Photography blogs...

I have been looking around all of the photography blogs I can find - well those that list themselves as photographers anyway (apparently there are 13000 of them in blogspot land alone. I am up to about the 1000 mark)...

I need to change my profile photo! Some of you are very good looking! My photo is just that little bit scary and certainly not as professional as I should have it if I am to call myself a photographer...

Self portrait time.

May need to wait until the hayfever settles down otherwise I will just look scarier (then again, Halloween is just around the corner).

New Job!!!

I've been looking for jobs recently. It's not that I don't like the people I am working for, I do, it's just that I am pretty much over teaching first aid. I have been at it for close to 30 years! I have always wanted to be a photographer (well, not always but for a long time) and I finally started to apply for photography jobs.

I had an interview early this week, I got the job! The owner called tonight having spent most of the day until 8pm answering client calls. He said that he fully realised that he needed help with both the business side and the photography side and that I was right for the job.

Wooo Hooo!!!

Assistant photographer and assistant on the business side too. Life is good!

Photo Course: Night Two

The second night of the course is over... Ben is the second photographer/trainer we have met and he was in tonight because Brian was doing some family stuff (sending his son off overseas, I think?). Ben has a passion and enthusiasm for photography and a fairly kooky sense of humour (associated with a very infectious laugh). Everyone left tonight with a smile on their face...

Tonight was interesting and gave a little background on photography and some very basic terminology regarding how light is captured in a camera and how the parts all relate. Aperature, shutter speed, film speed (sensitivity)/sensor 'sensitivity'... All very basic so far. I wanted to do this course partly to find out what I didn't know and I'm expecting that part to come. I certainly don't know everything, it's just that the basics are the basics...

Ben took us on a tour and showed us the darkroom, the studios, the computer room and the staff offices. Then he did a portrait session and took all of our photos using a single studio flash with a medium sized soft box. He showed us some basics of how to position someone and get them at ease. I cannot believe the comments from potential professional photographers about not liking to have their photo taken! (Girls; if you ever read this - please try and get over that feeling and learn to love it. You will be so much better at getting your clients to relax if you have worked out how to do it yourself)... Ben also showed us some basics for adding and removing light with light and dark paper. Basically to either fill or shade part of an subject to give a more sculpted look to the model.

Tonight everyone was a little more relaxed as the first was over and we are starting to get into it. The comment "we are all going to spend the next two years together" made everyone relax a little more and go with it (thanks Paula)...

I have had my first roll of slide film developed and as soon as I work out how to scan them I will show some of them here. Stay tuned...

It's started!

Yay! It's finally started. The first evening of my photography course has passed. The group is small, I'm the only guy, apart from the instructor, and we seem to have a range of experience in photography from a brand newby to someone who had to defer her training due to family stuff and is now back to continue. Some don't have cameras yet which I find really interesting...

I spoke, briefly, to the returning student and she mentioned that when she started she had to unlearn so much that it became frustrating... I think the newbies (no disrespect intended or implied) may have an advantage, I probably have so much to unlearn that I will lose weight! Certainly I have probably got lots of bad, self taught, habits...

We discussed, very broadly, a range of photographic styles, a selection of career options i.e. Journalism, Weddings/Portraits, Travel, Art, Landscape etc...

We are to shoot 35mm transparency film for the first semester in a manual camera (or on manual mode) for a couple of valid reasons;

1. You can't cull your mistakes, you will learn more from the mistakes than from the fluked "good shot"...
2. You will consider your image making more if there is a financial cost to each shot.
3. You can't modify the image once it has been taken... You can't tweak it before you present it!

So, with the expectation that we will probably shoot 4 rolls of transparency film (36 shots each) per week I am considering the possibility of purchasing bulk film and loading canisters myself... Woo Hoo, a real step back into the age of dark rooms, dark bags, knock before entering signs, red lights, the smell of the processing chemicals...

I am in the dark, my eyes are open, I can't see a thing a timer is ticking behind me, I can hear my father fiddling with the development trays... Hmmm, nostalgia kicks in big time!

Mission in the first week, shoot a roll of film using various manual settings to show an understanding of (or to learn about) the relationship between shutterspeed and aperature...

And so it begins!!! :)

The "Art" of photography...

Only one day and a few hours to go until the start of my photography course... I have the gear I need, cameras (both digital and film), I have the cards/film I need to start, the cables, lenses, hoods, flashes, filters, bags, covers, computer, monitor, scanner, printer, software, cleaning gear, batteries (and chargers), straps, bells & whistles and light meter.

Now, where did I put my creativity? I know it's here somewhere under this pile of stuff that will require a month at the gym and several visits to the physio to carry around. And therin lies the "Art" of photography... It's 80% hard work, 19% knowledge and skill and 1% being in the right place at the right time.

