Return

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

The leaves in my part of the world have turned “brown and down” as the saying goes…meaning that the colour is gone and gravity has taken its toll. It is a sign that autumn is nearing its end and that winter is approaching.  That, too, signals a return to BW for the majority of my imagery.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

There is a stark, elemental elegance in BW photography…

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

one that colour just cannot duplicate.

It was just over four years ago that I was laying in a bed staring at the ceiling and contemplating several life decisions.  One was that going forward the majority of my photographic work was going to be in BW.

Over time, that particular decision has certainly worked out as intended.

Be safe and well. 

 

Thanksgiving 2020

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

2020 has been a perfectly horrid year filled with far too much outrage, pain, and grief. There have been many social and environmental issues that have both taken and continue to take a tremendous toll on the global citizenry-Somalia is being hit with a deluge of a cyclone as this is being edited. Over the course of the year, many have incurred losses from which to try and re-build. With that firmly in mind, it is important to assess that for which one can be thankful. Gratitude can very much be a counterbalance to loss-assuming one is ready to make that adjustment.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

At the top of my gratitude list would be my personal health (with some caveats) and that of my family members and friends.  This is most certainly due to the respect given to COVID-19 and strict adherence to the protocols regarding mask-wearing and social distancing.  I have also been able to continue my primary employment, with a few COVID-inspired changes.  Within the limits imposed by the pandemic, I have also been able to continue my photographic/videographic work, which includes the imagery used in this blog.  While there has been a necessary change in some of the subject matter, and certainly a restriction in the places visited, I have been able to continue creating.   That brings me to the final point, I am thankful for those who visit this work.  It is appreciated.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

In my particular case, being grateful does not equate to being optimistic.  The ending of 2020 will not immediately resolve the damage done.  For example, COVID-19 remains so largely unchecked in the U.S. due to the abject failure by so many to take it seriously or the perception that mask-wearing is a violation of personal rights.  With the major holidays coming, which could very well produce super-spreader events, it will be quite awhile until this situation stabilizes.  The emergence of vaccines will not magically make the pandemic go away, either; especially if the polls indicating the percentage of Americans who will not get the vaccine are indicative of the true sentiment.  Moreover, the manner by which the pandemic has been politicized to further deepen the divides between people has been quite disheartening.  

One must remain realistic.

Enough about that, though (for now).

This is where personal health and image-creation overlap.  Physically, I am able to get out into the field.  Even with limitations and restrictions, I can make do.  Being outside and breathing the air; feeling the coldness of the rocks; watching the fluidity of the water; and hearing the crunch of leaves underfoot creates its own bubble of mental goodness.  The grinding stress that comes from actively engaging in the social issues of the day dissipates for a bit. 

This is meaningful.

Gratitude is important.

I wish to all who celebrate a safe, healthy, and Happy Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

 

Quiet

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

The current issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine, their annual B&W issue, contains an article by John Sexton-his work is definitely worth a look as he is a master of the B&W print.

The photograph above is clearly not B&W. It does, though, exemplify one of Mr. Sexton’s principles-that of “quiet light”. It was made early on a damp, foggy, morning. There was a bit of chill in the air as well. This provides the perfect conditions for an enveloping, caressing, kind of light that rewards the photographer and viewer with colour (in this case).

The fog and overcast sky are between the sun and the field, which creates the diffusion. Therefore, the sunlight spreads as if it were a blanket and evenly lights the entire scene. On a clear day, the sun would provide a very strong, direct type of light-one characterized by highlights and shadows, that can be quite brash. There is none of that here. Quiet light.

It was a good morning to be out…socially distanced and masked as the current times warrant.

Please be safe and well.

Choices

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Right now, there are so many choices to be made…some are more clear than others. Some less serious than others. The one discussed herein can fall into both categories depending on one’s perceptions.

This post addresses the issue of using BW or colour as a photographic platform.  With digital, this is quite convenient, as one can switch between the two as needed or desired.  When using film, it was a bit more complicated…one either had to finish the roll and then make the switch, or carry two bodies-one with the BW film of choice, the other with the colour film of choice.  (I did that for years.)  Doing the latter often also meant subtle changes in composition unless photographing from a tripod.  It also might have meant slight variations in exposure as nature can be quite fleeting-the sun could dip behind some clouds, for example.  With digital photography, a change in palette can be made relatively quickly with the press of a button, a spin of a wheel, or a dive into the menu system.  Perhaps it is not so much more convenient…

With all of that in mind, fall is a season dominated by colour.  Pleasing B&W images can certainly be made, and it is beneficial to be familiar with how filtration can be used to adjust the tones.  For example, medium red and medium green in a BW photograph would be rendered as the same shade of grey-no differentiation.  A red filter would lighten the red and darken the green.  A green filter would do the opposite.  This is a key concept if one wants to render the fall “colour” in this manner.  Readers of this blog will note that for the past bunch of years, the preponderance of images have been in BW-that was the main reason for my switch to digital in the first place.  The pull to use colour, though, returns with fall. 

First, an example of where I think the BW image is superior:

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Colour really adds nothing to this composition.  It is about light and shadow, texture, line, shape, and form.  All of that is made more readily apparent in the BW image.  The colour is a distraction.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Now, scroll back and forth between this pair of images.  What do you think?  You can make the same argument for the BW version instead of the colour version; however, adding colour does fulfill that dimension, perhaps expected, for this time of year.

This is also a false dichotomy…there is no reason one has to choose one over the other.  Both can be embraced as needed.  I simply made a few adjustments in camera for these.

Get outdoors when possible. 

Stay safe and well.

