Inspiration, Where Art Thou...?

I am in desperate need of a photo project.

I know this because, more and more, everyday, I can feel my creative juices slowly slipping away from me. The ebb and flow of my central crativeness is slowly on it's way to becoming stagnant.
I need something that is going to inspire me, put a fire in my belly. Something that is going to make me want to get up in the morning and get to work on it- no matter what time it is. I need something that's going to make me want to devote all my time- endless, upon endless hours worth- trying to see this thing through to fruition, not to mention, something that will consume most, if not all, of all of my energies and money.
I need something that's going to occupy my mind twenty- four- seven and make me crazy, something that's going to make me wish that I'd never come up with the idea in the first place, something that, halfway through, will make me question my very sanity!
That's right! I need something that's going to make me into a raving lunatic for the next few months, and I'll still love every minute of it!

But, I digress.

The problem is that I just can't find anything to get excited about. No matter what subject I fall upon, nothing seems to stick.
This has been going on for some weeks, now, and I'm starting to get worried.
Is this all I have to offer as a creative person? Is this where my creative juices stop flowing...?

Another day, another photo inspired rut...

I need to find something that is going to get me excited about shooting again....but what ..?
Despite having done a huge amount of research- and yes, t.v. does constitute as research- I have yet to find a subject that grabs me.
I believe part of my problem stems from the fact that my tastes in subjects runs the gamut from food to hair styles, the history of architecture, to shoes. None of them have taken. I keep getting stymied at every turn.
The only project I feel that I can really sink my teeth into is a project on New York City.
But, the topic itself is too broad. I'd have to whittle it down to something specific... narrow it out a little.... but to what... as yet, I have no idea...
Clearly, this is still a work in progress- no pun intended.
Feel free to lob some topics at me, suggestions are more than welcome...

Vermont, how do I love thee...

I love to travel but, like everyone else in the population I don't get the opportunity to do it very often.
And with money being what it is- extremely elusive, damn near a myth in my house- it doesn't make it any easier.
So, you can imagine my elation, no, my joy, at being offered the chance to take a one day trip to Vermont in October.
I had been so desperate to get out of my city of Montreal this year that by the time this trip came around I didn't know whether to jump the guy who made the offer or start packing that very second!

I had taken the trip with two other friends from one of my Meet Up photography groups. The idea came about as a solution to the constant run of not-so- interesting excursions our groups had been partaking in of late (the last one to Old Montreal was the best one since the Hot Air Balloon Festival a few years ago). I don't want to rag on the guys and gals who manage the groups and organize the outings, I have a lot of respect for them. It can't be easy to come up with new and original ideas for excursions and to try to make everyone happy every time.
But, that said, I do wish they would try harder. It would be nice if they could maybe come up with something a little more daring from time to time. Like their own trip to a neighboring province or state, perhaps.

The trip was wonderful! Taken in the fall, the whole way there we were treated to a bevy of cool tunes and great conversation. Not to mention the breath taking views outside our windows of trees bearing leaves that screamed to all the world that they were here and they weren't going anywhere. Landscapes that rolled all the way into the mountains only to lose their peaks amongst the clouds.
My friend and I were treated to a whole new view of Vermont neither of us had ever seen before. Even in a state where every road could be a back road, the back roads of Vermont, were very beautiful and extremely varied. You never knew where any one road would lead you. You could find yourself passing a Dairy Farm in the back of someone's house or you could even be passing a Hyrdo Plant in the middle of nowhere.
It looked and felt just the way I thought it would: like a place to come home to.
Considering how much I love to shoot landscapes Vermont was the perfect place for me to go. I felt right at home the second
I got there. I desperately hope to go back some day...
When I was there I shot a ton of images but even that wasn't enough for me. Of course, I felt that I could have shot even more. That is the key with me: I always want to shoot more.

Vermont is a very beautiful state. Of course we didn't go through the entire state but I suspect that no two sides to her were the same...

10 things I hate about Flickr (and its users)

10 things I hate about Flickr (and its users)

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Boiling for Stock

Stop me if you've heard this one.
I am here to spew my frustration at some of the stock companies that I have recently joined who have repeatedly rejected my images in the past few days- they are making me NUTS!!
Grant it, it is a bit early for me to be losing my mind at having my images so frequently rejected by these companies but, I tell you, they are quickly driving me crazy- to the point where my happy place is getting a lot more visits from me than it's used to...

Having said that, I completely understand why they had to refused my images from their pool, especially where iStockPhoto is concerned. They give you so much information before you sign up with then and after, when they have to reject you photos- they actually tell you why they can't accept your images, a practice I greatly appreciate!- that they leave no room for any ambiguity.
The same can not be said about some of the other stock sites. Some of them give you a variety of reasons as to why your images didn't get pass their inspectors, leaving you to choose one to your liking!
This is confusing to me.
If my images didn't pass muster then let me know why so I can correct the mistake and resubmit them at a later date!
Incidentally, the images in question are from a set of photos I took on a day of shooting with a friend of mine in the older part of the city.
They are a throwback to the early part of my photographic career when I first fell in love with these subjects, and to this day nature, architecture, architectural details are still one of my favorite subjects.

