Projecting... Projects.

I've mentioned before (though don't ask me to point out the post, given this is the first time I've looked at my blog in some 2 years) about how projects can help you keep your photography going.  Be it something you like doing - a hobby or interest - or something that catches your eye - like the number of For Rent signs on a particular street or colour repitition somewhere - there's always something to focus your energies on.  Sometimes it's not too hard where to put your talents.

This year being 2017, and if you know anything about Canadian history, you'll know this is Canada's 150th anniversary of officially being a country.  (Side note, I'm Canadian.)  As such, you can probably bank on there being a plethora of extra happenings going on in 2017 in celebration of this event.  In addition to all the foodie things, concerts and various other festivals going on, the NCC planned a few extra things to celebrate this milestone.

Unfortunately, I can't attend all the events.  I've already missed one bigger one (because of work): the Red Bull Crashed Ice competition that happened a few weeks ago.  I do, however, plan on attending as many as I can.  There will absolutely be multiple food festivals to celebrate... eating (?) I suppose: Poutinefest is soon, and it won't be long before Ribfest and Dessertfest come along.  In addition, the Latin Block Party, Glow Fest, the Pride Parade, Canada Day celebrations and probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3 million other things to shoot will be around over the next months until the year ends.

My project for this year is to try to capture what Ottawa (and hopefully by extension, Canada) is all about.  Today, the third day of Spring, sees a massive snowstorm outside.  That, to me, is what being Canadian entails.  I've already got a few photo sessions in already, and I'm obviously planning on getting a lot more in before the end of the year.

I'm hoping to update this blog as I get more photos in.  Given Canada is celebrating its sesquicentennial, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that 150 proper pictures by the end of 2017 would make a good project.  (Now, technically, the 150th would start July 1st, 2017 and end June 30th, 2018, but let's forget about that for now.)  I'm imagine I'll end up posting more that 150 photos by the end of the year, but I'll cull the best and put them in an album to showcase the best.

As for now, I shall leave you, because I don't want this storm to end, and miss any shots of a cold, snowy, Canadian spring.

Friday Night, April 10

Without getting into a long explanation that is extremely unimportant to this post, I was invited to someone's birthday party at a local pub a few Fridays ago, but I had prior plans.  The plans didn't last as long as I expected and I ended up meeting the birthday group later that night.



The party isn't all that important, except for the fact that it made me walk around the Market for a good 40 minutes.  (My buddy was tired, I left his place and got to the Market about 40 minutes before the party was to meet there.)  I spent my time, of course, walking around taking photos.



I hadn't done that, at night, in the Market, for a long time.  I am easily a creature of the night.  I dislike mornings and seem to wake up when the sun goes down, especially if I'm already outside.  I love walking around at night taking photos; I just don't get much opportunity to do so.  I suppose I could easily go out and do it any night I choose, which is absolutely true, it's just rare I am outside at night waiting do to something with some time to kill.



I feel that the city during the day is functional, and not much more, especially during the week.  People wake up, go to work, and come back home, occasionally going to some store or other to buy something.  It's all very sterile and orderly.  At night, especially getting closer to the weekend, the city comes alive with vibrancy and diversity.  During the day, people have to dress appropriate to their jobs, and have to act appropriately; at night people wear the clothes they want so they can act like themselves and have fun the way they like to have fun.



With my trusty Canon S100 (though I don't know how long I'll be calling a Canon camera 'trusty'), I set out to wander the Market as soon as I got there, as I knew I would be waiting for people to get where they're supposed to go.  The camera is small and discrete, but has good focusing and good low-light performance.  I've never really been disappointed by this camera.



Walking around, I generally took shots of what I wanted to take shots of.  I did miss one photo opportunity, though I'm not too disappointed I missed it.  I did walk past it (which is bad), but got my thoughts together about the shot I wanted and did a 180 to go get the shot (which, I consider, for me, a good thing).  It was somewhat chilly outside, and there was a girl in front of a club, waiting for friends, being very cold, in clothing that was more appropriate for inside the club.  By the time I got back, the shot was gone, but I was proud of myself for trying.  (Again, this come down to my goal for 2015.)



