#946 – New adventures? – iPhone photo

Posted on May 15, 2013 by admin

Soooo, I am looking at iPhones, mostly to assist work.

Not so much for client photography but to support blog work, Facebook and other promotion work. I get tired of pulling out the big (lovely) cameras and going through the whole production needed to get a photo on Facebook, etc.

I DON’T love the techy-tech of photography and I usually a bit behind the leading edge (for good reason! – cheaper and early bugs often get resolved by the second generation.)

What’s your experience with Smartphone photography?

Update… I did it. iPhone. Now I am learning. Can’t wait for Blair Gable’s Smartphone Photo Safari.

Smartphone photography course - © Blair Gable

#945 – From the Web – Photo Distractions

Posted on May 12, 2013 by admin

Some more photo fun from the web this week…

• Simplicity
Read about Peter Belanger. Who’s he? He shoots many of the amazingly simple (and beautiful) product shots for Apple.

• British Copyright Law Angers Photographers
Read about new British Legislation that changes copyright protection.

Photo Tip #167 – Take time to see. It’s amazing what’s right in front of your camera if you take time to look!

• Photo Tips Website Update
Almost a year ago we started posting Photo Tips and other tidbits on our Photo Facebook Page.

People have asked about the tips and if there’s a place they can all be seen more easily. Soon!
We hope to launch a site in the next two weeks. Stay tuned…

#943 – Music Photo Contest – Send in your best shots!

Posted on May 6, 2013 by admin

This week we announced the John Rowlands’ Music Photography Exhibition at Ottawa Studio Works.

Today we’re very happy to announce (and invite you to) Best Music Photo Contest.

Enter your best shots from any music event:
• Crowd shots
• Performers
• Musical Instruments
… anything related to music. We want to see your bet shots!

Vote for your favourite shots. Encourage your friends to vote. You can vote every day!

Music photography contest

The Prize

On May 25th the person with the most votes will get a free print of their photo to be hung at the John Rowlands Music Exhibition.

That’s right, your photo could hang alongside John Rowlands’ portraits of some of the biggest icons of Rock & Roll history!

Music photography contest

Details:
• Visit the Music Photo Contest (based on the Facebook platform)
• Click on the camera symbol (top right)
• Like the page and register
• Upload up to three photos
• Vote like crazy (you can vote every day)
• Encourage your friends to vote, too!

Exhibition Details:
Saturday, June 8th, 2013
noon-9pm (approximately)
Ottawa Studio Works;
160 Preston St., Ottawa

Fine Print
The winning photo will be contacted – a large and suitable digital file will be needed to produce the exhibition photo. To enter you must be the owner of the copyright and have rights to post the photos! We reserve the right to remove photos that do not honour these rights! You authorize Harry Nowell Photography Inc. to use your photo to promote the contest and exhibition – you retain full copyright of your photo.

Enter and vote soon.
Vote often!

#942 – Announcing the Music Photography Exhibition of John Rowlands!

Posted on May 5, 2013 by admin

David Bowie - © John Rowlands

Last year we ran our second Music Photography show at the studio. I was contacted by John Rowlands about his music work.

As I learned about the sheer depth of his work my jaw continued to drop! It seems he has photographed EVERYBODY in rock and roll with any significance.

Rolling Stones
Beatles
Bob Dylan
Elton John
James Brown
BeeGees
David Bowie
Elvis Presly
etc, etc, etc.

Bob Marley © John Rowlands

John’s music career started from humble beginnings:
“John Rowlands, a 13 year old teenager who lived in a part of Ottawa called ‘Manor Park’ was a big fan of the popular recording artist, Brenda Lee. With an advance on his 10 cents a week allowance, money made from his 77 drop morning paper route, and cash made from helping the local milkman he bought a ticket to the Brenda Lee Show. Sensing that it was a long shot that she might ever be his girlfriend he took along his father’s camera, a single roll of film and 12 very large flash bulbs…”

And his career grew quickly from there! John has just returned from a show at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London featuring his portraits of David Bowie.

Jimi Hendrix © John Rowlands

And soon he will be featuring his work at our photo studio – Ottawa Studio Works. It’s a one day show highlighting some of John’s fabulous work.

Details:
Saturday, June 8th, 2013
noon-9pm (approximately)
Ottawa Studio Works;
160 Preston St.

John’s prints will be exhibited and available for sale!

Jackson 5 © John Rowlands

We will be collecting donations for the Ottawa Food Bank, too!

Ottawa Food Bank

Stay tuned for the Music Online Photo Contest where we ask you to enter and vote for your favourite music shots, ever. The most liked photo will have a chance to be exhibited alongside John’s work at the studio – details coming this week!

Pete Townshend © John Rowlands

#940 Online Photo Course “Slow Photo” Results

Posted on May 1, 2013 by admin

Last month’s challenge on the Online Photo Class was “Slow Photos.”
Members were asked to shoot at slow shutter speeds of 1 second or longer. That’s tough – just try it! Much of the time it’s hard to even shoot at one second because there’s too much light.

Members, as usual, wow-ed me with their creative ideas. They took the info and lessons I presented in the weekly material sent via email, web and private Facebook forum and created some beauty!

Better photos through the Online Photo Program! © Don Douglas

Online photo members enjoyed it, too!

“I’m not sure why it took me so long to come aboard, I knew about this ages ago. I was certainly in a funk with photography and now feel inspired to shoot again.

I enjoyed the informative critique video very much and learned a lot through that review and exercise. I’m glad I signed up for this online program. Look forward to more…”
G.R. April

Slow photography - Online Photo Class!

