Category: Photography

My Photographic Journey – Part 2

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography
Having purchased my Olympus OM-10, I embarked on a journey which still fascinates me to this day, although that journey has morphed in time, as you will find out much later…
The OM-10 came with a Manual Adapter. I was assured by the salesperson that this allowed me full Manual control. I was to find out later, that this was not true. My first lesson learnt as far as ‘gear’ was concerned…
I started to photograph all sorts of things. I remember driving out on a country road and seeing a small pile of rubbish on the side of the road and saw light reflecting off some beer bottles. I stopped, I photographed. Aiming the camera, I continued to photograph flowers, birds, buildings, insects, cars, people, parades, musical instruments and basically whatever came in front of my lens.
Books and magazines were my main sources of learning. Back in 1982 there was no Internet so the newsagent, bookstores and library were ‘our Internet’ if you like.
Early on I took prints and had them processed at the local camera store or chemist and they would take 1-3 days to be ready. Sounds strange now, in the Digital Age.
In 1983 I purchased an LPL 3310D Student Black & White Enlarger and jumped into this strange, but exciting world of Black and White developing and printing. My early attempts (I still have them) at photographing and developing black and white images were, in a word, woeful. I could really achieve a really good muddy grey…
Basically, I needed help but didn’t know where I might find it…and started to concentrate more on colour prints, taking a lot of different subjects, and enjoyed taking the camera on bush walks, to functions and continued finding things to photograph. By this time, I had added an Olympus OM-1n (a truly Manual camera) and some additional lenses to my bag, plus a tripod, filters etc.
This continued on until mid 1986 when I saw an ad for ‘Campbelltown Camera Club’ at the local Camera store.
In May 1986 I attended a couple of meetings and joined in June 1986 and my life changed forever…

My Photographic Journey – Part 1

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

People find their paths into Photography in many different ways.

For some it is by virtue as a camera as a present; others are enticed by one of their peers; some choose it as a career.

Many years ago (while I was at school) I was building Airfix model plane kits and I used to stick them to fishing wire that I had strung across my bedroom. If you were taller than say 6 feet/185cm, you had a problem…

I then thought how cool would it be to photograph them so I bought some blue cardboard, held it up in the background and fired off some shots with a Kodak Instamatic camera (110 negative) size to try to make it look like they were flying.

Throughout my youth I used to take photos (on a couple of different cameras) on the Kodak Instamatic, an old Box Brownie or a Polaroid Instant Film camera. The photography bug was ‘nibbling me’ though at that stage it had not ‘bitten’ me.

When I was 19 (1982), the Family moved to Leumeah (60km SW of Sydney, NSW, Australia), and not really knowing many people in the area my brother & I joined a Church Youth Social Club.

We had so much fun on the outings, picnics etc I decided it was time to buy a better camera, a Canon AF35M Autofocus compact camera, purely to record the fun times we were having.

The camera lens had a thread on the end and I enquired what that was for? Question answered but the salesman said you could do much more with an SLR. ‘A what’ was my response…?

That day in 1982 my world changed forever and for good! I started saving for my first SLR, an Olympus OM-10.

The real journey had begun…

Joadja, Thank You For The Inspiration!

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography, Stories From Life

Over the years, I have visited Joadja Creek, which is an old Shale mining town in the Southern Highlands of NSW Australia.

I had been down there 3 times before dating back to the 1980’s however I had not been20140926-img_5656-1 there for some 12 years when I ventured down there in 2014.

Although some restorative work is taking place with some of the roofs, Joadja is largely how I remembered it, a place of history, an ornament to the Scottish part of our heritage and a wonderful place to let the mind relax.

20140926-img_5588-1

In the past I had gone down there with just photography in mind however this time around was a bit different. This time I took my camera, my iPad and my pencils.

The camera to capture the place photographically, the iPad to capture it in words and pencils to do some sketching.

Included here are some of the images I took and I also have included a link to a previous post on this blog, where you will see a poem I wrote about Joadja when I was down there sitting amongst the ruins…     20140926-img_5604-1

If you do find yourself on the area, drop in for a visit. It is a place that will capture both the historian and the artist in you.

Written by David Johnson
December 2016

https://communicatingcreatively.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/solitary-moments/

For further information about Joadja, click on the link below:
http://www.joadjatown.com.au/about.html

20140926-img_5642-1
20140926-img_5683-1

20140926-img_5567-1

 

State Of Mind

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

When you go out to photograph, what ‘state of mind’ are you in?

Do you go out with an idea in mind, or do you ‘free-wheel?’

Both approaches are valid, depending on what you want to achieve. I have to say that for many years I would either pick a subject e.g. I might choose to photograph a Sunrise but have no real goal of what I wanted to capture, and so I would come home with anything, or sometimes I would just set off with my camera and ‘follow the light’ and see where it would take me.

IMG_0456Both of the above approaches produced some excellent images, some average images and of course many ‘learning experiences.’

