If you’re a Flickr follower of mine, you’ll have noticed lately that my 365 project came to a halt a couple of weeks ago.  I’ll admit, I gave up.  It was much harder to do than I thought, especially with so much going on in my life.  It’s really hard to set aside an hour of an already busy day to take a self-portriat, especially after commiting to the fact that I wasn’t just going to take regular, “sit in front of the camera” self portriats.  Those are boring, and don’t really help with my overall photography progression.  So when it really comes down to it, I was spending much more than just an hour a day trying to convolute creative ideas up for my daily 365 shot, which in turn became a daunting task of the day that just ran itself off the tracks as time went on.  For the most part, I’m quite thrilled that I even made it past ten days of the 365 project; in fact, I made it all the way up to Day 89.  Another 11 more and I would have hit the 100 milestone, but so much for that.  Another factor in the whole departure of my 365 work was the  whole concept of taking pictures of myself.  When I first started the project, I already hated taking pictures of myself.  Hell, I wont even let family take pictures of me without making a fuss in front of their cameras (I got really good at throwing my hand up in front of my face at the last second, paparazzi style, just before their shutters closed.  I guess you could say that my years of using cameras has taught me one thing, how to avoid being in a picture).  Needless to say, all the 365 project made me do was want to do more model/portrait work, but I’m at the periless stage of trying to find someone willing enough to sit in front of my camera.  I don’t want to immediately start working with strangers, I need to be able to find my comfort level, blah blah blah and so on.

Basement Dwellers

Where does that leave me?  Well, with Spring finally warming up this city, I’ve slowly started taking my photography to the streets.  The first signs of warm weather in Edmonton had me wandering my new neighbourhood in the search of photo opertunities, it was wonderful being out and about again, especially being in a new area that I haven’t fully explored.  I can foresee a lot of new places that my photography will take me this summer, I have easy access to Edmonton’s wonderful River Vallies, hipster/trendy areas and downtown areas.  It should lead to an interesting summer of photography, who knows where I’ll end up next.  Heck, I may even, someday if things all work out in my facor, have some amazing people that will sit in front of my camera for me.

Over the long weekend, I managed to take a ‘tour’ of the local mall and surrounding apartment complexes of the area.  In the shot to the right, I spent an hour switching between a few filters on my 50mm waltzing through towering apartment complexes.  I ended up attaching a Red Filter in hopes that the cloudless day would help me out with some Black & White post treatments.  With such a sunny day, I was glad to have attached the Red Filter, as anything in colour was being blown out, but that’s what I get for shooting in the afternoon.  This shoot grew my love of Black & White photography to an even higher level as well.  There’s just something about the feeling that a Black & White photo will protray over a highly saturated colour photo.  You could be anywhere in the world, with a Black & White photo and not know when the actual photo was taken.  Be it that this is just an effect of the zero colour spectrum playing on our time-line receptors, but it’s just something I’ve always loved and is a format I will always continue shooting in.  Thankfully, with this digital age, I can still shoot all my frames in colour and then sneak the conversion over to Black & White later.

Speaking of the age of Digital age of Photography, I’ve also recently been shooting with an old Pentax SLR.  Yep, I’ve been toying around with film.  A friend of mine lent me his Pentax MZ-50 SLR, insisting that I try out the way Photography used to be.  He was sure to lecture me in his old man ways, telling me how hard and self-evolving the film ways used to be, and how he had to walk to work in snow uphill both ways…  So I took him up on the offer and borrowed his SLR for some evaluation of the age of film.  Embarrassingly enough, even though I’ve had the camera in my possession since February, I still haven’t finished the first roll of film I put into the camera.  Maybe there’s a hippy deep down insie of me saying this, but I’m having a real hard time not wanting to waste any of the shots on the roll.  With digital, I can shoot as much as I want for as long as my SD card can store all of the images.  But when I’m confound to a roll of film, with only 24 frames on it, I get into this preservation mode and become a stickler for what I’m shooting and how I’m shooting it.  I know film is cheap, but I just don’t feel right running about, clicking the shutter like a child on a sugar high.  I think I’m sitting at 17/24 shots used on the camera, so hopefully I’ll finish the roll sometime soon, and once that happens I can start thinking about using the Black & White roll I have in my fridge, waiting to be used.  I am quite glad that there really isn’t too much of a generational gap between digital and film though.  I can still meter the shot, set the shutter speed, mess with the apature and (for the most part) set the ISO, so I don’t feel completely lost when it comes down to the whole technique.  I’m more-or-less lost over the idea of not being able to preview your shots the second after taking them.  I’m so use to taking the ease of the digital world for granted that I’m having a hard time enjoying the roll of film I should be having fun with.  I know the arguements of those who prefer film over digital, but I was born into a digital photography world.  It’s tough to return to it’s roots when you haven’t already once dabbled in its past.  There isn’t a sentimental attachment for me to hang onto.  Hell, I’m still a little scared of sending my film in to get it developed (no, I’m not developing it myself…).  I just get this feeling the first roll of film I drop off to get developed, the guy doing the grunt work is going to spend his time laughing at my photography instead of developing it.  Nightmarish!

