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50 Beautiful Examples of Bokeh Photography

Admin — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:06:14 +0000

We all love Bokeh, don’t we. Bokeh simply means Blur in Japanese language, they are normally in shape of number of lens blades causing wonderful round patterns all over the frame. A Bokeh can be good as well as bad caused by chromatic aberrations or the Len’s Aperture shapes. It is very pleasing for any photographer, which just makes them but fast prime lenses suiting for wonderful low light photography as well as pleasing bokeh. Trying to maintain a equidistant between the camera and the subject comparing to the subject and the Background, will logically produce great results. Bokeh need not be round or spherical in shape, any blurred out background is also termed as Bokeh. The Larger the aperture better the Bokeh. When not sure about the bokeh you will achieve, try viewing the scene with eyes crossed, you will love what you see.

All photos are linked and lead to the sources from which they were taken. Please feel free to explore further works of these photographers on their collections or their personal sites.

Photo Credit: Slavina Bahchevanova

Photo Credit: Greg Pths

Photo Credit: Sonya Khegay

Photo Credit: Lisa Epp

Photo Credit: Francesco Marchetti

Photo Credit: Raphaël

Photo Credit: Anastasia Volkova

Photo Credit: Thuyhn

Photo Credit: Besim Mazhiqi

Photo Credit: Brooke Pennington

Photo Credit: Dung Hoang

Photo Credit: Irene Suchocki

Photo Credit: Ralph

Photo Credit: Karin A

Photo Credit: Matthew Coughlin

Photo Credit: Andrew Evans

Photo Credit: Danielle Pearce

Photo Credit: Toddlertoes

Photo Credit: Thuyhn

Photo Credit: Jackie Rueda

Photo Credit: Vidhu S Pillai

Photo Credit: Joy Hey

Photo Credit: Ed McGowan

Photo Credit: Brian Wolfe

Photo Credit: Sam Li

Photo Credit: Sayid Budhi

Photo Credit: Victoria J Baxter

Photo Credit: Mahesh B

Photo Credit: Kelven Ng

Photo Credit: Alfonso Pompo Bresciani

Photo Credit: Jon Noj

Photo Credit: Natalia Campbell

Photo Credit: Moaan

Photo Credit: Natalia Campbell

Photo Credit: Jaime

Photo Credit: Bree

Photo Credit: Setsuna

Photo Credit: Nhan Ngo

Photo Credit: Moaan

Photo Credit: Kevin van der Leek

Photo Credit: Puja Parakh

Photo Credit: Ignazio Corda

Photo Credit: Jacob Edmiston

Photo Credit: Keith Williams

Photo Credit: Ed McGowan

Photo Credit: Faisal Al-Ali

Photo Credit: Aleksandr Matveev

Photo Credit: Bethan Phillips

Photo Credit: Natalia Campbell

Don’t miss to check our previous interesting Photo Galleries:

Early Sunday Morning by Julien Coquentin

Admin — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:19:26 +0000

Silence in the morning, beautiful series of photographs depicting and describing the mood and dimension of the city montreal. Julien has been doing this project for sometime, and his work is versatile from capturing the blanket of mist all over the city to the black cats creating a high tension drama. The Solitude walkers and the geometries of some skyscrapers all form part of his story. The tones and colors gel well with the mood and surreality surrounding these cityscapes, makes us wonder the level of marksmanship from our mankind.

Let us hear it from Julien Coquentin on more about his project with amazing photographs.

Julien Coquentin talking about this series

It is now a little less than a year since I left Montreal. I often think about it. I remember the streets, detachment and imagination of its people, the sensations experienced by creating this photographic diary, magnified by the passing of time.

For two years, I photographed Montreal tirelessly. I wanted to make a poetic of the city and distance, an American walk. Photographing the street requires to detach yourself a time. The moment before we were all together, caught in the powerful and heady flow of a city moving, the next moment I was taking a walk on the side to tear myself away from the crowd.

I worked at night in the ER of a big hospital. For two years I lived in the Mile End, a cosmopolitan neighborhood with my wife and our two daughters. Few blocks nestled between Park Avenue and St. Laurent Boulevard. North, two black lines in the snow where succeeded the trains of the Canadian Pacific Railway, South, the narrow streets of the plateau.

This America finally merged with my childhood dream when I imagined, in the darkness of the cinema, what it could be living beyond the ocean. Kids out there made me think of those populating my childhood in France.

It is therefore a bit of my own memory that over time I photographed in the streets, a spectator of the rhythm now well oiled of a world shaking. Photographs of a space defined this diary is also a window on the inside, through which everyone can draw a memory of its own history.

