#1084 Student Success…

I’ve been teaching photography for 14 years.
It’s always rewarding to see people develop and grow photographically and otherwise over the years.

Recently Jeffrey Furry offered a selection of work he shot over a year in one of our programs – we offered a new challenge every month with support and critique.

For the whole year Jeffrey worked hard to include an Inukshuk for every challenge. See his photos and comments below!

Jeffrey says:
I’ve been a member of the Harry Nowell on-line program since its inception.  Without intending to, I used an Inukshuk for 12 consecutive challenges.  With the exception of two, all were a 20cm tall high Inuksuk I received as a free gift from a landscaping company that made a handy prop for the various challenges.  The 12 photos below give a good overview of the variety of challenges we are given in the on-line program.

© Jeffrey Furry       ​Challenge – Backlighting – “overexpose the background to help bring attention to the foreground.”

Exposed for the Inushuk which was in full shade.  This was the first shot using the Inukshuk.  Saw the perfect light for the monthly challenge in my backyard so grabbed the first subject that was handy…

 

 

© Jeffrey Furry       Challenge - Backlighting - "overexpose the background to help bring attention to the foreground."

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – Backlighting – “overexpose the background to help bring attention to the foreground.”

Similar conditions as the backlit photo but exposed for the Inushuk which was in full shade.

 

 

© Jeffrey Furry     Challenge - Festive

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – Festive

A bit of a stretch to include the Inushuk for a festive theme!  Shot at F22 to maximize the star burst effect.

 

 

© Jeffrey Furry       White Challenge

© Jeffrey Furry White Challenge

Our challenge was to photograph something white (and get a correct exposure!) I decided to photograph the shadow of the Inukshuk against the snow!

 

 

© Jeffrey Furry      Challenge - Simple Studio Lighting - "creating lighting scenarios using lights you already have at home."

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – Simple Studio Lighting – “creating lighting scenarios using lights you already have at home.”

Used two Ikea LED reading lights, one behind and below, the other immediately behind the Inukshuk “head”  Blue light on front is from my smartphone.

 

 

Ottawa Gatineau better pictures

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – Candid Portraits – “capture an intimate, engaging portrait – and part of that involves NOT using your viewfinder. Period.”

Shot from the hip, no viewfinder.

 

 

Photo courses

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – Slow Photos – “shooting landscapes – but with one twist – you must use a slow shutter speed.”

Brought the Inukshuk to a small stream behind my house.  Awkward location for my tripod, so forced to shoot at 1/sec braced as best as possible.

 

Gatineau Photography

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – Fast Photos – “show the idea of motion through fast shutter speeds like 1/1000 of a second.”

Dragged the Inukshuk to a rushing section of the Gatineau River. Would have preferred a slightly faster shutter speed to freeze the water even more.

 

Ottawa photo workshops

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – Photojournalistic storytelling – “telling a story within the context of a single photo”

Used a different Inukshuk this month, my neighbour’s cat on a large Inukshuk on their front lawn.

 

 

Gatineau pictures - classes

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – Social Documentary Storytelling
– “tell a story with many pictures about one subject.”

For this month, I spent the morning shooting the staff at a local bike shop.  Just to keep with the Inukshuk theme, I grabbed this quick shot of the Inukshuk in front of the store.

 

Gatineau photo ideas

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – New Perspectives – “Find something finite then shoot it at least 50 different ways without moving it”

Spent an evening shooting the Inukshuk from various angles with different focal lengths.  Took about 70 different shots, this was my favourite, the second shot of the evening.

 

Ottawa art class

© Jeffrey Furry Challenge – “Same Scene Variations: explore the effect of different qualities and levels of light on one subject.”

Shot a few dozens identical shots during different times of day.  This shot was early evening  with the sun setting behind the Inukshuk.  All shot from my deck with the Inushuk placed on a small step ladder to try and get a cleaner background.”

Nice work Jeffrey!
Thanks for sharing a year of your photo learning with HarryNowell.com!

#1083 A Big Thanks!

We had a wonderful weekend  at the New Art Festival.
Weather was perfect and we met many new and familiar faces.

