APAC Submissions: April 2014:dltphoto

This months images weren't particularly thought through entries. Just something I slapped though the system quickly as the deadline caught me off-guard. I didn't even know who the Adjudicator was. Mr Razor Sharp, apparently. Fortunately my images happened to be "Razor Sharp". He is one of the more fussy adjudicators, actually almost annoying but brutally honest which we need sometimes. I only hope it doesn't put off some of our new club members who might take offense from it.
As for the Images, if it's something he has 'seen' before it's likely to not do well. Don't submit a sunset pic, unless it's an amazing shot that no one has ever done before, as he has 'seen' them all. Don't submit a blue heron pic, as he has seen a million of them. So what do you submit for an adjudicator that's seen it all??? We live in a beautiful area of Canada but its also got it's limitations of what we can shoot that hasn't been done and is still spectacular. I think his expectations are rather unmanageable. Take a look at some of his images. Have you seen them before? Actually a lot of his images I see quite regularly through through the club presentations. So are his spectacular? or more of the same?, as he did those images does that make them spectacular? My images aren't spectacular, but are they unique? Have you seen them before?

'Shades of Beige". Abstract, score 7.5

'Oil Painting'. Open, Score 8

There was a request on this one by my chum Gerry regarding cropping, I cropped it as shown but I also showed the Adjudicator the full image and also another different crop, and he suggested that all worked well.

Here is the original, uncropped 'as shot' version, you can decide.

I didn't have chance to submit an assigned topic image, which was "9 seconds". Maybe I'll do next months.

APAC Submissions: March 2014: dltphoto

This Months adjudicator was not as was advertised. It was supposedly my friend Elizabeth Kowal of White Album Weddings fame but instead it was Mark Kowal of White Album Weddings fame. They own a gorgeous little Chapel, so picturesque for weddings and portraiture. Sweet. An Ex-President of the club also.  He scored me 8's across the board!!!

'I'm not looking at you right now', Domestic/Captive Animals  Score 8

'Oh Lord I need a paint job', Architecture score 8

'Fenced', Assigned Topic "Bokeh" score 8

Nothing really exciting to say about these images for this month. I was deep in School Work and don't really recall if anything was said about them! They are probably featured in earlier posts, my 2 readers may have seen them before somewhere!!

APAC Submissions, February 2014: dltphoto

This month was scheduled to be my favourite adjudicator, Allen Bargen. I picked a few images that I new he would have a hard time liking and he would enjoy telling me that they weren't technically in the correct category... Why would I do this? it's fun for me!

Anyways, my plan kind of backfired. He didn't show up! So fortunately we had a visitor that evening, the President of the Langley Camera Club, Dennis Ducklow. I have actually known Dennis for many years as he was a customer of ours at the Camera Store I used to work at and he is a really nice guy... anyways he graciously volunteered to fill in for the missing adjudicator. Now I was quite excited for my images to be viewed by him!

Since I had a run-in with this adjudicator before about abstracts and the fact he doesn't believe my images were real abstracts I thought I should put another one in. Fortunately, Dennis quite enjoyed it.

Abstract. 'Abstract in White', Score 8

And 20 minutes into the exhibition night the expected adjudicator showed up! This was quite a treat. Dennis continued to score for the rest of the evening but both of them gave critiques at the end. Fantastic!

Dennis enjoyed the images suggesting he had great lines and your eyes could easily go from front to back. My friend however piped up as to be expected suggesting it wasn't actually a true abstract as he could tell what it was..... Well. I took great delight in him saying they were "plates" and he sounded very confident about it too! Sadly, He was sooooo WRONG. Oooooh, such a large grin came over my face in the dark! I called out and suggested he was wrong and if he'd like another try, I don't think anyone knew what they were and I took great pleasure in informing him what they actually are. So now he's two for two at guessing my abstract images and getting it wrong. Brilliant. Anyways.. I won't tell you what they are.. I'll keep it a mystery for now. Wouldn't you say it's abstract if you can't determine what it actually is?

