A Certain Texture

"Exploring Sleepy Cove"

*Newfoundland, Canada*

If it seems as if the blog has been in limbo lately, you'd be right. Life seems to go from one extreme to the other. One minute business is slow, the next, I have work piling up around me. But I'm not complaining.

I'm embracing the various textures that are making up my life lately. A little travel, adventures into newer job descriptions, a little expanding, facing some personal fears, approaching some personal weaknesses... and absorbing the things each item brings to the table of life.

And having life textured by so many different elements can only mean one thing. It's bound to show up in my photographs. Whether I want them to or not, the things being absorbed by me every day have the ability to pour out of my images too.

Why is this important enough to mention today? Cause I've realized in the past I've tried to shield those things from seeping into my work. And did myself a disservice each time I did. In an attempt to strive for a certain look, or expression, or ideal, or vision, I shucked my ability to use what was going on around me to take my photography to a new level.

Funny that the tag line on my website is "Show The World Who You Are"... and I was avoiding that very thing myself. Let's change that.

It's That Simple...

"This Way To Sleepy Cove"

*Sleepy Cove, Newfoundland, Canada*

Good afternoon my friends! The blog is BACK! I hope you've missed our little get-togethers! I know I've missed it. I've been working hard, and doing a little traveling, and working some more, and it's been rewarding. But I couldn't wait to get back to this. So here we are! Let's chat...

If you asked me right now what I most love about photography, what gets me really excited about the pursuit of this entire vocation called being a photographer, I'd have to say the act of picking up the camera is the best part for me. Sounds obvious I know. But as simple as it sounds, I get the impression from many in the industry that somehow that fundamental action is just their stepping stone to the other things they love. Creating new gear, new websites, new sales, new speaking opportunities, new trends, new apps, and new careers. Not that everyone is like that, or that those things are bad. But as someone striving to pursue photography, I've realized that my favorite thing is still just picking up the camera. And when I forget that, my love becomes a chore. It's that simple. 

My trip to Newfoundland two weeks ago made this very clear to me. I did nothing but carry my camera with me everywhere, and it meant 10 days of only photographing things I instantly connected with or impacted me visually and emotionally. And let's be clear, I can do that in my own backyard too... however I'd forgotten why I loved picking up my camera, the job aspect of all this meant other things had begun to distract. But on the trip it all came back... finding compositions out of chaos, choosing simple details, deciding what light was exciting, what scene was calming, what location was majestic, what elements were at play in the viewfinder, what story or emotion I could capture. I love the doing of it. It's that simple.

So here's an image from my trip where my host and good friend Dianne, and I,  climbed down a mountain trail to get to the ocean at Sleepy Cove. It's a simple shot but never underestimate the simple shot, it can represent so much for the photographer, and later the viewer. My intent was to explore, and let the camera record the things that spoke to me. An easy thing to forget in the mad surge of life. Easier to remember with the ocean roaring against the rocks!

I think I'll hang this near my work desk... to remind me that for everything I do with my photography, it's picking up my camera and putting it to my eye that affects me the most. It's that simple.

Thanks For The Inspiration!

"That All Men May Know His Work"

Gold Mosaic Dome - Royal Ontario Museum

Today's image is dedicated to someone who reminded me last week that no matter what I photograph for a living, lofty perspectives and architecture will always be what excites me the very most, the one thing I can never resist shooting. So much so that this friend, and a band of a few other photographers, now call photographs like the one above the "Duncan shot".

I simply call it "always looking up". My hubby calls it a good way to get a permanent crick in your neck.

So Peter Abbink, this photo is for you today. Your own versions of the "Duncan shot" inspired me to make sure I looked for a lofty perspective this week. And I found it in one of my favorite Toronto locations, the ROM. Can you believe I've never photographed this ceiling yet? That had to be corrected pronto. While on a trip with the family this weekend, I made sure I got a few shots off in your honor.

