Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
I have a confession to make. I often shoot in aperture priority mode.
I’m a reasonably competent photographer with a solid grasp of the factors that drive exposure, but I don’t want to fiddle with multiple dials when I just want to take a photo. There are, of course, exceptions. I shoot manually when using strobes or stars, but those niches don’t represent the bulk of my photos.
Photojournalism and documentary photography are fields that most of the time are developed gradually and exponentially while gaining more experience, building up a quality portfolio, and mastering the art of telling a story with a series of images.
Knowledge and skills are obtained with the pass of the years whereas working with the equipment that one could afford at that time. The logical step of development is upgrading equipment when the current gear isn´t enough, or simply does not live up to the final expectations of the work to be achieved.
I consider myself a reasonably good photographer. Of course, that’s subjective, and some may disagree with me. But when I look at my photographs, I’m filled with immense pride. They continue to move me and touch the part of my brain where art translates to goose-bumps and emotion.
They say if you want to be a good writer, you must write, read, and practice over and over. The same is true for photography. I’ve spent almost a decade clicking the shutter, editing my work, and admiring thousands of other photographs.
The learning never ends, and that’s the fun part. I know my work will continue to improve, and it’s exciting to think that there’s still room for me to surprise myself with new work.
A sa woman, I’m aware that I possess the exact same brain, heart, and creativity as any man. This should mean that the photographs I create would be of the same artistic quality as my male counterparts. But sadly, this is not the case.
One of the most powerful applications of photography has been as a tool to document some of the most important moments in recent history, whether that’s in terms of a shared history of the world in the form of photojournalism, or in the more personal history of family snapshots, personal photography, and street photography.
Photography for personal use is prevalent in everyday life perhaps more today than ever before; every dance-floor selfie on a night out is photographic storytelling, every published snapshot in some way contributing to the wider communal pool of stories being told. It is accessible to anyone with a smartphone, and the barrier to entry-level dedicated camera units is immensely low secondhand. Photography is essential in messaging apps, a part of daily communication like never before.
The wide-angle paradox
As we know, wide angle lenses show a larger field of view and therefore make things appear smaller and appear further away than they are. Which contradicts the concept of macro photography, where we want our subject to be projected onto the sensor at a magnification ratio of at least 1.0x. So how can we combine a wide angle perspective and macro macro-capabilities?
The concept of wide-angle macro photography is not exactly new and there are other photographers out there, who built their own super-wide macro lenses. There even are a couple lenses on the market that provide 1.0x at a15mm focal length, but I much rather an interesting DIY project than spending 500$ on a niche lens.
Milky Way photography is one of the most fascinating types of photography, but to shoot the most appealing part of our galaxy, the Milky Way center, you need to plan your shot since it’s not always visible.
The galactic center is only visible during a specific season (March to September in the Northern Hemisphere and February to October in the Southern Hemisphere), and also, just for a few hours during the night.
I don’t want to photograph models. They are lovely and beautiful and work with you and do what you ask and most are a dream to photograph, resulting in beautiful images. All this is true, but…
I don’t want to photograph them. I don’t.
See, I don’t want models to be representations of my work. I don’t want hand picked human beings of all ages outfitted in custom clothing with hair and makeup done professionally to be what people see when they peruse my portfolio. Or look at my website. Or walk by my many displays. Or look at my social media sites.
A few weeks ago, I was in town and I heard a lady say to her friend “That photo you posted of Sebastian was soooooo beautiful. While you’re on maternity leave, you should totally start doing photography as a business…”. Before I write anything else, I just want to say that this is exactly the kind of thing that my friends would tell me a few years back. And it’s lovely when your friends encourage you to pursue your passion and turn it into a business. But in my experience, starting any kind of business isn’t something that you should decide to do on a whim!
As a digital artist, I create images that are usually almost unimaginable, optical illusions, interesting concepts, and fantasy worlds. For this, I have to have tools to achieve my visions and this is where my retouching background comes into play. I have been using Photoshop for over 20 years and I know plenty of tricks and tips on how to achieve needed things to produce images just to the way I want.
To revisit old and newer images of a particular scene is enjoying and it invokes many great memories from happy moments behind the camera. I find images I more or less have forgotten of which some I still find attractive whereas others indicate that my preferences and taste have evolved during the years.
This time the objective is to revisit red cabin images captured when the cabin and its surroundings are touched by winter. Snow and ice always transform a scene something which opens up for new compositions and possibilities in terms of mood and atmosphere.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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