PixelatedImage Blog

Many of you know how much I love working in, and with, the photographic community. Several months ago the fine folks at Artistic Photo Canvas connected with me about being featured in their new I USE APC ads, and after coercing my buddy Dave Delnea to come to Vancouver’s Chinatown one evening to shoot some images, those ads are now beginning to appear in Digital Photo Pro, Outdoor Photographer, Photoshop User, and Layers.

So, first of all, I’m stoked. Seriously, this kind of thing makes me giggle like an unrestrained schoolgirl. Secondly, I need to do a shout-out to the folks at APC, especially Lew. Not only is their product amazing, but the service is top notch. I have been blown away, time and time again by how truly excellent their canvases really are. I’m a huge fan, and I just needed to send them some lovin’ for including me and for making my work look as good as it does when it shows up at my door, all gigantic and beautiful-looking. Clicking the image above will take you to the I USE APC page.

I’m off to Las Vegas today to attend Photoshop World and hang with my friends in the photography world. If you’re going to be there, come see me. I’ll be spending time at the Peachpit Press theatre, as well as loitering with friends and sponsors at the B&H, Blackrapid, and APC booths. Would love to see you, especially if we’ve never met. And if you aren’t going, we’ll miss ya! I’m back from the conference on the 4th or 5th. See you then. I’d like to post between now and then, but don’t hold your breath. But then I’m home for at least a month!

I’ve been home from India for a whole day now, and leave for Vegas tomorrow morning. Can’t imagine a more bizarre cultural shift than going from peaceful Ladakh to the Las Vegas strip.

So, this one’s a hodge-podge of stuff to accompany the release of the October Wallpaper (see post below).

Ladakh was, at it always is, amazing. Weather was warmer than usual and made it much easier to adjust. Matt and I were joined by Ami Vitale, whom you should all by now be familiar with. You should also know she adopted me as her evil twin which is so awesome I can’t begin to tell you. Anyways, I’m back and once I return from my pilgrimage to Las Vegas for Photoshop World I’ll be home for at least a month, slaving away on a couple books, keeping clients happy, and spending some serious time with my wife.

While in Ladakh I was testing out a couple new pieces of travel gear. The first is the BlackRapid Double Strap, the second was another piece of clothing from ScotteVest. So here’s the goods on those.

Blackrapid’s done it again with the Double Strap. When the first one came out I went down to see the folks behind the R-Strap. We talked about options for a two-camera rig. I shared my opinions, and an idea or two. And then they totally ignored those suggestions and came up with something way better, the Double Strap. First, you need to know that my only beef with the original R-Straps was the hardware – both the FastnR and the ConnectR were, um, crap. But they were honest attempts to solve a problem, to which I found my own solution. But in the re-incarnation of those two bits of hardware, the R-Straps have grown up, left the house, and made us proud. I gave one to Ami Vitale and after a couple days using it she gushed about how it revolutionized things for her. If you’ve not played with the R-strap, it’s truly a great product. In fact, the good folks at Blackrapid have agreed to send a Double Strap to one lucky reader. So leave a comment in this post and when I’m back from Vegas I’ll do a random draw.

Ok, so now, the Double Strap. It’s basically a set of comfortable backpack straps without the backpack, and into which are integrated two R-straps. One for a camera on the left, one for a camera on the right. Placed under a jacket the cameras peak out at the bottom, the harness is invisible, and the cameras are comfortably where you need them all day long. I shoot with two bodies a lot and this harness system is fantastic. The hardware is excellent, and where I once loved the product but with the caveat that the hardware was still in its infancy, I truly can’t think of a reason not to love, love, love these straps, and if you shoot with two bodies, the Double Strap rocks.

I also left my prized, and much-loved, Patagonia retro fleece at home in favour of taking the ScotteVest Fleece 5.0 Jacket. The jacket came just before I left and I ordered it because I love their Travel Vest so much. Basically it’s a really beefy fleece jacket with removable sleeves and almost all the pockets of the Travel Vest. Traveling and shooting out of these things is a joy – even if the abundance of pockets encourages you to load it to busting – which makes it really heavy! I don’t know that I’d use it to run to the grocery store, but for traveling, the ScotteVest line of gear is really hard to beat. I’m not much for the reflective trim but overall it’s classy-looking, and is really well built. I travelled over Kardung La in my vest and my Fleece 5.0 and was warm as can be until the very peak, but in hot weather either the vest or the fleece would be too much. If you’re looking for great travel clothing look at ScotteVest. My only nag is that I find the sizing a little too generous, so if you’re one of those people who sometimes take a Medium and sometimes take a Large,  I’d take the company’s suggestion and order both, then return the one that doesn’t fit.