Being in the right place includes: finding that bargain that no-one else has noticed, seeing the light as it takes on that afternoon or morning (a bit too early at this time of year) glow, finding the perfect subject, having the camera set properly and capturing "the moment"...

The creativity is around here somewhere, the skill will be in developing it and learning how to channel it when it's needed (which is always)...

The fun needs to start today! Why am I waiting for tomorrow?

You know... I think the real art of photography is finding out what people want and giving it to them. Especially that new 39 Megapixel Hasselblad H3D... (Please give one to me - Pleeeeze!)...

More photos to come soon, of course getting film scanned will take a little while...

Photography

Seriously considering which way to go with photography? Do I use digital or film, 35mm, medium or large format?

What do people pay for in photography (other than the never ending supply of new gear)? Let me know...

If there was one photo that you would like to have on your wall; which would it be? Then I can work out how it was done, if I could do it and what I would need to learn (or buy... I said it was never ending!) to do it.

Life...

I'm sure that if you were interested you could find any number of ramblings on blogs all over the internet by people who put their own meaning to life...

So I thought that I would tell anyone who visits about mine...

Let's start with this; until you know where you are you cannot look at a map and work out where you are going!

I had someone yesterday try to tell me where we need to get to on the map and I understood completely that that was where we needed to go. However I was in a new town and didn't know where I was to start with; so it was almost completely useless to tell me where I needed to get to.

This resembles life from time to time; you have a clear idea of where you want to be but because of circumstances you have absolutely no idea on how to get there. Not because you don't know how or that you don't have the means but quite simply because you don't know where you are to start with.

This will inevitably lead you to significant frustration as you try to move ahead but continue to run into barriers to your progress that you had no idea existed. If only it was as simple as pulling out a map and driving around a few blocks until you saw some street signs so that you could orient yourself. Oh for an internal GPS and a map!

I find myself in this situation at present; I am in a fantastic new relationship having recently been divorced. I have just cleared 99% of the wreckage from that previous life. I have a good job doing what I know (30 years this year of pre-hospital emergency care training and career has qualified me for it), I have signed up for a photography course which has been my passion for many years and would still like to complete the paragliding course that I started last year (Hmmm, combining all three, photography, paragliding and pre-hospital emergency care??? Maybe not!). My finances are starting to improve (anyone who has been divorced will understand) and I didn't dip below zero... So things are on the up and up.

So why do I still feel disoriented? I need to know where I am on the map; I need the GPS to kick in. I need this to happen quickly for my own sanity and for the sanity of those around me. Once I work that out it will all start to make sense again and I will believe that I can get to where I want to go; believe me when I say that that will be a relief!

Depression, post traumatic stress disorder, grief, loss and stress have all visited me in the last 18 months. I have been separated from my wife, lost my mother, lost interest in and sold my business, had to move house due to financial issues relating to all of the above, had to sell my vehicles to avoid bankruptcy. I have found a new love briefly and lost it due to all of the above, found Jacinta, found a new job and find myself trying too hard to make it back to the top of the pile which just seems to be straining everything.

The only thing I haven’t done so far is to find myself…

I said to my sister at one stage last year that if anyone else told me “take it one day at a time” I would have to kill them with a dessert spoon! In reality however, that is really the only way to do it; you can’t hit fast forward and skip to the next episode.

I think too much about what I would like and I am trying too hard to get there. I am not sure yet where I am and as a result I am spinning my wheels and trying to catch everything and hang on to it for dear life. I have lost too much recently.

I need to relax…

I need to breathe…

I need to slow down and smell the roses…

I need support…

I need to lighten up…

I need to realise that I need time and that it will happen one day at a time…

I need to help myself…

I need to find my location on the map…

Once I’ve done that there will be no stopping me, I will have my mojo back!

It's all in the name...

How do you choose a name when you find the little bundle of fluffy joy that is ready to be adopted into your family?

I guess there are numerous ways but when we picked up this one he was nameless and we couldn't really decide... We already had a boxer and we wanted a tough little friend who could cope with the boisterous play that a boxer can dish up. I thought that a mini fox terrier would be a good choice. We found him at a pet shop, tiny (he could fit into my hand) and shaking as mini foxies tend to do... A trade was made and we took him home. On the way we decided to visit friends and show him off, they had an older miniature poodle called Bertie.

We arrive at Sue and Pete's with our new bundle of joy and rang the doorbell. I put the puppy on the front step and as the front door opened fully Bertie, completely unaware of the new addition, walked across the opposite end of the room. Well! Have you seen the cartoon Tassie Devil that goes into a spin? Our little bundle of joy and warm fuzzyness saw Bertie and decided immediately that he was a threat to his new mum and dad. The teeth (very sharp baby puppy teeth mind you) were bared and an amazing growl, no less threatening for it's high pitch was heard, followed by barking and Bertie was promptly chased from the room and didn't come back!

His name became Agro, not that he ever exhibited that type of behaviour again. and he now lives with my ex, his mum...