Newsletter No. 105: April 2014

Newsletter No. 105: April, 2014
© Chris Harris. All rights reserved.

Contents:

1. Changing my Perspective: My sensor is now a blank canvas
2. I Head out into the Night: Now thinking like a painter
3. From Paint Brushes and Pencils: To my camera & blank sensor
4. Another Trip to Farwell Canyon: With painterly ideas!
5. Sleeping under the Lunar Eclipse: A night to remember
6. Gallery News: Bowron Lake guide book now reprinted & available

Hi everyone,

The highlight of the month was definitely the lunar eclipse. I gambled that the weather would provide me with clear skies, and drove two hours to my chosen spot. I share that experience here.

I am also sharing some thoughts I had, pertaining to the creative process of both painters and photographers. It’s my endeavour to avoid a visual rut. I hope you enjoy it.

 

1. Changing my Perspective: My sensor is now a blank canvas

Whenever I visit my sister Jane O’Malley, a painter living in Ireland, I am inspired to be more creative with my photography. Our goal is a common one; to continually push ourselves to be creative and not fall into visual ruts. Whether we create with paint brushes and paint, or with camera and light, it should not make a huge difference.

As I watched and photographed my sister at work, she was explaining one of her secret techniques. I have actually stood beside viewers at an exhibition of Jane’s work and listened to them say ‘how does Jane get that effect’?

It was a reminder that taking one’s craft to the level of art takes years of practice, study, and experimentation. There are no shortcuts. No one expects to be a painting artist overnight, but many people think that they can become great photographers by buying an expensive camera. They often equate sharp and well saturated images with great photographs.

Starting with a blank canvas and a creative mind, painters use a variety of tools. What about photographers? While watching my sister, I gave consideration to my own approach. My camera, or more specifically, the sensor within my camera, is my blank canvas. I paint that white canvas with the tones and colours of my subjects.

When I head out to photograph, I try to think like a painter. How will I record or paint the light values of my subjects onto my blank canvas? By holding the blank canvas (camera & sensor) in front of me, I can either hold it still and record the light values of my subject, or, I can move the canvas around and ‘paint’ the light values of my subject onto the canvas, much like a painter.

How expressive and creative can I be as a painting photographer?

I’d like to demonstrate part of that process.

2. I Head out into the Night: thinking like a painter

With my camera’s sensor as a blank canvas, I headed out on a full moon night to Churn Creek Protected Area, a place where the Fraser River passes by. I’ll share three images I made that night.

Notes on composition & technique: I tried to create a sense of balance by juxtaposing the main compositional elements. The clouds and moon are left of centre while the clear sky and stars are to the right. The dark cliffs are to the left while the partially lit beach is to the right. The two rocks and the moon also provide a sense of balance. The river leads our eye into the picture space as an oblique line from left to right. EOS 5D Mark III; iso 100; 43 sec.; f-3.2; 16-35mm lens; tripod

In the image above, I kept the canvas (sensor) still (on a tripod), allowing the light values of my subject to ‘record’ themselves. It was as if the light values just soaked into the canvas as I held it still. The light values of the river washed through the image during a 43 second exposure.

Notes on composition & technique: With a clear awareness of the shapes based on tonal values, I painted the sensor using camera movement, similar to brush strokes. EOS 5D Mark III; iso 100; 24 sec.; f-4; 24-105mm lens; handheld

 

Notes on composition & technique: described below. EOS 5D Mark III; iso 100; 2 sec.; f-22; 16-35mm lens; handheld

Taking note of the more detailed moon reflections in the water, I once again began to ‘paint’, but this time I used different strokes. I made tight tiny circular strokes. It was as if I had covered the canvas with black paint (the river) and then scratched circular lines with a sharp stylus.

It is now a complete abstract black and white painting.

For the painter, the challenge is to visualize what you can create using different stroke techniques with different colours of paint.

For the photographer, the challenge is to visualize what you can create using different camera moving techniques with the different colour and tonal values of your subject.

It’s challenging, fun, and creative.

3. From Paint Brushes and Pencils: To my camera & blank sensor

 

With our cameras and blank canvases in hand, let’s head out to the grasslands and visit an aspen copse.

We will leave our paint brushes behind!

