A quick informal portrait of a photographer friend of mine, Sarah Smith.
alive for 365 – week 26
July 8, 2010
In 1998 I had the great opportunity to visit Madagascar to photograph stock images for a travel agent. This guitar player in one of the markets in Antananarivo caught my eye, especially with the bold colours. This photo from the archives is this week’s entry for the Alive for 365 project.
Antananarivo, Madagascar // Jan ’98
Nikon F90; Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 AF-D
81A warming filter; Fuji Sensia 100
alive for 365 – week 25
July 1, 2010
My entry this week for the Alive for 365 project, is another one from the archives:
A typical London taxi photographed by panning the camera. Doing so with a wide-angle lens creates additional distortion during panning, and only the centre of the photograph is left sharp.
Date: March ’93
Pentax Z-1; Pentax-FA 28-80mm f3.5-4.7 (zoomed to 28mm)
Hyper Program mode; -1 EV compensation; Fuji RDP 100 transparency film
model – Carrie
June 26, 2010
Near the end of the recent photo session with Carrie, I walked across the street to find another angle. Walking back, I noticed the sun just dipping behind the roof of this old train station. I thought it might flare interestingly if I caught the sun just on the edge there.
The problem was that I had to step into the street a few times when there was a lull in the traffic. The angle was a tough one since I had to, or rather, wanted to keep my camera at ground level to shoot up. I wanted the flare, and I wanted this angle to accentuate Carrie’s legs.
I resorted to stepping into the road, crouching down, pre-focusing, and then holding my camera away from my eye at ground level. There was no way I was going to lay down in a busy street! It took three tries, each with a series of images, until I “blindly” got the composition the way I wanted it .. with the right amount of flare.
Playing around with the controls in ACR (similar to Lightroom), got me to a retro- faded look I liked. The processing hopefully complements the sun-kissed image and add to the overall feel of the photo.
Settings: 1/250 @ f5.6 @ 200 ISO // no additional lighting
Equipment used: Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S … at 24mm
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alive for 365 – week 23
June 17, 2010
Green Point Lighthouse is the oldest Lighthouse in South Africa. I liked this juxtaposition of the older colourful lighthouse, against the drab blocky modern building. The tight composition reduced the urban landscape to geometric patterns. This was shot on slide film (Fuji RDP 100) at sunset, hence the bold golden colours.
This photo is my entry this week in the Alive for 365 project.
Nikon F90x; Nikon 80-200mm f2.8D // Cape Town, South Africa; ca. 1998
alive for 365 – week 19
May 22, 2010
[ Pentax Z-1; Pentax-FA 28-105mm f4-5.6 // Johannesburg, South Africa // circa '92 ]
This Harley and its rider, is my pic for this week’s entry in the Alive for 365 project.
The photograph and the details have appeared before on this blog.
Filed under: alive for 365,personal work — Neil vN @ 10:31 pm
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alive for 365 – week 18
May 6, 2010
I took this photo of the Hotel du Louvre during a trip to Paris in 1993. I carefully propped my camera against a hand-railing to steady it during the slow exposure of 1/4 second. As I took my first frame, a bus drove past. I cursed my luck and took the photograph again. (This was pre-digital, and I was poor enough that every frame of transparency film that I shot was expensive.) Anyway, I cursed my luck, thinking the bus would spoil the image I was after. However, when I saw the results, the ‘accident’ looked far better than the intended shot.
This favourite photo of mine, is this week’s entry for the Alive for 365 project.
[ Pentax Z-1; Pentax-FA 28-80mm f3.5-4.7 / Fujichrome RD 100 ]
[ Paris, France / April '93 ]
alive for 365 – week 14
April 7, 2010
This blue sky, super-saturated with a polarizing filter, combined with a brightly coloured barn, makes for a striking landscape. This photograph then is my choice this week for the Alive for 365 project.
Filed under: alive for 365,personal work — Neil vN @ 7:10 pm
Comments (3)
alive for 365 – week 13
April 1, 2010
I received the most wonderful compliment from Laura Wilby for my entry this week
in the Alive for 365 project:
“I have to buy this one, even though I already bought the plane print and I’m supposed to be on a budget. This is such a great image! I love the feeling your image have. Neil, I’m reading your lighting book right now and your wedding images have the same feeling as this image. I know that is a lame description, but I can’t always describe visuals.”
It is a great feeling when one of my own photographs that holds meaning for me, also connects with other people. Thanks Laura!
(I have previously posted this image on the Tangents blog, with a description of how it came that I took it.)
Filed under: alive for 365,personal work — Neil vN @ 3:25 pm
Comments (1)
alive for 365 – week 12
March 25, 2010
A photograph of my beloved Dalmation, Brakko, that I owned way back when we lived in South Africa. I used him as a test subject when I tried out my brand-new used flashmeter that I had just bought. The light is from an off-camera speedlight diffused through an umbrella that I lay on the ground. Very simple lighting. That guarded look on his face is because he wasn’t sure about an 80-200mm lens pointing straight at him.
Of the photos I took, I loved this very tight crop, with his eye the only bit of colour in the frame .. aside from him not having had a bath in weeks and weeks. ;)
This photo is my entry for the Alive for 365 project this week.