Today the sharpest sensations that remain in my memory, are probably the ones I felt during early winter mornings, when was ending my night job. I left the hospital, impregnated with the smell and the mood of others, the icy cold outside had killed any perfume. I remember the empty and white boulevards, and a snow falling gently, silently.

I loved photographing these moments.

It is a strange thing to discover a country, a city, working at night in the ER, I feel that way this can not be a lie, we are closer to our weaknesses. Night work has this virtue: It allows us to swim against the current.

The title of this series “Early Sunday morning” is borrowed from Edward Hopper painted this painting in 1930 preserved today at the Whitney Museum in New York. I authorized this loan first because Hopper touches me, but also because Sunday is a day to my peculiar sense, a silence in the measurement, a little death.

“Early Sunday morning” is also the testimony of the changing nature of the city that constantly changes, dies and is reborn. Of the movement of atoms, fragility of the city, I extracted two years.

Silence in the measurement. Again, a little death.

“Morning, keep the streets empty for me”.

About the Photographer

Julien Coquentin was born in 1976 and has a passion for photography since 2007. His work noticed during the creation of a photographic dairy compound sandstone streets of Montreal, has been exposed for several months in Paris (Negative + And Bydahinden) then in Boulogne Billancourt in the Voz’Galerie early the year 2013.

Focusing on issues of deforestation and indigenous rights, he made “Green Wall” in November 2012 in Malaysia where he spend several months.

Julien now lives with his wife and two children in France.

You can find Julien Coquentin on the Web :

Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Julien Coquentin. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.

Photography Books from the Masters – Part 6

Admin — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:16:48 +0000

It is always grand to hear it from the Masters of Photography. The Forms of photography drifting between art and various cultures doesn’t need any introduction. One need to feel the pictures in book (printed media), rather than starring it on our computer screens, the amount of emotions and truth these books and pictures convey are sensational.

Here, We have put together a collection of 15 most wanted photography books from the Masters. This is an ongoing series, we will update more books in coming weeks. As always, if we’ve missed something you think should have been included, please let us know in the comments.

Please check our previous list of books here:

My Morocco: Bruno Barbey

Throughout Bruno Barbey’s travels, one constant remains – his love for and fascination with Morocco, his homeland. He focuses on the yellow ochre/burnt umber tones of the towns and rural areas to create colour-drenched, strongly graphic images rendered dazzling by Morocco’s scorching light.

Nikos Economopoulos: In the Balkans

The modern Balkan Peninsula encompasses ten countries–Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Macedonia. To this incoherent, fragmented environment, Economopoulos brings his extraordinary vision of the Balkan people–haunting, compassionate images that reveal an inextinguishable spirit. 75 duotone photos.

Lee Friedlander The Nudes: A Second Look

Lee Friedlander’s exploration of one of photography’s most enduring genres began almost by chance, in the late 1970s, when a teacher colleague at Rice University in Houston lined up a regular schedule of nude models for his students.

Walker Evans: Lyric Documentary

Walker Evans’s career spread over 46 fitful and prolific years, yet in a scant two, 1935-1936, he produced the singular body of work that came to define him. During that brief time, while working for the Farm Security Administration (previously the U.S. Resettlement Administration) photographing the consequences of the Great Depression, he refined a hybrid style that combined documentation with sly personal comment.

Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light

Bill Brandt was the preeminent British photographer of the twentieth century, a founding father of photography’s modernist tradition whose half-century-long career defies neat categorization. This publication presents the photographer’s entire oeuvre, with special emphasis on his investigation of English life in the 1930s and his innovative late nudes.

Michael Kenna: A 20 Year Retrospective

For over thirty five years, British born Michael Kenna has been looking at landscapes in ways quite out of the ordinary. His mysterious photographs, often made at dawn or in the dark hours of night, concentrate primarily on the interaction between the ephemeral atmospheric conditions of the natural landscape, and human-made structures and sculptural mass.

Ernst Haas Color Photography

This collection of 153 color photographs, taken between 1952 and Haas’s death in 1986, ranges in style and subject from depictions of the abstract qualities of flattened cans, torn posters and road markings to the documentation of a crowded Oktoberfest beer hall. Haas was a pioneer and major figure in the field of color photography and one-time president of the famed photo group, Magnum.

William Eggleston’s Guide

William Eggleston’s Guide was the first one-man show of color photographs ever presented at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Museum’s first publication of color photography. The reception was divided and passionate. The book and show unabashedly forced the art world to deal with color photography, a medium scarcely taken seriously at the time, and with the vernacular content of a body of photographs that could have been but definitely weren’t some average American’s Instamatic pictures from the family album.

