The snow is mostly gone, here on the prairies, but it will be some weeks before we see greenery and flowers blooming. I can’t wait! It has been a long winter and I sure could use a bit of color. Late spring or early summer images are great for it because all is fresh and green is bright and not dimmed by dust of late summer days.
We are lucky here in Alberta, because some nights are full of light show. We had a couple of gorgeous Aurora showing last fall and I have managed to capture some shots without leaving the city.
I know, I know it is winter and everybody posts winter photography, but I am not ready for it yet. I see it outside my window every day, so I want to see something warm, colorful and pretty. Hope you are in need of this as well.
It has been a while since I’ve posted anything about Elk Island National Park. So, I think, it is time for some lovely sunset from the beginning of summer, when all was green, flowers were blooming and days were warm and long.
On the onset of this little write up, just want to warn that the images attached to this post are not really safe for work :)
Had a great opportunity to shoot with Kate again. She's an amazing model to work with. Her understanding of poses, and light is second to none. We planned an outside setting for the shoot, but it being autumn in Alberta, the weather did not cooperate. That's one thing that went wrong.
In the last post I was talking about lifestyle photography. Today I wanted to talk about portrait photography. I know that some look at portraits in a very traditional way. I, on the other hand, have a bit of a different view. I guess you can call them more candid, or lifestyle... I find that a traditional portraits can be really beautiful, I like to add a little extra emotion or story. Some may not call these portraits at all. I like to engage the subject in a conversation, and during our dialogue take the photographs. We usually joke around, which allows for the genuine smiles to appear. I also like to include elements from the environment, which then really becomes an environmental portrait. All these names, in reality do make a difference. Here are some examples of what I mean. Enjoy!
While making images at tourist destinations, you will always run into people. I always try to catch a few shots of them, while they are not paying any attention to me. This makes it easier if you are carrying a small camera, that makes almost no noise. Enter Sony NEX line. I have one of those and coupled with a 24mm f1.8 lens it's perfect for street/candid shots. Just carry the camera by your side point it in the fight direction and snap. The shutter is nearly silent, and the whole system is very discreet. There is always a chance that you might miss the action, but by not raising the camera to your eye, the people you want to catch, act natural. Here are some candid images I captured... but the last were posed portraits of the family. HDR too. Enjoy!
I always like b&w photography. There are certain situations that cannot be expressed better than in b&w. This lifestyle session was one of them. It was a cold cold day, and I was impressed that the model was able to pull this off. Quite amazed. Enjoy!
So the day has arrived. Time to get the cake out of the fridge and present it in all it's glory :) . A nice quiet party for the 4 of us. Oh, and the cake was quite good, if I say so myself. Even the birthday girl liked it. Success number 2!
This was a concept session, that I fit into a lifestyle photo session. I wanted to tell a story.... did it work? I think so, but you might have a different opinion. It was a cold day, windy and cloudy. Perfect setup for the grisly story of love, betrayal, and violence. I'm not going to explain it.... I'll you, the viewer, fill in the words. Enjoy!
This is Artur. Artur is a vet by occupation, and photographer at heart. I've known Artur for quite some time, and we've became very good friends. When we have time we always go out on photo shoots together. One day he asked if I could do some portraits of him and his two pals, Gucio and Lala. I think he wanted to see how the images will turn out with my new Fuji X-Pro1. I was very happy to oblige. I think the Fuji did the job very well, but the main thing was that Artur liked the images. That's the main thing... a satisfied client. Personally I don't think, I would shoot these any differently with any other camera. Here are some of the images I like the most out of the session. Enjoy!
I had a chance to meet Danielle quite a while ago. We did some portraits for her website. Also I was honored to do a family photo session with her beautiful family. This time we met at Edmonton's Whyte Ave, to try out some lenses. Here are some test shots from that meeting, done with then almost brand new Fuji X-Pro1. Enjoy!
Continuing from the previous lifestyle portrait photography session, here is another part of the walk. It was a beautiful day, and fall colors were spectacular. It was hard not to take a bad picture. Then again using my two favorite cameras, namely the Fuji X-Pro1 and the Sony NEX-7, makes taking images great fun. Not much can be said about this part of the walk, so please enjoy the images!
