Archive for the “General” Category
I had the opportunity this weekend to shoot the 2010 Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational golf tournament at the One&Only Ocean Club Estates golf course on Paradise Island for The Bahamas Weekly.
The event was much more fun than last year (mainly because I had an all-access press pass, rather than sneaking my camera into the event and shooting from the sidelines), and being there for the full two days of the main tournament allowed me to get some good shots of the various celebrities and to even, dare I say, understand golf a little bit more.
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Before I delve in to my story, I should clarify something.
I am a firm, firm believer that the photographer has much, much more to do with the quality of photographs (from an aesthetic point of view, if not a technical one) than the gear which they use.
A crap photographer will take equally bad pictures with a point and shoot or with a top-of-the-line Nikon D3x (or the upcoming Canon 1Ds Mk. IV). Likewise, a good photographer will be able to take beautiful photos with an iPhone (if there’s any doubt, check out Chase Jarvis’ recent work).
The camera doesn’t matter. Let me say that again. The camera. Doesn’t. Matter.
At least that’s the conventional wisdom.
But, sometimes the camera does matter.
Does it matter for fine art? Of course not.
Does it matter for family snapshots, informal portraits, or the way you document your life? No, of course not.
Does it matter for professional wedding photography, or professional concert photography (among others)? Yes. Yes, it most certainly does.
While wedding and concert photography are very different styles of photography, one thing is the same – the need for good quality images taken, often, in low light. For this you need fast glass and a body with good high-ISO capabilities.
Out of these two, the glass is definitely more important. No professional wedding photographer (and note I say “professional”, not your friend with a cheap point and shoot), at least in my limited experience, will deliberately shoot a wedding without at least an f2.8 zoom or f1.4 / f1.8 / f2 prime lenses (which have the advantage of being cheaper, smaller and often sharper, but lack, obviously, the ability to zoom).
Every photographer WANTS to upgrade. We all want the latest camera, or the high-end glass, or the flashes, or the studio lights. Hell, there’s no END to the gear lust. Even if we all had full frame systems, we’d be lusting after Hasselblad studio gear, Leica field gear, and everything in between. We also all need justification for our purposes, whether from our business partners, our wives, or even ourselves.
So, seeing as I’m trying very hard to break into wedding photography, I had to justify my own recent purchase.
First, a bit of background.
When I started out in photography I used an old, small point and shoot camera. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I tried. I learnt enough to want to upgrade to something more advanced where I would have some control over shutter speed, focus, etc.
I bought a ‘bridge camera’ by Sony – essentially a point and shoot in an SLR form factor with some additional controls. That camera served me surprisingly well. I traveled throughout Canada and the Caribbean with it, and it helped me make one of my all-time favourite photographs.
When I graduated from university I got my first dSLR, the Nikon D40x. It was the high-res version of Nikon’s low-end dSLR and, while it lacked a number of features like wireless flash control, no support for a vertical grip or legacy lenses, it did everything I needed it to do at the time. And I loved it. It’s been knocked, bumped and even dropped, with no problem. It’s traveled with me throughout nine countries and has changed the way I see the world.
But now I need something new. I’ve finally reached the point where I’m ready to upgrade. Not because I want to, or because there’s something better on the market, but because I’ve done all I can do with that technology.
I need a higher-res body. I need support for older lenses. I need a vertical grip. I need better high ISO performance. I need a second body.
So, I ordered myself a Nikon D90. And a vertical grip. And a Sigma 24-70 f2.8. And a Nikkor 50mm f1.8. And various extra batteries and memory cards.
So, in terms of equipment, I think I’m prepared. Now I just have to use the new equipment to produce some excellent results, which will hopefully validate the (exorbitant) money I spent. Slightly stressful? Sure.
When I receive my exciting new goodies next week I’ll be sure to post some reviews (not that any reviews I write will influence anybody in any meaningful way, but hey, it makes me feel better!).
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Since 2006 I have used my photoblog as my personal, professional and portfolio website.
For a while the photoblog was quite well-known in certain circles; I had loyal followers and commenters, I ranked reasonably high in search results and, through my photoblog, I was one of the runner’s up for Best Landscape Photography in the 2007 Photobloggies.
In 2009 things began to change.
A photo of mine was chosen for the cover image of a notable annual calendar. I was part of a group photo exhibition in a small, but legitimate, art gallery. I did my first major commercial photoshoot for a local furniture and electronics company, and for the first time in my life people in my community, not just those anonymous names online, were beginning to take an interest in my photography.
I realized that in order to expand and grow as a photographer (both in a metaphysical sense and a monetary sense) I needed business cards and a professional website for my portfolio. My photoblog, which featured a mix of experimental and portfolio images, wasn’t going to be enough.
