Always Prepared - It's Not Just for Boy Scouts

Horses approach a jump in the Montpelier Steeplechase

So I was recently invited to head down to the Montpelier, Virginia annual steeplechase horse race. A steeplechase isn't like a standard thoroughbred horse race where they simply go around a track. Oh, no, a steeplechase has horses going over (and sometimes, by mistake, through) a variety of man-made jumps on a course that can be upwards of 1.5 miles long. But, not every race uses every jump, or even the same jumps. Throughout the day, each race makes use of different portions of the course. Per usual, I brought along my camera gear, hoping to experience a great day. One thing I did not pack, however, was a schedule of the day's racing. Now, were I professionally shooting this event, this would be an unforgivable sin. If you're being paid to produce photos of an event, you damn well better know what is happening and when. How else can you plan for the best shots?

This may seem like simple advice, even for the amateur photographer just going out to have fun (me). Well, let me tell you - over the course of several hours, schedule delays, and enjoying not just the racing but the infield sites, it is quite easy to lose track of things. When you lose track of things? You end up not knowing which event is up next, nor which jumps they will (or won't) utilize. The below photo is precisely what happens when you miss a chance to get a photo as several thousand pounds of horses come thundering by, less than a foot away.

Surprise! They're on the rail for this race!

The horses did two circuits for this race. As a result of having my telephoto lens ready on the first circuit, I had to choose which lens to use for the only remaining one - 35mm or 11-16mm. As you can see, I went with my 35mm lens, and I'm fairly pleased with the result. A shot just a split second later would've captured more energy, I feel, but I'm pleased. I'll never know what the 16mm photograph would look like, since I never had the chance. So, the lesson? Be prepared!

This horse's eyes were absolutely mesmerizing

A perfect action shot... until I chopped off the jockeys' heads

Equipment Used

Nikon D7100 Camera
55-200mm f/4-5.6 lens
35mm f/1.8 lens
B+W 52mm circular polarizer filter


 Images

Shy? Get Over it and Take Some Pictures - NYC Photo Workshop Part Three

On day one, we were told that we weren't in a workshop to take far off photos of landscapes. We were in a photography class in New York City - people are everywhere, are interesting, and that's what the class would focus on. After all, you open an issue of National Geographic, and you're not looking at landscapes of cities all too often. If you're looking at photos from cities, people are the centerpiece - their lives, their personalities. So, what's the big deal?

Taking pictures of random people going about their lives, often without any interaction with them, and completely candidly is an intrusion. You're capturing them because they seem interesting to you. Something about them is captivating and beautiful. But how do you get those photos without operating a spy camera? Or by busting out a long lens and making like a birder? One of the best pieces that I've read on this is here.

For this class, we didn't get articles to read. What we got was a meeting time in Chinatown/Little Italy on a Saturday morning. Then, a simple instruction. Go out and take a biographical portrait of someone. Tell a story about the subject - not just that they're in front of your camera, but something about them, what they do, what makes them smile. Oh, and Chinatown, during market day? Not a friendly place for people with cameras. Too many tourists come by with cameras every week, and take "exotic" photos.

Some of my classmates were shy, and got "surprise" biographical photos. Others, like me, tried to chat with people and convince them to have their picture taken. I had a failed attempt to buy a fresh apple and turn that into a chance to produce images of a green grocer. The apple was pretty delicious, at least. A few of my classmates were able to make some great photos! I was jealous to see some of what my classmates produced, but everyone brought something unique to the table, and produced cool images that brought their subjects to life.

So get out there. Talk to people. Take their pictures. Offer to email the pictures to your subjects. I did that with three folks over the workshop, and they loved getting them! I may not be the most experienced or best photographer, but it makes you feel pretty good to make someone happy with a photo that you took.

Equipment Used

Nikon D7100 Camera
35mm f/1.8 lens


Images

Becoming a Better Photographer By Not Taking Pictures - NYC Photo Workshop Part Two

The afternoon and first evening of the photo workshop took us to Central Park South, 5th Avenue, and the top of Rockefeller center. After the amazing experience of the morning, this was something of a wake up call. But, more than that, it was a moment where I finally thought, "Wow, I'm stuck. There isn't anything I want to make a photograph of. But that's ok. I won't force it, but I'll find it."

