Me and Ira are flying to Prague to celebrate Silvester, and of course I am taking my camera with me. So hopefully I will have some nice photos to show here in a few days. Now We are sitting in the Dan lounge of Ben Gurion airport and here is a photo of what the airport looks like from our viewing window.
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The Autumn is finally here. Even though it is warmer than I’d like it to bee, I definitely can feel the end of this year coming… You might say that December is a winter month, but not here, not in Israel! We barely have an Autumn and then it is Spring and Summer all over again. This is why this time of the year is very precious to me, I won’t be able to smell the wet earth and get this melancholic Autumn feeling for much longer… a couple of months, that’s all I’ve got.
Last Friday it was heavily raining all morning, but in the afternoon rain stopped and me and my life partner Ira went out for a walk in the park, and of course, I took my camera with me. It turned out to be a nice photo session. I would like to share some of the photos that I liked, and since I am learning photography, I will also discuss some “photographic” aspects of the photos. So here we go:
I like this photograph probably the most. The lines on the floor lead the eye towards the first subject – Ira, and then continue to lead towards the second subject – the tree. I like this tree so much, its branches curve so beautifully.
Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
This image could be pretty casual but, in my opinion, the red flower on the wooden fence adds a lot to it. There are also some disturbing elements in this photo that I’d like not to be there – the whole left part of the photo, in front of Ira. I wish it was simpler… much less cluttered. I also like the lower part of the fence, which is made of stone.
Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Here I found a nice brick wall for the background, and we experimented with different poses for a while, but nothing worked. Then I just asked Irina to walk from me towards the wall and at some point called her name. She turned around and I made this shot! So I guess it was somewhat spontaneous.
Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
This next photo is a bit disappointing for me. I found this great fence for the background, but after seeing the final image, I realized that I didn’t use its full potential. I could at least made this photo horizontal, to emphasize the horizontal lines of the fence. I can see this picture in my mind now – Ira standing on the right side of the horizontal photograph, and the horizontal lines of the fence lead the eye from her to the interesting statue that stood there a few meters to the left. I wonder now how I didn’t see this at the time of the shoot? Well, I guess this is how you learn stuff 
Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
I absolutely love this photograph! Almost as much as the first one. As we were walking in the park I saw some garden tables and decided to take a closer look at them. When we came near we saw that one of the tables was painted with graffiti, the main colors being vivid yellow and red. I looked at these colors, then I looked at the yellow rose that Ira was holding, then at the umbrella handle, and then I saw this picture in my mind. It took me about ten attempts to get it just the way I wanted though…
Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Everybody makes reflection shots, and I am not an exception. But I always look to create something different, something with my personal touch. Usually you can see either the full scene together with its reflection, or only the reflection, but here I included just a little bit of the scene to complement the reflection. I find this shot a little bit unbalanced due to the placement of the rose, but still I like it a lot.
Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
The following images were a nice and unexpected bonus. While we were walking in the park we were amazed to see this – after the rain dozens of snails came out of nowhere and occupied a lonely wooden bench. There were maybe a hundred snails or more. They were crawling one on top of the other and pretty much… mingling I can’t find a better word to describe what was happening there. I was lucky to have my macro lens with me, and I was even luckier to have an external flash with remote trigger! So I asked Ira to hold it for me and made a couple of shots. Here you can see an example of the shots I got.
Photographs by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
That’s it for today. I hope you liked my photos. Any comments or suggestions, technical, artistic, or other are always welcome!
Till the next time, take care.
Greg.
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Recently I was learning a lot about lighting and together with that I am now slowly making my way into the still life photography. I made me my own little studio. Well not really a studio, but a table and some accessories so that I can try and photograph still life. For one of my sessions I decided to shoot a glass with liquid in it. It turned out to be not a simple task as glass reflects absolutely everything! So that particular session wasn’t successful at all, but I didn’t give up, and after working on it for a few weeks, I finally got my lighting straight and about a week ago I made the following image:
Photograph by Greg Brave. Click on the photo to enlarge.
It looked pretty darn good to me, so I posted it on PhotoSig to try and get some critiques. To tell you the truth I was hoping to receive more compliments than critiques. I actually received some compliments, but there were two critiques that simply opened my eyes to still life photography, and I would like to present here several tips from those critiques. But first take a good look at the photo above and try to see what is wrong with it.
