2560×1600 1920×1200 1680×1050 1600×1200

1440×900 1280×1024 1024×768 iPhone

November Desktop Calendar

This is a post from: CraigFergusonImages

November Desktop Calendar

Torii Gate at the entrance to Mountain God Shrine, Jinguashi

Jinguashi is a town located in the Rueifang Township of Taipei County, an area that became famous for its goldmines. During the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945), the Japan Mining Company built the Mountain God shrine halfway up the mountain to commemorate their 1933 takeover of the local gold mine. The original shrine included a main hall, prayer hall and pavilion for worshipers to wash their hands. There were also two walkways along the stairs, at either side of which were 3 torii (gate), 5 flag platforms and 1 bronze bull. During the Japanese era large-scale religious ceremonies and rituals were held here every year. At some point in the point war years the shrine was mostly destoyed and today all that is left are 2 torii (gate), a few stone lanterns and the shrine’s original foundation, beams and pillars.

Incidentally, Taiwan has just marked Retrocession Day (October 25th), the anniversary of the handover of Taiwan to the ROC from Japanese rule in 1945.

Dirt path leading to the ruined Mountain God Shrine, Jinguashi, Taiwan.

The ruined Mountain God Shinto Shrine, Jinguashi, Taiwan.

Looking down from the ruined Mountain God Shinto Shrine, Jinguashi, Taiwan.

Looking down from the ruined Mountain God Shinto Shrine, Jinguashi, Taiwan.

So that brings us to the end of another week. As it’s the end of the month, check back tomorrow for the free November desktop calendar. And don’t forget, there’s a Google Wave invite to go to one lucky commenter.

This is a post from: CraigFergusonImages

Five For Friday – Jinguashi Shinto Shrine

For me personally, I generally don’t follow people that proclaim themselves to be “social media experts”. They may well be, but I think that social media is still too new and evolving too rapidly for anyone to be called an expert.

If you’re new to Twitter or thinking of giving it a go, remember to give. No one is interested in following or interacting with people who just use it as a means of advertising. Interactions, communication and relationships are what count in life and there’s no reason to think that the same doesn’t apply in social media.

All right then, my list of recommended followers comes after the jump. All of the following people are ones that I’ve had personal interactions of some kind with, whether it’s in the form of online discussion, emails, messages or whatever. As well as a link to their Twitter profile, I’ve also included links to blogs and/or websites. Do yourself a favor and check out their sites as well – all of them feature a wealth of great imagery, advice and ideas. If you want to follow me on Twitter, I tweet as @cfimages.

Twitter isn't just for the birds

I’ve tried to roughly group these in some kind of order but it’s still pretty random. There’s lots of crossover between groups, and people generally don’t fit into one group only. Now that Twiiter has rolled out the lists feature, I’ve taken advantage of it and created a list. It enables easy following, so check out the Twitter For Photographers list.

Travel and Nature

@pixelatedimage – Photographer, author, humanitarian and active blogger David duChemin
@fotowala – Delhi-based travel documentary photography Sephi Bergerson
@digitaltrekker – Cultural and humanitarian photographer Matt Brandon
@nevadawier – Travel photographer specializing in indigenous culture, Nevada Wier.
@gavingough – Travel photographer and workshop leader Gavin Gough.
@jimgoldstein – Photographer, speaker and web strategist Jim Goldstein.
@younesbounhar – Nature, travel and landscape photographer. Columnist. Younes Bounhar.

Music

@zarias – Atlanta music photographer and workshop leader Zack Arias.
@chrisowyoung – New York concert photographer Chris Owyoung.
@toddowyoung – Rock photographer Todd Owyoung

Commercial

@chasejarvis – Commercial photographer, inspiration and visionary Chase Jarvis.
@jeremycowart – Commercial photographer and the brains behind Help Portrait, Nashville’s Jeremy Cowart.
@scottkelby – President of NAPP, author, photographer and a million other things. Scott Kelby.
@strobist – David Hobby started a revolution with Strobist.
@joeyldotcom – Commercial, travel, portraiture photographer, instructor, visionary Joey Lawrence.

Editorial

@joemcnallyphoto – Photojournalist, workshop leader, author and inspiration to many Joe McNally.
@photogjack – Documentary travel photojournalist Jack Kurtz.
@davidhonl – Creator of HonlPhoto Lighting gear, photojournalist David Honl.

Portrait/Wedding/People

@wizwow – Photographer, designer, educator Don Giannatti.
@picseshu – Multicultural wedding portrait photographer Seshu.
@thetrudz – Wedding, portrait and event photography from Tru Shots.
@danesanders – Wedding photographer, teacher, author. Dane Sanders.

Life

@gallarotti – New York based Italian visual artist Francesco Gallarotti.
@AdrianaMullen – Food and still life photography from Adriana Mullen.
@wahliaodotcom – Lifestyle photography from Singapore. WahliaoDotCom.
@Ilanbr – Street photography from Israel by Ilan Bresler.
@rtd13 – Active LA and Florida based photographer Ron Dubin.

