Oh, Jessie, how I miss you so…
This past week, David duChemin and I spent a few days catching up and adventuring with Jessie. Our choices were limited by rain and more rain, so we made the best of our time by starting out at The Pinnacles National Monument.
It was cold, but mostly dry, so we set up Jessie’s accoutrements and just relaxed, drank beer, some wine and some scotch for good measure. The following day we took a spectacular drive through the Santa Lucia Mountains to the coast where Carmel greeted us with more crappy weather, but, also more good wine. From there we snaked up Hwy. 1 looking for locations to shoot some and to camp, but rain forced us back to Mountain View. We didn’t do any serious photography, but I did manage to take a few snapshots along the way. Jessie is quite the gal, I hope you all get a chance to meet her someday.
Only real, axe wielding, old spice wearing men drink wine named Purple Cowboy.
Heading west toward the Santa Lucia Mountains and the coast.
David setting up one of the GoPro cameras mounted on the roof of Jessie.
Close to Home and Beyond
I’ve been lucky to spend the past five days exploring San Francisco and Yosemite with Stuart Sipahigil, a friend and the author of Close to Home. In San Francisco we photographed a Fort, the people of Chinatown and the landscapes of the Marin Headlands, but the real purpose of the Stuart’s trip was visit Yosemite and to do our best Ansel Adams impersonations. I have never focused much on landscape photography, so, I was very excited to spend a few days learning some new skills.
I was excited to show Stuart around San Francisco and to spend the day photographing the city that I love. I never tire of showing the city off just as I never 
tire of photographing it. Our first stop was Fort Point. Built in 1853, the only brick Fort on the west coast, it is located under the western side of the Golden Gate Bridge and offers a great perspective of the bridge. It was raining when we got there, but we went inside and made some images of the interior anyway. The fort’s architecture provides for some wonderful arches, curves and shadows. At first glance I didn’t think the light was all that great, but, the more I looked the more I realized that the soft, diffused light from the storm was actually really nice. The cold rain also felt right for the place, as the many soldiers who once inhabited the fort had to brave many cold, foggy, windy and rainy days and nights here while protecting the entrance the San Francisco Bay. While there, a bride and groom came to the Fort to have their photographs taken. Stuart and I followed at a distance and waited for the right moment to capture some photographs, hopefully they didn’t mind too much. As he always seems to do, Stuart got a great image of the bride just as she walked in.
The next day we started out in Chinatown. Now I’ve photographed Chinatown many, many times, and I always like to take visiting photographers there as I did with Sabrina Henry, Ray Ketcham, and Dorothy Brown a few weeks ago. Not only is Chinatown jam packed with sights, sounds smells and culture, it is a tough place to photograph. Its streets are compact, its shops are filled wall to wall with goods and the people there are not always welcoming to your camera lens. I generally don’t like to be coy about photographing people, I’d rather ask for permission from my subjects first, but, in Chinatown this mostly gets you nowhere. Here, a little patience and perseverance goes a long way.
After a little lunch we went to see the majestic Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve always heard that the Golden Gate Bridge is the most photographed landmark in the world, something I’ve never verified. And, while visitors I take to the bridge, or myself for that matter, are probably not going to take a unique photograph there, I think it is okay to make some trophy images for yourself wherever you travel. Besides, to see the Golden Gate Bridge glow in the afternoon sun and to walk across it is a great experience.
We crossed the bridge and made our way up into the Marin Headlands. There we were greeted by the fog, which came rolling in allowing us the chance to make some nice landscape photographs. I’m lucky to have such a place this close to my house, just 15 minutes from downtown San Francisco, yet in another world. I have photographed in the Marin Headlands before, but not nearly enough, and, as Stuart points out in his book it pays to approach the areas surrounding your home as if you were showing them to someone who has never been there before.
We set off early the next morning for Yosemite, just about 4 hours from my house by car. I hadn’t been to Yosemite in about 5 years, and I’ve never been to the park in the winter or for the purpose of taking photographs and I was excited to enter the hallowed ground of Ansel Adams. After entering the park, and after getting pulled over by a nice ranger(my excitement got the best of me and I may have been driving a bit too fast), we made our way to Bridal Veil Fall and to Tunnel View where the view of El Capitan, Half Dome and Cloud’s Rest is world class. It is here where Ansel made some of his most famous photographs and where Stuart looked for the holes from his tripod. It is also here where many tourists stop, jump out of their car only to snap a photo or two and move on in much the same was as they do while visiting the Louvre and the Mona Lisa. Not everyone is going to stay for hours waiting to make a photograph, I understand, but, it just baffles me that people don’t take at least a few minutes to experience this view of what should be one of the wonders of the world. Staring at a rock wall that is 3,000 feet tall has a way of humbling you.
