Michael Revisited

Earlier I had mentioned that I wanted to work on a project of shooting the back of the head of my friend and, sometime assistant, Michael. I actually have some images that I shot of him a few summers ago. We were just walking around downtown, hanging out and shooting some images- me more than him.
Anyhow, these are some of the images that I shot that day...

New Direction...

On March 6th of this year I repeated an activity that gave me great artistic pleasure.
For only the second time in my life I hosted a one day workshop on photography.
It was the most creatively excited I'd been in a long time and I have both,
my class to thank as well as my friend Nell, without whom I would not have gotten this opportunity.
The first time I hosted this class my class list contained only four students, two of whom did not show up on the appointed Saturday for reasons I, now, cannot remember.
I ended up with two students who, in my opinion, I rushed through the basics of photography at a very nervous speed. I tried to make up for this by taking them outside to do some practical photography work but that soon became a moot point when it suddenly started to rain, thereby cutting our class very short.
Too bad, too, by the time we made it outside it had become quite dark and gloomy, making the clouds look a tad dramatic. It was such a lovely day. We could have done great things with that day. But, It wasn't all a total loss. I still got to shoot off a couple of really interesting shots.
My next foray into the realm of instructor was a bit more successful.
For this time around I opted to be a bit more specific in my course description.
This time I specified that I would be focusing on landscapes and nature photography.
I also mentioned that I would take them to Mount Royal Park- never mind that it was the beginning of March and that there would be snow all over the ground...
In preparing for my workshop I had an unexpected run of bad luck concerning my computer. From pretty much the beginning of February both it and my external hard drive broke down and needed to be repaired.
If that wasn't enough, I got seriously ill in the middle of the month, and was laid up for the next two weeks. The result: I had four nights to do research for the handout, get it typed out, then get it printed and stapled by that upcoming Saturday.
Did I mention that I don't have access to a printer at my house..?

My class list this time around rose from four students to ten, seven of whom showed up.
We had a really good day that Saturday. It was sunny for most of the day. Not exactly the best shooting conditions but, we made the most of it.



I made a mental note, though, that if I were to get the opportunity to do this again(and, I may in May)I would change the start time of the class from 10am- 2pm, to 1pm- 5pm, in the hopes that the lighting conditions will be of better use.



We met in front of the main Chalet in front of Beaver Lake then moved on inside to the the many rows of benches which contained storage space for the skaters ice skates. this is where we sat while I pass out my four page hand outs and commenced the class.
By ten o'clock, the mountain was beginning to get crowded. It seemed that everybody and their dogs were out that day. We walked along the main path that passed the ice rink and the lake, and continued on towards the top of the lookout. By twelve o'clock, most of the ice that had been solid in the morning were now nothing but puddles, and despite the threat of pneumonia from ice, cold, soaking wet feet we soldiered on till two and had an amazing day!
There are many reasons why I thoroughly enjoy instructing these photo workshops. One of which being the thrill of sharing my knowledge of photography, limited though it may be, with others and helping them to possibly love it as much as I do.
I hope to never stop learning how to do this better.

Now the year begins...

I got it! I finally got a photo project!
I've decided to do it on my friend, and periodic assistant, Michael, I am constantly taking his photo.
God! For so long I was in this deep funk about not having a photo project to do and, here, in one phone call I had it all come together!
It's funny how things work.. everything in it's own time, I guess...

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!