… ok, now, when you have your own opinion on my photo lets see what improvements I could have made to that shot.
Now I also received additional and very useful tips that I sure will use in my still life photography (when appropriate of course!). Here are some of them:
Thank you Steve Chong and Randy for your helpful critiques!
I hope that these tips will help you too, and if you find them useful or have something to add, please comment!
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Before reading this interview I suggest reading my Introduction to Interviews with Photographers.
This is the second part of my interview with Katerina Lomonosov. Click here to read the first part.
To read the whole interview in one piece click here.
Let’s talk about the following photograph:
Photograph by Katerina Lomonosov. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Looking at it I feel vague associations with some of my childhood fears. What did you want to communicate through this photograph?
This photograph is named “Philosophy of Unfreedom”. At first this photograph is simply gives an impression of prisoned child staring outside from the “cage”. But I put also a hidden meaning here. Pay attention to the child’s hands. Look how hard he clings to his “cage”. How often we, being unfree in the literal or figurative meaning of this word, are afraid to loose our “cage”, fear to make changes in our lives, and feel comfortable in our unfreedom, though not always admit it?
Such interpretation doesn’t lie on the surface, and if a viewer won’t take time to “decipher” it, it will remain hidden. But even without it the photograph turned out to be deep, memorable, and strong – mostly thanks to a good acting of my five years old son ☺.
Photo “October…” I liked the most. It breathes with tenderness and freshness of the autumn… Tell us a bit about the creation of this photograph.
Photograph by Katerina Lomonosov. Click on the photo to enlarge.
This work is one of my favorites. The model is a young woman who came to me. She wanted me to create beautiful photographs of her. So she wanted to look good in the pictures, and my goal was not to disappoint her…
The idea of hair-tree came immediately to my mind, but post-processing took several hours. Then I was ready to send the work to my customer, but something stopped me…
I was returning to work on it each day of that week – tried to add various elements, but nothing worked. Until one day I had the idea to add falling leafs to the tree… Then everything fell into place, and the photograph got its final look.
Tell us about the accessories that you use in your work.
Each composition gets its own accessories. Sometimes it’s gloves or a fan, often different types of fabric, sometimes flowers. I also like to use fruits and vegetables – they seem “real” to me, just as the nature created them, I think this is important for my work. Once I even brought a stepladder from work – it complemented the background of the composition, and I made some very nice pictures with it.
Photograph by Katerina Lomonosov. Click on the photo to enlarge.
What equipment do you use? How important is quality equipment for photographer?
I started with a small point-and-shoot Fuji A210. Many of my early works, which are made with it, now participate in international exhibitions and competitions. Later, I bought Canon 350D and used it for three years. My best works are made using this camera.
Now I have Canon 5D Mk.II. I gladly switched to full frame, but still think that the photographer’s eyes and mind create the photograph and not the camera.
My opinion is that in most cases it is not essential which camera captured the picture – most important is when photograph reaches deep inside and touches your feelings.
Tell us a little about your work with light. What lighting techniques and equipment do you use?
Lighting? I use natural light that reaches my living room through the windows. Nothing more. I don’t use flashes, umbrellas, or reflectors. The important thing for me is to have free time during the daylight hours.
How much time you devote to Photoshop? What features of Photoshop you use the most?
Post-processing in Photoshop is crucial to me. I devote quite a lot of time to it. I work on each photograph for several hours. I use color-correction, add various textures, and work a lot with masks and layers.
Photograph by Katerina Lomonosov. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Is it possible to buy your work, and if so, where?
I sell my work in galleries on the internet, some of them are presented in the Moscow gallery “Fotoloft”
You can also purchase my work directly from me.
If you could give only one piece of advice to a beginner photographer, what would it be?
I would advise to photograph with your “soul”. To put a maximum of “yourself” in what you do, and the result will not be long in coming.
Photograph by Katerina Lomonosov. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Thank you Katerina for your time and knowledge! It has been a true pleasure talking with you.
If you liked Katerina’s works, you can visit her Gallery.
You can also contact Katerina regarding purchasing her work through her email: lomonosov.katerina at gmail.com
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Before reading this interview I suggest reading my Introduction to Interviews with Photographers.
