Firemen, Policemen, Soldiers and Outdoor Photographers

What do they have in common? This:

95% of the time there is nothing going on. The biggest enemy is boredom. Days will go by without any significant work being performed. The good ones spend this time honing their skills, equipment and reflexes.

5% of the time is why they do their job. In this fraction of their time they are matching their wits with their subject in face of rapid change. Often every last ounce of their ability, skill and equipment is required of them in the shortest space of time. There is usually no margin for error. What they pour out in this sliver of time is what keeps them going. When it is on, it is make or break. When it is on, there are no excuses.

The Master Painter

Here is one of his abstracts...

You Already Own It

What is the best camera? In a phrase popularised by Chase Jarvis, it is the one you have with you!

Good pictures (good landscape and outdoor pictures, that is) come from being in the right place at the right time and noticing where God is moving the lights. Light is everything in a photograph. Although we normally have the sun as our "key" light, God uses all sorts of modifiers. Different sorts of clouds, different arrangements of clouds, different amounts of atmospheric dispersion (more in morning and evening giving us those great colours), different amounts of suspended dust and water particles. He also provides all sorts of fill via reflectors (like seas, lakes, cliffs and buildings), the rest of the sky (whether blue or cloudy), and other sources.

When the lights are tuned to "magic" it's showtime! And you normally have only minutes to capture something before it changes. A pocket camera can save you some heartache when you suddenly realise, it's ON!

Free Telephoto

Did you ever wish your SLR had the same "digital zoom" option that your crummy pocket camera has. Well, it does!

All current DSLRs -- and any good film scan -- have enough and more resolution for most likely purposes. Don't feel like you can't crop. If only the middle of the image contains the picture you want, crop. You will have a weaker image if you DON'T throw away the stuff on the sides that is doing nothing.

This image is less than half the film image, and it is only 35mm. Yes, you can start to see a tiny hint of grain but it doesn't look bad. Even printed large on a wall this will be a good image.

And the free telephoto? This the exact same picture I would have gotten with a lens of twice the focal length.

Silhouettes

If the sun is behind a person or object and you expose for the ambient light you will get a silhouette. If you get a good shape, that can make an interesting image. If it is sunrise or sunset and the sky is also a nice colour you can make a very nice image.

What Do You Not See Often?

In Doha it is clouds. Hardly ever seen in summer. Still rare in winter. To see them dramatically on the horizon with this great colour going on is not to be missed.

Composition

Composition and selective focus. Pretty much the only two ingredients in this shot. Just keep your eyes open!

Some Things Are More Important Than Colour

It's just that, the way I shoot, I find not many things are. Colour, colour, colour!

Eyes Open Always

...and, camera with always! Saw this just as the sun was setting through the window of a Subway restaurant whilst in the middle of some hectic errands. The sky will not wait for you to go home and get your stuff. You are lucky if the sky will wait for you to set up a tripod.

It's (Almost) All About The Light

Ever see some wonderful light and WISH you had a good subject to shoot in this great light? Try shooting whatever crummy subject is in front of you at the time. This was taken out my rolled down car window at a red light.

Backgrounds

So, I wanted to document a modification I have made to my 35mm strip holder for my Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED scanner. I was standing in our family room and all around me was the junk of a busy family household. None of it would have made a good background. Then I saw the curtain we have hanging between the room and the passageway and how the morning sun was coming through.

Bingo!

It is a good discipline to try and make each shot good. Even if it is not intended as an "art" shot.

Rubbish!

Rubbish on the film, rubbish on the beach. Somehow, each reinforces the message of the other. And somehow, the picture still manages to paint a romantic picture of the seaside. Even soiled.

No, I don't understand it either.

You Pays Your Money You Takes Your Chances

The quality of processing at the photo lab I now use is often good. Sometimes, however, it's a little less than good. This is what this strip of film looked like AFTER the Nikon scanner had removed all the dirt and scratches it could. I shudder to think what a raw scan would look like. I suppose this is not Photo World's finest hour.

On the other hand, in a weird sort of way I think that the dust and lint and whatever does not detract from this particular shot. I take a lot of carefully composed pictures but when I shoot with the little Vivitar it's a much looser and more casual affair. After all, if I really wanted to take time with it I would get the camera bag and tripod out of the back of the car...

Yes, It Is Sharp

One of the first really successful pictures taken with my new pocket camera. It's a sunrise from a trip to the beach. Not a bad result from a camera with a fixed lens that will probably never see a tripod and has to live in my lint-filled pocket. I hope it lasts!

Local Architecture

While the Arabs that live in this part of the world have been using the same traditional tent design for many hundreds of years, there is a case to be made that the design was not original but copied. Of course, to copy this design would require rather keen eyesight!

The "tent" web of a local jumping spider on a wall. The entire "tent" is probably 1cm across. I took this by reversing my 24mm lens and then stacking closeup lenses in front of that.

Artist's Tools

What do you want in a pocket camera? Sixteen megapixels? HD video? A three inch LCD?

I was looking for a full frame sensor and an f2.8 lens.

I ended up with this. I'm still learning to drive with it but it suits me for now. It's nice to have something that is always in my pocket.

Yuk is Yum II

What is poignant about this picture is the brightness of the "clouds and sky" design in the window and the dinginess of what the place has fallen into.

In The Shadows

One of the wonderful things about cameras is the differences in how they see the world. They can freeze a raindrop. They can peer into fly's eye. They can turn a roaring surf into a mist of vapour. And they can see into the darkest shadows.

I think there is an in-built fascination with what lies in shadow.

Yuk is Yum

Ah, decay! Of course the splendor of God's creation in full burst of newness and perfection is wonderful material for photography. However, the slow return of the things made by man to the earth from whence it came can also be quite wonderful. There is something about the two ends of the life of a person, creature or thing that are more poignant than the boring middle bit. Much as the two ends of the day have more to offer than the middle.

Don't Be Afraid To Cut O-

I wanted to concentrate attention on this thrusting face of another of Doha's new towers. If I had included the other side of the building the emphasis would not be where I wanted it to be. Photography consists of two steps:

1. Noticing something that strikes you
2. Making a photograph that shows that something in an unambiguous way

Iconic Through Isolation

This is a very recogniseable building in Doha's new skyline. However, it gets a whole new look in this view because the buildings that normally surround it are out of frame. This illustrates the importance of having open eyes and an open mind. The things that really had to come together for this shot were:

1. The spotting of this angle
2. The lighting (position of the sun)
3. The sky

Studio photographers can make their own reality to some extent. The landscape photographer must learn to work with what God gives him!

What Do You Do When It All Goes Wrong?

The sun is one minute from setting. The car has just stopped and you have just broken your tripod. Improvise!

I borrowed a wobbly, flimsy $10 tripod and balanced the camera on it to take this.

Beautiful Portraits

They come from beautiful people. Like my friend, Reggie.

The Extraordinary Ordinary

Keep your eyes open!

The Importance of Beginnings

Beginnings are so important. Beginnings are a time for faith. Faith that what is begun will prosper. Only in the future can we look back and see the true import of what was begun.

I hope this picture will stand as a record of the beginning of my wife and daughters' business, Cupcakes. Along with their partners Aisha and Mahdi.