Back to the digital side of things, I just recently purchased a Sigma 10-20mm lens.  The UPS tracking says it’s sitting at the UPS depot here in Edmonton, so I’m looking forward to getting my grubby hands on it tomorrow afternoon.  So stay tuned for some Wide Angled fun It just arrived and is it ever a sexy lens.  I’m going to head out of work early just to run around and play with it!   I may just have the energy to post something new to this blog sooner than later.

Also, on the website level of updates: My friend has begun work on the design on the main page of this site.  If things go well, by the end of May, we might be seeing a fully functional portfolio/gallery.  I’m excited to see what he comes up with!  In the mean time, enjoy the Spring weather and go take some awesome shots to share with the world!

(Wow, I just ended my post with a cheesy catch-line…  Sorry…)

Inauguration 2009

Gear:

• Nikon D80
• 52mm White Balance Lens Cap

EXIF:

• Exposure:      0.005 sec (1/200)
• Aperture:     f/1.4
• Focal Length:     50 mm
• ISO Speed:     400
• Exposure Bias:     0/6 EV
• Taken on:    January 20, 2009 at 10.19am MST

A great moment in American history unraveled for all of us across the globe today.  Barack Obama’s Inauguration was held today this morning, which was full of heart felt emotions and sentiments.  Obama’s speech was truly one of the best speeches I have heard to this day and I look forward to seeing him in office.

I took the morning off work to watch this, live in my living room.  This shot was actually my photo for today’s 365days but it turned into something much more than that.  It reached 100+ views in a matter of minutes and it even ended up on Flickr Blog, We Watched.  It’s now taking tons of brand new hits since it was posted there, I’m quite proud to see such a simple shot go so far.  Thanks everyone!

Police Memorial

Gear:

• Nikon D80
• Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 G

EXIF:

• Camera: Nikon D80
• Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
• Aperture: f/4.8
• Focal Length: 155 mm
• ISO Speed: 100
• Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
• Taken on September 28, 2008

Taken at the Annual Alberta Police Memorial in Edmonton Alberta, Canada.  Quite an emotional scene as these two officers lay wreths for their fallen comrades.

Who needs a 12mp DSLR?  Apparently not the Germans.  Leica announced the other week that they’re releasing a brand new DSLR which is going to be shooting at a 37.5mp rate.  Yes, you heard me, thirty-seven point five megapixels.  It’s jaw dropping to know the future of our DSLRs first we’re seeing 1080p videos taken on the light weight Canon EOS 5D Mark II (which is a semi-professional camera mind you) to outstanding mega-pixel rates of 37.5!  Be sure to check out the Leica website to check out the Leica S-System and keep an eye out for a release date.

Back to the on-going news of my blog and website, I will no longer be displaying any of my older photographs in these posts. after this post.  It’s a new era of this blog that any photographs that are posted here will be brand new peices and will hopefully have some sort of story, setup process and/or lighting diagram.  So if I maange to take a fun picture that I want to share with you folks, or if I’m out on a photoshoot that I want to talk about, I’ll be posting about it here.  Now all that I require is some inspiration and creativity to produce some neat new shots.

In the mean time, I’ve been keeping up with my photography.  It’s been absolutely amazing that I’ve been taking and posting a new photo every day to my Flickr 365days challenge.  I’m still alive and kicking and it’s day 18.  The weird thing is, I’m enjoying it, even if some of the photos I’m taking are absolutely stupid/uncreative.  Not to mention I’m not the biggest fan of being the subject of my own photography or anyone else’s photorgraphy in that case.  I think the trick to the whole challenge is to keep it as fresh and fun as possible…  No one likes taking photos of themselves day in and day out without some sort of theme or idea behind the shot.  So far, with my shots, I’ve started to play a little game of “Rubber Duck Hide & Seek“…  I have a small little rubber duck that I got from work over the holidays that has been hiding in each of my photographs for the 365days shots.  Although I usually forget about him everytime I take my 365, making me reshoot everything all over again after I’ve taken down my lights and setup…  Another type of photograph challenge that I started this morning was a Copycat.  It’s a very simple premise of doing your best to copy on of your contact’s photos to the best of your ability, but it’s the simple things like that that will keep your 365days challenge alive and breathing.

I’ve also sent off for two prints of my A Tale of Love photograph.  When I was down at McBane’s camera, I was very reluctant to hand over my photographs in RAW format to the clerk, but I finally went through with it.  I submitted the photo for a 24×16 and 12×8 print to test out the quality of their printers.  If they turn out, I’m going to be more willing to sell my prints off to those who are interested and I’ll have the information of what I need to get prints and pricing off to future ‘customers’.  However, in the mean time it all comes down to the waiting game.  They said that both prints will be ready for my this Thursday, so I’ll be sure to let you guys know how they turn out.

