Photography is a never ending journey.
There are no one way roads and many exits to explore on your travels. There have been many changes since the first known photo and there will be many more. Be that change.
SILO CITY AGAIN
Once is never enough (Last Blog). I have a Silo City earlier blog on the first trip. OLDER BLOG The first trip was a great opportunity to photograph a place I had driven past for many years. I didn't have to think very long or that hard about a return trip. The real decision was about when. I am sure I missed a lot of things and some things I had passed over because I didn't see the photo hidden there. I watched some others in the belt room shooting away. I didn't take a photo. I didn't get it and I never want to take their photo. If you want to copy find the tripod marks in the dust and go for it. However, after I saw one of the others photos I put it on my list. I should spend some more time there. Maybe the light wasn't right or I was standing in the wrong place.
The first trip was a rainy trip so you can hope for a little better weather and maybe some outside photos I didn't take. If you just pick a spot and wait all day you will see something different as the light shifts. Especially when the sun rises or sets. 10 minutes can make or break the photo. I learned that from a trip to Glacier Park. I was at St Mary Falls done for the day. I was giving up because the light just wasn't right. After 6 hours it still wasn't right. I started across the bridge and here came a fellow with a large backpack. Looked just like Willie Nelson. He stopped a foot or two away from where I was standing and asked if he was in my way. He pulled out an old view camera and set it up. He was using glass plates. Now that peaked my interest. Some day I am going to try that. I said the light is a little harsh and he said give it 10 minutes. So I stayed. The light moved and the view was spectacular. I almost missed it. It was clear he was there before. I wish I could have seen his finished work.
I think about that when I'm in a place like the silos. I may see something but I know it would be better if there was some light streaming on it. I like to light paint but there is nothing like the right light kissing the object in the right way. That is one thing abandoned places do. A hole in the roof, broken window, missing wall panel, dust in the air or a glow from bouncing light. I move on and put it in the back of my mind to go back and check it later. Sometimes later doesn't work so you have to make a mental note you should have been there earlier. So you always have to go back and try it again.
It was a great adventure, great people, plenty of help and opportunity to advance your skills. Don't let the price make your decision. 3 days of shooting at several locations. It is well planned to maximize your time however, you can choose to not participate and spend all your time in one place. I did a little rushing thinking I wouldn't have enough time. By the end of the 3 days you will be looking forward to a break and maybe another trip back to the silos.
Me, just thinking about it, trip number 3.
YOU KNOW YOU'VE BECOME A BETTER PHOTOGRAPHER WHEN
Everyone starts out the same way. Take many photos and delete few. A sure sign of a beginner. So you've been shooting a while more than a year and you are still keeping 90 percent of the photos you take. I am pretty sure your keeper rate is a little high especially when 75 out of a hundred look the same. I am talking to those gunners who shoot as much as their camera can take in a second. I see it even when they shoot something stationary. If you want to get better at photography set some goals for taking and keeping what you shoot. In the past year I have gone back and deleted a terabyte of old photos I had no idea why I took them in the first place. It is a process to see how you started and where you stand. Some were so out of focus I couldn't remember what it was. I keep photos for few reasons and started taking less. My first requirement at this period of my life is trying to do a concept. This follows having an idea, setting the shot up and making the image you wanted to make. This could be simple as a full moon. You need to there when the moon is there so time of day and for a great moon shot maybe that iconic foreground like a building or something else you or someone else would like. Shooting it rising or setting or should it be full or not. Concepts may be making a composite because there is no way to get the exact shot with camera limitations or background location. Doing a simple portrait can be considered a concept especially when you are looking for a special person and add a background to make it very special. Backgrounds with that person can be a nice vacation. To me setting all this up takes thought, planning and sometimes construction. It slows down the process and the photography is more deliberate as was the film days. So you taken the photo and have to decide what to keep and what to trash. This also needs some guidelines. The first I use would I print it. That's a no brainer. You might not print it right now but you intend to print it. The next one I use is can I use the photo. I like to do slide show lectures and a lot of the photos that I keep are used for that purpose. An important guide that changes from time to time is the photo for someone else. I as many do the family photo, maybe not my immediate family but good friends. I'll keep them for a while sometimes too long but I let them go. I can let them go because I have a rule. If I take the time to do the photography something has to be printed. Then I let them have the files and they are on their own. I keep few of these unless they meet one of the above guides.
Once you get past the above the next thing to consider in better photography is taking better photography. I went from a long day out taking wildlife photos with a couple hundred photos to going all day and taking 20 I may keep 20 or so out of the hundreds I used to take to keeping 15 out of 20. What changed? I spend more time looking through the camera and exercising the would I print it, can I use it or is it for someone else in my head before I take the shot. I take more time to look at the light, the angle, the background and the subject matter. When the cameras had film no one except sports were motor driving hundreds of photos. When the view camera was the only game it was even less.
