Change It Up!!! ~Floral Friday

Rainy Day Magnolias, a photo by C.Duncan's Photography on Flickr.

Every creative person I know gets stuck. Moments where you're in a rut. You have artist block. Nothing seems new. Or interesting. You'd rather bury yourself in a carton of Super Chocolate Caramel Explosion ice cream and watch reruns of Wonder Woman... well... some of us anyways.

Thought I'd share my go-to list of things I do to switch things up and gain new inspiration. If you've been doing photography for many years, these will be old hat to you. But if you've never tried these, it can put the excitement back into photographing whatever comes your way. Here we go;

Set An Absurd Boundry ~ We all know the ideal conditions for shooting inside, outside, whatever. So give yourself a specific shooting condition and only shoot that way. Only landscapes in the rain. Only portraits at twilight. Shoot every day for an entire month only from your backyard, or along a specific stretch of road. Force yourself to get creative. And tell others about your
self-inflicted project so you follow up.

Use Your Gear... All of It! ~ Use your lenses in creative ways. Wide Angles for portraits! Yep, you heard me. Figure out how to get creative with your perspective and the POV you shoot from and get some cool portraits. Stop reaching for the obvious lens choice. Use your telephoto first when photographing architecture instead of the wide angle. Force yourself to see within a tighter, less chaotic frame. It's simply thinking outside the box but sometimes we're in a comfortable rhythm and can't see anything else, then wonder why our images seem uninspired.

Face Your Weaknesses ~ If you steer clear of macro nature shots because you can't seem to get what everyone else gets in the lens, start exploring what else you can aim a macro lens at. Over the course of a month, those skills will grow. If you avoid portraiture in general, start with a fun project with your family making crazy faces, or only your dog for a few weeks, in different light, in different locations, and hone those portrait skills you were afraid were non-existent. What you learn about yourself you'll be able to apply to what you do love. Or it may open up a new vocation for you completely. And how exciting would that be.

Invoke The Buddy System ~ Invite others to participate. The more the merrier, and everyone stays motivated, feeding off each others energy and experiences. This is what my friend Dave Pratt and I did with our Epic Personal Photo Challenge... we opened it up to anyone who loved photography and every two weeks a new person picks a theme we have to shoot in. We reveal all our images on the same Sunday and discussion runs rampant on what our individual approaches resulted in, and new ways to see a subject. It's fabulous and very inspiring. The fun is injected back into the act of photography, and you can tell by looking at the images each week. You can click the link above to join us if you'd like....

So have a fabulous Friday gang, and let's inject some inspiration back into our photography. Just change it up!

What Do You Suppose... Wide Angle Wednesday

                                         

 Imperial Cotton Co. II, a photo by C.Duncan's Photography on Flickr.

Interesting scene, no? Quite frankly I have fallen in love with the main building of the Imperial Cotton Co. The third floor is one massive space ready to be used for everything from art shows to filming movies, and so full of character. I think I spent more time here during Doors Open Hamilton than anywhere else. This is one of my favorite images from Sunday's ramble through my city. And I think I'll let you decide what's happening in this photo... let your imagination get some exercise.

So, what do you suppose this scene represents?

I'll tell you one thing, photo shoots would be heavenly in a location like this...

Have great day gang, and thanks for the short ramble!

Find Some History ~ Mono Monday

"Old, New, and In Between"

Imperial Cotton Textile Mill Complex



I love architecture. But you knew that. I even love saying, "I love architecture, and you knew that..." so of course today's image is from the 2012 Doors Open Hamilton event that took place this weekend. A fabulous event where buildings of artistic or historical significance, and buildings with innovative design, open their doors to the public and allow you glimpses into places you never knew existed or have always wanted to see.

You can't keep me away.

The image today is an amazing combination of original structures from 1900 and newer additions that today houses studios and spaces for showcasing and supporting local artists. I wasn't able to be choosy about the quality of light, hours of the event across the city are mid day hours and the light yesterday was harsh without much cloud cover. But you use what you're given, and when there are terrific lines, shapes, and textures supplied by such an interesting structure like this scene in the alleyway, you just go for. I particularly like the black pipe framing the Gothic style brick tower in the distance. Elements like this make me a happy photographer.

