See Yourself Some Unseen
I’ve known the creative duo of Juanli Sun and Alister Benn for about 6 years now. Mainly it’s been Alister & I keeping in contact as he & Juanli have followed their roving path from one country to another, pursuing travel, life, work and photographs. Or, perhaps more accurately I should say it’s been Alister keeping in contact with me… anyone who knows me well can attest that I’m a fairly lousy correspondent, unless prodded.
Seeing the Unseen: How to Photograph Landscapes at Night, by Alister Benn
Some years back, Juanli & Alister spent a few months in Calgary, and along with my wife Deb we all got to know each other better in real time, augmenting the online experience and cementing the friendship. Somewhat like me, Alister always had an interest in the words & philosophy of photography, as much as he & Juanli also had excellent skills with camera in hand. So during those few months in Calgary, Alister & I knocked around some writing ideas. We got so far as to flesh out several drafts of different materials and locked in on some key concepts that we felt really resonated with our mutual understanding of photography in the digital age. My path then took a different turn, with me going back to concentrate on my IT career for a few years, and letting go of the writing projects. But Alister kept working on the concepts, and I was very pleased to see him recently produce his best work so far — the 2012 e-book Seeing the Unseen: How to Photograph Landscapes at Night.
I should disclose that besides having known Alister for several years, he did provide me a copy of this e-book knowing I’d more than likely blog about it. 
But no matter, I bought a copy of it as well. So this is not obligatory product marketing in exchange for free swag; it’s just me giving my thoughts about some great material that I like, from somebody who’s got a heap of vision and talent behind the lens.
Now, another thing many people know about my correspondence is that not only is it infrequent, it tends to be pretty lengthy when it does happen. Alister expressed concern that if I reviewed his new e-book, I might be tempted to use more words than he put into the text itself. Here, then, is my brief review for the e-book Seeing the Unseen, by Alister Benn:
If you want to make landscape photographs at night, and don’t already know absolutely everything there is to know about the subject, then you should buy this e-book right now. Even if you don’t care about night photography or do already know everything about it, buy the e-book anyway because it’s chock full of inspiring photography created by a really good bloke.
Note: As of April, you can now get ahold of Seeing the Unseen from Amazon as a Kindle e-book. You can also get it direct from Alister in the original PDF format. Choose what works best for you; I have zero financial interest in either one. Personally I much prefer the PDF version because of the many large, fantastic photographs, which apparently can’t be included in the Kindle e-book format.
What follows below is not review material, but just some additional ruminations. That’s right, I’m on my own time now, so I don’t feel any particular need to restrain the word count…
One thing I’ve been talking about in my photo tours & workshops is that improving one’s creative expression in photography depends heavily on a very small number of essential elements. In my view, the foundation of great photography rests on mastery of 3 things: subject, composition and light. These are 3 separate but intricately connected elements which, if brought together in the photographic frame in an exceptional fashion, will produce something compelling, virtually in spite of all other considerations. That’s not to say that other considerations, such as learning the camera gear or how to use image processing software, aren’t important to some extent. But mastering those things will not produce compelling visuals; what will do it is mastering subject, composition and light.
Twilight of the Off-Season, Waterton. The Prince of Wales Hotel at Waterton Lakes National Park is an iconic location that has been seen & photographed a million times. I wanted to create a different look, so I went there in late evening during the off-season and painted the hotel with a powerful flashlight. The unique architecture of the hotel is revealed in warm lighting, while the surroundings are moody & dark. I got the different look I wanted, something I couldn’t achieve during the day.
Of those 3 core factors, let’s think about light for a moment. Most human beings carry out most of their activities during the day. When the sun is up, we have light and some degree of warmth. We can see what we’re doing, and for most of us our energy level is at its peak. Most other people are out & about during the day as well, which is handy if you need to interact with them. So it goes that most photographers work mostly during the day, and create their work during the sunlit hours. This is especially true for those who work with available light, as most outdoor, nature and landscape photographers do. Available, day-time light, then, is the prevalent condition of light in most photographs.
Almost from the beginning, Alister was drawn to a different kind of light — as he calls it, available night light. Of course most nights in most places are not totally dark — there is some kind of light going on. But it’s a very different light from the day time! This is something critical to realize. Searching for that innovative blend of subject, composition and light to create compelling photographs, one would do well to consider how any familiar subject might look when the sun is no longer up. This could open a whole new body of creative expression… as indeed it did for Alister. Forget the words for a minute, just take a look at his work, and consider the other-worldly illumination on much of the subject material. Look at how he has applied the different available night lighting conditions to make compositions. I find them ethereal, moody, peaceful, sometimes disorienting, and always revealing.
If you want to photograph at night, there are some technical things to get a grip on, and Alister does cover them in his e-book. I won’t go into them; check the table of contents for Seeing the Unseen if you want an idea of the technical matters involved. He even provides several case studies on the workflow behind example images. Logistical matters are addressed, too; since it’s dark, normally you can’t just blunder out into a location and stumble around hoping that something will work out. Suffice it to say that Alister is thorough in treating how to plan for, capture and develop good exposures at night. If you’re still getting a handle on aspects of the technical side, this material will help you a lot.
Peace On the Blue Water, Lower Waterton Lake. This is a blue hour composition I made recently. The stillness of the scene, the shapes & reflections and the soft indirect light are all matched by the blue tones, all coming together cohesively to make an image that resonates with what I felt being there.
