365 Days of Photos Updated

I have updated the 365 Days of Photos page. Here are the latest photos. Hope you enjoy them :)




Day 27 - How could I not shoot this sunrise

 




Starbucks at Dusk - I love the royal blue skies right after the sun goes down




Day 30 - Everyone out enjoying the first real sunny day in a week



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Hitting the Streets HCR style

I guess I should start by saying in no way am I comparing my images to the great to the great Henri Cartier-Bresson.  By saying "HCR style" I am talking more in style and approach to the shooting.  You see Bresson was legendary for his ability to catch "decisive moments" and tell amazing photographic stories with the use of only a camera and 50mm lens.  Many consider him to be the father of "street photography".  
 
Many may have noticed I have been talking about street photography quite a bit lately.  So I thought today I would shed some light onto what I like so much about it.  Henri Cartier-Bresson wasn't my original inspiration.  To tell the truth I had never heard of him before a month ago.  My true inspiration and who got me started into street is a photographer from LA, Eric Kim.  I can't explain any better what I love about street photography any better than his explanation so I thought I would quote him to give you some insights.



 
"The genre of photography that I take part of can best be described as “street photography”. Street Photography emphasizes the “beauty in the mundane” by showcasing little snippets of every-day life. However as life is often unexpected and “Kodak moments” often fly before a person’s eyes, the street photographer must be skilled, brave, and disciplined enough to capture certain “decisive moments” that can only be caught once in a lifetime.

Real life is unscripted, and the street photographer doesn’t have the convenience of setting up all the variables in his image. Therefore whenever you look at an image from a street photographer, know that the image you are looking at is one-of-a-kind. Look for the story.

Life is the stage and the people in it are the actors. Now enjoy the play."
Eric Kim - Eric Kim Photography


I hope that gives a bit of some insight into what I love so much about it.  Every single image you see from street photography is a one of a kind original that can never be duplicated. 


This past Saturday some nice weather finally came our way so I excitedly hit the "mean" streets and piers of Port Credit in hopes finding some great stories.  When I first started into shooting street photography I was extremely shy and mainly used the technique of "shooting from the hip".  But lately I have been challenging myself to get more courage and take my shots properly.  I just find they make for such better images.  Here are my best attempts at capturing some one-of-a-kind stories from the past week

Caution Low Overhead



Sidewalk Gazing

Street Skating

A Kid at Heart

No Smoking??

Where's the Bus Pass?

Senior Crossing

  As always would I would love to hear your thoughts and comments.
 

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Reawakening Our Senses

Messing with the senses

I have always said my journey with Leukemia has changed me.  I think one of the biggest things it has done is drastically change how I look at the world.  I find I am in much less of a rush, and I tend to find beauty in things I wouldn’t have in the past.  In addition, I find myself being much more contemplative about my life. 

When I got out of the hospital for the first time last spring it was like blinders were taken off; now it helped that I went into the hospital in winter and came out in spring.  But when I got out it felt like all my senses were attuned to a higher level.  It was because of this I took up photography as a hobby.  As I progressed, I found it awakened my eyesight to all the beautiful natural colours in our world that I had never noticed before. 

 

The beginning of this year was difficult for me photographically.  First, I found the photos that I used to enjoy taking were no longer inspiring.  I felt as though my senses had been turned off, and the things I used to see didn’t seem to exist anymore.  I knew I needed a change, but instead of changing hobbies I started experimenting with all sorts of different types of photography.  It was almost instantaneous how quickly my senses came back once I was engrossed in something I was inspired by and passionate about again. 

Even though my passion was re-ignited by these new “genres” of photography there still has been a major hurdle as of lately; the weather.  Our Canadian pre-spring weather is a nightmare for photography.  Not only is everything dull while we wait for the first buds of spring, but almost every day here is pretty much overcast and rainy.  This makes it hard to physically get outside to shoot, and when you can get outside to shoot it can be difficult because colours are flat and the lighting is very flat without any contrast. 