“I had a couple of main goals when I signed up – have fun, actually get out and shoot, enjoy the process.

So far all of these goals have been fully met… I have been out shooting more in the last two months than in the year before that!”
A.G. April

“Once again a fun challenge with lots of learnings. I particularly enjoyed experimenting with light painting.”
M.M., April

Join us for “Fast Photos” in May.

Slow photo challenge - © Allan Cameron

#939 Creative Fundamentals Photo Workshop – Classic Course Results

Posted on April 28, 2013 by admin

Our longest running, most frequently run and well-loved photo class is Creative Fundamentals. We started it in 2001 and tweaked the curriculum as the course grew.

It’s popular because:
1. digital photography, for many people, is scary with too many buttons, menus and complications!
2. before photography, I was trained to teach people and develop curriculum in outdoor sports like alpine, tele, xc skiing and paddling while helping people achieve their goals.
3. I’ve learned to take scary ideas and convey them simply!

Creative Fundamentals Photo Workshop © Liz R.

Scary to beautifulness!
Last week we finished April’s Creative Fundamentals course. It was a fun group. As usual, many people arrived a little nervous and somewhat confused about all the buttons on their cameras.

By the end of the course people were smiling and producing beautifulness!! What they said:
• “I wasn’t sure that I learned much on the first class (theory) but the exercises (exposure, histograms) were a big breakthrough for me…” (ahem – see point 3 above!)

• “I got far more out of this course than ever expected!”

• “I feel much more comfortable with the concept of exposure… Money very well spent.”

• “The best part? The One-on-One opportunities to get feedback from Harry.”

Next Creative Fundamentals Course Opportunity!
Join the next Creative Fundamentals group class on September 25, 28, Oct 2, 2013.
Can’t wait that long?! Take Creative Fundamentals almost anytime as a Custom Course.

#938 – From the Web – Photo Distractions

Posted on April 26, 2013 by admin

A big thanks to our blog readers, Facebook followers and photo class students who provided some fun links for this edition of “Photo Fun” from the web.

Classic Significant Cameras from the Last 125 Years
First up this week is a very fun look at “landmark cameras” starting waaaaaay back. Have a look at the list:
• How many have you owned?
• How many do you still have?
• How many have you used recently?Thanks to Murielle C for sharing!

NYC in photos from 100 years ago
Now we see some NYC photos from long, long ago. Amazing to see. Thanks to Ken B for sharing!

Relentless = Success
We head to Vancouver this time for an article on improving writing (applies to photo) skills through relentlessness! Thanks, Daphne, for what you do!

Classic Cars in New Ads
Finally, we saw some fun adstargeting photos of classic cars. Fun! Thanks to Lois and Diane for sending us the links!

Friday’s Photographer Round-up
It’s Friday and that means we feature fun work of area photographers on our photo studio blog.

#936 Online Photo Program Progress

Posted on April 21, 2013 by admin

Today is the deadline for photo submissions for our online photo program‘s critique coming out later this week.

Slow Photos
This month’s challenge was “slow photos” where we instructed members to:
1. Slow down, creatively, and take time to consume the possibilities.
2. Slow down the shutter speed to ONE second or slower.
… That’s a tough challenge – especially for daytime shooting.

Waterfalls?
And I thought I would see tons of silky waterfalls. We have received some beautiful waterfalls but am happy to see the creative ideas coming through (stay tuned for photos.)

‘Point & Click’ to ‘Beautiful’
Last week’s lesson included a video to members with some last minute ideas and the process of creative photography. We showed the process from “point & click” to “beautiful” – see two photos from the same waterfall below.

Point and click...

Comments this month:
• “Thank you very much for last week’s video. It was just what I needed to hear!”
• “Once again a fun challenge with lots of learnings.”
• “Thank you Harry. It has been a very fun and inspiring challenge… now I can think about it and set the camera up properly for the shot! From waterfalls to night shots, they are lots of fun.”

... or beautiful slow photos.

Join us for next month for a new, faster challenge.

#936 From the Web – Prime Photo Tips

Posted on April 19, 2013 by admin

Almost a year ago we started posting photo tips on our Photo Facebook page. Below are some recent tips to help your spring shooting!

Photo Tip #151 – Add a hint of motion to make your photos soar.
Below are two photos. Which photo do you prefer?

Frozen Motion - fast shutter speed

Photo Tip #149 – Your camera is secondary to your photo skills and vision. Invest wisely!

Photo Tip #148 Keep your eye on the sky. What kind of lighting do you want for your photos?
• Full sun vibrancy
• Beautifully soft diffused light from clouds or
• The contrast of diffused light from the shade of a tree with a blown out background from the effects of full sun.
Be aware of the quality of light – it’ll make a huge difference to your photos!

Hint of Motion - slow shutter speed and tripod

Photo Tip #144 – Embed keywords in your photos to avoid:
“Who’s that friend (in the photo) we skied with way back in 2013?!”

Photo Tip #143 – Create photos in your mind as you walk. It’ll help your creative process.

Photo Tip #141 – Never delete bad photos.
Why?
1. There may be some value discovered later (ask about the first photos of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and the only photog who didn’t (couldn’t) delete the photos because he was still shooting on film.)
2. Memory is cheaper than time. When you are in the field it’s better to spend your time looking for what you can shoot – missed moments are expensive.
3. You can often learn from the mistakes if you investigate what went wrong!

Want more tips?
Like our Facebook page!