Archives for posts with tag: Photography

Feb,26

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Frustration

Opportunity

Photography

Unmet Expectations

When it doesn’t click

Unmet expectations, missed shots, and enjoying yourself despite it all...

First of all, let me apologize for that title. I sat here thinking for a good 20 minutes of something better, less cheesy, and sans the obvious pun – finally I decided it truly wasn’t worth my time. Deal with it folks!

Last Thursday was the Chinese Lantern Festival. In the past, the Lantern festival has been my favorite of the many festivals here in China. I remember my past outings being a cultural and photographic field day – 6 different minorities flooding the streets happyily with paper lanterns in hand. I was excited to get to cover it again and had a shot list in mind that I was hoping to walk away with.

Long story short, none of it really happened. None of the shots I wanted panned out – not even close. There were hardly any lanterns this year, which was disapointing for a festival that goes by this name. Furthermore, I had a huge finger print on one of my lenses like 15 minutes after cleaning them all that I didn’t notice. I knew well before going home that I most likely wasn’t going to be happy with my images, which certainly was the case. Don’t get me wrong, I’m intrigued by a few shots but out of the 500+ frames I shot very few would be described with the word ‘like’.

None of the expectations were met – at all.

Nonetheless, I tried to roll with the punches and have a good time, which seems kinda hard for us photographers. The shots aren’t going to show up in any books by any stretch of the imagination and I probably won’t spend much more time sorting through the images. It is what it is. All that to say, if it all goes to pot and none of your expectations are being met try to just enjoy yourself as a human being. Sometimes, probably most of the time, things don’t go our way. It’s ok when everything falls through and I’d be willing to bet that once the dust settles that there are more good shots in the bunch than you expected. Beyond that, I enjoyed capturing the culture of this festival at face value – it really is a fun festival despite the photographer in me trying to ruin it.

It’s always a hard lesson for me to remember to enjoy myself despite all of it.

Nov,04

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Review

Review: Think Tank Retrospective 10

A look at Think Tanks new Retrospective 10

About three months ago I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the smallest of Think Tank’s new Retrospective line – the Retrospective 10. The Retrospective line is Think Tank’s new shoulder bag line that aims to help photographers “…blend in with the crowd and remain inconspicuous in any situation.” The Retrospective line further boasts that the Retrospective line “[has the] look and feel of ‘old school’ camera bags infused with ‘new-school’ features in technology…”

As a photographer who lives with the people I photograph, I was eager to review this bag from the viewpoint of “Will it help me look like less intimidating as a photographer?” So let’s get started.

Jul,07

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Mobile Lighting for Travel Photography

Light, durable, and inexpensive mobile lighting setups for travel photographers

Todays Tech Tuesday is all about lighting.

Let me start by saying that there are some travel photographers that won’t go near artificial lighting – I am not one of those. I’m not discriminating between those who use artificial light and those who don’t. I don’t really draw a strong distinction between the two, other than to say I love natural light just as much as I love lighting setups in many ways – it just happens to be the lighting setups that get my blood rushing and make me excited about being a photographer. If you are one of the strictly natural light guys, no worries – unfortunately you might not get much out of this post other than maybe some information you can store away for when you do pick up a strobe,.

Moving on…

Over the last month I’ve been asked several times about what lighting setups I use while I’m on the field.

Here is my typical field setup.

Just a quick list of what you see above

2x Westcott 43″ convertible umbrellas (here)
2x multiclamps w/ shoe mounts (here)
2x Nikon sb-24’s (here)
2x Manfrotto Nano Portable light stands (here)
1x Paul C. Buff CyberSync Trigger Controller (here)
2x Paul C. Buff CyberSync Trigger Receiver (here)
1/8th gridspot (here)
Lightsphere, rechargeable batteries, red bungie things, tape

The real beauty of this setup is in the fact that it takes up very little space in my bag and it was super cheap compared to most setups. I’ve taken this exact setup all over SE Asia without thinking twice. If you’re setup is too big or you have the mental conversation about “should I take it or not” , you probably wont take it, and in my opinion, the setup is too big for you to easily get out, set up, and capture a killer shot if the situation arises. Food for thought: It took me less than 3 minutes to get this shot from having nothing setup – here’s what I got. The setup can be seen here.

A closer look after the break…

May,05

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Culture

Opportunity

Photography

Signs

Why

In the mean time

Three weeks worth of doing more important things

As you have already gathered, the last three weeks have been insane. If you aren’t aware of why, go here and read the whole thing (or check out what The Digital Trekker has to say). Nonetheless, it’s always theroputic to run out on the street during the busy days and snap a few shots around town as stress relief.

Some of my favorites below were taken right outside our office here. The complex we office out of is predominantly people from Yushu. Because of the earthquake, the butter candles were lit every single night, which made for a photo opportunity that even someone sleep depraved as myself couldn’t miss.