APAC Submissions, September 2013 : dltphoto

It's that time again folks. It quickly snuck up on me since I have been so busy juggling my new career and such. In fact I was in such a rush to get images in by the 8pm deadline that I just grabbed three images without much time for consideration, we'll see how I fare up! One new thing they have added this year other than a few different categories is the adjudicator's being able to give half points, so instead of a "Deep Six" there is now a chance of 6.5!!

This months Adjudicator is Rick Shapka, here is the brief info we were given before our submissions were due.

 

"Rick Shapka began his formal photographic training about 2002

by completing diplomas in photography at Focal Point, as well as art history at UBC. In addition, Rick completed workshops with a number of master photographers including Joe McNally, Jay Maisel, Jean Miele, Dan Burkholder, Freeman Patterson, Andre Gallant, Eddie Soloway, and Tony Sweet.

Rick spends his time with photography in and around Vancouver as well as traveling extensively to make pictures. His recent photographic journeys include Arizona, the Palouse, Moab Utah, Vancouver Island, New Brunswick and Namibia.

He photographs the landscapes, the people and has a particular interest in HDR and abstract photography."

First up is the Assigned topic which is "textures". Fortunately I had this one ready to go from my instagram account, originally shot by the trusty Nikon 1 V1 and filter applied via instagram.

Asigned Texture,"Red, White and Blue", score 7.5

Then on to the exhibition section. I choose two images from my most recent shooting, since I was in a big hurry! Both from the Nikon 1 V1, and yes I do have a DSLR but the little Nikon is just so wonderful ( please don't cancel them Mr Nikon). No fancy edits done to these images, basic Raw conversion only.
Not entirely sure I put them in the best category but well...whatever!

Landscape "Lady of the Lake", score 7.5

Portrait, "Night Floating", score 7.5

So I scored the Perfect "Mr Average", 7.5 all the way through. His scoring wasn't wild as compared to some but he rarely fluctuated from the .5's, which I guess will be the new trend. We'll see next month!!!

Watch out for falling Ice:dltphoto

Since the completion of the new Portmann Bridge it's had a bit a hard time, Falling Ice, Slower than expected commutes, even some nasty accidents. On the other hand they created a wonderfully photogenic architectural masterpiece. On the right day with the right light and some good lenses, all the incidents could be forgotten!

Ruby Tuesday..wait, it's Saturday!: dltphoto

Sometime ago I acquired an extremely vintage camera called a Ruby, made in England sometime between 1925-1934. It is in fantastic shape, even in the original box. Since it is using a discontinued film format I had to use the only format that is commonly available today, medium format (120). This camera shoots an impressive 6x12 format. Wonderfully large negatives. Optically though not equally as impressive. My Yashica-D  is using the same film but in the square format 6x6 with a far superior optical lens.

My chum Colin, from our Photoclub, took the camera home and cleaned the optics of the Ruby since the lens was not really usable due to years of air and moisture, it was almost impossible to see-through it. He also rigged a spool to accept the smaller 120 film. Since it doesn't have the frame counter marking available, I loaded it and guessed the winding necessary to get it to the next frame without any overlapping. I fluked out with that as I got no overlapping at all.

Shutter speeds and Apertures.

It has very limited shutter speed capabilities, 1/100th, 1/50th, 1/25th, 1/10th Second Also with Bulb and T which is a different type of bulb mode, somehow.. Since I only had a 400 ISO 120 in my fridge I had to wing it. (winging it refers to utilizing my educated guesswork for all my years with film). I think I shot it at about 100th sec and F8 or F11... seemed to be close. Films delightful exposure latitude makes winging it a little easier.

APAC Submissions, February 2013: dltphoto

For this Month I went all out. Super excited about these three images. However the more excited I am is how proportional to how disappointed I will be when the adjudicator scores them. this theory I have proved tonight. The scores were very erratic. Not in my favour but I still enjoyed my choices.

