Photography – Page 4 – The Curious Canuck

November 13, 2010

Day of Photography

Today, I had the pleasure of spending almost the entire day taking

photographs.

The day started early with a photoshoot organized by Hagen Hohn (graduate of Harry Nowell’s Professional Photography Program) through the BMW Car Club of Ottawa. It was at the Carp Airport. Hagen started with a 30-minute overview of the techniques, issues, tips and theory of photography, leaning towards the information necessary for taking picture of cars. This was one of my objectives I set last year.

My car, sadly, was quite dirty and I didn’t have enough time last night to clean it up. I tried to wipe off some of the grime with a cup of water and a paper towel, but that only seemed to smear the dirty around. I had to choose angles that would not show the dust around the wheels and lower bodywork. I also have the winter tires mounted, so my BMW is not as photogenic as I would like.

As the morning progressed, the representative from the Carp Airport opened one of the hangers so that we could take pictures of BMWs posed with an airplane. He was looking to get some shots he can use for his own promotional materials.

At noon, I had to leave and go to my next location, the Les Petits Ballets studio in Bell’s Corners. I was asked to take some photos of the rehearsals for the upcoming Beauty and the Beast performance (Dec 11^th at Centrepointe Theatre).

These photos were a little better than some I have taken at the same location in the past. I still have lots of room to improve. This was yet another photo objective from last year.

I personally find it hard to get a good shot in the studio in the Nepean Creative Arts Centre. The walls are a mishmash of colours (white walls, red bricks, with blue doors), distracting objects (bright mustard coloured exercise balls) and all of the emergency lights and exit signs are just above the heads of the girls. There is also no good place to stand back to get a better perspective, especially when the room is full for the rehearsals.

The photos will be used in articles for the local community newspapers.

After the studio work, I went for a nature walk around the Nepean Equestrian Park. The weather was so nice, so I wanted to soak up as much Vitamin D as I could before winter. I used my iPhone and AMOD AGL3080 Phototracker to record how far I walked (it was 5.5km).

I started at the former Nortel campus. In the paths around the campus leading to the Equestrian Park, I came across a deer. I put on my zoom lens and tried to stalk closer. However, the dry leaves on the ground put the kibosh on that – the deer could hear me a mile away.

I continued along the paths and looped around the park. I saw many more deer, but none that I could get a good shot – there was often a tree or fence in the way.

In one open field in the park, I stopped and watched 7 deer and three wild turkeys.

By the time I made it back to the Corkstown Road, my knees were hurting, so I ambled back to my car.

In the evening, we had a nice gathering with friends to celebrate Rosa’s birthday.

November 7, 2010

Vintage Clothing Sale

This afternoon, Rosa and I went to the Vintage Clothing Sale at the Chateau Laurier. It was the first time either of us had been in the Chateau.

Rosa shopped for nearly 2 hours and found three neat dresses from the 1950’s and 60’s. It was fun people watching too – lots of characters!

After the shopping was done, we went to Métropolitain Brasserie. I ordered Coquille St. Jacques (scallops), which were delicious. Rosa and I talked for hours. We rarely have enough time, with all our work, dance, racing and family commitments.

November 3, 2010

Thoughts on STS-132

I’ve been thinking about what I learned from attending the STS-132 Atlantis launch on May 14th.

1. I learned that if I rent or borrow equipment, I should read the manual before I need to use the equipment. During the launch, when I was using the Canon 100-400mm, I did not set the correct focus length switch. This meant that when the camera needed to refocus, it would hunt for focus over the entire focal length. If I had set the switch correctly, it would have only used the longer focus lengths and should have focused faster.

2. Next, reviewing the photos later, I realized I should have borrowed or bought a UV lens filter, to cut down on the haze. All the launch photos have a bluish tinge.

3. Always remember to bring the lens hood if you have one. When I visited the Kennedy Visitors Complex, I forgot to bring the lens hood for the Canon 10-22mm. It didn’t greatly impact any photos but it could have – always be prepared.

4. Now, about the launch itself. As many people on the Internet have noted, it is very hard to both experience a launch and take pictures. I did my best to do both, as I only had one opportunity. If I had more chances to see a launch, I would go once to experience it, and once to try capturing the experience with my camera.

I was able to watch Atlantis as it was nearly at the official definition of outer space (roughly 100km), which was after the 4 minute point of the ascent to orbit. And as I looked up at the vehicle, two thoughts came to mind.