Sebastiao Salgado: Migrations

In Migrations, Sebastiao Salgado turns his attention to the staggering phenomenon of mass migration. Photographs taken over seven years across more than 35 countries document the epic displacement of the world’s people at the close of the twentieth century. Wars, natural disasters, environmental degradation, explosive population growth and the widening gap between rich and poor have resulted in over one hundred million international migrants, a number that has doubled in a decade.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Photopoetry

Manuel Alvarez Bravo was one of the foremost practitioners of visual arts in the twentieth century. Manuel Alvarez Bravo, the first major retrospective of his eighty-year career, showcases hundreds of iconic photographs and unveils more than twenty previously unpublished images.

Nick Brandt: A Shadow Falls

In A Shadow Falls, which features fifty-eight recent images in stunning, oversized tritone plates, Nick Brandt continues his ambitious and ongoing photographic project to memorialize the vanishing natural grandeur of East Africa. Brandt’s wide-screen panoramas of animals and landscapes capture an epic vision of Africa that has not been seen before. His iconic portraits of its majestic animals are filled with an empathy usually reserved for human subjects.

Diane Arbus Revelations

Diane Arbus redefined the concerns and the range of the art she practiced. Her bold subject matter and photographic approach have established her preeminence in the world of the visual arts. Her gift for rendering strange those things we consider most familiar, and uncovering the familiar within the exotic, enlarges our understanding of ourselves.

Vivian Maier: Self-Portraits

Celebrated by The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, American Photo, Town and Country, and countless other publications, the life’s work of recently discovered street photographer Vivian Maier has captivated the world and spawned comparisons to photography’s masters including Diane Arbus, Helen Levitt, Lisette Model, Walker Evans, and Weegee among others.

Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans, Expanded Edition

First published in France in 1958, then in the United States in 1959, Robert Frank’s The Americans changed the course of twentieth-century photography. In 83 photographs, Frank looked beneath the surface of American life to reveal a people plagued by racism, ill-served by their politicians and rendered numb by a rapidly expanding culture of consumption.

William Eggleston, 2 1/4

Born and raised in Mississippi and Tennessee, William Eggleston began taking pictures during the 1960s after seeing Henri Cartier-Bresson’s The Decisive Moment. In 1966 he changed from black and white to color film, perhaps to make the medium more his own and less that of his esteemed predecessors. John Sarkowski, when he was curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, called Eggleston the “first color photographer,” and certainly the world in which we consider a color photograph as art has changed because of Eggleston.

You may be interested in the following related topics :

Fine art architectural photography by Pygmalion Karatzas

Admin — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:27:11 +0000

An architect by profession and fascinated by photography, Pygmalion Karatzas has produced some astoudning visual through his vision. Just listen, what he says about this project and his experience.

MAXXI museum, Italy, by architect Zaha Hadid

Pygmalion Karatzas talking about this project

Joseph Rosa, chief curator at the US National Building Museum, once stated that photography has become the lens through which we observe and analyze the evolution of architecture. The positive aspect of this reality is that architects and the public around the world can participate in this educational process, on the other hand, the negative aspect is the trap of images dominating over it’s core purpose: the actual experiencing of architecture.

My work (along with the recent wave of superb amateur photographers using a fine art approach) is trying to inspire and motivate people to not only view architecture as a two dimentional image representation but to motivate them to experience it comprehensively.

Long exposure photography and fine art post-processing makes people slow down, observe buildings closer, do research and field survey, revisit locations under different light and weather conditions, and by doing so enriches their understanding and awareness of the build environment.

MAXXI museum, Italy, by architect Zaha Hadid

St Jakob tower, Basel, by architects Herzog & de Meuron

Vitrahaus, Basel, by architects Herzog & de Meuron

Commerzbank, Frankfurt, by architect Norman Foster

Vitra Design Museum, Basel, by architect Frank Gehry

Jubilee church, Rome, by architect Richard Meier

Ara Pacis museum, Rome, by architect Richard Meier

Actelion, Basel, by architects Herzog & de Meuron

Vitra, conference pavilion, Basel, by architect Tadao Ando

Office building, EUR district, Rome

Palazzo della Civilta, Rome, architects Guerrini & La Padula

Office building, EUR district, Rome

Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, architect Renzo Piano

Beyeler foundation, Basel, architect Renzo Piano

Signal box, Basel, by architects Herzog & de Meuron

Foti-Vlahou residence, Greece, by architect Pygmalion Karatzas & Margherita Pusterla

