Tag: Photography

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10-10-10 Photography

Walking through Chapters the other day, a book caught my eye with the title “10-10-10”. It was about setting goals for the next 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years. I thought it was an interesting concept, and I started thinking about how I might apply the same thinking to my own goals.
Instead of using the scale proposed by Suzy Welsh, I decided to use 10 days, 10 weeks and 10 months as my scale.
10 Days
Short-term, immediate goals.
– In the next 10 days, I will create a ‘shopping list’ of photos I want to take. This can include something I have not done before (see next point), or to copy an existing photo from another photographer. From this list, I will make plans to do the shoot, rent equipment or a studio if needed.
– I have already missed my second target I had set for myself this week. I wanted to take some star photos during the Perseids meteor show. However, Wednesday night I got caught up in 3 different work issues after 10pm. By the time all three issues were resolved, I was went to bed exhausted.
my work load has been high and I am exhausted. I cannot stay up – I was falling asleep in my chair at work this afternoon. I will have to do this next year (the moon phase might be better too).
10 Weeks
In this interval (out to Oct 23rd), start some longer term projects.
– Join the RA Center Photoclub. I have been a member of the Nortel Photo club for a few years, but with the break up of Nortel, very few members remain. I need to find another outlet, which the RA Photo club will fill. The RA Center Photoclub has 300 members, and have special groups on topics that interest me (protrait, street).
– Start a portfolio. I have an on-line portfolio, but I’m not totally satisfied with all of the pictures. Very close attention finds minor flaws, such as the focus being off by an inch. I have heard advice that a printed portfolio is more important to potential clients. I will need to learn more about inkjet printing. I have a good photo printer (Canon iP4300) that supports 8×10. I should be planning my ‘shopping list’ such that I can fill out my portfolio.
– Contact a pro and pimp myself out. This will be the hardest to do. I should contact local photographers and ask if they need a part-time assistant. This would be the start of a side income for supporting my hobby. I have some leads from co-workers, and I’ve been collecting some business cards. I would only be available on evenings and weekends.
10 months
– Complete my portfolio. It must have enough materials available so that it can be tailored to my different needs.
– Set up a business, such that I can put my equipment under professional insurance, etc. I’ve already had the camera stolen once (St. Petersburg, Russia), which was covered by my home owners insurance. I don’t want to have to make any more claims against my home insurance, as that might cause them to drop me as a client (I’ve heard of this happening to others). Plus, if I am doing any professional work, my equipment would not be covered by home insurance anyways. It might provide some protection (law suits) and tax benefits. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time; the hardest part so far is thinking of a good name.

Walking through Chapters the other day, a book caught my eye with the title “10-10-10“. It was about setting goals for the next 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years. I thought it was an interesting concept, and I started thinking about how I might apply the same thinking to my own goals.

Instead of using the scale proposed by Suzy Welsh, I decided to use 10 days, 10 weeks and 10 months as my scale.

10 Days

Short-term, immediate goals.

  • In the next 10 days, I will create a ‘shopping list’ of photos I want to take. This can include something I have not done before (see next point), or to copy an existing photo from another photographer. From this list, I will make plans to do the shoot, rent equipment or a studio if needed.
  • I have already missed my second target I had set for myself this week. I wanted to take some star photos during the Perseids meteor show. However, Wednesday night I got caught up in 3 different work issues after 10pm. By the time all three issues were resolved, I was went to bed exhausted.

10 Weeks

In this interval (out to Oct 23rd), start some longer term projects.

  • Join the RA Center Photoclub. I have been a member of the Nortel Photo club for a few years, but with the break up of Nortel, very few members remain. I need to find another outlet, which the RA Photo club will fill. The RA Center Photoclub has 300 members, and have special groups on topics that interest me (portrait, street).
  • Start a portfolio. I have an on-line portfolio, but I’m not totally satisfied with all of the pictures. Very close attention finds minor flaws, such as the focus being off by an inch. I have heard advice that a printed portfolio is more important to potential clients. I will need to learn more about inkjet printing. I have a good photo printer (Canon PIXMA iP4300) that supports 8×10. I should be planning my ‘shopping list’ such that I can fill out my portfolio.
  • Contact a professional and pimp myself out. This will be the hardest to do, to overcome my own shyness. I will contact local photographers and ask if they need a part-time assistant. This will be the start of a side income for supporting my hobby. I have a lead from a co-worker, and I’ve been collecting some business cards. I would only be available on evenings and weekends.

