Colin's Blog

A selection of photos I took during today’s Southworks Photowalk.

photo credit: mr. nightshade

I can’t believe I forgot about this until now… I met with the fine folks at Southworks this morning just to chat about the photowalk so that they would know what to expect, etc.

During the conversation they suggested that we could have a contest of some kind with some prize money for the best photos and display of the photos on the Southworks property. We’re not exactly sure about all the details yet, but I’ll have them hammered out by Sunday.

Maybe the chance to win some prizes is just the motivation you need to come out to Southworks this weekend!

Hey photogs, a quick reminder that the first Cambridge Photowalk happens this Sunday at Southworks. Share the video below with all of your Cambridge-area shutterbugs.

Local photographer John Mitchell (whom I have known since he did our wedding photos a decade ago) blogged yesterday about a portrait he did and the processing required to “finish” it.

In the post, John draws parallels between digital processing and film developing. This is an argument I’ve made many times when accused of “cheating” by adjusting the colour or saturation in Photoshop. The great film developers employed similar “tricks” in the darkroom – remixing chemicals, over- and under- developing the negatives, etc. In fact, most of the standard Photoshop techniques actually attempt to mimic techniques originally developed in the darkroom.

Here’s a quote from John’s blog (wherein he shares a gem of a quote from Ansel Adams.)

The truth that you cannot make a great print from a lousy negative is even more valid with digital. The capture must be more than just acceptable. …

But, Ansel Adams also knew the importance of print making. One of his more famous sayings is, “The negative is the equivalent of the composer’s score, and the print the performance.”

via Photography.

I take LOTS of photos – too many, probably – and very few of those photos could be considered art.  I also look at LOTS of photos online – most of them would be considered art.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a photo so compelling that we think of it as art. Of the photos I’ve encountered that qualify, two characteristics are usually, though not always, present.

Some of the most compelling images I’ve seen are black and white (or other monochrome) photos. When processing my own photos, a simple “B&W conversion” almost always improves the photo – though rarely makes it compelling on its own.

The other oft-present characteristic is what’s called “shallow depth of field“. This is the effect where “focal plane” – the distance from the lens that is in focus – is very thin. Most photos have a broad depth of field – to the extent that everything in the image is more or less in focus. In photos with extremely shallow depth of field the focal plane can be so narrow that a subject’s eyes are in focus but the nose and ears are not. This is because the nose and ears are nearer and farther, respectively, from the camera than the eyes are.

Neither one of these techniques (they’re never really accidental) – even combined – can make a boring photo compelling, but they do appear more often than not on compelling photos.

My theory is that these photos are compelling because they present the world differently than we see it. We see in colour, and generally with a broad depth of field or at least the focal plane moves so quickly we don’t really notice.

It reminds me somewhat of the impressionist movement of the 19th century. Renoir, Monet, and the others presented an “impression” of reality that was recognizable but not quite the way our own eyes saw things.

There are a few other less common techniques that also provide this “impression” of reality: fisheye lenses, macro, long exposure, light painting, etc.

This is not to say, of course, that a photograph that represents exactly what the eye would see cannot be art. Many “realistic” photos tell fantastic stories and evoke tremendous emotional responses (think National Geographic) and can be just as compelling.

I think I prefer, however, to stay in the impressionist camp of photography for now – if only because it lets me hide most of my technical mistakes.

Ok, it’s probably not the very first photowalk in Cambridge ever, but it is the first of several I will be organizing this year. What is a photowalk, you ask? We’ll get to that in a moment, but first the details for those that need them right now!

When: Sunday, January 29th @ 2pm
Where: Southworks Outlet Mall (64 Grand Avenue South, Cambridge, Ontario N1S 2L8)
(important venue info below, if you plan to participate, please read through.)

UPDATE: Please RSVP here: http://twtvite.com/swphotowalk

Ok, so when and where are covered, let’s talk about what this is all about. A photowalk is simply a group of photographers of all skills and ages gathering together at a specific time and place to go for a walk and take photos. Photowalks not only provide an opportunity to practice the art of photography, but they also provide an informal time for photo enthusiasts to be social – something that doesn’t often happen in workshops and seminars.

I should also note that this isn’t a photography club. There are no dues, no committee, no weekly or monthly meeting. Photowalks are open events with no obligation to join anything.

Most times, photowalks take place in public spaces and there are few, if any, rules or guidelines. This particular photowalk, however, will be a little different in two ways:

1. It is primarily indoors
2. It is being held on private property

For this photowalk, we will be the guests of Southworks Outlet Mall. The photowalk has been arranged and approved by the property management with a few conditions:

1. Photowalk participants will be identified with nametags (I’ll bring a stack of “Hello, My name is” stickers)
2. Participants are encouraged to share a selection of photos with Southworks for their use after the photowalk.
3. Participants are asked not to shoot inside individual stores in the mall without checking with the staff first – Southworks Antiques excepted.
4. Southworks is a place of business – customers come first.

If you are not familiar with Southworks, it is beautiful old foundry restored into a commercial space – including the largest antiques warehouse in Canada.

Things you can expect to shoot:

• a billion antique knick-knacks in the antique mall (a macro lens might be fun to have!)
• interesting vintage architectural features throughout the interior
• even more interesting exterior features (weather permitting)

Update: I made a little video…

Official hashtag is: #swphotowalk

photo credti: Lee Haywood

Just a month into my journey as a “serious photographer” and I’ve developed my very first “trick of the trade” – how exciting! I haven’t actually looked to see if anyone has already included this in a tutorial of some kind, so it’s possible that this isn’t completely original.

