I am an Ottawa based photographer and a senior member of the RA Photoclub. In my early teens my father showed me how to use the family's 35 mm Exakta Varex camera and taught me how to develop and print black and white photos in a makeshift darkroom under a set of basement stairs. Since those early years I graduated to a Nikon FM camera but there was a long dry period when my career as a research scientist, raising a family and renovating our cottage and home took precedence over shooting. During that time my artistic outlet was drawing.
In January 2000 I joined the Ottawa RA Photoclub and I am again immersed in photography. For a while I printed black and white photos in my home-built darkroom (no longer cramped under the stairs) and now print colour photos from my computer on an Epson 1270 inkjet printer (my "colour lightroom").
I entered the digital age slowly by scanning the
slides I had taken with my
manual Nikon FM 35 mm camera using a Nikon
LS4000 scanner. This slide scanner has amazing resolution and
captures details as fine as the grain in the emulsion. I then purchased
my first digital camera, the Nikon 5700. This 5 megapixel
camera has truly
changed the way I now shoot. The tremendous freedom of exploring
a
subject without worrying about the cost of film processing is one
aspect
but much more important is the instant feedback to see if I've captured
what I visualized and if not, just shoot it again. 3 things bothered me
about this camera, the delay between pressing the shutter button and
the actual taking of the picture made it difficult to capture fleeting
action photos, the lack of a wide angle and finally the inability to
manually correct focus especially under dim light where the autofocus
would hunt for a place to focus and still often give you soft pictures.
In early 2004 I finally picked up the Nikon D70 6 megapixel digital
SLR. The clear image in the viewfinder, manual focus correction, wide
angle lens and instantaneous shutter release has brought me completely
into the digital age.
I haven't shot any film since then. In 2006, I upgraded
to
the 10 megapixel, Nikon D200.
Although I've never taken formal courses in photography, I am a
voracious reader of photo magazines and books and I gain inspiration
from exposure to the high calibre photos shown at the RA photoclub.
I am a member of Canadian Association of Photographic Art (CAPA) . I look forward to
attending
the summer Canadian Camera Conferences (Halifax,NS-2002;
Ottawa,ON-2003; Nanaimo,BC-2004; Toronto, ON-2006). These
conferences showcase
both amateur and pro photographers and
provide an exciting week of immersion in photography with lectures and
workshops. One of my photos, "Turkish
Goat-herder"
received an Honourable mention ribbon in the last CAPA digital
competition .
The monthly photo
competitions at the RA club also provide a strong impetus to keep
shooting and many of my portfolio photos are award winning shots.
From 2001-2006 I was the digital group leader at the RA PhotoClub.
This has been a prime motivator to learn the intricacies
of
Photoshop, colour management and scanning techniques since I have to
absorb and learn before I can teach and pass on the information to my
fellow digital club members. PDFs of my various seminars are available
at RA digital
group documentation.
Currently I am co-leader of the newly
formed
"Urban"
group at the photoclub. Photos taken during our many and
varied Urban shoots can be found here "Urban Group Galleries".
I have been a member of the "Foyer Gallery" since
January
2005. This artist run gallery in Ottawa contains a very dynamic
group of visual artists (27 at last count). Membership is juried
and acceptance is based on quality and excellence of original
artwork. The Foyer Gallery offers me a constant venue to exhibit
my photographs to the public. Recently I have been featured as a
member of the Foyer in "Ottawa Life" magazine (January 2007) .;