KFW westarkade, Frankfurt Germany, by architects Sauerbruch & Hutton

Vitra design museum, Basel Switzerland, by architect Frank Gehry

Santo Volto di Gesu, Rome Italy, by architects Sartogo & Grenon

Jubilee church, Rome Italy, by architect Richard Meier

Contemporary orthodox church, Aigion Greece

360 apartment complex, Patra Greece, by architects Diversity/Travasaros

Office building EUR district, Rome Italy

MAXXI museum, Rome Italy, by architect Zaha Zadid

Myzeil shopping mall, Frankfurt Germany, by architects Massimiliano & Doriana Fuksas

Santo Volto di Gesu, Rome Italy, by architects Sartogo & Grenon

Stymfalia environmental museum, Korinthia Greece, by architects Papaioannou & Isaias

Auditorium parco della musica, Rome Italy, by architect Renzo Piano

Ara Pacis museum, Rome Italy, by architect Richard Meier

Pontificial Lateran University Library, Rome Italy, by architects King Roselli

KFW westarkade, Frankfurt Germany, by architects Sauerbruch & Hutton

Financial district, downtown Frankfurt Germany

Petter’s house, Selianitika Greece, by architect Pygmalion Karatzas

About the Photographer

Pygmalion Karatzas was Born in Greece in 1973. Studied Architecture at the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary (1991-94), Urban Design at Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1995-97) and Ecovillage Design Education at Findhorn (2006).

Has been participating in photographic groups since 2006, using various techniques (long exposure, HDR, panoramic, fine art). Fascinated with all forms of human expression and creativity artistically, socially and spiritually with an integral approach as the overreaching conceptual framework.

You can find Pygmalion Karatzas on the Web :

Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Pygmalion Karatzas. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.

The Best Street Photographer Portfolios For Inspiration – Part5

Admin — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:06:11 +0000

Street Photography has always been paving down the years to treat every lover of photography. The brilliant part of street photography is that you don’t need the artist to explain the medium of it, easily relating to every layman looking at the picture, it is a mere translation of what one witnesses on a daily routine on the streets. Here the street photographer comes into play by capturing the glimpse of an ordinary life, the moment of spur to bring the awesomeness into the vision of us.

This genre of Photography may be ordinary but still very compelling for any camera holder. The moment he shoots anything or everything on the streets may be ordinary but still adds to what we call as Street Photography. To shine or to be an inspiration is what the people here in this list has done. Take a look at this people and their compelling Portfolios for yourself to decide.

Here we bring you a commanding list – Part 5 of some of your favorite photographers.

Please check our previous lists here:

As always if you feel if you are someone very skilful needs to be featured in Part 6 kindly tell us in the comments section or mail us to 121clicks@gmail.com

Artur

Light and shadows along with various interesting elements of streets prevails inside an Artur’s frame. Interesting Street Photographer to start with for our version 5.

Carmelo Eramo

Starkness and intense drama on the streets, composition within the exciting aspects of street photography forms the strength for Carmelo Eramo.

Danielle Houghton

Color street photographer, subtle humorous moments on the streets combined with some brilliant unforgettable factors resembles in Danielle’s portfolio, a must to watch out for.

Diego Fabro

Born in Curitiba, Brazil, Diego Fabro is a fantastic photographer when it coins down to street genre. His silent light is such a powerful and artistic way of describing or capturing street photography. A great talent!!

Dmitry Stepanenko

“If I could study geometry at school by looking at Dmitry’s photographs, that would be my favourite subject. Excellent geometric photographs in an academic style! In Dmitry’s works there are emotions, history, cleverness and individuality – that is what draws my attention. I respect him much as an artist.” says one of notable photographer from Russia.

Ethan Chiang

Street photography to me is more than just a brilliant juxtaposition, a perfect composition, nor just a great lighting, I want to say something via street photography, about what I see, and how I feel. My goal on street photography is to trigger people’s emotions, I want them to look at my photos and say “hmm, I actually had that feeling before…”-Ethan Chiang

Ian Brumpton

Throughout life I have always been a great people watcher and it is this that drew me to Street Photography initially. I love the challenge of trying to capture a few sparkling moments from the chaotic world that passes by us each and every day in a candid photograph. This wonderful observation is reflected onto his wonderful profile of Ian Brumpton.

Ilya Shtutsa

Stunning Visuals in both color and monochrome with wonderful mood overall. His Pictures certainly are thought provoking and one can sense the individual in the picture.

Jason Martini

Wonderful galleries with various elements of interests, life as it is on the streets along with numerous hindrances. Jason Martini is one of those brilliant photographers who believes in capturing the decisive moments of streets, and it is pretty much evident in his photographs.

