Micron Photo Club Agenda June 5th 2022"
Agenda
1. Review this months Assignment "Complimentary Color"
2. Next Month’s Assignment "Feel your Shot" see description below
3. This month’s Presentation we have a real treat, it is from Mike Shipman who will shares some of his vast knowledge and experience in photography. Title: Taking the Tech out of Photography
Bio
Mike Shipman owns and operates Blue Planet Photography in Nampa, ID. He is a photographer, instructor, author, sometime graphic designer, book and paper maker, and former wildlife biologist. He worked for the Colorado State Parks system as a ranger, the Denver Museum of Natural History as a Zoology Assistant, the USFWS National Ecology Research Center, US Forest service, and private environmental consulting before turning to photography. He has always been interested in science and art. In photography, Mike is a digital photographer as well as working in the historic process of cyanotype. His photographs have been shown in Boise galleries and art shows, The Miami Center for Photography, The Embassy of Uruguay in The Hague, and in 2021 some of his photographs were selected to the U.S. Art in Embassies program. His photographs have been published in Shutterbug, McCall Magazine, PDX Magazine, SHUTR.photo and others. He is a past president of the Intermountain West Chapter of the American Society of Media Professionals (ASMP), Past president of the Idaho Photographic Workshop, Vice President of the Boise Camera Club, and a founding board member of the Treasure Valley Artists’ Alliance. Since 2010, he has been an Idaho Commission of the Arts Teaching Artist and on the advisory boards for the Career Technical Education photography program at Timberline High School in Boise and Columbia High School in Nampa. Mike designed the movie posters, DVD artwork, and is the webmaster for 2 award-winning documentary films (Bravo! Common Men, Uncommon Valor, and I Married The War). He has authored and self-published two photography books, The Ecology of Photography : Senses and Perception and The Exposure Equation and a historical fiction “dimestore novel” Big Toe Joe, The Legend of Cannery Row”. His books are handmade in the bindery he has been building in his garage. He’s currently working on future photography books. Mike conducts photography classes and workshops locally and internationally. Web: blueplanetphoto.com and mikeshipman.com
Title: Taking the Tech out of Photography
The process of making a photograph is generally very simple. It’s partly the reason people to this day still do not consider photography to be art. But, over the years, often in the guise of making things simple, the process has actually been made more complicated. One of the biggest barriers for people starting (or progressing) in photography these days is technology – or the perception of the role of technology in photography. Digital cameras, software, printers, computers, digital image storage…all present barriers to making photographs, and it’s very easy to be caught up in the spaghetti of buttons, dials, sliders, menus, touch screens, and the never-ending upgrade cycles and image fads we’ve become familiar with. In this program, I’m going to illustrate this barrier of complexity, then simplify it as much as possible, using the process of determining exposure as an example.
Assignment
One of the most important ways to simplify your photographic process is to slow down. Another is to reduce the amount of gear you’re lugging around. Slowing down increases your ability to be aware of your surroundings. We tend to engage in a lot of sensory adaptation throughout the day, ignoring common and mundane things around us on a regular basis – sounds, objects, buildings, people. Slowing down helps “reveal” those things again. Reducing the amount of gear you have on a shoot allows you to be more nimble, as well as focuses your vision to maybe a limited field of view rather than everything horizon to horizon. Of course, some situations require speed or a plethora of gear. But, in general, you don’t have to look like you’re shooting the Olympics each time you go out to photograph something. So, here’s a modification, a combination, of a couple exercises I sometimes do in my workshops to help slow down and increase awareness.
The Assignment:
Bring your camera and one lens only. Preferably a lens with limited focal range. Find a location and comfortable place to sit. Keep the camera in its bag and sit quietly for at least 5 minutes. Clear your thoughts – don’t think of relationships, work, to-do lists, etc., just relax. It can help to close your eyes for a couple minutes to settle in. While your eyes are closed, listen to your surroundings. Don’t judge or try to identify, rely on your senses for information about your surroundings. Listen to the sounds as elements in your environment. High-pitched and low-pitched sounds, trills, warbles, splashes. Feel the air around you; warm, cold, breezy, still, thick, thin. Get a sense of your body in relation to the space around you; big, small, hard, soft, the pressure and shapes of what you’re sitting on and what the rest of your body is doing, its orientation relative to the ground, your starting point, your destination, and what is around you. Notice the aromas of the area around you. If your eyes have been closed, open them and look around. Look at the colors, shapes, textures, shadows, the quality and quantity of the light, juxtapositions. Again, without identifying or judging. After a bit, extend your senses outward as far as you can go – what type of sound is the faintest you can hear, the farthest? What type of aroma is the faintest or the strongest? Can you imagine is you could stretch your entire body across the hundred yards around you, ½ mile, 10 miles, 1000 miles? What sort of textures would you feel? As you’re becoming aware, something you hear, smell, see, or feel might begin to inspire you visually. Keep that in mind for when you pick up your camera.
After the five minutes are up (or however long you want to take), pick up your camera. Choose a single focal length and either a single aperture or shutter speed (you can use aperture or shutter priority modes or set these manually, whichever is most comfortable for you to use), and use this combination to make 25 photographs (or more). You can move around. Explore your surroundings and continue to keep your thoughts clear of distraction. Concentrate on your senses and don’t prejudge your choices. Take as much time as you need to make a photo of something you find interesting; explore multiple angles, use creative focus, camera movement, point of view, and other techniques. Experiment. Make your photos of one thing or multiple things, whatever attracts you in this moment. Review your photos, again, without judgment or trying to identify. Look at colors, shapes, textures, light and their interactions and relationships. Do the photos tell a story? Are they mostly graphical? Are they different than the photos you normally shoot? Has your experimentation opened up new opportunities for those subjects and subject matter your regularly photograph?