That afternoon and evening were frustrating as anything. Central Park South was beautiful and filled with people. But it didn't grab me. There weren't any scenes that or people that made me want to take pictures. Sure, I took some. But very few of them were, in my mind, keepers. Night time at the Top of the Rock was very much the same. I got some spectacular images of the sun setting over Manhattan, and was able to build a great night panorama of the southern end of the island.

One place made me feel happy to have a camera, however. On the penultimate level of Rockefeller Center, there is a room of LED lights that reacts to motion, setting off random combinations of colors throughout the room. I was lost in there, trying to get longer exposures of people enjoying the lights. With hand holding the camera and without any form of mechanical stabilization. The best shots were at 1/8 and 1/13 shutter speeds, but even then, they weren't perfectly crisp. But crispness wasn't the goal in playing with light that way. It was about creating images that could be literal, but could also be a bit abstract - and I loved it. Of course, now, in addition to my outdoor photography plans when I go backpacking, this night just made me want to purchase a small, easily transportable tripod. Maybe someday...

The next morning, we had to present 20 images to the instructors that, straight out of the camera, were our best. I won't lie. I struggled to find 20 that I found worthy of saving, much less showing to other people! Even from those 20, some lacked sharpness, some lacked interest. It was a rough lesson to learn, but it has made me that much more appreciative of the moments that scream "take photos now!" I don't just see what I like, frame it quickly, and shoot. I now take the time, examine the viewfinder for extraneous objects or bad cropping.

I'll post more in a bit, but this weekend I spent at a horse steeplechase event in Virginia. I brought along my camera and found that in addition to spraying and praying as a couple thousand pounds of equine sped by mere inches away, that I was preparing myself, even in those instances, for good framing of the scene. When you don't see photos, it turns out it helps you to prepare even more for the times when you do see photos!

Equipment Used

Nikon D7100 Camera
35mm f/1.8 lens
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens



Images

Painting with Black - NYC Photo Workshop, Day One

I recently took part in my first formal photography instruction. I've taken a number of art classes, which helps a lot with composition and visualizing interesting photos, but not with the actual mechanics of going out and shooting. That's all been self taught at this point. Well, within thirty minutes of arriving on the first morning, we set out in New York's financial district with a simple assignment - come back with 20 good photos.

Now, I set out with a rather simple kit - camera, 35mm lens. Nothing to think about beyond light, exposure, and composition. When I later viewed my first shots, a quote by Robert Capa rang very true to me: "If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough." There's a lot in that statement to unpack, of course - it's not just about being physically close to your subject. But it's an excellent reminder to not just take photos, but to make photos.

I ended up moving around the financial district with one of the instructors - Aaron Zebrook. Aaron knows how to do street photography - he spotted interesting people from a block away, and was ready for the shot he wanted. Every. Time. But, mor
e importantly than spotting subjects, Aaron taught me how to be ready for the shot. The light in early morning NYC can be a bit challenging. A rising sun shooting right down the streets, but blocked every so often by buildings, scaffolding. That's where Aaron gave me the lesson that made me rethink how I approach every day photography.

"You're painting with black."

Whoa. Aaron went on to explain that the colors are all there, but making them pop, making the composition work is about the negative space, and how it directs your attention. As an example, he snapped a quick shot of a subway entrance sign. You've seen a thousand of these photos from tourists. Trust me when I tell you that this sucker popped. It was gritty, beat up, but also had this warmth and color to it that drew you in. Oh, and half of the frame was pure black shadow. Astounding.

That morning was the absolute best photography experience that I've ever had. We made it all the way to the East River and back in 90 minutes. The way out there was directly into the light, which meant I had to constantly preposition myself for the shot I expected. But nothing prepared me for the walk back. Perfect light. The whole way across the island of Manhattan. I didn't have to think, I just had to see the photograph that I wanted to make. It was pretty damn cool.

Equipment Used

Nikon D7100 Camera
35mm f/1.8



Images

Rescuing Photos and Creating Backups - Safe Storage at a Budget

I have managed to rescue all of my photos, and, I must say, I now have a backup system that is nearly complete. Since this blog is all about becoming a better photographer, I'm going to go through my current process, along with a few future tweaks that I hope to make.

Physical Backups

Not all things can be backed up!