OK, one last gear thing. Each year I take one new piece of kit to play with. I think it’s good – no, essential – to remain a learner and to always play, experiment, and push ourselves from our ruts. This year I brought a handful of Singh-Ray filters to play with. I took 4 ND grads (2 and 3-stop grads in both hard and soft transitions) and two polarizers ( a Blue-Gold, and a warming polarizer). Aside from my issue with the Cokin P filter holders (they’re total crap. The Z holders are nice but my polarizers won’t fit into z-sized holders so I’m left with the Cokin P holders. Did I mention they’re crap?) I had a great time playing with them. Might have over-used them, but I’m OK with that. Singh-Ray quality rocks and while the rest of the digital world keeps yapping on about how filters are no longer needed, I’m pretty sure than they can be as useful as ever, and in some case now more important than before in creating a specific aesthetic or in highlight control. The image at the head of this post was shot with a B/G polarizer and ND grad. I love the colours the B/G polarizer brings and the Lumen Dei crew kept calling it my “magic filter” – it’s pretty cool. If you haven’t played with your filters for a while, dig them out. If you’re looking for new ones, seriously consider giving the Cokin filters a miss and going straight to something with better optical quality.

Alright, that’s about all the gear-talk I can handle for now. Gear’s good, heck some of it’s even great, but Vision? Well, Vision’s still way better. To that end on Friday I released the follow-up to my eBook TEN. It’s called TEN MORE, it’s for people wanting to improve their craft without buying gear, and there’s more info HERE.

OK, gotta run. Nice to be home, sorry I have to leave so soon. Leave a comment – with your name and email – if you want to win a Blackrapid Double Strap.

Here’s the October wallpapers in both 2560×1600 and 1280×853, shot in the Nubra Valley, India, not far from the Pakistan border this September. I shot it using a Singh-Ray Blue-Gold Polarizer, a 3-stop ND grad, and three camels, during the Lumen Dei Tour in Ladakh.

Click the image above to get the small wallpaper, and HERE to get the large one. Enjoy!

TEN MORE is the follow-up to TEN, and it’s now available for download for $5. It’s a 34-page book that builds on the lessons offered in TEN with ten more ways to improve your photography if you’re more serious about your craft than about buying gear. And at $5, it’ll leave you enough shekels to buy all that gear you still think you need

Buy TEN MORE in PDF format for $5.

Thanks so much for the overwhelming response to my first ebook TEN. Creating this kind of thing is so much fun, but knowing it’s getting received so well around the world just makes it all so much more gratifying!

Please note that the books are no longer being sold through Lulu.com but through a secured e-Junkie engine which is much less problematic. Thanks for your patience on this.

Well, we landed in Delhi about 2 hours ago and now that we’re settled in day rooms at the hotel I can send the postcard from Ladakh that I’ve been meaning to send. I shot this at sunset in the Nubra Valley. We got spent 2 days in Hunder after driving over the highest motorable road in the world, some of us on Royal Enfield motorcycles. That’s me below on my buddy Russ’ Thunderbird at 18,500ft. It was spectactular!

The trip was so enjoyable. We’re a pretty organic tour and we limit our numbers to 8 participants; as such we operate more like a family and it’s tough to say goodbye. We saw some incredible scenery, spent time in some great monasteries, shot thousands of images, and ate some incredible food.

Special thanks to the participants that joined us, and to Ami Vitale, a lovely, vibrant photographer with no end of talent. Ami is a world class photographer and she was brave (crazy?) enough to throw in her lot with us as a special guest teacher. We had such a great time together. Also, she has a weird thing with jumping.

I’ll be showing more of my images over the coming weeks, including a desktop wallpaper for October, but the bulk of them will get stored in the secret archives and get used for the next book(s). Speaking of books, the next eBook – “TEN MORE” – will get announced in the next 12 hours of so (update: it’s now up and info is HERE).

Off to Frankfurt in 12 hours, then to Calgary, then to Vancouver, then home. Oh man, I can’t wait to get home!

9pm, New Delhi. The Lumen Dei team is madly packing right now. We’re on a 4am bus to the airport to get the early flight to Ladakh. We spent our today in Nizamuddin Darga, then to Old Delhi for lunch at El Jawahar near Jamma Masjid, and then a couple hours in the chaos of Old Delhi before returning to the hotel to download images, work on them, talk about them, and have a cold beer and great meal together. Tomorrow to the cool and altitude of Leh. There won’t be a hint of internet and if there is I won’t be on it, so we’ll see you in 12 days. Cheers!

PS – Having a great time, wish you were here, etc.