To read the whole interview in one piece click here.
Katerina has a unique style in photography and she is a winner of many international photographic competitions. I was very lucky to have a chance to interview her, and she also turned out to be a very nice person.
It is my pleasure to present you Katerina Lomonosov!
Click on the photo to enlarge.
First of all please tell us a little about yourself. When did you start getting interested in photography? Which stages of your development as photographer were the most important?
I was born in 1975, in Ukraine. As a child I liked drawing and graphics. In 1997 I moved to permanent residence in Israel, where I live now. From the year 2000 I am working as graphic-designer in an advertisement company.
I got interested in photography back in 2005. It so happened that at that time, a certain kind of emptiness appeared in my life. I wanted to fill that emptiness with something interesting, beautiful, bright… That “something” turned out to be photography…
I grow and evolve with my every new work, I’m a painter, I live, think and feel with my creations… Creative photography has become a crucial part of my life… I take part in various projects in the field of documentary and art photography, and I plan to grow and develop further in this area.
Photograph by Katerina Lomonosov. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Where are you drawing inspiration and ideas for your works?
Inspiration and ideas for my works come in different ways… Sometimes idea just pops up from the subconsciousness, and some things come from pictures of other authors on the Internet. Some of my works are inspired by paintings of famous artists. There are also ideas on a particular subject, which are literally “nursed” in my head for a long time before they find their way out to be captured in a photograph.
Who are your models? Are they your relatives, acquaintances, or maybe professional photo models? How do you choose them?
My first models were my children – my son, who was then five years old, and a daughter, she was thirteen back then. Later, some of my friends and acquaintances were added to my arsenal, and also friends of my daughter. Nowadays many professional photo models would be honored to participate in my photographic work.
The most important thing for me when I choose a model is not the professionalism of the model but his/her natural body language and an expressive face, especially the eyes.
For me it is important to show in my photographs not only the beauty of lines, and location of light-spots, but also something from the depths of human nature, you may call it the “soul”. In my work I always strive to give depth of meaning to my photographs, so that they would make people think and try to understand what I wanted to express. I want my photographs to reach for the person’s deepest feelings and emotions.
Photograph by Katerina Lomonosov. Click on the photo to enlarge.
How do you find and choose locations?
Most of my photographs are a created at my house’s living room. I just move the furniture aside and make a small “studio”, but it is more like a simple corner. Occasionally I get out with my friends to take pictures outside. When shooting outside I prefer abandoned houses, but with walls and windows still intact , so even outside I seek places that look like my familiar environment at home.
How much time in your weekly routine is given to photography?
In good times, every Friday is all about photography. One day a week. Sometimes I also shoot on Saturdays. But I also have busy periods, when I have to sacrifice my hobby for other matters, and several weeks can pass without me creating a single photograph.
* * *
This is the end of Part I of my interview with Katerina Lomonosov. Click here for Part II.
If you liked Katerina’s works, you can visit her Gallery.
You can also contact Katerina regarding purchasing her work through her email: lomonosov.katerina at gmail.com
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I was introduced to Jairo’s work on Flickr, and I liked it very much. In my opinion Jairo has very good eye for people and different situations that involve people. I frequently visit his Flickr account and enjoy great new photos, which he posts pretty often.
Though Jairo has a very busy schedule, he kindly agreed to this interview, and I am very grateful for that!
First of all a little about you.
Tell me a little about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do for a living?
My name is Jairo Abud and I’m 52 years old. I was born in Brazil and live in Sao Paulo. I’m professor of economics at a Business School.
When did you start getting involved in photography?
I always loved photography since I was a teenager. My brother-in-law had a darkroom back then. I used to take pictures in B&W and he would lend me his chemicals and his darkroom so that I could learn and get used to developing my own photos at the age of 16. After I graduated from college, I got involved more with work and did not have much time to spare for my hobby, so I slowed down with photography.
I used to photograph with Praktica (brand of camera manufactured by Pentacon), which is still working pretty well. But two years ago I decided to get a new camera and bought a Sony Alpha 100. And my love of photography came back stronger than before, I guess. My wife told me about Flickr and I decided to start sharing my photos with other people.
Photograph by Jairo Abud. Click on the photo to enlarge.
What do you like the most about photography?