I registered this domain as my portfolio site. But I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted. I didn’t have the skill to build myself a site, and I didn’t have the money to pay a professional web designer to build one for me (hell, I still don’t). I decided that the simplest and easiest option, if not the cheapest, was to purchase a Flash gallery.
Now, web designers hate Flash, and photographers tend to love it. Designers hate it because it included no SEO support (Search Engine Optimization), it’s highly inflexible, not supported on many corporate machines, older machines and handheld devices, and it completely forgoes any semblance of adhering to web design standards. Photographers love it because it’s easy, it’s pretty, and it allows them to easily display their photographs to clients in a flashy way (no pun intended).
When it comes to Flash there is an enormous range of options. You can buy Flash templates online for as little as $60. But, it seems that you get what you pay for. Uninspired design. Crappy coding. A thoroughly unstable site. Not what I wanted at all.
Then there’s the other end of the spectrum. Companies like Livebooks will create a Flash site for you, and provide excellent stability and customer service. Starting at just $1,200. Which was far, far more than I was willing to spend.
That’s when I stumbled across Fluid Galleries, which seemed to bridge the gap between the low, low-end Flash sites and the very highly priced sites like Livebooks.
Offering two versions, one for $230 and one for $430 (with the main differences being the number of included fonts and the number of galleries available, as well as the ability to create custom pages in the Pro version) the software (which is remotely installed on your server once purchased) is simple, polished and effective. It allows the images to speak for themselves, which, of course, is the point of a portfolio site.
You have the ability to rearrange the site elements (logo, nav bar, etc.) and modify colours and fonts to your liking.
I’ve been very happy with Fluid Galleries. It’s affordable, stable, and allows me to display my photos professionally. The interface and the design (or, at least my design), allows the photos to take center stage, as they should.
All in all, a fantastic purchase. Now I just need some business cards!
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While little has been done thus far with the appearance of this blog, small changes are going on behind the scenes, with the blog and with the site as a whole.
I’ve begun the slow process of consolidating my two online identities; this one, the new ‘professional’ ashhenderson.com, and the older, more relaxed ‘epicwelshman.com’.
The very goal of this blog and its parent website is to increase my exposure as a photographer in a professional capacity. In my portfolio, only my best work will be shown. This blog will have less to do with personal opinion on controversial issues (think politics, morals, etc.) and more to do with news about my burgeoning photography business, opinion in a professional sense on camera news, other photographers and things happening within the industry.
epicwelshman.com was a place for experimental photography, long ramblings and musings about anything and everything and an outlet for very personal creativity. However, that has little place on a business-focused site. People interested in hiring me for photography services have no desire to know my political stance or views on current issues; they want my skills, not my opinion.
I have to admit, one of the catalysts for this decision was the trouble I’ve been having with my photoblog. I’m using a photoblog software called PixelPost, and I’m having constant malware attacks, leading visitors to see a dreaded “this site may harm your computer” warning when visiting my site. I have to go into the site code almost daily to erase the malicious lines that somehow pop up now and again, and it’s awful. Now, to be fair, I haven’t upgraded the software to the newest version, which may fix my issue, but to back up the site I’d have todownload about 3GB of data via FTP, which is no fun.
So, in short, my online identity has split in two. I do have a personal written blog, where I am unafraid to express my views, and my personal photographic blog (at least for the time being). And now I have this blog, a place purely for photography. I will link to this blog and this website from my personal blog, so those who agree with my views or at least are willing to entertain a difference of opinion will be able to see the extent of my work. But I won’t be linking from this site to my personal site, for the reasons outlined above.
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While this blog itself still needs a tremendous amount of work (as you can very well see) my main website is fully up and running, including the portfolio, which is powered by Fluid Galleries 2 Professional. I’ll write a review of the Fluid Galleries software soon, but I’m thoroughly pleased with it so far.
Over the next few weeks (and continuously, on a smaller scale) I’ll be editing the galleries on the site; adding new photos, removing old or irrelevant photos, etc. While the galleries allow up to 75 images each, with no cap on the number of galleries you can have, I don’t really want more than 30 photos in any particular gallery. More than that makes loading times far too long and makes the galleries too strenuous to go through and really appreciate the images.
Aside from that, the main modifications will be to this blog; creating a header image, adding links, biographical info, that sort of thing. As time goes on and I get back into the swing of things with modeling shoots, etc., I’ll be putting full sets on here.
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Welcome to Ash Henderson Photography Blog. This blog will serve as a portal for news about Ash Henderson Photography, including upcoming projects, spillover from my portfolio and photoblog, photographic musing and ramblings, and anything else that may crop up from time to time.
There are many irons in the fire for the site. My portfolio should be up soon on ashhenderson.com, where you can browse the best of what I have to offer. I’ll also be editing the design of this blog.
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave a comment or email me.
Thanks!
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