Instead of giving up though I have embraced this new challenge, and once again tried to awaken my senses and find beauty in the dullness of early spring.  I no longer just shoot one type of photography.  I let the weather and conditions dictate to me the type of shots I will shoot that day.  One day might be urban, the next landscapes or cityscapes, or I might just look for contrasting gritty textures.   I have learnt over the past few weeks to no longer have preconceived notions about what I am going to shoot.  Instead, once I am out walking around I just let my senses guide me and try my best to find beauty amongst the mundane.

As we live our lives I think our senses get dulled by the mundane day to day routines of our lives.  Everyday blends together and thus the tiny pleasures and miracles blend in.  We need to sometimes jumpstart ourselves in order to reawaken our senses.  This is always where a new hobby that we are passionate about helps since it adds a new excitement to our lives helping to reawaken our senses.

Do you find your senses highly attuned to the beauty around you or has the dullness set in?  What can you do to jumpstart your senses?

By THe Lake

Special Moment

Old vs New

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My Fisherman's Quest (a photostory)

If you really think about it, it is not only a little surprising that I have been able to maintain my passion for photography but my passion has increased by leaps and bounds.  The reason I say it is surprising is because over this past year I have not had much variety location wise.  To tell the truth when I say “not much” variety, I really mean basically none.  Except for the photo I posted on my blog yesterday, every photograph I have taken is within a 1 kilometer radius of my apartment.  Now I am fortunately blessed by living in a beautiful location but it really has stretched me.

I actually look at it as a good thing because instead of always having new subjects to look at and photography, I am constantly challenging myself to come up with new and interesting ways to take a picture in the same spot. 

On my way to the grocery store last week (my camera goes everywhere with me now) I was driving by Erin Mills Park and I decided I would stop it just to take a peak.


  The sky was threatening to rain (surprise, surprise) but I thought I would just scout out the park for a future visit.  As I drove in there was this beautiful decaying wall, that I wanted to take a shot of but had nowhere to pull over so I continued in further to turn around and find a way to park.  div>

As I continued into the park I felt quite a let down with it.  The credit river runs through the park but everywhere I could see was sports fields and picnic areas, not exactly a photographers dream on a cold, overcast weekday.  I decided I would find the next parking lot to turn around, grab a couple shots of the decaying wall, and then head on my way.

When I arrived to the parking lot, my initial disappointment turned to excitement; there were fly fisherman getting out of their cars.  I immediately parked, threw on my toque, and grabbed my camera.  I was determined to get some pictures of them in action.  Up until this point, all my nature pictures have been getting better but they have been missing that one point of interest.  Today was the day I was going to put all the pieces together.

I followed the fisherman down to the river and I was blown away with how breathtaking it was.  The flat overcast sky was not ideal for making gorgeous photos but I was really excited with practicing including points of interest in my nature shots.  The river was scene was just so beautiful I had to stop and snap a few photos with my new best friend (my 50mm prime lens J ). 

Unfortunately, by stopping to shoot the photos I lost the fisherman, so I headed off down the path in an effort to catch up and find them.  The beauty of the park and the excitement of photographing something different than my normal neighbourhood kept my efforts in to catch up at a moderate pace at best.

I came across this beautiful little waterfall and stopped to take a few pictures.

After I got the pictures I wanted, I headed back to the trail and came across a gentleman named Jim.  I started some small talk with him and before I knew it we were walking down the trail together talking like old friends.  He must have been enjoying himself because anytime I would see something I wanted to take a picture of he would wait patiently smoking his cigar while I took the picture.  As we walked the skies opened up, but instead of rain it started snowing.  It actually was extremely beautiful.  I wanted to see if I could grab a shot with the snow in it so we stopped again for me to take a couple shots.  Little did he know that he was main subject of this picture (my urban photography is making me very good at sneaking those candid’s J )If you look closely you can see the white flakes in the picture.

We continued along the river and finally came across the fisherman.  Originally I intended to walk the whole park with him to fully explore him but I just couldn’t get images of “A River Runs Through It” out of my mind and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try and get some images.  So we said our goodbyes and parted ways.  Jim set another great shot as he walked away, so I snapped one last shot of my new friend, before I headed down to the river to continue my “Fisherman quest”.

I knew I was at the mercy of my environment for my pictures because zooming with my equipment requires my ability to get close but I could feel the excitement of my pending “catch”. When I reached the river’s edge, there the fly fisherman was; my quest had ended.  Unfortunately, he was on the other side of the river so my little lens wasn’t able to get super close shots.  The little lens was great to have though because of its ability to stop action even in poor light. 

