Photocamp Utah 2010

Photocamp Utah 2010 was an awesome event this year, if you live in Utah and have an interest in photography, you really should have been there. For me the highlight of the event was hearing from Zack Arias. The man is real, easy going and completely down to earth.

He was the afternoon keynote speaker. What did he speak about? Well if I were to sum it up as a single phase: “How to succeed” of course from a photographers view point. Pretty simple topic, but really difficult to cover. I was able to watch over Zack’s shoulder for a bit as he prepared his speech and spoke with him while he worked. Here is the thing I came away with, Zack totally practices what he teaches, and tells you exactly how he got where he is, and how he plans on getting where he is going. He is totally humble willing to learn and to share what he knows.

You can watch a stream of his presentation here. One of the first things he talked about in his presentation is how we should know our gear as photographers. I mean really know our gear. Now this comes from a guy who shoots two systems, Canon and Nikon. As an example, while I was looking over his shoulder I commented on a picture he has up. He tells me exactly how he shot it, using a feature that I was unaware of in my camera. The thing is I felt like I knew all the features of my camera, but here I am learning a feature previously unknown to me.

What was the feature? Nikon cameras have a “Multiple Exposure” mode. Now Zack had a couple of really cool pictures using that feature. One I asked Zack about you can see here. So now I have a new shooting mode to play with and have decided to dig out the manual and see what else my camera can do that I have been ignorant of! I tried it out at photocamp while Zack was talking.

Now my result really sucks to say it mildly but the look was done in camera! I toned the image afterward in lightroom, but nothing else. I can see all sorts of cool effects I could get from this mode! Moral of the story, is back to square one for me! I need to learn my tools better!

Could I change settings on my camera blindfolded?

Need to work on that one a little bit (mostly there).

Do I know everything my camera can do?

Nope need to work on that one too!

Make sure you come to photocamp next year!

Silverfork lodge

Last weekend we spent a few nights at the Silverfork Lodge. We went to relax, unfortunately no one told Vivian the plan. We had nights of little sleep, but that is another story. I did want to however share a few pictures from the trip

I woke up early (maybe I never went to sleep), to catch the light at Silver lake. Now I don't consider myself a nature photographer, but every once in a while it is fun to shoot something a little different.





Once the light started to rise to high to be called good, I started to leave and saw this guy.



I, Papa, and Clayton headed up to the reservoir above the lake to fish. I have taken Clayton fishing several times, but with no luck.



This time, Papa hooked one that Clayton then helped pull in. Pretty cool day for Clayton!

Airen

Airen, is the daughter of some good friends Shea and Evylyn. Airen is thinking about trying her hand at modeling. She likes the camera and well the camera likes her!

She had some photos done in a studio type of environment and well it was time for environmental portraits. She looked through all the portfolios of all the environmental photographers in the continental USA and none were up to par... Until she ran across Nathan Marx Photog extraordinaire!

OK, were friends and well the topic just sort of came up, but I like the first better. Much more DR-A-M-A.

Drama is exactly what we went for (personally I felt that her other photos were so traditional boring that she needed something spicy).

Now to the beautiful photos of Airen.



I worked Airen hard, telling her to try different expressions (most of the time she had a hard time not laughing at me). If you model, it isn't about saying cheese (it is way more than smiling). It involves a bit of acting (Of course this is coming from someone with no experience with models).



Originally we (I) planned on doing a sports theme type of shoot, but time wasn't on our side. I still think we need to do the sport theme (it will rock).

I can't decide if this one below or the first is my favorite...




Sometimes, Airen had to laugh at me (it is my goofy personality that gets to people). I like this candid expression of "huh, are you talking to me?".





So we need to do it again Airen, this time we need to follow the plan. No making the photographer stress by making him throw his plan out the window (No it was fun, to heck with a plan)!

Bye bye Katie and Damon

It is true; sad for us here in Utah, but Clayton is loosing two more cousins who are moving off to blacker and duller pastures (everyone knows that the grass is greenest in Utah, even after countless droughts).

One thing that I learned is that Katie is really a witch! I caught her red handed (well pink handed). See how that nose is scrunched up???



Yup she knows that I caught her doing the nose thing!



You might ask, how does Damon feel about having a witch for a sister? He has kept quiet about the situation for all these months (can't be years because he doesn't have many yet) due to an agreement that Katie must cast spells in his favor. Damon was an inch away from getting his papa to let him drive his Audi...



Katie was playing dress up, I couldn't resist and asked (begged) her to model for me.





Damon on the other hand was hanging around, following his sister. I had plenty of opportunities to capture his picture...





OK, the cat is out of the bag about Katie being a witch, but equally surprising is the fact that Damon is quite the composer (He likes the new impressionist style stuff).



We sure are going to miss you here in Utah, Katie and Damon (we will sort of miss your parents too). We will have to head to that Northern coast to come for a visit. It may be a sad parting but not forever.