5. First, the planned height of the SpaceShip Two flights of Virgin Galactic will be about that height. It’s only a third of the height of the typical orbit of the International Space Station. And it doesn’t really seem very high, when you can see the shuttle attaining that in such a short period of time. You can see still the shuttle as it passes that height.

6. Secondly, it absolutely stunning how thin the atmosphere of the Earth really is. As noted above, the official edge of space is 100km. All of the air that is used by every human being and every animal and every plant that ever lived on this good planet, all used that thin veneer of air. Just 100km of air, spread across the face of the Earth. That’s all there is.

And that’s where all of the air pollution goes. It’s not a limitless sky. It’s very very finite. To a single person, it seems incomprehensibly unending, but when you think about the output from 6.8 billion people, it seems very limited. All the cars of the world, all the planes, ships and lawn mowers and leaf blowers and electric generation plants – they all empty into that fragile sheet of air.

I worry about air pollution (and water pollution) and global warming. Even if a person, against all evidence, does not believe that man is contributing to the problem of global warming, certainly they cannot deny that air pollution is a problem that is created by man.

And I think about the entire trip. I flew down to Florida, which directly contributed to air pollution. I watched the shuttle, which uses aluminum-based material in the Solid Rocket Boosters. The Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) burn hydrogen and oxygen and do not pollute directly, but it took a lot of energy to create that volume of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, and another big electrical bill to cool those liquids and keep them cool. There are the transportation costs of moving everything around – the solid booster segments come from Utah, the external tank comes from Louisiana.

I’m scared sometimes that we have already passed the point of keeping our planet useful to future generations. I worry that the air pollution, global warming, pollution of our water, dispersion of all the man-man chemicals (in pesticides, medicines, leeching buried plastics, huge oil spills, garbage dumps, etc) has already put enough of our junk into the biosphere that the Earth will become uninhabitable in some distant future.

I do what I can to reduce my personal impact, but I know I am not doing enough.

October 25, 2010

Douglas Coupland

Continuing with my previous posting about doing more in Ottawa, tonight I went to see Douglas Coupland at the National Arts Centre. He was reading Chapter 4 (of 5) from his new book Player One: What is to Become of Us?

He is reading the entire book, which is in fact the 2010 Massey Lecture Series. It will be presented during the week of November 9th on CBC Radio’s Ideas show.

This is the first time that I have had the original author of a story read it to me (well, to an auditorium). I’ve been to see a few other authors, and it’s usually a Q&A.

After the hour-long reading, there was a Q&A, presented by Ideas host Paul Kennedy.

Interestingly, Douglas echoed what William Gibson had said the day before about airports being a stateless location – Player One is set in an airport hotel bar. Douglas mentioned that he and William often do things together, such as trips across the border to the US.

After the Q&A, there was a long line for the book signing in the lobby. I was setting up my camera (ISO, exposure, etc) to take a picture when Douglas looked right at me and I hit the trigger as a reflex. It was a nice shot without too many distractions. But for just a microsecond, I saw a look on his face that I read as annoyance at being photographed. It has bothered me a lot. I had just broken the rule – try to connect with the subject and ask permission. So many others were also taking pictures, which spurred me into wanting to take a picture, but I could have handled actually taking portrait better. It is a valuable lesson.

October 23, 2010

Photostream – Blue Door and Mother Mary

October 17, 2010

Photostream – Yellow

October 10, 2010

Photostream – Model

October 9, 2010

Monthly Museum – Aviation Museum

Last month, I decided that I should visit a museum or other interesting site once a month. There are many sights and attractions here in Ottawa that I have never visited. After living here for 13 years, it’s time that I take in all that Ottawa offers.

Today, I decided to visit the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum. I last visited the museum sometime before 2000.

Gate to Chinatown (almost a perfect shot)

Before I went there, I wanted to stop in Chinatown to see the new gate that was opened earlier in the week. It was such a beautiful day, I didn’t mind walking around.

The gate looks fantastic. The colours are very rich, and the detail is very intricate.

I walked around Chinatown, then down Bronson and finally back to my car. I left for the museum, using my iPhone to provide directions.

