PixelatedImage Blog

I had the distinct pleasure of spending a couple days with Dave Taggart recently. Dave flew up to spend a couple days with me working on his craft and getting out a few bugs before he joins us on the Kenya tour in January. In the lead up to our time together I spent some time looking at his work and the image above – called Ready To Fly – was one that jumped out at me, and then lodged itself in my brain.

Ready To Fly is a moving example of Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment.” It’s also a great example of juxtaposition, and an image that has a deeper theme. It’s got humour, too, but as the romans once said – In Risu Veritas – or, In Laughter Truth – there’s something true being said in this moment. It reminds me of lines from a Bruce Cockburn song;

And as I’m walking this prison-camp world
I long for a glimpse of the new life unfurled,
The chrysalis cracking and moistened wings uncurled
like in the vision John saw.

Isn’t it all what we hope for? That the decline of age is bringing us to the cocoon and not only the grave?

It’s also a great example of pulling any element from the frame that doesn’t add to the image – in this case pulling the vibrant colours to let the gesture and symbol take the stage. Thanks to Dave Taggart for letting me share this image. You can see more of his work HERE.

Last Friday I posted a short slideshow of images shot in Lamayuru, Ladakh. Thanks to all for the kind words left in comments and sent in emails. There were a number of requests for a how-to, so I’ll do my best to be helpful. Truth is there isn’t much to tell in terms of technique. I pointed the camera and let it do it’s thing while I worried about not getting trod on by a horse, donkey or yak. In situations like this the meter on my 5D does remarkably well. But remember, HOW I meter is not as relevant as what the histogram looks like. I shoot first, meter later. Sort of. HERE’s an article on that.

I shoot in AV, chose an aperture (f/16 in the case of the image above, ISO 100, 1/100sec- (see, the “Sunny 16 Rule” really works!), then check the histogram and try to balance the dark shadows and the bright backlit sun. But here’s the thing – perfect exposures are not what these images are about. These images are about mood, so I wasn’t afraid to blow the exposure, plunge the shadows, or even get way too much lens flare. I grabbed my 5D instead of my newer 5D MkII because it’s my kick-about camera; with the 17-40 lens on it I honestly don’t care what happens to it, so I take more risks, and don’t mind burying it in the dust and chaff of harvest. If you study my work you know I tend towards simple, clean compositions. This was an intentional departure, having already shot some harvest scenes that were front-lit, perfectly exposed, and boring & lifeless (see below).

I post-processed these (the slideshow images not the image above) in Lightroom with very few tweaks. In some cases I made the blacks darker. In most cases I added vignette, pushed the clarity slider way to the right, and added some fill light. In other cases still I pulled back the saturation and bumped the vibrance. I don’t have a formula, just the desire to retain or finesse the dusty, luminous feeling of a warm autumn day in the gold of the barley fields. That’s the key, and it’s what forms the spine of the book I am working on now to compliment Within The Frame.

Within The Frame was primarily about capturing your vision within the camera. The next book, the one after VisionMongers, is about capturing your vision in the digital darkroom of Adobe Lightroom. Most books out there answer the question, “how can I make my photograph look better.” Instead, this next book ask the question, “How can I make this image express my vision?” It begins with being conscious of your vision, the feeling you want to express in your image. Sure, adding contrast might be the answer. Or it might not. Begin with your vision for the image, and play in the darkroom until you’ve brought the digital negative into alignment with that. Forget the recipes and shortcuts, and instead learn what each setting does to the aesthetic of the image. Just the same as you do in camera.

I hope this is helpful in some way. I know it’s vague. Between you and I, I think the reason these images work is because I took the risk of getting in there, shooting against the light and pushing my face (and camera) around in the dust and dirt. As my portfolio fills up with safer images, I find myself drawn more and more to the need to express myself with less perfection and more mood. Perfection is over-rated and seldom touches the heart.

