Waiting

Waiting:

Seems like the old saying "no matter where you go, there you are" is especially useful when we find ourselves having to wait.  It can be a stressful time or a time of complete relaxation since much of the time we spend waiting, there really isn't another choice.  So we make the best use of our time that we can.  Friends to chat with, books to read, smart phones and pads to surf the web and check our email and FB status, catch a little shut eye or just stop the presses and do a little day-dreaming.

I want to build this project album of photos of people in everyday life, doing what most of us have to do at some point or another and Wait.  I'm looking forward to watching how this grows which of course means I will likely have to do a little waiting myself.


I'll post the beginning of this project here and link it to my website here http://www.tomcollinsphotography.com/Projects/Waiting/28580397_TWgfvk

where the album of photos can be viewed as it's being built.

It's funny coming up with projects like this or any other kind for that matter because once you get the idea for a direction and you spend some time thinking about it, the idea itself begins to make itself present in your daily life.  As long as you are one of those devotees who carry a camera, of any kind, with you everywhere you go, you will be ready to start to capture your project in photos.  If you're very thoughtful you'll even be able to "make" your photos rather than just "taking" your photos by being prepared and being in places where the theme for you project is most likely to be present.  And, with that thought in mind, anywhere you go, there you are.

I hadn't realized that this idea of making photos of people 'waiting' was something that I've actually been up to for some time.  The idea to do this I thought just came to me the other day while I was waiting in the hospital for my wife to have a day surgery.

I was sitting and waiting for hours and as usual had a camera with me and as I looked around the waiting room I saw my idea come together.  Seeing the other folks sitting, sleeping, reading, surfing the web on tablets and smart phones, chatting with friends and all waiting.  All doing the exact same thing in different ways.

That's when it occurred to me that this could be a fun photo project.  After all most of the time, most of us are waiting for something.  In line at a check out, for a movie, for a light to change, in a traffic jam and on and on.  We spend lots of time waiting and what we do with that time is interesting to see also.  So, with this in mind I began to look around the waiting room I was in and look for ways to make the pictures I wanted to tell my story of waiting through photographs.

When I returned home and had a little extra time to play with my pictures, I started to look back in my archives and realized that this theme is something I've been shooting for some time but never really thought of as a 'project' or theme.  I've been taking photos of people sitting and waiting for years.

But I like to be current and I like to be out making photos at every opportunity I have so I've decided to not add many of my old photos to this collection and instead try to build it with new ones particularly because now I'm aware of the project and I believe I'll make my shots differently.

The photo on the right of pedestrians waiting for a light to change while standing in front of the Today Show building at 30 Rockefeller Center was made in December 2011.

The photo on the left was made in March of 2011 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.





















Thanks for looking. To see the entire collection as it's being built, check out the gallery at:  http://www.tomcollinsphotography.com/Projects/Waiting/28580397_TWgfvk
All photographs in this post were made with either an Olympus OMD E-M5 or an Olympus E-P3.  Lenses included the Olympus 12mm/f20; Olympus 17mm/f1.8; Olympus 45mm/f1.8 or the Panasonic/Leica DG Summilux 25mm/f1.4.

My Dog, Eli, Ate My Lens!

It's not like I'm not used to it, my dog likes to eat my stuff.  My earbuds, my remote controls, my money clip and any of the money that's in it, almost anything that's laying on my nightstand or within reach on my desk.  So I'm normally pretty good about keeping things out of his reach.

Without thinking last week I left one of my prized Olympus lenses lying on the corner of my desk inside a small pouch (to protect it from the elements or from taking it in and out of my bag or pocket, not from a large canine putting his strong jaws to work on it).  Later the next day when I was packing up my photo gear to go out and shoot I realized that I didn't see my 12mm lens.  I looked in the bag I had out yesterday and not there.  Looked on the table where I keep all my lenses and gear neatly organized and not there either.  I start to panic wondering what I had done with it and began frantically going through my coat pockets and tearing around the house.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small black something tucked in-between the cushions of the green living-room sofa.  Oh no.  This is where I found my Klipsh earbuds a few weeks ago.  No, it can't be.  As I got closer I knew that Eli had found my lens and took it to his favorite place to chill and chew on stuff.  I pulled the black bag out of the sofa, unzipped it, (thankfully it was still in one piece, and pulled out the beautiful silver Olympus 12mm/f2.0 lens.  Well, not so beautiful anymore.  Now marred with teeth marks and scratches.  I almost threw up on the spot.  That lens is expensive and I can't afford to replace it.  Of course Eli is laying on the floor in front of the fireplace just chill-axing and taking a little snooze.  Oblivious of the pain he has caused.