If you follow this blog you’ll know I showed my new Sunstreaks and B&W Watershed works straight from the camera.

photo art

New Works at the New Art Festival

Both sets of photos were exciting to explore. The processes took 1-2 years to transform and tweak into the artwork I am producing – many, many, erm, challenges/attempts/failures before I got successes.

A big, big thanks to everyone that came to visit and supported my work. Your purchases help me continue to experiment and produce new works.

Photo Exhibition

SOLD – New Works – Parliament Hill Sun streak…

And a big thanks to those that helped behind the scenes – John, Marcel, Omer, Rachel (& friend), Marie-Helene and, of course my wife and family who picked up the slack as I worked through the weekend!

Many thanks…

I have a show coming up at La Fab.
Stay tuned!

8x10 large format photography

Large Format Photography

#1082 DIY Portraits

Last week Good Works hired us for a session of DIY portraits – it’s a good team builder that produces some fun work photos, all at an affordable price!

As usual, once people were settled and their camera was plugged into (and tested) our pre-set studio lights, the studio was filled with giggles, laughter and much fun.

How it works:
• The studio is booked and the group plugs their camera into our studio lights. We give a tutorial and offer support as needed throughout the session but photos are taken by the group.

In just over an hour Good Works produced some great shots they will be using for promotions and clients – all reasonably priced.

Interested in a similar session?
Let us know…

DIY Portraits at the photo studio

DIY Portraits at the photo studio

#1081 Exposed! Photo Newsletter – Following your Passions

Last week we sent out our latest Exposed! photo newsletter.

In it, we explore creative passions and where they can lead. We also look at reality and those who preach based on their rocketing rise to success!

Read more.
Follow your own path!

train tracks

Follow your own path

#1079 Online Photo Class – May’s challenge

Last month we brought our online program the challenge of getting very, very close to their subjects.

© Chris Payant - Macrophotography class

© Chris Payant – Macrophotography class

With new spring flowers bursting from winter’s depths online members  got their camera’s clicking. But members captured more than just blossoms!

© Jeffrey Furry - close-up photography

© Jeffrey Furry – close-up photography

What members said:
I loved this challenge (my fave) and I found what I love to shoot the most (I think!) 
Your on-line program is absolutely great and I have to say I have learned the most from it because of the different challenges and just the way you teach it.
Thanks for your inspiration and sharing your expert knowledge.  You get us out of our comfort zone for sure.” CP

© Gilles G - Macro - different worlds!

© Gilles G – Macro – different worlds!

What a fun challenge! I have always wanted to try and get a shot of a field of dandelions and could never figure out how, but I finally got one thanks to this challenge.” JS

I’ve been teaching photography for almost 15 years and I never get tired of seeing people grow!
Thanks for the fun!

© Maisie I. Creative Macro!

© Maisie I. Creative Macro!

#1078 Student Success!

This week we were very pleased to hear from long-time photo student, Al Garner.

Al won a contest hosted by Darwin Wiggett‘s Oopoomoo!

Macro photography

© Al Garner – Spring Macro Tulip

Darwin is a well known stock photographer and photo educator from Alberta.

I was very excited. Al took his first photo workshop with us many, many years ago. He had some good photos for a beginner but, erm, had lots to learn.

Over the next ten years Al took many of our courses – some twice! Steadily Al gained valuable skills and confidence that helped him create beautiful work.

student photo success

© Al Garner – self portrait

Al says:
“Hi Folks: Something pretty exciting for me has happened. The website oopoomoo.com, which is run by Darwin Wiggett and Samantha Chrysanthou ran a contest. I submitted a photo and to my surprise and delight it was chosen as one of three winners.  The other two shots are amazing so be included with them is really nice. 

PS  special thanks to Harry for all the help and encouragement over many years!

 Al”

See Al’s winning photo and the other two winners at Oopoomoo…

Congratulations Al!
I’m proud of you!

#1077 Exposed! Photo Newsletter – Creative Influences

Last week we released the latest Exposed! photo newsletter.