After my last epic fail in the Macro category I though I would attempt something more obviously macro. Its bright fun and pretty much right out of the camera. Just how I like it. Its early morning frost on my black tinted truck window. Oddly the rich blue is coming from the reflected blue sky of the early morning. The Depth of Field is dramatically short but that's what is to be expected when I am too lazy to get my tripod and I quite like it this way. The adjudicator did not see it my way, she wanted more depth, sharpness and maybe rule of thirds on this, meaning not having the focused part dead centre.

Macro, "Cool Blue", score 8

Instagram'd Version

 I did a square crop in instagram ("The Hive") which was very well "liked" I should mention.

This next image is your textbook "instagram" shot and it's right out of my phone!
 I put it in the architecture category which was probably a mistake. It's a funky church in Abbotsford, hence the title. It should probably be in the "Duncan's lost his mind" category... Sadly, My title was VERY common so it seems. Someone else put an image in with the same title which happened to show three images before mine. That didn't help I am sure.

Architecture, "stairway to heaven", score 7

Finally, we wrap up the night with the assigned topic "Psychedelic, or just Psycho". This is another phone shot with an SLR Macro filter in front of the lens. To help with the close up, since my phone is lousy at macro. I saturated it a little to give it more of a  Psychedelic look... more drug inducing!

Assigned (Psychedelic, or just Psycho), "L.S.C.D", Score 20 (out of 30)

The adjudicators scoring was very low for the assigned, but still mine was one of the lowest.

Of Paramount Importance: dltphoto

I recall a short time ago a friend of mine was petitioning to keep this old theatre in Chilliwack from being torn down, Alas I think it has been slated to be destroyed. Too Bad, interesting buildings are fun to shoot.

Attempted my first GIF file though! I need to work on it!

December 2012: Favourite Shot: dltphoto

Since December for me is kind of a write-off month for getting anything done Photographically. My pickings are fairly thin. Not to say that I didn't get out to take pics at all, but any "brilliant" content is harder to obtain.

This happens to be my choice for December. Snow, trees and some Blah. Visually it has nothing that catches your eye. It breaks so many rules. I don't think it's something that I would submit to Photoclub, but ummm maybe I will!!!

Not always ideal, but we manage: dltphoto

The one thing about photography is that the picture doesn't always tell the real story. Photographer's have found ways to "sugar coat" the shot to make the viewer believe everything was ideal!

And now the real story...Wedged in a corner.

And then factor in that all the persons to be photographed come all at once and are enjoying "coffee morning", whilst your juggling families and catching falling $1000 studio lights.....
It might just send some people a little Crazy!

Faux-laroid #1 :dltphoto

Since I don't have any Polaroid camera's, nor do I have any film for them if I had any camera's, I still want to play the fun game of being retro and hip.

October 2012: Favourite Shot: dltphoto

Here is one from our camping trip to Alouette Lake. A little stream that I assume runs into the lake.
Shot the annoyingly slow and frustratingly poorly screened Sigma DP1s. It darn well creates beautiful files but couldn't be any worse of a camera. Maddening... but I shouldn't complain. Not many have the unique Foveon Sensor to fool with!
Shot on a Gorilla Pod SLR zoom, Sigma DP1s, 50iso, 13seconds, F11 with two cokin ND filters stacked.

September 2012: Favourite Shot: dltphoto

This months shot was a simple Instagr.am shot. I just enjoy the composition and the lousy app'd finish of it. I am including the original phone capture so you can see how sometimes what you see isn't really what you end up with.

Instagram'd Version

Original, No Edit

Autumns Veins: dltphogr.am

http://instagr.am/p/Q7y0P4K38n/

Winter Of Freedom, @ The Tunnel,Vancouver: dltphoto

I shot these a little while ago and kinda forgot to shove them on the blog. Ooops.
My good friend Mr Omer Cordell has made his own band here in Vancouver. Winter Of Freedom is the name. Music is the Game!
Here are some shots I got at the worst possible venues to shoot with the worst lighting ever. When you have a bad venue, you have to give it some wiggle! Omer and I have spent years working with bad lighting... at least I was allowed to use flash. No three songs and out with no flash! thanks house of blues!
 If you just Google Images "omer cordell" or "seventh frame photography" you will undoubtably find the best band photos ever shot but the most talented film shooter ever. Yes I said FILM. Omer has been anti-digital for many years.... Hero!

