The Medium is the Message...and stuff

"The medium is the message."
-             Marshall McLuhan

The best camera is the one that you have with you and for most people who enjoy photography that maxim is nothing remarkable. How you approach taking pictures though, is heavily influenced by the camera in your hands.

My educational experience has a lot of communication in it especially considering that I have a degree in English. (Will that be paper or plastic?)  We speak differently than we write. We write differently depending on the subject. If I was writing a formal essay my tone and style would not be the same as how I present my words here.  In the ends its just words but the medium still matters.

The same applies to photography. Oddly enough, this very topic came up while I was learning how to develop film with Heather Simonds and Samantha Chrysanthou under the guidance of Hiroaki Kobayashi. We all agreed that when you're walking around with a roll of black and white in a Holga you see the world a heck of a lot differently than if you were to walk around with ... I don't know...the new Nikon D4? (In case you're just tuning in I shoot Nikon.)


When I shoot black and white I tend to look for dramatic skies and I like to look for very strong lines such as those found in architecture.

If I shoot slide film I try to look for bright punchy colors. It might actually be the one time I go out of my way to photograph flowers.

With Polaroids I tend to take pictures of people just being people.

So where does my SLR come in? Being digital the result is far more malleable.  It can create looks that approximate the film look but it doesn't quite get there. I tend to try to go for  a technically sound image when I shoot with my D90. Sharp focus, good exposure. I'm in the driver's seat and I have full control of the whole creation. With film, the creation process tends to end for me with the release of the shutter. With digital, its just the beginning.

Battles are War!

Two Sundays ago, I was privileged to be invited to help with the shooting of the Battle at F-Stop Ridge sequel.  I was just a "regular Joe" out in -25 degree weather with a bunch of the Camera Store staff, former staff members, and a Canon rep. So how did I (a.k.a. "Just a Guy") get in on this? Well, the Camera Store had a contest on their Facebook page where they asked followers to post what they'd like from the Camera Store for Christmas. Naturally a lot of people posted what lens, camera or flash they'd like. I wanted to stand out so I said that I'd like to see the sequel to the Battle at F-Stop Ridge and be in it. Jordan Drake, who directed the last one, contacted me and said that they saw my post and they could make it happen. It seemed like a lot of fun and and a great opportunity to learn so I asked Jordan for details etc.

Sunday rolled around and I was excited and nervous. I hardly slept the night before and I had no idea what to expect. With camera gear and extra warm clothes packed I headed out to the location of the shoot which was about 15 minutes outside of Turner Valley, Alberta.

Shooting in the cold always has its challenges and this was no exception. The cold weather drastically shortened most equipment's battery life. Oddly enough, the first battery I had in dropped two bars without even shooting a frame. I swapped to my other battery and after shooting a lot of frames during the action, and doing some video all with my Sigma which is notorious for killing batteries, I only lost one bar of power out of five. Others weren't quite so lucky and there were a couple of times between shots that Jordan had to call for another battery to keep the camera rolling.

Some people forget what happens when you take cold glass and bring it into a warm room. For myself, I was smart enough to leave my gear outside so my lenses wouldn't fog up but I wasn't smart enough to remember to bring my batteries in. Fortunately it didn't come back to haunt me later but its definitely lesson worth remembering.

Another challenge was the footing. With the extreme cold, the ground was quite hard and with it being covered in snow it was slippery at times. During one of the earlier scenes, our illustrious director took a tumble while running alongside our group and damaged his gear. (Hopefully not beyond repair!)

After the initial shooting of the group I was in ("The Attackers"), I hung back and took some behind the scenes video. I had my camera rested on the hood of a truck which should have been relatively stable. With the cold and because I wasn't moving around to keep warm anymore I was shivering badly. I am surprised I didn't hear my teeth chattering on the audio!

All in all, it was a lot fun to do. If I were asked to help with the third one I would probably do it...unless its -50 next time. :)

So ...hi?

Its been a long time since I posted. It strange how the longer I go without posting the more I feel guilty about not posting and the harder it is to actually post something. Its like I've waited so long to post something it now needs to be monumental. But I also think it ties into how my brain works at this time of year. Its like the movie Groundhog Day where there's this repetition. For me the scene goes like this: The leaves fall off the trees. Everything turns brown. I go into a funk. I get a bit of snow and cold and I hunker down for winter waiting for a shot to magically appear in the warmth of my home. So I don't shoot as much. The quality goes down. My confidence wanes. It gets tough. Its this time of year when I am glad I don't pay my rent with a camera because I'd probably be homeless and hungry if I did. I've probably plugged this Zack Arias video a few times on this blog (edit: Hmm..just once). Zack pretty much describes how I feel but gives me hope at the same time.
 I know I'll get out of the funk but it isn't going to be easy.

So here I am. The beginning of December and the funk is here with me. But I haven't been entirely idle and I have made shots I have some pride in.

I had one idea for a photojournalism shot involving coffee beans for a while and I finally accomplished it.  Fun idea and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm also happy I learned a few things during the process.

My wife and I also went to Vancouver for a quick vacation. Its hard to believe that was over a month ago. I'm happy to say that I got a few shots. I still haven't really looked at all of them but I'm happy with a couple I took.

Not too shabby I'd say. Maybe not my best work but it certainly isn't my worst either. I guess I can shoot and weather be damned I can take some pictures.  I guess that's the thing with these funks. They really are all in your head.