Panorama of the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum

Some of the exhibits are the same as when I was here over a decade ago. The nose of the infamous CF-105 Avro Arrow, the huge BOMARC surface-to-air missile (which was part of the replacement for the cancelled Arrow), the various passenger planes that opened up the remote areas of Canada, and some of the early planes in Canadian history.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a full-scale mock-up of the new F-35 fighter that Canada is apparently purchasing.

I am not an accountant, so I cannot comment financially if it is the correct time to be replacing the older CF-188 Hornet. But I am not sure if this particular plane is right for our military. The combat range is longer than the ‘short-legged’ Hornet, but has only a single engine. Originally Canada only used twin-engine military jets as it offers redundancy over the very remote areas of Canadian territory (or over the ocean that is so critical to Canada). With only a single engine, any engine issue means that the plane has to be ditched (total loss) if it cannot glide to a landing location. I am concerned about the costs (I am assuming that other reasonable alternatives could be cheaper); we are replacing the 80 Hornets with only 65 F-35’s.

The new fighter would provide a significant increase in other respects, such as stealth (the Hornet has very little stealth) and increased range. I think selecting the F-35 was a foregone conclusion many years ago when the Canadian government invested $160 million to be a level-3 participant. I know that eventually the Hornets need to be replaced, and it is important that Canada continue to have an air protection and force projection capability. We need to protect our sovereign territory. Russia in particular is looking to increase its reach into the Arctic region. Interception of Russian bombers is increasing in frequency. So even though at this point in the 21st century we are not faced with large military manoeuvres against a great enemy (we are faced with an insurgency armed with goats), we need to plan for what cannot be foreseen – the world in 2030, not 2010.

On the upper floor of the museum is the Space section. There are fewer items on display here, as Canada is not really a space-faring nation. But there are uniforms, spacesuits, notebooks and other smaller memorabilia on display. There are more Canadian astronauts that I though, although not all of our astronauts have made it into space.

October 1, 2010

Long Exposure Photography

This evening, I joined a group from the RA Photo Club at the Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park. We were there to learn about night photography and painting with light.

I met the group at the parking lot of the RA Centre. From there, we convoyed to the estate. I unloaded all the equipment I brought and put the spare battery in my inside coat pocket – coldness decreases the capacity of a battery – and headed into the estate grounds.

I have not been to the estate before. William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada’s Prime Minister during World War II, had a long interest in architecture, and he brought examples to his summer residence in the Gatineau Hills. There are various imported ruins on the grounds of the estate.

When I arrived at the first ruin, everyone was trying to take pictures of the same thing, and I felt it was too crowded. We started the evening learning to paint with light. Mount the camera on a tripod and set the exposure to be a few seconds. Focus by using a flashlight, although apparently a red laser pointer also works, and then set the focus to manual (so that the camera wouldn’t try to refocus). Trigger the shutter with an external shutter release cable (so that the camera doesn’t shake) and then while the shutter is open, use the flashlight again to paint the area with light.

A few of the experienced people in the group also brought coloured gels for their flashlights to add colour to the photo.

I wanted to find an area that had fewer people, so I went further into the grounds and found a few interesting locations where I could experiment. Working by myself, I was able to figure out how to effectively paint with (a flash)light. After each attempt, I would check out the results on the back of the camera and then try again.

I followed a small group to another piece of architecture with columns. In a smaller group, I could get in and take a few pictures too. With an open shutter, you can take pictures while someone else is painting – i.e. sharing their light.

Painting with Light and Stars (f/2.8, 17mm, 20s, ISO800)

I broke off from that group to work on some more experiments on my own. I am very pleased with the results – the evening clouds parted enough to see the stars.

Lastly, I set the tripod down in a field, pointed it towards Polaris, and tried to get star trails. The first few (shorter) attempts were ok, so I set up for a much longer exposure – 30 minutes. I was glad to have my iPhone – it gave me something to do while I waited – play Angry Birds and surf the web. The trick to good photos of star trails is to include something in the foreground. In my case, I used the tall trees around the field.

Around 10pm, it was starting to get cold and late. After the last long exposure for star trails, I packed up and headed home. I am very satisfied with the results and want to try it again sometime. I’ll go to Henry’s and see what sort of coloured gels they have.

September 28, 2010

RA Photoclub Open House

I went to the RA Photo Club Open House this evening. Lots of people around, and I stopped by the studio. I really must book the studio for practice sessions this year.

I think this year will be a good year of learning and putting into practice all that I have learned.