workshop

Photography Workshop with Craig Blacklock

Kevin
Apos-8344
Sunrise in fog .

Photography books on my bookshelf include Eliot Porter, Galen Rowell, Art Wolfe, David Muench, and Craig Blacklock. I expect every nature photographer knows the first four names. The name Craig Blacklock (pronounced black-lock) is probably not as well known, but his photography ranks among the very best.  Imagine my amazement when I learned that Craig was leading a photography workshop very close to the time and place where I was planning to travel.

I normally prefer to discover a location through my own explorations and, as I have many years experience with my photography, I rarely participate in workshops. But after the name Craig Blacklock caught my attention, I learned that he is an expert regarding the Apostle Islands, the location for this workshop. Furthermore, this workshop would include boat transportation as well as canoes. My feet and my car would not be sufficient to explore the Apostle Islands.

In retrospect, I can report that it was an excellent workshop … educational, enjoyable, and in the company of a great group of talented photography enthusiasts. As participants ranged from inexperienced to very experienced photographers, Craig individually provided as much or as little instruction as was desired. This is one of Craig’s strengths, the ability to tune-in to each individual’s needs.

Most days, we were up at 4 a.m. and on location shortly before sunrise. Locations included a bog where we photographed sundew, pitcher plants, dew-covered spider webs, and more. A long-distance boat cruise brought us out to the famous sea caves which are prominently featured in Craig’s published images of the Apostle Islands. However, we did not go inside the caves, as this requires kayak expertise and incurs substantial risk.

While I have a fair amount of experience photographing macro (I have self-published an 80-page book of wildflowers), Craig advanced my technique so I can achieve better results.  He brought us deeply into the use of focus stacking, which achieves a depth of sharp focus that is beyond what a camera can capture in a single image and therefore requires multiple captures, subsequently combined together. Sometimes related to this, a diffusion tent allows isolating a subject from the movement of wind. As I own and carry only a medium-size piece of diffusion cloth, I had never before seen or used a full tent.

Workshop led by Craig Blacklock
Workshop led by Craig Blacklock

(click on the image for a larger view)

 

 

Participants spent many hours post-processing our captured images. Our headquarters for such activities was Madeline Island School of Arts (http://www.madelineartschool.com), the location host for the workshop. While most participants lodged at MISA, I parked my pop-up camper down the road at Big Bay Town Park.

Craig Blacklock is author of more than a dozen books, including Lake Superior Images, Minnesota’s North Shore, and the Apostle Islands from Land and Sea. Craig’s gallery is located in Moose Lake, Minnesota (http://blacklockgallery.com). Additionally his images can be seen in many exhibits, but he currently has an excellent set of large prints on display now at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland Wisconsin (http://www.northerngreatlakescenter.org). Upon leaving the Lake Superior shore, I stopped by the visitor center myself, to see the exhibit.

Wildlife Photography Workshop

Kevin

When I heard about this photography opportunity, I could not ignore it.  Everyone loves baby animals!  A 3-day workshop with leader Jeff Wendorff, to photograph baby animals at a game ranch in Montana.

Red Fox cubsWolf cubs, Red Fox cubs, Bobcat kits, a 4-month-old Tiger, and more.  The cuteness factor is very high.

I discovered limitations of my camera equipment that I had known before; particularly, my ability to quickly select a focus point.  In this regard, I have never considered the Canon 5D2 to be cumbersome, but I found here that the controls are not quite agile enough.   The common technique of focus, then recompose, takes 2 seconds and that’s not fast enough.  The wolf cubs were particularly difficult; they are very energetic and very fast.

All totaled, I shot somewhere around 3400 photos.  By comparison to some other folks, that’s not a lot.

After editing, I had fewer than 1000 images.  (I should probably do another round of editing and cut that number in half.)  Images were rejected for a variety of reasons.  Maybe my composition cut off the tip of a tail.  Maybe the animal’s ears were pointing in an odd way.  Sometimes there is nothing particularly wrong with the image, but I have a similar image that is slightly better.  Delete the weaker image because there is no point in keeping both images.

