photography
I guess it's about time I update my blog and just in case you missed it while posting it up on my other social media channels, here's a video I did in collaboration with Henry's Cameras to feature yours truly and the Fujifilm gear I shoot with.
Check out the FULL 2MIN VIDEO on @HenrysCameras as well as the rest of the #HenrysSpotlight videos here:
Footage copyright Henry'sCameras/MiraStudios
wtitten by Emily Pohl-Weary
photography by Ryan Tacay
(A photo essay created with the initiative of the Koffler Arts “X-Neighbourhoods” project in collaboration with Toronto Clicks)
Almost my entire life has been spent within the little box of Toronto’s downtown west-end. Walk out of my childhood home, turn in one direction and skyscrapers bite the sky, turn in the other and a scar-like expressway extends forever, separating the city from the polluted lake and the evils of small-town Ontario.
Parkdale isn’t lovely in any conventional sense. It’s a beautiful mess of neon-bright colours, perpetual gridlock, people from all walks of life and social strata, graffiti art, garbage, crumbling brick, and grey cement. The exorbitant cost of living, condominium developers, and pressure to gentrify may have forced steady change on it, but its heart remains. It’s a layered, intersectional part of the city, and while it may be possible to stay in your own particular layer some of the time, walking from one block to the next, you’ll pass chichi coffee shops, rooming houses, and faltering businesses.
Growing up there in the 1980s—the decade that brought us Pac-Man’s release, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and the World-Wide Web—I found comfort in the fact that maps were superfluous. I felt my way around with my eyes half-closed—sometimes reading a book or singing along to music. I loved shortcuts and back alleys. Some people preferred fine art galleries, but I would just head to my neighbourhood’s shadowy places to look at the ever-changing murals. Sticky situations were handled by making eye contact, picking my nose, giving someone the finger, ducking into a corner store, or hailing a cab.
I learned to appreciate the things people who fled to the suburbs warned you about: chaos, the ugliness of haphazard growth, and “crazy” people. Given the choice between sterile serenity and hectic density, I always chose the latter. I’d still rather schlep my sorry ass around the city on crowded streetcars, with sweaty businesswomen in polyester suits breathing fishily down my neck, than live an enclosed bubble existence.
In Parkdale, nothing was truly private, and nobody bothered to pretend, because we lived on top of each other, and were forced to witness each other’s private moments and humiliations. Often we pretended not to see. But not always. A few years after my parents divorced, when I was about nine, my father moved to a tiny dead-end street called Virtue that consisted of about twenty houses. Virtue Street was an enclave of gossips who seemed to know and see all.
Every couple weeks, I stuffed all my clothing and school books into big black garbage bags, and lumped them on my back from one parent’s house to the other past the corner where the sex workers did business—they kept an eye on me. On foot seemed like the most hassle-free way to go. Waiting for a drive was intolerable, because I was an empowered, independent sort of girl who thought she was Nancy Drew incarnate. I took action, investigating all potential mysteries, taking people’s fingerprints, examining their handwriting, and poking around abandoned buildings for clues. Only now do I realize that maybe some of those things weren’t so safe.
An insatiable desire to understand the why and what of my universe eventually turned me into a writer. It was either that or an anthropologist. There were so many characters. It was virtually impossible not to interact with someone on the way to the corner store. I remember this one man, an outpatient from the nearby mental health hospital, who sat on our corner, rocking back and forth, with his hands over his face, whispering his traumas. Summer, autumn, winter, and spring came and went, year after year, but he was still there, wearing thin lace-up leather shoes with no socks. We never spoke a single word to each other, and I have no clue whether he even saw me, but I was grateful for the sight of him there by the streetcar stop, because it meant I was home.
He is just one of the memories that follow me around the area. Rita Cox, the local children’s librarian, told the best Anansi the trickster stories. She saved incredible dress-up costumes for all her Parkdale “kids” in the basement of the library and rounded us all up so we could dance in the carnivalesque Children’s Caribana along the waterfront. I fell in love with steel bands, and the fact that gorgeous music could be made from the lid of a garbage can or an empty oil drum. That’s the music in my head when I think of Parkdale.
