festival=stacey ashley from ctv news!

So, along with being able to photograph Festival, I got to meet Stacey Ashley!!!!(for those of you who watch ctv news on occasion...) I was quite stoked...so many things I'm discovering in the big Peg city! crazy!
photo by matt sawatzky

the cold isn't so bad...is it?

....what a sweetheart!

just a few shots i dug up...

ADFH Practical Exam #1

These are some of my favourite images that I managed to capture at Festival du Voyaguer. Did I like it? Definately. Seeing as this was the first time I had ever attended the Festival du Voyaguer, it was quite interesting. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and what made my experience a lot more worthwhile was the fact that I could photograph the events.
I was pleasantly surprised at how I managed to capture movement. Specifically the man with the hoops at the street party. I found it was challenging but I discovered that I could actually capture movement in low light conditions a lot better than I thought I could. The great Tripod says it all. I was amazed at how he moved, and after 2 dozen+ images, I captured what I was looking for. Even though I was thrilled about that particular image, I still found some things challenging. I ended up photographing mostly on-stage--"calm"--on-stage performers, and I found that my shots were becoming repetative. I guess I need to start bouncing off the walls and swinging from ceilings to get some different angles to make each performer appear different. Most of my compositions for these shows were quite similar. I didn't find that it was difficult to photograph technically, although it did take work because of some funky lighting situations in the tents. It simply took a few tries before the exposure was right.
Because I was mostly indoors, I used my 50mm f/1.8 which gave me a lot more breathing room that I had anticipated. The only downside to this lens was the lack of zoom. I felt a little restricted? I would have like to use a...hmm, well probably a 28-200mm, f/1.4 but I don't have a million dollars and I don't know if they actually make lenses like that. This was the first time I could actually put my camera bag to good use rather than using it simply to transport my gear from point a to b. I purchased a Lowepro Slingshot 200AW backpack and I loved it. I was comfortable all day.
Overall, I would have to say I am not entirely thrilled about all of my images. There are the few that I am happy with. Most of my shifts ended up in the daytime, in the tents. I did wander out of these tents in between performances to photograph the things that caught my eye like the sculptures. I really wish I would have ventured out at dusk or night time to get more shots of the sculptures. I was more interested in things that were happening during the night. Because of my long commute home, when it was home time, I went home. Next time, I'd definately stay a while longer and get the shots I would take for myself.

Assignment 4: Classic (Classy) Equipment

The Graflex Speed Graphic (1912-1968)

This award winning camera was first produced by Graflex (a camera plant near Rochester, New York) in 1912. It was manufactured in many sizes. The 4x5” was the most common size, and the 2.25 x 3.25”, 3.25x4.25”, and the 5x7” were also popular. It became the ultimate portable professional camera from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. This camera produced high quality work that most photographers today cannot repeat. Many consider this camera to be America’s first and last great camera. The Speed Graphic was the camera used for stills in the World War II, and was also used in the recent movie “Capote”.

This camera was designed to be used for commercial photography such as product, portraiture, documentary, wedding, advertising and lanscape photography-which makes it an incredibly versatile and valuable piece of equipment.

Unlike our camera’s today, the Speed Graphic has three viewfinders - the optical, the wire frame, and the ground glass, and it has two shutters - focal plane and the in-lens shutter which provided extra versatility. Only one shutter can be used at a time. This camera may look scary and complicated, but supposedly it is on of the most practical and simplest camera made. Because nothing on this camera is automated, the photographer has complete control over everything that happens while taking the photograph. The flash for this camera consists of a bulb filled with foil or wire made of aluminum or magnesium (available in many different strengths), and a reflector that sits directly behind it. This reflector is used for more than flash. Because of the possiblity of the bulb expolding, it serves as a shield for the photographer. Extra caution is used by placing the subject 6 feet from the flash for the same reasons. These flash bulbs produced shutter speeds from 1/8 s to 1/200 of a second. Once the shutter is released, a poof is heard and the material inside is burned. Because the combustion is so fast, the glass of the bulb doesn’t shatter because it has a coating of lacquer (a clear, or coloured coating).

I was drawn to this camera particulalry because of the they way it used flash. I had seen the movie “The Aviator” where press photographers were snapping photographs of celebrities and all you heard was a ”poof” and the falsh bulbs were shattering all around the celebrities. I was quite fascinated that the celebrities would just walk over this glass, and that no one was injured from flying glass! In modern day, this would never happen. It was quite neat to see a camera from that time in history, and to see just how far we’ve come with our camera today.