Guillemot Pair

While in Shetland in the summer you must go to the Isle of Noss where Thousands of pairs of seabirds nest. They have Guillemots, Shags, Gannets and likely lots that I’m not remembering too. You can get into the island via a boat between Noss and Bressay if you want to walk the island but we took a boat tour that takes you directly to the nesting site. It’s hard in a situation like that yo isolate birds in a frame but I manages this shot of a pair of Guillemots. Amazing how much they resemble small penguins. I like the environmental composition in this. Who says we have to fill the frame?

Photo of the Week # 223

A photographer I follow on YouTube has an interesting approach on new gear. He doesn’t push the newest and most expensive gear at you, nor does he even condone you buying it. He is a high end commercial photographer yet he uses equipment that most of us consider obsolete. Why? Because it does the job well and it is inexpensive.

I recently observed a conversation in a Facebook group where a person asked opinions regarding a quite high end PC he was considering for photo editing. He immediately began getting bombarded with opinions on why he should buy MAC and not that PC.

I’m so tired of the whole scene, I’m tired of the snobbery among photographers. I do follow YouTube photographers as I love to learn the craft but honestly, it’s like watching commercials for new and gear that I can’t afford and frankly, don’t need. They can’t even talk about their camera without rhyming off the brand and model of it.

In the real world, not all of us can afford the newest and greatest gear and that’s fine because it’s the photographer not the camera, right? I don’t have one of the new mirrorless bodies and to tell you the truth, I doubt I ever will. Picture quality hasn’t improved really, it’s mostly features that have changed and mostly to do with video, which I don’t do.

Another interesting observation Scott (Tin House Studio) made a point of the fact that if he troubles himself too much with the technical aspect of photography, it can kill the creative part of the job which is what he gets paid for in the first place. I immediately thought of myself as I worry far too much about the technical aspect and not enough about the creativity part.

Photo of the Week #199

The Limestone City Blues Festival has long been a favourite of mine. Not only because it’s local for me, but it is also a great festival. Over the years, they have brought us some of the greatest names in blues music and this year was no exception. This was their 25th Anniversary edition and I have the shirt too. The festival takes place each year on the last weekend of August and I look forward to it all summer. This year, the main stage saw two great shows, not to mention Confederation Park stage and all the local bars featuring the greatest music in the world!

Photo of the Week #149

We went out in search of autumn colour which was scarce. Weather conditions weren’t great, but we made the best of it. As my music photography has increased, I have found that my other interests such as landscape photography have suffered a lot and I miss it. I really had a good time and I’ve decided to force myself to get out and shoot a lot more often. Outside, fresh air, how could that ever be wrong? This image is from today at Otter Lake near Frontenac Park. We saw colour on the highway on the way but the colour was spotty at best. There seemed to be many bare trees already and we had to look for what little good colour we found.

untitled-5970.jpg