There was my best friend Sheena, who moved away, but used to live in the duplex unit upstairs from us. She was an amazing dancer and made me practice routines to Madonna’s early oeuvre and the Rocky Horror Picture Show until I pretended to hear my mother calling me for dinner. She was also the best teacher of everything naughty. She showed me how to light cigarette butts with a magnifying glass, how to cut a hole in my screen window so we could escape at night (or let the boys in), how to dress for clubbing, and how to do a strip tease the sexy way.
I once saw a man have a heart attack on Queen Street, within spitting distance of two beat cops, who did nothing until I screamed at them to call an ambulance. A frail Bird Lady lived in a boarding house on my street, and her family consisted solely of the pigeons she fed every afternoon. Her head was injured one day, when her door was busted down during a raid on her building, so I brought her flowers from the lilac bushes in our front yard, and asked why she’d refused to go to the hospital. She was convinced they’d lock her up.
A person’s life was both worthless and priceless at the same time. It just depended on who was doing the measuring. Some people would be there for you no matter what, others would steal the shoes off your feet. Understanding this was the key to how the community functioned. If you were an insider, you were pretty safe, unless you crossed certain lines.
But when I traveled just twenty blocks in any direction, the rules changed. I got disoriented. People became inscrutable. North was no longer up, south wasn’t down. Things were further apart, more uniform, less familiar. If I went just a bit further, and blinked for a moment, when I opened my eyes, I’d shifted into a parallel universe.
In some ways, flying through space would have been more appropriate than taking the subway out to North York. Everything matched: people, houses, box stores. I immediately missed the sound of a thousand different voices, the strains of every kind of music in the world floating down from open windows and out of tricked-out Honda Civics. Parkdale always had its own particular vibe.
So I always returned with a sense of relief. While forays outside the little box were enlightening, nothing beat familiarity. Besides, a mental chasm existed between the urban and the suburban, between hectic chaos and artificial order.
We are all shaped by our environments. I am a child of the city.
*An early version of this piece was published in City of Words edited by Sarah Elton (Cormorant Books, 2009).
Click the link HERE for the petition
*UPDATE*
Good News! It looks like the European Parliament voted down this proposal and Freedom Of Panorama will continue (for now) Click The link HERE for more info.
Important message, you guys - please take the time to read, thanks! Tomorrow (July 9, 2015) street photography could be illegal in ALL of Europe
The Freedom of taking photos in public places is in danger. Until now, in most European countries, you were able to shoot/publish photographs taken in public – This is called Freedom of Panorama. While on vacation, you could share images with your friends on social media but this may unfortunately change.
The new law would make it illegal to also take selfies in European cities EVEN just for personal use without having to share it anywhere. It would also be illegal to draw and film/record big movies without prior consent from the owner of the statues/buildings.
The timing of this couldn’t have fallen at a more pivotal time. As most of you know, I’ll be in Germany from the 21st to the 1st to shoot a project raising awareness of how strict the law of public privacy is in place over there and coincidentally this restriction could now very well be an issue in other countries as well.
Please stand up and save the freedom of photography. The link in my bio will take you to my blog which will link to the petition and more details of my upcoming project. Feel free to tag your friends, repost, and spread the word - thanks everyone! #.SaveFOP
Here’s the link again:
https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-save-the-freedom-of-photography-savefop-europarl-en
*Original text modified from the petition website above.
I’m starting a new street photo project called “Anonym” which will consist of me trying to find creative ways to obscure the identities of the people I shoot, in accordance to the strict privacy laws there. I’m raising funds to get to Germany and get this off the ground!
As some of you know, I placed in the top 3 in the “Observe: Under Construction” international street photography competition in Iserlohn, so I’m also trying to finally see my work displayed in an international gallery. I made a promise on facebook that if I won, I’d would use my winnings toward seeing that print in person (and you simply don’t go back on facebook promises) …as it turns out, I’ll actually need a bit more than I expected to realistically go :) I can’t make this trip without your support so (with reservations) I’m asking those of you who enjoy my photography for help in funding this endeavour.
For those who know me, it’s a gut-wrenching struggle for me to ask for any help, let alone financial help. Chalk it up to stubbornness, pride, or simply being one of those people who have a complex about being in debt. Long story short, it took a lot of encouragement from friends to even consider something like this.