Even more interesting, to my way of thinking anyhow, is the nature of the night light itself. This is where Alister’s writing stands a cut above a mere technical treatment of nighttime exposure settings, good fast optics, or ephemeris software programs. This is the real meat — what available night light is, when it is, how much of it there is, how it differs from day light, how the different kinds of night light differ from each other. And ultimately, how you can use the night light. Alister’s philosophy of photography and lighting infuses the whole e-book, but it comes out most strongly when he’s writing about the essential element — light itself.
“Landscape photography at Night”, he writes, “is all about abstraction; hardly a single image taken by available night light can be considered in any way a literal representation of reality. As a species, our night vision is not spectacular compared to Owls for example, but our cameras open up a world of light and detail that is surreal to us. The pleasure of seeing a night exposure open up before me is a thrill, revealing details in the unseen, a confirmation that my preparation has paid off and I have applied myself with both technique and vision to create something unique from the blackness.”
You’ll read about the blue hour, a personal favorite of mine; it’s that period between sundown and truly dark conditions, when things usually get really… well, blue. You’ll read about the stars, and a lot about the moon. The moon reflects light from the sun, but moonlight is not at all like sunlight. You’ll see how to work with the phases the moon goes through each month, and when it rises & sets. Aside from the natural light sources, you’ll also see a consideration of artificial light from light pollution and light painting, both of which can augment whatever light is naturally available. Yeah, for me this is where it’s at. To make something interesting, talk to me about how the light can be interesting. Pursued and mastered, all of it comes together to create compositions that reveal a chosen subject in a new way, thanks to a different take on the light.
Essential to mastering subject, composition and light is to apply them in creatively expressing that which flows from a wellspring of personal experience. Think of subject, composition and light as being the “what” and the “how”; experience is the “why”. So I’ll close off my ruminations with a quote from Guy Tal’s forward to Seeing the Unseen. Guy’s advice is good; it’s above & beyond all pursuit of technique, or even pursuit of art. This underlies my recommendation that you check out Alister’s work, because he has followed this same advice from the start.
Great images are more than just impressions of light; they are also reflections of the person who created them. The more moving and satisfying your own experience, the more it will come through in your work. Beyond just beautiful images, strive to create beautiful memories.
You can do it, too. Get out there and build some more experiences; and see yourself some unseen.
Getting In Gear
Old Hospital Steps. At any point, some steps, a door, or a path may be in front of me. Should I think about it, or take a step forward?
Yesterday, I read some great advice from +David duChemin on getting in gear with an idea… any idea, whatever idea you’ve got today. This is something I’ve believed for a long time, but only really started to act on relatively recently in my photography. I posted some of my own thoughts on this on my Google+ stream, but I’m updating them here on the blog because not everybody is on G+… yet.
Ideas are great! They’re always beautiful and beguiling. They’re shiny and new, and never have any problems. And we can have as many of them as we want. Why? Because all ideas exist in that fake place called imagination. We’re often so much in love with the pristine beauty of our ideas, that it seems a crime to tarnish them by bringing them into contact with reality. I know I’ve been guilty of that!
We’ve all heard this phrase:
Good is the enemy of great.
The implication is that settling for something that’s less than excellent is choosing to be stuck with something that’s merely okay, and in so doing robs us of the exceptional. If we only pushed harder, if only we didn’t settle. And there’s definitely truth to that sentiment; sometimes we do settle when the right thing to do is to push forward that last little bit and really go for broke. Still, as a rule, worrying about “if only” is like crying over spilled milk. Or worse, not pouring any milk out of fear that it won’t be perfect, that the glass isn’t right or perhaps some milk might spill.
There’s a very strong counter-point that needs to be considered, to have a better balance in how to think about our creative ideas. I don’t know if anyone famous has said the following, but that’s okay — I say it.
Perfect is the enemy of good enough.
Hey, wait a second — these are our ideas we’re talking about here! We can’t sully them with anything less than the best! To make sure our ideas will work out the best they can, we look for the perfect piece of new gear, the perfect weather, the perfect inspiration, the perfect processing technique, the perfect opportunity, the perfect finances, the perfect team, the perfect location, the perfect deal, the perfect light. Really, the list of things that need to be perfect could be endless. Well, guess what? While trying to bring together all of that perfection, we’re not getting anything done. And other people who are willing to settle for “good enough” are getting it done.
Away For the Winter. One of the best single days of photography I had in Peace River was a day I just drove out into the prairie to look around. I had an idea there were some old homesteads out there (disclosure: Dan & I had gone out scouting for a couple hours, one day). But the idea was all I really needed to go look. I got some great photos towards a portfolio I've been thinking of.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Excellence and perfection are fine goals. I know I want my photography to be as good as I can make it at any point in time. That’s part of being a professional, and taking pride in my work. But excellence and perfection are just that — goals. Targets to be honored more in the reaching and striving for… not excuses for not taking what’s in hand now, and making something of it.
Like duChemin says in his post, which you definitely should read, “creativity needs to manifest.” Learn, improve, refine and perfect things however and whenever possible. But we should do it as we go, do it on the move. Get the rubber hitting the road, because it’s easier for us to correct course when we have some energy, when we’re in motion — not just sitting at a dead stand-still.
By “biasing towards action” (that’s duChemin quoting author Scott Belsky), we also learn a lot about what’s really important, and can spend time refining the things that truly matter to our work. Software people have a lot of catch phrases. One of them is “premature optimization is the root of all evil.” What it means is, we shouldn’t try to fine tune something until we know what’s really going on, because we’re just wasting our time. Getting our ideas into contact with reality is the best way to find out what’s really important.