APAC Photoclub Submissions, September 2012: dltphoto

Well, Its photoclub season again. This means submitting new images to be critiqued and butchered by "experienced" judges in the photo judging industry!.. Hahahahah, not really! well maybe somewhat.

So the Judge for this first month was Francois.. no, Francoise... umm I forget, lets call him Frank for short. Frank was very specific about how he wants to see images. He wants them "RAZOR SHARP", and I quote "images need to be Razor Sharp".
Fortunately  my images were "RAZOR SHARP", sadly one was of a sunset type scene. Frank suggested if your going to submit Sunset Scenes, it had better be spectacular because he's seen them all. Wonderful! this exhibition night should be interesting.

Sunset on Lake, score 8

First up was my shot in the Landscape category, As you see I scored an 8, which is really not a bad score in the photoclub world. I guess the only way to have scored a 9 or 10 would have meant that my image needed to be "spectacular". Its not your stereo typical sunset, its bold and vibrant. Actually it shows very little of the sunset since its just a reflection/ ambient shot. 

So, feeling pretty good about myself so far. Next up a Film Marco shot I did which I featured in a previous post "Pink Wheat". Having enter film images before and watching them being judged up against digital images and imaging wizardry, I have decided to enter them through the digital process without people knowing its film. The Judges are now so used to manipulated images that they aren't able to assess film images the way they should.

Needless to say my second entry into the "macro" category scored me a repeated 7. I didnt expect to score so well anyways. Its a random shot with shallow depth of field that really makes the image kind of messy, since the wheat was blowing in the wind, it was a case of rapid shooting to get one good one. Perhaps if I attempted some better selective cropping it could work better. I am really not a "special effects" type person, I enjoy good "razor sharp" images that I can capture in the camera and tweak mildly in programs like Lightroom. I am soooo not a heavy filter on top of filter type of guy. I am going to keep sticking to my plan and the photography I enjoy. Good "razor sharp" images as close to out of camera as possible and hopefully they will look "spectacular". Is that OK Frank?

 We did have an assigned topic for this month, "though a window", but alas I didnt have anything I thought really worthy that might score well. No need to put in something I personally wouldn't have scored well. This was a pic I considered but it wasn't crying out to me.

"But my phone takes better pictures...":dltphoto

Sadly, I hear this all to often. What can you say to this? YES, certainly a Phone is a handy device. More than likely you have it on at all times and as Chase Jarvis says, "the best camera is the one you have with you", at least I think Chase thought that up. However, NO your phone is not better than a camera. The final output is so much better with an actual camera. Now I have been promoting the use of a phone as a cool imaging device, and that's what it is, Cool, Handy, Quick, Convenient. Sometimes, if the scene is right, it can be hard to tell a phone shot from a camera shot, but it doesn't  replace a real camera.

Below are two images of the same scene, but dramatically different in look. One from my Nikon DSLR, and the other from my Samsung Galaxy S Phone.

In my eyes the more intriguing image is the first one. Its far more interesting with the wonderfully shallow depth of field that can be only created by the superior talents of a real camera, I could probably add some fancy action to the phone image, like a tilt-shift effect to make it more appealing but I still don't have the in-camera control to get the shot the way I want.

So, Yes a phone creates fun images but a REAL camera creates much BETTER images as long as you are willing to learn it!

Further to that... here are two images below. One with my phone and one with another camera, cropped to almost the same shot and both straight out of ummmm, well Camera!!!! Can you tell?

August 2012, Favourite Shot: dltphoto

On our way back from our last camping trip with stopped off just past Hell's Gate at Alexandra Bridge. I have seen it from the main road many times but since we were "kid-less", we thought it a good opportunity to explore it. It was baking hot during the 15 minute walk to get down to the cool old bridge!

The bridge deck, which I cant imagine is the original deck was a really cool, yet weird, metal link design. The kind where you really don't want to drop anything small you might be holding, like a phone or compact camera, otherwise they are gone forever in the gushing Fraser river.