Instead of simply asking for donations, I want to be able to offer something in return so I’ve set up a couple fundraising accounts - all of which enable you guys to receive a token of gratitude, even for the smallest (but equally appreciated) donation.
I have set up 3 sites to cater to different levels of support!
One site is called http://www.Patreon.com/phraction and there I will be hosting an on-going, monthly subscription-based artist fundraiser where I will be uploading behind the scenes content, images that hit the cutting room floor, stories, and articles that will mostly be exclusive to the “Patrons” who support me. There you can pledge as little as $1-$15 and have a chance to win signed prints and other rewards.
The other site is my http://www.GoFundMe.com/phraction page which I’m setting up specifically to raise funds for this Germany adventure and focus on a photo project while there. The reward levels here are catered more toward locals to Toronto (whom I can deliver prints to in person) but anyone can donate there and if you do, I’ll find a way to get you a print :)
In addition to those 2 sites, I have also recently uploaded the very image that is hanging up in the gallery to my http://Society6.com/phraction print-on-demand site. Here you can purchase fine-art prints, framed images, and canvas versions of some of the images found on my instagram feed. This is especially useful for those of you who are not located anywhere close to Toronto and would like to simply purchase a print and have it shipped almost anywhere in the world.
All 3 offer totally different things so you can participate in as many or as little ways as you like… though you know, the more the merrier ;)
I’m using the 200euros I received as prize money toward the trip and I set an arbitrary goal of $3000 because I have no idea what anything actually costs - but rest assured, I’m doing what I can on my part to fill in the gaps by selling my old photo equipment (I have Nikon lenses for sale!), telling people to buy my book (buy my book!), eating less (I really should), and taking up a newspaper route (i’m kidding) just to fund this adventure.
In regards to the photo project/essay while I’m there, apparently Germany is one country that has very strict privacy laws in place that prohibit one from publishing street photos without consent of any individual featured. The idea will be to see if I can creatively work around this restriction and challenge myself to come up with street photos that abide by this law as well as outline personal experiences while I go about creating this story. I hope to come back with a bunch of content to share - from images, to stories, to maybe even video. I want the opportunity to push myself and the boundaries surrounding the art of street photography.
It’s worth mentioning, that on top of never having been to Germany, let alone Europe, I will have to put all this together in less than 30 days as the gallery will be finished by July 26th.
Honestly I have no idea what to expect. I’m not an avid traveler, (I sometimes get turned around in my own city); I don’t speak German (except for swear words and sausage so there’s only so much I can imply with that); I’ve also gotten progressively worse at being organized (thus the last-minute planning of this entire campaign). You guys can have a first-person view of seeing me rise to the occasion or falling flat on my face (which makes for good TV) so let’s see where this goes and thank you all for entertaining the thought of supporting me by taking the time to read this novel :)
If you want to see what kind of images I can take while out of my comfort zone, please make a pledge. Thanks everyone!
“Orange you glad I’m not twisted”
As of a couple days ago, it’s been just over a year since I’ve been trying my hand at shooting street. I think it’s time to share my process because I’ve made tons of mistakes and it’s good to poke fun at old (young) me and realize that future (older) me will also look back on this and make fun of present me - ‘cause that’s not a confusing sentence. It’s also helpful to see how (if) I’ve really progressed in this genre and use this as a bookmark of sorts. While writing this, I didn’t realize this novel of a post was so long that it was getting to a point that even *I* didn’t want to read through it. I figured it would be better off as a bunch of ‘smaller’ articles instead of one ginormous wordy word post (at least by my standards).
So here’s part I (of who knows how many) of my work in progress..
Instagram/flickr has been somewhat of a visual diary for me (cliche line, I know). To see photos that are not necessarily in chronological order but are in the order of what has caught my eye at the time is a great learning tool. I’ve noticed that I’ve gone from shooting people for the sake of shooting people to shooting scenes that mean more than just some dude who passed by me on the way to get some pizza.
[Rob Ford - Sep 2014]
“If there’s one person who might know where pizza is..”
