the event can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/axle81401/sets/72157621998707303/
Once again I was allowed back to photograph the Siege of Fort Erie event. This year, unlike last I was much more restricted in my movements so I wasn’t able to shoot in true photojournalist style, but I was able to pick up some great shots from the event as it is.
The British Line.
The trouble with events like this is because dispite appearances things happen really quickly out on the battle field. I found that setting my camera to Continuous High Speed mode, will give you a better selection of shots to choose from. During the day it’s hard to catch the explosive forces when a musket/rifle is fired. But with careful timing you can get some impressive shots.
The Americans fire a volley into the Fort.
I was able to get onto the Battlefield for the re-enactment of the Battle of Chippiwa, and often found myself in the middle of the line of fire. I had to be pretty quick on my feet, and lugging a D300 with my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens around made it difficult, all while wearing period clothes.
Glengarry Light Infantry
As Dusk comes, it makes capturing the explosions from the muskets is easier, however I had to once again reach into the high ISO settings on my camera.
The British send hot lead screaming across the field of Battle.
I was also very happy to have a camera and lens that are fully weather sealed, as the rain started to come down, I could shoot without worrying about my equipment…too much. Events like this are very hard on your camera, but that’s why I paid for the top quality equipment so that I could drag my camera out into the battle field, even if it was a fake battlefield.
And before I leave, just this one awesome shot that I caught during the night battle:
If you want to see all my photos of the event you can view them here: www.flickr.com/photos/axle81401/sets/72157621992580652/
This past weekend I had the chance to tour around an abandoned mental hospital. The place, closed in 1995, seemed to gain a life of its own after the closure.
Whenever I photograph an event I try to cath the emotion of the event, lots of facial expressions, people having fun, in action, the usually things you see in your daily newspaper. But how do you do that for things that don’t have emotions? Like a building?
Nikon D300 ~ AF-S Nikkor 17-55mm 1:2.8G DX
17mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/20″ ~ ISO-1600
You need to use your eyes, to be able to see a scene within the building that would induce emotion, often times, a trick in the post processing will help, the in above case, the chair looks like it’s trying to escape, the high-contrast black and white gives it a very harsh look. No surprise, this building housed people undergoing Electro Convulsive Therapy.
When you walk into a building, think about what it used to be, let that be your guide when looking for emotion. This was a mental hospital, within my own mind I thought of emotions of loss, isolation, fear, desire to escape. So while I was walking through the halls I looked for scenes that evoked that emotion within me.
Nikon D300 ~ AF-S Nikkor 17-55mm 1:2.8G DX
23mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/40″ ~ ISO-1600
Now, go out and start exploring your world, remember, there is a huge range of emotions that you can shoot into.
As I mentioned in my previous entry I was at Canada Youth 2009 last week attached to the Presbyterian Record as a photographer at the national youth conference of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. I put my D300 through the workout of its life while there, taking around 2000 photos. It was fun narrowing it down to around 200 photos to edit.
But over the course of the week I learned a couple things.
1) Weather sealing is key, nothing like getting caught in the rain with your gear and not having to worry.
2) Fill Flash is your friend, even in direct sunlight, some flash is great to lighting up those shadows.
3) Ignore your meter, manually set your camera, and cranking to ISO-3200 can yield some great results.
4) Lenses that are older than you are, still give amazing results.
If you want to see the rest of my CY09 photos click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/axle81401/collections/72157621857323330/
The art of candid street photography is a fine subtle one. First thing you need to get over is knowing where it is OK to do it and where NOT to do it. First off, it is perfectly legal to photograph people when their in public space, this includes streets, squares, and municipal spaces. For example, if there was a massive street party happening, you can go around photograph people and post their images on the Internet without fear of legal repercussions. Canadian Photography Laws allow this. (This even includes children!). If it’s a private event on private property, then permission must be obtained (preferable in writing) from the venue owner. Often Malls can be picky about photographers taking photos inside the mall. If approached by an agent of the mall (This includes Security) be open and honest and if asked to leave do so without complaint.
Nikon D300 ~ AI Nikkor 135mm 1:2.8
Now it becomes a question of gear, as in what to bring along? Again it all depends on the situation. Back in Febuary I went over to a local sledding hill on a warm day (warm by winter standards, so zero degrees Celsius). The lenses I brought along, my 50mm 1.8 and 10-20mm. Both strange lenses for such an activity. Sure I could have taken my telephoto lens and stood off at a distance out of harms way. But then I would’ve looked to be up to no good. Hence the ultra wide and very low profile 50mm. The reason? Simple, I could get in close, I interacted with the kids and the parents. By the end of the ‘trip’ I had three email addresses to send the photos to.
Nikon D300 ~ Sigma DC 10-20mm 1:4-5.6 EX HSM
Out on the street is a different story. But again, the trick is to be able to catch life, without you influencing it. That’s the key to catching people unawares. Most people when they see a camera will either shy away or strike a pose or something between the two. This is where the telephoto helps, either a huge zoom or a short mid-range telephoto.
Nikon D300 ~ AI Nikkor 135mm 1:2.8
Nikon D300 ~ AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G VR
Sometimes both serve their purpose, the 70-200 will get you noticed more as I found out when I ventured into Union Station with the big lens still attached to my camera and was called over by Security. Yeah, they really wanted to know what I was doing. But even with street photography the small unassuming lenses like a 50 or 35mm will get you the results you are looking for. For technique, open the aperture, shoot at f/4 or straight up wide open (my fastest lens is the AI-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens, but that has a very low depth of field so I’d usually shoot at f/2 where possible on lenses faster than f/2.8) So that the subject is in focus, everything else is blurred around them. The idea is to catch them!
Nikon D300 ~ AF Nikkor 35mm 1:2D
The question that was posed to me this afternoon standing outside an abandoned building.
I was framing up my shot when I notice a woman walking past me, then a tap on my shoulder, the woman whom I had really paid no mind to had returned.
“Are you good with cameras?” she asked.
Obviously my D300 with grip and 17-55mm lens made some form of impression on her. She proceeded to say she was on her way to pickup a video camera “camcorder” and wanted to know if she was getting a good one then handed me a sheet of paper about said camera. I read over the specs while she said it was a gift for her husband for father’s day, and for video taping the grandkids and putting the videos online. She was getting it from Henry’s a name, that I trust (I explained that all of my equipment even the bag and film was from Henry’s). I handed her the paper back and said she was getting a good camera and was in excellent hands. She thanked me and left.
I proceeded into the building.
I reserve the right to refuse jobs that go against my moral and philosophical views
That is my disclaimer, but what happens when you’re asked by a friend to do a shoot that falls outside of your own morals? In this particular case, I did it, with some things put into place to protect myself. I speak of course of my latest PVC shoot. I’m happy to say that my conditions were well met and the shoot was a success. So as a photographer stick to your morals, if a shoot disturbs you, or makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it. Or insist that things be put into place that allows you to feel comfortable and stay with your moral leanings.
More can be found here: PVC Shoot on Flickr