If you're in the Hamilton area, you need to check out the Imperial Cotton Co. complex and the additional site for artist support through CoBALT Connects who is out there providing innovative ways to educate artists and support local talent.

Take a ramble through YOUR city and see if they have a Doors Open event near you! Thanks gang and have a good one.

Soak Up The Sunset ~Floral Friday

"Awash in Sunset Light"

A quick little post just to say thank you to my readers. It's easy to think I'm just putting random thoughts and ramblings out there into the atmosphere and there might be a slight chance some one's listening. But my stats tools tell me there's so many of you tuning in every week, and I didn't want to go another day without saying how much I appreciate all of you. Thank you for journeying along with me. From the bottom of my heart.

I'm currently working on a survey which will be posted here and on Facebook... I'd love to know what you'd like to see or read more of quite frankly. Where you all are in your pursuit of photography. What topics are important to you. All of that good stuff.

So be on the lookout for it in the next week!

In the meantime, I'm starting off an iffy weather weekend here in The Hammer with this image I took down at Bayfront Park where the tulips are growing strong, tossed with daffodils, and where they seem to be set on fire in the sunset light. This universal approach to great light simply can't be beat. Have you tried it yet? Let's get out there then!

Have a super weekend gang! And thanks for reading along with my rambles...

Beyond The Formal ~ Mono Monday

"Working With A Pro"



Today I thought I'd discuss something I hear frequently from other photographers. And I would be in the same boat as them when they say, "My family just HATES having their photos taken!" It's that whole "set up the seamless, point the big intimidating lights" feeling, or even just the deer in the headlights look everyone gets after dad yells "hey everyone, look over here and say cheese!"

I had to work hard around this the other day for a personal project I'm beginning, and wanted to ensure that my family wouldn't run screaming from the camera or look stiff and uncomfortable once they stepped into a shot. So here's some tips on what I did to get the moment above of father and son looking relaxed and having fun without it looking staged.

The Most Comfortable Place

When is your spouse, child, or subject most in their element? The place or spot that they're the most involved in, most proud of, most comfortable in. For my husband (and it's a tie between the him and the dog for who hates the camera most) that's his workshop. All his tools familiar to him where there, on-going projects he's excited about are there, and he proudly renovated it himself. It is the quintessential comfortable space for him. So the first thing we did was hang out in the workshop.

Find That Light

I don't mean that "inner" light either... that's later. I mean now that we were out in the workshop to photograph the father and son moment I wanted, I took a real hard look at this familiar space and had to decide where the good light was. Workshops are notoriously dusty, or have industrial type lighting everywhere. We tried opening up the big door, with all the lights on but in the end the only good light, very soft and full, was coming in a window from the south west. The windows are covered in an opaque white film for privacy and were the perfect foil for the late afternoon sun. So I backed up into the corner and had them stay in front of the window to work on their project together. If you look closely you can see the back of my husbands head still has definition in the shadows... that's from the big door we kept open for added light. That's using the ol' noodle eh???

Use The Best Gear

I could have fooled around with my flash, my reflector or additional lights, and my different lenses. However, all of those things are time consuming, and start to make your subject feel more self conscious as time goes on. And you can loose momentum. So after looking at the small area they'd start working in, I decided the best lens would be my wide angle for such a small tight space, and I'd use my tripod in case the exposure wouldn't work out for handholding the camera. I spot metered my subjects, okay with the corners or background having some shadow and that was that. After a minute they forgot I was there.

Don't Just Stand There... Do Something.

Because they were in a comfortable place, doing something they're familiar with, the last thing I wanted to do was then say "now both of you look at me!" and press the shutter. If they love the camera, not a problem. But in this instance I needed them to just interact the way they always do. So they started DOING something. They were measuring to make a cut for some trim, a simple action but enough that their focus didn't drift to me right away and I got some shots off before they realized. The fact that they got chuckling about something my hubby was trying to teach my son says that they were still comfortable and had forgotten about me for a second. And I love the expressions. I got a great "guys" moment that really represents them.

These are just my own tips, but they seem crucial to every "stolen moment" photo I take, no matter what the variables are. I'm sure you could add to the list. And I hope this helps someone longing for better family photos that go beyond the family portrait of pasted fake smiles, dress clothes you only wear at Easter or weddings, and odd poses.

Thanks for the ramble! Have a great Monday and let's get some fabulous family photos!