Story Behind The Picture

Post about how a photo was made

WOW! MIP’s Tri-County 2013 Recognition

We were all ecstatic  when all MIP photographers had entries accepted into this exhibition.  But it just got better when Patti was informed that her “Braided Lady” street shot was given a Judge’s Recognition.  You can see this and all the pictures that were accepted into this exhibition here.  Along with MIPs success at last months B&W exhibition this has started the year with the bar set high!

You never know when a picture presents itself.  Patti was in Hawaii last year and had taken her brand new Nikon D800 to try out.  While on a walk-about trying to find a lunch spot she spotted this women on the edge of Waikiki Beach.  She was  oblivious to what was going on around her and completely focused on braiding her hair.  Patti saw the shot and took it.  This is Patti’s second foray into B&W and her last effort also gained a Judge’s Recognition award too!

This  and more pictures of our fascinating world are available at Mosaic Images Photography.  Prints and Instant Downloads make great presents too.

How Is It Made?

The art and science of lens design and manufacture has many secrets and this little promo film probably doesn’t show any but it does highlight the care and attention that some lens makers still apply.  Thanks to Franz Scheurer for finding this gem.

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Where in the World Are The MIP Photographers?

After the craziness of the last few weeks preparing for and exhibiting at the art shows we finally got a chance to return to one of our favorite haunts for bird and flora photography.  You can see where it is by using our Where in the World are the MIP Photographers link.

A pre-dawn departure is best so that we are in the Wakodahatchee Wetlands as the sun is rising with the birds as they feed their young ones.  Things were a bit quiet as it is still early breeding season but after hearing an alligator calling for a mate we saw the offending creature.  What a beauty!  We estimate at least 12 foot (4m) long, gliding, in a “Loch Ness” silhouette towards a small island where several birds, including an egret and some large ducks were standing.  Wondering if the ‘gator was planning an assault we watched.  Then to our surprise it reared up and bellowed its mating call.  The birds are either stone deaf or don’t care, they didn’t flinch.  After about 10 minutes of this and with no obvious response our scaly friend submerged to his (we assume) eyeballs and slipped away.

As if that wasn’t enough there are a couple of birds that have been very elusive to date.  Today was the day for a Roseate Spoonbill to present itself and be photographed!

In the next week we should have the best of our shots in the MIP Galleries.

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The Wave – How Did It Happen?

This shot of a rogue wave is not a set up.  Nor has it tasted any image editing apart from cropping and setting the color balance correctly de la Photoshop style.  This is the kind of photograph that presents itself in an instant and if you blink it is gone.  We had decided to spend some time on the aft of deck 4 of the MV Orion as it headed back to Bluff, New Zealand from Mawson’s Hut —  Commonwealth Bay, honing our skills of capturing birds on the wing.  After an hour or so the sun had retreated and it was to say the least cold.  Patti had decided, wisely, to take a break and warm up with something from the Leda bar.  I stayed out longer (getting colder) and after another hour I dropped my gaze to the sea in front of me and a wave travelling across the swell started to build.  I framed and waited, the hard part was not to blaze away and find the camera would not fire because I had filled the buffers.  Holding off until I felt that the Cartier-Bresson moment was about to happen I took just three shots.  The first was the money shot, in the second the wave had collapsed over the clear section and the third, taken less than a second after the first, showed the wave was now absorbed into the swell.   Patti got some great bird on the wing shots too — Look for Wingover I & II.

Photography is so much more than equipment and trying to remember a bunch of composition and exposure rules.  There is always the elements or preparedness and luck.

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The wave about a second after it had peaked
The wave about a second after it had peaked
The wave less than 1/2 second after it peaked
The wave less than 1/2 second after it peaked
Patti Godwin on the aft deck of the MV Orion on its return from Mawson's Hut
Patti Godwin on the aft deck of the MV Orion on its return from Mawson’s Hut

Help! I need an Arachnologist.

I came across this beauty in my backyard.  But since I can only identify red-back, funnel web, huntsman and daddy long legs spiders I need some help.  Anyone know what this fella is?

Have a look at Mosaic Images Photography for prints and Instant Downloads that can give some zing to your walls or screen saver!

Spider photograph
Come into my parlor …

Who thought up the term Photography?

Any text on photography often starts out telling you that the word is a two parter; photo — light and graphy — writing, hence writing with light.  Quite an apt description.  But since the root words really came from Greek were the Greeks running around with Box Brownies and developing their film in ouzo and showing the results at their local photography club nights?

No.  The term photography was only coined at the time that a viable technique of capturing and fixing an image became public knowledge.

Two astronomers, Johann von Maedler (1794 – 1874) from Berlin and Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792 – 1871) from Britain are credited with the coining the word photograph.  Both used the term when describing the first commercially successful image capture and display process, the Daguerreotype, in 1839. The Daguerreotype process was developed by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerr (1787  1851) and Joseph Nicephore Niepce (1765   1833).

Did you notice that Niepce died prior to the demonstration taking place? Niepce, being Daguerr’s development partner prior to his passing, is credited with the very first photo in 1827.

Although there is now controversy as to the real first photograph and thus who invented the technology this is certainly one of the first images that has survived from those first faltering steps towards what we do today digitally.

And this is considered one of the first photographs that included people in it.  Until this picture all streetscapes were uninhabited.  This was simply because the exposure time was so long no one stopped long enough to be recorded!  And that explains how these gentlemen took the honors as one had stopped to get his boots cleaned and polished!

(Excerpt from MIP’s Photography 101 Course (History of Photography)

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A film Worth Watching

If you get the chance to catch “Bill Cunningham New York” a documentary on the career of a New York street photographer of peoples fashion.  This shows one man’s dedication to a particular kind of photography that both captures fashion and the changing way of life in New York.

When Anna Wintour says to camera that;  “We all dress for Bill!” and she means it then you know you are watching something special.

Hunt this down:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1621444/

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