fbpx

Month: April 2019

Don’t let lousy weather keep you indoors

by

During my workshops one of my mantras is practice. Always have a camera with you whether it be your phone, a good point and shoot or your regular camera. There is no excuse for not having one of them with you. Practicing looking for compositions should be something you enjoy doing whether you happen to make an image or not.

This week the weather report was awful – rain for the whole week. I was not looking forward to sitting in the house banging on the computer.

So on Monday with the drizzle and fog I headed out for a morning walk to see what I could find. It turns out I found quite a bit of interesting things to photograph.

 

Practicing hyperfocal distance is an art form. The Fuji system shows you a hperfocal distance scale with a blue bar that shows what’s in focus and what is not at every aperture. Very useful. Everything in this image is tack sharp front to back.

After I walked around the waterfront I managed to find some more great images along the way.

A person waiting in the fog for the bus with blooming jonquils.
A shop window filled with Rockport coffee mugs waiting to be sold.
An finally left over faux Easter flowers hanging out of a mail slot on a door.

When I got home and let my dog “Kodak” out it was still kind of drizzly and when he came back in he was a little soggy looking. I had the camera with me and I immediately thought I could get a great shot of him looking back out the door with some great background separation. B&W is quite often a great option for this type of photo.

Lousy weather is no excuse to not get out there and shoot. It just might be the opportunity you were looking for to capture a great image.

A Life In Pictures – Steve and Bonnie McCurry (a short review)

by

Usually around Christmas I start looking for a great photo book that I could read over the holiday. Last year it was David Douglas Duncan’s book Photo Nomad. This year I thought that a good choice would be Steve and Bonnie McCurry’s book, “A Life in Pictures”. I have always admired Steve’s work and after seeing him advertise it on Instagram I ordered it from Amazon.

I was not prepared for what showed up. An enormous coffee table book which weighs quite a bit. So the immediate problem was how the heck do you curl up on the couch or your favorite easy chair with this monstrosity?

I somehow balanced this giant book on my lap and started to read Bonnie’s accounts of Steve’s travels around the world starting in Afghanistan during the war with Russia then to India, Nepal and all over the world. I was enthralled even though the reading position was uncomfortable. The images are amazing and it was hard to put the book down except for the pain in my lap from trying to balance it.

Right in the middle of reading this book the controversy over the Afghan girl image came up with Tony Northup doing an incredibly bad job of explaining how the image was made and then talking about it on Youtube. After reading Steve and Bonnie’s recollection of how the image was made I am convinced that Tony Northup should be apologizing to Steve McCurry.

I have really enjoyed reading the stories and looking at Steve’s images. If you are a documentary photographer than this book will give you inspiration. Image after great image to look at and to get great ideas from.

Two great McCurry maxims – 1. Light, composition, and a particular moment make for great images. 2. If the situation is good stick with it.

I whole heartedly recommend this book it’s a keeper. Except for the rather large size it’s a winner!

 

Ditty Bag Making – A photo story

by
A well used ditty bag sits as an example of how it’s done during the Ditty Bag Workshop held at the Waterline Center of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex on Sunday morning. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/31/19

This past weekend I had the chance to photograph people making ditty bags to hold their sailing tools. I wish I had been able to stick around for the end but it was still fun talking with people and learning why they were making these canvas bags meant for holding tools used by sailors for eons.

The Ditty Bag Workshop held at the Waterline Center of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex on Sunday morning was a big hit as a large group of participants joined in to make their own ditty bags. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/31/19

I’m always looking for an interesting angle to give an overall and this was it. The Waterline Center at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum is a great place with all sorts of cool things, like boats hanging from the ceiling.

Susannah Winder directed the Ditty Bag Workshop held at the Waterline Center of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex on Sunday morning. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/31/19

Susannah was doing a great job of helping everyone out and in the photo above was talking about how the ditty bag is stitched together.

Steve Jones works on his sewing skills during the Ditty Bag Workshop held at the Waterline Center of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex on Sunday morning. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/31/19

Steve and his friends were making do sewing for canvas for the first time and having a great time doing it.

Caitland Peterson, age 12, left and her mom Bethany Peterson work on sewing a seam during the Ditty Bag Workshop held at the Waterline Center of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex on Sunday morning. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/31/19

Caitland and her mom Bethany were going through the sewing process together and having a ball doing it.

Christopher Campbell, left, and Janelle Bannon work on seeing their ditty bags during the Ditty Bag Workshop held at the Waterline Center of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex on Sunday morning. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/31/19

Varying between wide angle and tele long shots breaks up the perspective and gives the viewer a different look at virtually the same thing. I wish I could have stuck around to see the finished product to really end this story.