In our recent look at creativity we suggest the effect of other creative influences on your work and offer the best of our recent web distraction posts including “absurdly expressive dog portraits!”

I am grateful for your feedback! Thanks.

Get influenced by these links!

Creativity

Dog Portrait

 

#1075 Web Distractions

This edition of Web Distractions is brought to you by many of our readers and supporters! Thanks for keeping the links coming…

55 Best Photographers, Ever
We stumbled upon this list and I was curious who got the number one spot…

Pre-Pantone Colours
Norman P offered this link about a book of colours described hundreds of years before Pantone.

Film Photography

Photos of Tears
Gina R suggested this link with photos about the uniqueness of tears.

Historic Negatives Found at Thrift Shop
Wojciech J. posted this link about a story of negatives that surfaced in a Thrift Shop.

Motorbikes and their Loads
Peter H brought our attention to this light hearted look at heavy loads.

Oops, wrong photos in a big news story
‘Anonymous’ suggested this NY Times story about the wrong photos being used for a mega news story

Post-Baby Beauty
Murielle C posted this link challenging perceptions of beauty.

• Photographer Round-up 
Check who’s doing what in the photo world – expand your horizons.

A big thanks for the links – keep them coming!

Bye for now…

#1071 Advanced Fundamentals – Photo Class Review

201405AdvanceFundamentals-23

© AlG –  Advanced Techniques – LightPainting balanced with night light

Last weekend we ran Advanced Fundamentals – a photo course designed to take people beyond the basics of “manual exposure mode” that we cover in Creative Fundamentals.

The idea of the workshop is push people’s skills beyond their comfort levels… just a bit.

photo fundamentals

©GillesG Exploring Shape, Line and Form

We offered:
• traditional exercises to help with composition, perspective
• unusual tasks to make participants think (and shoot) differently
• advanced challenges dealing with light, shape and form

Ottawa photo class

Advanced Challenges… How is the background (metal bars above) blurred and the portrait subject sharp? (It’s not done in post processing!) © AGarner

All in all, it was a productive weekend. We dodged the rain retreating into some underground and covered secret spots I’ve discovered over the years.

Enough from me…
Students said:

“I would happily recommend – urge – anyone interested in improving their photography to take one of your workshops.”

Gatineau Ottawa Photography

Finding Beauty in Chaos © GGagnon

“Harry is very attentive to the student needs and is always available to help and answer questions – The course took me out of my comfort zone… that is good.”

“Thanks again for a fun Creative Fundamentals 2 workshop. It was very helpful and it enriched my photographic knowledge beyond what I expected.”

Ottawa photo workshop

© ALG     Secret Spots shared with participants.

#1069 Creative Fundamentals – Course Follow-up

In it’s 14th year we offered this spring’s Creative Fundamentals session.

Creative Fundamentals Photo Workshop

Creative Fundamentals Photo Workshop © Kathleen

Typical progression:
• Classroom Theory Session – Wide-eyed wonder
• Practical Session (early) – Trepidation
• Practical Session (late) – Smiles and relief
• Critique Session – Smiles and (early) confidence

Creative Fundamentals Photo Class - © Richard Provencher

Creative Fundamentals Photo Class – © Richard Provencher

The course went well.
Photos and skills progressed.
Smiles became more frequent.

Creative Fundamentals - Photo Class © Lisa Nabe

Creative Fundamentals – Photo Class © Lisa Nabe

Students said:
“Positive. Fun. I appreciated the prep work and care.”

“Amazing. Harry’s easy-going, well-explained style is perfect for this beginner’s course. His knowledge came through very easily using simple, easy to understand language… I came to this course very much intimidated by my camera. In a very short time I felt confident about what I was doing.”

Creative Fundamentals Photo Workshop - © Virginia

Creative Fundamentals Photo Workshop – © Virginia

“I learned so much with this workshop. I went from knowing nothing about exposure, iso, aperture and shooting in ‘auto’ to shooting in ‘manual’ and understanding.”

Thanks for the fun!

Creative Fundamentals © Gabriel

Creative Fundamentals © Gabriel