John Davidson: Photography

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Moved

Hi,

My Blog has been re-located to:

http://johndavidsonphotography.com/blog/

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

January , 2015 Events and More.

Shows and Events 2015

Well it is the beginning of a new year for us all. I wish it to be wonderful for everyone.

For myself this promises to be the beginning of many new things, starting with a month long exhibit in a lovely space in Port Perry opening this weekend.

Here are the details on it, as well as a few other dates so far in 2015:

Observations Through the Lens

Kent Farndale Gallery: Jan 10 – Feb 5, 2015

Scugog Memorial Public Library

Box 1049, 231 Water Street

Port Perry, ON L9L 1A

(905) 985-768

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 10, 2015, 2 – 5pm

The Landscape and Other Bodies of Work

Contact Photo 2015: May 3 – 30, 2015

The Great Escape Bookstore Gallery

Stephen Gilligan & myself will do a joint show for this year’s Contact event.

Our exhibit will be most unique!

Pelham Art Festival: May 8 – 10, 2015

Town of Pelham in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario.

http://www.pelhamartfestival.com/

Cobourg Waterfront Festival: July 1 - July 4, 2015

http://waterfrontfestival.ca/

Buckhorn Fine Arts Festival: August 15 -17, 2015

http://www.buckhornfineart.com/

Artfest at the Distillery: Sept 4-7 2015 (Labour Day Weekend)

Historical Distillery District, Toronto

http://artfestontario.com/artfest-shows/

Durham College

Well another semester has drawn to a close. The students in the Advertising Programme at Durham College are such a wonderful group. The quality of their photographic work completed this past semester was stellar. Many of them will continue learning on their own as they have a strong interest in the photographic image. Dawn and some others in that programme are doing great work with these students as they continue to prepare for the world of the employed. Some of my students are now experimenting and shooting with film!

Great to see.

Toronto Islands

The islands located mere minutes from the hustle of the city continue to be a source of escape and inspiration. This community has so much to offer in park lands, beaches, artists’ residences, bike paths, bird watching and so much natural beauty. I have been lucky to find a couple of projects, which keep pulling me out there.

Damselfly, Trout Pond, Toronto Island • Fuji, Nikon 55mm micro lens

• Fuji, 18mm lens

Scanning with the Epson V700

For many years I have believed the Nikon Coolscan series of scanners was the single best solution for getting those film negatives into a digital format. Certainly this was the case for scanners available in the sub $2000 price range anyway. Yet, since acquiring the Epson V700, I must confess my Coolscan has begun gathering dust (well, figuratively as I have it covered in plastic).

The V700 has convinced me that it is possible to get high quality film scans with a flat bed scanner. This is true, not only with my medium format negs, but 35mm film as well. The dynamic range is high, the resolution (although the debate continues regarding actual resolution numbers) is high and with Ed Hamrick's VueScan software, a great deal of control allows so much tweaking to a scan, that much detail can be pulled from most negatives.

A lot has been written about Epson's poor quality negative holders, but this is not something which has concerned me so far. In future, I may order the fully adjustable and higher quality holders from Better Scanning. It is my understanding that there is a tolerance factor in distance from the glass, which can be critical and may be adjusted to increase sharpness in scans. The Better Scanning holder offers a solution to this issue that the standard V700 holder by itself does not.

Here are several scans recently made with the V700:

• Mamiya 7ll • 150mm lens • Ilford FP4 125 film

Richie Havens • Nikon • 200mm lens • HP5 film

Elgin Tunnel • Nikon • 35mm lens • HP5 400 film

Nikon • 85mm lens, f1.8 • Fuji Acros 100 film

Buffy Sainte-Marie • Nikon • 200mm lens • HP5 400 film

Mamiya C220 • 80mm lens • Ilford Delta 100 film

Destination Wedding in the Maldives

Lucky me for I have been asked to shoot wedding pictures for a lovely bride this coming March. I was asked to give my answer as soon as I could. It took me three seconds!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

August 2014

The end of summer is in sight and with that, a reminder that another semester of teaching photography at Durham College approaches. I get mixed feelings at this time of year. I love the fall. I really enjoy my “non-texting” students and being able to inspire them to learn the craft of photography - but gosh, I sure love the beginning of summer a lot more than its end!

Of late there has been lots of opportunity to explore new themes with the camera (both digital and film based). Shot some 35mm as well as 120 film and got some super images from the new Fuji X-E2; a fine camera. More to come on these themes…

Events

This coming weekend I have a show to do in Buckhorn: The Buckhorn Fine Arts Festival. The following weekend is slated with another event. Here is the information on these two:

Buckhorn Fine Arts Festival: August 15 -17, 2014

If you can, plan to attend the Art Festival for a day trip, or vacation. While in the region, come and enjoy the many attractions the Kawartha region has to offer.

Friday, August 15: Preview Night Garden Party 7-10pm,

Saturday, August 16: 10 am - 7 pm

Sunday, August 17: 10 am – 5 pm

ENTRANCE PRICES

Admission Friday: $25 good for re-entry all weekend.

Saturday & Sunday: Adults: $7.00 Children under 12 free.