When photographing people, I always preferred natural behavior as opposed to posed. I like catching people off guard, and taking their pictures, when they are not paying attention. I think it just more honest that way. I'm not a fashion photographer, and have no aspirations on becoming one. There are some really great ones out there, that can control the light and make magic with a model. I like to find the natural, interesting part of a person and focus on that. Yes, some images are posed, but I try to be simple with the posing.... sit there, lie down.... that sort of thing. Same thing with light. I like simplicity. Maybe because I'm not very smart, or just plain lazy, but simplicity and minimalism always grabbed my attention :) This was the idea during this session. I call these Lifestyle and Portrait. They may not fit into those categories really well, but in my mind this is what they are. Beautiful fall day, lovely colors, and just a simple walk in between all that. It's really hard not to take good images when you have a beautiful model in front of the camera. So I tried to capitalize on all these factors and here are some images from that day. Enjoy!
Mac
After the cold session of Sensual Portrait of a Girl in the Rain, I've decided to give the model a bit of a break, and just shoot a natural lifestyle portrait session in the garden. It was a little windy, but I thought that this would bring a bit of life to the images. The session was bordering on boudoir, but I wanted to approach it differently. I wanted more of a natural fun in the garden portrait session. I think I captured it. Enjoy!
Several weeks ago in his post A Man that Plays with Fire and the Fuji X-Pro1, Mac has posted some of his shots from our trip to Elk Island where we've had the opportunity to shoot a talented young artist (Bryton Keomanivong) who does some very cool things with his hoops and fire. I took a side line position, wanting to capture him working his art from a different perspective. Here is a few of my images taken that evening. Enjoy! Kasia
Shooting with Fuji X-Pro1 definitely changed my way of taking pictures. It slowed me down, and made me think. I found that with a DSLR, I would take more than a few images of the same scene, and really end up with way too many images that then would have to be scrapped. Lots of time wasted. With the Fuji, I found myself evaluating the scene in front of me, and try to capture it the best way. Which means less images, but more keepers. These portraits, were taken during the End of Summer shoot... I somehow ended up shooting a lot more with Brittany, then any other model in the group. Did not shoot a lot of frames that day, but it's not the quantity that counts, at the end of it all.... it's the quality. So please... Enjoy!
At the end of summer me and Randy Pond from Randy Pond Photography, decided to hold an End of Summer shoot. We gather a few models, and photographers, decide on a spot and go shoot :) This year we were in a park close to the river valley. There is not much that can be said really... it was all about light and images. One thing I found hard was to hold a reflector in one hand, and manually focus a lens... but I think I managed with a couple of nice portraits. :) During photography sessions like these, I worry very little about posing. I usually just chat with the model and capture images during the chat. I like to catch the natural smiles and facial expressions, which to me are far more interesting. Enjoy!
Since I got the Fuji X-Pro1, I wanted to try it out at night. Something more interesting than the normal night street photography. The opportunity presented itself when we were asked to photograph a local artist, who wanted to show off his skills. We quickly agreed, and setup a date at Elk Island National Park, which seemed appropriate for these activities. I brought two cameras, my Sony NEX-7, and the Fuji X-Pro1. My wife brought her Canons 5D, and 40D. All tripod up, and ready for action. I have to say, Bryton Keomanivong is pretty damn amazing. The way he was, almost with out any effort, playing with fire hula hoop, and other fire accessories (for which the name escapes me), was simply astonishing. One of the best performances I have witnessed, and was allowed to photograph. Since I had only one tripod, the Sony went to the bag and Fuji came out. I was hoping to freeze some of the action using an off camera flash. I was using my old Canon speed light. The setup worked just as I intended. Fuji X-Pro1 again exceeded my expectations, as did Bryton. You have to check out his Facebook page here: BrytLyght. Here are my shots from that spectacular evening.... Enjoy! Mac
During the "Broken Truck" lifestyle photo session, I managed to catch some individual portraits of the ladies. I'll start with Ash. Enjoy!