It would be easy for me to crack wise and cry lack of courtesy on the part of the companies but, the truth of the matter may be that they just don't have the time to extend such a gesture to their contributors. These sites, after all, get thousands upon thousands of pictures a day coming through their system and to stop and itemize each and every error for each and every photo could slow them down enough to put a halt to their business- instantly!

So, in the meantime, I resolve to not give up and to continue to shoot and try to get a handle on exactly what it is that they want from me- and then give it to them.
Beyond that... I've got more of the same.

With gnashing of teeth...

This is quickly becoming a frustrating process.
Not only has the Dreamstime photo stock company have yet to approve my account, but yesterday Fotolia, the other photo stock company I joined, rejected one of my images from being displayed onto their site. Of course, they didn't give me any one reason as to why they were turning down my, in my humble opinion, very well shot image, instead they chose to gave me a whole slew of possible reasons as to why it was being rejected!
Some of those reasons were: blurry or out of focus, over or underexposed, noise or pixelation, and framing and contrast problems.
I'm not one to bite the hand that feeds, or potentially feeds in this case, but I would have loved to have known specifically why my image was being rejected so that I could have fixed the problem and resubmitted it at a later date.

A great many of these sites are extremely strict where the guidelines are concerned. So much so that it has come to my attention that it's the technical aspect of photography where I need to put more of my effort. Aesthetically, I'm good, I may not be the best but I am good. It's the technical aspect of my work that continues to trip me up.
Like some photographers I get all caught up in the look and the feel of an image that I forget to pay attention to the technical parameters of the image I'm shooting. When it comes o photography I lead with my heart and not with my head.
But that has to change. In order for me to get even a few of my images accepted to these sites I need to make nice with the other half of my brain.
Even I know you can't have one without the other.
Wish me luck..

Roadblocks

Recently, I got accepted to iStockPhoto, a photo stock company to sell my work. I figured that this would be a great way for me to, both, have my freedom to shoot anything that I wanted and still get paid for it.
Well, yesterday I tried to shoot my very first set of photos for my iStock file and found that it proved to be much harder than I thought.
For one thing, I hadn't counted on the weather- I know, a truly stupid statement considering the planet we live on, the massive climate anomalies that we've had to suffer through since last winter, and the shear fact that the weathermen hardly ever gets it right! All this should have been common knowledge to me! It should not have been news to me to find what had started out as a normally sunny day had grossly devolved into a hideous, thunderous, nightmare, which completely absconded with my light in the process!
But... there I was... surprised. Even more embarrassingly, I actually wondered what went wrong? Even saying to myself 'but.., the weatherman said..."
Shameful.
The other thing I hadn't counted on was having trouble finding my focus in the, now, low lighting of my living room. Despite using a tripod, the inside of a notebook as a reflector, long shutter speeds, (as well as forgetting that my floor shakes, ever so slightly.. ) a great many of my images were a tad on the blurry side.. (Normally, I would say 'selective focus' but this time there is no hiding...)

After some tweaking, this example is one of the better ones that I could find at the bottom of my pile. I worry that it may be too much of a close up, though. Maybe I should pull back a little more next time...
Clearly, this stock photography thing is going to take a lot more work on my part. I realize now that I may have to rent equipment, like lights, lenses, cameras, I may even have to rent a model here or there...
I think I'm starting to see the up side to this...

It's Wonderful!!!

Last Tuesday I was part of something that was a once in a lifetime event.
Not only was it the 30th of June it was also the opening night of the 30th anniversary of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and Stevie Wonder was giving a concert- for free.
The drama of the crowds not withstanding- I could have done without all the pushing and the shoving, the smell of weed in the open air, the spattering of petty fights- the rest of the evening was absolutely wonderful- parden the pun.
Of course, per usual, as of late, the weather was not cooperating. Throughout the evening storm clouds as heavy as wet grain sacks, continuously threatened to douse the ever expanding crowd below. And with such speed.
To look at the sky above was to see the Devil virtually giving chase to the clouds.
And when the sky did open up and let go her bounty of swollen droplets it was with sweet revenge that we all opened up our many colorful umbrellas -a veritable canopy- to deflect her punishing blows.

It was this view that came into my mind when I found myself standing amidst the throng of pushers, and tokers. What must the view have been like from up there? What would a canopy of 100,000 plus umbrellas look like?
Well, I need wonder no more!
A friend of mine has graciously donated their pictures of that night to me for the sole purpose of me publishing them here, onto my blog.
To that friend, I say thank you!

Stand the test of time...

