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Strobist Conservancy Project (lots of pix)
divamum
Registered Users Posts: 9,021 Major grins
(C&C always encouraged and welcomed! :lust)
Well, it was sort of a journey - let's call it a "progression" through the day, if not travel per se...
I was one of the lucky dozen invited to join David Hobby on a philanthropic shoot (definitely a case of being online on the right day at the right time and thus responding before he closed the opportunity!!). This is VERY different from the kind of thing I usually shoot, but I really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to stretch my legs and, of course, work with Mr Strobist himself, David Hobby.
Other than the fact that I have virtually no knowledge or experience of landscape and architectural photography, the most intimidating part of the day was that we had to turn over our UNEDITED files to David! The protocol was for us to shoot - jpg, no less (I always shoot raw if only as a CYA measure!) - mark the ones we liked best on our card as the "first cull" and then give him those to upload and edit. Eek! If I ever do something like this again, I will definitely take a laptop or netbook - I found it VERY difficult to judge the shots on the camera LCD and, indeed, on review at home there are some really good pictures that got missed (or lesser ones from a series of shots were selected instead). But, given that I usually torture my files in post - even ones which are pretty good sooc - boy that felt like being photographically nude!! Still, it was an excellent exercise in producing something under a bit of pressure; it's not such a bad thing to demand of oneself. Also, it did prompt me to explore my in-camera processing - the 7d's jpgs are actually pretty good! :rofl
In any case, yesterday, on a bright but decidedly chilly autumn day, we were instructed to turn up at the historical property for which we were taking the pictures, for their future publicity needs. We'd been encouraged to arrive as early as we wanted before the official 10am start and our assigned shooting responsibilities, so we could take advantage of the sweet morning light; I gather quite a few people were there before sunrise. I got there around 8am and had grossly miscalculated on the weather; it was indeed in the 50s by about 11am, but it was below freezing until the sun came up (duh on my part - should've thought of that!) - thank goodness I never clear out my car very well, since I had a pair of fleecy gloves and hat in the back... and I needed them!
The beautiful historic barn is one of the major features on the property:
1 Note the frost....
2 A little later in the day (constrasty enough light?! :huh )
3. The barn is just gorgeous inside - it's ~17th century, although it was moved from its original location when they built a major roadway.
David's reaction to this shot is typical of both what a great teacher he is, and his amazing eye: he immediately went to this picture among my set because he liked the cool light from one doorway on the haybale contrasting the warm light from the other door on the walls (which I hadn't even noticed - they were both from available, natural light so I hadn't clocked the temp variance from the sunny and non-sunny sides of the building - the doors on either side were open)
4 The beams of the barn have peg/hole construction
5
And lastly, some of the items in the barn. This is actually shot with off-camera flash, just to the right, bounced up towards the ceiling and against the wall. The wood produced a very golden tone, so I switched my WB to tungsten to get a more daylight look - I think it worked quite well!
Since there was still some time before we received our "assignments", I wandered around some more. The goat on the roof just cracked me up!
6
7
And the 135L proving once again just what awesome it's made of...
8. The flowerpot men (again, you can see just how harsh the light was with such a clear day)
9a/b At 10am, David and Allison briefed us and gave us our assignments (magic light in that barn or what?!)
One of my assigned areas was woodlands, so I decided to start with that one before the sun got too much higher, and because I also thought it was going to be the most challenging one for me, with my lack of landscape experience. So, armed with my Tamron 17-50 and a polarizer, I yomped down into the forested area.
I took a lot of reeeaally bad shots before I came up with any I liked - between the harsh sun and the bare trees, it was tricky (we've had very little colour here this year - we went from green to barren without much in between, and even the trees that have changed have done so patchily instead of prettily!). Deeper into the woods, though, the light improved if only because it was blocked by other trees.
10 the 135 again doing it's thing - who needs a wideangle?! :rofl
11. Then I stumbled over this abandoned machinery. I have no idea why I got fixated on it, but it did at least give me an "anchor" for a shot. Had to add a tickle of fill flash to the wheel though - the dappled sunlight just missed it, no matter where I stood or how I exposed!
12 I was also assigned one of the outbuildings. I'm not sure if I could have done more with this with different lenses - a superwide, perhaps? A fisheye? - but it was ssooo bright outside and there was a lot of building debris just out of shot which I had to shoot around - tricky. Not sure this is brilliant, but at least it's clean, and I do quite like the high-contrast conversions on these shots (although why do I keep thinking of the opening of "The Wizard of Oz"?! It looks like Dorothy's house!! :rofl)
All in all, it was a GREAT day and despite tired feet and being chilled to the bone, I'd do something like it again in a heartbeat. It wasn't a "workshop" as such, but a chance to shoot, learn and contribute to the community with some terrific folks.
Gallery here for a few more shots if anybody's interested.
Well, it was sort of a journey - let's call it a "progression" through the day, if not travel per se...
I was one of the lucky dozen invited to join David Hobby on a philanthropic shoot (definitely a case of being online on the right day at the right time and thus responding before he closed the opportunity!!). This is VERY different from the kind of thing I usually shoot, but I really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to stretch my legs and, of course, work with Mr Strobist himself, David Hobby.
