A day at the Erratic rock learning about off camera flash

I spent the day just south of Calgary taking a photo course at the Okotoks Erratic rock.  Kurtis Kristianson of Spin Drift Photography has offered this workshop for the past couple of years and I was lucky enough to learn about off camera flash, and using the flash in general. 

Kurtis' entire message was about creating the right lighting and understanding how to create that lighting each and every time you set up a photo shoot.  Lethbridge's Michael Warf came along and shared some great tips and ideas about working with the model and the "glamour" side of the industry.

As I arrived home and started looking at the pictures that I took, the first thing I noticed, was that I wasn't doing a lot of editing.  The pictures that I took were composed and set up properly enough, that I didn't need to go in and play with the lighting or exposure or colours.  Ok, I did some cropping here and there, but that was more a result of the 70-300 lens that I was using. (Most others were using some form of 24-105, 50-200 canon lens.)

My model (well, the group's model) for the day was Iryna Moriyama, who is herself, a very talented photographer and OCF workshop graduate.

The Best of Before the Blog

In the past, my taking photographs was very hit and miss.  I remember (mentally) one trip to England where I took a total of three photos... and two of them were on the ferry over the English Channel.  Another trip to Italy, I returned with probably 20+ rolls of film (before digital media.)

In the fall of 2008, I spent four months in Germany (with a holiday stop over in Costa Rica) and I promised myself that I would actively pull out my camera and take pictures.  Pictures for myself, as well as pictures to share with others. 

At this time, I had not really looked into how to improve the composition of my photos, so I make no apologies for the quality of the photos.  I took pictures of things that I thought were interesting, or that would be memorable.  Interestingly enough, most of the better pictures could have been taken anywhere, but there are some of the stand outs.

Berlin Holocaust Memorial

Salzburg, on top of the 'Burg'

Salzburg Cathedral

Hannover

Charlottenberg Palace, Berlin

New City Hall, Hannover

St. George Park, London

Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica

Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Poas Volcano, Costa Rica

San Jose, Costa Rica

Orchid, Costa Rica

Costa Rican Traditional Ox-cart

Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica