TRYING NEW THINGS - 2016 SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

TORONTO RAVINE 2016
©Michael O'Brien
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

USING NIK SOFTWARE ANALOG EFEX TO MAKE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS

Nature provides endless opportunities to 'see' the world around us in black and white. This cloud image is finished in NIK software Analog Efex which is one of the approaches that I'll share during the Black and White Digital Photography Workshop in 10 days. Its being held at the Centre for Social Innovation near the vibrant Kensington Market/ Spadina neighborhood on Sept. 24 - 25. CLICK HERE for workshop information.

Summer Clouds
©Michael G.O'Brien

INSIDE NEW YORK CITY - DETAIL OF DOOR HANDLE AT THE NYC PUBLIC LIBRARY

The way B&W accentuates shapes, form and texture makes it perfect for exploring architectural detail like this handle found on one of the the front doors of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, at 42nd St and Fifth Ave. It's one of the four research branches of the NYC Public Library system.

Although there was directional light coming in from camera right, also present was enough light bouncing off the surrounding white marble walls to provide the perfect amount of fill light that softened the shadows slightly. 

ABOUT

My passion for photography is fueled by a thirst to

explore and experience the world around me as deeply as possible. It's an inner quest that can manifest in my back yard or half-way around the world. This quest helps me to steadily develop new narratives and subject matter. 

That being said, there are themes woven through my photography. For instance, nature based work has been my main focus over the last ten years, as seen in my HORIZONS sequence which explores the elemental forces of Nature that are at work even at the edges of a big city like Toronto. Prior to that people were my main subject.

Teaching and mentoring others is equally important to me. It helps bring my creative process full circle and allows me to give something back for all the richness and meaning photography has given me; all my life I've trained and led people, in one form or another, and I love it. 

I teach privately and at a local college in downtown Toronto. My passion for teaching initially came as a surprise to me given that I'm completely self taught. But really it comes down to this; it's taken me years to learn things that could've been acquired in months with the right guidance. My goal is to help others move along the learning curve as quickly as possible. 

Whether it's delivering one-to-one training or working with groups, my approach emphasizes the ‘art of seeing’, perceptual skills, and the creative use of digital technology in pursuit of photographic expression.

      Services:

• Portraits (with digital and/or film) 
• My photoworks as inkjet, silver or platinum prints  click here
• Workshops (e.g. The Art of Black and White, The Photo Project)
• Private Camera Training on any subject or technique read more
• Private Lightroom® Training - for refining vision
• Private Portfolio building/review sessions see more
• Individual Creative Direction and Coaching Sessions
• Custom Individual Mentoring Programs click here 

WHAT IS PRIVATE CAMERA TRAINING?

Private camera training lessons vary from session to session but, usually combine explanations and exercises to help deepen one's mastery of camera controls and photographic concepts thus helping you become a better photographer. This is sometimes done along with guided, focused, hands-on practice in the field and often combined with coaching on approaches, styles and individual problem spots.

Here is a few words from Mary (last name with held by request) describing her private session.

"I have known Michael over several years, having taken two photography courses with him, and recently reconnecting when I signed up for one of his private camera training sessions in preparation for a wedding shoot. In fact my first wedding shoot.

"Michael is patient teacher; knowledgeable and passionate about his subject, he clearly approaches it on a deep level that comes from experience. I have always been impressed with the way he pursues his craft, searching it out broadly through exposure to art, film and through his clear love of interacting, teaching, and sharing with others.

"On the wedding prep outing he introduced me to the concept of location portraiture in open shade. He also pointed out that, no, you don't always want the sun behind you, you want it behind your subject (when shooting in bright sunlight). His attention to the particulars of my shoot was marked and I was, again, impressed with the urgency he clearly felt about me nailing down several issues before the shoot.

"After watching Michael, I can see that in addition to helping others he is committed to steadily improving his own understanding of photography. This dedication translates to and permeates his teaching and lends itself to an environment that is truly conducive to learning. It has been a pleasure having the chance to look at photography together with Michael." 

THE POWER OF BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS

Composing black and white photos is different than working in colour. Certainly lines, perspective and content are still important, however, even more so is the tonal range, and the use of light in the image as well as the distribution of 'weight' throughout the composition. A balance of the various visual building blocks helps the viewer find their way through and sit with the image.
These and many other factors will be covered in the upcoming Digital Black and White Photography Workshop

Inside the New York Public Library  ©Michael G.O'Brien

THE POWER OF BLACK AND WHITE - A WORKSHOP

Making Black and White (B&W) photographs is not just a bunch of techniques. It's a way of seeing and a tradition reaching back to the beginnings of photography 177 years ago. CLICK HERE to find out more about the Black and White Digital Photography Workshop that I'm leading this September 24 - 25.

STORIES

I am often asked what led me to become a photographer. The short answer is that it gives me a way to seek, see, and make meaning. While growing up my family traveled and lived in more than a dozen places by the time I was nine, so my world became largely defined by the people, places, cultures, and histories of these communities, seen through the lens of my own imagination. So arose in me the desire to document the singular moments particular to a place, its landscape and its people - its way of continuity. Not only to remember and preserve them for posterity, but more so to reflect how it has made me feel, how it changed or moved something inside of me, how it gave me meaning. As I've learned and grown as a photographer, it has become my way to cherish and preserve precious moments; it has also become my way of honouring and paying homage to what I feel is sacred and the sublime in this world.

This calling has taken me, beginning in my early twenties with my first camera, on several excursions to Latin America. Places in Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Cuba. Westward to Ireland, my ancestral homeland, the United Kingdom and the U.S.A. Transversely from coast to coast in Canada, my home country. There are places I've returned to over and over, just as there are faces I've photographed time and time again, and those I've seen only once, yet somehow each time and each image manages to put something new into my experience of it, like the re-telling of a story.

It is the narrative power of documentary work from masters such as Sebastiao Salgado and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, that first inspired me to tap into photography as story telling. Partly because of these influences, I prefer to tell a story through direct images of people and I think that black and white photographs are beautiful and honest; they constantly step forward to present a timeless and unvarnished truth. In fact, my more formal portrait work has developed at the same time, from the same source and runs parallel to this.

More recently my pursuits brought me to the First Nations communities in Ontario and British Columbia, as well as events that gather elders and spiritual leaders from other reaches of the world. Some are well-known, some are yet unsung heroes and heroines, ambassadors of the Spirit, but all have led me to a new series of photographs in which I intend to document the diversity and unity of the many wisdom traditions in the world.

Relocating, in 2010, to live near the waters of Lake Ontario, in my home province, has rekindled a long time passion of mine to photograph water, in many of its moods and countenances; a story woven with light and dark, width and depth, stillness and unrest, and what it's capable of awakening in us.

All of these have been immeasurable gifts to me as a photographer. These gifts are what I share, as a teacher, with my students in my College classes in Toronto, as well as my independently held workshops and coaching sessions. 

-->

.