10 months

  • Complete my portfolio. It must have enough materials available so that it can be tailored to my different needs.
  • Set up a business, such that I can put my equipment under professional insurance, etc. I’ve already had the camera stolen once (St. Petersburg, Russia), which was covered by my home owners insurance. I don’t want to have to make any more claims against my home insurance, as that might cause them to drop me as a client (I’ve heard of this happening to others). Plus, if I am doing any professional work, my equipment would not be covered by home insurance anyways. It might provide some protection (law suits) and tax benefits. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time; the hardest part so far is thinking of a good name.
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Festival Karsh

I went to the Canada Science and Technology Museum to see one of the moon rocks from Apollo 17, which is now on display. What I did not anticipate was the Festival Karsh exhibition that had just opened at the museum. Yousuf Karsh opened his photography studio in Ottawa in the 1930’s.

This was a very inspirational exhibit of the artist, his works, and how he created his famous portraits. They had some of his cameras, some of his studio equipment, booking calenders, letters to and from the artist, diary notes from the studio and many examples of his work.

Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by Karsh
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by Karsh

One portrait that caught my eye in particular was his photo of then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan (sample on the right). The lighting, the pose, the focus are all so perfect. Interestingly, there were both B/W as well as colour versions of this portrait. I was able to spend a long time look at many of his works in the exhibit, figuring out what lighting he used, what was the point of focus (always the eyes), how the shot was created. It was a real inspiration.

I immediately wanted to start imitating his style. The second half of this year, I shall work harder to improve my own abilities with the camera. I feel I have learned how to use the tools (my Canon 40D), and now I should work on the art of photography.

Other samples of his work, as part of the Festival Karsh events, can be found on at http://www.flickr.com/photos/festivalkarsh/.

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Two Small Steps for Me

I am so proud of myself this evening. I did two things for the first time.

After my first kayaking
After my first kayaking

The first is that I finally took my Clearwater kayak out for the first time. I found that, despite my optimism, it was too far to carry my kayak from the house to the river. By Google Maps, it’s 1.1km. So I went back to Ottawa Paddleshack and bought some foam and a tie-down. It’s not very strong, but I only have to drive that short distance, going about 30kmph. It does not need to be able to hold the kayak on my BMW at highway speeds.

So I get to the launch point, carry my kayak and equipment down, put it in the water and carefully get in. No major problems, and off I went. I paddled up stream a little bit, then a distance downstream before heading back. I crossed the river twice. There were lots of boats out with skiers and wake-boarders. I had to ride the waves they were generating.

After an hour, I came back to shore, packed everything up and came home.

I was so excited about this, that I decided I needed to have a picture to remember this evening. So, for the first time ever, I took a self-portrait. It turned out pretty good. I used a tripod to hold the camera, set the camera to a 10-second delay, and set myself in-front of the bedroom window. I set the external flash to balance the light and bounced it off the ceiling, and the result is above. I’m so happy with how well it turned out.

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My First Published Photo

Les Petits Ballets
Les Petits Ballets

I am so happy. Last week, I had my first published photo. A picture I took for Les Petits Ballets was used in an article for the school published in the newspaper Nepean This Week. The online article does not show the photo, which is reproduced on the right.

One of my other photos is being used by Les Petits Ballets on a promotional poster. The poster is being distributed around the city.

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Web master

I’ve been working over the past few weeks to complete re-vamp the web site for Les Petits Ballets, one of Rosa’s ballet schools. I was totally unhappy with the first redesign from 2007, but never had enough time to spend to bring it to the level I wanted.

But this year, I’ve had more time. I’ve already completed my personal site (this site). And as I am not the chief organizer of the MCO Race School or Secretary of the Meet for the 2009 Ted Powell Memorial Race weekend, I am having time to branch out to work on other items on my to-do list.

I am proud of the look and feel of the new Les Petits Ballets website, and all of the additions that were made, including adding Les Petits Ballets as a Facebook group.

One item that was especially fun was that I had to create a new web gallery theme in Apple’s Aperture software to fit with the new web site. That took a lot of hacking, as there is no public interface for doing it.

I will work with the Director of Dance to put more picture in the Gallery (which is where I used the new Aperture theme, based on the existing “Picture” theme). So far, the web site does not use any of the photos I took. I’ve taken over 700 photos for the school; most of them are not very good (out of focus, wrong framing, bad background, someone has their eyes closed). Getting feedback on what makes a good ballet photo is critical for my development.