Hello from Delhi. First day of the Lumen Dei Tour and already up to our necks in new experiences and already being prodded further steps down the road of our photographic journeys. Our team is fantastic – wonderful photographers, all of them, and all with a great sense of humour. We spent the morning around Jamma Masjid in Old Delhi, then the afternoon at Nizamuddin. Tomorrow we’ll do it in reverse to take advantage of different light.

I learned something today about the way I see light. It seems I look at problems to be solved, whereas a photographer like Ami Vitale looks at opportunities. The image above is a great example. I first saw the scene (left)  and thought the light was too bright, the dynamic range too high, and dismissed the scene entirely. Then I watched Ami shoot, and instead she used the “problem” to her advantage, exposed for the hand and allowed the rest to go to dramatic shadow. My way of seeing was problem based, hers was opportunity based. I saw “here’s why this light stinks,” and she saw “here’s why this light is amazing.” So then I shot the one above, but it’s a poor imitation of a better shot I saw Ami take.

Anyways, it’s a journey and each time I learn something new I get closer to expressing myself better. Man I love teaching

Tomorrow another day in Delhi, then off to Ladakh. If I post between now and then, consider it a bonus. Otherwise, see you when I get back from Ladakh.

Hello from Delhi. Writing this close to 5am and in a couple hours the 3rd Lumen Dei Tour begins. Yesterday the four of us – Matt Brandon (below), Gavin Gough, Ami Vitale, and I, hung out around Delhi scouted a couple places, and between frames laughed our asses off. Had a great time and can’t wait to unleash Ami (above) on this team. She’s not only a brilliant photographer and truly lovely human being, she’s a riot and I’m officially adopting her as my twin sister. Several of the team arrived early and did some shooting around Delhi yesterday as well – Jon McCormack’s blog has some initial images HERE.

Will try to post something tomorrow morning, but don’t count on it, it’s about to get crazy busy. Namaste! Khuda Hafez!

A quick postcard from Delhi. I hit the ground in Delhi around 1am on the 11th, spent the 12th with Gavin Gough (above) and yesterday, the 13th, with Gavin and Matt Brandon. Today, the 14th, the three of us will add Ami Vitale to our number, and tomorrow we’ll add 8 more and begin the third Lumen Dei Workshop & Tour.

It’s been crazy-wet here in Delhi but what a reprive from the usual heat. So nice to be back, and to be shooting and collaborating with friends, walking in the chaos of Chandni Chowk, sitting in the quiet of a hidden mosque, or eating butter chicken at El Jawahar, a hole in the wall restaurant in the shadow of Old Delhi’s Jamma Masjid. One of the things I enjoy most is playing the unspoken game of “Do you see what I see?” while shooting with other talented photographers, and to come home at the end of the day and compare images. Which didn’t happen last night because I passed out before 8pm, while Matt and Gavin both live within a couple time zones of Delhi and didn’t get hit with the jet-lag stick the way I did. But the shot below is one you’ll find looking suspiciously similar to one on Gavin’s site.

Anyways, having a great time. Can’t wait to meet the team, some of them for the first time. Speaking of teams we’ve had some meetings about next year’s Lumen Dei Workshop & Tours and are really excited about the options we’re coming up with. We’ll be announcing them as soon as we can, and while I can’t give you much I can tell you that they’ll be around the same time of year- September 2010 – and that we’ll have a couple options for you. Stay-tuned, and while info about those tours will be posted here, and on Matt Brandon’s blog first as a courtesy to our readers, leave me a note in the comments if you want to be on the mailing list.

It just hit 5am, I’ve been up since just past 2am. I’m never going to make it to supper time without passing out…Hoping I can post at least once more before we fly to Ladakh on Wednesday morning.

I’m a voracious reader, it’s one of the ways I learn best, and eBooks seem to be a great bridge between the information found online for free and the $40 price-tag of a print book. There’s a place for all of those. A month or two I directed you to Mitchell Kanashkevitch’s ebook about post-processing. It was, and still is, and excellent resource. This month I want to direct you to his newest effort – Seeing The Light. It’s a 54-page PDF book about minimalist lighting scenarios using natural, modified, and created light with small, light, tools, and where Joe McNally’s books lean towards Nikons, multiple-flashes, and E-TTL, Mitchell’s focus is on lighter set-ups in travel scenarios. Well-illustrated by his gorgeous photographs, and by excellent illustrations drawn by his uber-talented wife, this is a really top-notch effort. And for $12, it’s excellent value.

I’m loathe to ask you to consider anyone’s eBooks but mine, but both his books are really solid value and great insight into how working simply, but intelligently, can create gorgeous images. Furthermore, if you don’t like flash because you “don’t like your images to look lit” then you need to check this one out.

More information on Mitchell’s stuff can be found HERE on his website. And while you’re there, take a look at his work. I regularly look at Mitchell’s work for inspiration.