» Vision Stuart Sipahigil

January 18, 2011

Winter in the Canadian Rockies

It’s no secret that I love winter. Other folks bemoan the cold and the ice and the snow but as a photographer, I revel in it. Winter gives me many photographic opportunities that simply don’t exist during the rest of the year. To walk on an ice-bound lake or pond. To visit places that no longer attract crowds simply because it’s “too cold.” Did I mention I love winter?

Well, one of my favorite photographers has released a Craft & Vision ebook about one of my favorite things. Darwin Wiggett, a truly gifted landscape and nature photographer, has published Winter in the Canadian Rockies, part of The Print and the Process series at Craft & Vision. Darwin takes us on a journey to some astounding places in Canada using his terrific photographs. Some of the photographs are recent images and some are from the late 80s and early 90s, when he was first starting out as a photographer. Both are beautiful and inspirational.

Following the established format of The Print and The Process books, Darwin initially shows us a series of images ranging from broad, sweeping landscapes to intimate frozen details of the season. He moves from color to black and white; from bold colors to subdued tones, all of which show us the sometimes different world of winter. He presents his own version of a leaf frozen in the ice, as well as my personal favorite: ice-capped rocks seemingly floating in a smooth, cotton-like water flow.

The Process section of the book goes on to talk about the challenges—and the rewards–of making photographs in the snow and cold, along with some tips about how to keep your camera functioning and yourself comfortable. The biggest takeaway for me, though, comes from the section on cultivating the right attitude. As he says, “Winter is full of glorious rewards; you just need to seek them.”

Darwin also offers some excellent practical tips on how to dress properly for winter photography and how to keep your equipment happy (the same as you, keep it warm!), along with some real “insider” tips on winter photography. For example, did you know that if you’re handholding filters, such as ND grads, you need to hold them at the top? Darwin tells you why.

Finally, the last section of the book presents Darwin’s commentary on each of the photographs from the first section, including exposure and lens data. It’s also interesting to see the range of cameras, both film and digital, that Darwin has used over his career.

Craft & Vision’s Print and Process series is a great way to learn more about a particular photographer and their photographs that inspire you. For me, Darwin Wiggett’s Winter in the Canadian Rockies pays homage to a photographic subject I dearly love and shows us a beautiful place in via his inspirational images.

Special Offer for the PDF Version of Winter in the Canadian Rockies
For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code ROCKIES4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of Winter in the Canadian Rockies for only $4 OR use the code ROCKIES20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST January 22nd, 2011.

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October 28, 2010

The morning announcements…

Hey, there are a few things going on right now that I wanted to bring to your attention, so here are the morning announcements for today, October 28, 2010.

In case you missed my postings on Facebook and Twitter, I’ve added several new images that you can order as prints, including a popular request, “Can We Talk?” and the newest one, “Painted River.” Simply click the Order Prints link here or in the top navigation for the site to check them out and to place your order. They make great Christmas gifts :-)

Also, the results from my self-assignment to shoot black and white photographs of the fall season in the Smoky Mountains are up on Flickr if you’d like to check them out.

Oh, and one other thing… I wrote a book.

Way back in July, I wrote a guest post on Sabrina Henry’s blog on doubt and success. In it, I mentioned that partly because of that particular success, I was working on something new—something special—and that I couldn’t talk about it until it was finalized. Well, now I can.

Today, David duChemin’s Craft & Vision web site has published my first ebook, Close to Home: Finding Great Photographs in Your Own Back Yard.

This book is for everyone who is convinced they need to travel to exotic places to find great photographs; for everyone who wants to create something out of the ordinary right at home. It’s written to help you take a step back from your normal, everyday—dare I say, boring—surroundings and find the extraordinary photographs in your city, town, and neighborhood. As I say in the book, photography is about life—and life is all around you.

