dave_holland

Hello, Phillip. Looking through your portfolio, I've been to many of the same places you have gone to, including this cold and windy spot. Never made it to Lhasa, though. If you are ever down in the Lethbridge area, feel free to look me up. Are you a pilot? Those cool aerial shots of Banff look almost surreal.

 

Dave

This is the finest view of Ha Ling that I have ever seen. this photo brings back a lot of memories for me, mountaineering in the Rockies. I get that strange feel of cold air cold rock and dying light. Every year I regret not spending more time there. Thanks for posting, Philip.

 

Dave

Nice shot, Harmit, you nailed the exposure and white balance here. Edmonton is a great hockey city.

 

Dave

 

Good thought, Mark, thanks for the input. I've often found that auto WB over-corrects. For example, when you want cold snow, it helps to mimic the blue snow that you normally get from reflected sky. Here i have two light sources, and the auto-WB seems to be correcting to 5500, recognizing the dominant flash. That makes the incandescent light from the headlamp more orange...

 

Cheers,

 

Dave

 

I wanted to reproduce the cold feel of this damp cave. Not sure if I

was totally successful -- condensing breath was barely visible. This

cave is a completely natural lavatube -- amazing to be there....

Beautiful image, I see you recently went to Switzerland. Looks almost Canadian, except for the cross at the top and the wires. The Haute route is on my bucket list, but unfortunately not this year.

 

Thanks for your notes about the 7D - I've been watching those reviews come in as I am in the market for a sports body to complement my 5D. Unfortunately the same moments that I am shooting long (birding, hockey, wildlife) the light is usually also poor, so high ISO is part of the game. Noise Ninja helps a lot, but I'm looking for a big upgrade, especially with autofocus.

 

Nice to see a regular contributer to photo.net who is also an Albertan. I'm from Lethbridge, and am in the withdrawal stages now that my youngest son has moved away for Junior hockey. Maybe I won't need that new body after all, ha ha.

 

Dave

Brilliant photo, Andrew. Always wanted to go there.

 

Dave

Brilliant image. Thankyou for posting the setup shot.

Although it makes an interesting picture, I suspect this photo may not be representing the actual situation very well. Sometimes a photo can be very misleading, far less illuminating than the often quoted thousand words. I guess it might tell a story, in a paparazzi kind of way. And I understand that photography is more than just willing, smiling faces for the camera. But the negative impression of a barking sister may be embarrassingly far from the mark. And of course a photo like this could be used to make a political point about the circumstance of adult Down's syndrome, possibly far beyond the true situation here.

 

In a way it bothers me that paparazzi can take thousands of 'public' photos of movie stars, but the one that sells is the one that catches the subject in bad light. I know it's legal, but it colors street photographers as a group to be a little unsavoury. And this photo will make me think twice about the next guy snapping photos in a public place.

Brilliant mood and vanishing point, attractive color imbalance. Guess I would have thought of a different title -- her expression is not hopeless, or even sad.

 

 

Hi, Chris. I haven't seen your work in a while, and I wondered why. This photo is a phase shift compared to your previous (posted) work. The kind of shift that happens with a life changing event, like a new son. Congratulations.

 

Hope you have time to keep doing that work on the edge. The work that made a name for you, here on photo.net, and before that usefilm.

 

Dave

Brilliant photo, Vince. Cropping is excellent in my opinion. Of course the passion is what brings it over the top, unforgettable.

 

Dave

Well, I can understand your feelings, and I have been in similar situations. However there are other principles here. This child's parents should not be rewarded for sending her to work on the streets. She would not be there if it were not profitable for her to be shining shoes and begging for money. To me, the ironic reality is that to offer charity is to endorse child slavery.

Classical markings for the red tail hawk. Good to get such clear view for a backlit image. Photoshop is well done -- not so easy to mask this one, with the fringing at the feather edges. Overall a winner.

 

Dave

Boy, does this image grow on you. On the surface a plain photograph. But, like all great editorial photos, this one evokes a thought. A thought about the loneliness, the shrinking feel of aging. Great how his shoes don't reach the floor. Simple, tungsten lighting. I like the quiet dignity here, with the simple frugality of the elderly. A man displaced from his better years. Reminds me of my grandfather. Also, I have to confess, I find the thought a little frightening....

 

Dave

Brilliant simplicity. What photography is all about. I don't usually do ratings, but I will rate this one 7/7,. for clarity.

 

Dave

 

Eyecatching for sure. This has that peculiar halo around darker objects that have become very common with the advent of HDR technique. The photo is remarkable, but it doesn't look very real.

 

Dave

 

Great title, a postcard for sure.

 

Dave

I tried to create that feel of sweeping, lonely isolation. Does it

feel 'real'?

 

Dave

From your beach photos, this has to be my favourite. What a beautiful, deserted beach. Stark landscape, warm isolation. Really good shadows despite the harsh lighting, presumably opened up by reflection off foreground sand. Sublime.

Like Alan and others said, what a brilliant 'once in a lifetime' image.

 

I find it irritating and strangely amusing to see all the attention on whether this is 'real'. Years ago I posted an image here, and the conversation twisted to subtle accusations of fabrication. At first, I didn't really understand, as I wasn't privy to the extent of artistic creation on this site. After all, would some people actually fabricate a nature image, just to get extra attention? Sadly, I later learned that this was indeed the case, in some circles. However I still like to assume that all carry the same ethical yardstick that I do, until proven otherwise.

 

You have now proven yourself to be more than a fashion photographer. Or are birds in water just an overlapping sideline?

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dave

 

 

 

A standard computer moniter doesn't do this photo justice, as it is hard to see the whole photo without scrolling. I would love to see this in a mural format, 8 feet high, to appreciate the layering of foreground against background. I'm impressed by how you managed to keep the tonal range within limits, without blowing out highlights or underrepresenting shadows. I might have cropped the moon to draw the viewer's eye down to the primary subject. Overall really well done.

 

Dave

 

I like the close cropping, the full expression in his ears and eyes. Interesting, high-key background as well, but not so interesting as to be a distraction. As I type this I look down at one of my goldens, who has the same kind of expression right now. Only once have I been able to get this kind of quality, with a long lens and accidental dramatic lighting. I'm not keen about your frame, it looks a little asymmetrical at the bottom. Nevertheless this is a winner image, I'd certainly post it on a wall somewhere.

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

What an intriguing photograph.

Good lighting, a relaxed and clean pose, simple background. I glanced through your portfolio. I'm not sure I saw it all in sequence but there seems to be progressive improvement, mainly because of better lighting. You might consider deleting about three quarters of your older posts, as they drag you down now.

 

Dave