I made the above photograph as a panorama to show you what aspen copses look like within the context of the grand grassland landscape.

Aspen copse’s are small ecosystems with trembling aspen overstories and shrubby understories. They occur in broad, moist depressions in grassland areas where the soil is generally very rich, due to the large amount of leaf litter that yearly decomposes there.

The four following images were all made at the same copse (one one above) during spring, summer and fall. As we will see, they were all made using different stroke techniques to express different responses to the different compositional elements of colour, tone, form, and texture.

Notes on composition & technique: Made in the very early spring when there was little colour within the understory, but much water from the melted snow pack, I painted this wonderful reflection. The composition is made mostly of vertical lines and horizontal rectangular shapes. EOS 1D Mark II; iso 100; 6 sec.; f-16; 28-70mm lens; tripod

 

Notes on composition & technique: With a rich green understory of early summer grass, I used camera movement to paint the vertical tree lines as abstract shapes. EOS 1D Mark II; iso 100; 1/13 sec.; f-32; 70-200mm lens; handheld

 

Notes on composition & technique: By late fall, both the over and understories of the copse had turned colours. By using a different paint stroke, I once again painted my blank sensor with the variety of colour. EOS 5D Mark III; iso 50; 1/6 sec.; f-22; 28-70mm lens; handheld

This panorama was made to provide a greater sense of understanding of what it feels like to stand within a large aspen copse. You can clearly see the over and understories and the reason why they are a vibrant habitat for bird life and fauna.

4. Another Trip to Farwell Canyon: With painterly ideas!

 

Last month I visited Farwell Canyon, just as the last snow was melting. The moisture and damp drainage lines had turned the clay-like cliffs into a beautiful landscape of tonal patterns. I had never seen the cliffs like this before. They were stunning.

 

By using camera movement at 1/6th second, I once again painted my blank canvas sensor with the cliffs tonal light values. After several attempts, I created the above image that reminded me of the bark at the base of a giant Douglas fir tree.

 

By moving to a different part of Farwell Canyon, and changing to a more telephoto lens, I used the various tones of light to emphasis form.

 

Every time I visit Farwell Canyon and the grasslands, the visual storyline is different. On this particular day, the story was about melting snow, water, drainage, patterns, and form.

To end the story, I conclude with an abstract river image. It is where most of the melt water ends up. Those snowflakes have done their job; they have fed the grasslands with moisture and the excess is now on its way to the great Salish Sea, the Pacific Ocean. In time, those snowflakes will return.

5. Sleeping under the Lunar Eclipse: A night to remember
On April 14th, there was a ‘blood red’ lunar eclipse, and wanting to photograph it, I gave considerable thought to how and where to do so.

I knew I wanted to provide a sense of place, visibly located in the Cariboo Chilcotin. By using pencil and paper, and a technique I teach in my workshops, I sketched out several possibilities. By late afternoon, I made my decision, and headed off to Churn Creek Protected Area, about a two hour drive from where I live.

 

Soon after arriving at the confluence of Churn Creek and the Fraser River, the full moon appeared over the mid-Fraser Canyon walls. Wanting another element beyond the moon reflection on the Fraser River, I lowered my tripod, put on a wide angle lens (shot at 32mm), and included a sandbar in the foreground. I lit it with my Maglight flashlight, and to accentuate the sand ripples, I shone the light from a very low angle.

 

To make the composition I planned at home, I moved over to where Churn Creek emptied into the Fraser. I set up my tripod so that the moonlight would reflect off both bodies of water, creating two dynamic lines.

My goal was to create a multiple exposure, capturing a series of moon exposures that extended from white moons, to red moons, and back to white moons. I didn’t quite get what I wanted, as clouds moved in before the eclipse was complete. I was hoping for about five more moons!

It is difficult to see the full redness of the moon in
the size of image shown above, so I am including the photograph I made
with my second camera body and 400mm lens below. You can see Mars to the right
of the moon.

 

 

6. Gallery News: Bowron Lake guide book now reprinted & available
Important Notice:
The Bowron Lakes: A Guide to Paddling British Columbia’s Wilderness Canoe Circuit
ISBN # 0968521665        Price: $19.95

The Bowron Lake canoe guide book has been updated, reprinted and is now available.

Orders are now being taken over the phone and through this website.