Tag Archives: photo

#69 Bluesfest and the media

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Ottawa Bluesfest is coming. It’s a fine time of the year for me. Shooting this fine festival is the easy part.

The challenging part is finding the photos a market. Media passes are granted with the expectation that the photographer (that’s me) will get the event (that’s Bluesfest) press and media attention.

Ottawa Bluesfest

Feist playing to her fans. Shot on a panoramic film camera.

My Bluesfest photos have been licensed to a range of media outlets over the years. My favourite usage was by the federal government to promote tourism in Canada. A generic concert shot showing off the Bluesfest stage, below, was printed in the LA Times, NY Times and Boston Globe:

Ottawa Bluesfest

Tomorrow I meet with a client about some Bluesfest imagery in anticipation of Bluesfest’s 15th anniversary.

#68 Photographers beware!

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Everybody’s out to save a buck – even large multinational corporations – and photographers seem to be easy targets!

I was cruising photographervoter last week and came across a link to Lightchasers – a Phillipines based photo web site. They posted a story about a large US based oil firm that has asked the public to donate photos to the company for commercial use. The payment? – a ‘chance’ to win a prize.

It gets worse – please read the posting and just say no to donating photos to large business looking to save the price of well executed photo work!!

For more info read my recent photo newsletter article on the ‘Value of Photography.’

In other news there will be new work posted on ChelseaGallery.ca soon. One of the new prints soon to be available:

Have fun,

Harry

#66 Contest day!

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Blog contest (prize to be awarded!):
You are at a small festival and watching a local jazz musician getting intimate with his sax. You were lucky enough to get a front row view. The jazz man is 3m (10 feet) from you. It’s 8pm and the daylight is fading. The stage lights are starting to shape the light.

sax player

If you were doing an available light (no flash), photojournalistic portrait of the sax player from the waist up, what lens would you use?
I don’t care about the brand. I want to know the focal length & aperture. Zoom or fixed focal lens? Why?

Need help? Check this Exposed! article for ideas. It describes some shooting ideas and a photo from the Ottawa’s Bluesfest extravaganza!

Answers: The first reasonable and fully correct answer will receive a ChelseaGallery.ca print like the one mentioned yesterday. Please submit your complete answers via e-mail: Harry@HarryNowell.com.

The winner will be contacted by e-mail. A mailing address is needed to send the prize! Correct answer and winner will be announced next week.

Good luck,

Harry

#65 Tomorrow

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Tomorrow (Thursday, May 15th) is quiz day on the blog.

I will be posting a skill testing photo question on this blog in the late morning, early aftrenoon. The answer will be available within my Exposed! articles. The prize is this 9.5″ x 14″ print from ChelseaGallery.ca – framing and matting not included!

Blog Quiz Prize

Study hard! Send your answers as instructed tomorrow!

The first reasonably correct answer will be contacted and your print will be delivered to the address you provide.

Good luck,

Harry

#63 Exposed!, contest and ski awards!

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This week:

  • my monthly newsletter, Exposed! will be sent to subscribers. Catching Superman will be our quest!
  • there will be a prize awarded for the first correct answer of a skill testing question on this blog – stay tuned. The prize will be from ChelseaGallery.ca

On the weekend I went to an awards and end of season banquet for XCOttawa. I provide the elite XC ski team with photos every year: XCOttawa

The team is a small powerhouse of skiers lead by coach, John Suuronen, who, by chance, coached me many, many winters ago! Their site, XCOttawa, is full of ski info!

Some highlights:

Karl Saidla, team president, handing out awards:

XCOttawa

Megan McTavish thanking coach John Suuronen for his hard work:

XCOttawa

Coach John Suuronen showing off his smile:

XCOttawa

The snow will return!

H

#61 Going fast

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I like going fast.

I like making other people look like they’re going fast, too.

Mountain Bike Motion

The picture above was shot on trails in Gatineau Park using techniques of motion I will be discussing in next week’s Exposed! newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter at the top, right of this page.

I will be covering these motion techniques in my upcoming bike race photo workshop.

Yeah, it’s fun!

#59 Prizes

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As a thanks to my blog readers I will be posting a quiz question on this blog once a month – The first correct answer will receive a prize from ChelseaGallery.ca Stay tuned – the first quiz will be within the next two weeks.

Lake Superior at ChelseaGallery.ca:

Lake Superior at ChelseaGallery.ca

The story – Years ago I drove across Canada many, many times.
One of the most magical areas for me was the north shore of Lake Superior. It has been immortalized by ancient native pictographs, Gordon Lightfoot’s eerie ballad “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”,
Bill Mason’s canoe films and art – and not to be missed – Group of Seven’s stunning portrayal of Lake Sueprior.

The north shore of Lake Superior has tugged at me to pay a proper visit. And that meant in a canoe with supplies for 10 days. I made my chance one summer. We drove to the small town of Wawa and set off on our adventure. It is stunning, beautiful, merciless… and tugging at me to make another trip soon.

This ChelseaGallery.ca photo glorifies the expansive beauty of this, the largest freshwater lake in the world. It is magnificent!

#58 Scooters

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Researching some new ideas for stock was on the agenda recently. My girlfriend bought a scooter last summer and loves it!

We went on an exploratory creative ride with her scooter and my teeny Nikon P50 ‘point and shoot’ to test a few scooter ideas for my stock photo work – likely for my main agency, AGEFotostock. The scooter concept went well.

scoot

I was a little frustrated with a couple of limitations of the point and shoot – ie a short & frustrating delay. It IS a consumer based P&S that I do not know well… I was asking a lot – like asking a SMART car to perform like a Porsche 911.

The session gave me enough info to shoot the work properly with an appropriate camera and more attention to the set – clothes, etc.

This is a great part of my work – very fun for Harry!

#56 Workshop photos and blogs

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Creative Fundamentals photo student, Christine Melenhorst of Love Bunny Photography took some fun pictures on the course, posted below!

There are also two student blogs from that course that show comments about their course experiences and some great pictures!:

Amy’s Insight Photo Blog – orchids and course review.

Love Bunny Blog – babies, and photography views.

Harry reviewing speeding mountain bike motion exercise:

LoveBunnyPhotography.com

Explaining the idea of full frame pictures before speeding mountain bike focus exercise:

Thanks Amy, Christine and all my students. You make my teaching worthwhile!

Harry