You'll see things at night that you probably won't see during the day.  For example, as I rounded a corner, I saw this guy doing one-handed push-ups on a corner.  I had to run to get a shot of the guy before he got up and collected money from the people he was performing for.  At night, people are a lot more lubricated and a lot more likely to entertain this type of performance.  Again, more life and diversity at night.



I hope I can do this many other times this year.  I guess that's up to me, but I suppose that if I have a reason to be downtown, I'll feel a bit better.  This can be another goal this year: be more active at night, which I like.

The First Day

Inevitably, in the same way that there is a last tolerable day where photography is able to be done, there comes a day where the cold temperatures break and it's again possible to walk outside and take photos without fear of your fingers falling off.

I remember a few years back (4, to be specific), I got so tired of not being able to take pictures, that I walked outside the first day it was relatively warm.  As I remember it, I walked around for about two hours, in massive amounts of rain/sleet, in massive amounts of slush (as it was just over freezing).  When I got back home, there was no piece of clothing that was dry and took a long, warm shower as soon as I could.  As much as I dislike being uncomfortable when I take photos, I really enjoyed walking around that day.  It was shooting in conditions I'd never shot in before (or, to be fair, since).

This year, the first actual nice day of shooting was April 3rd.  I walked around for some 5 hours and got a sunburn on my face.  It was a very nice day, being sunny and around 15 Celcius, and the Market was pretty busy.  It was a bit strange getting back getting in the swing of things and trying to take pictures of random people.  I've been in the Market a few times since then and I'm getting back into the groove of things.  Getting back to my Leica is a bit weird, after not really touching while the weather was freezing.

All the shots in this post today were taken on that day, and, like I said, a few were nice.  My Flickr page has a few extra ones.  I took a few shots I was happy with, but I have to get into my photography mindset.  Already this year, there are a few shots I wish I'd taken.  I am getting better at this, though.  A few times after I walked past a nice shot and wished I'd taken a shot, I've walked back to try and get what I wanted.  Unfortunately, in some instances I've missed the shots, but such is the case with such a transitory type of photography.  I will definitely try to not think about repercussions and shoot before thinking about it this year.

That is my goal for 2015.

The Last Day

If you live in the southern parts of the US, or on coasts, or any number of other places that aren't where I live, then this probably doesn't apply to you: there comes a time where the weather tells you you should stop for a little while.  Living in Ottawa (especially this winter) means there comes a time where going out to shoot some photographs becomes uncomfortable for your fingers (and possibly other parts of the anatomy, as well).  With the nice snowfalls we've had, it has been exceptionally pretty, though somehow the weather decided to stay at a relatively chilly -20 degrees Celcius during these times (and, to be honest, others), which doesn't occur too often. (Precipitation usually means a warmer climate is in effect.)

I've heard this winter has been the coldest since 1979; this has literally been the coldest in my life.  As much as I want to go outside and shoot, given how pretty it's been with the snow and sunshine, I care about my hands and my cameras.  I can get gloves for my hands, yes, but I can't warm up my camera.  Minus 20 degrees Celsius is still -20 degrees Celsius and, if possible, I'd prefer -20 degrees Celsius not pelting my camera sensor.

Since the weather went ice-age levels of crispness, I've been out shooting once and the interaction with my colleague was more fun than the actual shooting.  I did get some nice shots and I don't regret shooting, I just would prefer if it were warmer.  On the plus side, it's now March and it's already warmed up, so I'm hoping to soon go outside without chance of frostbite, all the while confusing people as to why I'm taking pictures of them.

I suppose I can always move to a place with a few more degrees over the course of the year, but that requires planning and moving and I'm too happy sharing my bed with my cat at the moment.

Projects

Many photographers advocate having projects.  This makes sense: it focuses your work and makes your intentions clearer.  A bunch of random shots will not have the same impact as some photos having the same elements, especially if the object is to show others something specific they may not notice otherwise.  Having many shots of nice cars in front of dilapidated houses can show the discrepancy in priorities, for example.  It might be much more difficult do show the same thing with a disparate group of shots without the same elements in each one.