I was able to find a small area where I could get a little closer to the fisherman and got a couple great shots.  Here is my favorite shot of the fisherman; it is slightly cropped to get a little closer.

When I was satisfied with taking shots of the fisherman I decided to head back to the car to accomplish the actual point of this trip, my grocery shopping.  On my way I came across a bench sitting by itself looking out onto this beautiful scene.  There was a feeling of loneliness, that the bench had a look of longing for someone to just sit on it and enjoy the splendid view.  I composed my picture and then continued on my way (this was also at the beginning of yesterday’s post).

I finally was nearing the point where I would l leave the trail for my car when I came across two university students about to start fishing.  They said I could take a few photos if I emailed them to them so I obliged and shot a few.  They were a little slow to get started and I still had groceries to do so I only took a few and then heading on my way, thus ending my Fisherman’s Quest.

As always I would love hear your thoughts and comments?  Which photo was your favorite and why?  Also, I have added a poll to the homepage to find out your thoughts on the new 365 days of Photos page, please take a second to log your vote

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365 Days of Photos Updated

If you are interested my 365 Days of Photos has been updated up until today with photos and stories/descriptions to go with each. Just click the dedicated page tab and it will take you directly there or you can CLICK HERE.

As always I love hearing your thoughts and comments

Simplify Simplify - Taking Is Less Really More One Step Further

A Bench's Daily View

My personal challenge of “Is Less Really More?” has been achieving exactly what I had hoped it would.  It eliminated a lot of useless distractions and got me back to just focusing on taking better photographs.  The essence of this personal challenge can be summed up perfectly by Thoreau, “Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify.”  By satisfying only our needs and ignoring our wants we are truly achieving this simplification. 

Before I continue I should let you know that the “Is Less Really More?” project actually started over a month ago; I am just late on posting about the topic.

My photographic progression has come much faster than I expected when I started this little pet project.  As time progressed I found the wants slowly starting to creep back to the surface.  Thankfully I had started it with a clear understanding of my needs and I could ignore the wants whenever they did surface.  Nikon almost ruined the whole thing with their announcement of the new 5100, but thankfully it was missing one “need” that was a deal breaker for me so it was an easy pass.

As progression continued I began analyzing my “body of work” (albeit not very big), what I enjoyed shooting the most, and what I planned to continue to mainly shoot.  If you remember when I started this challenge I knew eventually I would need to upgrade again but only when my current system no longer met my needs.  This time has come.  My analyzing and reflection allowed me to gain an even better understanding of my needs. 

So the original challenge is kind of over, as I have changed cameras.  I only say “kind of over” because the essence of the challenge is still going strong.  In changing over my system I have actually simplified my photography even further.  In my change I switched from Nikon to Canon but the simplification has come in my lenses.  I have only been using a fixed length 50mm lens since I made the switch. 

You want to talk about simplifying the process; when I want to zoom, I walk forward J  I am actually loving it.  By simplifying my lens down to a single fixed length it has really forced me to pay attention to the composition of my photographs. 

Slowly I will continue to add to my lens collection, but I am really thinking of staying with the fixed length prime lens instead of getting a zoom lens.  It is hard to explain but I feel a greater connection to my photography with them; in fact I have even considered getting a cheap all manual film camera to play around with and simplify it even more J

Of course every time I start looking for my next purchase all those beautiful wants will coming barrelling to the front trying to convince me I actually need them.  It really is difficult to stay focused on only our needs when we are being constantly bombarded at every angle with wants.  How many times have you gone to the grocery store to get the bare minimum and walked out with a cart full of snacks?  Or gone into an electronics store and walked out with a brand new don’t pay for it for 3 month credit card and the newest gadget? 

Our wants are satisfied through impulse; in fact they prey on it.  The only problem is once we satisfy that want you can almost guarantee a new one is going to come along almost immediately. 