I removed the chewed up lens cap and the rear cap and luckily didn't see any teeth marks in these two critical spots.  I ran upstairs to get my camera and mount the lens on to see if it would still function.  Much to my elation it did.  Focus, manual focus rings, locking mechanisms  everything still functioned perfectly.  I took a few quick snaps to be sure and yes, it still works perfectly.  It's just ugly now.

A few minutes later Eli wakes up from his blissful slumber and comes upstairs to my photo-room to say hi.  Walks up to me as he usually does, dropped his head in my lap and looked up at me with the same usual demanding I rub his head and say hello look.  What could I do.  The damage was done.  And he's so sweet.  I rubbed his head, told him hi and promised I would go to the grocery store and get him some bones.  Maybe that will help.

And I promised myself to be sure and keep my things out of reach of Eli since he can't seem to resist a good chew on my stuff.  And even though my lens is ugly now it at least has it's own story.

Shoot In The Rain.

We've been lucky this year, here in the Pacific Northwest.  We just made it to something like 80 days in a row of no rain, well no measurable rain.  That truly is something and it hasn't happend for 92 years.  But as those of us who live here know, it will end.  And as of yesterday it did.  The rains have returned.

With the rain comes, of course, gray, overcast days that don't produce much light, very little contrast and soggy conditions that make you want to stay home.  This year I'm adapting a different approach.  I'm going to go out and stay out in it and make the rain, the wet earth, the gray skies my focus for photography for the winter.  That's easy to say and the challenge has been made.

After all we are the center of the universe for goretex style clothing.  Between Eddie Bauer, Filsons, LL Bean and the rest, we here in the Pacific Northwest must account for a large percentage of their sales.  In other words we have access to all the dry, warm, well made clothing and shoes a person needs to go out in the inclement weather and enjoy the great outdoors, rain or rain and stay warm and dry.

To kick start my challenge of shooting in the rain this year I decided to head out on the very first day of a good downpour and went up to the Mt. Rainier National Park to Mowich Lake.  Mowich Lake is about 2 and a half hours from Gig Harbor, WA, up Highway 165 through Wilkenson and Carbanado.  Fourteen miles of this drive, just after Carbonado, is "washboard" roads that have been severely damaged by logging trucks so the drive is difficult. And along this stretch, not very pretty.  It's been largely clear cut until you get to the park entrance.

But once you get to the Mt. Rainier National Park it all changes quite quickly to magnificently beautiful, even in the rain.  From the park entrance to the lake is a smoother drive through beautiful forest.  Arrival at the lake is breath taking.

The lake was shrouded in clouds, steady rain and 42 degrees F.  Quiet, peaceful and not one other visitor.  I knew I was in the right place and had made the right decision to shoot in the rain. 

However, my first thoughts were to wish for sunshine.  I thought to myself, wow, this is so beautiful I just wish it was nicer out.  But wait, isn't that exactly the reason I was here, to look past the otherwise gloomy, unimpressive weather and find the natural beauty that lies in what was delivered?  My natural instinct was to want it to be different but what I wanted to do was have a change in perspective, to see in a new way, to appreciate the moment.

I spent the next couple of hours hiking around the lake on the well maintained trails and explored the area for photo opportunities.  Of course with the fall colors, the beautiful mist and the quiet peaceful atmosphere it was perfect.

As for my challenge to get out and shoot on these coming wet, gray and soggy days, this couldn't have been a better send off or a more inspiring reason to keep doing it.

So, load up your gear, add some sandwich baggies and rubberbands to cover and protect your gear, make a sandwich, get your best and driest clothes and go shoot in the rain.