This particular shot it s a little off-putting, it tricks my eyes into thinking the top of the shot is wider than the bottom, yet it is a very straight rectangle of course, cameras don't lie! Does it do the same for you?

Cross Processing..was it a happy accident?: dltphoto

  Slide film development is a colour reversal  process allowing a positive image instead of the classic negative, there is also a technique of doing it incorrectly, purposefully, to reach an entirely different end result. This has become commonly known as Cross Processing.
I imagine someone sometime ago accidentally, not on purpose, developed there Slide film in the colour negative process and was probably jolly ticked off, however, after calming down found the results to be somewhat interesting!

Instead of the Slide film (E6 process) going into the correct chemical procedure, putting it into the regular (C41 process) film negative process can render some very interesting results.

 Firstly, its no longer a Positive, please remember back to holding up slides to the light and seeing a positive image (Fig A) you may have to go back a few years!!

Fig A

Anyways, since we are scrapping this correct process the film now becomes a negative! ( Fig B)

Fig B

 Now we have run it through the in-correct chemicals we have also "tainted" the colours in the process. We should now expect a higher contrast and bolder colours in the cross processed negative. This can lead to blown out highlights and sometimes loss of detail.... but we are monkeying with the correct process. Its our own fault. ummmm Blah blah blah..... here's the good stuff!

Granny & Grumpa's Antiques, Abbotsford: dltphoto

I was introduced to an unbelievable new shooting location by one of my photo accomplices, right under our noses here in Abbotsford on the Circle Farm Tour. I didn't have much of an idea of what I was really going to see there. Next time I visit I should have a goal or a topic to shoot, since there is SO much to see there, It was quite overwhelming. Barns and barns full of, well... junk. At least junk to someone, collectable works of art to others. Expected to only spend an hour or so there, we ended up calling it a day 3 hours later, and really still didn't do the place justice from a photographic point of view. (check Wallace's Post)
Mainly I could see more "instagr.am" style shots than really good photo content. Many signs and random objects that you wouldn't normally see. Overall after being kind of wow'ed by the place for the first hour or so I settled in to some shooting. Since it was all so packed in and dark the use of flash became apparent. For some reason though I couldn't get my  flash mojo going. Maybe it was my accidental foot dunk into a murky green bog thing, the concrete surrounding it  had a small channel built into it with  rotten plywood covering it... note to self, don't walk on plywood on concrete. Fortunately nothing got damaged, a few scrapes on the equipment and the leg, but it all still works. Could have been a lot worse!

The Pea Soup-Green Bog

The "Hole"

Plenty of textures to be had. That part I really enjoyed. Anything old and rusty is going to photograph well. I found a couple of old ornate radiators basking in the sun....texture heaven

Welcome to Canada, instagr.am :dltphoto

http://instagr.am/p/O1gnysq33A/

The Murky Underside of the Stunning Upperside: dltphoto

Many moons ago I acquired a wonderfully different camera to add to my Nikon collection. The Nikonos V film camera, as posted previously somewhere, sometime ago, on a blog post far, far away.
I resurrected it for some fun underwater antic's. Our kids hesitance to swim in the gorgeous green lake this year, without life jacket, was mildly frustrating. All of them now are very capable swimmers but I guess the massive lake must be a tad intimidating. Until of course I splashed out the Nikonos V and then off came the life jackets and on came the diving underwater with reckless abandon. It was quite the turnaround. I created monsters.

Working with the Nikonos is kind of odd, apparently water has some defraction non-sense that means when I focus a certain distance its actually not that distance blah blah blah... I found a technique of my own. GUESS IT.
Along with the "GUESS IT" technique, I applied the "hold the camera underwater and GUESS that they are in the shot!" technique. With the 28mm lens its fairly safe that I will get most of them in the shot as for hands and feet etc... well, that's part of the fun for me. So featured below are some of the better "GUESS IT'S" that I ended up with.

July 2012: Favourite Shot: dltphoto

This months star image for me was featured on a previous post, I just love the lines. The depth of field worked perfectly to draw my eyes toward the triangles. Rumour has it, that things in three's are the key to a successful image, which I am not entirely sold on at this time.