Digital Darkroom/Photoshop/Lightroom/HDR

@treyratcliff – World’s leading exponent of HDR photography Trey Ratcliff.
@jnack – Principal product manager at Adobe for Photoshop, John Nack.
@lightroomblog – Lightroom tips and tricks from Adobe Community Expert Sean McCormack.
@AshuMittal – Adobe Certified Expert and pre-release worker at Adobe for Acrobat and Lightroom, Ashu Mittal.

Consultants, Coaches, Educators

@photojack – Travel and lifestyle photographer, coach and consultant to photographers Jack Hollingsworth.
@newmediaphoto – Photojournalist, podcaster, coach, consultant, speaker Rosh Sillars.
@selinamaitreya – Consultant to photographers, author, inspiration Selina Maitreya.
@ricksammon – World photographer and author of over 30 books, Rick Sammon.

Business, Industry Resources

@ASMP – American Society of Media Photographers. Essential photography business site. ASMP
@Photoshelter – Photoshelter. Secure portfolios and e-commerce websites. Photoshelter.
@johnhharrington – John Harrington, DC photographer and author. Photo Business News
@pdnonline – Photo District News magazine. A must read. PDN.
@stockphotoguy – A blog about stock photography by John Lund.
@aphotoeditor – Former photo director and editor for magazines such as Men’s Journal and Outside with essential industry reading. A Photo Editor.

Well, that’s probably enough for now. Do try and check out everyone’s blogs and websites as well as following them on Twitter. Who else should be in the list? Leave some recommendations below in the comments. I look forward to seeing who your picks are.

This is a post from: CraigFergusonImages

Twitter For Photographers

Do you travel to or live in or near Taipei and want to learn photography in English? There is no photography school in Taipei that teaches in English but I have started private and group lessons, for people of all skill levels.

Read on after the jump for more information.

A Photography Group in Beitou, Taiwan

About The Classes

Many people come to Taiwan, find themselves with a healthy disposable income and go out and buy a new digital SLR. The question then becomes “How do I use it”?

You may be someone who already knows something about photography and wants to move your hobby to a greater level.

You may be ready and eager to dive into the world of post-processing with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, or unsure of how to approach digital asset management.

You may be traveling here for a trade show and have a few spare hours and a desire to capture some good shots.

Or you may be thinking about trying to earn some money from the camera and be confused about copyright, releases and image rights.

Whatever your needs, I hope I will be able to help. I currently teach a mixture of beginners and more seasoned hobbyist photographers, each with their own list of things they want to learn more about. Studentsd quickly feel not only more comfortable with their camera and more able to get the best from it, but also slightly more switched on to the world around them.

I teach all levels of photographer. For beginners it would be initially going over what you grasp about the basics of exposure – aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Understanding light, shadow, tone, contrast, dynamic range; these things are key to be able to get yourself to a point where you can feel in total control of the camera, rather then feeling like the camera is controlling you. This is the first objective.

Then we try to work on subjects that you like shooting and how you can get better at them. I generally do this through little projects and by us shooting together during the lessons. After that I might introduce an area of photography, in terms of subject, that you may never of thought about pursuing; macro, nature, people, still-life and so forth.

There are some technical and creative aspects to every lesson.

For the more advanced student, we may focus a new area, or your own self-perceived weak points.

Courses can be individually tailored to suit your needs or the needs of your group. No two individual students or groups are ever likely to require the same instruction.

Costs

Here’s a guide to costs. Final cost is dependent on what you require from the course, but these should give you an approximation.

One-to-one tuition: starting from NTD$1000 / hour

Group lessons: between NTD$2500 – 3500 / hour, each, depending on the number in the group.

Full day workshops are also available. Costs on request.

Location

Classes take place at a mutually convenient location in the greater Taipei area. I am also willing to travel to other towns and cities in Taiwan for half and full day workshops.

Within Taipei, we will sometimes meet in a cafe or restaurant for discussion first, or sometimes meet directly on location where we plan to shoot.

Whatever your needs, I hope to be able to provide it. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

This is a post from: CraigFergusonImages

Taipei Photo School

Prior commitments meant that I was only able to attend the end of the parade, but I managed to get a handful of decent shots. Enjoy.

Ready for Halloween. Dream Parade, Taipei, Taiwan

Feathers. Dream Parade, Taipei, Taiwan

Guitar. Dream Parade, Taipei, Taiwan

Guitar. Dream Parade, Taipei, Taiwan

This is a post from: CraigFergusonImages

Five For Friday – The Dream Parade

A view of one of the mountains in the Annapurna Range, Himalayas, Nepal. 1997

Back in 1990, guitarist and composer Steve Vai released an instrumental rock album with the title “Passion and Warfare”. I don’t know why he decided on Passion and Warfare for the title, but to me, this is an album born out of his passion. It’s this passion that causes him to – in his own words – become obsessed with playing the guitar, as well as to put in the hours and hours of necessary work so as to master it. I get the feeling that creating the album he wanted was more important to him than creating an album that would sell. So what’s all that got to do with photography?