Of course, no book is ever exclusively the author’s doing and I do have some people I am very grateful to for their help in making this a reality. Of course, my thanks to David duChemin and Corwin Hiebert for giving me the opportunity and, along with the Craft & Vision team, for shepherding this project—and this author—through the publishing process. Also, many thanks to Ray Ketcham, Sabrina Henry, Eli Reinholdtsen, and Jeffrey Fielding for reviewing early versions of the book and providing thoughtful and insightful feedback. Finally, my eternal gratitude to my wife, JoEllen, without whom this book would have not been possible. For nearly 30 years, she has prompted and prodded and cajoled me to get my photographs out into the world and I finally took her advice. Thank you for believing in me, even when I didn’t.

Needless to say, I am thrilled at the opportunity to get this out there; to help other photographers discover how they can find terrific images in their own neighborhoods and towns, and to perhaps inspire everyone to look a little closer at your own back yard. I hope you find it useful. Feel free to leave your feedback on the Craft & Vision web site and let me know what you think. You can also email your questions and comments to closetohome@thelightwithout.com.

Until 11:59pm PST November 1, 2010, if you use the promotional code HOME4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of Close to Home for only $4 OR use the code HOME20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection.

8 comments

October 14, 2010

A lesson in light… and color

So, my self-assignment was to shoot the fall season in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in black and white; to focus on line and form and luminance, rather than the “vulgar colors.” I did, and I got some pretty cool stuff, which I’ve posted on Flickr. But the shot—the one I went down there for—wasn’t in black and white.

At the risk of being overly dramatic… whoa.

That’s how I felt when I saw this. I’m pretty sure it’s only been a couple other times I’ve been this excited about a photograph I made. I know that sounds a bit pompous, but I mean only that I really love this photograph. Nature provided everything you see; I just needed to be there to see it and save it for you.

The thing is, I probably wouldn’t have made this photograph without embarking on the black and white self-assignment. As I said, I did spent quite a bit of time visualizing and photographing in black and white, despite the abundance of color around me. It forced me to pay attention to tone and luminance and contrast, instead of only focusing on color. It made me look at the world a little differently for a while; to take my own advice to look past the obvious subjects and dig a little deeper.

Sometimes I forced it and tried to make a good black and white photograph out of a subject that was clearly better in color, and maybe it was only because I knew I’d still have the color shot if I wanted it later. But when I slowed down and stopped thinking about the objects that were in front of me, I started paying attention to photographs. I shifted my thinking from photographs of the fall color to photographs about the fall color, and that’s how I found this one.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

10 comments

March 27, 2010

Not the end

Well, here we are. My 30 day experiment with using only my Panasonic GF1 and its 20mm f/1.7 lens is done. And what have we learned, class?

Cheers!

Let’s start with the original goals:

Limiting my gear will force me to find pictures I normally overlook…
Hmmm… maybe. Many of these images were not incredibly difficult to find, and part of that had to do with the time I had each day to make them. Early in the experiment, I was certainly motivated to work on this goal, but I discovered that motivating myself to shoot every single day was challenging. I found myself struggling a bit, even after only a week. But there were some where I really did have to work to find them. “Stained Sunset” is a good example, I think, of where I pushed past my usual inclination for a sunset shot and tried something different; something I may have overlooked had I not given myself that extra motivation.

I want to feel more confident about my photographic chops, so I can relax and pay attention to what I want to say photographically about my [upcoming] experience [in Italy]…
The encouragement and criticism I’ve received during this experiment has been terrific. Everyone who has commented on the experiment as a whole and on the individual images has been very thoughtful and supportive. Several folks liked a picture or two, some gave helpful comments and criticism, and a couple even said they thought they were inspired to give it a shot themselves. That was music to my ears and has been a real confidence booster.

Also, by making sure I was focused and my time with a subject was “quality time,” I also gained some confidence in my ability to find an image that I might not have been able to before. However, I didn’t really get a big boost in my confidence in my photographic craft. Yeah, I broke through the “photograph a complete stranger” barrier, (see above) but I don’t think my craft has improved as much as I had hoped.

Undercut the high expectations I may set for the Italy trip…
I dunno. I still plan to shoot like Steve McCurry and create that iconic image for the next cover of National Geographic, and I fully expect David and Jeffrey to pull my game up to that level. (Got that, guys?)

