Two lenses for life

I'm taking two lenses with me to Central America. I'll be bringing my 20mm 2.8 for landscape work, city scenes and architecture and my 50mm 1.8 for portraits. I'm also bringing my tiny little sb600 flash and two camera bodies. One will be my d700, for all the serious work I need to do when I'm on site at the project I'm working at and the other will be my "little boy" d90. This one I'll try to carry with me at all times. I'll also have an extremely small and lightweight tripod.

Here's what I'm not bringing. I'm not bringing my massive 70-200 2.8, my equally massive 24-105 or my Mamiya medium format. That also means no umbrellas, so softboxes, no sheets of 6x7 film and no huge and heavy gear bag. Everything I'm bringing will fit into my ingeniously (if I may say so myself) modified messenger bag. I'll be able to take it on buses and tuk tuks without having to bash others in the head with my bag, and it will most likely fit into carry on.

Other photographers might cry out that I'm losing a lot of potential by not carrying my full kit. I don't have any zoom potential and I have not covered the middle of the my focal range. Big deal. See my earlier post about architecture. You just have to find a way to tell the story in the a different way.

Look, the whole story with travel photography is about telling the story of the place you are going. That means interacting with it, not keeping it at the distance of a 200mm zoom. I'll need to get up close and personal, and thats the way I like it. I don't take pictures of people by sniping them with a zoom lens. Thats crap. Act like a thief and you will be treated like a thief. Instead of planning for every contingency I took the time to sit down before I left and thought about the sort of shots that I want and my client wants. I then thought about the best gear to get them, while keeping weight in mind.

You can go out and buy a whole bunch of expensive gear, but its the quality of the interaction that makes the photograph. Go ahead and shoot a million portraits with your expensive L series lenses, but if you are trying to use them in the wrong way, it's just going to be a waste of money. That's why you learn on the cheap stuff, not the expensive stuff, because it teaches you how to use them to the absolute limit of their ability, while thinking outside the box.

Showing up is 80 percent of success. Go with your lightest gear and no matter what the focal range you will find a way to make it work. I went to thailand with a shitty wide angle Tokina, made 100 percent of the shots I took with it and found a way to make them work. I could use my Mamiya to shoot sports, because it's a "better" quality camera than my d700. Guess what, I'm wasting my time. I could drag my 70-200 2.8 to Guatemala and it might prove useful in some situations, but for most of what I do it wouldn't. I'm happy with what I got.

Lenses like life. Make what you have work for you. Not the other way around.

An artists view of what you want out of life

We all need to know what we want before we can get it. Its that simple. Once we know what we want, we usually get it. Why? Because we find a way. That's the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what you want.

Here's what I want.

1) Life as an adventure. I don't want a 9-5, I don't want the grind, I don't want to live exactly the same life as everyone else. Go read the wiki's of pretty much anyone you admire. Odd's are, you admire them because they lived a pretty incredible life. Ernest Hemingway saw and experienced more before 25 than most people will in their life. People read his work and a little bit of him comes through in it. And it's the charisma and power built up through living the kind of life that most of us fantasize about. Turbulent, dramatic, fantastic. It's his life that makes his works stand the test of time. That's that kind of life I want. I want my future biographer to have so much to write about that he can't put it all on the page.

2) Making my living with something that's mine. My art, my buisness, what I create: that's mine. Thats what I want to use to build my life on, so that even when it's hard I can say "at least I did it my own way." This isn't to say that I can't work with others, and when need be I can't adapt my vision to co-exist with the vison of others. But at least it's my vision in the first place. It's just because someone said "jump" and I said, "how high?"

3) A life thats free. I want to live everywhere, I want to see everything, I want to meet everyone. I want to choose what part of the world works for me, what religion suits me, what language sounds the most like me when I speak it. I don't want to end up stuck somewhere that I hate because it's "secure", or locked into an idea that my culture finds acceptable when it doesn't work for me.

4) I want to do it while I'm young. It's a fact that your brain hardens as you get older. It loses it's plasticity and ability to adapt new ways of thinking and assimilate new experiences. Why do you think children can learn Mandarin as a second language easily, and 30 year olds are going to have a much harder time? I don't want to wait until I'm retired to go and visit Asia, study buddhism, learn a language or create my art. I want to do that when I'm young, keep my mind open and expose myself to as much as possible. That way, when I'm old I have something to teach that's my authentic way of seeing the world instead of just what was pushed on me.