Architecture. 'Uniformity', Score 8.5

Another image from this series I shot on a recent outing that i have yet to finish up with and post here. I was working with the lines and the shadows. I also rotated it just for added fun. I enjoyed that one of the lights is missing its cover. I like it when a uniform pattern is destroyed but one element. Kind of an OCD's nightmare I imagine.
Dennis suggested he enjoyed the simplicity and the Lines, I don't recall if the other dude said anything about it and really I don't care.

Assigned 'Industrial', "Mind the Gap", score 8

Last up was an assigned image i shot a little while ago with me phone and tried to give it some pizazz... I thought it was kind of industrial looking. I enjoyed the textures and lines. It's quite 'Me'.

Looking forward to March's Adjudicator as she is another friend and fellow photographer!

APAC Submissions, January 2014: dltphoto

As mentioned before in a previous post somewhere we are often informed of who the adjudicator is going to be for our upcoming exhibition nights. January's was Janet Bright, a local Artist ( Painter), friend and photography student of mine. She has been several times to the club and on my first meeting with Janet I scored very high, the next nights not so much. Just when you think you know someone there tastes change. I think since Janet now has a little more appreciation for how hard it is to capture the images, since she is now learning photography herself, she has maybe changed the scoring process in her reactions to the images. She is "evolving", so to speak.

First image up I got was bright, colourful, abstract. Perfect for her or so I thought.

"True Blue", Abstract, Score 7.5

Not the worst score I have had and really it doesn't matter whatsoever, it just gives me some to ramble on about. This was shot with my Nikon 1 V1 with the FT-1 Adapter and the Nikkor 60mm 2.8G Macro, along with a Nikon SB-800 Flash slaved wirelessly from the V1 flash. All shot manually and really no adjustments made. Kind of made a neat abstract image. I shot plenty of them but this I thought was a decent composition. I choose Poorly (wink)

Anyways, it didn't get reviewed at the club night but I asked Janet if she wouldn't mind critiquing it for me for this blog.
HOW EXCITING.
Here is Janet's view of the Blue"

"True Blue: Love the jars. My first response was that, to sit and look at THAT blue for hours and hours would be a wonderful thing. The balance of objects within the image seems very formal (almost symmetrical), with the negative/void space at centre taking visual space nearly equal to that of the jars themselves. With its monochromatic colouring, centred highlights and similarly sized objects/spaces, my attention is drawn directly to the static centre of the image, which is symmetrical and does not lead to a whole lot of excitement for the image. I do love the colour and sharpness"

Second up was another Macro effort with the same camera setup, just no wireless flash trickery!! 

"Circles of Confusion" Macro, Score 6.5

Not too much to describe about this one. It's a leaf. I just enjoyed the circles of confusion in the shot, hey I didn't say I was good at titling! Bold, colourful, simple. That was my goal.

Janet's comment:

"Circles of Confusion": This image is far more detailed and affecting on my computer than it was on the big screen where it was originally shown. I see leaf detail and delicate circles (which I didn't see before). Asymmetric balance makes me wonder what's just outside the shot; was it raining, cold, misty? and the magical circles (of confusion)- very intriguing. I suppose it is true, that the medium is the message. Thank you for showing me this high res version.

Cool... So there you have it. In essence I think she liked them and that's enough for me. , they aren't grand masterpieces of Photography mind you, some something I thought was interesting. Other people's opinions of these images may vary massively. It's such a terribly subjective thing. Janet probably enjoys a good  "Monet", I enjoy a "Giacometti", our tastes are our tastes, which is my point. Thanks Janet for your input. I'd love to go out shooting with you one day, "the painter and the photographer", that would be an interesting post!!

Film Photographer, Fiona Howarth: dltphoto

I had the pleasure of shooting my good friend and talented photographer, Fiona Howarth. Some professional headshots for some upcoming gallery presentations in 2014. You should all try to visit her show's here in BC as they are a reminder of talent with a photographic medium people are quickly forgetting.

