So, as the New Year has just come, we're all thinking of our New Year Resolutions... right? Well, I actually didn't have any.. mine are all tomorrow's resolutions... tomorrow never seems to come, as you know..
Anyway, I'm one of *those* people trying to get a private photography business up off the ground, around working 2 jobs and being a daddy/hubby. My wife is extremely supportive, only because she can see photography is the only topic that brings any animation into my generally middle of line persona :)
So today, whilst still recovering from travels bugs (a respiratory infection from Mumbai, as well as gastro from the same place.. the latter meaning I had to stop my meds for the former) I decided to give this a kick along.
So here we are.
I have no idea what I am doing!
I guess this is where I let the world know who I am?
I'm Mick.
I've been dabbling in photography for a few years now, but never really had the balls to totally immerse myself in it. I pretty much taught myself what (little) I know about photography through reading books, and from the net. Here I gleaned knowledge on all the technical things I think I need to know, and I'm quite comfortable with most of the theory. But alas, it's getting those ideas into photographs that you can't quite learn from merely looking (enviously) at others work, or reading "how to" guides, f-stops, inverse square laws, rule-of-thirds and all that (very useful) malarkey.
As those guys on that website say, lighten up and shoot. ie, get out and do it, stop having intellectual discussion on flickr forums. So there. That was my drive.
My toy box up until recently consisted of only a 350D, a 420EX Speedlight, a kit 18-55mm zoom, and a 75-300mm kit zoom. About Oct 2009 I bought a EF-S 60mm Macro, and soon discovered what good quality glass could do to even a basic camera. It was also then that I moved back to Hong Kong, and found a lot of cheap Off Camera Flash (OCF) gear, and I became hooked on that. It has taken me time to get my head around the world of OCF, but I finally think I am ready to take the next step and actually start taking photos! Now my toy box still holds the 350D, but the focus all of a sudden became unreliable, on every lens I tried. Now I have a 60D, 135mm f/2L, 85mm f/1.8, 35mm f/2, 24-105mm f/4L, 70-200 f/4L, 580EXII, 420EX, 4 x Yongnuo 460II and Phottix Strato triggers, as well as a YN ST-E2, and several light stands, umbrellas and Phottix clones of the Wescott Apollo. My prime lenses are only 1 week old. I also occasionally toy with a 1972 model Asahi Pentax 55mm f/1.8 screwed onto my 60D. Nice little lens.
This brings me, finally, back onto topic - Day 1.
I wanted to have a fantastic mind blowing photograph to start the year off. I wanted to have a photo that was symbolic of the journey I was about to take, and the position I was in when I was embarking on this journey. Alas, the mind blowing bit was just not there. I do think there is some symbolism. I kinda feel this is where I am... sitting on a dinky trike, trying to get out in the mainstream traffic. I'm smiling (insanely?), because, with God by my side, I am going to smile through whatever I can. I've done enough frowning now!
I know the image is obviously composited - No way I would sit in traffic like that for real... and I am just learning my way through composite images, so it is a bit rougher than I had hoped. I may redo this at a later date.The trike and work boots as well as the "real" cycling gear are a message... to me... you don't need the best gear and all the matching bits and bobs to take a nice photo. Get out there and shoot!
So, sit back and watch my project unfold. I will take a picture every day, and post them as often as I can.
OCF info: YN 460II 1/2 power in 60x90cm gridded Phottix Box at 10:00, YN 460II in 70x70cm gridded Phottix Box at 4:00, YN 460II in Speedlight ProKit Beauty Dish above camera slightly to R, 1/2 power. Shot on black background and composited onto street image.
PS: I know a lot of people use the term "Strobist" for OCF set-ups, but I will tend to stray from using this term, sorry David H. It is David's patented name, and to be honest, it has little meaning to me - a strobe is what flashes on the tail of a plane, not what I use to light my photos. OCF it is.
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