Droplets

Gear:

• Nikon D80
• AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 D Lens

EXIF:

• Exposure: 1/3200 sec
• Aperture: f/1.4
• Focal Length: 50 mm
• ISO Speed: 100
• Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
• Taken on: June 15, 2008 at 12.58pm MDT

So I haven’t been able to get around to researching Prints as of yet, but I have a lead as to where I should be going and I have a list of sites and stores that I need to look into.  In the mean time, I’ll just keep snapping photos for my Flickr 365days challenge in the mean time.  Surpringly, I’ve managed to make it up to day eleven without much struggle as to what my next photo is going to be.  I even have a back-up list of ideas slowly formulating for those times in which I either can’t think of anything to do for my next shot, or if I have the spare time to be a little extra creative.

In camera related news, if you haven’t seen the Vincent Laforet video Reverie, taken by the Canon 5D you have to redirect your attention to the video this instant!  He was even kind enough to release the information of what lenses he used for the short film (”Film”…  Sort of a strange word to use for the camera medium when we’re talking about it in video form…).  Here’s what he used!

FD 7.5mm f/5.6 (converted to EF mount)
EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye
EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
EF 135mm f/2L USM
EF 200mm f/1.8L USM
EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM
EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
TS-E 24mm f/3.5L
TS-E 45mm f/2.8

Kicking Horse HDR

Gear Used:

• Nikon D80

EXIF:

• N/A

Shamelessly, I don’t have the original EXIF for this photograph or do I remember what I used to take it.  This was taken a year ago up in Golden, British Columbia on the Kicking Horse Ski Resort.  It was a multiple EV step shot which I combined together with Photomatix to create the HDR.  Thusly, I don’t have the EXIF on hand for the originals.

Continuing forward, today was a great day for me in the world of Photography.  Out of the blue today while I was slaving away at my job, an old friend of mine messages me and asks me where she can buy my Prints.  I sat back, a little dumb-founded by the idea as I have never actually put any thought into getting my work printed and sold to anyone.  In fact, I didn’t even have the answers my friend was looking for when it came down to it.  So I have to set out and start researching where to print, how much is it going to cost me to make these prints, how much do I charge per print, etc…  Like I said, I’m completely dumbfounded by this whole idea, and I have barely any idea as to where I am going to start with it.  Luckily, there’s a McBain camera store just a few minutes away from my apartment who supposedly do prints.  I’ll have to pay them a visit to see what I can get done through them.

I’m still grinning cheek-to-cheek about the whole idea that someone actually wants some of my work hanging on their walls.  It fills me with so much happiness to know that someone out there enjoys my work enough that they would be willing to put it up on their walls for display.  So, as my end of week task this week, I’m going out of my way to figure this out as soon as possible to get this done.  I do not want to miss out on an oppertunity like this!  In the mean time, however, if anyone has any suggestions as to where/how I should get these prints done (locally in the Edmonton area or any online source), I will be truly grateful of your advice.  It may even allow me to open my own shop up on this site in the future to offer prints to anyone who wants them.

A Tale of Love

Gear Used:

• Nikon D80
• Nikon SB-600 Speedlight (Dominant source of light)
• Triffen 52mm UV Filter

EXIF

• Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
• Aperture: f/11
• Focal Length: 95 mm
• ISO Speed: 100
• Exposure Bias: -1 EV
• Taken on: April 19, 2008 at 12.32pm MDT
• Fun Fact #1: The book used was Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity.
• Fun Fact #2: This was my first ever photo to be displayd on Flickr: Explore!

So here I am, out with the old in with the new as they say.  It’s 2009 and I figured it was due time that I finally got my official blog up and running.  There are many tweaks and changes to come, but for the time being this is the official launch of my Photography Blog.  Behold and marvel…

As you may have noticed, the blog itself has been pushed back to it’s own sub-page of the domain, so you’ll need to update your bookmarks so they point to http://www.tonylynch.ca/blog.  The reason for this is that the front end of this website is slowly going to grow into a full fledged portfolio/gallery for yours truly.  A friend of mine will be spear heading the front page design and development and we’re to sit down shortly to speak about the general layout and vision of this site.  I fully expect some exceptional work out of this, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what I have in store for the site.  However, in the mean time, I’ll be here, posting away and getting this blog back up to speed.

You may have noticed that I’m reposting old photographs that you probably have already seen.  There is a simple reason for this…  As you hopefully noticed on the front page of this blog, there is a glorious slideshow of my photography being shown and in order to fill that slideshow up, I need to manually post these photographs one at a time and add them to the ticker.  It’s a bummer, I know, but at least once all of the ones are showing that I want to display are there, I can once again start posting my newer stuff.  So, in the mean time, I’m going to start off the year with a little bit of a refresher of who I am, and where I come from in the world of Photography.  Enjoy.

(One last note, the templates will slowly be deleted as I get these photographs uploaded.  So it may look messy now, but over time it will evolve into something a little cleaner looking)