Tag: <span>31 Days</span>

Published October 26, 2017 by

Experiment with Your Flash

Avard Woolaver, flash, snow,
© Avard Woolaver

Experiment with Your Flash (Day 26 of 31)

My experience has been that it’s useful to play around with the flash in all sorts of different circumstances; experimenting with it can lead to surprising outcomes. The past few winters I’ve used it a lot to capture snowfall, and I’ve been really pleased with how some of these photos have turned out.

I’ve gotten good results at twilight, when the sky is sort of an indigo blue. The flash stops the snowflakes and makes them show up really clearly, and the air itself is revealed to be three-dimensional. It can be a beautiful effect. It’s so rare that we can see air as something that takes up actual space; with some of the snowflake shots, empty air is given a foreground, middle ground, and background.

Some of the snow-with-flash photos I like best are taken in my yard, and others are in a little patch of woods on a hill at the top of my yard. Snowflakes among the trees at twilight are a very peaceful sight.

Experimenting with your flash is a great way to play around with your camera. You can see what happens when you’re shooting up close, or focusing on a distant object; in all kinds of different lighting conditions. At least a few will end up being pleasant surprises that teach you something unexpected.

(For the month of October 2017, I’m participating in the 31 Days bloggers’ challenge. You can find out about it here, and check out the interesting work other bloggers are posting.)

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31 Days Avard Woolaver flash

Published October 25, 2017 by

Watch the Clouds and Sky

sky, clouds. Avard Woolaver,
© Avard Woolaver

Watch the Clouds and Sky (Day 25 of 31)

The sky is the limit. If we’re not hurrying at any given minute, then we tend to be preoccupied with whatever thoughts are passing through our minds. Rarely are we moving around during our days, practicing mindfulness.

Surely one of the most profound joys of taking photos is that it anchors us in the moment and switches our senses back on. (Of course, it’s a common experience to get so caught up in taking your photo that you’re not really experiencing the moment as a participant. Photographers walk a fine line.)

Think of the difference between the verbs “look” and “watch.” Both mean to observe something closely. “Watch,” however, implies an additional layer of attention–that of observing something over time. You can look at something for an instant and look away again; if you’re watching, you stay there for a while, seeing what moves or changes or develops.

In my own life, I’ve noticed that one of my few times of watching the sky is while I’m driving, when it’s easy to see how clouds are drifting and changing shape. Most of the time I see a cloud as a static object rather than as something that’s constantly in motion.

I’m trying to devote a little time here and there to watching the sky. Taking pictures of it reminds me that I have a reason to be doing this, and that it’s something I do find worthwhile. When you’re outside watching things, you’re making good use of your time. It may not be dramatic or important, but it’s meaningful.

(For the month of October 2017, I’m participating in the 31 Days bloggers’ challenge. You can find out about it here, and check out the interesting work other bloggers are posting.)

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31 Days Avard Woolaver clouds sky

Published October 24, 2017 by

Change Is a Funny Thing

change, Toronto skyline, 1982
Toronto Skyline, 1982                     © Avard Woolaver

Change Is a Funny Thing (Day 24 of 31)

Change is a funny thing; you can’t know what will matter to you in the years to come. When I look back at photos I took in previous decades, I find so many elements, sometimes just small features of the background, that strike me now in ways they couldn’t have when I took the photo.

For example, I spent years roaming around Toronto, taking street photos. Many of these show stores and businesses that have long since vanished; others have become iconic. Buildings have been taken down, and others put up in their place. Gas in the 1980s, I’m reminded, cost 45 cents a liter. Fashion was so different; cars were huge.

Moreover, as you age, your priorities shift so much (or at least mine have). Family photos that never used to seem special or remarkable in any way may turn out to have my only shot of a certain cousin or aunt. Places I’d forgotten about are suddenly in front of me again.

My experience has been that it’s difficult or impossible to predict these outcomes. I don’t know what I’ll see when I look back at pictures I haven’t studied in a long time. All I know is that there are certain to be surprises.

(For the month of October 2017, I’m participating in the 31 Days bloggers’ challenge. You can find out about it here, and check out the interesting work other bloggers are posting.)

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31 Days Avard Woolaver change

Published October 23, 2017 by

With a Pet, Try for Candid Shots

Avard Woolaver, pet, cat,
© Avard Woolaver

With a Pet, Try for Candid Shots (Day 23 of 31)

Pet portraits are so tricky, especially when the pets are young and energetic (i.e., at probably their cutest stage), that I’ve found it helpful to try to get good candid shots rather than convince a pet to sit still and pose.

This has been especially true with my family’s cat, who is, of course, obstinate and full of very definite ideas of her own. Cats aren’t amenable to persuasion. They don’t care if you want them to sit charmingly in a certain place. Far better, it seems, to go about your daily business with the thought in the back of your mind, I want to remember to get a nice photo of her when I have a chance. It may take a couple of weeks, but eventually things will coalesce: lighting, angle, pose, expression, and your readiness. (If you’re doing it for some sort of project with a definite timeframe—say, making calendars for family members’ gifts—make sure you start early!)

Dogs are more inclined to try to please you, but they’re no more able to understand just what you want. If they could interpret your instructions (“Bailey, don’t move your tail! Stay right there! Look a little bit to your left!”), they’d be glad to comply. Here again, my experience has been that a happier outcome tends to arise from putting myself in the path of the serendipitous good shot than from having a certain setup in mind ahead of time—even when I’m photographing an eager-to-please pet.

When the light is good and your pet is in a suitable mood, be ready. You may have to take a lot of photos over time to get a few that seem to capture something of your beloved animal’s essence and personality, but that’s okay. Stick with it, and eventually you’ll have a photo that speaks to you at some extraordinary level. Yes, you’ll think, that’s exactly what I wanted to show.

(For the month of October 2017, I’m participating in the 31 Days bloggers’ challenge. You can find out about it here, and check out the interesting work other bloggers are posting.)

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31 Days Avard Woolaver cat pet

Published October 22, 2017 by

Photographing Snow Is Really Photographing Wind

Avard Woolaver, snow, winter,
© Avard Woolaver

Photographing Snow Is Really Photographing Wind (Day 22 of 31)

There are different ways to photograph snow. One of the most interesting is when it’s blowing. When fine granules are blowing across a road or roof, or over the ground, it’s one of the few ways you can see the shape of the wind.

Smoke and clouds give us ways to “see” wind sometimes, as do sandstorms. But smoke and clouds move somewhat differently from the way snow does. (I imagine sand blows around more the way snow does, but I have never seen a sandstorm.)

The phenomenon I’m talking about is one illustrators use, as well as photographers. You see it in, for example, children’s picture books about snowfalls: the snow curling and eddying, blown about by the wind.

In eastern Canada, where I live, it’s not time yet for the first snowfall of the season. That’s not the case in parts of the country that deal with a lot more of it than we do here; the North is already seeing snow on the ground. For the rest of the country, it’s partly something to be dreaded and partly just a simple fact of life. Doing whatever we can to enjoy it more—like getting out to photograph it—makes the long winter more bearable.

(For the month of October 2017, I’m participating in the 31 Days bloggers’ challenge. You can find out about it here, and check out the interesting work other bloggers are posting.)

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31 Days Avard Woolaver snow winter