Packing Light

Anyone with even a mild interest in photography eventually has one gruleing question to face....

What gear should I bring on my trip?

Backpacking was what spurred my interest in photography, originally. There is a certain quality of awareness when you are in unfamiliar surroundings. Every little detail is new and different and demands your attention. Creativity is everywhere.

Like every amateur photographer I planned and re-planned what equipment I was going to take. Everything was adjusted around how, where, when and with what will I shoot. Clothes, toothbrush, itinerary, accommodation... trivial details when it comes to my gear.

There is always the temptation to take everything 'just in case', though I know from previous experience that this is a bad idea. I like to pack light. I like to be able to go anywhere, even long distances. Walk around for four hours, tag along with people I meet and keep up with whatever they're doing.

Which isn't to say this is how everyone should be, it's just my personality. The disadvantage is that I can't take every shot that I want. My telephoto lens didn't make the size requirements so there will be none of those shots on this trip. Does that mean my creativity will be inhibited? Can I still fit all the stories that I want to tell within the two focal lengths I am bringing?

I guess that's the challenge. I don't know that I can, but I can't wait to try.

Henri Cartier-Bresson barely used two focal lengths his whole career. Neither did Robert Capa or Lee Friedlander. None of the legendary documentarians ever refused to take the shot because they didn't have the right gear.

So here's a shot of what did make the cut (minus the lithium and NiMh chargers, and the film). I also bought the tiniest day pack I could find (in the background). There's only enough room for one camera and one lens so I've got to make all my storytelling decisions before I leave the hotel for the day, and stick to that. Get to know 24mm inside and out one day, then really learn what is possible with a 50 1.4 the next.

Sure I'll be groaning sooner or later that I don't have this and I don't have that, but if I can pull it off, not only will my shoulders thank me but I'll be able to pack lighter during my professional work, confident that I have only what I need.

And if not.... there's camera stores in Mexico City.

post by Duncan McNairnay

Having some fun in the studio

I'm super excited: I am now renting a photo studio in Winnipeg's Exchange District! 2010 started on a good note because of this, and recently I had a chance to round up some friends (and brother) and have some fun in the studio. This is a small sample of what we shot over the course of the afternoon - some fun shots on a white background. Makeup was graciously done by my lovely friend Melissa Finch. Thanks Mel!

Posted by f/action member Gabrielle Touchette.

Melodies on Mercredi!

We just wanted to officially let you know that f/action has another exciting art opening coming up next week! The West End Cultural Centre (http://www.wecc.ca/) in Winnipeg has asked f/action to help them launch a new program of monthly collaborations between local music and art!

As many of you know, we love music and we love collaborating with musicians, so... next Wednesday, we will be teaming up with local musicians Brett Nelson and Kipp Kocay for a great evening of music and art at the West End Cultural Centre! The program, called Melodies on Mercredi, involves bringing new artwork into the WECC on the first Wednesday of every month. The first Wednesdays will be the official art opening for each month, and the artwork will remain on display inside the WECC all month long for concert-goers to enjoy.

We are so pleased to be involved in the debut of this series! For those of you that missed the INTERVALS exhibition in December, some f/action members will be displaying their Intervals series again. And in the spirit of the venue, Ailsa and I will be showing many photographs taken of live acts right at the WECC! My photo of Ida of the Magnificent 7s (posted last week) will be among them.

We hope to see you out at this unique event - set to become a great WECC tradition!
Here are all the details:

Date: Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Doors: 7:00 pm
Shows: 7:30 pm
Location: West End Cultural Centre, Winnipeg
(If you don't know where that is... well, you should!)

www.wecc.ca/site09/performers/mom_feb3.html

Posted by f/action member, Dallas Ludwick

Top 10 Concert Photos of 2009!

Hi f/action followers, sorry we have been a bit slow on the posts lately... we've been planning two exciting upcoming exibitions! The first one is right around the corner - more info to follow soon!

One of my favourite things to with my camera is live performance shooting. I've been lucky enough to team up with http://www.guttersnipenews.com/ - a vancouver-based online entertainment news and reviews site - to check out and document many great local and visiting bands here in Winnipeg. Our local concert reviewer, Eugene Osudar, is the animated dancing machine many of you have no doubt seen in action out on the music scene. Eugene is known for his free-flowing, lyrical style reviews of live shows - any many muscians are beginning to crave a write-up for thier CDs and other publications. Check out Euguene at www.guttersnipenews.com/author/eugene-osudar !

Eugene teams up with several local Winnipeg photographers (since none of us can keep up with his crazy show-going schedule!), and we colour the review with images of the live act. A couple off weeks ago, guttersnipe announced thier top 10 concert photos for 2009... and I was very excited to see that a Winnipeg image made the cut! My image of Ida, of local Winnipeg band the Magnificent 7s, was listed among the top 10:

To see all Top 10 images, click on:
www.guttersnipenews.com/2010/01/10/best-concert-photos-2009/

An HAPPY (belated) NEW YEAR to everyone!

posted by f/action memeber, Dallas Ludwick

Photography as a Social Activity

I gotta say I typically avoid classic Manitoba socials, mostly because people avoid making them interesting. So for my sister's wedding social I wanted to add something different.

I have actually seen and heard about a 'photo booth' being at lots of parties, like weddings and fundraisers, but had never seen one at a social, nor operated one myself. This particular social proved to be interesting because the themes of the party were 'cheezy' and 'retro'. With an 80's, Johnston-school-portraits-style laser backdrop, plastic flowers and a few wedding dress/jackets as props, people had no trouble getting into it, which made it a blast for me.

Technically speaking it was easier than I had thought as well. A soft box (camera left) and one speedlight (back right, set to optical slave, with a flag attached to prevent spill on the backdrop, keeping it black) were enough to make it look nice but still uncluttered so that no lights were knocked over by people who were having a little too much fun.

To present the images to the inebriates as I was shooting I tethered my camera to a laptop and used Sofortbild, a freeware program which imported them to a desktop folder that was being watched by Lightroom. After about 15 seconds the shots would come up in Lightroom, but with the 'lights' dimmed, so it just looked like a slideshow. I also had the images go through a post processing preset before they popped up, making them look quite finished. The added benefit was that I could easily batch rename the photos to each sitter's name so that

I could identify and e-mail them out a couple of

days later. See it was also a fundraising tool- two bucks got you a few, low res, cheezy-but-better-than-you-could-take pics of you and your friends goofing off at a party. You know, profile pic stuff...... but better. Not everyone was loose enough to give it a go, but those that did had a better night for it.

I learned that photography applied to anything equals fun times!

posted by Duncan McNairnay