Peter Carroll’s photography blog

I like David duChemin’s approach to the so called Rule of Thirds. In his book Within the Frame, he says,”Rules seldom encourage the question ‘Why?’ Principles can’t live without the Why.” That’s the reason I too prefer to call this compositional tool  the Principle of Thirds.

When should you use the Principle of Thirds? Whenever using it better expresses your vision for a photograph. It all starts with vision. What do you want to say should always be your starting point. The follow on is – O.K. how am I going to say it?

Take a look at the photograph I took below. I both used and broke the Principle of Thirds in the same shot. What was my vision? My basic starting point was I wanted to photograph the Edmonton skyline. What did I want to say about it? Well, I love the fact that Edmonton is a small big city. It’s big enough to get great concerts, festivals and sports events but has a small enough population and big enough footprint that you have to really go looking for a traffic jam. Whenever I hear Edmontonians complaining about traffic my first question is where else have they lived. I also love the fact that due to it’s population and size, people here really support what’s going on in the community. Unlike bigger cities you won’t have a variety of pro sports games, festivals and conventions to choose from on any given weekend. There will be one major event like the Capital Ex, the Edmonton Indy, Heritage Days, the Fringe Festival or the Folk Fest for example and each event is well supported. Events aren’t in competition with one another.

So for my photograph I had the idea of “small big city” as my starting point. How was I going to say that? I decided to place the skyline low in the frame to symbolize the city’s relative population size and give a lot of weight to the big Alberta blue sky to symbolize the city’s space. Now let’s look at how all that relates to the Principle of Thirds. Obviously placing the skyline near the bottom edge of the frame breaks the Principle as the subject is entirely in the lower third. The Telus building, the tallest in the photograph, is close to the third line but it’s still below. The right edge of that same building, however, is right on the left vertical third line. I liked the way placing that building on the third gave the composition balance and anchored it in a way. So within the one photograph, the Principle is used for effect and broken for effect too. How you use it all depends on what you want to say. What do you want to say next time you look through the viewfinder?

Photography books are a dime a dozen. Well, actually no – they go for about $40 each but you know what I mean. There’s no shortage of authors selling “how to” roadmaps. Every now and then, however, an author comes along and writes a photography book which throws a bucket of cold water on the industry. David duChemin is just such an author and Within the Frame published by Peachpit is just such a book.

Depending where you are on your photo journey David’s message may be like a teaspoon of Buckley’s couch syrup. It will be hard to swallow but it will be good for you in the long run. David’s a straight shooter and that’s what I love most about Within the Frame. You want the truth? Are you ready for it? This photography thing is hard. Plain and simple. There are no shortcuts. It’s hard work. You can buy the latest camera but look all you want in the box it came in because I guarantee you that you won’t find a free pass to being a great photographer. As David says, “Gear is good. Vision is better”. Photography is all about vision and great photography is where craft and vision meet. Becoming a craftsman takes time. Check out an old blog post of mine about the 10,000 hour rule. Sorry to break this to you but there are no shortcuts. Shortcuts anyway are all about destination. Craft is all about the journey.

Joe McNally, who wrote the forward to the book, sums up Within the Frame nicely when he says, “David gives you the tools and information that enable you to make the camera - a machine – an extension of the human heart and mind. Then he gives you a road map…and invites you on the journey. It’s a trip well worth taking”.

Early on in my photo journey I came across a book that changed the way I look at the world around me. That book was Freeman Patterson’s Photography and the Art of Seeing. I can think of no higher praise for David duChemin’s book that to say it deserves its place on the bookshelf right beside the book that inspired me to be a photographer and to express my vision of the world around me within the frame.

It’s two weeks before Christmas and I thought my readers might appraciate a little help making their list for Santa or getting a few gift ideas for the photographer in their life.

Books

Here are a few of the books I thought were noteworthy over the last year. I’ve linked to the publishers rather than push a particular bookseller.

1. Within The Frame by David duChemin

2. VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography by David duChemin …. again (busy and productive year for this very talented and super nice fellow Canadian)

3. The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally

4. The Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally …. again (These guys can really churn out the books!)

5. The Photographer’s Eye by Michael Freeman

6. Always happy to plug any book by super talented local Alberta photographer Darwin Wiggett. If you are traveling to the Canadian Rockies I highly recommend his How To Photograph the Canadian Rockies. It’s almost sold out and no more will be printed. Get it before it’s gone!