[Dog Walk - May 2015]
I now prefer to shoot scenes like this (as opposed to one’s with Rob Ford in them..)
I shoot to learn more about myself. I paraphrase Daido Moriyama’s words in my head all the time when it comes to why I shoot - we are essentially capturing ourselves in the photos we take of others. This is in addition to echoing Garry Winogrand’s philosophy of not looking at his photos for a long time after shooting, which he did in order to ‘create an emotional disconnect’. It ensured that personal feelings/emotions at the time of clicking the shutter would not skew his perspective of whether a photo is actually good or not. Obviously, these are different yet complimentary ways of thinking and I subscribe to both. Some photos, no matter how much time has passed, will always evoke some type of emotion from me and I now understand that those are just as powerful and meaningful as the photos that are aesthetically pleasing for technical reasons. So in a nutshell, I take photos but don’t look at them for a while so I can see them more objectively when the time comes to share. But I still take into consideration the images that still evoke strong emotions even after a period of time.
This was taken roughly a year ago and has never been shared until now. It’s still an image that resonates deeply as it’s a reminder of the time I spent working at a retirement home while learning to be patient (a trait I now apply when shooting)
These days I tend to favour scenes influenced by someone like Alex Webb vs Joel Meyerowitz, who was one of my first main influences (and still remains to be). It’s not to say their images are night and day from one another, both are colour shooters that uses golden hour light and shadows to enhance their scenes (at least from what I’ve seen of their work so far) but I just find my interests are getting caught in the Webb more-so than the Mayoral.. wit.. of the Meyerowi.. ok so I should’ve thought that phrase over a little bit more. Anyways.. similar to how Meyerowitz first started, I some(most)times get overwhelmed by the busyness of the streets and it’s hard to focus on one thing, so I shoot… everything. Afterward, I look hard to see exactly what was in that scene that I was responding to primarily. The best part about being new to all this is knowing I’ve yet to scratch the surface when it comes to discovering great images so experimenting with different styles is fun and exciting still. Also, I can play the n00b card for a little while longer until I have to smarten up and stop making excuses for using bad photos in my body of work ;)
My interpretation of overwhelming busy streets which was taken with an unknown focus at the time - influenced by Joel Meyerowitz
My interpretation of scenes with some depth from foreground to background - influenced by Alex Webb (clearly I still need a lot of work to really fill the frame as he does)
When I scroll down my instagram feed, I see that 2 dimensional images and shots where people horizontally or diagonally pass by ‘things’ are what caught my eye primarily. To a certain degree I still shoot these ‘cause old habits die hard and ‘cause it was instinctively what I thought street was all about.. people in the street. “Stride-By” shots, people passing by storefronts, and people who were just different/interesting-looking were images that I would naturally gravitate toward. Now I’m consciously trying to be a bit more dynamic and sometimes overly experimental with compositions but part of the learning process is seeing what works and what doesn’t.
Not exactly a “Strideby” but an example of things that would catch my eye immediately. (too bad there’s poles coming out of their heads and no one was occupying the phone booth in the foreground)
I used to get very close simply because I felt I needed to. “If your photos aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough” was a Robert Capa phrase that echoed as I shot the street. Also, I think about the fact that he died because he got too close to a land mine. Now, I’m far less concerned of that happening to me in the city, though certain personality temperaments could be the equivalency during heated confrontations (which is also not really a concern of mine). *knock on wood*
Taken at Pride 2014, I found it was like shooting fish in a barrel to walk a street festival and shoot people up close because of how crowded the event was.
Recently, I stopped getting close for the sake of getting close nor do I just take pictures of people because, people. It’s taken me a while (though I haven’t quite figured it all out yet) but I’ve realized that street can be void of people yet still embody the human element. I’ve learned to take a step back and see the big picture or show more of the environment because a spacious setting can say just as much as a super close-up. Also, I find myself now shooting at a wider angle (28mm) vs the 40mm which I shot with exclusively for months. Maybe I’m getting it all wrong, in which case I’ll at least have this piece of writing to look back upon and show me what 2015 Ryan was thinking at the time. Clearly, my style and focus (amongst many things) needs to be refined and who knows if I’ll ever find what I’m looking for in my shooting, but at least the journey so far’s been interesting to say the least.
