Looking back to help you go forwards

It's time for the typical reflective look at the year and a look to the future. For me it's been a year of many changes, I was taking time over the Christmas break 2007 when I was pointed in the direction of Mark Briggs' Journalism 2.0 a PDF, information about the internet in a 2.0 type world. The page I found it on was www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_20_pdfs/, you can also find information about the book on Mark's blog.
This holiday period was also the first time that I bought music on the back of hearing it as backing music to a bloggers videos. Feist's album The Reminder and Frou Frou's Details were the start, later in the year Everyday Jones after the video from David Tejada - thanks for opening my ears aswell as my eyes.

The Journalism 2.0 book seemed to connect with something in my brain and I then went on a google fest to get more information on blogging, rss and other such topics. It wasn't until June that this blog came into being, but it's been an interesting few months since it has.

I've been working to improve my own photo skills and that's meant diversions in the directions of some great photo oriented blogs and some that aren't photo related. Thanks to all the bloggers who've provided great free content to help me learn. Strange input came from Garth Carr's Presentation Zen and also a font blog!

I discovered that my photo club Imagez had suddenly turned in to a place with loads of great photographers who were all creative, and were producing stunning images. As a club Imagez had gone on a three year recruitment drive by offering photography courses for the same cost as membership of the club. Club members got the option to go on the courses free, course attendees were welcome to join the club for free. A fantastic approach, arguably marketing the same thing differently to different people. However when it comes to competitions I'm still trying to work out how to improve my pictures.

I also became a flickr user and was keen to see how people are using the medium to share their work. One Icelandic photographer with a passion for night time landscapes in Iceland was the start, then like many others Miss Aniela and finally the story of Aaron and Rosie. I managed to catch up with a photographer I'd met some years ago through flickr too. Thanks Peter for the stunning shot of Agnes that became my new computer wallpaper.

In my own work I've felt that I've reached a milestone, with some nice sales of several images. Not enough to give up work and become a full time photographer, but an option for a new lens or two [the curse of the amateur; more gear = better pictures]. I also started to realise that a lot of what I was missing in my pictures was related to widening my horizons. I wrote a post in the summer about this and my trial with the Canon EF 20mm f/2.8 USM lens. End result was some great pre-planned photos whilst on holiday - almost a first for me to really research a location and see how other people had shot it. Thank you to all the flickr users who posted images with the Sandymouth tag.

I also had several great opportunities to share my little knowledge of photography and Canon's EOS cameras, and I got a really good buzz from these activities. I must have finally got the point that sharing my knowledge with others was the important thing for me.

Canon and Nikon both had something new in DSLR - VIDEO and in Canon's EOS 5D Mark II Full 1920 x 1080 High Definition video. Vincent Laforet caused a whole lot of head scratching at Canon, boy did that cause some trouble for the internet providers as suddenly thousands of photographers wanted to see high definition video on the web. Where do you host that kind of stuff, and how do stills photographer struggling to get on the ball with digital and all it's new delights suddenly get video thrown at them too.

Fast forward to late November and in a point of being particularly out of steam mentally I hit on a post on Chase Jarvis' site where he shared a great 80 minutes long video of himself, David 'the Strobist' Hobby and David Nightingale from Cromasia. The three of them summed it up in a panel presentation and Q&A session that had been held at Gulf Photo Plus earlier in 2008. In short, if you share for the reason of sharing to help others then it will have it's own rewards and they are not all monetary. Chase gets free hiking boots!


And so to 2009...
more blogging - time to contribute my bit to the world, see you there

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Twas the night before the night before Christmas eve

Sometimes you can just wing it and leave things to the last minute, sometimes you can't. Having been shopping for Christmas presents this afternoon I can tell you that quite a lot of folks are waiting a lot later to get their presents. Me, i'm still looking for the inspiration to move from a lack of ideas as to what to buy the family, to a bunch of wrapped presents in the next 36 hours...