One day at a meeting of a ‘Photo Group’ I was involved with, we were viewing a of my images when one of the members, Chris Donaldson asked me ‘what I was trying to communicate with the image?’ My answer was that “I wasn’t trying to communicate anything” I just merely  took the image for fun.

As Chris mentioned, whether or not I was intentionally trying to communicate anything, didn’t matter as I was still communicating. That day, I changed the way I viewed photography. Up to that point (even though subconscious1016358_10204241084941073_5423550170437646927_nly I knew I was communicating) I wasn’t photographing for that reason. I was just photographing because I had fun.

I still have fun to this day, but since that conversation I have approached photography in a different way, in a more thoughtful way.

Next time you go out to photograph, think about why you are going and what you want to communicate?

Written by David Johnson
November 2016

Awareness + Personal Vision + Imagination

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

One of the things that happened when I first started using a camera to explore the world was that I started to become more aware of what was around me. Initially, this was only on a conscious level. Gradually, over time I trained my eye to seek out things that which20130529-000021-1 others would walk straight by. This now happens on a subconscious level.

Coupled with this is my sense of humour, so that when I was walking along a pier and saw these boots, awareness & humour combined to form a memorable image for me.

This is one of the wonderful things in life. We each have our own personal vision of the world. Our personal vision is shaped by our environment, our beliefs and influences.

In picking up a camera, a paintbrush, a pencil, clay or other artistic media we can express, through our imagination that which others cannot, i.e. our personal view of this world.

Awareness, personal vision and imagination. Three important tools to communicate your message.

David Johnson
October 2016

Awareness

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

“Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on Earth filled with glory.”
Betty Smith – A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

Handrail Design
Photo by David Johnson

Take the time to walk around your local area.

Photographing in the early morning or late afternoon can often reveal very interesting things. There are shapes, textures, lines and forms that reveal themselves to you if you remain aware…

Objects that we humans pass by every day not giving them a second glance, hold beauty, hold interest and stories. Human stories.

The shapes and forms are often made by humans to serve a purpose, a function and they do this effectively. I have attached one such image that I discovered.

By isolating it from its greater surroundings, but including those in close proximity an art form is created. This is a handrail at McDonalds in Camden NSW. Often used. Seldom appreciated.

If you haven’t done it lately, take a walk with a camera through your local area. I have no doubt that you’ll be surprised at what you find!

David Johnson
October 2016

“I am not interested in shooting new things, I am interested to see things new.” Ernst Haas

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

I was leafing through an old photography book and I came across the above quote by Ernst Haas. He was (and remains) a great influence on me.

There are quite literally millions of things to photograph and no photographer could rightly claim to have photographed everything there is, however we do not need to.hang-in-there

I often hear the comment, ‘there is nothing to photograph…” An amazing statement really… As I look out the window (in suburbia currently), I see many subjects and many ideas come to mind of what/how I could photograph them.

The problem isn’t the lack of subject matter. The problem is that we wander around blissfully unaware of our surroundings and we also get caught up in the world, rushing here rushing there.

STOP! Just for one moment wherever you are reading this! Look around.

Do you see a tree? Yes. Look at it as if it is not a tree, but an idea generator, branches as conduit bringing forth ideas (leaves) and photograph it accordingly…

Do you see a fence? Yes. Look at it as if it is not a fence, but a palette. A palette that has light dancing over it creating form and texture, lines and shapes.

Are you a glamour/nude photographer? View the body, not as a body but as a sculpture; view it as part of the landscape and photograph it accordingly…

Are you a flower photographer? View the flower, not as a flower but as a person with a personality…

It is not lack of subject matter, it’s a lack of ideas.

The continued challenge as a photographer is that we need to reinvent and apply new ideas to the subject matter or as Ernst Haas eloquently puts it…

“I am not interested in shooting new things – I am interested to see things new.”
Ernst Haas

David Johnson
October 2016

For more information on Ernst Haas
http://www.ernst-haas.com

Its Always Been About The Moment

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

It has indeed been always about the moment, whether I was shooting film or digital photography.

I remember back in 1983 when I purchased my SLR and a whole new world opened up to me, it was a liberating experience. I began to be aware and see things that had always been there yet, I had not seen. That feeling and experience continues to this day.

Back in the film days there were many ways that an image could be produced and/or manipulated. Now with the invention of Digital, we have many more ways to enhance/manipulate an image, perhaps way more than we need (or want for that matter). The ’science’ is there no matter whether we are talking Film or Digital.

I would like you to step back though, away from the film, the pixels, cameras, chemicals and paper and think about the following… If there was no moment, no spark that formed that idea in your head or no experience that drove you to pick up that camera to take that image, there would be no image.

Which takes me back to my original comment, ‘It’s always been about the moment.’

When I’m out there photographing, when I’m out there experiencing the moment i.e. the realisation of an idea, being on the hunt, interpreting the experience, recognising that moment, that has always been the thing I love the most about photography.