Jason Reed

Jason Reed, started getting the essence of street photography after reading a small magazine on the same. This was when he realized he has been wrongly pointing his camera at. And then we have his portfolio here now.

Jonathan Vdk

Minimal. light, shadows and the starkness overloaded on the streets. Wonderful moments overall make his portfolio even enriching and catchy, take a look at Jonathan.

Mathieu Testa

Photographs through the busiest streets, life inside the frames, lonely moments and underground stories, people everywhere is the theory for Mathieu testa. Take a look for yourself, do not miss it.

Mike Smithwick

Happy and healthy,so far, with an old passion for photography and a new passion for surfing – and not enough time for either! In my photography I’m still searching for that decisive moment,and in the meantime enjoying the ironic,amusing, and unusual side of people,things and situations,and the beauty that’s everywhere if you look hard enough! – says Mike Smitwick

Mikhail Palinchak

Mikhail Palinchak Jr. is Ukrainian versatile photographer born January 1985 in Uzhgorod into photographic family of the famous Fine Art Nude and photojournalist photographer. Since 2005 and up to now residing and working in Kiev, Ukraine. Since 2008 member of National Society of Photo Artists of Ukraine (NSPAU).

Mustafa Dedeoglu

He was born at Uskudar – Istanbul, he started to live in Istanbul after graduated from Industrial engineering. He has been interested in taking photographs for 5 years.. the main purpose sharing his works is to awake different senses on watchers . He continues to live the same density as his first photos. He avoids conscientiously to abuse the facts as human feelings on his human photos .

Nicolas Portnoï

Nicolas Portnoi’s pictures are symbolic and are easily understood. What surprises us most is the fantastic display of characters and graphical elements steadily complementing each other in every single frame.

Oscar Palomares

Settled and scintillating frames os street genre, Oscar continues to impress us with some impeccable captures to express his vision over street photography. A must watch profile for every ardent fan.

Peter Levi

Light and composition has been the basic rules of Peter Levi when it urges down to his style of photography. Moments which are hard to spot and a great detail for observation are some of the unique traits of him.

Petros Kotzabasis

Super stuff from Petros Kotzabasis, wonderful moments combined with versatile composition skills marks him high above others. Exquisite monochrome pictures makes his profile even more characteristic.

Richard Brittain

Decisive moments seems to find its home with Richard Brittain, excellent use of light and composition at its precise segments. A must watch portfolio to learn the basics.

Robert Painter

Wonderful paintings of light on some of the toughest locations to photograph in street photography. Robert Painter does it better than any other photographer, drawing the light moments and excellent colors to create more drama inside his frame.

Ronald Cooley

Anyway, the main description is “street photography” because nearly everything I shot was on (or along) the streets and roads, with maybe a few when I ducked inside for whatever reason. And these streets and roads could be most anywhere. – Ronald Cooley

Yiannis Zisis

Wonderful colors and beautiful expressions and one imagines how could some one balance to get such photographs from streets, spellbinding content from Yiannis Zisis.

Ying Tang

Ying developed her passion for the photography arts and mastered a skill in street photography in and around the city of San Francisco. It was at this time when she returned to school to study photography both at the New York Institute of Photography and at the School of Photography of C.C.S.F. where she obtained advanced degrees. Ying’s work has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine and She worked for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune in China, Shanghai TV Magazine. Currently she relocated in Cologne, Germany and work as a Freelance Photographer.

Please check our previous lists here:

Most Creative Self Portraits by Joel Robison

Admin — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:23:55 +0000

Against the laws of physics but much familiar to the surreal nature of creativity, Joel Robinson is known for his spellbinding self portraits. One who loves to cycle in the air, fly with an umbrella and dream for a life size coffee mug. Its exotic and uniquely surreal to imagine these kind of created wonders. Joel has this unique way of interpreting his thoughts and simple clauses of dreams into wonderful photographs.

The composition and the work behind the creation of every photograph makes us admire his pure talent. They are creative with full of vision and exciting ingredients, making every photograph to be remembered and the thought behind the creation understood easily.

Click on the image for better and enlarged view.

You can find Joel Robison on the Web :

Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Joel Robison. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.

Michael Kenna – Inspiration from Masters of Photography

Admin — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:58:58 +0000

A Phenomenal Photographer known for his stunning moodaholic monochrome Landscapes. We feel thoroughly honored and blown away by his humbleness for him to have accepted our request. A Master Landscape Photographer of our era shows us what raw passion combined with sheer brilliance can deliver. These works of art are hard for us to call them photographs for the language it speaks and the silent emotions they provoke.

