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YOU Can Make a Difference!
Photography brings all sorts of gratification, being recognized for your efforts is one. The success of the final image of course is also on that list. But the biggest I feel is knowing that our work effects a positive change, makes a difference in the lives of others. Sharon & I had no way of knowing in July when we said we’d returned in August just to meet one WWII vet the rest of the week would unfold as it did. It’s very rewarding to know, it made a difference for others as well. You can read the story here. Understand, with your camera, YOU can make a difference!
The EDL
The first day of class at Brooks in 1978, we received our first assignment, the EDL. The EDL, Every Day Life is all about taking photos of what we see every day, often things we take for granted and make a visual story about that event. It didn’t make a difference what your major might have been at Brooks, this assignment which is very editorial in nature was required. Being an Industrial major, it seemed really stupid to me and I didn’t like doing them at all. Not only did it take me way out of my comfort range, it required me to work at taking photos when I wanted to have fun. Man, am I ever glad that I was required to do these every week for a couple of years!
Now you’re all going to Photoshop World, right?! Because while there you need to listen to the talks by the master of EDLs, Jay Maisel. Called by most as the Father of Color Photography, Jay does EDLs every day and has done so for decades. You will hear him say that he always has a camera with him, literally and I can attest to never seeing him without his camera. Being considered one of the best (he really is), if this is part of his formula for being such, having a camera and shooting every day might just be a good idea for the rest of us. But just having a camera and shooting every day is only part of the formula. It does take a little bit more.
The one ingredient you must add to this formula is heart. While Jay’s famous formula of Light, Gesture and Color is essential, it takes the input of your heart to make the EDL to come to life. Because every day life has the element of laughter and crying, anger and happiness and so much more that makes the everyday events stand out and in our daily lives, what keeps us engaged with life. Bringing that to life and preserving it forever in our photography is an essential part of being a photographer. Now I shoot thousands of these but infrequently share them because, well, it’s one of those “You need to be here” to understand the content. Like this photo taken last week in Homer, AK as we’re waiting to fly back to the states. The pouring rain made the tarmac a mirror and after an incident, seeing the person as headless made me laugh. And so, I went click (Nikon 1 V3). The beauty of the EDL is it is a great teacher, making us look through a camera and then later at the photo to see if the story, emotion we felt when we went click was captured. That assignment that I thought was so stupid forty years ago is now a self assignment I do every day. It has become such an important component in my own photography and influence in my continual growth, I can’t imagine life without the EDL.
Keepin it Real Simple!
“How do you work in an open cockpit?” Received this question from a number of folks in response to my posting of the Wildcat photo. To start with, the pilots I’m working with are really the most important part of the equation! Next, I’m in a AT-6 Texan (the photo is lookin down into the rear seat), most just call them T-6, a WWII trainer. This particular model, the rear seat spins 180 degrees so you’re shooting looking backwards. The canopy is retracted so you are basically out in the sky flying along. Now you have shoulder and waist harness so you are part of the aircraft, you ain’t going nowhere! The camera, in this case the D4s / 80-400VR3 (no shade is a must) protected from the many sharp edges of the aircraft in a LensCoat Body Guard. And perhaps the most important took, the Vulture Strap which is around the neck. And that’s it, keepin it simple.
Growing from the UnKnown
photo by Jake Peterson
When Jake first told us he was photographing a wedding, I was a little surprised. He’d heard dad say many times, “The day I left school, I stopped shooting weddings.” He knew I wasn’t a fan of shooting them (did over 100 back in the day). But being a smart kid (gets that from his mom) he took on the new challenge. Being very smart, he went to Cliff Mautner’s classes at Photoshop World. Cliff is great (a fellow Nikon Ambassador) and Jake quickly picked up a lot of pointers from Cliff that he incorporated into his photography. Well, he’s shot his first wedding and I think he did a great job! He talks about it and his experience and what he learned in his blog today. You might want to give it a read, it’s good!
The Nikon 1 V3
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The same day Mr UPS delivered the D810, he delivered the new Nikon 1 V3 (w/10-30 lens) to the office. We had and use a ton the Nikon 1 V2 so wanted to give the V3 a try. Why some have already asked? Well, I love the Coolpix 7800, it does a marvelous job but everyone knows I’m a lens whore and you can’t change lenses on the 7800. I’m looking for that killer “pocket” camera that I can take everywhere from fly fishing to jobs and it does it all. Well, with the D810 primary testing done, time to play with the V3 and I can tell you, I really, really like it! First thing is, it feels great! It’s all metal and heavy. It’s actually physically smaller than the Coolpix 7800 and has a great live finder that works perfectly. I’m loving that. The shots you see here I took at 33k feet going over WA last night. I’ve just started to dig into this thing, but I am impressed so far!