Month: April 2012

The twinkle in his eye.

2012, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica 75mm Summilux (Canada 🇨🇦) f/1.4, Portrait, Teaching point

This one was challenging, but ultimately very rewarding.

He was constantly moving, with his back toward me most of the time, making a decent shot difficult (it’s always a struggle at this age when kids start getting mobile, but — on the positive side — they’re still “naturals” in front of the camera).

So, I tried a few times throughout the day to capture him… without success.

Then, at the time of the “golden hour“, he was once again looking out the window.  As he turned here, and smiled, a shaft of soft light from outside acted as a gentle spotlight on his left face and shoulder.

As I couldn’t back up any further from where I was, I could just fit him within the 75mm frame lines.  And I tried my best to hit focus, as this wonderful combination of expression, light, and composition would likely not repeat itself.  Fortunately, it all came together.

A  Life’s Little Moment to be cherished.

(please click on the image to view)

↑Leica M9 and Leica 75mm Summilux @ f/1.4.

Commenting on the commentary (a follow-up to my post on Steve Huff’s site).

Favourite, Inspiration, Q&A

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Two days ago, my “Photographing your family with the BEST photo equipment” article was featured on SteveHuffPhoto.com.

The piece generated much commentary, and I’ve read through all of it.  Almost all of it was overwhelmingly positive but, surprisingly, a few negative responses emerged.  I write “surprisingly” because I always choose my words very carefully and I know there wasn’t anything controversial or provocative in my post.

It was meant to be very positive, in fact.

But this is the internet age, where making a statement like “I like pizza” will generate a handful of negative responses.  Arguing with the responders is not productive, of course.

You know, I realized several years ago just how inconsequential all the frantic machinations of daily life can be, when we don’t take the time to appreciate each other.  The only important thing — the only enduring thing — when you strip away all the pretenses, is this:

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“How we treat each other is the only thing that counts.”

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So, instead of trying to respond to a few negative comments, I’d like to take the time to post a personal “thank you” — on this very site — to all of the wonderful people who got my post.  For their very eloquent comments (some critical, but at least constructive) I’d like to specifically thank these individuals:

_____________________________

Neil Buchan-Grant

Ashwin Rao

Duane Pandorf

Colin Steel

Photozopia

Jonny

Harry

Danniel Schwartzkopf

William Jusuf

Joanne Puyat

Travis

Robert T Wilson

Armanius

Leo

Duncan

Flamingjune1967

Denis

cidereye

Laugaut

Jack

Michael S.

Nacho Pello

Mark S

Peter Laaba

derekdj

Bryan Campbell

Paco

Guillaume

Andrew

Chrstine Lee

William Jones

Matus

Rick Alan

jim

David Young

Kelvin

Mo Han

Jason Howe

Richard ford

Dariel Palacol,

Dj0502

Joan

Andrew Ryle

Gauge Caudell

Orestis

John

des

Manny

Peter

Charlie

Marc Weisberg

Tyson Ng

c.d. embrey

Bianca

Felipe Méndez

Dan L.

Henk

Jun

Radar

Twitch

Enzo

David Young

Denis

John Driggers

Greg

dan

Chris Smith

Garazd Vahen

Jag Siva

Jacob

Steindid

Godfrey

______________________________

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Last but not least, I want to thank Steve again for his generosity in allowing me to share my words and images on his wonderful site.

—Peter.

Self-portrait (film).

2012, Film, Inspiration, Leica 75mm Summilux (Canada 🇨🇦) f/1.4, Leica M2, Portrait

This self-portrait represents my second lapse in judgment.

As an aside, I was experimenting here with achieving focus with the 75 ‘lux @ f/1.4 mounted on the M2.  Ultimately, it’s no different than on the M9… you need to be equally careful in both situations, but it’s definitely doable.  Focus here was on my eye.

This was the first frame of a 36 roll of Tri-X.

(please click on the image to view)

↑Leica M2, Kodak Tri-X 400, Leica 75mm Summilux @ f/1.4.

Man and metro (Film).

2012, Film, Inspiration, Leica M2, Teaching point, Voigtländer 40mm f/1.4 Nokton

I thought this would be most appropriate for a Monday morning post, but it was pushed aside with all of the announcements yesterday.

Tuesday morning will do nicely however :).

As an aside, I really like the little iPhone Pocket Light Meter app – I’ve been using it for just over a year with my M2 for situations like this, where the lighting is tricky, and it’s done very well.

(please click on the image to view)

↑Leica M2, Kodak Tri-X 400, and Voigtländer Nokton 40mm @ f/1.4

My “Photographing your family…” article featured on Steve Huff Photo.com!

Favourite, Inspiration, Konica Hexanon 60mm f/1.2, Leica 35mm Summarit f/2.5, Leica 35mm Summilux ASPH FLE f/1.4, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Nikon, Nikon 58mm f/1.2 NOCT, Portrait, Print

My “Photographing your family with the BEST photo equipment” article was featured today on SteveHuffPhoto.com!

I’m once again honoured and would like to thank Steve for his ongoing support of my work!

If you want to see the article, as posted on Steve’s site, please click here.

For convenience, I’m re-posting the images below.

Thanks for reading,

—Peter.

(please click on the images below to view them LARGE)

My images selected by Getty Images!

Inspiration, Print

I just learned that Getty Images, the well-known distributor of digital content, is interested in approximately 40 of my images!

So far, only three of them have been formally accepted.  Most of my images involve people, which means I need to obtain signed model release forms before formal acceptance of the rest is granted.

However, I’m not sure that I want to go through the trouble, and I have some genuine reservations about “signing away” my images for (potential) royalties.

Do any of you have thoughts about this?

In the meantime, if you want to see the Prosophos images that are available for license on Getty Images, please click here.

The first two images are reproduced below:

(please click on each image to view)

↑Leica M8 and Leica 28mm Elmarit ASPH @ f/2.8.

↑Leica M9 and Leica 28mm Summicron @ f/2.

Thanks,

—Peter.