The Scenario:
I spent the morning taking “staff portraits” at the office. In the past, we’ve always had to scramble to get a decent photo of someone when we needed it – either for the website or a workshop bio, etc.  We decided to take semi-formal portraits of all staff just to have on file.

The Problem:
It was, of course, the final subject of the day that caused the “problem.” She was a blinker – a bad one! A few of the earlier subject had one or two shots out of four or five where their eyes were closed, but this subject was something else. She knew it too – she told me that she always either has her eyes closed, or she looks like she’s on opiates. I couldn’t disagree with her. Twenty-five shots later, experimenting with various flash settings and delays, etc, we STILL didn’t have a shot with her eyes open.

The Solution:
The answer was hers, actually. She was telling me that she’d run into the same problem at the optometrist’s office – they could not get a clear image of her retina because she kept blinking. “The only thing that finally worked,” she said, “was for me to click the remote.”  I hesitated. “You want to try?”

She took the remote, closed her eyes, and then opened them as she pressed the remote (in her lap, out of frame). Bingo. The first shot was a keeper. Eyes nice and clear – naturally open. In fact, her entire posture improved and it might be the best portrait of the day. Interesting.

Conclusion:
If you’re taking portraits, I wouldn’t recommend handing off your remote to every subject. If you run into a stubborn blinker, however, it might just save your shoot.

What to YOU do for blinkers?

I don’t do New Year Resolutions. It’s just a thing I don’t do. However, I do want to do a few things differently in 2012 than I did in 2011. One of those things is NOT sitting at my desk for 8 hours a day (in addition to the 3 hours a day I sit in my car). My bum has had enough.

I decided to go for a fifteen minute walk every day at lunch time. Problem is that I find walks boring. I find myself just trying to get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible – staring at my Blackberry to pass the time while trying not to bump into anything. I could tell that this daily walk thing would go nowhere quickly.

Enter my rekindled interest in photography – thanks to access to a proper camera. I realized that if I took my camera with me, I could keep the boredom at bay while honing my skills. Basically, I’d be going on a photowalk by myself. Neato.

In order to keep myself from just filling SD cards everyday (and doing nothing with the photos)  and to ensure I was actually practicing and not just “spraying and praying” I came up with a few rules:

• No more than five exposures per walk
• Manual exposure and manual focus only
• No photo review on the walk
• Post at least one photo per week

Because my shooting rules are so strict, I’ve allowed myself free-reign in post-processing. This way I get to practice my Photoshop skillz as well. :)

So, without further ado, here are today’s images:

A quick update about our upcoming trip to Malawi:

• I’m now officially a “co-leader” of the study tour – which means that the dozen or so people we are taking will be my responsibility should anything go awry while we are travelling. All of the pre-arrangements are thankfully someone else’s responsibility! The coolest thing about this is that the other “co-leader” is my very good friend (and mentor of sorts) Rev. Ted Creen, recently retired from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Owen Sound.  I’ve known Ted for nearly thirty years and I am so excited to be sharing this experience with him.
• As I mentioned in the last blog post, the purpose of the trip is learning. This is not a mission trip in the traditional sense. Malawi may be a little short on fuel these days, but they’re hardly short of available labour. Flying halfway around the world to erect a building that could instead be built by Malawians (thus providing income) doesn’t make much sense.  Instead, the purpose of the trip is learn – in an intensive way – about the work that the PCC does in Malawi. We will be hosted by our mission staff there and will visit the many projects that Canadian Presbyterians support directly including orphanages, shelters, etc. The trip will also include a weekend “home visit” with a Malawian family.
• There are three Canadian Presbyterian families currently serving in Malawi. You can learn more about them and their work (and about life in Malawi) on their blogs:
• Mike and Debbie Burns
• Todd and Annika Statham
• Glenn and Linda Inglis

Stay tuned for more updates leading up to the trip.

The relatively tiny country of Malawi - often called “The Warm Heart of Africa” – has always been a part of my family’s story.

In 1965, just a year after Malawi gained its independence from Great Britain, my grandfather accepted a  school administration position at Blantyre Secondary School in Malawi’s largest city. His appointment was part of a program of Canada’s Department of External Affairs – the first such program to assist the fledgling country.   At the same time, my grandmother accepted a teaching position at St. Andrew’s Secondary School – now known as St. Andrew’s International High School.

So, at thirteen years old, my mother and her younger sister and brother found themselves in the heart of the dark continent.

The stories have been told many times over the years – with sometimes varying details: the time an elephant snacked on the thatch roof, the time a gecko fell in the pudding, the time my aunt – peering through her camera’s viewfinder – shouted “just another second!” as a disgruntled rhino charged their Land Rover. Thankfully, the driver ignored her. [these are my memories of these stories - I make no claims of accuracy]

In exactly six months, my wife Arminta and I will set off on our own Malawian adventure!

The Presbyterian Church in Canada (where I happen to work) does a considerable amount of work in Malawi. In addition to funding several projects through PWS&D, we have anywhere from five to ten staff in the country working with our partner, the Blantyre Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP).

We will be travelling with several other Presbyterians from across Canada on a two-week “study tour” of Malawi in and around Blantyre.

We are beyond excited about this trip. While both of have traveled overseas before, neither of us have been to Africa – and we haven’t really traveled at all since our honeymoon a decade ago – and that was just to Maine, so it doesn’t really count.

I’ll likely blog more about this as the time gets nearer, but now that it is all confirmed, I wanted to make the “official” announcement.