This is a short slideshow of some of the images I took in the village of Lamayuru last month while in Ladakh in the north of India. I love Lamayuru, and fear for what progress means for this place. While there we were told that this might be the last harvest done without mechanization, and while machines bring good they can also bring the erosion of cultures and values. For every gain there’s a loss. These images aren’t a commentary on that, just a celebration of the beauty of the harvest.

This is Thanksgiving weekend up here in Canada, so Monday’s likely to be a break for me while I give thanks for all I have – my family, my health, my place in this world, and for you who are a part of this growing community of good folks. I’m deeply grateful everyday, but this weekend I get to show it by eating more pumpkin pie and turkey than is healthy. On Tuesday my trainer will kick my ass for it. I can live with that. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Click the image above to open the slideshow in a new window.

In November I was in Kenya for World Vision Canada, in February I was in Bangladesh. Both trips were a visual adventure for me, another challenge to shoot similar subject matter in new ways and to discover new moments. I’ve only now got around to posting something. Part of that is simple deference to the client’s wishes as they complete their own projects around these images, and part is in just getting around to it. I finally got around to it. Enjoy. Click the big image to get there, or click HERE.

One of my favourite how-to books is Vincent Versace’s excellent Welcome To Oz, A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop. (For the book go HERE, for the DVD series, look HERE. ) It’s unlike anything else out there and was a real eye-opener for me. If you’re not familiar with it, or with Vincent Versace, I suggest you look into it.

As a follow-up to Welcome to Oz, Vincent’s just released 2 tutorial dvd sets under the title Return to Oz. One is called The Lazarus Effect, the other From Oz to Kansas 2.0. The first deals with recovering lost details, the second with black and white conversions, and while I am still waiting for the postman to bring mine, I’m introducing them to you because I know Vincent’s other work and love it. Vincent is a rare breed, and if you like my teaching I suspect you’ll like his – he talks alot about vision and expression, so these are bound to be infused with much more than just technique. Read the Afterword to Within The Frame to get a sense for the passion Vincent has for this art.

Like I said, I haven’t seen them yet, but they’re coming and I wanted to tell you about them now because by the time I get them the Introductory pricing is likely to be over. If you order before the 27th the pricing is $59.95, and each comes with a bunch of extras, including photoshop actions and Nik plug ins.

For more information on Return to Oz: The Lazarus Effect click HERE. For more information on Return to Oz: From Oz to Kansas 2.0 click HERE.

Had a chance to shoot for a couple hours this weekend for a good friend of ours. Eileen Rothe is a fantastic singer/songwriter and she, ahem, walks it like she rocks it. She’s also a riot to shoot with. There’s something to be said for clients who trust you. Pressure goes down, creativity goes up, and work seems like play again.

This shoot was my first shoot with the 5D MK II and I love, LOVE this camera. It’s such a pleasure to use, the new menus make it faster to get to settings like WB and ISO, and the look is as film-like as the 5D, only more so. I shot on manual exposure, and custom WB so I don’t have much to say about the AE or AWB but from the playing-around I did the other day they seem as good as, or better than, the 5D, and I never had a complaint about them then. Most of you know I’m no pixel-peeper, so this is nothing more than a gushing reaction. I’m pretty sure you can find all kinds of tech talk elsewhere.

Do I love the camera? Absolutely. Will I be selling my old 5D bodies? I doubt it. Will I be taking it around the world with me in 12 days? I doubt that too. First, there are no spare batteries anywhere on the continent so I’d be traveling with one battery. That’s crazy talk. Secondly, the files are MASSIVE. I knew they would be – not only are they bigger, but also deeper – 21 megapixels at 14bits. So the files will fill my drives faster, take WAY longer to download, and WAY longer to convert to DNG, process, etc. I know I can choose to shoot smaller files, but that’s the rub. For my travel – until I get more RAM and larger drives, the file options are a little too big or a little too small. A RAW option that sat right in the middle, say about the file size of the old 5D, that would have been perfect. Would I suggest you all rush out and buy a 5D Mk2? Nope. Bang for the buck for many, many photographers right now will be better off snapping up a good used 5D body and some great optics. Think about it – for the what I paid for the MkII body I could have bought a used 5D body AND an 85/1.2L lens.

