My exhibition is over

I took down the exhibition at Ottawa Library Central Location in Down Town. I had around 40 works and it lasted for a month.

I am currently helping the local photoclub to organize the exhibition at that venue for the month of February. RA Photo Club is the biggest photo club in Canada. It has 350 member and constantly growing.

I will be presenting for RA Photo Club November 3d.

Harvest Moon (and the rainy one too)

It’s raining in Ottawa and I got cold anyway, so instead of going shooting Harvest Moon of 2009, I decided to play with Photoshop.

I shot this statue of a chess player in Calgary and decided to mess with it a bit.

I actually ranted about this shot and the original version is posted
there:

And here is the original picture:



Here is my rendition – been playing with Photoshop lately.



But I hope to get out some day and get killer shots.

Yoga in the Dark

For the best part of the year, I’ve been confined to my studio due to a number of circumstances. I haven’t been playing truant, as I’ve been working on the new concepts for yoga photography.

It all started with black light photography and then grew into something more serious.

It’s first time I started seriously playing with light painting human form.

This is an early stage of the project and I am going to take it to a new level soon. I am brimming with new ideas, most of which are plain crazy.

The website is far from perfect - I am hard pressed for time getting ready for the upcoming exhibition and launching commercial website. Besides, I am not a graphic designer - never had a knack for nice web layout. This will do.

Not surprisingly, it is called "Yoga in the Dark". And yes, most work is done under low light conditions – that is my studio has no light coming from outside whatsoever.

I also kicked off the blog with the same name – I wish I had energy for an entry or two.

Some of the photographs still need cleaning – they were done in haste. I have difficult relationship with this project – while I am absolutely fascinated with the art of yoga, I absolutely abhor certain aspects of its westernization. During this struggle, I figured that one got to love the subject, otherwise the project stagnates. I wanted to abandon it on several occasions, but then decided to throw some stuff on the web. I am glad I did – I feel it’s a good start, albeit far from being at the point of fruition or my satisfaction with execution. At this point I think I made a good start, but there is much more to come – stay tuned.

Back to the future, or best time to get yourself a monitor

I’ve been enjoying these times – I can pick a good monitor for a song, while the crowd been busy getting rid of perfectly normal monitors and on a shopping spree for the crappy but light-weight LCD screens.

Let’s start with clarifying what we are dealing with:
The CRT – the old huge square monitor that is very heavy.
LCD – flat screen that is compact and light.

I do not want to make this post too geeky – those who don’t know what the acronyms stand for might google it.

When people come to my office to get the photographs, they view them on a 21 inch CRT monitor. I’ve been noticing strange looks, but I really didn’t care. A couple of times somebody pitifully looked at me and said: "Oh, well...the good monitors are under 300 these days".

You bet!

I immediately pull out two laptop (and good quality laptops I must add) and demonstrate the pictures on their LCD screen.

Ok, I do realize there are better screens than those that are part of the laptop computer. Still, the difference is striking. I’ve seen my picture on so many different LCD screens… It is bad.

• Most LCDs can only display a limited amount of colours.

• While not too noticeable on modern LCDs, they all have ghosting issues.

• The LCDs have only ONE native resolution, everything else is scaled.

• None of the LCDs (at least last time I checked) can produce true black.

• The LCDs can never provide contrast as high as CRTs.

• The angle of viewing changes your picture, and while not as noticeable in the latest LCDs, the problem is still there and does affect your picture.

• Many modern LCDs still display less than 32-bit colour.

Ok, there is an Apple with its Cinema Display. I am not really sure it could give me the same accuracy. But even if it could, compare the cost: 1300 for the Apple monitor versus 400 for a brand new CRT. Better yet, you can buy a perfectly normal used CRT for anywhere from 1- to 60 bucks.

Now, as my opening stated, you can pick a great CRT monitor for a song. Some people even give them away for free. You should not be paying more than 40 bucks for a great 21 inch CRT monitor, really.

Sometimes when I see how my images I post on my website render on the LCD monitor, I want to cry. The halos, the ghosting, the all of it...

And yes, sure, there better technologies out there. You will see the flat screens used by such photographers as Leibovitz for instance... Yeh, those start from 2.5 grand. And again, theoretically, I could afford such a monitor, and even justify a purchase. However, what do I do about all of those who are viewing my work on their LCDs?

Next time, do not be in the hurry to throw away your CRT - leave so you can compare the quality of graphic files, or sell it for 20 bucks to people like me.

Appointed to the PSA Regional Director Post

I am honored to be appointed to the post of the Regional Director for the Eastern Ontario Western Quebec region (Photographic Society of America). It’s a great way to celebrate my 2d Anniversary with PSA. Many great photographers, including Ansel Adams, belonged to PSA. I feel privileged.

My photography experience and my whole live has never been the same since I joined the PSA. I met absolutely amazing people that work for this unique organization – I feel my live been enriched by knowing all these enthusiastic people that help to promote photography at its best.

I’ve been extremely busy entering Internationals (got 4 acceptance award from the last one). I was also working on new concepts as I think I “grew out” of my old style and just snapping perfectly executed light painted night scenes is something that I find not much satisfaction in at the moment. I am on the path of re-inventing low light photography for myself.

Photos – Mine. Light Painting – courtesy of NCC.

National capital commission organized Ghost walks at the McKenzie King Estate. For that purpose, they wired all the ruins and other spots at the Estate.

I found it by chance – was scouting the area for certain photographic needs and spotted all the installations. Came back next day and enjoyed free ride – didn’t have to light paint, it was all done for me.

Met a man who does light effects for NCC – what a cool job! He is also responsible for light Winterlude.

There were two ghost walks – one in French, and then, a bit later, in English. Website does warn about mosquitoes – and some people took it to the heart. I could not believe people were wearing full body nets!


Gatineau park is fairly close to the city – hence this orange tone in the sky. It is quite interesting though. I’ve never seen such intense orange from light pollution.

Surreal Twilight

Thought I’d post the link to the article published in the June’s issue of the PSA Journal:

Surreal Twilight

As I already mentioned, I am not pleased with the way I worded it. Neither I am totally happy with the images I submitted for this article. At least, it contains tons of good information. Check it out.