That’s what I’m shooting for this year. Part of going up to Peace River for the month of February was related to this. Dan Wheeler was a great contact up there, and had some ideas. I had some ideas. We had the time to do it, and a couple of other things looked like they’d line up. Could we have sat around polishing the ideas some more? Sure! And perhaps if we had, some of the things we tried would have worked out better, or we could have thought of some other things to try instead, or in addition. But that doesn’t matter. I went up, we had a blast, I met some good people. And we got stuff done. For myself, I made some great photographs, met a couple of other contacts with actionable ideas, and a new set of possibilities got downloaded into my thinking cap. I know the same was true for Dan. How? By getting our boots on the ground and making something happen.
This concept isn’t a recipe for simply throwing caution to the wind and acting like a reckless person with no responsibilities. Quite the opposite… keep focused on making work. Understanding that the reason for getting in gear is that we’re going to a destination rather than setting out on aimless wandering, by definition we start with a goal in mind. The goal likely will change. It might increase in scope, or decrease, but either way it will evolve. Maybe it will even fail. But that’s okay as long as we try to make work where even failure is a valuable learning exercise, not a fatal disaster. So frame things in terms of the work to be produced, think about what resources will be “good enough” to get started, and have an idea how even a failure can be used to rebound even better.
And then get in gear, get creating! I’ll see you out there…
Do you have an idea you’ve always wanted to try? Do you know what you’d do with it if it succeeded? Do you know what it would take to start?
New Low In Photo Contest Rights-Grab Terms
They're Lining Up At This Joint. And photographers seem to be lining up to give away great photos for nothing.
It’s hardly newsworthy to find a photo contest where the submission terms allow the contest sponsor to grab a broad range of usage rights to the submitted images, in exchange for nothing other than the (usually slim) chance of being “published” — let alone winning some kind of prize that’s actually worth something. But here’s a contest that, in my experience, hits a new level of egregious rights-grabbing terms. Thanks to photographer David Sanger for pointing this one out on Google+.
The Golden Gate Bridge is turning 75. Every photographer loves it, so let’s celebrate with a photo contest! The winner will get a prize claimed to be worth about $1200… sounds cool, right? So come on — as the contest headline says, “Take Your Best Shot of the Golden Gate Bridge for Our Epic Photo Contest!” Yeah, it’s epic for sure… epic FAIL.
This opportunity is not so cool — have a read through the contest terms. Careful with that fine print, boys & girls! There are a couple of particularly irritating clauses, quite aside from the normal rights-grabbing terms. The most egregious clause says this:
By making a Submission in connection with the Contest, each entrant into the Contest hereby [...] (b) agrees to assign all right, title, and interest in and to their Submission to Sponsor if such Submission is selected as one of the top Submissions [...].
So if your photo is one of the non-prize-winning “top submissions”, not only do you give up usage rights for no compensation (see below), you actually give up all ownership & copyright of your image! What are the “top submissions”? This phrase isn’t defined in the terms, but apparently it means the top 49 images submitted — of which only 7 will be chosen as finalists, of which only a single one will win the $1200-valued prize. Good for the winner. (Sorta — I would sell all-media, worldwide, exclusive use including full rights transfer for a lot more than $1200!) But 48 other people, all of whom presumably produced a very appealing photo, end up giving away their images — not just giving usage rights, but giving up ownership entirely. For nothing in return. Sweet!
I understand what motivates organizations to try to grab royalty-free photo usage rights through contests. Hey, it’s a tough economy, why not try to get something for nothing? You can’t fault a guy for asking, can you? Well, sure I can. Photos are powerful, and they’re valuable, or there would be no reason to have a contest like this in the first place. Why should something of such value be given away for nothing? So yeah, I don’t like the attitude, and I don’t support it, but like I said at least I understand it. However, grabbing image ownership outright? The contest sponsor has already claimed sweeping, royalty-free usage rights. What more can they possibly have any legitimate need to get their hands on?
No, this is truly a new low in rights-grabbing behavior. Not even a hobbyist photographer who doesn’t understand or value intellectual property rights should be required to completely give away ownership of his or her creative work just by entering a contest. If for no other reason than the fact that many entrants probably don’t understand what they’ve given away, and so might be exposed to the risk of a DMCA take-down notice or infringement suit by the contest sponsor, if the photographers in ignorance continued to use “their own” images for anything. Isn’t it ironic, doncha think?
The second egregious contest clause is, unfortunately, something that’s much more common than the one above. It says:
Each person who enters the Contest represents and warrants as follows: [...] (d) the entrant owns or controls the necessary legal and intellectual property rights in its Submission (including, without limitation, the copyright in the Submission itself and all other copyrightable subject matter reproduced or used in connection with the Submission and the publicity rights for anyone who is recognizable in the Submission) in order to make the grant of rights, licenses, and permissions that the entrant has made herein, and that the exercise of such rights, licenses, and permissions by Sponsor, including, but not limited to, publication on its website, shall not violate or infringe the rights of any third party; (e) the Submission does not and will not violate any applicable laws, [...] Each entrant hereby agrees to indemnify and hold the Promotion Entities harmless from and against any and all third party claims, actions or proceedings of any kind and from any and all damages, liabilities, costs and expenses relating to or arising out of any breach or alleged breach of any of the covenants, representations and warranties of entrant hereunder.
So not only do contest entrants give up royalty-free usage rights, and not only do the top 49 submissions give up actual ownership & copyright, but all contest entrants agree to assume full legal liability if the contest sponsor uses the submitted images in a way that triggers any 3rd party to sue. All of the risk and none of the benefit accrues to the photographer who submitted the image — what a great deal. NOT!
