A couple of quick pics

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks back to Calgary and back to work, but I went out with some other photographers for a lunch-hour-quickie last week.  Specifically, we were playing around with depth of field and bokeh (out of focus backgrounds or foregrounds).  Now that I look at some of the photos, I realize that I need to do some reading about photographing bright colours.  The fuchsia flowers seem to overwhelm the camera sensors.

Willkommen to the Cabaret...

Last night, I was taking some pictures at a concert of cabaret music, so I thought I would share a couple of shots.  Taking photos of concerts or stage works can be tricky, because the automatic light sensors in the camera tend to mess everything up.  You have to play around with your settings to know (and guess) what will work in different kinds of low light situations.  Although it wasn't incredibly dark in the hall, I found that I had to go to a higher ISO (640-800) to get a fast enough shutter speed so that the subjects were not blurred out.

In a way, photos of a concert are like photojournalism, because they are not posing as you take the picture.  But, they generally are going to be in the same small area for a certain amount of time.  The problem is that they don't usually stay still while they're in that small area.  Always waving their arms about, and singing and performing...

The sun really does shine in summer...

After almost two weeks of not terrible, but not fantastic weather, here in Newfoundland, the sun broke forth from behind the clouds and the mercury started to rise.  Strong southerly winds kept most of the heat at bay, but all of today's weather was a welcome change.  Enough of a change to go downtown and experience some of the harbour and downtown.

I really like my new lens (Canon 18-55mm, f2.8), but I keep trying to zoom in closer for shots and sadly realize that this lens isn't made for it.  Most definitely, the next lens will have more zoom/telephoto on it!!!

Even though, here are a couple of shots from the harbour today.

Galas, Girls & Fish...

My time here in Newfoundland has been busier than I expected so I haven't had the chance to get out and shoot as much as I had hoped, but I have had a couple of opportunities to take the camera out.  In fact, last week I was a 2nd shooter at a "Masked Ball" Gala for Opera on the Avalon, and today we went out on a rather cool whale watching/boat tour based out of Bay Bulls (about 30 minutes south of St. John's).  Unlike their animal cousins, the tigers and dragons, the whales were not crouching or hidden, but they were elusive and I wasn't able to get a picture of the two or three that momentarily surfaced in the distance. Lots of people though to take pictures of...

And from O'Brians Boat Tour...

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto!!!

The other night, I sat down in Cow-town, and after rather painless red-eye, I stood up and walked out of the doors into Fish-town.  We're definitely not in Kansas anymore...  I'm here in St. John's, Newfoundland with Opera on the Avalon rehearsing for some shows in Mid July.  

So, back to the red-eye flight...  Needless to say, the combination of overnight flights and time differences, jet lag and sleeping patterns are in a state of flux.  So, I decided to take advantage of my alert state of mind and went up to Signal Hill to take in the sunrise as it rises on the easternmost part of Canada.   Photographers always talk about how perfect the light is at dawn and/or dusk, and combine that with  a clear day, it made for a nice morning.

From Cabot Tower, atop Signal Hill (Where Signor Marconi played out his fascination with Ben Franklin Kites) I descended the "Hill" and walked along Duckworth Street which is famous for its brightly coloured houses.  All in all, about a 500 metre descent and 3.5 kms...

Family gatherings provide lots of unknowing and willing subjects...

Wow... taking photos of people is so much more difficult than it looks, so I take my hat off to friends such as Lana Gurevich who take really good, professional photos of people. 

I drove up to Red Deer for a gathering with my extended family today, and we were lucky enough to have an amazing day with great weather.   With 30 or 40 people in attendance, it gave me the opportunity to start pointing my lens at real people instead of flowers or nature or buildings.  I'm pretty sure that I prefer catching people in the moment, rather than having formal posed portraits or groupings, so it was interesting (and frustrating) to watch these people and groupings appear out of nowhere and disappear as quickly as they appeared. 

I had some difficulties with the settings in the bright sun, so many pictures didn't turn out as I would have liked them to, but I was happy with about 10% of what I did take.

You really didn't expect me to just take pictures of people did you?

What do they say about working with Children and Animals?

his morning, the clouds decided to part for a couple hours and hundreds of canines dragged their owners and families to Fish Creek Park for the 10th annual Calgary Humane Society Dog Jog Fundraiser.   I was asked to come take photos of my friend Christie and her "A Walk With Whippets" crew (China, Toby, Casey & Abbey.)

I've been trying to take more pictures of actual people, so I guess that dogs are a stepping stone along that path.  I think that part of the trick of taking good canine photos is taking a lot of photos, and taking the photos quickly, before the subjects get distracted and start sniffing and/or licking other subject's butts (this may be a problem with human subjects as well, but time will only tell.)

I've been trying to find new and different perspectives, which as a 6'5" man, usually means getting down and rolling around in the dirt.  I also used some natural topography to get below the subjects (a little ravine, fallen tree trunks).