Thanks for Reading,
Tom

Shooting Your Own Backyard

Sometimes from lack of inspiration I sit and wonder what to photograph.  I really enjoy my pass-time but finding inspiration and coming up with ideas of what to shoot can be challenging.  Especially when you've been doing it as long as I have.

So I read magazines, surf around on the web reading blogs and looking for ideas.  One thing that always comes up as a suggestion is to "shoot your own backyard".  They say in these articles to shoot your own backyard if your feeling stuck and need inspiration.  Just by shooting in your own backyard you'll be forced to find something new.  Sometimes I don't know whether to take that literally or not.  So I go out my back door and look around and realize that I've shot so many pictures in my own back yard that there's no way I'm going to find inspiration there...although I have from time to time.

So what does it mean to "shoot in your own backyard"?  If you don't take it literally, like I did, and expand on that thought just a little, it means your neighborhood, your town, your city, the countryside around where you live that's just a short distance or drive away.  That seems so simple when I put it that way that I feel silly not having realized it before.  But wait, I have shot all those things before, but maybe not with a fresh eye towards something specific in my neighborhood, my town and so on.

So today I decided to drive around and see what my little town of Gig Harbor, Washington looks like on a foggy, gray and overcast day in the fall.  And, even though I've seen these scenes for the past 30 years, somehow today they looked a little different.  I don't know why exactly but looking for a photograph in my own backyard that represented my town on an otherwise gloomy and uninspired day presented the challenge I needed to get out and shoot.

With fresh eyes and inspired after I came across this shot of one of our marinas I just kept driving and looking and wasn't surprised at all by the beauty this small little town has but was surprised at how many opportunities there are for photographs everywhere and at any time of the year, right here in my own backyard.

Thanks for reading.
Tom

Image Quality versus Vision Quality

I've been pointing a camera at stuff for more years than I can remember.  I've never really known why and until recently (maybe just the past few years), I've never really understood the technical side of photography.  Learning to see light, understanding how that effects aperture, shutter speed and depth of field were all things that didn't come easy to me.  Thanks to digital photography, digital darkrooms and the instant gratification of the LCD, I've learned a lot in the past few years.

Since the coming of age of the digital era I got immediately on-board, and have never looked back.  But I, like so many others, got caught up in the rush for bigger, better and newer.  From 1960 to 1970 I had one camera.  From 1970 to 1999 I had two cameras (still have one of them).  From 2000 to now, I've had more cameras than I can actually remember.  I've bought and sold no less than a dozen.

Over the period of time that I've shot digital, I've made images that number in the high tens of thousands.  And over that same time what I spent my eye, my time and my thought process on was the quality of the images I was taking to insure, sharpness, dynamic range, color, and pixel peeped until I went cross eyed.  Did I get some good images; yes. However the capturing of stories, interesting photos and pictures that had my vision behind them got lost to the quality of the image that the camera could make.  That's what this post is about; keeping in touch with my vision, and the story I want to tell in pictures.  I want to let go of the need to constantly upgrade to the next bigger, better and newer camera.  I would rather take one good picture of something that tells a story and has some interest rather than 10,000 really sharp, well detailed photo's with great dynamic range; and perfect color reproduction but say nothing.

Image quality versus Vision quality is probably a touchy subject for most of us.   I've been struggling with it for years and I have to say without some technical understanding of the photographic equipment your using, it's limitations as well as its capabilities and some understanding of the light you see; you will still not be able to achieve what you want in a photograph.  Having said that, without a clear understanding of your vision and what you are trying to say in your photograph; knowing the technical side of your equipment won't help you get the image you want.  No matter how great your gear is and how well you know it, your camera can't tell the story.

Since the late 1990's when digital imaging came onto the scene, digital photography, specifically digital cameras have changed so much and so fast, that keeping up with the technology has become, for many, the main focus rather than photography as a creative art.

