Moment of capture

Moment of capture can make or break the impact of an image. That nano second too soon, or too late you miss it, you have to get it dead right. How do we do this, do we go spray & pray or do we become part of the situation & try & read what is going to happen next. Couple of weeks ago I went to the Methven rodeo. I set myself the task of only taking single images at F2.8 & try & capture the moment, I think I succeded. It doesn't matter if you are going to photograph a wedding, a landscape, a flower or a portrait of a beautiful person, you have to capture that defining moment that tells the story, captures the gesture for the viewer to enjoy. Like all skills you have to practice, get yourself involved photographing dance competitions is a great way to do this, it is challenging, both with light or lack of it capturing the moves that are impressive to capture. I have photographed the ChCh ceroc Champs the last two years & this year would have been my best series of images. Go out & practice, but only perfect practice will give you the results you need.

The moment we abandon the so-called rules of the purists. & allow ourselves to as an example ,blend multiple images to do what our optics or shutter could not, we take our craft a little closer to the possibility of being art-a story that transcends the means by which it is told, something that makes us feel something, see the world a little differently or experience something in a two dimensions that we've never experienced in three.

We need to listen to our own voice the more you do this the stronger it gets, Vision is something that lies within all of us. We all possess the ability to be creative. Whether we pursue this creative instinct is a matter of personal choice  There is a rewarding warmth that comforts the soul once you have been inspired & then create something tangible that can be shared with others.

If the horse is dead get off.

If the horse is dead get off. So what are you talking about, well lets think about this statement in regards to Photography. If it is not working then try something different, are your images not doing well in the competitions you enter, why, is it they are just not good enough for the competition you are entering or do you need to look at the finishing, are you getting all the information out of your image. Most of the time the images that do well are just that 2% more finished, better post processing, better colour management, or tell a better story than yours. Are we trying to make our images too technically perfect & losing the story, the emotion that is there. Technique should never get in the way of your voice, never.Do not focus on Technique for the sake of technique but discover what it means to see rather than to merely look. Once you discover that technique is merely a detail, you will be free to create images that will change the world of the people who view it.
These are same image, I have added my creative self into them.

What is Failure

What is Failure, is there really such a thing. In art or more specifically Photography, we should not look at a bad image as a failure, rather a learning curve. At the start the learning curve is pretty big & has a huge curve in it.But as time goes on the curve gets smaller but trust me it is still there. We should look at the images that dont work for us as a means to progress, we should study these images & work out why they dont work ,what is it that I have done that doesn't make this work, or more the point what do I have to do to get it right.
I do this all the time when one of my new images gets rejected in a competition, what ,why & where have I gone wrong with this image, is it the detail, is it the story, is it just crap? even though I think it is great, am I too emotionally connected to the image to see the trees for the woods. This is where your friends, peers, or what ever you want to call them come into it, someone who is not emotionally involved with you is generally less bias. Send the image to them ,what do you think be honest, remember you might not like what you hear so be prepared for criticism.

On Sunday I went to the Methven rodeo, I watch young men & Women compete against mother natures creation, horses & Bulls, they fell off.One guy got dragged around the arena by a horse, do you think he sees this as being a failure, I dont think so he will use this experience to hone his skills a little more to be a little better or if he is too badly hurt he may feel it is time to hang up his spurs, but he will pass on his knowledge to the younger one's. So as we learn new ways of doing thing pass it on & people will pass it back?

Photographing an event

Yesterday I spent nearly all day at the Methven Rodeo, I like to go early to these events, I was there for the gates opening. This allows me to spend sometime getting the feel for the venue & places I might want to visit to photograph. I spent about 5 years helping out in the main arena of the Omarama rodeo as the score totaller. I would go from judge to judge get the scores for each cowboy & add them up & show the announcer.  I used to love being in the ring, up close & personnel with the animals & the cowboys. Well yesterday I was wondering around early & I overheard this conversation this cowboy was having with someone, "Fuck I am hung over & Horny going to be a good day".

I had a great day. I love being at these events & taking the time to take good images, not spay & pray, thats take lots of images & hope that one will work.

It's not easy being an artist

It's not easy being an artist, a follow on from yesterdays blog. I work very hard trying to achieve a level of photography that is pushing my bounds & the people who judge it. I expect the people who judge my work to take the time to look & see what I am trying to say to them ,some get it some dont. As judges & I have a done a bit over the last 2 years, we need to give the artist the respect to spend the time to try & understand what they are saying with there art work they have asked you to judge. We suffer from self doubt as an artist does, so we dont need needless criticism just for the hell of it. That's enough of this.

Lets produce art that we enjoy, why should we produce work to  please others, isn't it about the pleasure we get in the process we went through to come to the final image, the print. The enjoyment for us is often the process we went through, creating the image, from the initial capture to the post production to that magical moment when you go ,that's it, it feels like putting on sunglasses on a sunny day. Go for it.

Judging

Judging, a time when our images are accessed by a more experienced member of the photographic community, or we hope so. We all have horror stories to tell, like the judge who judged a print comp & started by saying that obviously all the good print competitors had not entered this competition, oh my not a great thing to start with, or the judge who throw one of my images out because as far as he was concerned no such place could possibly exist so I had photographed some art work somewhere, when in fact it was an image from Antarctica. Here is the image.

 Over the last few years I had lost alot of faith in the judges in the PSNZ judges list. But credit to the new president & Bruce Gridwood, they are trying to improve the way PSNZ accredite their judges. They have ran one course in Chch recently,I attended the weekend workshop & it was very good. They have gone to alot of trouble to try & get new more open minded judges to go through the accreditation process. I hope they succeed because if we stick with some of the closed minded judges we have NZ club photography will not improve to a world standard & that is where we need to be aiming for.
The girl riding the sheep was a FIAP gold medal winner,there was 4000 images entered, it achieved an acceptance in Natex.