At least I can rest assured that the strobist has helped us all out with some simply holiday lighting tips - reposted from last year. I take this one step further, and use E-TTL to manage the flashes, put them both in group A and shoot plenty. It worked last year just fine with the flashes stood on their little plastic stands balanced on the side of book cases or the top of the TV.

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This recession it's biting harder

Scary news for motor sport fans, and world rally fans in particular; Suzuki and now Subaru have pulled out of the WRC for 2009. All this follows on the heels of the Honda team exit from F1. I'm wondering where to get my motorsport fix in 2009 already. I'm looking to have a go at the Honda sponsored four stroke powerboat races for something different to photograph.

On a more practical note for me, and I'm sure many others, my employers have elected to delay our annual pay increase that's due in January. Now it'll be reviewed again in April to see if we get one, and from what I hear the company is struggling with a new kind of "no profit and some losses" account that used to be called the P&L account. Strange when the parent company overseas has recently talked about a pile of money it's holding back for when the recovery starts; a kind of business kick start fund. All the while the utility companies are looking at my small pile of cash and thinking it would be better added to their larger pile of cash.

So how to get out of the bleak state of mind and economy. Digital photography is free once you've bought the camera. More product photography skills when new products need pictures after the recession might not be a bad idea, and the practice could take your mind off all the doomongers on tv.

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Christmas, a time for children

Anyone else notice that it's Christmas time again. I'm no scrooge and bah humbug merchant, but as December rolls round the concern for what can I get people for Christmas and how much will it all cost comes to mind. It seems that for some the option of a portrait of the kids is also an idea, usually the request comes on the back of a set of school pictures from November where the results didn't meet the expectations. One thing I've noticed in recent months is a trend - almost a complete conversion - to a more lifestyle type of photos in schools. Gone are the typical sit here, look this way, smile... next type of shots. In are white backgrounds, lying on the floor, socks off commercial portraiture. Of course when there's more than one sibbling then it gets more difficult.

So the request came, can you shoot the three kids as the school photo didn't make the grade. Seizing the opportunity to work for free and practise some of the strobist techniques from that seminar a few weeks ago, life couldn't be better. On balance knocking over a speedlite that is stood on the floor already is a safer option than the big octobanks I've used in previous times. For this set up the key is getting three expressions looking good on three children whilst all of them are looking to the camera; parents like to see their kids faces. So that often means simple light that covers a multitude of places and positions.

Here a single shoot through umbrella was used high and camera left about 45 degrees. A white nylon 'shower curtain material' background was set up behind the children and then a Speedlite set on the floor pointing at the white wall behind the shower curtain. Taking the test shot told me that there was no chance of using the ambient to get the background white and have a shutter speed fast enough to freeze kids! So forgoing the ambient and relying on two battery powered flashes we started. Camera on manual, flashes in E-TTL, 580EX on the camera. Flash in brolly set as channel A, 420 behind the curtain as C. ETTL told to control A:B C, making C +2EV using the settings.

Strobism and auto flash - don't tell David Hobby.

I knew that indoors the flash should work, there's enough white walls to bounce the flash signals off and sure enough it all worked fine. I could try and shoot plenty of pics to get the expressions I wanted the parents wanted. In the end I didn't do too bad and only at the last minute before delivering the prints did I decide to photoshop the head of the little girl from one picture on to a group of three shot where the two boys were better.

the results


including one of my faves


Strangely today I've been to my sons nursery nativity and shot video - should be enough video now to last me until the next Christmas play. Just when you think editing is slow with EOS-1Ds Mark III RAW images, along comes video. There's a reason Apple demonstrates on massive MAC Pro computers with multiple processors, buckets of RAM and stripey raided hard disks; that reason is video editing.

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Photo competitions

I've not been having much success in recent photo competitions and I'm wondering if it's my interpretation of the topics or the pictures themselves; could be the judges?

For a competition entitled / themed: food I entered two cat pictures, this one of the lioness licking her lips whilst cleaning the remnants of last nights meal of the bone held in her paws. The picture was well printed and framed in a suitable mount. Not even a sniff of a commended.