When shopping for a camera you hear terms like "Pro-Level", "Pro-consumer-Level", Consumer-Level" and "Point & Shoot" cameras.  How these cameras are defined changes so fast that you have to wonder if, by definition, they are what they say they are;  when Canon and Nikon first came out with their dSLR's they were considered to be a "Pro-Level" digital camera.  Today some of the smallest, least expensive Point & Shoot cameras have way more technical power than the original Canon and Nikon dSLR's dreamed of having.  I don't remember exactly, but I think Nikon was quite proud of their dSLR being a 2 megapixel camera.  Whoa!  So by that standard does one of today's Point & Shoot cameras become a professional camera.  I don't think so.  But can you make an amazing, interesting and story telling photograph with it.  Yes.

Even cell phones with their built in cameras are capable of making pretty decent images.  Professional level super sharp, lots of dynamic range, no.  But can they tell a good story; capture an interesting moment; yes.  Todays digital media has us looking at cell phone video and images nearly everywhere you cast your gaze.

Many of todays photographers on the myriad of photo sharing web sites are more interested in the type of camera and which lens was used, how it was processed and what software was used; rather than enjoying the photograph for the interest that it holds, or the story that it tells.  Something like having an extraordinary meal and asking the chef for the types of cookware he used to create the dish.

My struggle is and always has been to take a good picture that captures a moment.  The shot that tells a little story, and has some interest for a viewer and most importantly; that means something to me.  Use your technical skill to master your camera but use your camera to master the moments.  When you take a family vacation, don't pack the camera for when you get there; wear the camera while you're packing.  Begin telling the story when the story begins and on a family vacation that's when the packing starts.  Wear your camera everywhere, shopping, dinner out with friends, a walk; you'll be surprised to find stories everywhere you and your camera go.

So the point I've been drilling home to myself is that bigger sensors and more megapixels don't tell meaningful and interesting stories.  They do capture moments, they do have great dynamic range; however without a vision of your own, and an understanding of what that vision is,  it just doest seem necessary to keep chasing a bigger, newer, better camera.  And for me, smaller is better.  I like having my camera with me everywhere and one of the big dSLR's just didn't work for me anymore.

Instead of developing super huge, super sharp images; perhaps develop a vision and tell a story.  Maybe we don't need the biggest and best; just an eye, some time and a desire to tell a story in a captured moment.

Thanks for reading.
Tom

Keeping My Hobby Relevant

I'm not a Professional Photographer.  I'm an Amateur Photographer and I do what I do for the fun of it. I happen to be at this awkward place right now, and have been for several months, where I'm feeling challenged to find the fun in what I do with a camera.  I still like to think about going out taking pictures, I like thinking about editing my finds in Lightroom and I like getting feedback from family and friends about the pictures I take.  But what I'm starting to think about is WHY.  Why do I spend this much time with a camera and in a digital darkroom.  Why do I try so hard to find the next photograph, the next place to go, the next best editing tools, the next best cameras?  I'm not trying to "go pro" so...

It's not that I don't like doing it, thinking and reading about photography, it's that I don't know what to shoot anymore.  Flowers?  Really I've seen enough and I have enough flower shots to last me a life time.  I know the approach here is to "find your own vision of those flowers".  O.k., I get that but I've shot them in every way I know how and that's enough.  Street Photography; I like it, it's fun, it can be challenging, but what's the point? After a decade of shooting "the street" I have a gigabyte or more of street shots that are good, not great, but good and so what?  And so on.  I've been taking pictures for a long time and I love it.  I really do enjoy being behind a camera, seeing the light, waiting for a moment and seeing the results.  I just wonder what the point is.

Or is there a point?  Maybe I'm missing the whole idea.  I don't really have any ambition to be a paid professional photographer, I don't aspire to fame, although I do like recognition and I would be in deep denial to think otherwise, 

I do like seeing the light and being aware of what's happening around me as I anticipate the possible shot.  Maybe all I'm trying to do is to stop trying so hard to get the next exceptional image.  Maybe I should just quite over thinking it so much to the point that it takes the fun out of it.  Maybe I should just shoot for the fun of it...like it used to be.

This past weekend we went camping with some friends.  I went without over-thinking how I might want to capture the weekend on camera, but instead decided to just bring the camera for some family camping snapshots.  If while I was there some pretty or interesting images would present themselves then I would get them as just a matter of seeing something worth taking a photograph of, besides just documenting the camp trip.  And I did.  There was beautiful scenery all around, including some wildlife, families having fun in the water, camp site cooking, in other words beautiful images of life were all around and I didn't have to think my way through any of it.