Unlike in movies, I believe that people have different interpretations and feelings when they look at a photo. Your life experience is the main interpreter of the photos. I really believe that photograph can touch you and set your hidden feelings and sentiments free.
Photograph by Jairo Abud. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Which subjects are your favorite to photograph?
I would say I’m a people’s photographer. I always like to see a human as subject when composing the whole photo scene. I like to take pictures in Sao Paulo downtown where I can compose images in which the architecture plays an important role, though the major role is played by the people of the city. As you know, Sao Paulo is the second largest city in Latin America, and you can find many different personages there – lonely people, people with sad or happy faces, and people with different life experiences. I like it when my photos try to illustrate that.
Photograph by Jairo Abud. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Is there photographers that you are inspired by? Who ?
I like Sebastião Salgado, a Brazilian photographer – he always put the human being in the foreground. And I’m also a big fan of Bresson’s art (Henri Cartier-Bresson).
Photograph by Jairo Abud. Click on the photo to enlarge.
And now, a little more details for us, keen amateurs
What advice would you give to a beginner photographer?
I consider myself as an amateur too. And I always will be an apprentice. In my opinion the first step to take good photos is to observe and study different photos taken by different known photographers and try to make similar ones. It’s just like a painting learning process. Painters also try to emulate great painters of the past to learn their technique before painting their own art.
You can also do that as a photographer. With time, you will start to compose by yourself and to create your own style. It is a learning process. But this was my recommendation for a first step… The next, and most difficult one, is to be yourself, and take pictures the way you like taking pictures and not because other people like that style. After you have found out what you like, stop worrying about what others would say about your photos and just take them.
Photograph by Jairo Abud. Click on the photo to enlarge.
What photographic equipment do you primarily use?
I use a Nikon D90 with 3 different lenses: Tamron 10-24mm for landscapes, a 18-200mm for general purposes and a 80-200mm for photographing people. I also believe that good equipment is fundamental for you to improve your photos.
Other important thing: you have to know your equipment really well, and have control over it, to have the camera as an extension of yourself. My next camera will be a full frame, for sure.
I also use Photoshop CS4 for processing – especially for contrast and minor adjustments.
Photograph by Jairo Abud. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Could you tell me a little bit about your typical photo-shoot?
I always invite friends to go out and take photos. After a couple of hours we take a break in a coffee shop and start to look at each other’s photos. That’s very interesting because you can realize that, even when you’re on the same spot, you find completely different photos among your friends.
I always try to take photos of people spontaneously, but if I see an interesting face that I would like to photograph, I ask that person’s permission and start talking to him or her to make them comfortable. And I always focus on their eyes, where the real emotion is.
Lately I’ve been trying a different way of taking photos: I don’t look at the camera display right after taking a photo – I think the movement of looking at the display will distract me and make me miss other important shots.
There is no “decisive moment” but a “decisive sequence”. After that sequence, those series of moments, you can choose the best shot.
Photograph by Jairo Abud. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Thank you Jairo for your time. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors!
If you liked Jairo’s photographs and want to see more of his work, visit him at:
Popularity: unranked [?]
Few months ago I posted a review of the Kata 3N1 Bag.
In the review I mentioned that the bag doesn’t have anything to attach tripod to, and it was a “con” for me. Shortly after that I was contacted by Kata representative and informed that there is an accessory tripod holder that can be attached to the Kata 3n1 bag. Kata guys have been very nice to me and sent me the tripod holder so I could check it out.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
I have been using it ever since and here are my conclusions on this accessory.
Though it looks like the Kata 3n1 bag wasn’t designed with this tripod holder in mind, it attaches pretty firmly to the bag. The tripod then is easily attached to the holder, and it is very easy to take the tripod off.
I tried to use the holder with my big Manfrotto tripod, and succeeded, but it is not very convenient to walk around with it, because if your tripod is large, it will stick way above your backpack.
Another drawback is that when you have your tripod attached to the bag, you won’t be able to open the main compartment from the top. You’ll only have side access. For me it was not a problem since use the side access 90 percent of the time.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
In conclusion, though it is not perfect, the tripod holder for Kata 3n1 bag does the job well. If you already have the Kata bag and need to carry a small-medium tripod with you, then go ahead and get this accessory.
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