Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Inspiration

Morning on Prince Street
I really enjoy looking at an actual printed photograph and not just a bunch of pixels flying by on the screen.  I like it so much that I have been printing an 8x10 photograph every week for the past four years and hanging it on my cubical wall to share with the people in the office.

I was heading to work this past Monday morning lamenting the fact that I did not have a photograph to hang on my cube wall.  My inspiration this past week had been at an all time low and my photographic cupboard was bare and so I sat on the bus annoyed at myself for not having a print with me.

Now, this is not the first time I've missed having a print but this is the first time I've missed because I was not inspired to get out and shoot.  I had several mornings, lunch hours, and rides home in which to photograph but absolutely no motivation to actually get out and photograph.

I think inspiration goes up and down in cycles and this particular cycle coincided with my photo of the week dilemma.  As the bus drove down Barrington Street I turned and glanced down Prince Street and the scene above caught my eye.  I hadn't gone looking for it but, nonetheless, there it was and I was hooked.  I rang the bell and jumped off the bus to capture the morning light on Prince Street.  Sometimes a moment is all you need to rejuvenate your inspiration and this was my moment.  Keep your eyes open and your camera handy, you never know when that inspiration will hit you but you'll be kicking yourself if your camera isn't around when it does.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Night Time Challenges


This past Saturday evening found me out shooting for the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk.  If you are a photographer and have never tried it I highly recommend you sign up for it next year.  It's a great time to meet some other photographers and just a great time getting out and photographing.  This year's photowalk in Halifax coincided with Nocturne Halifax so there was a lot to see and photograph.

I found this year very challenging as it was an evening shoot and I really haven't done any night time photography.  While the principles are the same, finding the light is a different process as you generally have very little light with which to work.  Combine that with the poor low light performance of my Canon Rebel XSi and I found it very difficult.  More night time practice required!

I thought I'd give myself some more light so I pulled out my flash but I found the bright white flash really ruins the mood of night time shooting.  The warm orange glow of the fire from Incendia Motus' show was decimated by the flash.  I have some research to do around solving this issue.

Regardless of the challenges it was a wonderful, if a bit chilly, evening and I really enjoyed getting out and photographing the streets of Halifax.

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Photographing in the Rain

IMG_3704_editedThis past weekend saw me playing host to a visitor from Paris, France. Thomas Paris found me through Google+ and I offered to give him a tour of the south shore by bringing him along to the Sackville Photography Club's field trip to the Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival.

The field trip was canceled due to rain and I almost decided to pack it in and cancel my day with Thomas as well since the weather forecast didn't look good with 30 plus millimeters of rain on its way.  I thought though that Thomas had traveled all the way from France and I didn't want him to miss out on a bit of a tour of Nova Scotia because of the weather so we persevered.

On the way down I decided to change our starting location and head down to Lunenburg since Saturday was also the day the Bluenose II was being re-launched after extensive maintenance. I didn't know what time it was happening but I figured it would be a good chance to see it anyway.  Had we not gone I would not have had the chance to catch this couple standing in the rain enjoying the view of the Bluenose II and I think it was worth the trip for this shot alone.  I really like how the woman has her arm around her husband and how they are talking with the fellow on the ship.

Our day started at 10:00am and I dropped Thomas off at 5:00pm. We had an interesting day traveling the lighthouse route back from Lunenburg and endured "sideways rain" for some parts of it. Our stop in Peggy's Cove was cold and windy but the rain had stopped. All in all we had a much better day than if we had just stayed at home. None of my photographs from the day were stunning shots but they could have been.  at the very least there's no way I would have captured anything had I simply stayed at home.  Don't let the weather keep you from getting out and photographing. Sometimes the best moments are captured in the worst weather.