Body Needs Work But Doesn't Run At All. This is one of my popular images. No, you can't have it for free; but I will sell a print or license a digital copy, for a fair price. And yes, the photo was made on private property and I have a property release for it.
Thinking about submitting a photo to this contest? Do you have a signed model release for any person that could be potentially identifiable in that shot? How about a property release for any building or piece of artwork, fashion or furniture, whose owner or designer might decide to sue for copyright infringement? Is there any commercial product whose logo or other trademark is showing? Better hope nothing submitted containing these kinds of contents ever gets published by the contest sponsor, because this is the sort of stuff that can trigger blowback that the contest terms are designed to flow right on through to the photographer. And these are just some of the most obvious things that could do it.
Now, having looked at those two clauses in the terms, the normal rights-grabbing terms still remain to be noted. Normally I’d criticize this part soundly; but next to the terms above, the actual rights-grab language sadly looks quite benevolent in comparison! Here’s what usage rights are given up:
By making a Submission in connection with the Contest, each entrant into the Contest hereby (a) irrevocably grants to Sponsor and its affiliates, and their respective successors and assigns, a non-exclusive, transferable, fully-paid, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, license, including the unlimited right to sublicense, use, copy, edit, modify, alter, transcode, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit and distribute the Submission by means of any and all media and devices whether now known or hereafter devised, including, without limitation, on the 7×7 website [...]. Each entrant irrevocably waives any and all so-called moral rights they may have in the Submission. For clarity, Sponsor has the right (but not the obligation) to publish any Submission on the 7×7 website.
Yellow Door. That doorway ahead looks like a golden opportunity. But opportunity for what? Maybe, just like this old building, it's really an empty shell waiting to be demolished.
So here we see the standard rights-grab stuff: every single entry to the contest permits the sponsor to use that image worldwide, forever, in all media, etc. for no compensation. About the only good thing that can be said for these terms is that they’re non-exclusive, so the photographer still owns copyright to the image and can try to do something else with it. (Unless bad luck happens, and the image is one of the 48 “top submissions” that doesn’t win the prize, but still forfeits all ownership rights.) The last phrase is a final, petty-seeming kicker — even publication of the image is a “right” but not an “obligation”. The photo submitter gives everything, guaranteed; while the sponsor may give something, but doesn’t in fact have to give anything at all.
Folks, it’s just another example of needing to keep your wits about you, and reading the fine print. Plus understanding the value your work should have, both to yourself and to these kinds of rights-grabbing, for-profit enterprises that are looking for the highest quality images they can find, without paying for them. Even if you just consider yourself a hobbyist and don’t ever aspire to be a “professional” photographer, please… at least respect your own work enough not to fall for this kind of blatantly over-the-top operation.
I’ve labeled this post a “rant” but I want to end on a more upbeat note. Look, if you just want to get published, there are many better ways to do it. How? Just one example: donate some images to a worthy charity or non-profit organization whose mission you support. Like I said above, photographs are powerful and good ones are valuable. If you’re going to give great images away for free, do so to a cause that’s deserving of it.
Oh, and keep your copyright.
Caveat: I’m not a lawyer, though I’m reasonably clued in. To learn more about this kind of stuff from somebody who really is a lawyer (in the USA), check out the web site of Carolyn E. Wright.
What do you think, am I tilting at a windmill? Should we just cave in and embrace the new photo economy where quality work is given away free? (Though of course others will profit from it, just not me.) Or should for-profit organizations step up, acknowledge that quality work is worth something, and at least respect the content creators’ rights even in something as trivial as a public contest?
Latest Award
I don’t toot my own horn too often — at least, I hope not! But I did want to share one nice award I recently received. As a part of the professional networking I’ve been doing, in January of this year I joined the Alberta chapter of the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC).
Just before I headed out on my month-long road trip to Peace River, I submitted a collection of 10 photographs to the PPOC’s juried accreditation process. The judges evaluate all submissions, looking for above average work in areas like impact, creativity, style, composition, presentation, technical execution and more. I’m pleased to say that the panel of judges accepted all 10 images in February, and as a result I’m now a formally accredited member of the PPOC. While I’m often my own harshest critic and strongest slave-driver to improve my craft, it’s nice to learn that a selection of my work passes muster with a group of experienced industry pro’s.
I gave a short interview that was published on the PPOC Alberta web site; you can read it here. Five of my accredited images are published with the interview. To see a slideshow of all 10 images, click this link. Sorry, my gallery hosting site only supports slideshows in Flash at the moment, but if you can’t load a Flash animation you can look at the images in the associated gallery page.
Okay, end of shameless self-promotion… for now.
Spring 2012 Photo Tour In the Canadian Rockies
Spring Prairie Crocus, Rocky Mountains
The Spring photo tour was a success once again in 2012! We had a group of 4 photographers, great folks who were game to try on anything during our 3-½ intense days of spring photography. Spring arrived more on time this year, so we had opportunities with blooming Calypso Orchids and Prairie Crocuses. We also had some close wildlife encounters including Big-horn Sheep, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel and Hoary Marmot; bears were definitely around but managed to dodge our lenses during the tour days. Our full day visit to the Brazeau Collieries abandoned mine site served up many interesting industrial subjects, and the opportunity for most of the group to exercise their composition skills with material that was perhaps less familiar. Weather wise, we had very good conditions — a lot of wind on one day in particular, but otherwise warm & bright light, not too much cloud, and no rain to speak of.