Better photography doesn't mean more photos.
ONCE IS NEVER ENOUGH
Some will talk about scouting where or what you want to photograph. That is only the beginning. Spending time looking at others ideas of what you want to shoot should not be what you shoot. If you are going to a park it helps to check out the areas before you go. Google maps will be a big help. More important is what you want to shoot. I went to Glacier in Montana. I knew I wanted waterfalls and any wildlife I would encounter. Wildlife is not something you can scout but hope for. There are places to go and times of the year to improve your chances of getting a bear shot or the big migrations that narrow that time frame to encounter the types of wildlife you want to capture. Waterfalls are always in the same place all day long. You just have to decide when is the best time to be in front of that waterfall to make the best image you can. Not much scouting? I went back to the Silver Staircase multiple times trying to get a photo I liked. I shot it from afar, up close and very tight. I liked the tight shots the best and it took 5 times of going back. The first time I got back after a day of shooting I thought about all the things I should have done and I went back and repeat. This applies to any photographic opportunity. You should be looking at direction of light, background of subject and time of day. Maybe a trip back to those wildflowers will resolve any issues in your first encounter. Sometimes it is not easy to do return trips. The opportunity may not exist for some subjects come and go, great distance or cost of the excursion makes it difficult. When you can always take another opportunity.
I always do better the second time around.
WINTER PHOTOS
Winter is almost over here in Pa but it's not letting loose very easily. The question is if you are an outdoors shooter did you get any photos? I have to say I didn't get many. Not that I didn't go out I just didn't get what I wanted accomplished. I try to have a list in my head of weather events where to go and what to shoot. Whether rain, sun or snow things will have a different look or challenge. I saw a photo done local in the Harrisburg area of the fake statue of liberty placed on a bridge pier in the middle of the Susquehanna River. Sounds easy. There isn't many vantage points and the main one is along a very busy corridor with no parking except along the road with just enough of room to get off the main road. First thing I found was you can't do it at rush hour especially when it's below 10 degrees. Not safe. Preoccupied drivers you know. The cold was a problem. The trucks make it chilled factor of less than 10 minutes. The wind off the convoys was like being in a storm. Lens vibration made me wait till there was no traffic which didn't last long. So wait till the weekend sounds like a plan. When you wait for a specific day the weather will always have to change those plans. You really need some sun to make it work and this shot you want morning sun. A few years ago I would have just taken a photo and done. Now I try to make images. This Statue really presented me many trips back for another try. I got there too soon or too late. The sunrise has to clear a knob so sunrise isn't really sunrise on the subject. I tried the evening but the sun sets on the arm side and the shadows wasn't what I wanted. I still haven't got the shot I wanted but I am not done trying.
A GEM AT THE BOTTOM OF ICY NIAGARA FALLS
NIAGARA FALLS FROZEN 2015
If you want to take better pictures stand in front of better stuff. SO TRUE. To stand in front of better stuff a photographer has to be willing to take chances, brave the weather, travel and see things missed by others. This rock at the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canada side of Niagara Falls just sits there. A chunk of the bedrock the millions of gallons of water eats away on a daily basis. The falls are behind the rock not really hitting it directly however, the mist formed by the falls moves around and over putting a layer of texture and color from the ice that forms. This rock wouldn't have been noticed in the summer. But with the frozen falls it was better stuff to stand in front of. I spent as much time shooting this rock as I did shooting everything else. The swirling mist changed the light and color as the sun had to work a little to penetrate the thick fog. I didn't shoot in burst but I did work the shutter finger a lot. The railing that keeps you from accidently falling over curves a bit as you get farther away from the falls so the angle of view keeps changing if you want it to. You will have to wait your turn as it is crowded with tourists aplenty.
Wide angle is what you shoot Niagara so you can see the size and power of the falls. Well to some anyway. I always tell others that ask what can I do to take better pictures. I tell them to take the shot they would normally. Then cut the distance in half and take it again. Cut the distance again for another. When the subject is out of the frame you're done. Of course Niagara Falls frozen or not won't allow you to get closer so get a bigger lens. Then go bigger. I went there in February 2015 and the weather didn't give me much time at the falls. I always travel with all my gear. I have a 400 mm lens and as I left the vehicle I looked at that lens and talked myself out of it because of the crowds there. Big mistake and I hope I get another chance. I did shoot with a 200 mm and most of my favorites from the trip was shot at 200 mm. There was one person there with the big lens. Probably a news person and that doesn't mean great photos. You still have to see the image to take it.
Stand in front of better stuff, get closer or go bigger with the lens and change the angle of view. For more Frozen photos go to www.dennissmallimages.com/frozen_niagara