I’ve just added some new fly fishing images to my portfolio. I love working with great subjects, and Mark is one of the best. He’s incredibly comfortable in front of the camera, has a great sense of humor, an authentic look, and he’s a real fisherman to boot.
Photographers love to talk about gear and lighting, and heady concepts like the “decisive moment”. They very rarely talk about production value. But the truth is, production value – shorthand for all the work that goes on behind the scenes to create a photograph – is far more important in commercial photography. It’s the difference between a stunning photojournalistic image and great commercial image. The first is a found image, a captured moment, while the second is a created image, a produced moment. Understanding the difference, and learning how to produce, is key to success in commercial photography.
But learning how to produce well isn’t easy. It’s a hidden art that has to be learned through experience – either your own or someone else’s. One of the ways to learn about lighting, for example, is to deconstruct well-lit images by studying where the light and shadows fall. The same can’t be done for production.
Take these these two images:
Similar feel; big difference in production value. Read More
Lake Victoria, Kenya
Vancouver, British Columbia
Sea of Cortez, Mexico
Blue Lagoon, Iceland
Since mountain bike season is here, I thought I’d post some images from a recent shoot on Vancouver’s North Shore trails. There has been a lot of focus on how extreme and hairy these trails are. But what often gets overlooked is the sheer beauty of the forest surrounding them. It’s pure coastal rainforest, with towering evergreens, incredibly thick blankets of moss, and huge ferns sprouting from the creekbeds. These shots are from CBC, a popular technical trail high up on Seymour Mountain. Ddespite having ridden the trail dozens of times myself, I have to admit that I never noticed the huge stands of old growth cedars. I suppose I was busy trying to stay on my bike.
Shooting action on the shore is challenging: it’s almost always dark because of the thick canopy of evergreens and it can be difficult to get to the best trails on foot. Using strobes is the best solution, but this time I wanted to try and capture the natural light that filters through. Shooting with the Nikon D3 made that possible for the first time, as the camera can produce clean images at very high ISO settings. Big thanks to my riders, Chris Cook, Mike Ware, and Dean Bartlett for their willingness to sacrifice precious riding time to help me create these images.
Just wrapped up shooting for Tourism British Columbia and Whistler-Blackcomb during the games here in Whistler. Can’t show the stuff from the shoot yet, but this is what Whistler Village looked like after yesterday’s gold medal hockey game. Blue Rodeo on the stage.
Over 40 pounds of elephant tusk. These were removed from a carcass killed by poachers, but left behind as they fled the rangers.
I just posted a new gallery to my site. I spent a week this summer embedded with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers in Tsavo West National Park. As drought and political issues tax Kenya’s people, the wildlife, particularly the black rhino and elephants, are being slaughtered by a resurgence of poaching. Ivory and rhino horn are worth a lot of money on the black market, providing a healthy income for those willing to take the risk. And with few other ways to earn enough money to feed their families, it easy to see the temptation. Complex issue. Nonetheless, the rangers in Tsavo are doing an amazing job of protecting the animals and their habitat. They are out in the park on foot, tracking rhinos, looking for poaching camps, and studying the wildlife populations. Many thanks to Danny Woodley, park warden, for helping facilitate my shoot. The full gallery can be found here. I’ve posted a few photos from the gallery below with added captions detailing some of the story behind the shot.
This is not a paperweight. It is a spike that poachers use to kill rhinos. What they do is take dozens of them, lace the tips with poison and then hide them along rhino trails. Then they lay in wait for a animal to step on the spike and slowly die.
The rhino's sharp teeth leave easily identifiable freshly cut twigs in their droppings.
Herding the buffalo via helicopter out of the 70-square-kilometer rhino sanctuary. The team moved 400 buffalo that day and then put the fence back up. It was one of the largest relocation operation in the park to date.
Kenya is home to some of the most friendly and open-hearted people I’ve ever met.
More faces after the jump.
KAP Motion – Fly Fishing
I’ve been working for awhile with the Canon 5D II on some interesting video projects. I’m really enjoying the experience of being able to tell stories with moving and still images, and sound. Here’s the first video from a recent fly fishing shoot on location in British Columbia. Enjoy!
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