Okay, not really. I do still have a fairly high set of expectations that I’m not sure I could have toned down with this experiment, but I did get something out of it that I think will help. Having limited time to get an image on some days made me really take advantage of the time I had. I think that focus will carry over to the Italy workshop, and I’ll be a little more confident that I’ll eventually find the image I’m looking for and recognize it when it appears.

So, I think I’ve managed to learn a little about each of the original goals I set for the experiment. But here’s the biggest thing I learned:

Shoot every day
I mentioned this after the first week, but I have a lot of respect for anyone who does this well day in and day out. For me, usually the biggest issue was motivation. I’d had a long day at work, or I had other obligations that took time away from shooting and I was sorely tempted some days to blow it off. Shooting as a hobby removes that pressure. You shoot when you want to and not when you don’t.

But when you’re forced to do it every day, even if it’s only for a month, you pick up some focus and self discipline that you didn’t have before. It’s a kind of focused practice that I think leads to mastery. Sure, a month isn’t nearly enough time to master anything, but this is only the second day since I finished the experiment and I find myself looking for images a lot more than I used to. It’s become a habit and I love that.

Some of you are probably thinking, “Well, duh. You have to practice at things to get better. That’s obvious.” But what’s not obvious—or at least wasn’t to me—is how that habit feels and how much I miss not doing it already. After this past month, I will certainly be shooting more often and with more purpose. Maybe every day, maybe not. But I really want to and for me, that’s the best thing to come of this experiment.

Maybe you should give it a try. What are you doing to make photography a habit in your life?

5 comments

March 2, 2010

The first week

Okay. It’s been a week since I started this “one camera, one lens, one month” experiment and I’ve posted seven photographs (not counting Experiment #0) taken with my Panasonic GF1 and a 20mm f/1.7 prime lens.

So what have I learned so far? It might surprise you.

Self Portrait: February 25, 2010

I’ve learned that my respect for professionals—that is, photographers who do this for a living—went up a notch or two. It’s hard to do this every day and still feel like you’ve got something to give—and I’ve only been at it a week! I am balancing a full-time job and family obligations with it, but I think those two activities map pretty well to the business side of photography and the same obligations to family. I work as a designer in the creative services industry, so I know a little about meeting deadlines and exceeding client expectations, but I’m not sure I want to mix that with my photography. I’m still very much on the fence about that.

Another thing I’ve learned? To give myself permission to suck. Most of the photos so far, while good exercises in creativity, are not going to win any awards. But they’re not intended to, are they? They’re meant for me to stretch my brain; to think about photography in a slightly different way and perhaps to open up a path that I’ve never been on before. Allowing myself the freedom not to worry about what others think of these images helps me toss aside rules and guidelines and play. I’ve discovered that you have to be a little selfish about this and ignore everybody else. Forget about what you think will sell or hang in a gallery or be published in a magazine or on a web site (of course, you can do that yourself now, if you want to). Who knows, I might create something that other people like, but that’s not the point now is it? Remember who you are and you’ll discover what you want to say.

I’ve also stepped a little bit outside my photographic comfort zone. This goes along with allowing myself to create some bad photographs—”wrecking some pixels,” to paraphrase Mr. duChemin—but it also makes me better at the craft of photography. If I put myself in situations where the light is unlike anything I’ve photographed before, or I need some fill flash—in other words, where I have to solve a problem—I add to my skill set as a photographer. There is an 800 lb. gorilla in this room, though: people photography. I am naturally reticent to approach people as photographic subjects, but I think if I don’t get past that, I will miss out on some great moments and great images (especially during my upcoming trip to Italy). I plan to work on that over the next week or two of this experiment, so look for some street photography or portraits coming up. (Crap, now I really have to do it.)

In the end, all of these things expand my photographic vocabulary, which is the point of the whole experiment. The more photographic “words” (concepts) I learn—negative space, leading lines, visual weight, etc.—the better I am able to build “paragraphs” and eventually stories to communicate what I’m trying to say. I’m also digging deeper to find out what it is I truly want to say and what I want to photograph, though you might not see that in the images so far. But I’ll get there.

I also want to take a moment to thank all of you who have been checking out the Flickr feed and enduring my Facebook posts about this. Your comments and support have been great. Thanks.

Now, on to week two…

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Category: Vision