karljohnston

<p>Stephen, that is a very hopeful and inspiring read. I would love to see your images. Having seen heart attacks and strokes when I was involved in volunteer EMS - I am always in awe of anyone who comes away from the traumatic event and revitalizes their life. </p>

<p>Hello all, thanks for the replies and suggestions. I haven't re-visited this since that walk. It was a successful one, a milestone for me to cross.<br /> Ironically, I ended up taking a portrait of a friend instead of any landscape imagery. It was a bit of a partially cloudy day with the sun peaking intermittently, had a melancholy tone to the feel of the day. <br /> <img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18223731-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="453" /><br> <br /> About a week later, I decided to challenge myself further and go off on holiday for a week, in the mountains of BC, to visit family i hadn't seen in a few years. While staying there I went on another hike - only about 1 kilometer long but it had me on a cane for a few days after. While on this walk, I was having a lot of trouble carrying a camera bag, even with only two lenses in it it was just too heavy for my spine to support. I had to go back to the car and leave it behind. For a few minutes I was hanging out, I decided that I would do the walk just for the sake of doing it - no photography, just taking pictures with my mind (and my phone). <br> At the end of the hike, there was a big waterfall and a river branching out, going around the bend and into the sunset. Pure photography gold. But at the end of it, I was just happy to be there and be able to watch it, even though I was hurting. I think this is an important point that Arthur Plumpton made, which I'll answer here:<br /> <br />Arthur, thanks for your reply and suggestions - i have only a couple of primes and a telephoto now. The telephoto is way too hard to lift, even if it only weighs a few lbs. It was mad expensive, I don't think I would part with it and is useful to have. But I do agree with you. I think I am not able to carry around anything longer than 200, so that definitely is something to consider. I am surprised by all of the small camera tech around, it has been a few years since I bought any gear and wow it really has some a long way. I agree with you, it is important to step away. Get a new perspective. <br /><br /></p>

<p>Can you share some views with some of us who do not have any? ha </p> <p>I agree with the connection between mother and daughter aspect. It's also very candid, and very real. A lot of photography we see in social media is so polished, but this is like a regular snap that I had as a kid. That went in a family album, bought from a pharmacy. Nothing special but raw, and beautiful in that regard. Nostalgic. Not like now, everything is so well put together - family photographs are so polished, with low depth of field and intricate lighting. Even as amateurs, we tend to overgloss. I find this photograph more because it isn't all of that. It's natural</p>

<p>How do you detect the distortion going on? It said you definitely see a distortion effect, but when I look at it it looks normal to me. </p> <p>My initial guess would have been 85-100 too, but I am not familiar much with the way avedon worked in technicals. </p>

<p>I prefer Full Frame for portraits, merely because it allows me the much larger viewfinder. I think composing-wise, that helps a lot. Often, however; I do not use the viewfinder at all. So I'm not sure, perhaps I prefer the added oompf of the shallower DOF I've heard about, but then again.. perhaps it is just personal preference. <br> Or perhaps it's the lenses I have, I do not have any ef-s lenses and have no comparison to test a crop sensor. Larger sensor, generally is better in a lot of regards. Better dynamic range, better resolution we've always been taught. <br> I think it's the best bang for your buck, as you can get a FF camera for about $500-800 bucks these days. Whereas medium format... even now is very out of range for most photographers. </p>

<p>I wonder if anyone has ever quit photographing, completely, for a long period of time. Why did that happen? Did you come back to it any time later? Or never again ? What reasons? For myself, personally. I quit photography around about last year when University took over my life; I was spending about 16 hour days at the school working on 2 degrees and finishing a diploma full time. I just recently finished all the course work, now just patching up a handful of courses and getting higher grades in them before walking up on stage to collect my slips of paper.</p> <p>During this time I didn't really do anything at all and found my own interests changing, my muse changing. I was typically just a nature photographer, with a focus on astrophotography. I felt that I couldn't do it justice anymore, so I sold 2/3 of my gear and let it go. Then, a couple of months later I had a serious spinal injury, and I wasn't able to do much of anything at all for myself for a very long time (10 months). I remember thinking, on my back most of the time in bed, that I was "never going to be able to do things the way I used to any more" and it got me thinking: 'i really wish I could photograph again' - my mind spun back to all the times I had in the past. Long hikes in the wilderness, bike rides. None of that, even now I can't handle the way I used to walk all day, for dozens of miles.</p> <p>But today is the first day in a long time that I will go on a hike, with a friend, and do photography again. It's only half a kilometer along the river but I'm looking forward to it.. It's been near a year since I even touched the camera, but I feel like I can handle it now. For someone who did not go a day without a camera in my hand since 2007, this is something that made me wonder if anyone ever fully quits photographing, never to take a frame again. Or do you just fall out of it and come back another time?<br> (edit: weird, forum post copied itself and repeated for some reason.. think i fixed it)</p>

<p>The teacher photographers remind me of almost every photography forum I've ever been on. :p</p>

<p>Unique erotic photography. I kind of like it, but the concept would be a hard one to push if you are just starting out on it, even as an established photographer you'd need models who knew what they were getting into, and the context of the work. I think it's just one of the many creative spins that can be done with photography-model interaction. Not entirely my cup of tea but, I can see the creative merit in it if there is to be one. On the other hand, I think even I would have a hard time taking it seriously in a photo art form. </p>