This is basically straight out of the camera. There was some sharpening to be sure, but I didn't even have to tidy the crop since I used my grid guide in the view finder... and was I ever excited to share it.

What's your approach to photography that's uniquely you? What's your strength, what inspires hands down every time you pick up the camera? Think about, and have a great week gang!

The Need To Breath

"Empire Sandy"

Such a busy month. As I predicted it would be. So today on my work break I felt the need to revisit some images from last summer. This one caught my eye so I decided to share. It's from a visit from the Toronto waterfront, and one of my favorite places to take the Nikon whenever I need to get away from the desk and just breath in something new... new skies, new clouds, new people, new surroundings, new scenes.

September will mark my steady return to our little blog, and I even have a photography trip out east coming up... plus I'm looking forward to showcasing some weddings that have come my way. So keep your eye on this page from time to time this fall! I'm excited!

Where do you go when you need a break from your surroundings? Where's your "need to breath" spot?

Flash...From Foe to Friend

"Before Flash..."

Can I be honest? I'm a natural light dweller. I have used the virtues of available natural light to hide from having to learn flash photography. That's right, I admit it. I have had a healthy dose of flash aversion since day one, and with good reason. It always seems super bright, blinds everyone within an eight block radius, and can add the most warped shadows to a scene, taking it from well lit to horror show, in one pop of the flash. Who in their right minds wants to look like their photography is one giant photo essay on deformed shadow puppets? 

Terms like sync speed, TTL, flash exposure, dragging the shutter, and radio slaves sent me scurrying for the safe harbour of a flash-less existence where I understood proper english and simple exposures for natural light. I even tried to psych myself up into barging fearlessly into the flash experience by publicly stating I'd do only flash each week on the blog, which was a huge mistake because the pressure was too much and I chickened out once again.

Well, last weekend I was at a women's conference in Columbus Ohio, and one speaker taught about how to embrace the unknown in a practical way and I knew I could apply her teaching to my fear of flash once I got home. It requires a dose of reality. I only THINK flash is scary and difficult... but what I BELIEVE about flash photography is that when done well, it opens up new opportunities for you and your subjects/clients. Next, ACTION needs to follow your BELIEF, which trumps your unrealistic THOUGHTS. My action? I need to slowly develop a list of ways I can use my flash that best suits my style, and gradually learn how to create those photos with the settings my flash affords me. I need to play with it. When I looked at it this way, flash seemed doable.

So today I'm posting my first real experiment with on camera flash as fill light in low light situations. After some reading, this first approach seemed like the best way to inch into making the big scary foe my friend instead. In low light, my flash can become my ally. Now that's something I can embrace! And I'm reviewing my settings and my choices, and applying them to new sessions, with great success.

At the top of the page is the before image, my subject outside in the evening's last light on a semi cloudy day. Things just look flat, and her face has some dark shadows around her hairline and neck, and no catch lights in her eyes whatsoever. Even with my exposure carefully tweaked after metering, and bumping my ISO way up to 800 after the initial shot so as to keep a decent shutter speed in the darkening scene, things just look bland and shadowy.

But the image below? If you click on it, you can see shadow is gone on her features, she has catch lights in her eyes adding life, and shine to her hair and lips. Nothings over the top, and processing required very little work afterward with only some slight colour saturation, heightening of the warm tones, and some sharpening required. My flash setting was TTL (Through-the-lens metering... meaning your camera does the metering work and relays that info to your flash which will supply the light it assumes it needs) and it was sufficient for the portrait. What I was missing was my sideman who normally would be off the the side with the reflector to bounce more light into the subject. But you get the point....

"After Flash..."

This is no killer portrait by any means but I was able to enhance a set-up I desperately needed to learn from! That's so important to me. I have finally found a way to ease into making flash my friend, and not a moment too soon, as I have several events coming up which will be a good way to establish the new skills I'm  steadily working on. How exciting!

I know this was a lengthy post today so let's just ask this question...

What's your big scary foe? It could be your best friend if approached the right way! Thanks for the ramble... have a great day!