Back in the Darkroom or the Lightroom the process continues to build on that moment, which is necessary to bring the vision to others. That process is of course, important, for without that the photographer’s vision will not be realised.

For me though it’s that joyous moment, where I am one with my camera, an experience I can re-live in my mind at any time. The ‘finished image’ is a mere reproduction of that moment, a moment only, really truly experienced by the photographer…

 

Written by David Johnson
20 August 2016

Viewing Life

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography, Stories From Life

Back in the year 2000, my wife and I were touring around southern NSW and visited (among other places), Yarrangobilly Caves. They are but one of a number of beautiful examples of limestone caves here in Australia.

We received a guided tour that day and apart from the memory of the caves, I remember a conversation I had with the tour guide as he, like me, was into photography for a great part of his life. This was until one day, after a 20 year love affair with the medium, he gave it away, citing that, ‘he was tired of looking at the world through a rectangle…’.

I didn’t think of this again until recently when I began reflecting on my photographic journey. Unlike the tour guide, I have not given up photography (as I will love it till I pass from this world), however I now have other interests as well and these days I am a bit more selective of what I photograph with my DSLR (and at this point I’m refining my ‘Light Inspired’ photography business as well). My phone is with me just about everywhere and images from that end up on Instagram.

Starting my photographic journey in 1982, I too have looked at the world through a rectangle via 35mm and through a square via a medium format camera. When I wasn’t with family, friends or at work, I was involved in photography in some way, shape or form since that time, either photographing, developing, printing, editing, reading about the subject, attending a Camera Club (or two) or judging photography. The ‘other’ interests I speak of are Toastmasters/public speaking (since 2008), drawing/painting (since 2010) and writing/writing poetry (since 2013).

Whereas once I would only be thinking and communicating about the world via photography, I now attempt to do this in a number of ways (depending on how I feel that I want to communicate it) and it is a lot of fun.

Life is about having experiences, fun, creativity, overcoming challenges, helping others, growth and communication.

I now enjoy seeing the world in different ways, not just through a camera. In some ways, I feel like my journey has just begun…

Written by David Johnson
June 2016

“Solitary Moments”

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography, Stories From Life

This blog post is inspired by a Photography Exhibition I went to today.

The Exhibition featured the images of Chris Donaldson, Frank Alvaro, Ray Finneran, Enrico Scotece and Paul Dorahy, three of whom I have known personally for many years. They specialise in Medium Format Monochrome Film Photography, and develop and print their own images.

“Solitary Moments” for them are those moments when they pre-visualise the idea and image, then spend the time photographing the scene, with the camera on a tripod. It is quite likely that they may only take 1 – 4 images in a day… Their “Solitary Moments” continue in the act of developing the negatives and seeing the finished prints appear ‘like magic’ in the developing tray.

Having experienced the above, I can certainly identify with the “Solitary Moments” they are speaking about.

Shooting Medium Format Film from a tripod-mounted camera slows you down. This helps you get a feel for the scene that you want to photograph i.e. the greater connection you have with the subject the greater chance you have of communicating what you want to say. Here the pre-visualisation continues as you imagine what the final image will look like before you take the photo.

It is later, in the Darkroom that you continue the process to achieve what you set out to communicate initially.

It reminds me of the “Solitary Moments” I have and am experiencing in my aim to become a better writer of Poetry and my fledgling steps of becoming an Oil Painter.

The processes whilst different in terms of the technology used, have some parallels.

I remember on my last trip to Joadja, a historical Shale Mining town in New South Wales, Australia. I took my camera gear and a visual art diary, pens and pencils with me.

These days I shoot digital and whilst the urge was there to do what many do with DSLR’s these days, i.e. shoot a 100 shots and then move on, I decided to sit down and ‘get a feel’ for what was in front of me, absorb the sense of history whilst studying the light and possible compositions.

The pencils came out first and I began to make some rough sketches after walking around the subject. I jotted down in a few words about how I felt and what I was seeing (which later became the poem below). The camera came out next and I again walked around the scene, pausing to take it all in before I started to shoot.

Through The Mists Of Time...

“Solitary Moments” are precious things to experience.

They also come whilst I am fleshing out an idea for a poem, when I sit at my canvas and endeavour to communicate what I feel I want to say, or when I am writing a speech.

I, like the photographers in today’s exhibition are looking forward to many more…

Written by David Johnson
1 May 2016

Exhibition details:

The Bowral Art Gallery – home of the Bowral & District Art Society & BDAS workshops. 1 Short Street, Bowral NSW Australia (02) 4861-4093
April 27 to May 10 Solitary Moments – Chris Donaldson, Ray Finneran, Frank Alvaro, Enrico Scotese and Paul Dorahy.

For more “Solitary Moments” click on the following links:

http://www.chrisdonaldson.com.au
http://www.rayfinneranphotography.com