Last night, I attended our club's annual awards banquet. At the banquet, we present our Photographer of the Year award. For 2008, Steve Schuenke was our Photographer of the Year. Steve is a really good photographer, a good guy and has done a lot of great work for Bay Area Photo Club. However, I was disappointed a little in his acceptance speech. I can overlook the fact that he did not say thanks to mom, his wife or his dog (which he does not have one, but I am sure that Cindi would let him borrow one of her dogs for the evening). No, I was disappointed because he did not recognize what really set him apart this year--being my VAL at Renaissance and Dickens festivals. I just do not understand how he could have overlooked his most important photographic learning experience of his life. Oh, well, I guess this is just another one of the many things that I have learned to live with.
All kidding aside, Steve deserved the award. He produced some outstanding photographs this year, as he does every year. I enjoy looking at his work, shooting with him or drinking a cold one after an event. Congratulations Steve, well done!
Now the race is "on" for 2009 Photographer of the Year. Good luck, everyone! I do have application forms available to be my VAL at various shoots, if any of you might be interested.
Now to today's photograph. Not much of a back story here.
I was over at my grandson's school shooting the Children's Mass over the holidays. While waiting for the rest of the family after the mass, I spotted this family. The light was wonderful. I took a few "normal" shots, but then wanted to do something that captured the essence of the moment--the father and the little girl being very calm and the little boy moving every-which-way. I decided on a nine multiple exposure shot that I hoped would do the trick. Here is the attempt that I liked best.
Camera settings: Nikon D3, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 120, ISO 200, f/8 and 1/30 of a second.
Post processing in Lightroom: set black and white points, added mid tone contrast, selectively brightened area around family, and cropped to 11x14 format.
I think your abstract does what a good abstract should do: make someone see "more of the story" when they look more deeply into the image. Since I read the back story before looking at the image, I cannot say for sure that I would have gotten your point by just looking at the photograph. Regardless, this is a good attempt to do something different and outside the box. Good job.
ReplyDeleteThe Professor
Larry, I'll be the first to sign up to be your VAL for 2009. Thanks for the kind words -- always a pleasure shooting with you too. Don't know how I could have left you off my "thank you" list last night.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed you seem to be taking your people photography in a new direction - abstraction. Did you stumble onto this or is it a natural progression from the static portrait. It nonetheless produces some great and interesting results.
Steve
Good photo. I usually do not like abstracts however I like this one. It seems to have a flow that helps tell a story.
ReplyDeleteJeff