Photowalking Utah June Great Salt Lake

The Photowalking Utah event for the month of June was held at the Great Salt Lake. Everyone met at Saltair at 6:00 o’clock that evening. There were some who were late (myself being one of them). I was sooo excited to meet with the group that evening but when I got there late (almost didn’t go as I have been feeling under the weather), it was one of those moments where I had to decide to make the best of it. I couldn’t find the group; I searched frantically for a short time then I wanted to cry like a lost little girl. I ended stopping near an old abandoned building. I started by hanging around the building hoping I would see the group drive by.

Inside the building, a couple of kids were spray painting the walls. I was actually very impressed by the artistic value of the graffiti they were creating. I had to get a photo of someone in the building; it was just too neat of a location to pass up. If you don’t know by now, my favorite photographic subjects are people. I didn’t dare ask the kids to pose for the photo as I thought that their activity was likely illegal and they might want to keep their anonymity, so I used myself as a model holding a spray can like I was the master painter. At least I got my best side…

Exposed using Manual 1/400sec ISO 200 at F11 (used sunny 16 rule to determine exposure for outside the building), WB set to sunlight. Used three strobes to light up the walls and myself (to bring up the exposure inside the building to match outside). Camera left I set up a strobe with a ½ CTO filter, the strobe to the right used no filter. The two strobes were set at a cross lighting type of style. A third strobe was placed in the broken wall with a red filter. I know the model is not the haut man what you are used too; ever since I stopped using buns of steel…

Then I decided to start the walk down toward the lake (much further than I thought). I found several interesting photo opportunities along the way. I don’t think of myself as a landscape photographer type, I hardly ever go out and shoot landscapes, but I had a lot of fun. When shooting landscape photography one of the difficulties is capture the dynamic range of the scene. The sky often turns out too bright and the ground too dark. This is because of the limited dynamic range of digital cameras (film cameras suffer the same problem, they can only capture so much of the contrast that exists in a real scene). This especially becomes true as you hit twilight (think how the human eye has problems seeing at the time of the day). My solution was to put the camera on a tripod and bracket. I then combined the photos later using Photoshop Elements. Photographers who do a lot of this type of photography often use graduated neutral density filters (this is a filter that is half dark and half clear, you place the dark portion over the bright sky to allow the camera sensor to read the scene more like our eyes are able to), I don’t have graduated ND filter so I used a digital darkroom equivalent.

Single exposure, I used a flash (gelled with a CTO filter camera right) to bring up the light on the stump in the foreground. Without flash the stump would have been black. I set the WB to sunlight and shot around F14 at 1/100 of a second (aperature priority) at ISO 200 and +0.7 exposure compensation.

Two exposures used one exposed for the foreground and one for the sky. Additionally I used a flash (gelled with CTO filter camera left) to bring up the light on the piers. I set the WB to sunlight and shot around F13 shutter speed varied by bracketing.

A different technique was used on this old wreck which begged for its photo to be taken. I used a single strobe fired once for each of the multiple exposures used to light up the old vehicle. I walked around the vehicle and lit up the vehicle from different angles using one CTO gelled strobe. I then combined the exposures in Photoshop elements. Following is one of the photos I combined in Photoshop.



You can see my strobe on the right side of the frame. I moved around the old wreck lighting it up as I went.



After seeing the Photowalking group photos, I have decided that I need to visit the spot where the group met. I plan on making a trip down to the Great Salt Lake soon and I am taking the whole family. Stay tuned for some awesome slick family photos!

Creativity boost (It is not about your camera)

For a little while I felt like I was falling into a rut with my photography. I was a bit frustrated with some of the results I was getting and felt like my equipment was holding me back. Well equipment is a small part of the problem, but the big problem was me. I was thinking inside the box. I wasn't thinking how to use what I have but to get the look I wanted but was thinking about what I thought I needed to achieve the look I wanted (was that a mouth full or what?)......

My whole mental state I had was one that impeded me from using the one free gift that everyone has in their arsenal, whether it be the pro with the wizbang fancy equipment, or the modest simple "point and shoot" carried by the novice but enthusiastic photographer. Lately I have been trying to focus on taking new shots, experimenting and really stretching myself. I am trying to focus on things that will make me grow as a photographer, not as a gear head.



Ok, I know that the model in these photos is not the chiseled hunk you are used to but I wanted to try some new concepts. I wanted to have some photos in my portfolio for future use as stock photography. I wanted images that tell a story....



The thing is that my equipment is not really the limiting factor (though it does make things a little harder) but my imagination is. There is always a way to get an interesting photo from any situation if you just think things through a little harder. That thinking makes you that much better in the long run. The great photographers can make great photos with a pin hole in a box and a roll of film. They now how to maximize what is available.

Part of it all has been searching for inspiration. Trying a new look or technique...





Part of it has been trying to figure out how to tell that story...





The last two photos were fun. We are holding Xbox controllers but we really were watching Thomas the tank engine. Yup I have those shows memorized.

So is there a moral to the story? It is all in the name of the post and that is... It is not about the camera but how you use it! Now if I could just find more time to do shoot the list of ideas that I have come up with.... Oh ya and I need a willing model!