The good old days
The good old days, originally uploaded by seyDoggy.
Five or six years ago was when I got serious about lighting and started to invest time and money in all the gear. Well to be honest is started out with flood lights and bits of tin duct work. I eventually worked my way up to a cheap kit with two strobes, some stands and an assortment of umbrellas.
This shot is from around that era. I still knew very little about lighting, key, fill, rim, etc… but it marked a time when my understanding and abilities with light, both natural and artificial, were about to mature at a rapid pace.
This was shot in 2003. The key was fairly harsh and too low, the fill was too bright and the rim light was of a totally different temperature. Yet I still look at this shot fondly. Not because it’s my wife (though it helps), but because it was my turning point. My work would no longer be restricted to available light but could take on any situation, any lighting, and circumstance. I was gaining confidence.
Shot in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 2003 on a Minolta Maxxum 7.
Let them be goofy
Let them be goofy, originally uploaded by seyDoggy.
As adults our lives take on a certain structure, a routine that helps get us and the ones we care for through the day in some sense of order. Leave it to our kids to point out that we need to cut loose every once in a while and realize that a little fun won’t kill us.
Today I picked up my daughter from the sitters and instead of going home to make dinner, do homework and go to bed, she insisted that the park would be a better way to pass the time away.
She was right.
seyDoggy teams up with DEVi8.design
It’s always a sign of progress when a company forges new relationships and we are not the exception to that rule. A couple of months ago, seyDoggy and DEVi8.design started talks to bring a vision of DEVi8.design to life. A little over a month ago a deal was inked to turn a concept design of DEVi8.design’s Chris Cifonie into a full featured RapidWeaver theme.
Today, the fruits of that collaboration were launched in the form of a seyDesign RapidWeaver theme called DEViANT Pro. Thanks to Chris’ vision and our technical know-how we have managed to make a RapidWeaver theme unlike many out there. It’s clean, simple and open feeling yet under the hood lies a powerful beast capable of changing to your every whim.
The biggest struggle in making the original vision a reality was making the layout “soft” or flexible, while still maintaining a graphically driven feel. This was done with the use of several transparency tricks and background colors combined to give maximum control with graphic polish. The end result is a theme with width variations, full color control and a handful of other great features that should please the most particular RapidWeaver users. Not content to stop there, we found a great opportunity to take this theme one step further and add 3 tier split navigation to this already awesome theme.
All in all we couldn’t have been happier with the outcome of this theme and I must say it was a pleasure to work with Chris Cifonie on this project. His designs are a treat bring to life.
The Grand View
The Grand View, originally uploaded by seyDoggy.
One of my daughters and I went for a walk in Homer Watson Park this afternoon to get some fresh air and expose her to the park that her late Grand Uncle loved so dear. For a man who lived life with so much flare and passion, it seemed only fitting for him to pass on in such a majestic place. To live on in eternity with such a grand view before him.
It’s been 6 or 7 years since his passing. Sadly my daughter never knew him, but when I told her today that this was one of her Grand Uncle’s favorite places, a wonderful calm came over her. She immediately loved this place. Her Grand Uncle would have cherished my wonderful spark of a daughter. We sometimes wonder if there wasn’t a little bit of his soul somehow caught up in hers.
Before leaving the woods today, my daughter exclaimed that this is her “most favorite place ever”, she would like to come here every day. Call it genetics, call it spirits, call it just dumb luck… I call it wonderful that the Grand Uncle with whom she would have been most attached, can have so much to share with her, without having met.
“You flout many conventions…”
Laugh, it’s good for you, originally uploaded by seyDoggy.
I recently received some feedback on our style of wedding photography and though I have always aimed for this effect, I have never directly been told as such:
“Wow! I took a look at that photo set. I’d like to congratulate you. You choose some astonishingly risky and unconventional poses. You flout many conventions for group photography, for the better in many cases. Those were truly some of the most refreshing wedding photos I’ve seen in years. Thanks for sharing.”
It’s great to know that what you strive for is what you are able to achieve in the end.
Photomatix, HDR and tone mapping, oh my
My first HDR with Photomatix, originally uploaded by seyDoggy.
I finally did it. I bought Photomatix from HDR Soft. I’m not one for those crazy, over the top tone mapped HDR images you see so much of. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a lot of those, It’s just not my style at the moment. Baby steps… baby steps…
Anyhow, this is my first attempt at a tone mapped HDR composition. I was shooting for realism. I was overall happy with results but it still has a bit of a over done quality to it. I just want to open up the darks a little, not make them look self illuminating.
The new Wedding portfolio
Her boys, originally uploaded by seyDoggy.
With the kids getting a little older my wife and I have decided to open a few more wedding slots in the next wedding season. I know this is music to some of your ears since we have been sitting on the fence with a few bookings.
Don’t get too excited though, we are only opening up more spots in the spring and fall and primarily in the Kitchener Waterloo area. The summer is still an exclusive spot to get and for that we are sorry. If our schedules could permit we would happily oblige.
Anyhow, we thought it was time to update the wedding portfolio with some of our most recent work. Have a look and let me know what you think.
Double homicide… erm… insecticide?
Double homicide… erm… insecticide?, originally uploaded by seyDoggy.
The girls and I were out for a walk this morning when suddenly a great big blue ball of buzzing noise came out of the bush and bumbled across our path. Our gaze followed the buzzing blur until it came to an abrupt stop on the other side of the path, apparently in mid air. In fact, the blue ball was 2 giant flies tangled together and their sudden stop was do to the unfortunate meeting with a spider web and it’s occupant.
The spider wasted no time ending what ever quarrel the two winged creatures were having who seemed to have forgotten what it was they were going on about. What ever it was seemed to pail in comparison to their current predicament.
The fly at the bottom left has already been taken care, immobilized, having a time-out, if you will. The fly at the top right is still putting up a fight, trying to beat the spider off with it’s flapping wings while the spider calmly whispers rational reasonings in the fly’s ear.
It was quite an exciting few minutes for the girls. I would have liked to stay long enough to watch the spider tuck the fly’s into their silk sheets for the night, but my youngest was showing an interest in petting the spider. I thought it was best we keep moving on.
This photograph was taken in Huron Natural Area, Kitchener, Ontario with my Sony DSLR-A100 with a Minolta 28mm f2.8 with an effective focal length of 42mm. This shot was handheld and underexposed by 1.5 stop to get a faster exposer while still using ISO 200. The image was then cropped and the exposure compensated for.
Making ripples
Making ripples, originally uploaded by seyDoggy.
Remember in high school when they taught you that the moons orbit around the earth is what makes the tides? Do you think the moon made these ripples in the pond too?
This image was deliberately under exposed so I wouldn’t burn out the sky. It kind of reminds me of the of my color transparency days. Fuji Velvia 50… gosh how I miss you.
Shot in Huron Natural Area, Kitchener, Ontario using my Sony DSLR-A100 and a tripod mounted Tamron 200-400mm f5.6 at an effective focal length of 420mm.
It’s in the lines
It’s in the lines, originally uploaded by seyDoggy.
Now I know this is not your classical, uncluttered, simplified composition and I know it breaks most of the rules of good photography but there is something about this shot that gets me. I am pretty sure it’s in the lines and the reflective quality of the water.
Looking into the reflection draws you into a place you know you can’t get to. You see the reeds there but only as a mirror of their true selves. And the tree stump with it’s tentacle like grass dips a few blades into that other world just to tease us.
Or maybe it’s just because I was there. Who knows. I like just it.
Shot in the Huron Natural Area, Kitchener Ontario.