Michael Kenna – Biography

Speaking about his personal stature, Michael Kenna is an English Photographer who loves to capture the incredible nature with some beautiful light. He loves to perform his penance usually during dawn or night. Having been exhibited all over the globe and having travelled to numerous countries with rich natural beauty, It is interesting to learn that Michael Kenna was initially trained as a priest before he actually took up photography once moving to london. His childhood has an immense effect on his way of photography. Those empty stadiums and abandoned mills, places of silence fascinated him much further and Michael always wanted to capture the invisible behind the visible. Author of some wonderful books Michael Kenna continues to inspire us through his astounding art creations.

Why I like Michael Kenna

Having watched quite a few videos of our master, the first thing that striked me is the passion and curiosity for him in search of divinity. It may be a quest to capture the unseen or an exploration towards much bigger things. And he strongly believes “Fortune favors the one, who works hard”.

These Photographs are words of emotions, sometimes silence and at times the music from a bird’s feather flock.
To translate words of emotions through monochrome landscapes is an innovation into our medium of photography. Which I believe only a few photographers have been able to achieve out of their own originality.
Shows the magnificence of composition, the excellence it can provide and elevate your photograph or artwork to a totally new level.
I keep admiring the beautiful-innocent light, subtle-simple elements and his utterly brilliant placements of them inside a frame.
There seems to be a serious question inside these photographs and a near enlightenment within the same photograph.

Famous Quotes from Michael Kenna

“I gravitate towards places where humans have been and are no more, to the edge of man’s influence, where the elements are taking over or convering man’s traces.”
“I do have strong convictions and political opinions, but I don’t think it’s necessary to imbue my photographic work with them. I use photography as a vessel for visual material to flow through, to encourage conversation with the viewer. I try to present a catalyst and invite viewers to tell their own stories.”

Michael Kenna’s Hokkaido

An amazing view for us to discover how passionate this man is towards art and nature. See it for yourself as Michael walks through snow and ice, just to discover the glory of pure nature.

Michael Kenna, a letter from Shinan

Michael walks through the forests of mist and into the trails of nowhere. Chasing time and unexplainable silence just to be felt amongst a land of islands, a must watch video.

All These Places Feel Like Home

Michael feels meeting a new place is gaining a new friendship, thousands of unexplored landscapes in a faraway land just for our masters arrival. Michael Kenna’s world travels. England, Italy, Mexico, Vietnam, India, and many more.

Some of Publications from Michael Kenna

Listening to the photographs from a book is always an eternal feeling. The sense of touch with every page and photograph will remain forever. Michael Kenna has some wonderful books to his name, which are very compelling for any art and photography enthusiast.

You can find more details about Michael Kenna:

How to Win Photo Competitions – Top 5 Secrets

Admin — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:07:32 +0000

Being a creative artist itself is a fantastic solution for all those chaos surrounding our mechanical life. Creating something gives an immense satisfaction and fills the emptiness within us. There are times any artist would require an applause or any of that sort to keep the fire burning and continue his potential work. The Stage is set for them to perform and the one who outsmarts others rests in the memories of people or the so called fans.

Photo Competitions certainly fall into this bracket of gaining exposure and an incredible limelight to any artist. Participating or competing with talents equal and superior would in a certain way boost up the morale of any artist and push him beyond his limits to smartness and perfection.

In this post of ours, I wanted to reveal some secrets involving within winning a photography competition, the do’s – don’ts, if – buts, and a lot more on the field of photography, all narrowed down and pointed towards an ultimate aim of winning the competition.

Theme

Understand the theme completely, how relative is your picture corresponding to the theme given to you. This is the foremost point in expressing yourself in a more relevant and appropriate way towards the theme and competition. Having been a jury in couple of instances, this falls as the first screening process in striking out the uncommon, i.e the photographs which falls outside the category. Your picture could be a masterpiece, an award winning stuff but falling outside the theme serves no purpose. Be careful not to misinterpret the theme according to your own understandings, always try to keep it simple. Remember a theme can never be so complicated unless you think it to so.

Choosing the Picture

Ask any skillful or professional photographer, choosing a picture for a competition from his/her portfolio is the most haunting task. Amongst some dozens of splendid photographs, how would you pin down to one single photograph, which according to you beats hands down all the other in the pack and makes you feel “Yes I will win it for you”. Mark down some of the important aspects in choosing that single photograph. Composition, Light, Subject should be the top 3 criteria in nailing that picture for you. Hold-on, but there are a lot more.