[ Click on either image to see a larger view. ]

tiger reflectionThe workshop included a 4th day, just in case foul weather might interfere with the workshop, though this wasn’t necessary the week we were there.  So we had the option to photograph some other animals, including adult animals and a 1.5-year-old Grizzly Bear.

Of the 3.5 days, two days are jam-packed busy.  The other 1.5 days are still busy but not as exhausting.

Not only is Jeff Wendorff (jeffwendorff.com) an expert at photographing wildlife, but he also has an excellent relationship with the staff at the game ranch.

WorldWide PhotoWalk

Kevin

Today was the third annual WorldWide PhotoWalk, sponsored by Scott Kelby.  Although I volunteered to lead a walk in Rockport, someone else beat me to it.  So, instead, I joined someone else’s walk in Boston.

Because we walked through the streets of Beacon Hill in Boston, there were a lot of architectural photographs.  One image I am including here is a wide angle, tight crop, and at an odd angle in order to completely fill the frame.

Click the image for a larger view.

Art Wolfe seminar

Kevin

Art Wolfe is one of the most famous photographers working today, in part because of his television series Travels to the Edge. I had the opportunity to attend his recent tour as he visited the Boston area.

Art formally studied painting. Interestingly, he draws inspiration from many painters, such as Hopper, Manet, Escher, etc. In numerous examples, Art showed an image by one of these famous painters and then showed some of his photo images which he created specifically because he saw echoes of these painters. Quite interesting really. I have never seen this from any other photographer.

Art readily admits to being technically challenged. He uses Lightroom, but does not know anything about the computer he is using. He has assistants for that sort of stuff. If Art Wolfe was forced to listen to Scott Kelby or George Lepp for ten minutes … well, let’s just say it would not be pretty.

Apart from “My Favorite Lenses”, he did not talk much about equipment. Mostly spoke about composition, patterns, color, light, etc. Different than most seminars. I enjoyed it.

Art often feeds on numerous themes filed in his head. Animal migrations, tribal body painting, etc. Surprisingly, his next book is about dogs. While this may seem a bit trite, it is not quite what you might think. He is drawing from his thousands of existing photos … Burma, Chile, Tibet, even the Yanomamo tribe. (Does not include your Aunt Millie and her groomed Pekinese.) For the first time in his life, four different publishers were bidding for this project; he had to beat them off with a stick.

On my bookshelf, I have one book by Wolfe: Light On The Land. Fabulous.

An Evening with Photographer Joe Buissink

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Just returned from seeing a presentation by photographer Joe Buissink. I confess Joe shattered any pre-concieved notions I held about high-paid celebrity photographers. He shared many images and his passion for capturing fleeting moments between people.

He still shoots film and his clientel are people who seek that and appreciate that. He primarily shoots available light at ISO 1600 and 3200. His images tend to be less grainy than most of us associate with high ISO. His film processing lab will visually inspect the film during development, empirically pushing the development until the density is good. This avoids low density low contrast, which requires compensation during printing and thereby incurs enhanced graininess.

Joe seeks emotional moments, not necessarily perfect sharpness or perfect composition. His pitch to prospective clients is more about himself and his passion. He tells the stories behind the images that you would not know from the image alone. Once people are hooked on his passionate approach, they tend to give him less direction and restrictions. He typically does not have to align himself to a required shot list.

Joe does more than just weddings. He recently completed work on a book about autism and the images comminicate a compelling joyful story. He photographed Stephen Spielberg’s birthday party, Christina Aguilara on tour, and the closing episode of the Frasier television show at request of Kelsey Grammer.

The Buissink approach to photographing people is eye opening (to me anyway) and it was a truly enjoyable evening. However, it is no secret that he caters to very wealthy people and the cost for his services is adjusted to their financial means. I personally do not know anyone who can afford him.