Caught my eye

Two photographers have caught my eye lately, namely Mitch Dowbrowner and Camille Seaman. They're both devoted and hard-working landscape photographers who really focus on waiting for the right moment when the light is right... if you agree that 99% of life is showing up, then these two not only show up but then wait the extra time for the moment to arrive.

You can easily see the influence of Ansel Adams in Mitch's photos, and it's unclear whether he's enhancing  the pockets of detail and nuanced exposure in his images by digital means after the capture, or by getting his fingers dirty in the developer tray [like Ansel did] during the enlargement process... but either way, if you've never seen his stuff, take a look at his online portfolio here: http://www.mitchdobrowner.com/

[is this infrared? Digital or film? Mitch doesn't reveal too much on his site about how he shoots.]

Likewise, Camille Seaman's work exhibits the same decisive patience where paying close attention to the light is vital in the composition - she admittedly states she almost never manipulates her images post shooting. Something that I hadn't realised about her lighting choices for icebergs is that she says you need to wait for overcast conditions to expose their character, whereas I had assumed that bright sunlight would be necessary for sharp form relief... Here's her site: http://www.camilleseaman.com/

-j

Still summer evening

Tonight, I discovered a Monarch butterfly who was sitting very still on a twig in our garden. It was a very calm evening in the last of the summer nights, and this allowed me to shoot a longer exposure and keep this guy a bit sharper and with deeper depth of field.

I backlit him a little using my iPhone and let some of the remaining colour show in his wings. Enjoy.

-j

Mike Davis on what makes a photograph good

I just stumbled upon a post by US picture editor Mike Davis about what makes a photograph 'good'. And its a clear, well written and useful summing up. It's particularly relevant to me as I continue to click away at things with the best camera I have with me in a mad and web-clogging fashion.

Here's the original post: http://www.michaelddavis.com/blog/2010/9/15/what-is-good.html And here are a couple of quotes that I think are particularly good:

"It's critical to understand that the subject does not make the picture, it is the photographer's insight and skill that elevate the subject to a compelling image. That's why most of the thousands of best photographs are not of inherently interesting subject matter. What makes them interesting is what the photographer did."

And:

"A photographer asked me yesterday how he goes from producing one-dimensional newspapery photographs to making ones that are good. That’s a big question. A small answer is: Before you can make a good picture you have to set out with clarity and depth to say something about what you photograph and you have to make the image reflect the clarity and depth by using the medium’s tools to their fullest. Piece of cake."

So if you want to take better photographs, stop and think about what you're trying to say and how you're trying to say it.

and here's a picture:

-j

I am going DAS

So,

in an effort to learn to stop looking at the keyboard when I type, I've applied black duct tape to the keys of my work keyboard in the spirit of DAS keyboard... It's already hurting but I'm sure in about 2 weeks time I'll be typing faster and smoother than I am now... I think... [clunk... poke... clunk]...

-j

Chortle in my pants

Recently Gizmodo ran a photo contest where entrants were asked to rip-off a famous photo. This was one of the entries, it makes me chortle in my pants.

A lot.

Photo credit to Steve McCurry of course for the original Afghan girl, and to Becca Alves for the fantastic imitation.

-j

Well we did it!

The Hobbit will be filmed in New Zealand!

John Key announced last night that there would be a small adjustment to NZ employment law that would clarify the position of independent contractors in the film industry here - separating them clearly from 'employees' and preventing them from challenging that title if they'd been hired as contractors etc. This has effectively calmed whatever 'industrial uncertainties' Warners' felt could potentially affect film production here in the future and an agreement was signed, letting the project go ahead.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/entertainment/4279251/The-Hobbit-gets-NZ-film-shoot

I felt pretty optimistic that it would for a number of reasons including this one:

-j

Keep The Hobbit filming in NZ

Well,

things have certainly been quiet here. Except for all that noise and ruckus around the filming of The Hobbit here. I won't try to sum-up what's going on as it is rather multi-layered and messy but... this article outlines what so far seems to be 'first blood' on the whole matter:

http://www.onfilm.co.nz/

I did go rioting marching in the streets though, that was important and useful it seems in that we managed to block the Wellington attendance of the NZ Actor's Equity meeting where Simon Whipp from the MEAA was supposed to be attending. This also had the fortunate knock-on effect of canning the Auckland meeting due to potential protests being organised. Weeeeeeeee!!!

And I think that it's a positive sign that Warners haven't totally ruled out shooting the production here yet... I think in fact they stand to profit more from shooting here in NZ than the amount that might have been trimmed of the government tax incentives etc... 

-j