Well that’s all I’ll say for now. In future posts, I’ll talk more about what I do when I’m on the street (how I approach and photograph scenes) and what I look for and what I learn through my editing process. When I’ll get to it… well.. your guess is as good as mine. Maybe I should talk about how indecisive I can be and how that plays a roll in the decisive moment or maybe.. not. ;)
“Perpen-linear Pa-turned”
*sorry for the lack of posts with actual words - I’ve got photos to share though, that’s still pretty good right?
Connected Complimentary Colours
Facing An Unbalanced Reality
These are a small sample of images I didn’t post to my instagram feed ‘cause at the rate that I was posting, it would’ve taken another month to get stuff online. So here’s some imagery, sans captions for the sake of sharing. Enjoy!
I hardly shoot vertical because I never know what to do with my shots but this seems like a good place share them
With the roller coaster winter we’ve been having here in Toronto this year, it’s only fitting that Mother Nature play a belated April fools joke on us in the form of the frosty white stuff.
This was the same night that Eric Kim was in town doing his workshop so I met up with the gang afterward at Wvrst on King/Portland to talk shop. When leaving the restaurant and seeing the snow come down, two things came to mind: “F-Me” and “Flash Time” (in the non-indecent exposure sense.. exposure..? ..nvm).
Having never shot flash for street before (especially at night) I figured I’d give it a shot (puns always intended). Since I had a few drinks in me already, I guessed that by this time some people might have too and may already be seeing stars as it is.
With liquid courage by my side, and my trusty side-kick to make sure I didn’t do anything too stupid, I channelled my inner Martin Parr, thought of his “Bad Weather” series he shot in Dublin, and convinced myself that now’s as good a time as any to experiment.
So here’s the outtakes of the selects posted on my @phraction_street instagram feed from that night.
Enjoy!
..As a side note, when taking pictures of random people through the window you pretend to know by waving at them, just keep in mind..
That the world is a small place and sometimes in the next window you may find someone you actually do know…
That’s when it’s time to put away the camera and catch up with old friends :)
Sometimes if I come across an area interesting enough, I’ll either stop and explore the compositional possibilities or come back when the light is good enough. Luckily this day I had both (and bonus time on my hands) so I took the opportunity to take a look around at a place that’s literally a couple blocks from my pace.
Forgive the over-use of my shadow-selfie ‘watermark’ as for most of these shots I really wasn’t trying to be in them but I couldn’t really avoid it so I do what I normally do and make cameo appearances as compositionally pleasing as possible..
Ok so I know I could’ve tilted the camera upward a bit more..
It’s been a while since I’ve gone and shot textures and random objects so it was refreshing. Also great to be outdoors after being cooped up in the house hibernating, because winter.
Not having too many people pass by I had to work with what I had which pretty much meant shadows and a discarded flannel shirt.
It also gave me the opportunity to work on some angles because I’m usually not good at abstract compositions so lately this has been something I’ve been doing behind the scenes as these wouldn’t really fit well on my instagram.
I’m not 100% sure of the story behind this place but I’ll take a stab at saying that it’s probably not in use anymore.
Finally good to see the white stuff melting (probably 90% of the reason I included the snow in this :)
The place is wide open for the public and kids could still come to play but with the new playground that just opened up as part of the revitalization project of the area, I can see why they’d prefer to go there than here.
This composition looked better in my head than what came out.
And that’s pretty much it! I’ll try to keep the super-wordy posts at a minimum and see if I can share more photo sets that I wouldn’t know where to share anywhere else. I can only fit 10 shots in the ‘gallery’ at the very top so I used that area to showcase images that might benefit from a bit of zooming in to see the details.
So as the title suggests, this is a product review but it’s also insight into product shooting and how these images were made. If you just want to hear what I think of the watch and then leave, then fine I’ll say it’s great - go buy one if you like - I have a promo code for 15% off (just enter my username ‘phraction’ which ends TONIGHT Feb 28th) BUT If you wanna know more stuff, keep reading below :)
Now, it’s been a while since I’ve done any kind of commercial product shooting. Mind you, I’m not an expert at this genre (at all). These are simple shots at best, but having started in a commercial food/product studio I do know my way around lighting equipment. I was never as good as those who have either studied this back in photo school or professionals who do this on a daily basis. As a photo retoucher, I have to know my studio lighting in order to keep any changes I make as realistic as possible. Wouldn’t make any sense for me to drop shadows onto a product in one direction if the light is clearly coming from the opposite.