Well, in some ways, a similar thing could be said about photography, or any creative endeavor for that matter. It’s our passion, our obsession that leads us to spend hours learning all the technical aspects. Hours learning either darkroom techniques or digital workflow and post-processing. Hours pouring over books and websites, studying other photographers work, aping them in order to learn, and hoping to move past that mimicry as we develop our own style. It’s a well-trodden path that millions of photographers have taken and millions more probably will take. We become obsessed about our art to the point where it takes up all our thoughts. Richard Avedon famously said

If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up

I’m sure a lot of us can relate to that and, with the exception of the few who need to produce particular work to satisfy art directors and corporate executives, we always have complete freedom to shoot what we want, when we want. For those of you who never plan to try and make a living off photography, that is one of the greatest freedoms you have – the ability to create works of art simply for their own sake. For those making a living from photography, you may need to work a little more to achieve this but by no means is it out of your grasp.

When we follow our passion we are truly alive. Are you alive?

This is a post from: CraigFergusonImages

Passion and Warfare

My wife reading Steven Pressfield's The War of Art

Recently, I bought and read Steven Pressfield’s excellent book, The War of Art : Break Through The Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. Pressfield, perhaps best known for his novel “The Legend of Bagger Vance”, presents a non-fiction book aimed at writers, artists, musicians and other people attempting to channel and direct their creative energies. This book came highly recommended by some fellow photographers and it didn’t disappoint. And as can be seen from the above picture, my wife Selina became engrossed in it too.

I recently had the opportunity to ask Steven Pressfield three questions. Read on after the jump to see what he had to say about the “free” model, the mechanics of creation, Annie Leibovitz and copyright.

1. There’s been a lot of talk on the internet recently about the “free” business model, whether it be giving work away to get increased access, or for promotional purposes and so forth. What are your thoughts on this?

Craig, I certainly don’t consider myself any kind of expert on this, so please take my answer no more seriously than you would that of the regular man in the street. I actually DO believe in “giving it away.” I’m not sure I can even say why. I definitely believe, as it applies to money, that it’s a good thing to spend money; keep it moving; that way, it comes back to you. So I’d apply the same principle to”giving it away.”

The other thing is Exposure. I can’t prove it but I suspect that we all as artists imagine that X number of people have heard of us or are aware of what we’re doing – when the real number is probably X divided by a thousand. In other words, nobody knows who the hell we are or cares. Therefore, the more we can gain exposure, even giving our stuff away, the higher that number goes and the better chance we have that someone will actually buy our album, or come to our show.

So yeah, I believe in some form of the “free” business model – as long as there’s SOMEPLACE where we actually get paid once in a while.

2. In photographer David du Chemin’s book “Within The Frame“, he says “Photographers, like artists in all disciplines, face a temptation to fall more deeply in love with the way we create our images than with the images themselves and the reasons for those images”. What is your take on this – do creatives run the risk of placing too much attention on the mechanics of creation?

I must say I’ve never even thought of that. Maybe it’s unique to photography, because there’s so much technical skill involved. Off the top of my head, I would say that falling in love with that stuff is a form of Resistance. Maybe I’m wrong. Put a different way, I would go back to the answer to Question 1, in that, to me, “keeping it moving” is more important than falling in love with anything—the work itself or the process of producing it. I don’t know Bob Dylan but I would bet he doesn’t spend a lot of time listening to “Blowin’ in the Wind.” He’s thinking about the album is working on now and, as soon as he’s done with that, he’ll “keep it moving” and zoom on to the next. I could be wrong!

3. Photographer Annie Leibovitz’s financial troubles led to her place the copyright to all her works as collateral in seeking assistance to get out of debt. If someone works so hard to overcome resistance and forge a life as a highly creative person, should they ever consider doing something like this?

Wow, that one’s definitely beyond my pay grade, Craig. I know Francis Ford Coppolla mortgaged himself up the ying-yang doing “Apocalypse Now” and other stuff. Didn’t Dickens do the same? I guess it’s up to the artist himself or herself. Hope that helps!

So there we have it. A big thank you to Steven for generously taking the time to answer these questions and to Callie Oettinger from Oettinger and Associates for making it happen.

I hope this sparks some inspiration in you, the reader. If you haven’t already bought The War of Art, do so now. For more writing in a similar vein, check out Steven’s blog, particularly Writing Wednesdays.

Feel free to share this, tweet this and pass it around. Comments are most welcome – I’d love to hear your thoughts.

This is a post from: CraigFergusonImages

The War of Art – 3 Questions For Steven Pressfield