5) I want to live a life free of useless hate. I want to give something back. I don't want to judge anything or anyone. Don't bother me with your rants about how you hate your government, organized religion, the school system, commercialism, whatever. If you don't like it, opt out. I'm from Canada, everyone I know has incredible freedom compared to 99% for the world. If you don't like something, don't participate. I'm never going to be the guy that carries an axe against some nameless "other" that is grinding down my freedom. Every thought you have is precious. Think about how much time you spend thinking about how how terrible things are. Then wonder how it's affecting your life. Try this, stop thinking about the bad and instead find the good and then tell me how much happier you are. Honestly, try it. That's the way I want to live my life.

Sure, I have smaller goals, but these are probably the biggest things I want out of life. Everything else is just a building block. I think my work shows these things, I think my art shows these things. I hope it does.

Taking pictures of where we live

Taking pictures of where we live, where we are going to live, where we want to live, or where we have once lived is always a challenge. Of all kinds of photography, I find taking pictures of buildings some of the most interesting, some of the post stimulating and some of the most frustrating.

Before I start talking about the artsy side of things, I want to talk about the real challenges that present themselves from a technical side of things. Photography is an art yes, but first and foremost the capturing of light within a box is a science. It's a hard science and it presents its own rules that govern how and what you can do. These rules can be bent but, like all the laws of our world, can not be broken. Storytelling follows no rules. It is creation pure and simple, with all the possibility of an empty page. Everything is possible Then you try to tell a story with your camera and you find that everything is not possible. Some laws of nature stand in your way, between you and what you want to say. It's enough to drive you up the wall sometimes.

So you want to capture a building with your camera, and you want it to look true an accurate to the way you see it. The ultimate goal of all photography (note here that the emphasis should be on the way YOU see it). You line up your camera, decide how you want to frame the building and then press the shutter. Then you look at the image later and...it doesn't look the same. Why?

Lets look at an example:


A fort in Thailand. Not a great shot, but an experiment for me. But more than anything its an inaccurate shot. Why? Take a look again. Notice it's leaning backward. All the lines are converging toward the top. Most buildings don't look like that unless they are falling over. It's also leaning off to the side. Its completely warped.

God damn you laws of physics.

This building was a lot taller than I am. I had to tilt my camera up to capture it all. And because of this, all the lines lean backward. The only way to stop this is by keeping the camera perfectly level with the building. And seeing as this building towered over me, that's not possible. I'd have to back up basically across the street and completely screw up the composition I had in mind. It's an effect called keystoning,

You see what I mean? I want to tell a story, and the world isn't letting me. Frustrating.

There are solutions. One is buying an extremely expensive and rare lens that allows you to correct your perspective. One is to buy a vintage 4x5 or "view" camera, that allows you to swing the lens to the position you want it in. These cameras present their own can of worms. Suffice it to say, I don't have one and I probably won't be getting one soon. Right now, I can't afford a $2,500 tilt/shift lens.

So what is a young photographer to do? I just want to tell the story of a building?

Well, there are a few more options. One is to correct it in photoshop. I spent at least an hour correcting the image at the top of this post. I hated doing it and it felt the whole time like I was bastardizing something natural. But I just can't have those leaning lines. Sometimes, you just have to do things that you don't like. Entering in numbers and pulling sliders until it looks just right. That's not creation. That's math. I got into photography because I don't like math and I wanted to avoid it. Go figure, right?

The other option is to adjust your vision. By this I don't mean go and buy some new glasses or get lasers shot into your eyeballs. By this I mean you have to change how you see the building and what story we want to tell. It's now time to put on your rose colored glasses and look at the artsy side of things. Are you ready? All wearing your turtlenecks and berets? Okay, lets move on.

A building is at heart the story of the people that live there or lived there. Who were they, what did they do, what sort of home did they create? I don't believe in ghosts, but I can see how people believe in them. Places have memories and places are windows into the past. I dare you to look at Stonehenge or Angkor Wat and not think of all the things that have gone on there and all the power that vibrates through them. There are thousands of years of history contained in their walls, and as you walk through them you feel it all around you. There are ghosts there, oh yes. You can almost hear their voices. What are they trying to tell you?

