This is an image I created back in 2004, on a family vacation in Prince Edward Island. I used my old Canon Digital Rebel, and although the original picture was captured in colour, to me it didn’t really come to life until I converted it to a toned black and white image; only at that point did the light start speaking to me.
I don’t do a lot of self-portraits; it’s not something I’ve been comfortable with. I always knew I wouldn’t end up on the cover of GQ, and as I hit middle age, gravity and my appetite have taken their toll. Nevertheless, having followed a couple of photographers and their approach to self-portraits (especially the amazing, intense work of April Lea), I’ve been so impressed with the open and honest nature of their work that I feel compelled to revisit self-portraiture. It will be a difficult, self-confrontational process to force myself over to the other side of the lens, and deal with the insecurities, and the echos of schoolyard taunts of decades past.
It starts now.
You don’t often get a second chance to capture an image. This week, I had that chance; I had to be downtown early on Tuesday morning for a meeting, and the combination of the rain-slicked pavement and lights made an arresting combination. I only had my iPhone with me, and while I tried to capture the scene, it didn’t turn out the way I wanted.
Luckily, I had to be downtown again the next day at the same time, with the same rainy weather: my second chance.
I was tempted to make the theme of Monday images digital manipulation, but the jury is still out on that one. The image below is an example of a photo that is digital from start to finish; digital camera, manipulated with an HDR plug-in from Nik software. Both “digital” and “HDR” are red flags these days in these eyes of certain purists (and I am guilty of dissing HDR as over used). Scott Bourne once wrote that the only thing that matters is the image. A very simple statement, but a very profound one. Does the image, however produced, deliver on what the photographer was trying to do? This is the only metric that matters.
I took the image below last week in Cologne. The image is looking up at the Cathedral in Cologne. This structure is large and imposing, and dominates its space, in a not entirely positive way in my opinion. I joked with some folks (perhaps unfairly) that this massive structure would not out of place at the gates of Mordor. This image, with some HDR added, captures this feeling I had, better than the straight image does. And that is the only justification I need.
In a couple of hours I will be on a train to Frankfurt to catch a plane back to Toronto, so time for one more image of Cologne. I have crossed this bridge at least a dozen times this week, so it (and the cathedral in the mist) have become iconic for me. Photographs make the best souvenirs.
Normally, Tuesdays on this blog are reserved for “Time-warps”, pictures taken some time ago, as opposed to recent images. Today things will be different; since it’s my birthday, I will indulge in a break from routine and post an image I captured a couple of hours ago. As I write this, it is a beautiful sunny morning in Cologne, but the day started out with the city wrapped in a dense, swirling fog. I grabbed my camera and ran out outside the hotel to capture it before it burned off. My favourite image is below.
There is a symbolism here; the bridge shows the direction of travel, but the destination is a shrouded mystery; I won’t be able to see it until I get there. The bridge is life, and the destination is the future, and getting there is half the fun.
I am in Cologne, Germany on business this week, and of course I am taking advantage of the location to do some photography. This morning the light was amazing for a brief interval, and it was breathtaking to see the Cathedral across the Rhine take on the ruddy colours of a red-sky morning.
The other night I had fun shooting stills for The Alexander Singers (a Toronto community theatre group) production of The Fantasticks. It was a challenging shoot: no flash allowed, so I had to shoot at ISO 3200 wide-open and hope that the VR (vibration reduction) on my D90 would give me at least some non-blurry shots. I was quite happy with how things turned out; after a busy evening of “spray and pray” shooting, I had over 150 usable pictures, including the image below of the character “Henry”: an actor well past his prime, hired to take part in an abduction. If you are looking for something to do over the next few nights, I’d recommend checking out this show; a very strong cast makes it a most enjoyable production.
I think Quebec City is my favourite city in Canada; it’s a close to being in Europe without crossing the Atlantic. It’s also a photographer’s dream.
I took the photo below in 2007, taking advantage of a non-crowded moment. It is slightly underexposed on purpose, to de-emphasize the benches, and emphasize the lines and texture in the wood. It also makes it a challenge to determine the time of day this image was created, and I like that mystery.
My Third Eye 