Saturday, January 17, 2009

Peter 008 - Chris



Another toughie but after so many rejections I was beyond caring! 10 am yesterday and the temperature was in the mid thirties, the sun as high as it gets (almost) and Chris in deep shadow. I used the on-board flash this time and that helped, but I really should have shortened up the depth of field and got the blurs in the background, I just forgot to set anything!

Before I approached him, I had already taken today's (candid) shot for the Sunshine Coast Daily Post, and I had no trouble adjusting to do all of the things I wanted for that one, all I had to do then was to talk to him and turn the flash on... what happened in those few seconds?



Anyway, Chris is on holiday from Kingscliff, a beautiful beach town in Northern NSW, (where we intend to camp in a couple of week's time). "It's the sort of thing you have to do when you live at the beach, go away to another beach to have a holiday, or you end up just doing odd jobs round the house and don't get a break".

That's what Chris told me, and I agree wholeheartedly!

9 comments:

Joan Elizabeth said...

Despite whatever difficulties you had I really like the shot. The setting, the flag, the wierd hat, the action. You guys are forging ahead strongly on this.

bitingmidge said...

I think I shall wait to see what today brings and maybe next week too before I get too cocky!

I'm burying myself in technical stuff to deflect my thoughts from the challenges of simply finding subjects!

"Ahead" certainly, I'm just unsure about the forging bit.

Ann said...

I really like this one, I prefer it to the CDP version. Doesn't matter in the least that the background isn't blurred. Its good to see where he is.

Ann said...

I went back and reread the tips. I think we're all trying to be far more advanced than we are supposed to at 10 or so shots.

Julie said...

I like this portrait too. Shows so much. However, can I be quasi-critical? It is very similar in style to Leigh and the cricket game. How is that for argumentative?

Ann: yep I agree, we are pushing ahead of the tips. I have a theory on this: it is the cheer squad.

If we were doing this on our pat-malone, I suspect I may have chucked in the towel ... especially in that week after New Years where I came up empty day after day.

Julie said...

Just gone and looked at the image on your CDPB.

They are so totally different. I suspect that the CDPB is technically better and speaks to a different audience, eg Babooshka. It shows that you know a lot about technical composition.

This image here is like a holiday snap in that it shows us everything. With the even DoF the viewer can get so much information and yet we still know that you want us to take note of the subject in the foreground. They are so different. However, I enjoyed this one more.

bitingmidge said...

It's interesting that you both liked this one better!

That's also one of the terrific things about doing this project as a group, that sort of feedback is invaluable to me in particular as I often fall for the trap of thinking everyone sees things through my eyes!

Are you both comfortable with continuing to critique in this "public" forum? I am, but from time to time I can appear to be quite up m'self, and I'd hate you to get the wrong impression!

As for style, I suspect that in the end my best shots will either be documentaries such as this, or details of faces. I've been wrong before, but leopards don't change their spots!

I too would have given up before I'd started if it wasn't for the pressure of posting here! I'm enjoying the results (and I don't just mean the photos), but getting them is still troubling me!

bitingmidge said...

I went back and reread the tips. I think we're all trying to be far more advanced than we are supposed to at 10 or so shots.

Yep! It's my excuse for not getting too many shots, but I did four today, so I can sweat it out till Tuesday now! :-)

Julie said...

I did three this morning but none of them advanced me. I went to another dawn chorus so there were people everywhere in a mellow mood! I rushed the shots. I did not keep the aim of portrait/context to the forefront. I did not move around the subjects enough. I am also going to try to aim for 3-5 shots per person to slow myself down and to let my brain think about the aims.

Public forum: I am happy to continue to critique here. I trust the people who are reading and hope them to be sensitive souls who will not deliberately damage us.