So line up your camera across the street and press the button. The lines lean back and the building looks ugly, inaccurate. You want to tell the story of all that history and all that power but all you get is something far from what you intended. You aren't telling the story that the place has told to you.

So find another way. That way might be a tilt/shift lens, it might be a view camera and it might be photoshop. It might also being letting the voices of the place guide you and show you a way of photographing the building that you didn't think of originally. It might be a rune on a wall or a staircase descending into the darkness. It might not even look like the building at all. Maybe it's something that was left there, like a moldy teddy bear that I once found in the basement of a long abandoned house back when I was into sneaking into old basements of abandoned places. If that doesn't tell the story of the building more than a keystoning shot of the outside, I'm crazy.

Here's what I'm trying to say. Taking pictures of where we live, like all art and like life in general, is all about finding the details that describe the whole. It's about finding the proper tool for the job and the ability to see the same thing in a different way. More than anything, it's about being willing to be humble and guided by the place you are at. That's why I love taking photos of buildings. It teaches me about the building, about the people that lived there, and about myself.

Be well.

On opportunity

A man named Wyatt Gallery has always been one of my favorite photographers, and if you haven't checked out his website you should do it right now. Okay, if any of you have heard the name, it's probably because he was involved in a stupid scandal a few years back where he got caught on tape getting it on with not one but two miss universe contestants. But that's not the reason I like the guy. Honest. He's also a great photographer. Honest. Really.

Anyway, I was thrilled recently during my web browsing to come across an interview with Wyatt by a fellow by the name of Jeff Bartlett. To be honest, I was a little nervous to first read the piece, and that's a bit of an understatement. It shot fear right down into the pit of my stomach. I've read interviews with people I really admired, and remember feeling incredibly let down, when they came across as nothing but those with nothing to say, or worse they come across as pompous jackasses drunk on their own importance. I will never read the Life of Pi the same way again after watching a particular interview with Jann Martel where he presented himself as very possibly the most important man in the world. Disappointing.

So it was with great trepidation that I started reading Wyatt's advice to other young photographers. "Come on man," I was thinking "Don't let me down." I mean, here is a fellow whose photos I look at pretty much every day, and has lived what is for me is the dream life (once again, no connection to the miss universe 'scandal'. Honest) . Extensive travel, documenting of historical events, commercial success before 25 without selling out, and seems an all around decent guy to boot. To have him provide pointless or pompous advice would have been close to soul crushing.

So I'm reading along, skimming through the general blah blah blah that comes at the start of interviews in general. And then, all of sudden, here's the quote that really floors me.

"We must take the first step to living the way our heart intends us to live. When we choose to follow our intuition from our heart, things will just happen and seem like miracles, coincidence, fate, and blessings. Once we take that first step, the universe will create opportunities to assist us. "

So true man. So true. Preach it brother.

Isn't it funny how the universe works? This is something I'd been thinking over myself these past weeks. I've recently taken my 'day job' down to an absolute minimum and I've been spending my time focusing on the things that I think are the most important in my life. It's a great feeling, but it's also scary as hell. I'm making less money than I'm in any way used to, and after scaling back on a job shooting sports my cash flow is extremely scattered. But yet somehow I'm getting by. Opportunities to make cash are seeming to materialize out of nowhere. Small things for now, but enough.

What's really odd is that my room mate and good friend is experiencing the exact same thing. He left his job scrubbing boats behind and is concentrating on his talents as a musician and audio engineer. He doesn't have any plan, and I'm sure a lot of people expected him to be broke in a week. But he's not. I'm not either. Opportunities are presenting themselves to us that we never would have seen, anticipated or been ready for if we hadn't taken that first step to opening our eyes to see them. And that's something special.

Right now, it's all small things. But recently, two opportunities came up for me that could be big. They have that potential. Like Wyatt said, the universe is working in it's own way. Now, like my mother would probably say, it's up to me. Which I guess leads me around to the point of this whole thing. Opportunities are just that. Opportunities. They don't appear if you aren't ready and looking for them, but you still have to do the grunt work to turn them into reality. Which is why, on this beautiful sunny day, I'm inside pitching ideas for photo stories to airline magazines and reading through page after page of a website on a charitable organization in Guatemala who I'm interested in working with. The universe gave me a door. I'd be letting it down if I didn't at least try to walk through it.