 It all just was and all I had to do was have fun with my camera, making adjustments, composing and firing away.  Life is so easy when you just let it be and you just become a part of it.

 I didn't think I had to get up before sunrise or leave the party to catch the "magic light" I just let myself be available to the light there was.  I'm not saying that chasing the light is a bad thing, it just doesn't always have to be the thing.  I came across this duck while taking a walk and stopping for a break on a public dock.  I wasn't out looking for wildlife shots, I was taking a walk and the duck swam up.  Picture.

So keeping my hobby relevant isn't a struggle after all.  It's just a little more fun, a little easier and very much a part of my daily life.  To quote a blogger I like, Robin Wong at http://robinwong.blogspot.com/ who authors "The origin of Shutter Therapy", he loves doing "shutter therapy" just for the fun of it.  And so do I.

All photographs in this entry were taken with an Olympus OM-D EM5

Yours Truly.

Photo Projects

This is a great time of year to start thinking about photo projects, and not necessarily those kinds of projects that get you out shooting.  Although when the weather is right, get out and shoot.  What I'm referring to are those types of projects that don't get done because we are always out getting new photos and never seem to find the time to do the other stuff.  The fun stuff that let's us see what we've been doing with photography all year long.  The kind of stuff that we don't want to do; like cleaning up our file system, backing up (which we should have been doing all along) and organizing our photos with keywords, tags and ratings.

Our weather in Washington can have a way of keeping us in-doors during the cold wet winter months. However; just because we're 'stuck' in the house doesn't mean we have to stop having fun with photography.  I use this time to catch up on many of the things that I like to do such as;

Creating the family photo album for the current year.  Our family still likes the old fashioned way of looking at photos, sitting together at the kitchen table and flipping pages in albums.  So I go through the past years photos month by month, pick my favorites and print them on 4x6 photographic paper (I use the Costco  brand and have for years, it's good paper at a great price and hasn't shown any signs of fading).  Then pick up an album that will hold the number of prints I finished up with and put them in the album. I try to finish each years album project by New Years Day and that gives us a fun way to welcome in the new year and offers a planning opportunity for the coming year.  I now have 10 years worth of these.  It can be time consuming, but it's the kind of wet winter project that you can take as long as you like doing and it's fun along the way to visit all that you did last year.  If you don't have a printer just create folders on your computers desktop for each month and use one of the many on-line printers (Costco, Mpix) and upload a folder.  You'll usually get your photos back within days.

Prints, framing, photo books and gifts.  Now is the perfect time to look back at your photos from the past year and find some of your best work.  Look around your house and see what walls need refreshing with new photos and go shopping for frames (Aaron Brothers has a One Cent sale twice a year - buy one frame get the second for 1 penny ~ a great deal.)  I like changing out the art in my house once or twice a year and sometimes make it a seasonal thing.  By that I mean I'll hang winter photos during the winter months and spring photos in the spring.

Now is also a good time to think about Christmas gifts for family and friends.  There are so many on-line companies that will produce coffee mugs, calendars, aprons, T-shirts, etc with your photos.  Now is a good time to start picking your favorites and placing your orders.  My mom loved getting a new calendar and an apron every year with the grand kids photo right on the front.

Organizing my photos from the past year.  This is something I try to do as I go, but it never really happens perfectly.  So, I use the dreary days of winter to go through my files of the past year, month by month, project by project and delete any files that I don't want.  I tag, keyword and rate the ones I like and then back the whole bunch up to an external hard drive.  Actually, I backup much more frequently than once a year and would advise everyone to do the same. 

So those are the activities I look forward to with the onset of our shortened, rainy days and gray skies. I don't stop shooting; but the opportunities are certainly less frequent.  With so much extra time at home I find myself still engaged with photography, organized, supply happy friends with fun gifts, new art hanging in my house and a photo album to sit and plan next year with.

Thanks for visiting and Happy Shooting.

Tom