First off, I did a little work and removed the hard drive from my completely dead computer, and installed it into my new desktop. This isn't too hard, and can be accomplished with nearly every type of desktop computer with a simple Phillips head screwdriver. Just make sure that you're not in an environment with a lot of static electricity, and don't bring any magnetic tools into the equation (it's just not worth the added worry). There are tons of YouTube videos that can demonstrate how to perform this process - it's super simple and took me a grand total of 10 minutes from opening the cases to closing them.

Of course, I made sure that I had my new desktop all set up and working before I installed the new hard drive in tandem. Fortunately, when I booted up, the hard drive was perfectly operational, and I was able to do a very simple copy/paste operation. It took some time, but I now had two identical copies on separate hard drives. I then scheduled my main hard drive to back up my photo folders once per week onto the auxiliary drive. Why is this important? If one hard drive should fail physically, I will still have everything on the other drive.

I made a second purchase: a Silicon Power rugged-ized 1 terabyte USB hard drive. If you shop around, you can get a good deal on this. Admittedly, it's a touch more expensive than other 1TB removable drives on the market, but as I plan on traveling with this, I paid the small premium for something that was dirt and water resistant. With photo backups, I would plan on getting a USB 3.0 capable drive for the faster transfer speeds. RAW files add up quickly! Storage is so cheap now that you can get removable drives that are lightweight, portable, and provide nearly the same amount of storage capacity as a standard internal drive. So if that theft or act of God happens to my desktop, I have a small piece of information security tucked away in a separate part of my home with the same data. Just make sure that when you load photos onto the desktop, that you copy them to the removable drive, too!

Next Steps for Improving Redundancy

What I have laid out above is a pretty good system - physical redundancy within my desktop computer. It isn't a RAID setup, but it's similar in principle and should prevent  any data loss due to physical drive issues. Why isn't this enough on its own? Both hard drives are installed on the same computer - should a pervasive piece of malware or a virus get on my machine, it could do damage at the digital level to my data on both drives. How do I protect from this? Get the best available antivirus software you can. AVG is an excellent freely available program (they make a pay version, as well), while Kaspersky Labs is widely praised for making the most complete computer protection out there.

This has nothing to do with data redundancy,
but is my best wide-angle shot to date!

The one bit of added security that I haven't yet taken is the easiest. Cloud storage. There are a number of highly regarded cloud storage services out there - this list is a good start. Your files get stored on a variety of servers throughout the world, and are easily accessible to you on the go. This is the ultimate in redundancy, but comes with a price. If you're like most digital photographers, your megabytes of photos become gigabytes VERY quickly. Most free services will be enough to start with, but, as you take more photos, you may have to splurge for a pay service.

Feel free to add any helpful tips or recommended products/services in the comments, and keep those photos safe!

50th Anniversary of the March on Washington - Part Two

On the actual anniversary of the March on Washington, quite the event was planned - speeches, tributes; the whole nine yards. Seeing as how special this occasion was, and the fact that three Presidents would be there, I decided to rent a nice big zoom lens: Nikon's 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 ED VR lens. (released in 2000)

I rented the lens from Lens Giant, which was a perfectly fine experience. Everything arrived intact and with no defects. Best of all, it was perfectly set up to pop the lens right back into the box and ship back to them. All in all, a super easy experience.

Using such a large telephoto zoom lens was a challenge. Every motion that you make is amplified when you're pressed all the way out to the limit of the lens. Fortunately, the lens' VR worked great. Of course, just to make things a little more challenging, it was a cloudy and rainy day, but with thin enough clouds to let some decent sunlight through. Since I was cropping down (despite the 400mm reach, I wasn't close enough to the Lincoln Memorial to be satisfied with straight out of the camera images), I put my ISO at 250. Silly me! Shooting at f/5.6 and 1/800 (to freeze motion at that distance and ensure sharpness), I really should have been up higher with my ISO settings. The pro-sumer D7100 is optimized for ISO 200 - I wasn't even making the camera work at 250!

This was my favorite moment of the day. President Obama had just begun to speak, and this little girl was taking it all in from her father's shoulders. Then she started to use a camera to capture the moment. It was heart warming.

Equipment Used

Nikon D7100 Camera
80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 ED VR (rental)



Images