The next day we planned to photograph more of the valley, including Half Dome and Yosemite Falls, the weather had other plans, however, as we were 
greeted with a gray, lifeless sky. We made the best of the day, hiking up Tenaya Creek to Mirror Lake, spending time photographing the rushing creek and rocks. It was frustrating that Stuart had come all this way only to have uncooperative skies, but it reinforced the fact that photography takes patience and that your expectations need to be flexible.
Our last day in Yosemite was much the same, but we were lucky to get some nice fog drifting through the valley making for some nice images.
Other than snapping the quick landscape while hiking I have never focused on landscape photography. After the past few days though I’m really excited to focus more on learning some of these new skills. Anyone who knows me knows that my attention span sometimes matches that of a 2 year old and photographing landscapes really forces me to slow down and to think. I’ve rarely ever even used a tripod and that alone has been great for me, allowing me to think more about 
framing and exposure more than ever before. So much of the photography that I’ve been doing lately, especially dogs, happens so quickly that you almost have to shoot instinctively, so slowing down has been like a vacation, albeit a learning vacation. Working with Stuart has also been a great learning experience, as his depth of knowledge, especially when it comes to landscape photography is a great resource.
I leave Yosemite excited. Excited to nurse these new skills and excited to approach yet another aspect of this art. I also leave here vowing not to wait another 5 years to return. Being so close to home, I have no excuse not to come back sooner.
Capturing the Moment-
Over the weekend I got to watch some of Creative Live with David duChemin. At one point on Saturday he got to talking about “capturing the moment.” David referenced the great Henri Cartier-Bresson and his focus on the decisive moment. In an interview with the Washington Post in 1957, Cartier Bresson said,”There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative.” This got me to thinking about my own photography and about pursuing photography in general. Not only do we have to learn to operate our gear, about the fundamentals of photography, about lighting and about framing and composition, in order for our photographs to have the best impact we have to learn how to best capture a moment. I began to think about different subjects that I have photographed and how challenging getting the “right” moment can be. I have found that it takes a mixture of patience and skill, and sometimes, just plain dumb luck.
Take this photo, for example. While in Kenya, we had the privilege of meeting Joyce 
and Samuel. We were taken by our friend David of Red Rhino Orphanage to Joyce’s house for tea. As we sat on small stools around a small fire and Joyce made our tea I began to take photos of Samuel, a child that Joyce cares for. I really wanted to photograph Samuel and Joyce together, to capture the connection between this woman and child, a child who she cared for even though he was not her own. I took about 100 frames leading up to this point. Finally Samuel sat on Joyce’s lap and smiled, something he had not done for us yet. Here, finally, I felt like I got the moment that I wanted, a moment that best showed the connection between these two people who, despite their relative level of poverty, still live, love laugh and smile.
Sometimes, the moment is not so obvious. In these three photos, taken in Camogli, Italy, of two fisherman, I wanted to show how these two older men, obviously good friends, played just like two children would. They were sitting on a bench waiting for their boat to come to port so they could unload the days catch. I shot a lot of frames as the two horsed around. Which moment is best? While I like all three photos, I can’t decide which one best shows my vision of the moment. At times, when I look back at these, I feel like all three belong together and collectively convey the moment the best. At other times I’m not even sure that I was successful at all.
Is capturing the moment even something we get better at? Is it a skill we can develop, like our use of lighting and composition?
How do you work on improving your skills when it comes to capturing a moment? Does capturing the moment with different types of photography change your technique? These are questions I’m learning to answer.
Do you prefer to shoot alone?
Recently I was looking through some photographs from a workshop I attended in April, Italy Within the Frame, put on by 
Jeffrey Chapman and David duChemin. I came across a photograph of myself with two other participants that I became very close with, Eli Reinholdsten and Marco Ryan. It got me thinking about whether I work better alone or when out photographing with others. Well, I think my answer is…both.
I do often shoot alone, and, prior to going on the workshop in April, most of my shooting was done alone. I think that most photographers will agree that there are benefits to shooting by yourself.