Collaborating with Daniel Wellington Watches gave me an opportunity to revisit product photography as well as do a bit of a review on their stuff. Of course, I didn’t have to do any of this, I just wanted to do this to share a bit of knowledge with you all. #SharingIsCaring (hashtagging in the middle of blogs don’t work btw)
For this review we’re going to look at the “Grace London” watch simply because that’s the one I chose. For lighting I used Speedotron power packs and heads (tried and true work horses of the industry), a few softboxes, and my mirrorless camera. Not gonna go into any other gear details simply because I don’t feel like it (also because I’m an advocate that the brand/type of camera doesn’t matter as they’re just simply tools to create - these images can be made using pretty much any camera). Special thanks to Professional Photographer, Rob Kinghorn for letting me hijack his studio for a couple hours and use his setup for the shoot :)
The first impression of the product is that it is packaged pretty nicely. It comes with all you see here: the watch, a manual (which I didn’t actually read), and a little tool to help you remove the bar holding the strap in place so you can switch it around with others that you can buy from their accessories section on their site.
Obviously when going to any company’s website they’re gonna show you the best angles of the product because they want to show their best face (puns always intended). What I’m always curious of are the things you don’t get to see so I’ve disassembled the watch to show you what the undersides look like - it’s ok I got prior consent before doing so ;)
The bottom part is chrome and usually that’s one of the hardest things to shoot because it’s so reflective. This means even if alone in the studio, you should probably put on pants otherwise be exposed by the reflections in the surface. I of course didn’t want to put on pants so I decided to keep the middle dark and only add highlights to the rim. What this also does is create maximum contrast between the surface and the DW logo. Since I had trouble lighting it in such a way that would make the chrome shine silver, I made the executive decision to leave it as is. Also, I’m fine with not ripping my hair out because I couldn’t get the light the way I wanted exactly. If anyone asks I’ll say it’s intentional but that’s just between you and me ok?
Here’s another shot of how the product looks like when seated in the box.
As you can see I’ve included the ‘before’ images with me using a silver card on a particular section. I would then shoot multiple frames while changing the card position so various sections are lit. Using these ‘plates’ I assembled them in into one shot like a puzzle using photoshop. That’s something that isn’t uncommon in commercial photography - rarely is a shot ever really just ‘one shot’. Most times, it can be made up of multiple frames where each section is lit in its optimal way individually and later pieced together. Some would say this is cheating but there’s certain instances where it’s virtually impossible to get everything lit in one shot without it having a negative effect on other aspects in the frame. Unless you had a million lights and precision shoots to target light onto one specific area, it’s probably still very counter-productive cost-wise in terms of hydro bills, managing equipment, and simply time. This is where retouchers come in - yay me.
If we look at the product shot from their website (the shot on white) you’ll notice that the leather portion of the watch appears a lot closer to the face but in reality it’s not. Sometimes when companies shoot products and want to include little details that normally wouldn’t show, they cheat it a bit to get it in one shot. So either the edges are photoshopped in or much of the strap was pulled in the middle and behind the face to bring the leather portion closer. Anyways, I took a couple shots of the watch both front and back so you can see what it looks like ‘fo real yo. Also the embossing on the inside is a nice touch - something I won’t really appreciate or see until I take it off but still is nice to know it’s there - like wearing fancy underwear when you’re single (aww).
Another thing that I wanted to mention is how easy it is to forget the little details and how it can really affect the shot. I didn’t bother to check what ‘time’ the watches were set on the website until after I shot everything, and that was a huge mistake. I figured I’d just set it to 6 o’clock ‘cause it’s less distracting to have a simple line go down the middle. Makes sense, right? Well.. Daniel Wellington set their time to 10:10 and I’ll give you a minute to think about why that’s even better…
It’s cool, take your time, i’ll just be here looking at my watch…
Figured it out…?