Some of my photos from the tour will be coming along in between my intense travel & photo schedule over the next 2 months, along with favorite images from the tour participants. Look for posts tagged Spring 2012 Photo Tour. If you’d like to get in on this event next year, we’ve just announced dates for the Spring 2013 tour; see the events page here on the blog for more information.
Event: Spring 2012 Photo Tour
Leaders: Royce Howland and Alan Ernst
Group size: 6 – 7 participants maximum, intermediate to advanced photography experience; spaces are available
Dates: May 11 – 15, 2012
Highlights: 3 ½ days / 4 nights at Aurum Lodge in David Thompson Country
Travel on location: Car-pooling with the group
Fee: $1279 CDN including all tour fees, accommodations & meals; not including travel to the lodge
Information: See the general tour information page here on the blog
Registration: Booking information at Aurum Lodge
Contact: Royce Howland (royce at vividaspect dot com) or Alan Ernst (info at aurumlodge dot com)
Winter isn’t over yet, but make your plans to spring into a new season of photography! This May, I will be leading a small group photo tour in the Rocky Mountains. The tour is based at the award-winning Aurum Lodge. Centrally placed in David Thompson Country with access to the world-class Canadian Rockies, the lodge provides an ideal blend of location, lodgings and meal arrangements designed for the focused photographer. The combination of a small group size and proven instructors (with co-leader Alan Ernst and myself) provides a lot of personal focus for each participant. Our goal is to make sure each member of the group gets the maximum result from this experience.
Based out of the lodge for the entire tour, we will cover locations along the David Thompson Highway. This route runs along Abraham Lake, cutting through the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. We’ll also work towards the Icefields Parkway as conditions warrant, and work some locations around Saskatchewan River Crossing.
Nobody At the Wheel, Nordegg
As a special event during this year’s tour, we have negotiated a day of access to the fascinating historical Brazeau Collieries mine site in the nearby town of Nordegg. The abandoned industrial location is operated by the Nordegg Historical Society, and offers not only a fascinating glimpse into the past of a major industry that opened up the Canadian west, but also provides an incredible wealth of photographic opportunities. For just a small sample of the kinds of photographs possible at Brazeau Collieries, see my short Industrial gallery. This special all-day access is not available to visitors who take the regular 1-hour mine site tour. It will be a rare treat for participants — don’t miss it!
Our tour is a field-oriented event aimed at providing an array of photography opportunities to participants at an intermediate to advanced level. This is not an introductory photography workshop and there is no significant classroom instruction component; you need to come properly equipped for several days of intensive photography, and know how to use all the basic features of your equipment. However we will provide participant-focused, hands-on instruction whenever needed. This will include site orientations as we hit each new or different type of location, and in-field instruction on various topics such as cameras & lenses, photography technique and composition. Based on group interest, we’ll optionally incorporate an indoor portfolio review session where we examine some images made by everyone, to provide focused improvement opportunities.
This promises to be a fun event! Spring in the Rockies is a season of new life, and opportunities with wildlife, wildflowers and closeup subjects will be added to those of the abundant scenery: mountains, lakes, plains and forests. This year, we’ll also have the extra possibilities at an incredible industrial location. The days will be filled with an intense dedication to the wealth of photographic opportunities, and we’re also beating the summer heat and crowds. If your travel schedule still has a spring opening in it, join us this May!
For more information about my tours, see the tour information page here on the Vivid Aspect blog. You can also contact me, or Alan Ernst at Aurum Lodge.
Aaahhrrrr, matey! Things be a-buzz in Peace Country
Porthole on the Shaftesbury Tug, Peace River
I haven’t been posting much about my photography here since the arrival of 2012, because I’ve been busier than a one-armed organ grinder in a swarm of killer bees. This year is shaping up to have some pretty interesting goings-on in my photo work, about which I’ll have much more to tell in the coming weeks.
First off, I wanted to post some catch-up notes about where I’ve been since the beginning of February. I’ve been hanging out with friend and fellow photographer Dan Wheeler up in his home town of Peace River, Alberta. This is the farthest north that I’ve been on the ground. It’s smack dab in “Peace Country”, a region spanning over 250,000 square kilometres that’s defined in many ways by the Peace River, which was first explored in European terms by Sir Alexander MacKenzie in the late 1700′s.
Are there pirates in Peace Country? I wouldn’t have thought so. But I found a skull & cross-bones on one of the porthole windows of the Shaftesbury Tug, so who knows. What is this tug, you ask? Well, the “mighty Peace” is a big river… a lot bigger than I was expecting! Shaftesbury Ferry, a rare tug-powered vessel, operates in the warm months (whenever those are!) after the river ice is gone. It carries traffic 325 metres across at this point on the river. I read that if the ferry wasn’t here, travelers would have to go at least another 100 kilometres to get where they’re going on the other side of the river. While I might have expected the ferry service to date back many years, it’s actually fairly new, having opened in the late 1970′s only after another ferry ceased operation elsewhere along the river.
Morning light on snow and thick frost along the river, Peace River
I’ve been doing a lot of work with Dan getting his print studio up & running, containing among other things a nice HP Z3100 24″ printer. For a bit of an older design (looks like this one was produced in 2009 or earlier), the printer has been working flawlessly so far. We’ve burned through an entire roll of Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, one of my favorite papers to print on. We’ve also chewed up a bunch of other media including some Hahnemühle Bamboo sheets and Smooth Fine Art matte roll stock, a bit of HP matte canvas, a few sheets of Moab Slickrock Metallic Pearl, and sundry others. Results have been great so far. Calibrating the printer against new papers using the built-in Eye-One spectrophotometer is a whiz, and the results are looking very good on all media. Just one incident of significant head-strikes so far, on the Hahnemühle Smooth Fine Art, but we solved that by doing a custom media preset, taking the ink limit down to 90% of normal for the paper. Fun stuff! The only thing I love more than shooting or developing great photographs, is printing them.