I have found two things really help combating these wants.  First, sitting down and honestly understanding your true needs before you go to make a purchase is invaluable; whether it be as simple as a grocery list or complex as analyzing your photography style.  The second is a little rule that Amy and I have developed over the past year for ourselves.  When you decide to you want to make a significant purchase, wait two weeks.  If you still want it after those two weeks it is no longer an impulse buy and thus, no longer satisfying those wants.  This strategy works because most of our wants are so fickle they have moved onto another want by the end of the two weeks.

I would love to hear your thoughts.  Do you have a strategy for fighting off those nasty wants?

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Is Less Really More (A personal Challenge)

Late last year photography for me started moving from a simple hobby to a passion.  I had begun studying it much more detail and actively working towards becoming a better photographer.  Then some great news came my way, they found my bone marrow match and I would be having my transplant immediately.  From a health standpoint this was awesome news but it also meant an extended hiatus from my newest passion.  What made it worse is I had just upgraded my equipment to much nicer lenses and a semi-pro camera that I was dying to use. 

As most of you know the transplant went great and I began my road to recovery.  Soon I would be back out on the streets and in the parks doing what I love.  Then it happened, the first decently nice day where I could go outside had come.  I grabbed my gear and off I went to re-ignite my passion.  Something was wrong; while I was out I didn’t feel inspired.  I felt like I couldn’t find anything of interest for me to shoot, and I went home fairly dejected.  I decided maybe it was just my creative eye was lazy from its hiatus and just needed some time to practice to see properly again.  I went out the next day, which turned out better but still not that same passion as before.  Everything when I was out was a chore.

That night I started reflecting on what was happening.  Why was I not enjoying this like I used to.  I had this fairly top of the line camera and lenses, I should be having a blast.  It was this concept popped into my head, is Less Really More?

As I reflected back on my year in photography in 2010, although I was enjoying it quite a bit I was always changing and upgrading my gear.  Finally, when I hit acquired the kit that I thought would make me happiest, I was actually enjoying it the least. 

I realized I had fallen into the common trap of consumerism.  We are always being bombarded with bigger, better, and faster products with all these new bells and whistles in a bid for us to replace our perfectly good products for something new.  But the real question is do we actually NEED these features. 

This realization made me take a step back and begin to analyze what type of photography I actually enjoy shooting and what I features are actually required for this. 

This is when I really started asking myself the question, is less really more?  To do this I had to start honestly weighing my Needs versus wants. 

When I actually sat down and looked at my kit I realized all the great features it offered had come at a cost, weight.  My camera was heavy, and for someone recovering from a transplant, I was much weaker which affected my ability to shoot with the camera.  This wasn’t the biggest issue.  When I really looked at it I realized the camera made me a lazy eye level photographer.  I am not afraid to lie on the ground and roll in the grass (of course when it is less muddy and dry) to try a different perspective.  But with this camera I wasn’t really open to trying out more perspectives.  In addition, I realized that I barely used all the features that made this camera better than the lower level versions.

This realization made me really intrigued with the concept of is Less Really More.  As Einstein said, “any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. But it takes a touch of genius and lots of courage to move something in the opposite direction.”

So I thought I would give myself a new challenge to help improve as a photographer and re-ignite my passion; The less is more challenge.  I would downgrade my equipment to something that only satisfied the NEEDS of my photography and ignored the wants.  This way I could focus solely on improving as a photographer.  I knew I would of course upgrade my camera again one day but only when I felt that my equipment was limiting me photographically and my current camera was no longer satisfying my needs.  No longer would I be sucked into the consumerism trap bigger and more complex unless it specially addressed a need of mine. 

It took me a couple weeks of swaying back and forth between the "is Less Really More" personal challenge.  But each time I came back from taking photos I grew more and more restless, and finally pulled the trigger.

I think my Less is More challenge achieved exactly what I had hoped for.  It not only reignited a passion for my photography but poured a whole gallon of gasoline on it and it has made me a much better photographer.  The images in this post are what I consider my five best images since I took up this personal challenge.  They were all created with the entry level Nikon D5000 and Nikon’s cheapest lens, the 18-55 VR.
Since taking up my personal challenge my photography has improved in leaps in bounds.  So the question I would pose to many of you, are there things in your life that would actually be improved by imposing this less is more strategy?  If so I would love to hear about it.

Is there an image that is missing from here? 

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