Yeah. The logo. FML.
They set it to 10:10 because it frames the logo better… Live and learn. I could photoshop the hands to that time, or even go on their site and use the face on one of their shots and drop it on mine, but the photographer’s “itis” started to kick in and I just said, 'it’s fine’. Though what wasn’t fine was that I missed one other thing - I didn’t push the crown back in after setting the time. Now this worked in my favour as the time didn’t change, but that meant I had to make a selection around the crown, duplicate the layer on top, shift it over to the proper position, and then mask it out so it looks like it was pushed in the entire time. I actually didn’t mind doing it because that’s one thing that would really bug me more than anything else and only took me literally 1min to do it (I did leave it on the very last image in the blog so you’ll see what I mean). The lesson here is that it’s important to check your stuff on set and make sure your shots are as good as they can be in camera so you can ensure that you’re only spending minutes in photoshop and not hours. Time is money folks (see what I did there?)
OK so after all this, what do I think of the watch itself? “It’s nice”.
Fine, I’ll elaborate. The build quality is pretty good but I haven’t gone bumping my wrists into everything to see how it would survive against my old timex watch. It’s pretty light and the face seems like it’s made of plastic though it could be glass (I have no idea). I do enjoy the classic look and having worn a military watch with a nato strap prior to this, I had thought that the “Grace London” would have the same material but it’s not. The strap is more fabric like which means it’s more floppy (which made shooting a bit tough to keep its form when not laid flat on the surface). The leather is soft matte flexible one and doesn’t get scratched up or marked as easily as say ones with a glossy/hard finish to it. I have small wrists so the diameter of the Grace London fits me perfectly. It would appear that there are other mens models that are much bigger which would work if you’re super beefy or the hulk or maybe just not as noodle-wristed as me. Also the Grace London series is unisex so lock it up or risk having it ‘borrowed’ by your significant other more often than you’d like.
If there’s any drawbacks to it, it’s that just feels a bit flimsy and although it can be an everyday watch, the price that you pay for it makes me feel like I’d want to wear it to nicer occasions or gives the impression that it may not stand the test of time if I wore it every day. I know that’s just a personal thing and objects are made to be worn/used but coming from a $26 timex weekender military watch that’s taken a “lickin’ and kept on tickin’” I feel like I’d need to be a bit more delicate with this one. But that’s just me - and that could very well be this particular model. The full-on leather watches may seem more robust but I don’t know ‘cause I only have this one. If they wanted to send me another one to compare, I’d gladly take them up on that offer ;) *Oh don’t tell me you wouldn’t either.. :D
For $229 I’d say it’s a bit rich for my blood but it’s a 'I’m gonna treat myself’ kind of purchase (at least for me). But when you use the 15% discount code 'phraction’ (which expires at the end of the month Feb28th) and it gets bumped down to $156 (down from $183 which seems like a glitch - one that would work in your favour). I’d say it’s a good buy, well worth it for what you get. The only thing to remember is that if you do think you’re going to get one and would like to get another strap to go with it, buy it at the time that you get the watch because I find that shipping to Canada is super expensive but it’s free when you buy a watch.
This whole experience has taught me a couple things. One, it’s given me a renewed appreciation for the photographers I usually work with that do tabletop/product photography as it’s not that easy to just light a certain section sometimes. Two, I’ve learned that I put way too much time and effort to do the simplest things, but hey I still think it’s fun so it’s all good.
*btw be sure to click the images at the very top to see the shots in higher resolution - would me a lot since I went through all the trouble to kinda highlight the details :) Thanks!
There’s a common misconception that because I shoot people on the street, that taking portraits would be a piece of cake. If by cake you mean something like making an 18 layer Baumkuchen (look it up, it’s super hard you guys), then yes, it’s exactly like that. When push comes to shove though you do what you gotta do. Luckily Karyn is very patient actor/model that I had the pleasure of shooting for the streetvogs project about a month ago
Wanting to mix things up a bit from the usual candid street stuff, I figured shooting a portrait of someone who owned a pair of fluevogs would be the key. Going outside of my comfort zone and challenging myself to make mistakes is something that people do sometimes do for fun for growth and stuff. Seeing that I’m pretty much done physically growing, I might as well you know, do it for creativity. Because skillz.