Art is available for purchase using Mastercard, VISA, Interac (debit) and Cash.

http://www.buckhornfineart.com/

Captured by Camera - Show and Workshops: August 23, 2014

Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Buckhorn Community Centre

Presented by the Buckhorn Community Centre (BCC), Captured by Camera is a one-day juried Photography Show and Sale. Browse and buy images presented by the professional photographers, and learn from the experts while you enjoy your lunch in air-conditioned comfort.

I am going to be presenting a three-hour workshop on HDR (high dynamic range) photography. Other workshops there will include a very informative three hours on panoramic photography presented by Stephen Gilligan. This one should be packed with great tips and ideas! Book early.

See the Buckhorn Fine Arts website for further details:

http://www.buckhornfineart.com/

Here’s the info on this event:

Photography & HDR Workshops

When: Saturday August 23, 2014

Check here for details:

http://www.buckhorncommunitycentre.com/our-shows/#CAMERA

Beaches JAZZ

As always this summer’s Beaches Jazz Festival featured fine new players and some simply just new to me.

Drumhand • Nikon

Once again, Bill King, the artistic director of the Beaches International Jazz Festival, did a remarkable job of ensuring that top quality and crowd-pleasing musicians filled the streets with music lovers. There were a couple of changes, the biggest being all the Kew Park stage events were moved a few blocks to Woodbine Park, where several stages were set up and bands performed simultaneously. The move was not an issue for me, as I actually enjoy the street-fest vibe much better anyway. Always fun, always a great buzz.

On the street, many bands, including Jerome Godboo, Dr Draw and the incredible KC Roberts and the Live Revolution - who are always great. But this year I was particularly impressed with the band Drumhand. They have been around for several years I guess. But in the past I just didn’t get close enough to really experience their sound: Wow. This is such a unique sound. Drumhand is an ensemble of five or six musicians who infuse their ancient and new rhythms with the most compelling music and musical instruments. I’m not going to attempt describing that sound, but I urge you to sample it. They have web presence so search them out. Take the Long Road indeed.

Drumhand • Nikon

Drumhand • Fuji X-E2

Drumhand • Nikon

Drumhand • Fuji X-E2

Here are some other images from that event:

Dr Draw • Nikon

A guitarist from Cambridge called Conor Gains (of The Conor Gains Band) was backing up Jerome Godboo on guitar. Terrific player. Here he is in a couple of images shot on film.

Conor Gains • Nikon 85mm lens, HP5 film

A Fuji thing

No sense going into the whole digital vs film argument once more. Film is, I agree, a constant pull for me and has been discussed previously here, so I won’t pit the merits of one against the other. And really, in certain cases no argument can be made. C’mon, with the digital tools available today, would anyone seriously consider shooting “event” photography with film? No. Clients want results fast. In many cases we all do. Shooting with digital files is fast and images are delivered so quickly now…especially once the workflow has been refined and perfected.

But film is so beautiful. When asked what is the difference between a digital file and a negative I no longer search for analogies such as analog (vinyl) vs CD (or any other digital sound quality) or, the tonality of black and white film vs (even) a RAW digital negative. No, not doing that one either. I’m finished with that.

Let’s just sum it up with these three words: Film has soul. That’s it. Really. And you only need look at both and then realize the truth to it.

K, that’s off my chest so now I can make an about face and take the hypocritical stand of praising a certain digital wundercamera: The Fuji X-E2!

Fujifilm X-E2

This mirrorless APS sized sensor camera is small, fast to focus, fast to shoot, elegant looking and (most importantly) has a sensor that is capable of capturing details and colours in a way unheard of until now (by this camera guy). This is all made possible with the revolutionary X-Trans CMOS sensor. No, it won’t deliver 36 megapickle files like the new Nikon 800/810, but that is not a fair comparison. This thing can be carried around all day without pain, making it a perfect camera to actually use for an extended period of time. Travel anyone? One only has to use it for a day to see what I mean.
It is just so sleek.

Fuji X-E2

By the way, the lenses are sharp, growing in number and fast. Check out the 56mm f/1.2! This is equivalent to an 85mm f/1.2 lens on a full-frame or 35mm camera - very impressive indeed! The JPG files coming out of the Fuji X-E2 are so wonderful that some enthusiasts may not even bother with RAW! Not so this guy. Then again no one could be disappointed with the files straight out of the camera. Oh yes, this is a company (whose film I still love) which is eager to please all users and their service people back this up. The only negative (yikes, here we go again) is that you better get an extra battery as you will want to shoot a lot.

Can a digital enthusiast be happy with this small elegant camera? Yes. Just don’t expect it to replace a typical high end DSLR for event shooting.

But enough with praise of things digital - because it really is all about the image and the image is much more than a piece of celluloid, or a flash card with a recorded number of bits and bytes. Here are a few images shot both digitally and on celluloid, which I am very happy with.

Coming up:

A new website. I am so bored with the existing one that of late I barely ever update it or market work with it.

My intention is a completely new look. Early this fall I hope.
The rest of this has only images with captions. Enjoy!
Thanks for reading.

Some Other Images (no more words)