Besides, I'm living in Vancouver and it's the middle of summer. It's going to be light out until 10. I got all the time in the world. Maybe I'll go for an evening hike.

You see? Another opportunity.

By the way, the interview with Wyatt Gallery turned out to be one of the most inspiring things I've read. And for that, I'm thankful. I'll leave you with another amazing quote.

"I listen to my heart and just do it. Don’t think, don’t ask how or why, just feel that you are being called to shoot something or interested in something and just go do it."

Check out Gallery's website at www.wyattgallery.com

Inspirational words

Okay. I lifted this from David Duchemin (a very talented photographer and seemingly great human being)'s blog. I love it.

“Let’s start with passion. There are way too many people in this room right now, that are doing stuff they hate. PLEASE STOP DOING THAT. There is no reason in 2011 to do shit you hate. None. Promise me you won’t. Because you can lose just as much money being happy as hell.”
-Garry Vaynerchuk

On responsibility

My first post. I'll try to make it a good one. Just bear in mind it has nothing to do with photography.



I took this picture last year while I was in Thailand. I was sitting in a temple with my camera in my lap, watching as this ageless monk put together some sort of rosary in front of me. He seemed completely at peace. I was completely at peace. I lifted my camera and without looking through the viewfinder, I took the picture. I don't think he ever noticed, but if he did he would have never let on. It was as close to a perfect moment as I've had in my young life.

It didn't make me any money. It wasn't a thrill of victory or a moment of gloating over my fallen opponent. It wasn't a conquest or a high or even the sort of life changing epiphanies that you are supposed to get in Buddhist temples in Thailand. Hell, the picture didn't even make me any money. It was just a little moment where life nudges you in the ribs and says, "Wow. Appreciate this. This is the most amazing thing that can possibly happen to you."

Thats exactly what it said. It wasn't a shout, it was a whisper. Like a friend offering a compliment that you know is genuine. It was amazing. It was just that one little whisper that inspired a massive change in my life, and took me down a completely different path, spiritually and professionally.

Why mention this? Why in my first blog post? I've been thinking a lot today about responsibility. My natural state is, unfortunately enough, off in the clouds. I don't say this with any kind of malice to myself, it's just a statement of fact. If you know me, you'd probably agree. This isn't to say that I can't work, and work hard, when the time comes, but a whole lot gets lost in the day to day shuffle. So if you wonder why I left my keys lying around again for the 100th time, that probably why. Sorry to everyone I've worked with at day jobs over the years. My family as well. Consider this a blanket apology.

Is this kind of world view a particularly responsible one? Probably not. Does it make more work for other people, who don't deserve it? A lot of the time, yes. Is it something that I probably have to fight on a day-to-day basis. Again, I'd say that it probably is. I'd like to think I'm getting better at it. Sometimes I think I want to change it altogether. Be the kind of person who would sit in that temple in front of that monk and know exactly where my motorcycle keys were, what time it was, and how I was going to use this photo to make myself a buck when I got home.

Probably more responsible. Probably less work for everyone else. Probably less work for myself. Less paying attention to the moment a little more to the future. How will I start my motorbike? How will I get home? Do I need to pick anything up? Remember not to get distracted. Focus.

It's a lot of voices to listen too. I probably would have been better to listen to them, to be honest. I lost my motorcycle keys and had to hunt over the temples grounds to find them. By the time I got back to the city, I had missed my chance to rendezvous with a friend, because I had stayed too late. The rest of the day was a write-off. I ended up with a photo that didn't at all fit into what I was trying to shoot (Buddhist architecture). I really would have been better to pay more attention to these things and let them drown out that simple moment.

Actually, I just looked at the photo again. I take it all back. It was all worth it. The photo is one of my all time favorites. I wouldn't change anything that had happened for all the world. Hearing that little voice from the universe was the best thing that possibly could have happened to me

I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart that you can find a time in your life when life speaks to you in the same way. I hope you are taking the time to listen, even if it is irresponsible.

"Wow. Appreciate this. This is the most amazing thing that can possibly happen to you."