Going Forward: dltphoto

I am going to be somewhat busy for the next few months as I continue on my journey into a new career to help sustain my photography habit ;-)

These faces are my motivation!

Christmas Randoms, 2013 : dltphoto

Camera Review Page: dltphoto

Once upon a time I wrote a blog for a Camera Store. Even though the cameras I once reviewed are now discontinued, all of the features they offered are still available on their newer brothers/ sisters and likely have much better image improvements. So I figured the reviews might still be useful. Most of these camera's and their upgraded friends are available at your nearest Kerrisdale Camera's store.

You can check it on my other blog duncanturner.blogspot.com

APAC Submissions, December 2013: dltphoto

"Branching Out", Abstract, Score 7

This months showing was a "photoclub bust" for me if  I was a competition minded and cared about progressing into future levels. Paul Baker was our adjudicator. He is very good at critiquing the images, mine just weren't ones that he felt needed to be discussed!

"Alouette in Green", Landscape, Score 7

This is my attempted image that went missing somewhere along the lines for November... too bad. Shot with my Fuji F200 EXR compact camera

"FireBreather", Assigned "Ancient", Score 7.5

This was the assigned image "Ancient". I thought it quite fitting, after all it's been there a jolly long time. It's as ancient an item one will find anywhere although its probably not viewed in that way!!

I don't think I scored the rock bottom score that evening, although I could be wrong. I didnt hear any 6's that I can remember!  Oh well. I really liked my images compositionally and they projected well. That's really all that matters to me.

Next month's adjudicator is a local artist  Janet Bright. She reacts to impact images but maybe less technical than the photographer judges.....

APAC Submissions, November 2013 :dltphoto

Two months of bad timing and I haven't been able to get to photoclub to see the images submitted or who the adjudicator is and how they scored images. This month I had a tragedy also since one of my images failed to get to the final process online, somehow. I'll just resubmit it in next months.

Assigned "Light", Follow the Light, Score 9

 After a fun and challenging evening out with a friend this is the result of us mucking around. For this image I actually combined three individual images since I had three mediocre images the play with. I used the simple technique shown in a previous post "how the magic happened". The exact same principle with different subject matter.
It appears to have scored well, although I wasn't one of the top three so this means the adjudicator was scoring quite high.

In Camera, "NightFall", Score 8.5

My other image to be scored was from the same evening,  painting with light. Not a bad effort out of the camera. Quite happy with the image considering the challenges we faced shooting it.

Granny and Grumpa's, Revisit 2013: dltphoto

Its been over a year now since Wallace and I visited Granny and Grumpa's Antique collection in Abbotsford. Last time was very overwhelming and I was not well prepared for so much stuff. This time I went with an idea not to try to see it all, just to pick out certain shots and concentrate on nailing them. This time also I only frequented one of the barns. With another 3 barns available I'll have plenty more to shoot on 3 future occasions.
I shot with a few different camera's... As to be expected! I finally had chance to muck around with some wireless flash with my trusty Nikon 1 V1. This first image of the Ice Cream toting Statue of Liberty was done using one remote flash off camera. I really enjoy this shot. Possibly my favourite from the day. It shows wonderfully the clutter and craziness of this corner of the barn. It's actually where I picked up an interesting Lenticular Print which I bargained with Grumpa for. I'll attempt of shot of this in the future.

Here are a few images, still have some film out and some other gems to go though. I'll save them for a rainy day!

You don't always need the newest Camera, just learn what you have. : dltphoto

Just astonished by the performance from one of my "little" camera's. Where it is nice to have the latest and greatest, knowing how to use the camera to it's fullest should be all you need. Make sure when investing in a  camera you talk to a salesperson who listens to you and then asks questions about what photography you want to do, so that they can match the best camera for your needs. I researched this model and learned it's capabilities before I purchased. Although I know it is fairly quirky in some of it's functions overall it can do the same as it's bigger brother "DSLR's".