Then my second entry is one of my top selling pictures of the year so far. I take it from the fact that I could license it recently for a handsome sum of money that it was a good technically competent picture. Heck maybe it's all down to artistic impression or interpretation.
This is not intended to be a whinge, but I am beginning to wonder if I'm losing a sense of objectiveness about my pictures. I know they are ok technically but I'm wondering if the typical amateur trait of entering the pictures you like (sentimental value, personal faves) rather than the ones that are well shot and fit the brief is the key here. Could also be a hint of laziness, it is too easy to pull a nice shot from the archive and make a well produced entry, but another thing to conceive a shot to fit the project or task at hand. It is at the least food for thought for me.

My brain could also be a bit confused with all the thoughts of strobism and Pocket Wizards that's currently uppermost. It seems like the recent VAT drops in the UK was the kick to the dealers to reprice stuff and factor in that the good old English pound doesn't buy as many dollars as it used to so the price goes up with the combination of the VAT cut and the exchange rate change. I know there's the alternatives like the "poverty wizards" but I'm always one for doing the thing right or not at all, and if that means some validated expenditure only my wallet suffers.

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Look out there's a strobist about

Yesterday was strobist day in London. My chance to finally meet David Hobby and around forty other photographers for a seminar about small off camera flash lighting. Unfortunately it turned out not to be the mega picture opportunity I'd hoped for but I did learn some really good things about how close you can and indeed may need to be with umbrellas, plus the value of gobos in pictures.

David's style is that of an amazing storyteller and entertainer, from the shorts & t-shirt wearing (it was 2 degrees celsius) to the story of flash being just a way to fix problems with photos it all adds up to quite a show. I must say I thought we'd see a bit more practical stuff but actually the shooting part was fairly limited; we must have asked too many questions and eaten all the time up with talk instead of demonstration. Not helped when the venue staff wanted to get us out on time!

Should you go to a strobist seminar? Yes, this small flash lighting is the best thing since digital cameras. It's accessible for all photographers, portable and usable in a wealth of photographic situations. You need to want to think about pictures much more creatively. It's worth reading his lighting 101 and also maybe the light science and magic book.

Is David a good presenter? Yes, he's entertaining he knows his stuff and he can teach something to all levels of photographers.

Would I go again? Maybe, i'd prefer to have the chance to shoot with him, maybe on a group shoot or similar.

Do I need loads of expensive equipment? Not yet, but when you add the cost up then three or more Speedlite flashes, some stands, some radio triggers, some umbrellas, some grids/honeycombs, grips, clamps, bungees will cost a reasonable chunk. But as David says you already bought the real expensive bit the camera and the lens.

What camera is best for strobist work? Pretty much anything that has a way to trigger off camera flashes and has a full manual mode where you can control the shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings.

So there you have it strobist in a nutshell, in my view worth the money, and the opportunity to spend some time with other like minded photographers is always good in what can be a solitary profession or passion.

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Finnish Independence Day

Today is a national holiday in Finland as they celebrate Finnish Independence Day. 6th December was the date in 1917 that Finland declared independence from the Russian empire. It was not until 1919 that the Finns first celebrated their independence day.

In the early days of independence the Finns had a solemn approach to independence, though more recently the festivities have got a little more lively with a lot of blue and white themed gifts and cakes.

For me it's a day to remember my great friends the founders of J&J Rally Tours, my own very special rally tour guide operators, who have helped me to experience the highly enjoyable Neste Rally Finland for the last eight years and also teach me a little about the Finnish approach to life and nature. The language still evades me though.

It's time to break out the Koskenkorva and enjoy a few shots, you don't know what you're missing until it's your time to go and find the bottle of Koskenkorva that's been waiting for you in the woodshed. A quick shot and take some wood back to stoke up the sauna, a traditional Finnish experience best enjoyed with good friends and good spirits.

One of my personal favourite pictures of this year was this early morning shot of the sunrise on the lake that I posted on the post back in August when I was last in this great country.