Vision

What would you shoot with your camera, what makes you point the lens at something. What according to you is beautiful, what makes a good photograph for you. These are some strange as well as incredible questions which according to me every photographer should be ready to give a sensible answer for. And well that answer in your vision. Having a truthful and an interesting answer would definitely mean the same to your photographs. Gaining a certain edge and a passmark for you to excel in any competition.

Surprise

I love this word, so do all of us. Surprise can never be negative, full of positive vibe adding enormous magnificence to our creations. How often do you surprise yourself. Arguably a common picture without any surprise will not fetch you awards and glory, choosing the right one which would raise some eyebrows, the one to stay on hearts for its light or composition or some impeccable emotions will be a surprise and bring you name and fame.

Technical Aspects

Make sure you follow all the mentioned pixel proportions and color scale. As we all know, post processing is to enhance a good picture, digitally removing or adding elements within a photograph will land you in trouble when submitting for competitions. I have seen instances, where the winner was disqualified for he allegedly removed an object in his photograph using Photoshop. A Picture cannot win an award for post-processing so beware of over processing or mending a photograph for what it has never been.

Connection and Punctum

These are 2 words which are really hard to explain. Take a basket of 10 beautiful delicious,Vibrant red apples and how do we pick the one which for that instance makes us believe it is superior to the rest of all the equally delicious and appealing apples. This is called the connection, there can be only one winner and this doesn’t mean the rest of all were bad apples, in this case photographs.

The picture which could bring tears or a sudden spur of joy to any onlooker, which doesn’t need a bottom line, a description or even a title. The Photograph which makes you curious for the people in the frame, whose story you would want to listen, a pinch of mystery and a handful of brilliance is connection.

Punctum is that extra punch which you would give to your photograph, that extra something which may be lacking in other pictures, just like the apple we picked. This is more of that instinct variety, just follow them and it cant be described, for it just stays there being the winner.

Some final words, following all these important aspects could still land you on a losing cause. Competitions are games, we try to satisfy someone(The Jury) in this place through our creations. At times, your pictures do convince them and make you win. But many times not, that instance keep your head high and say boldly “May be something even bigger waits for me”! Since, we all know participation is more than winning!

Cheers!!

Don’t miss to check our previous movie related articles :

Beautiful Showcase by Mahesh Balasubramanian

Admin — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:33:33 +0000

Portfolio of a weekend clicker and passionate photographer Mahesh Balasubramanian, shows us his beautiful work on the people and streets. He describes that he loves to learn and inspire from some wonderful photographers around and tries to interpret them in his own photographs. Listen to more from Mahesh himself.

Can you please introduce yourself?

My name is Mahesh and I am from Chennai. I am a software professional and an amateur photographer. I have been taking pictures more than 5 years now. I love people and street photography. I shoot close portraits and trying to capture street moments. I learn day by day through watching masters pictures and trying to produce better picture. I prefer black and white when it comes to Portraits and street moments and I also do color pictures if colors play important role.

How did you choose photography?

I love photography from my college days. I use to shoot with my friend’s film camera during our tour in college days. But, I never thought I would get into serious photography until 2008. I started photography in 2008 to stress out the hectic corporate life. But, then it becomes serious passion. I started shooting whatever I found beautiful from landscape to nature to people. Then I realized people photography is the one which gives me so much happiness and started concentrating on that. And now, I can’t think of living without a camera and shooting picture.

For Mahesh what does it take to produce a great picture?

I believe in certain aspects in any genre of photography. A great picture should have a strong content and nice way to present it with a beautiful composition and light. The picture would become great, If photographer can connect its viewer to the picture and make them communicate.

Most memorable moment while you shoot in the streets?

Many memorable moments and each shot is a sweet memories. I can recall a sweet moment when my visit to Kerala. I can understand the language a bit but I cannot put right words to speak back. Whenever I encounter to speak to the people, it is more of few repeated words and visual communication. It was funny but enjoyed a lot.

Your Inspiration?

I have seen many black and white photos / movies of legends. Those inspired me a lot in my photography. I admire and inspire by many masters like Ansel Adams, Henri-Cartier, Elliot, etc. Steve McCurry is one of my great inspirations for people photography. I also get inspired by my fellow photographers in Chennai from Chennai Weekend Clickers.

Your Gear?

I use Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 24-105. Sometimes I use my Canon 100mm for Portrait work.

Any final words for our readers?

I believe in learning by looking into others work and understand the different aspects of visual presentation and try to make my own pictures. I suggest all my friends to believe in you and make your own picture which stands out from the crowd. Read lot of pictures from masters and understand what made them to shoot in that way.