NOTE:  As a reminder, all of the content in this blog is copyrighted.  Please do not use without expressed, written permission.

 

Parking

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

It is quite useful to carry a camera when out and about as one cannot be sure what will be found.  Even if a “real” camera (yes, I am showing my bias) is not used, the built-in camera of any phone is often readily available.  It also happens to be smaller and lighter than almost any other camera rig, which makes it very convenient.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

When in parking lots, I often look to see what photographs can be made from where I am sitting-this is a way to hone one’s compositional eye.  Using a zoom lens makes this a bit easier as the field-of-view and subsequent composition can be expanded or contracted depending on the focal length used.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

This exercise also applies when using a fixed focal length (a lens with a single focal length-often referred to as a “prime” lens).  If I am using only one prime, it is usually a 35mm focal length as it is very versatile-as such, it is one of the (historically) standard focal lengths used by photojournalists.

Be safe and well.

Expected…and Unexpected

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

There was a decent rain last night, so the morning was cool, damp, and a bit foggy.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Given those conditions, it seemed to be a good morning to be near some water.  The sound of running water can be quite relaxing and, given the front page of today’s New York Times, it was nice to have a moment to literally step away from the news of the day.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Look carefully at the photo just above.  See anything unusual?  Sometimes I deliberately look for trash…in most cases, it is not hard to find (see below).  At other times, especially when I am searching for different subject matter or a different experience, my brain completely disregards what is there-this is a form of selective attention.  For the photograph just above, I was intent on getting the desired composition, which required some artful footwork on slippery roots and rocks.  Once in place, and with the exposure dialed, that image was made.  It was not until I was processing the image that the whitish rectangle at the lower left was noticed…nature does not do such shapes.   From a photographic perspective, there are two points to be made here:  One, once you have your composition, look away from the camera for an instant to clear your head-in other words, turn off the “creative” brain.  Then, look again with the “critical” brain.  (As an important aside, please read this.) Is there anything in the composition that is not wanted?  Two, work the scene with multiple compositions.  I had used a slightly different camera position for some earlier shots, one of which is the second image posted above, which does not include the offending rectangle.  Given that I was not looking for trash this morning, I was glad to have the tighter composition-that is more representative of my feeling at the time, and for what I was looking.  I guess a third point would be that the image could  be cropped to remove the offending object…but get it “right” in camera.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Back to the walk…I continued on until reaching another of my favourite places for photographing running water.  I have photographed this scene many, many times as I like getting a touch of rock in the foreground to anchor the image, while still extending into the distance toward the soft, foggy, light.  The slow shutter speed blurred the rushing water. Quite nice.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

What was not so nice was the trash left behind by others.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

It also seems to have been a rough few days for sunglasses…

The conclusion?  It is useful to find ways to relax amid this stressful, stressful time.  Sometimes that also means, literally and figuratively, looking past that which is annoying so as to not spoil the moment.

Be safe and well.

Follow-Up

2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

This is the same tulip from the previous post.  Being in the warmer indoors allowed the flower to fully open.  I will also photograph it once it, too, begins to fade.

This is another metaphor.  With regard to news, it is helpful to follow a story throughout to its natural conclusion.  Too often, once the splash of the headlines fade, the story is forgotten.  With regard to virology, once the pandemic ends, interest in the bug responsible (mostly) evaporates-at least for the general public, politicians, and pharmaceutical companies.  Such appears to be the case with coronaviruses-SARS and MERS preceded COVID-19.  The New Yorker published this, which provides a more detailed history of how such viruses work and the efforts to develop treatment protocols to address them.  The final paragraph of the article, a quote from Dr. David Ho, encapsulates the point.

Please be safe and well.

Storytelling

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

Storytelling is essential to any culture.  This is one way to convey the history and traditions of a group from one generation to the next.  The questions become, which stories to tell?  From which perspective? What is embellished, and what is removed? What is the point?

There are many stories from which to spin from the photograph above.  What do you see?  Does the day, date, and time make a difference?  It is certainly does capture a reality, but is it also a metaphor?  If so, of what?

From a purely photographic standpoint, why this particular composition?  Why B&W?

Take care and be well.

Staying Indoors?

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

One of the true advantages of photography is the extremely wide variety of subject matter.  That is complemented by a similar wide variety in the manner by which to present those subjects.  The above could be considered a “studio portrait”.  A single flower was placed in a small vase, which was wrapped in black fabric, and then set against a black background (a fleece jacket).  That the flower is white provided the desired contrast.  The equivalent of a 75mm focal length lens was used.  A small LED light was held to the upper left (from the photographer’s perspective) and slightly above and in front of the flower.  The shadow would have fallen to the right and behind the flower were it visible.  Setting the black point in Photoshop smoothed-out the background.

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

This is the same flower.  However, I added a close-up diopter to the same lens to allow for a closer point of focus.  The other major change, obviously, is the lighting.  This time, I held the same small LED behind the flower (“backlighting”), which is quite nice for the production of a dramatic effect.

A bunch of years ago, I used to teach a number of photography courses-one of which dealt with macro photography.  The capstone assignment for that class was to make a photograph of something found in the refrigerator; however, any object from any room could be used.

This is a nice, contemplative, way to spend some time.

Take care.

Creation

Copyright 2020 Kevin P. Mick Photography. All rights reserved.

A photograph for a chilly, damp, overcast late January day.

One of the advantages of photography is the ability to create a feeling, a mood.  The ability to set the parameters is completely under the photographer’s control when making a still life.  Everything, from subject selection to the lighting, can be modified to suit the desired image.

Take care