Other than the fact that I have virtually no knowledge or experience of landscape and architectural photography, the most intimidating part of the day was that we had to turn over our UNEDITED files to David! The protocol was for us to shoot - jpg, no less (I always shoot raw if only as a CYA measure!) - mark the ones we liked best on our card as the "first cull" and then give him those to upload and edit. Eek! If I ever do something like this again, I will definitely take a laptop or netbook - I found it VERY difficult to judge the shots on the camera LCD and, indeed, on review at home there are some really good pictures that got missed (or lesser ones from a series of shots were selected instead). But, given that I usually torture my files in post - even ones which are pretty good sooc - boy that felt like being photographically nude!! Still, it was an excellent exercise in producing something under a bit of pressure; it's not such a bad thing to demand of oneself. Also, it did prompt me to explore my in-camera processing - the 7d's jpgs are actually pretty good! :rofl
In any case, yesterday, on a bright but decidedly chilly autumn day, we were instructed to turn up at the historical property for which we were taking the pictures, for their future publicity needs. We'd been encouraged to arrive as early as we wanted before the official 10am start and our assigned shooting responsibilities, so we could take advantage of the sweet morning light; I gather quite a few people were there before sunrise. I got there around 8am and had grossly miscalculated on the weather; it was indeed in the 50s by about 11am, but it was below freezing until the sun came up (duh on my part - should've thought of that!) - thank goodness I never clear out my car very well, since I had a pair of fleecy gloves and hat in the back... and I needed them!
The beautiful historic barn is one of the major features on the property:
1 Note the frost....
2 A little later in the day (constrasty enough light?! :huh )
3. The barn is just gorgeous inside - it's ~17th century, although it was moved from its original location when they built a major roadway.
David's reaction to this shot is typical of both what a great teacher he is, and his amazing eye: he immediately went to this picture among my set because he liked the cool light from one doorway on the haybale contrasting the warm light from the other door on the walls (which I hadn't even noticed - they were both from available, natural light so I hadn't clocked the temp variance from the sunny and non-sunny sides of the building - the doors on either side were open)
4 The beams of the barn have peg/hole construction
5
And lastly, some of the items in the barn. This is actually shot with off-camera flash, just to the right, bounced up towards the ceiling and against the wall. The wood produced a very golden tone, so I switched my WB to tungsten to get a more daylight look - I think it worked quite well!
Since there was still some time before we received our "assignments", I wandered around some more. The goat on the roof just cracked me up!
6
7
And the 135L proving once again just what awesome it's made of...
8. The flowerpot men (again, you can see just how harsh the light was with such a clear day)
9a/b At 10am, David and Allison briefed us and gave us our assignments (magic light in that barn or what?!)
One of my assigned areas was woodlands, so I decided to start with that one before the sun got too much higher, and because I also thought it was going to be the most challenging one for me, with my lack of landscape experience. So, armed with my Tamron 17-50 and a polarizer, I yomped down into the forested area.
I took a lot of reeeaally bad shots before I came up with any I liked - between the harsh sun and the bare trees, it was tricky (we've had very little colour here this year - we went from green to barren without much in between, and even the trees that have changed have done so patchily instead of prettily!). Deeper into the woods, though, the light improved if only because it was blocked by other trees.
10 the 135 again doing it's thing - who needs a wideangle?! :rofl
11. Then I stumbled over this abandoned machinery. I have no idea why I got fixated on it, but it did at least give me an "anchor" for a shot. Had to add a tickle of fill flash to the wheel though - the dappled sunlight just missed it, no matter where I stood or how I exposed!
12 I was also assigned one of the outbuildings. I'm not sure if I could have done more with this with different lenses - a superwide, perhaps? A fisheye? - but it was ssooo bright outside and there was a lot of building debris just out of shot which I had to shoot around - tricky. Not sure this is brilliant, but at least it's clean, and I do quite like the high-contrast conversions on these shots (although why do I keep thinking of the opening of "The Wizard of Oz"?! It looks like Dorothy's house!! :rofl)
All in all, it was a GREAT day and despite tired feet and being chilled to the bone, I'd do something like it again in a heartbeat. It wasn't a "workshop" as such, but a chance to shoot, learn and contribute to the community with some terrific folks.
Gallery here for a few more shots if anybody's interested.
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I'm still kicking myself for "handing in" some less good work and not spotting some really good frames until I got them home on the computer, but such is life... live and learn!
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I've got a friend who got to be a VAL for the strobist. Seems like a fun guy with a LOT to teach those willing to learn
Hi! I'm Wally: website | blog | facebook | IG | scotchNsniff
Nikon addict. D610, Tok 11-16, Sig 24-35, Nik 24-70/70-200vr
Did you see these?
http://www.lisadierolfphotography.blogspot.com/
W/o being snarkey, what did you get from this? Hobby got a dozen semi professional photographers to donate their images for free to the project, but what was the payment in return? Was there a seminar or portfolio review?
Z
Zanotti - no, I hadn't seen Lisa's shots yet - thanks for that link!
Iin answer to your question: I'm not at liberty to divulge all the details at this time, but rest assured that David certainly isn't taking people for granted and is making sure their time is valued and that they are being treated with absolute respect.
The project was 100% presented as a philanthropic venture from the outset, so people went in well aware that they were donating their time to the cause, namely the conservancy for which the photos were being taken as a "donation". However, watching David work and talking to him, listening to his comments on shots as they came in, and kicking ideas around was not only enjoyable, but much information to assimilate. I learned a lot - A LOT - about what it means to be a profesional photographer "on assignment", and having to stretch one's creativity and technical approach to fill the brief, without having much control over environment, time-frame, light/weather conditions or anything else. Very different from the controlled shooting conditions I'm used to, and invaluable experience for me.
Oh, and he bought the pizza
Great shots and it sounded like a great day on Your Birthday no less!
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Oh, and Awais, I love that goat too - just makes me smile ever time I look at that series!
Yes you can push / pull / jump on, and generally be more aggressive with landscape / thing photography than people.
You can also benefit by using a fair amount of selective processing. Process sky, ground, shadow areas diferently.
Sam
Thanks for sharing.
Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.
Ed