Click on the image for better and enlarged view.

You can find Mahesh Balasubramanian on the Web :

Website
Facebook
Flickr
1x
500px

Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Mahesh Balasubramanian. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.

Some Useful Tips for Doll Photography

Admin — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 11:47:31 +0000

Guest Article by Yon Raulf

Doll photography- still a not-so-famous genre. If you are a doll photographer, you must would have experienced how long does it take to explain to others what is doll photography. Today photographers can be seen photographing people, animals, landscapes, trees etc. but the idea of shooting dolls is still an unusual thing.

This niche of photography shouldn’t be seen in such a manner. With day by day increasing popularity of digital cameras, the range of photography has widened to a great extent. Moreover, various sites like Pinterest, Instagram, Flicker etc. are also there to encourage new niches in photography. Doll photography has emerged as one of the most promising niches. A number of collectors have taken up this photography as hobby to display their collections.

If you are also interested in this genre of photography, you must have some knowledge to do it perfectly. Here are a few tips to take your doll photography skills to the next level. These tips will help you to present your dolls at their best.

All photos are linked and lead to the sources from which they were taken. Please feel free to explore further works of these photographers on their collections or their personal sites.

Photo Credit: Renata

Don’t Compromise with the Quality of the Camera

Good quality camera doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to expend huge amounts of money on it. Stores are flooded with lots of cameras creating great pictures at affordable costs. The best options available in the market are digital cameras. These cameras are very cheap to acquire and they also don’t ask for any additional cost for development of the photos. Traditional cameras used to involve huge expenses in development of photos. Moreover, with digital cameras, you can instantly check the soft copy of your photo and re-shoot immediately, if needed.

Photo Credit: Renata

Make Use of a Tripod

Slightest of the movements while shooting can cause your photos to look highly disturbed. It can result in high blurring. If you want to have crystal clear photos without any blurs, you need to eliminate any movements during the shoot. The best way to ensure this is the use of a tripod. It will make the camera steady and allow you to photograph the dolls perfectly.

Photo Credit: Heather

Have Closer Shots

Usually, doll photographers take shots from a distance with a notion that such photos look more attractive. Actually this thought is based on the photography of humans where distant shots look more beautiful than the closer ones. But it doesn’t hold true for dolls. They look more gorgeous whet photographed closely. Take a few photos and you will understand it yourself.

Photo Credit: Marmalade Girl

The Face of the Doll Shouldn’t be Having any Hair

No doll looks good with its face covered with hair. Hair on the face make them look scruffy. The out-of-the-bed look may work for models, that also for just a few models, but not for dolls. The dolls look pretty with hair moved away from the face. So its better to take care of this thing before photographing the dolls.

Photo Credit: Maria

Get the Right Balance of Color

If you are shooting your dolls in poor light, your princess looking doll may look like a witch in the photos. Fluorescent or incandescent light can make your doll look like having a green or yellow tinge to its skin. You can counter it by using the white balance control, in case you use a digital camera. However, if you are still going with the traditional cameras, you can you can take help of photo editing tools and software applications.

Photo Credit: Maria

Don’t Let the Doll Stand Show in the Photos

The doll stand can ruin the whole attraction of a doll photograph on appearing. You must hide them while shooting. It will give a perfect look to the photos making your dolls look even more pretty. You must be having various types of doll stands so that there’s a suitable one for each doll in your collection. The expertise of a doll photographer reflects in the lifelike look of the dolls and the doll stands can spoil that look.

Photo Credit: Jacqueline W

Organize the Room to be Used for the Shoot

The room you want to use for the shoot must be tidy. The doll photos look beautiful only when the background is absolutely free from any junk. For example if you want to shoot your doll on a table, the table should be pretty clean. Even a grain of rice can deteriorate the whole look of the picture. You must de-clutter the space to be used for photography before the shoot.

Photo Credit: Kaoko

Keep Yourself in High Spirit

This success formula holds true for all the jobs, be in high spirits always. Be happy and you will see a wonderful positive change in yourself which will reflect in your photos. Be excited about all your shots as you were at the first time and enjoy the each moment of your doll photography.

Photo Credit: Marmalade Girl

You can take your doll photography expertise to the next level with all the suggestions provided above. This genre of photography is gaining very much popularity and you may receive a lot of competition in a few years to come. So, its better to gain some expertise before it becomes too late. Keep all the above tips in mind while doing doll photography and witness great changes in your skills.

Yon Raulf is an experienced writer who writes photography related articles for sarahtimminsphotography.com. this website offers the best photographer in Las Vegas.

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