Outside of the studio, we’ve been doing a bunch of networking and meeting with people. I can’t begin to cover them all, but here are just a few examples. We’ve had some great discussions on history, culture & art with Laura Gloor, director of the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre. We hope to be able to do some creative photography of a few museum artifacts thanks to Laura’s generous offer. Due to Dan’s introduction, I had a nice interview written up by Erin Steele of the Peace River Record-Gazette — thanks, Erin! Dan’s involved in Peace of Art, the art society in town, and I attended an opening the group held in their great gallery space located at the recently expanded Peace River Municipal Library. Several society artists exhibited new works including painting and photography, and a nice crowd turned out and buzzed in a very animated way through the rooms all evening.
The following night, the proprietor of a great little cafe called Java Domainn re-opened her shop in the evening to host a photo show I presented. Thanks to Dan and Peace of Art for arranging the opportunity, and to Vaida Allen for staying late to host everyone! On my trusty projector, I showed some 200 of my favorite photographs and told a few stories behind them. The group was engaged and stuck through my meandering delivery and was very complimentary of the work, for which I’m grateful!
I’ve also been contributing some input in a few photography and printing workshops Dan has arranged with local Peace River artists, photographers and printing services at Foto Source and Counterfeit Ink. Among the local artists I’ve connected with is Sharon Krushel. Well… I should say I have re-connected with Sharon, since I knew her and her husband Terry back in the day — the early 1980′s — but had been out of contact since then. It has been a genuine treat to meet several times with Sharon & Terry on my trip here, and renew our acquaintance. Sharon has been doing some good work with her photography, and has more projects up her sleeve for this year. I’m not the only one who’s going to be busy!
Sunset light burning over the river as seen from the gravesite of "12 Foot" Davis, Peace River
In between the studio time, workshops and networking, Dan and I have gotten into the field for a few really good bits of shooting. These included a day of great foggy / frosty winter conditions along the Peace and Hart Rivers, a day in the bush with some forestry operators, and a killer sunset at the gravesite of Henry “12 Foot” Davis who was a prospector, trader and pioneer in Peace River back in the late 1800′s.
Weather has been up & down, but on the whole not the winter blast I half expected. True, there have been several days of temperatures below -20 C, but also several others that have been really unseasonably warm. Just days after I got here, the Peace River was almost clear of ice as it flowed through town — unbelievable! Right now there is a bunch of broken ice covering most of the water, however no new snow in some days.
Last night I saw a wonderful display of aurora borealis, a sight I’ve not laid eyes on in several years. It was late, the sky was clear and the night was chilly. I decided to leave the camera in the vehicle and just be content to watch for awhile. The green wave of light stretched over my head in a slow dance, a glowing ribbon among the stars spanning from horizon to horizon. Those few minutes brought a new facet to my understanding of “Peace Country”.
Whew! And that’s not all of it. It has been a fantastic trip so far, and I’ve still got over a week to go. I’m liking it here in Peace Country, and it’s clear that I’m just scratching the surface. There’s a wealth of history, places to see, things to do, friendly people to meet, and photographs to make. For sure I will be back again.
I’d be remiss not to thank Dan & Liz who have been putting me up in their home during the visit. Muchas gracias, and if you guys come to Calgary, you know what they say… mi casa es su casa.
“Glacier Discovery Walk” Project to Go Ahead in Jasper
Another day, another commercial development in the heart of once-valued wilderness. In my last post, I advocated for opposing the “Glacier Discovery Walk” project. Perhaps it was naive, but it seemed like there might be a reprieve. On January 31 many of us received this email update from the Jasper National Park Superintendent’s office: “Parks Canada will take additional time to complete its determination regarding an environmental assessment of Brewster Travel Canada’s proposed Glacier Discovery Walk on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. A final determination will be made public in the coming weeks.”
I guess “in the coming weeks” meant “a few days from now”, since barely more than a week later — on February 9 — the following release came out: “Today, the Honourable Peter Kent, Canada’s Environment Minister and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced the decision to move forward with negotiations with Brewster Travel Canada’s proposal for a Glacier Discovery Walk project on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. The Glacier Discovery Walk project will be subject to mitigation measures identified through the environmental assessment process.”
More description of the decision can be read in the Parks Canada press release. In it, Minister Kent is quoted: “A major challenge in Canada’s national parks is to manage development in order to protect the area for future generations, while offering visitors the opportunity to enjoy and understand the national parks,” Minister Kent added. “During the public consultation process, we heard from many Canadians representing many perspectives. We recognize and appreciate the passion all Canadians feel for our national parks.“
Perhaps it’s overly obvious, but protecting the area for future generations would be less challenging if we “managed” development by doing less of it. While it’s great that our passion for the park was recognized, clearly it wasn’t particularly heeded.
With all due respect to the Minister & his staff, the team managing Jasper National Park, and Brewster Travel Canada, in my opinion this decision does not reflect well on Canada. It does not exemplify visionary leadership in preserving our dwindling wild places. Rather, it promotes commercial tourism interests and “ease of access” over conservation, and adds just one more layer of human engineering as an interface between us and the natural world. It increases the risk of glitzy infotainment delivered in a theme park context as a replacement for true understanding.
