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An adventure beyond my standard photography.

When I first picked up a camera I was very intent upon learning about the exposure triangle and how to ensure that I got tack sharp images that froze motion. I was excited to venture away from shooting in Auto mode and I learned about aperture priority, shutter priority and even shooting in manual mode.

This was a great way to start wading into photography as I learned my camera functions and buttons inside and out - I developed muscle memory that enabled me to change settings without looking at the camera or the buttons. I would highly recommend new photographers pull out their owners manual and start to play. The time you invest in this learning is invaluable as your photography skills grow.

Venturing into more creative genres

Once I had gained the confidence to be able to capture images with technical proficiency - I started to explore different areas of photography.

I would photograph anything that caught my eye with varying degrees of success.

Being curious and experimenting with different genres enabled me to be able to make more unique images that spoke of my experiences and reflected how I saw the world.

I became enamoured with macro photography and I started exploring the world of close up - flowers and insects were so fascinating to study and photograph.

As I gained more understanding and knowledge it became clear that one interesting benefit of macro photography is that you can often take images that are unrecognizable i.e., more abstract in nature.

I found that this genre of photography was very much about textures, lines, shapes and patterns.

Light and colour played a critical role for me in this world of abstract macro photography.

This opened some very interesting new opportunities for me to express myself creatively and it also forced me to view the world around me with new eyes.

Finding new outlets

Once I started to explore new genres and techniques it seemed that I was like a kid in a candy store - I wanted to try everything - ICM (intentional camera movement), slow shutter speed photography, black and white, high key, panning and radial blur to name a few.

In addition to using different camera techniques like slow shutter speed and camera panning, I also played with multiple exposures and post processing editing to achieve the effects that I was looking for like this high key editing of a flamingo that just hints at the form.

Now I think that experimentation and play are really good things for the creative process and to spark new ideas, however there is a risk of becoming caught up in trendy fads and not really evolving as a photographer. I quickly found that there were some techniques that I tried which were fun, but not something that I wanted to really dive into or not something that I could incorporate into the types of images I like to capture.

I felt like a dabbler in a number of these techniques and I wanted to make sure that I didn’t lose sight of the types of photography that I really enjoy - such as bird and wildlife photography, landscape and some macro photography. I felt that if I could find ways of using the new creative ideas and techniques to compliment the genres I was passionate about that this would be a great way of enabling me to communicate the visions that I see in my mind more readily in my images.

Enhancing Bird Photography

I enjoy taking images of birds and capturing them in their natural habitats displaying bird behaviours. There is a challenge to not repeatedly take images that have a similar documentary look (aka bird on a stick) and let’s be honest after a while it becomes boring to capture the same types of images.

I started playing with my bird and wildlife photography to capture more abstract images that illustrated key aspects of the animals or just even feelings that I had when photographing them.

When I was in Kenya (link to blog) one of my goals was to produce some more creative work and Michael (our guide) was really good at encouraging me to do this.

I played with slow shutter speed panning to capture the frenzy of the wild dogs getting ready for the hunt.

I really felt that this did a better job of capturing the anticipation and harried behaviour the dogs displayed after waking from a long afternoon nap. Their energy was off the charts as they yipped and chased each other in mock battles before honing in on the serious business of the hunt.

I also played with taking images of zebras to accentuate their bold striped patterns. This was a fun way to capture the uniqueness of the zebras’ stripes while also producing more abstract images.

One of my favourite images from this trip occurred when we were in Amboselli and a group of cattle egrets took flight in front of a storm cloud shrouded Mt Kilimanjaro.

My shutter speed was set slower than I would use to capture birds in flight and as a result the group was slightly blurred which for me really conveyed the feeling of soaring into the heavens - the way the white birds made me feel when I saw them take off in front of dark threatening clouds.

I really like how I can use these techniques to enhance my wildlife and bird photography images and create different moods, shapes and patterns.

Intentional Camera Movement

Another technique that I enjoy is ICM or intentional camera movement - it requires you to use somewhat longer shutter speeds (up to several seconds) while moving the camera in ways to create atmosphere or shapes that mimic the natural world.

It sounds easy, but trust me it is not. When I try to use this technique I will often have to shoot dozens of images to produce even one that I like.

One of the aspects of ICM that I found frustrating was the way I often captured the camera motion in the image which made it clear what I had been doing when taking the image. Now some of this is my inexperience with ICM, however it is difficult to get away from motion lines. I ended up taking a course on ICM from Erik Malm (website). Erik was an orchestra conductor and he incorporates this talent into his photography - his images embody musical poetry to me.

He tends to use very long shutter speeds (up to 6 seconds or longer) and he starts off focusing on a subject for approximately 1 second and then he places his hand (encased in a black glove) over the lens to block out the light and then he moves to another area he wants to incorporate in the image - this is where he starts his intentional camera movement. The result is a partially in focus image with wonderful sense of motion. Again, it sounds straight forward, but there is a lot of art, practice and a bit of magic to this technique.

One of the many things that I enjoy with this technique is the way one can photograph a scene that has been photographed by many others and come up with a totally unique interpretation. I also like that I can use this technique to enhance they type of images that I enjoy making.

Using Malm ICM in Iceland

During my recent trip to Iceland I had a number of opportunities to try this technique with landscape and urban photography. Again, there were a lot more images taken to produce the two that I really liked from these sessions.

The first opportunity presented itself at the Concert Hall in Reykjavik - this building is an architectural masterpiece with so many different lines and shapes and reflections that I didn’t know how to capture the overwhelming feelings of space and scale that I felt when I first viewed the inside of the building.

At first I shot so many images and when I reviewed them I wasn’t happy with what I’d captured - it was so documentary and didn’t really represent the way I felt when I walked about in the space.

We returned the next day and I was prepared to try something different and so I put on my black glove and just observed until something caught my eye. There were meetings going on in the building and people were taking breaks to catch up on phone calls - one gentleman was pacing in front of a group of windows and his silhouette against the windows kept pulling my eye. I tried a few experimental exposures and while they weren’t what I was looking for - I could see potential, so I continued to work with this subject (thank goodness he seemed to have an incredibly long telephone conversation going on).

After a number of tries I started to get some images that I really liked - the overlay of the building structure with this man on his phone spoke of the modern busy life in this very modern structure. This is one of my favourite images of the trip.

A few days later we went to a famous black sand beach near Vik and saw these amazing basalt columns and I learned that the Concert Hall architecture had been inspired by similar structures.

I decided to make a triptych (sequence of three images that are related) because of the connection between the images and I think that it really strengthens the story of these three images.

Where am I heading with this?

I am really enjoying playing with these more creative techniques and I find that it helps to keep my inspiration alive and allows me to continue to grow creatively. I am intending to work the “Malm ICM” (I just made that up because I haven’t seen anyone else who does single exposure ICMs like he does) into my bird photography in order to try and capture the sense of freedom and power that I feel when I see them soaring overhead.

I will be heading to a photography retreat hosted by Freeman Patterson (a famous Canadian photographer) in New Brunswick later this summer with my photography friend Heather - I am looking forward to being able to further explore new creative practices.

Have you ever hit a creative “dry patch”? If so what did you do to work through that dry spell? Please share in the comments below or send me a comment.

I really appreciate the feedback that I’ve been receiving and if you think that someone else might enjoy these posts please feel free to forward this link.

I hope you’ll come back soon, share a cuppa, relax and enjoy more of my musings.