What makes an iconic photo? What is it about a photo that makes it stand out in our mind?
Is it a look? Is it the composition?
Even more, where does the talent lie, with the photographer or with the model? Or are they working in concert?
This all came about the other day with the sudden and recent death of Farrah Fawcett. I began to think what makes a photo 'iconic'? Could it be the relevancy of the image through time? Could it be that a photo has to have the same impact it had the day it was shot as it does today?
Well, if that is the case then that photo of Farrah had it in spades.
You know the one I'm talking about. The one with with Farrah sitting in that simple, red, one piece bathing suit, her head of long, full curls, languidly tossed back over her shoulders, wearing a smile that could easily outshine the stars.
That photo.
Immediately after her death it was one of the main photos of her that was repeatedly shown on television.
It is the quintessential photo of her. It is how everyone will remember her.

It was shot by photographer Bruce McBroom when she was only 29 years old. He was contacted by a guy from a poster company who told him that Farrah had said that she wanted him to hire Mr. McBroom to do her poster. She had previously hired two other photographers and didn't like the photos they took of her and now she wanted Mr McBroom to shoot them.
Mr McBroom agreed- the only caveat being that the guy from the poster company wanted it to be about Farrah's hair, she had to be smiling, she had to be in a bikini, and it had to be really, really, sexy.
Well, to start with, Farrah didn't have a bikini...
It was shot at the house she shared with her then husband, actor, Lee Majors. Farrah did her own hair and make-up.
The wardrobe came from her very own closet. They worked together, Mr.McBroom and Farrah did, to try to find the right look. The photographer suggesting different backgrounds, Farrah trying on varying pieces of swim wear. It took a very long time to get it right- all day in fact. In the photographers own words he was 'getting desperate'.
Finally he asked her if there was a piece in her house that she hadn't tried on yet and she said that she would go and look around. When she came out of the house in the red bathing suit she asked Mr. McBroom 'what do you think of this?'.
With one look he knew immediately this was the suit. And on his very last roll, in his very last frame, he knew he had the shot.
As for that famous backdrop, Mr. McBroom got the great idea to use an old blanket from his pick-up truck whose main usage was to hide the many holes in it's seat.

In the end it took many different factors to create this very special photo. Everything had to come together just right.
For instance, what if Farrah had found a bikini? What if it was a different color? What if it wasn't just the two of them at the shoot and she hadn't been the one to do her own hair and make-up? What if Mr. McBroom hadn't used the blanket from his truck?
As beautiful as Farrah was would the photo still stand out in our minds? Would millions of young boys still put that poster on their walls?
It's come to my attention that to capture an iconic photo one has to be a bit like an medieval alchemist: you have to put your faith in both what you can do and what the God's have put before you.
Sometimes it's not always just about talent...

One peg at a time...

Alright, picture it:
A giant mountain in the middle of a big city. Two novice mountain climbers dangerously trying to scale it's hilly side. They come in search of great photos, and with their feet clad solely in cheap sneakers and orthopedic insoles they almost find it, until one of them suddenly asks the other,
"Hey, can you get filters on your camera?"
Head held high, the other, self confessed, 'more experienced' one, confidently states, "no, I can't. It is your newer model camera that has that feature, but my slightly older model does not."
To which the first one replies, "Uh,.. have you read your camera manuel lately... or ever?"

Now, I wish I could tell you that this little parable was just that, a parable, a complete work of fiction but, sadly, I can not.
This was my very own experience a few weeks ago. Imagine me standing on top of a mountain with a freind ready for a day of shooting when this little question popped up into his head. And even more sad, this was not the first time that this question was put to me. About two months before I had another friend ask me the same question and I, very confidently, gave the same answer!
When I first got my camera I remember reading every page of my manuel but I just don't remember reading this page. I don't know how that could have happened!? My only explination is that there is some sort of black hole between it's pages that even the scientist at NASA haven't discovered yet! I could be sitting on a Nobel wining gold-mine here!!!

That aside,the whole experience was a little more than humbling, to say the least.. I thought that I knew quite a bit about photography. I thought that I had come farther than this in my photographic career, that I was smarter than tripping over these tiny, little hiccups.
But, no, it's clear that I'm not, and I haven't.
The sting from this experience has not gone away as yet, and I doubt that it will anytime soon. Oh, it may have lessened a tad, but I feel that it's true purpose is to always be there to remind me that I am not bigger than my whole. I don't always know everything. There is always room to go back and relearn.
Humility... it's a funny thing.. it's always teaching..

Did I mention that I also have a tone feature on my camera?
Sepia, purple, green, and blue. They are displayed here in that exact order.

Contests entries....really, really late..

I know that it's been a year since last I posted but I thought that I would keep my word and share with you a few more of my entries into the PhotoLife Image International Photo contest. Once again, I didn't win but that just means that I have to up my game for the next time.