Photos for a Photographer

 

Doing photos for fellow photographers is always fun. I get the added pressure of the analyzing eye on everything I do plus the end result must meet expectations!

I had the pleasure of being the first photographer to do photos for Toad Hollow Photography' Scott Johnson. Scott Johnson, the man who will no longer be a faceless enigma behind the camera, saw some of my work and decided I was the one for the job. 

 

Scott is big into shooting historical sites and buildings and employs HDR (multiple exposure layering) in his style. HDR photos are capable of capturing tonal ranges that are not really there, the way our eyes see in normal light and the colour vibrancy tends to be quite extreme.

To tie Scott's shooting style in with my photos of him, I decided to go a bit crazy! I got a bunch of lights shooting a bunch of crazy colour on Scott and his surroundings. For locations, we decided on some buildings with character, texture and maybe even some history.

 

 

 

 

This guy just had to take an iphone photo of his bike while I was setting up to shoot Scott. I had everything ready in time to grab this one of him riding off...

 

This is probably one of the oldest buildings in the Cowichan Valley, the old Butter Church in Cowichan Bay. I,m pretty sure every photographer around has done photos here!

Thanks to Scott for his vision and trust in me! And all the best to Toad Hollow Photography in documenting historic sites and scenes here and abroad! 

 

kurtknock.com



Kidding Around

This past summer I put a lot of time and effort into creating a photo exhibition for Coffee on the Moon (A fantastic coffee shop in Duncan). Coffee on the Moon was the first place I ever had my work shown and that is going back three years now. I wanted this new show to be something fresh and different than what I typically shoot. Plus, being that this show was going to start in September, I thought of kids. September is back to school month and also a busy time for a coffee shop as parents suddenly have more free time :)

 

I had an idea of doing these photos in the evening to get the nice, warm, summer look I was looking for. After a couple shoots like this, I found I had to challenge myself more and I found myself working harder to come up with unique settings and shot ideas.

Anyone who has a child knows that evening can be a tough time for little ones. They want to have a snack and go to bed. They don't really want to be out doing a photo shoot. I guess they just don't appreciate the subtleties of good lighting...

Kids also like to run around and explore when in new surroundings. Kids sometimes poop their diapers when you are in the middle of a shoot. You just never know what might happen. But what I learned is that if you just keep your cool, and you make it fun rather than a high-stress situation, you will get some good shots.

I met some really great families from this project. I learned a lot. And some kids got some really cool photos!

If you get a chance to stop by the Moon, please do so. The photos will be on display until the end of October.

Thanks to all the moms, dads and kids who took part!

kurtknock.com

Making friends with my OM-D

A while ago I posted how I was a bit frustrated with the image quality of the Olympus OM-D E-M5 (what a horrible long name!). I just call it the OM-D...

I decided I had to do something or I was either not going to use the camera anymore or I was going to sell it so I bought the Panasonic Lumix 25mm f1.4 lens. This ended up being a good purchase. One that has kept the OM-D alongside me at all times. I am even using for shooting some work! For those who are not sure, the 25mm lens on the OM-D Micro 4/3rds body gives you the equivalent to a 50mm lens on a full frame body. The aperture of f1.4 on the M4/3rds body gives about the same depth of field as f2.8 on a full-frame body.

Primarily, it is my fun and family camera. The small size makes it great for carrying along and the image quality is pretty darn good.

The lens is of Leica design so camera snobs can appreciate that. The lens hood is a funky rectangular style which takes some getting use to but it makes sense from a functionality stand point.

Here are a couple photos I shot with the OM-D and 25mm at a recent wedding. I now know what this camera's strengths and weaknesses are so I try to use it accordingly. Creating dreamy images with some lens flare and soft, blown-out highlights are where this one shines. My Canon 5D comes out for everything else.

 I have tried a couple studio shots with the 25mm f1.4/OM-D setup and the results are good. Not what I would expect from my 5D but definitely good enough for most uses.

And here is a good example of what I primarily use the camera for. Family fun. The in-body stabilization comes in more handy than I would have thought. I once took a photo with my OM-D using a 500mm lens (equal to 1000mm on full-frame) hand held at 1/30th of a second and it was clear, no blur from shakiness! Quite impressive. Very fun. The OM-D is a gem as long as you treat it with a nice lens!

 

kurtknock.com

Welcome to the Hotel Chemainus...

I recently had an opportunity to shoot some photos for the Best Western Plus in Chemainus. This was a fun challenge for me as I was using a tilt-shift lens and not shooting many photos with people. I do a lot of people photos...

The wide angle, 24mm, tilt-shift lens was interesting to work with. It definitely takes some time to get use to but the results are pretty good, especially for architecture. This lens, when used properly, doesn't have the distortion that wide angle shooting would normally give you.

After shooting some photos outside, it started to rain and I headed under cover for this shot then went inside for the interior photos.

I have to admit, I shot this one with my good old 50mm...

I was happy this fellow let me take his photo while working out. He is 74 years old and probably in better shape than me!

 

  

And here I got a couple photos of people! The manager and the front desk attendant were kind enough to sit still long enough for a photo.

 

And here is Peter (manager) with his award for his outstanding work!

 

kurtknock.com