In the press release, Minister Kent extolled the project as an “innovative and accessible way for visitors of all ages and abilities to have a state-of the-art experience, ‘a view from the edge’ of the landscape.” He further stated, “We are proud of this new exciting way for visitors from across Canada and around the world to experience the amazing vistas and learn about our unique ecological and cultural heritage while promoting economic activity and jobs in Jasper and the surrounding areas.” That sounds great, and I’ll grant the value of some level of accessibility for a wide range of visitors. But in my view we don’t need the parks as showcases for engineered innovation in tourism features, nor to deliver more “state-of-the-art”, i.e. artificial rather than natural, experience. Nor should promotion of economic interests be a high priority of parks policy.
To me, this development flies in the face of what I believe about the mission of our National Parks system. I don’t agree with the assertion by Blake Richards, Member of Parliament for Wild Rose, Alberta, that “our mountain parks draw people from all around the globe to enjoy the unparalleled beauty of our province of Alberta. And it is enhanced opportunities for visitor experiences, such as the Glacier Discovery Walk, that will help to keep them coming back again and again.” I believe the wilderness by itself is what drew people to visit, and it is sufficient in its own right. I’ve talked to countless people from many places across the world, large numbers of whom have nothing like this left in their home regions. None of these folks have ever expressed to me their desire to come to visit our parks… if only we had more built-up infrastructure within them. Quite the opposite, in most cases!
Well, enough ranting. At this point I guess the project will simply go ahead, regardless. We can only hope it’s going to be less bad instead of more bad, thanks to the whatever is meant by the “mitigation measures identified through the environmental assessment process.”
Perhaps it’s not a dead loss. I hope I can get a hot burger & fries while looking out through the glass and steel construct, and listening to my MP3 player. Oh yeah, and learning about the glaciers…
Oppose the “Glacier Discovery Walk”
Pure glacier water from the Athabasca Glacier
Brewster Travel Canada is a commercial company with tourism operations in several Canadian National Parks, among other places. Recently they developed a proposed project to create a “Glacier Discovery Walk” tourist attraction in Jasper National Park, at the Tangle Ridge viewpoint along the Icefields Parkway. I originally read about this at Samantha Chrysanthou & Darwin Wiggett’s new site Oopoomoo. See their first and second posts on the topic for background and some discussion.
I don’t support this project and I wanted to voice my opposition. A key audience is the government officials who are due to render a decision on the proposal sometime this month. One thing I did was sign an online petition against the project. While that’s a fine thing to do, I don’t know how effective online petitions really are.
So I also sent a letter to The Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of the Environment, and to Greg Fenton, the Parks Canada Agency Superintendent for Jasper National Park. These two gentlemen are among the key decision makers on accepting or rejecting the proposed commercial development, and direct contact with them is an excellent way to get an opinion across. There are several ways to send a letter; Sam and Darwin provide contact information in their first post linked above. You can also use this letter-writing campaign page from the CPAWS organization.
CPAWS has sent a submission to Parks Canada on the proposed “Glacier Discovery Walk” project. I encourage you to read it for their considered perspective if you’d like to send your own letter and voice an opinion before the proposal is decided upon. Also for reference, here’s the text of the letter I sent to the Minister…
To The Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of the Environment
I have read with concern that the commercial operation Brewster Travel Canada is proposing to construct a “Glacier Discovery Walk” project in Jasper National Park, located at the Tangle Ridge viewpoint along the Icefields Parkway.
I categorically oppose this proposal, and I urge that you act to continue conserving our wild places within the National Park system by rejecting the “Glacier Discovery Walk” proposal. Please consider the following reasons.
1. The project proposes to construct a massive, artificial “theme park” style attraction. This is contrary to the purpose of our National Parks, which is to conserve wilderness, wildlife and ecosystems, in part for the benefit and appropriate enjoyment of current and future generations of Canadians and visitors to Canada. There already exist incredible numbers of tourist attractions, theme parks and entertainment experiences of every description for those who wish to enjoy such things. Furthermore, huge tracts of our once wild lands are already zoned for the creation of new commercial projects. Those of us who value our dwindling wild places overwhelmingly do so precisely because they remain in as natural a state as we can permit them to be. Once wilderness is commercialized and overlaid with manmade construction, that essential wild character is lost to all people, forever.
2. The mandate of Parks Canada and the National Park system, as expressed by vision, legislation and operational policy, is not supported by a manmade “theme park” style tourist attraction in such a location. The Canada National Parks Act states that “maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity, through the protection of natural resources and natural processes, shall be the first priority of the Minister when considering all aspects of the management of parks.” The Parks Canada Agency Act states that it shall be a top priority of the agency to “maintain ecological and commemorative integrity as a prerequisite to the use of national parks.” National Parks Policy requires that “only outdoor activities which promote the appreciation of a park’s purpose and objectives, which respect the integrity of the ecosystem, and which call for a minimum of built facilities will be permitted.”
An artificial construction project of this nature and scale is contrary to these stated principles and priorities. Furthermore, such a commercial project does not represent the epitome of leadership in conserving the “intrinsic natural, cultural and scenic values of Canada’s protected heritage areas” which have been nationally and internationally recognized and prized for many decades.
3. As is widely known, the very existence of the glaciers within the Canadian Rockies is under threat. Regardless of what theories or beliefs may be debated, it is established fact that the glaciers are receding at a tremendous rate. The ultimate consequence of this will have a dramatic impact, not the least being the impact on freshwater supply to all wildlife and human populations that exist downstream from the glaciers. The construction of a commercial “theme park” style attraction in the heart of Rocky Mountain wilderness, titling the project “Glacier Discovery Walk”, can only be viewed in the most ironic light given the probable fate of the glaciers themselves. The way to discover glaciers is not through the construction of massive, artificial structures of concrete, steel and glass, designed to bring increasing numbers of visitors with ease into the heart of mountain wilderness while at the same time separating them from that very wilderness.
