This is Not the Land of 1+1=2
Sorry folks for the lack of posts lately. I have been busy shooting an assignment for the Alberta Museums Association and Travel Alberta. I just got back from a four day tour through Northern Alberta (Grande Prairie, Peace River and Grouard). The shoots went very well. I met some really nice people who, like me, love what they do. In the process of photographing the museums I learned some new things about my Canadian history and got to see and photograph some truly amazing artifacts.
In other news…
Fellow local photographer,Bruce Clarke tipped me off to the fact that Scott Kelby picked my winning shot from the Banff PhotoWalk for his blog article showcasing images deserving of recognition. Scott captioned my Vermillion image “Best Landscape Shot That Needs A Levels Adjustment”. His caption started a discussion in the comments section of the blog article as well as a couple of photography forums.
I’d like to state that I personally have no problem with Scott’s caption because like I wrote in my reply in the comments section – “this photography thing is not the land of 1+1=2. It’s all subjective. I purposely worked the muted, or lack of levels punch effect, in post. Some will like it some will not. My thinking was that taking the image that way in post gave the shot a bit of a dreamy feeling which is a bit different from my other work. I appreciate everybody’s feedback. The learning never stops.”
I made a conscious decision to take the shot in a certain direction is post and it worked for me but not so much for Scott. That’s perfectly O.K. If there’s one thing that being a professional photographer has taught me it’s to not take opinions on my photography so personally and to appreciate that what works for one person doesn’t work for another. Now if Scott was my client I’d have to sit down with him and get an understanding of what works and what doesn’t for him in the shot and do my best to please him. The objective in assignment photography is to please the client. In the PhotoWalk case, however, I’m the client and I’m happy with it. I do, however, appreciate the feedback because knowledge of what connects or doesn’t connect with viewers of a photo is always valuable.
In my opinion, and it’s just that – an opinion, Scott picked some fantastic shots for the winners of the 2009 Photo Walk. I love Jeroen Idema’s shot and I’m a sucker for blocks of colour so I really like Andrew Morley’s shot in the recognition gallery too. Just like Scott mentioned in his blog article, photographers on the Walk were up against some challenges:
-They were not able to choose the location (it was chosen for them).
-They were not able to choose the time of day (it was chosen for them).
-They were only able to shoot for two hours.
-They shot in the light that was there. They couldn’t go back later (or earlier) in better light.
Given those challenges the body of work from the Walk is very inspiring. I had a blast and I’m looking forward to next year.
