Archive for the “Photography” Category
My wife, Iona, and I were invited up to Canada for Iona’s friend Martina’s wedding. While I wasn’t the official wedding photographer, I couldn’t help but bring along my camera and 50mm lens and snap a few shots (which I’m pretty happy with). It was weird not having free reign, and being restricted to shooting from my seat, but I did the best with what I had.
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Beata and Paul are from New York State (by way of Poland and Canada, respectively), and contacted me through a mutual acquaintance down here in Nassau.
While I thoroughly enjoy all the weddings I shoot, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so much in love as Beata and Paul. When Beata walked down the aisle with her father, Paul’s face was alive. It was beautiful.
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I realise all too well how absent I’ve been from my own blog! I realise, too, how often I’ve had to apologize for myself being absent from my own blog! Such is life, I suppose.
I have a backlog of posts I need to put up. I have three weddings to talk about (including this one), a small photoshoot for a local jewelry distributor, a family portrait session I’m doing on the beach tonight, AND two upcoming corporate shoots that I’m sure will be already finished and processed by the time I’ve dealt with my blog backlog. Sigh. ‘Tis a busy life!
Anishka and Peter were married in a beautiful, intimate, evening ceremony at the end of May at A Stone’s Throw Away, a beautiful cliff-top bed & breakfast on the Western end of Nassau.
Anishka getting ready with the help of her good friend, Bianca.
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I originally intended to post these three portrait sessions seperately, but considering it’s taken me so long to get around to posting (the earliest session was nearly three months ago), I thought I’d consolidate the best of the recent sessions in one post.
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Sailors from the USA, Sweden, Italy, Canada, Argentina, and a host of other countries showed up in Nassau in mid-April for the 2010 Star Western Hemisphere sailing championship, and I was on a rocky boat in the midst of it all!
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I must first apologize for my lack of updates. I see that it’s been nearly 4 months since I last did a post, and that’s terrible. A lot has happened since January, and a lot is coming up, so I’ll make an effort to clear out my backlog and update events in a more timely manner!
Daniela and Richard were married in a beautiful ceremony at the Lyford Cay Club in western New Providence. The weather was cool and breezy, but bright, which made for a lovely garden wedding.
The inevitable rains made an expected appearance, but only after everyone was safely inside the club for the reception.
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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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