Long ago one of my Finnish colleagues explained the word sisu as meaning spirit or guts, but I realise that for many Finns it's actually a complete mindset. To me sisu is a word that encapsulates the Finnish spirt. It's similar to the who dare wins approach but more about getting things to work or happen regardless, almost in spite of, how many obstacles are put in the way.

Time for a true Finnish story...

A Swedish archeologist starts to dig in the ground, and after digging to a depth of 10 metres he finds copper and concludes that the Swedes had a fixed line telephone service 20 years ago.
A Norwegian archeologist hears about the Swedish discovery and starts to dig, at 20 mters he finds shreds of glass and determines that 40 years ago Norwegians had a fibre optic based telephone system.
The Finnish archeologist hears about the news from Norway and Sweden and starts digging, but at 150 metres underground he's not found any indication of copper or glass and so concludes that before any other civilisation the Finns had implemented a mobile telephony system that didn't need copper wires or fibre optic cables!

So from me to all my friends, colleagues and readers in Finland, Happy Finnish Independence Day.

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Is it a bird.... is it a plane?

No it's the Canon EOS 5d Mark II flying.

It's been a long time since a camera has captured the imagination like the EOS 5D Mark II. I'm constantly surprised at the lengths people go to with videos of their cats and I'm getting a little tired of only seeing videos shot at night. So today I found this incredible daylight footage from the EOS 5D Mark II.

This is shot with the camera in a model helicopter by aerialpan on youtube.



Quite amazing to see the parts with the fish-eye lens, you can see the skids of the helicopter in the frame. Brings home the message of full frame I guess.

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three more sleeps...

Three more sleeps and it'll be Sunday, then I can go and sit in a class room at ULU to enjoy the up close and personal Strobist show. I got one of the 40 places on David Hobby's quick trip to London to help us learn to light better. Maybe to call David the bringer of light is a bit much, but he certainly knows how to get it in to the important places - pictures. If you see a guy walking around London in shorts in the rain wind and other rough weather we have and he's carrying lots of camera bags that'll most likely be the strobist himself.

If you missed to get a place, then you could catch the man himself at the flash center in London on Monday 8th December. Though most likely it could be interesting place to be, I really think you may get to meet Drew Gardner too.

I'll try and get some pictures up next week.

Engage random song generator, Typically Tropical - Barbados

Ladies and gentlemen this is Captain Tobias Willcock
Welcoming you aboard Coconut Airways Flight 372 to Bridgetown Barbados London Strobist town.
We will be flying at a height 32.000 feet and at an air speed of approximately 600 miles per hour the speed of light.
Refreshments will be served after take-off.
Kindly fasten you safety belts and refrain from smoking strobing until the aircraft is airborne.

Woh
I'm going to Barbados London
woh
backa to the palm trees.
Woh
I'm going to see my girl friend the Strobist
Woh
in the sunny Caribean sea London city.

As you can probably tell i'm better leaving a career in music and songwriting to a few more talented souls.

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Cool thoughts on organisation

Once again blogger seems to have thrown me off on a few minutes of blog reading. I landed on the Loving.Living.Small blog and found a neat article about organising things in a small home office, thought it would also work in families with kids. Sure there's a his 'n hers and theirs calendar, but a set of pegs, maybe on the fridge, would be another way to get things in a simple place.

Making use of something as mundane as some clothes pegs and a marker pen you could organise the week with things to do, bills to pay, shopping to get. Maybe some less mundane fridge magnet pegs or clips could be the ideal family version.

With only a handful of days to get all the remaining stuff done before Christmas I'm sure we can all do with some helpful organisation tips.

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Christmas is coming - break out the badgers

weebls stuff - a grand diversion from some time ago - has the old but excellent advent calendar. If you can't wait you can click all the way through the days.

weebls stuff was something I was first sent prior to a trip to Kenya on safari. Weebl and Bob did probably the most excellent Kenya cartoon ever and boy is it catchy (drives you insane).

Then after the Kenya original, the live version, the Lapland variant and finally the Norwegian reply to Kenya.

So how about the badgers... here they started dancing, playing football for Euro 2004 and finally dressed in Santa wear.

Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers Badass Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers

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