One, the most obvious, is that there are less distractions, no one to distract your mind, to break your focus. There’s also no one to compete with for the best angle. One day while shooting in Camogli, Italy, Marco, David and I wondered upon some fisherman unloading they’re day’s catch i
nto boxes and onto a truck. The conditions for shooting were optimal-fading sunlight, fisherman with weathered faces, action, colors-it was all there. The three of us went to work, myself frantically shooting. I quickly found myself fighting to get the best angle while trying to stay our of the fisherman’s way. There was not a lot a lot of room to move around either with the water on one side.
On the other hand, this particular moment was a great learning experience. It was very insightful to compare each others shots of the same scene. To look at what both David and Marco captured versus what I captured gave me new ideas and new perspectives. This happened many times during the 10 days that we were together. Marco and I would often wander off, and, inevitably, would end up photographing similar scenes but from different angles or with different lenses. I certainly do not want to be the photographer that sees what another photographer is shooting and immediately copies them, nobody does, but, to compare and contrast your results with another photographer is one of the best learning experiences that I’ve encountered at this point in my learning. Sometimes the results are quite frustrating-the other photographer captures the scene, the light, the expression “better” than you did-but, you learn, and apply that to your next opportunity.
To sum up what I have learned about shooting with others I’d say there are a few key factors that are most important to me. One, too large a group never works. 1-4 people around a scene seems to be about right. Two, good dynamics, as always, are important. Too much talking is too distracting. Too little sharing of your results, and you might as well be alone. Three, you might be tempted to photograph from the same angle or perspective, but try something else. Copying is OK to a point for learning, but, break away from this habit early.
3 Things I Learned Photographing on Safari
I have never thought of myself as a wildlife photographer. While I truly enjoy photographing dogs, I just have never taken to wildlife photography as a hobby. Recently, while in Kenya, I spent 9 days on safari shooting nothing but animals. Not only did I really enjoy the thrill of shooting lions, elephants, giraffe and more, as always, when spending that much time with a camera in my hands, I learned a few things. As I reflect on my trip and as I sort and edit the images I made there I keep coming back to three things that I learned about photographing animals, particularly animals on safari. Here they are, in no specific order.
- Having a good driver will make your trip and therefore your photographs. I know this sounds obvious, but there are a few key elements worth mentioning. First, experience matters. Our driver, Dickson, has been driving for about 18 years. He knew how to read the behavior of the animals, where they tend to congregate, and, in some cases, he even knew about specific animals. A good driver also knows where to best position the car, to park perpendicular to the animals for the best shot and to turn the engine of to reduce vibration. A good driver is so key to your experience that it is worth spending the extra money to have a Landcruiser, not a minivan, and to have no more than 4 people in the vehicle. In short, a good driver has knowledge of the animals, a good vehicle(Landcruiser, not a minibus), and knows how and where to park for the best vantage point.
- Shoot a lot of frames. As my photography skills progress, I have been working on shooting less frames of higher quality rather than using the “spray and pray”
method. I found that when photographing animals, like people, a gesture or look can really make the photo. For example, I in this photo of the lioness with her two cubs, I really liked the way the cubs are leaning into their mother and the way that one of the cub’s tails is even wrapped around his the lioness-it makes the moment. This photo was selected from about 20 photos that I took in close succession. If I hadn’t shot so many, I may not have caught this moment, which, for me, best told the story of the lions interacting with each other as I really wanted to convey how the lions behavior mimics how house cats and dogs interact with each other. Finding a balance of overshooting and undershooting was really tough, and, as I look back at the photographs from the trip, there are definitely times when I am glad that I shot as many frames as possible. - Working within constraints. While photographing on a workshop in Italy, we
were constantly reminded to work a scene-change your perspective, change your lenses, to just wait for the right moment-until you were happy with your results. Having patients, focus and determination like this will definitely pay off. I found, however, while photographing on safari, that I didn’t always have these options. Sometimes, on safari, you have very little ability to change your perspective. You can shoot out the window, or from the roof to get higher or lower, but most of the time you can’t get out of or move the vehicle. Or course you do have limited ability to move the vehicle, but some animals scare easily, or, just won’t cooperate with a change in perspective. As far as changing lenses goes, I mostly shot with a Canon 100-400L. I also had another body with a Canon 24-70L mounted, but, I found that in general, I primarily used the 100-400, even when the animals were exceptionally close. The 24-70 just wasn’t getting the right framing or zoom. And, most of the time I couldn’t even change my aperture, as the available light was too low to shoot above f5.6 to f8 without lowering the shutter speed too much, even with Image Stabilization. Shooting within these constraints really focused me on working on making choices with framing, to constantly rethink and re-shoot.
On a side note, I’d like to thank my friend Marco Ryan for his help with figuring out WordPress.