7. Anything by Freeman Patterson!

Gear

1. If you or someone you know is looking to get into studio lighting definitely check out Lightrein’s line of products. Their egg crates are the key to the world of soft light control… enter and enjoy the possibilities.

2. For light control of the smaller variety check out Honl’s line of products.

3. Every landscape photographer who has made the nice list this year should find a Singh Ray filter in their stocking. If someone you know is just starting out in landscape photography a 2 stop soft graduated neutral density filter will totally transform the images they make. Bang for buck it’s a great gift.

4. Pocket Wizard triggers. Great pieces of kit and now they’ve jumped to a new level with ControlTL

5. the gear list is never ending so I’ll stop at 4

Outside the Box Ideas

1. Take a loved one’s favourite shot and get it printed on canvas.

2. The price of hard drive space is always falling but the feeling associated with losing images to hard drive failure remains the same. Show someone you care about their work and buy them a hard drive.

3. I finally bought Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro this year and it totally transformed the way I process images. Well worth every penny.

Camera Bags

The only thing I’ll say about camera bags is don’t buy one. Let me save you the heartache. If you buy one for the photographer in your life this year it will only break your heart to see it on the wish list again next year. You’ll say,”Didn’t I buy you one for Christmas last year?” and they’ll answer,”Yeah, but I didn’t like that one because…. and they just put out a new one that has …..” Ya see they still haven’t made the perfect camera bag. It’s the Holy Grail of photography. Let the photographer ride the camera bag roller coaster. Don’t facilitate the addiction!

The business of being a professional photographer is a funny business because many pros earn a smaller share of their annual income from actual photos than people generally think. I’m not talking about the Liebowitz’s or the Winters’ of the photo world. I’m talking about generic Joe Schmo pro photographer. A good chunk of many a pros annual income comes from workshops or the now popular DVD tutorials. There’s good money to be made in selling “how to…” to the photo masses.

I thought it might be useful to some readers to provide links to some of the DVDs and workshops on offer by some of the photographers whose work I admire. Some of these experiences are not cheap but last in the list, and definitely not least, are two gems which are worth checking out and they’ll only set you back $5 each!!

David Hobby -Strobist DVD

Zack Arias – One Light DVD

Joey Lawrence – Sessions DVD

Darwin Wiggett – Workshops and Tours

David duChemin – Workshops and Mentoring

TEN (10 Ways To Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involve Buying Gear.)

TEN MORE (10 More Ways To Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involve Buying Gear.)

David duChemin is a supremely talented photographer, a wonderful writer and an all-round class act. I’ve been following David’s work for some time and his photos and words have been a constant source of inspiration for me so I thought it was time I share a bit of duChemin wisdom with my blog readers. David tells it like it is and I love that. He’s honest about the challenges and rewards on the photographic journey. If you think the following words from David are interesting and inspirational, trust me you need to check out his blog. Time spent searching through the archives will be time well spent. There’s great depth in the ideas he shares. The tag line for his blog is ‘gear is good – vision is better’. That should give you an idea of what to expect.

As an assignment photographer, David travels the world with his camera for various commercial and non-profit organizations. Search through David’s portfolio and you’ll easily see that one of his talents, as a humanitarian and travel photographer, is that he has an appreciation for people as individuals. This awareness combined with a skill for creating aesthetically pleasing images makes David a photographer who is able to express his vision in a way that emotionally connects with the viewer. It’s a nice bonus, that on top of it all, he’s a great guy too.

“Most days I love, love, love what I do. But I still worry I’ve shot the last good frame I’ll ever capture. I still compare myself to others. I still shoot 200 frames of crap as the price to uncover 10 good ones, and one great one. That’s if I’m lucky. I don’t love it any less just because the honeymoon is over. I just realign my expectations. I see that shooting better and better images takes more work, more investment of my emotions and all the craft I can conjur for the day….It’s an art, it’s meant to be hard. An artist without challenge only grasps at the low-hanging fruit and creates cliche. Expressing your thoughts, emotions, your vision – your soul – is an act of disclosure. And then there are the technical challenges of the craft. If you want it to be easy, I can recommend some excellent finger paints. The rest of you, go easy on your self – let it be tough, the bumps on the ride make the smooth spots on the journey all the sweeter.”
- David duChemin