Last weekend, our rotary club inducted the new president. Even though, I was not the official photographer for the event, I had of course my camera with me and decided to try a different approach to event photography. I made a few decisions. 1) No flash 2) Be confident to use ISO 3200 and focus on the 50mm/ 1.4, though at the beginning (first 3 images in the slideshow) I still used the 70-200/2.8. I enjoyed process and working with one fixed lens, forced me to move around and find new and interesting angles.

I processed the images in Aperture and Silverefex Pro.

How important is your photo equipment to produce better pictures? My answer is that a good photographer can produce good pictures with any camera. The photograph is not made by the camera, but by your view of the world. The camera is only the last part of that expression of creativity. You might have seen the fashion shoot with an iPhone camera. If you haven’t, follow the link and have some fun, watching it.

There is one thing about that shoot, I took note of and it is the consistent use of a tripod. I recently, upgraded my tripod to a lighter and more versatile version. I used to carry about 4.5 kg around. The new tripod is half the weight. The tripod goes with me almost everywhere, I go with my camera. You might argue that a tripod in the age of modern DSLRs is outdated.

There are at least three reasons for me that this is not true:

1. Focus on composition,

2. Images only possible with tripods,

3. Movie functions of new cameras

Let’s have a look at these points in detail.

Focus on Composition

Portrait in combination with long exposure

Since I am carrying my tripod around a lot these days, I use it also more. I noted, the tripod slows me down. That is a good thing! HA! How can that be a good thing? It helps with me with composing the image. How often did you find elements in the images, you didn’t see, when you took the shoot? It happened to me.

There is another element to that. When you photograph portraits, you can put the camera on the tripod and instead of hiding behind the camera, you interact with the person in front of you and relax him or her.

I use that in conjunction with a cable release and make myself even more independent from the camera.

Images only possible with tripods

From the fan walk on 6 July

Last night, I photographed people at the fan walk in Cape Town. It was at night and I was fascinated by the movement of the masses of people. In one particular situation, the complete crowd was moving with the exception of a police officer. It would have been impossible to hold that shot in my hand.

Another example for this, is the portrait of the two gentlemen in front of the soccer stadium. You can properly compose the background and even run a longer exposure in combination with a portrait lit by flash in the foreground. Added advantage, you don’t have to worry about losing control over what happens in the background while focusing on the people in front.

Movie function on new DSLRs

That is almost a no brainer for me. When it comes to moving pictures, the camera has to be on a solid base. There are exceptions to the rule, but for best quality and sharpness, you want to use a tripod.

I photograph for a living and invested in a solid Gitzo tripod that is as sturdy and as flexible as a tripod can be. You don’t have to go for that price class, when you photograph for a hobby and not use a tripod every day. Get a good and solid one and one that is not too heavy and you will discover that something can be liberating even though it might look like a burden to carry around.

One more thought: The use of a tripod is not dependent on  the size of your camera. I use the tripod with my DSLR and my Panasonic LC2.

Cape Town at full moon.

Please click image for larger view. The image print is available for sale. Please email jurgen@jurgen-photo.com for more information.

I have been fascinated by a particular view for the last week. One of Cape Town’s highways has a beautiful view over the harbor. Whenever I returned from town this week, I stopped to take pictures from a particular point.  Today, I experimented a with HDR photography. HDR stands for high dynamic range, which means that the image is a composite of several images all exposed with different exposures. This allows a wider light range than with a normal photo. The effect can be surreal. Let me know, what you think.

Please click on the image for a larger view.

Morning light

I went for a run today along Rhodes Memorial. The light was just amazing. The light was that great that I decided to photograph some landscapes after the run.

My favorite shot of the day is this shot. I hope you like it as much as I do. Please click on the image for a larger view.

Winter Sunshine in Cape Town

My first digital camera was a Panasonic DMC LC-1, the twin to the Leica Digilux 2. When I bought, I loved the simplicity and classic setup of the camera. Aperture is changed on the lens and shutter speed on camera top with a mechanical dial. Interesting features of the camera are the slightly bigger sensor than in many compact cameras (and still smaller than a APS or full size sensor) and the Leica lens (28-90mm) with a widest aperture of 2.0 and the super silent shutter.

There are a couple of  things, which are not exciting: slow autofocus, electronic viewfinder, slow raw processing, high noise at 400! ASA.

Other than that it is a lovely camera. For some reason, I got curious about using it again for some snapshots. So I went ahead and used for some portraits of our cat Ginger, some landscapes/ nature shots and a product shoot.

I included the closeup of my keyboard as an example for the ability to shoot at slow shutter speeds handheld. The sunglasses were shot in a studio setup, I used for other product shots. All images were shot at 100 ISO and in JPEG. The cat portrait is unedited, the other images received some post editing. Nothing that I wouldn’t do with any other camera.

Looking at the images, I am surprised about the quality of the images and the slight pixelation in the out of focus areas of the images remind me of film. It has been an interesting experience after working for my clients exclusively with my Nikon cameras.

As a result, I will work on a portrait project, where will exclusively work with this camera. Watch the space.

Please click on the thumbnails to start the slideshow.

As you might know, I went for a destination wedding assignment to Vancouver, Canada. Kathy and Pomy gave me lots of opportunity to photograph them before the wedding. There were a few gatherings with family and friends, which gave me some great opportunities for informal shots. We also scheduled an engagement session. You might wonder about the purpose of an engagement session. In my experience, this session, is one of the big factors to increase the quality of images on the wedding itself. It is a warming up between couple and photographer. The couple gets used to be continuously photographed and learn to act natural. For me as photographer it allows me also to learn more about the couple. Engagement shots are also a nice addition to the final photo book  etc. Kathy and Pomy suggested to Granville Island for the shoot.

Granville Island is a fantastic location, offering interesting spots and really nice light. Loved the location and working with Kathy and Pomy!

For more information about offer on weddings and other photographic services, please visit: Jurgen’s Photography

Please click on the thumbnails to start the slideshow.

End of April, beginning of May, I visited Los Angeles and Vancouver. I was photographing a wedding in Vancouver and spent some days before the wedding in LA. At the local BNI chapter in West Hollywood, I met the architect Todd Conversano, who I quizzed about interesting architecture in Los Angeles. Todd told me of a building by Frank Lloyd Wright in Berverly Hills on Rodeo Drive. I didn’t hear about the Anderton Court Shops before and added it to my itinerary of things to see in Los Angeles. At the BNI chapter, I also met photographer Joel H. Mark, with whom I had a great conversation about photography and the business of photography.

Long before I arrived, I made the decision to visit the Disney Hall, by the architect Frank Gehry. I have seen images of the building before and wanted to see and photograph it with my own eyes. It was worth the visit.

In Vancouver, the focus changed towards landscape photography. The surroundings are just too magnificent to be missed. After the wedding, I was lucky to spend two days on Vancouver Island with the bride’s mother and partner before my journey home to Cape Town.

Please click on the thumbnails to start the slideshow.

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I am traveling and spent most of last week in Los Angeles. Good architecture has always been one of the things I truly enjoy. Standing in front of or being in a well designed building is one of the beauties of life. Luckily, I met an architect during my visit at one of the local BNI chapters, who pointed me to a building by Frank Lloyd Wright I didn’t know about. It is the Anderton Court Shops on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

During my previous visits to LA, I never made it to see the Disney Hall, designed by Frank Gehry. This time around, I finally made it and truly enjoyed the experience. I love the fact that you not only see the outside, but you can walk outside behind the facade, actually within the facade.

The other stop was the enormous Getty Museum designed by Richard Meier. The museum is huge and I want to come back and do some more serious photography of the place.