I love the "Circles of Confusion " in this one

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APAC Submissions, October 2013: dltphoto

I wasn't able to be present at this months exhibition evening due to a 'man cold'. I relied on my fellow club members to give me any feedback that the adjudicator had with my images.
All I know is that adjudicator enjoyed a lot of the images, she ( Betty Andres) tended to score on the high side according to my above average scores.

 

"Private Peeker", Architecture Score 9.5

 This was shot at Barkerville, BC. Initially for the textures it offered but I also enjoyed the fact the curtain is set in such a way as someone could be peeking out at me. She reviewed it but I haven't gotten any feedback on it.

'Life Lines', Floral, Score 8.5

This shot was from my phone last Autumn. I enjoyed the overall feel of the image and thought I had a pretty sweet shot from such a limited camera. The Leaf shot she reviewed and wished the depth of field could have been better but overall she enjoyed the colours but wished I might have come closer to pay more attention to the lines of the leaf. Of course I wasn't there to inform her it was from my phone....

'Smile for Dad', Assigned ( Humourous), Score 9.5

Last Christmas's photo shoot in my studio, I always enjoy getting the girls to do a little something odd and it worked well for scoring.

Nightfall : dltphoto

Normally every year I post some glorious fall/ autumn tree shots. All glowing red and orange etc... But this time I tried something a little different. Must trickier and something that needs to be better thought out for next year!

I went out a night with Mr Koopmans to find the perfect coloured tree at night. Scouting ahead of time would have been smart as the pretty trees aren't so easy to spot, but that wasn't the only issue. FOCUS. Since we were basically shooting under pitch black nighttime it was incredibly hard to focus. Fortunately I had my blast of light flashlight with me (Fenix) and we atttempted to set our focus, it was still very challenging though.

So initially I started off doing some wireless flash to attempt to light up a tree we found in Fishtrap Creek. Along with a long exposure we got some nice effects, but that soon morphed into Flash and Flashlight which became a little bit of light painting which I have never really fooled with. Plenty of experimenting that night!
Light painting is simply using a long exposure (tripod required) and walking around with a light type device, in our case a really bright flashlight. Then at the end it wasn't about the colourful trees anymore since we couldn't tell if they were colourful or not. So we just messed around with a gazebo type thing in the park!

Out Of Focus!!!

Anyways, we played for a while and here are some of my winners.

Back to the beginning, Olympus OM-10: dltphoto

Many, many, many years ago I had gifted to me, by my oldest brother, my very first SLR. The Olympus OM-10 with the 50mm Zuiko 1.8 lens. WOW. I remember first getting it, sure it was used but it was in mint condition and I was thrilled. A real camera. This is where it all began.

Recently I acquired a Mint Condition OM-10. As luck would have it it seems to work perfectly. The 50mm lens is a little cloudy from maybe moisture or mildew but nothing one will ever see in the images.....

I can easily recommend one of  these cameras as a teenagers first REAL camera. Simple, small. Sure it uses film but then film has been fine for  most of it's long history and out of my roll of 36 I only had one that was an instant throw away due to my error. With scanners getting more available and cheaper its not terrifically hard to get them digitized should you need to or just find a friend with a scanner (Wink Koopmans).

Mount Fujifilm: dltphoto

Once upon a time manufacturers encouraged me to sell a certain cameras with the lure of reaching a target and securing a free camera for myself. Of course there is a dilemma to this process since you could ultimately be pushing a product of which you are not entirely comfortable with but in this case the Fuji F200 EXR was something I wanted and it didn't disappoint.

Now that I am on a career change I find myself less able to carry around larger cameras on a daily basis, but this little gem can go with me almost anywhere. I see many beautiful early mornings and usually I am a passenger in a vehicle so I am able to capture snaps through the window and its a great all purpose walk around for candids. The only thing I wished it had would be the ability to shoot in RAW, but I guess then I should buy the Fuji X20!!! #youcanthaveeverything. wait, does hashtagging work here?