Other reasons for rejecting the proposal have been cited by organizations such as CPAWS. These include the establishment of a dangerous precedent for renewed commercial development within the National Parks, an acknowledged but unknown long-term impact on wildlife populations including mountain goats and big horn sheep, a lack of evidence that “theme park” style attractions in fact will connect visitors with nature in any meaningful way, and that substantial numbers of Canadians oppose infrastructure development within the boundaries of our National Parks.
For these reasons, I respectfully request that you reject the proposed construction of the “Glacier Discovery Walk”.
Thank-you for your consideration.
Royce Howland
Calgary, Alberta
Carla Bikes Africa
Welcome to 2012! I unplugged myself from the interwebs for much of the holiday season last month. For my first post here in this new year, I want to draw attention to something that isn’t about me or photography. But it’s something I’d like readers to know about.
Last night, I attended a fund-raiser and cheerful blast-off event for my friend Carla White. We worked together in 2010, and I got to know her as a positive, energetic person with a lot of heart, and a passion for traveling to learn about people. Well, she’s going to put that to the test in a major way starting very soon. She’s participating in this year’s Tour D’Afrique and will cycle about 12,000 kilometres down the length of the continent of Africa — from Cairo to Capetown! You can read about it at her site, Carla Bikes Africa To End Energy Poverty.
The last part of Carla’s tagline — “to end energy poverty” — is a key part of her unfolding story. As she told it to the group last night, she didn’t want to simply go on a grand adventure and then be able to tell stories at dinner parties back home. Rather, she wanted to not only connect with local people along the route but also help contribute something tangible that could make a meaningful difference in their lives. To get ideas about that, she contacted a friend, somebody I’ve known for a long time — Jay Baydala.
Carla stands in front of a table with the gear she will take for 4 months of cycling. Is she counting off things on her to-do list, the great people on her team, or perhaps the ways that some may think she's a 'nutter'? Her word, not mine!
Some years ago, Jay started the organization that’s now known as UEnd:Poverty. Jay’s vision was deceptively simply — enable everyday people to redirect a small percentage of the billions of dollars spent annually on Christmas gift giving and all kinds of other “stuff” that we mostly don’t need, and instead apply those funds to sustainable projects that can end extreme poverty in the poorest countries around the world. The idea is simple, but the scope of it is really mind-blowing if you think about it. What Jay has managed to accomplish so far with the team he’s pulled together is impressive, and they’re still building momentum.
Jay and Carla connected with a couple of others. These included Chris Bedford of the Karo Design Group, who had a wind turbine-powered water pump project already going in Africa. And Steve O’Gorman, a Calgary-based engineer by trade whose STAR EcoWorks designs simple, robust, solar-charged lighting units that have been deployed to a number of developing countries. The result is this UEnd project — Carla Bikes Africa To End Energy Poverty. The immediate goal is to raise $25,000 CDN which will fund the installation of a wind turbine, water pump and set of solar-powered lights in 5 villages along the cycling route.
I talked to all four of these folks at the fund-raiser last night, and their enthusiasm, energy and dedication is incredible. Carla is going to be the one hitting it hard for nearly four months on her cycle, but she’s got an amazing team behind her that includes a whole lot of other people as well.
If you have some cash set aside for worthy social projects or just left-over from holiday spending budgets, take a look at Carla’s UEnd project and see if it’s something to which you’d like to donate. Also look through other UEnd projects, perhaps something else will resonate with you. Above all, think about how fortunate so many of us are, and what we can do to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others who don’t share our advantages.
That's Jay on the left, the guy who started the organization that's now UEnd:Poverty. Standing with him is a friend, Andy, who's actually from South Africa.
I said at the top that this post isn’t about photography. Well, not directly. A few of Carla’s goals are — in her own words — “to be better at/learn more about photography, cooking and world issues.” I feel safe in predicting this adventure will definitely score on all 3 of those goals! And Jay himself is no slouch with a camera. It’s a truism that any good photographer has to learn to really see. I’d hazard an informed guess that seeing played no small part in Jay’s personal life-changing decisions, leading directly to the creation of UEnd.
So I guess there is a photography tie-in here. It’s been said that pictures can change the world. They don’t really do that, of course — it’s people who change the world. But photography gives us a powerful vehicle to show and see the change that’s needed in the lives of real people around the world, and to see the positive changes that other real people are making. Each of us can play a part in that change.
Fire and Ice Photo Tour Results
Secrets of the Ice World, Abraham Lake
Over at Darwin Wiggett’s blog, 6 of my images from his recent Fire & Ice photo tour have just been posted. If you like the one shown here, click the link to visit Darwin’s blog and check out the others in the set!
To make these images, I got down to business — literally. I laid down flat on the Abraham Lake ice, and peered beneath the surface, looking for interesting features in the bubbles & cracks. I used my Panasonic LX-5 point & shoot camera along with a pocket LED flashlight to put some selective light on certain features, while the rest remained dark as the late afternoon light faded towards sunset. Focusing the camera through the ice onto details down below was sometimes difficult, but worked more often than not.
To bring out the silky smooth color, deep shadows and glinting highlights, I developed each image with HDR processing (using Oloneo PhotoEngine software) from 2 – 3 bracketed exposures. I followed this up with finishing work in Photoshop for some additional contrast & color.
