Tips for Photographing Waterfalls and another episode of Meet the Artist

“You are capable of making a difference, of being bold, and of changing more than you are willing to admit. You are capable of making art.” – Seth Godin

Before I take a dive into putting tonights post together, I have to tell ya, I’m really excited about this recent theme I have decided to create for my Sunday posts. There is such an amazing pile of talent out there!  I find myself looking and searching with a new and fresh eye as well as taking an extra notice to the people that are in my own close circle of influence. As I have a rather large definition of exactly what as “Artist” is, these posts are bound to include a wide variety of talent. We can all learn from each other so I look forward to sharing my finds here every Sunday.

But first…..

The Daily Image – The Waterfalls Somewhere in Ireland

This was one of my first trips out with my variable neutral density filter. I’m sure you seen these kind of images before. If your intention is to “freeze time” and capture water droplets in motion, a fast shutter speed is of course one of the ingredients. Another, and very important one, is great lighting….alot of lighting…and usually strobe lighting. My direction however, was to go for that silky smooth wisp of water look. In order to accomplish that, you need to hold open the shutter a bit. Low light and shade is best for this as even with a low ISO and small aperture, you are going to be letting in alot of light while the shutter is open for a second or 2.

So the real trick is to reach for the neutral density filter or in my case, the Singray Variable NB. I created a video about it a while ago here. These filters allow you to hold open the shutter quite a bit longer to take advantage of moving items you might want to blur a bit, without over exposing the overall image. One thing you should remember though is that it will blur ANYTHING that is moving. In this case, a few of the leaves in the left side of the image. Not exactly what I wanted, or even thought about while I was captureing the scene, but like always….there is always something to learn!

You know, I just thought of something. I actually have NO IDEA whether I used an ND filter on this shot at all! There is a really good chance that it was cloudy enough to have held the shutter open long enough to have gotten that blur. If it was sunny however, you would definitely need it. So…..its still a mystery I guess….

Geez, that whole story was rather strange and somewhat uninformative. Did I make any sense at all? Well, enjoy the image anyway 🙂

Moving on, its time for Sundays….

Meet the Artist – My Friend Kevin Clark

I’ve mentioned from time to time here on the blog about the value of surrounding yourself with creative people. As an artist of any kind, it is essential for growth and inspiration. My initial intro into the world of special event lighting design and production began with this guy right below….my good friend Kevin Clark.

I shot this image of his at his studio and warehouse last year for the paper. He was in full prep and production for the annual Gentlemen of the Gardens Halloween event and the local paper was looking for an image to go with a feature story on him. Having virtually no idea what I was doing, I set up a couple of strobes to try to capture an image of the artist at work.

I’ve learned quite a bit more about off camera strobes and shaping the light with flash modifiers since then. Love to attempt a do over!

Kevin has never been afraid to attack a project and has an amazing eye for detail. I have personally watched him push his creative talents and vision for several years. I first met Kevin through a member of my band (years ago) when we decided to bring him in to make us look bigger, better, and over the top for a battle of the bands. Over the years, I watched him head over to Europe to study fine art photography, return to open an arts gallery on Clematis (he had a vision for a new downtown WAY before it happened), create some of the most memorable halloween events ever seen in West Palm Beach, start and operate an internet and web media company and design intricate custom lighting displays just to name a few. An inspiration and mentor for sure!

Its always fun to watch an artist “light up” when they describe what they are planning to create, and the project below was one of those. I think the images below might help tell that story.

 

I look foreward to watching his latest vision come to live as he creates his light show at the Sculpture Gardens Festival of trees as well as adding a little artistic flare to the down town tree display this year! Hey, maybe I’ll try to get a better picture of the artist at work now that I think of it!

The video below is a small part of his Christmas creation from last year. I here he’s sneaking in a few new toys this year! More on that later I’m sure 🙂

For more from Kevin, check out his youtube channel here, or Website here!