I suppose that when your primary objective is to feature the shoes, one should probably do that. I decided to unintentionally be a rebel and… not. Because I forgot.. SO that happened and my only saving grace was to see if I had a full-length shot that I could crop into to get a decent shot. In this day and age where “megapixels don’t matter” has found it’s way into the average conversation, I found one time when it actually does. Albeit 16MP is somewhat low apparently, for web, it’s perfectly fine. Grainy and unsharp? You bet. But what I’ve come to realize is that the details we see in our own images (or lack thereof) are sometimes illusions compared to what the majority of people actual see - the big picture.
So here’s to refining some skills, silly mistakes, and shooting enough material to save yourself when your brain suddenly decides to exit stage right.
Oh and I almost forgot to mention… after all the effort in working on that shoe shot - I never ended up using it. I was reminded that the project was about the ‘unique souls’ more than the 'unique soles’ so all that work retouching it, kinda went out the window. But for anyone curious, here’s what the original shot, the cropped shot, and the retouched version ultimately looked like…
(click here to see it larger)
The concept of posting an instagram image way later than when it was taken is a #latergram. I do this. Like all the time. Everything on my feed has been posted days if not weeks from when it was taken. Contrary to instagram being something that’s supposed to display what’s going on currently in the user’s life, I fail to believe that people are all that interested in what I’m doing at this very second. Nor would anyone probably really want to know. flushes toi uh.. *washes hands*.
I think that being able to post something when I please gives me better control over what I want to share with the world and gives me the time to think whether this is something that people would actually enjoy or if it serves as something that’s shared for the sake of sharing.
I prefer my images to have a flow, to tell a story and to work well from one to the next so I carefully select which shot I want to post to reflect a certain continuity in my feed and make it coincide with whatever it is that I may be feeling at the time. If there’s anything ‘insta’ about my feed, it’s the captions that usually go with the images.
What this also allows me to do is actually enjoy the time I’m out doing something. I can’t be fully experiencing the moment if I’m constantly on my phone posting throughout the day. I like to fully experience the moment and worry about the images later.
By letting my images ‘marinate’ (something I learned from Garry Winogrand in lesson number 6 of Eric Kim’s article) I create an emotional disconnect with my images and this allows me to go back and look at them more objectively to see whether or not it was actually a good shot or if I just thought it was because of how I was feeling at the time of taking it. But of course it’s good… ‘cause I took it pfff… *not really*.
Obviously all this requires more work than needed. Some people can snap a photo, edit it if needed, apply a filter, write something (or not), hasthtag, and post within minutes if not seconds. I’m sure there’s a joke about finishing quickly but I’ll keep this PG-13 (for now). This is great if you don’t want to spend too much time in front of a screen. I however, obviously like making extra work for myself, but clearly it’s for the purpose of making a quality contribution to the world of the internets.
What I’ve noticed is that the more you post, especially of the same angle/subject matter, the less people start to care. What separates you from another person posting pretty pictures? Frankly I find it funny when feeds start to look exactly like one another. Especially from people in the same city shooting the same stuff but that’s another topic in itself. The underlining message here I guess is quality over quantity. *NBC’s “The More You Know” PSA banner suddenly files by*
I do all this because it’s a hobby for me, an outlet to share my images and to an extent, my words. I’m not being paid to do this so the only deadlines I have are the ones I give myself. It’s better this way (at least for me) and perhaps for you as a viewer who can hopefully appreciate that there’s a bit of thought put into each pixel on the screen. Also might renew faith in humanity that we’re not all consumed by the rules of social media - but who am I kidding, we all are, in a way, sucked into it. Maybe by doing things my way, it serves as a method to stick it to the man. What can I say, I’m a rebel that’s bad to the bone and tomorrow, I’m gonna remove all the ‘do not remove’ tags from my couch cushions… *no I’m not..*
I figured some shots of the CNE (Canadian National Exhibiton - for those not from Toronto) would be a perfect pairing for this post given that it ended two weeks ago - Enjoy!