Workshop Fun
Daily Photo – Workshop Fun
My latest New Zealand based photography workshop is underway! It’s great to get back to it after a bunch of delays/postponements due to covid and lockdowns. Today (amongst other things) we’ll have a post-processing session from yesterday’s sunset shoot. For now, here’s one from a previous workshop
The First Hasselblad Adventure
Daily Photo – The First Hasselblad Adventure
Just like when I was playing a little with Fuji cameras to see what they might do for my workflow, I spent some time with the Medium Format Hasselblad H5D. Wow that thing was huge and being a little crazy I decided that a trip across the world including India, the Middle East and Europe (a good chunk by train) with the family was an ideal situation for it. It did give me a lot to think about in terms of what I needed or wanted in a camera system, and it also created some epic images.
Light in the Mosque
Daily Photo – Light in the Mosque
I was at the main mosque in Abu Dhabi for about four hours before I eventually came to the Very-Obvious-In-Retrospect idea, hey I can actually go INSIDE. As with most mosques, there is a tremendous number of shots from the outside and the courtyards. But you can go inside most of them anytime (as long as it’s not during the call to prayer). Just slip off your shoes and go inside for a wander! I’ve never had any issues at all… in fact the exact opposite, the people inside have always been super welcoming!
More Than One Reason to Visit Dunedin
Daily Photo – More Than One Reason to Visit Dunedin
I was lucky enough to stay on St. Claire’s beach in Dunedin for a few nights. Each morning had a different sort of sunrise. This was one of my favorites. I was out there pretty much all the time, with my camera fully loaded and ready to go! Beautiful mornings like this are so serene, but my serenity is often a bit challenged with trying to get as many interesting photos as possible. Another challenge is getting the quadcopter ready as well. If it’s a great morning like this, then I want to get more than just ground-based photos.
Also, fun fact, Baldwin Street in Dunedin is the steepest residential street in the world… one section is so steep it had to be made from concrete as normal road surfaces on a sweltering day would become unstable and start to melt down the hill.
The Calatrava Bridge in Venice
Daily Photo – The Calatrava Bridge in Venice
I don’t do a lot of these abstract scenes, but I do quite like the way this one turned out… I didn’t know for sure if these long shutter techniques would work well on this subject. There’s a lot of experimentation if you want to try something like this yourself. Of course, a tripod is mandatory, but then just switch into manual and try different shutter speeds and adjusting the aperture until you get the lighting you like. This one was 3.2 seconds.
Colors and Lines in Venice
Daily Photo – Colors and Lines in Venice
As a little study like project I love mixing together different levels of detail and smoothness in a photo. I think it’s important to have a series of transitions. This one has many transitions, jumping from smooth dull colors to riotous textured colors to bright smooth areas to dull-colored highly textured areas. It’s a fun way to process a photo because it comes out a little different every time, and I’m not ever sure I could re-create this.
First Shot With the Hasselblad H5D
Daily Photo – First Shot With the Hasselblad H5D
This is not a new photo, but it’s one I took a number of years ago as soon as I got that Hasselblad. Nice, eh? I was still trying to figure out the camera, as the behavior was quite a bit different than my Sony. So, I spent a day traveling around the South Island here in New Zealand to try using the camera in a lot of different conditions. I took this over near Jack’s Point in Queenstown.
The Mighty Statue
Daily Photo – The Mighty Statue
Where three seas meet on the southern tip of India you’ll find this massive statue just out of the ocean. I took this at sunrise one morning after we got off the train. It was a disorienting morning because the train rumbled down the tracks all night then we got out off at about 4 AM. Everything is a bit confusing when waking up at 4 AM! Then it was even more confusing navigating a bunch of tiny and crowded Indian streets in the dark of morning. I had no idea what I was really seeing until a little bit of light hit the scene, and then I was totally blown away!
Tina, my first wife, as I liked to refer to her when we were married, had a small panic attack here. Our youngest, Scarlett, kind of got lost in a mass of tourists. We found her about a minute later and of course, being a true extrovert, Scarlett was not worried at all and didn’t even notice!