Why did I buy the MkII? First, my 5D bodies are both 3 years old and bound to fail (again) at some point. Seemed like a good idea. Bigger files size when I need it. Better weather sealing. Better low-light performance. The new 3 inch LCD is nice too (the size is nice but the better colour-fidelity is AWESOME. Finally, my images don’t look like crap on the LCD.) But, if the 5D MkII hadn’t come out for another year, truth is I’d be just as happy shooting with my current 5D bodies. Think about this one before you shell out. For many shooters it’s just more camera than you need. If you need full-frame – and who doesn’t? – then a good used 5D and some sweet glass, would be a wise choice. There’s much to be said for staying on the trailing edge of technology, and you can snap up 5D bodies pretty cheap right now. I’d buy a used 5D over a new 50D right now – that’s how much I love the 5D and all it’s full-framed goodness.

The 5D MkII is just the right upgrade for me – larger files that my commercial and stock clients will like, and ergonomics that are familiar to me and require no new learning. What would make it perfect? I have no need for the video functions and would love to have traded that for more file-size options. I hate that I need new batteries for this thing, but once I’ve bought them and stopped my whining I’m pretty sure I’m going to love the longer life and smarter technology.

Ben Wilmore has a more thorough reaction to the MkII on his blog HERE and he mentions a bunch of things I just plain forgot.

Anyways, those are my initial thoughts. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and as it happens, my birthday. Then it’s Christmas. These are important days of faith for me – not sacred days per se, but days to focus on the sacred. I’ll be posting a pre-published post tomorrow, then back on the 26th.

The images of Eileen were taken with my 5D MkII, 85/1.2L wide open, and a 5ft Elinchrom Octobox.

Vancouver is under many, many, inches of snow. Other cities can deal with it, but we get a couple inches of snow and (1) our snowfall removal budget is blown in 5 minutes, and (2) people freak out and either park their cars (smart) or go driving (stupid). We’ve had 3-days straight of snow and cars are getting tough to find in the drifts.

I’m not sure you’d ever know it from my own work but I spent hours as a teenager and young adult pouring over the Patagonia catalogues, admiring the photography and daydreaming. Months ago my friend Nick Hall emailed me asking me for some advice. I’m not sure if he took it or not but he landed a great gig and now those shots are in the can and they’re fantastic. They bring me back to those days when the arrival of the new Patagonia catalogue, and to a lesser degree the new Sierra Designs posters, would come, and I’d sink back into wilderness revelrie again, living out my backwoods dreams vicariously through good-looking models in gorgeous locales.

Nick’s just getting his feet wet, and already he’s got some really gorgeous work, and some solid clients, under his belt. Swing by his site and look at his growing portfolio HERE.

It’s not often I look at a landscape photographer’s work and am possessed by an immediate desire to see all of it, travel with him, learn from him, but yesterday I watched a podcast by Bruce Percy on his travels in Patagonia and I’ve been able to think of nothing else. He does a workshop in Patagonia that dovetails with a workshop on Easter Island and I’m trying desperately to put it out of my mind, to no avail.

This is going to sound strange, but I don’t look at a great many portfolios by other photographers. I discovered long ago that, far from inspiring me, it often makes it harder for me to be creative about my own work. If I see work I love, I’m saddled with the burden of trying not to copy it. If I see work I do not like, I’m saddled with the equally unpleasant task of keeping my mouth shut. Hey, I’m not proud of it. Anyways, after seeing the podcast on Patagonia I literally had to, was compelled to, sit and look through Bruce’s work. It’s breathtaking, inspiring, luminous, and – dammit! – it makes me green with envy over some of the places he’s captured so beautifully.

If you have time today – hey, this is a short post, go now – spend some time on Bruce Percy’s site. Be sure to watch one of his podcasts too, he’s got one of those fantastic exotic accents we Canadians desperately wish we had.