I find projects a bit lofty in my own work.  I group my photos in various albums because I find some things need pointing out.  I mean, I started out this blog as an outlet for a 365 Project.  A few albums in my Flickr account contain samey photos, and I suppose those can be considered projects, though I probably don't take them as seriously as more serious photographers would consider projects.  I go out and shoot, and if I remember to take a shot of someone with a cell phone, or of a piece of clothing on something, then, I suppose, my project goes on.  I sometimes forget to take shots of these things, given I don't take them too seriously.

I have no end goal with these albums, which is why I wouldn't consider them projects.  Projects can last years, and so my idea is to add/take away shots whenever new ones come up.  I don't think these albums with ever be 'done'.  Maybe with time they'll develop a focus or more a meaning, but for now they're just for fun.  I'm documenting a few things that catch my eye.

How should a project start?  As you take photos of things you find interesting, or simply as you walk around and look at things (being a photographer, I assume looking at things interests you), you notice patterns.  For example, my for clothes on things album, I simply noticed one day that there was a few pieces of clothing on various objects.  I happen to photograph them because I thought the scene looked funny.

You have a certain interest: cars, beards, pretty people, cats, games, football, hockey, tattoos, whatever.  That's a good starting point.  Go out and shoot these things.

I've found some inexplicable things I enjoy shooting: front doors, with their addresses.  I don't know why.  I've just put up a new album on Flickr that is just that: address photography, I suppose.  It's pretty strange, and, again, I can't really explain why I started shooting these things.  As I've said before, you notice patterns in what you shoot after looking back at your photos.

Here's where you can find what I'm talking about.

Ribfest Street Photography

Ottawa, for photography (of any kind), is a great place: it's the country's capital, and so is filled with culture in the form museums, tours of various kinds and events and festivals of every kind.  For example, the weekend that just passed saw the Busker Festival, most of which I unfortunately missed.  There's always next year.  There are also great landscapes (say, Gatineau Park) not too far from downtown.  Music festivals abound, as well, with everything from Escapade to Bluesfest to the Chamber Music Festival.

One of these such events is Ribfest, which generally happens in mid-ish June.  (This year, if you care, from the 18th to the 22nd.)  Being a big fan of Digital Rev and Eric Kim, and admiring the videos of Street Hunters, I decided to do my own walk-around video.  I was a bit nervous shooting this, but once I started shooting, my video shooting didn't seem to matter too much; people didn't seem to notice or care I was using two cameras at once and I was more preoccupied with shooting photos than worrying about my video.  I basically walked down Sparks from beginning to end and back, snapping things I found interesting.  Beware: lots of ribs in this video.

I gloss over a few things in the introduction of the video and I'll quickly go over these now.  The video was shot with my Canon S100, which I was holding in my left hand and I was shooting with my Leica M in my right.  I shot all the photos with a Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 lens (bought from Digital Rev, incidentally).  The two main reasons for the lens choice are twofold: one, leading up to Ribfest, it just seemed like the best choice of the three lenses I own to get the mood and look I wanted to capture; and two, because I was shooting with one hand, I couldn't futz around with focusing, and at 15mm at f/5.6 or smaller aperture, pretty much everything was in focus.

Another thing about this lens, as Ken Rockwell points out, is it's not ideal on a digital sensor, as there's a lot of funny colours on the edges of the shots.  This is absolutely true.  I don't mind the purples on the edges, as I think it frames the shots nicely, and because everything was shot on the same lens, all the shots have somewhat uniform look.

I had a lot of fun doing this thing and when I find a friend, or if I can convince my cat to hold my S100, I may use my 50mm lens in a later endeavour. Let me know if I can improve on anything in the video, or if you even like this video.  It's long at over half an hour, but I like this type of video, and so I hope you like my contribution.

Dreams

This year marks Leica's 165th anniversary, and the 60th anniversary of the M system. Leica gas also been my dream camera since I've known photography in any capacity. To celebrate these milestones, I decided to buy a Leica. (Well, that's not really why, but I'll go with that because it makes me seem more debonair and sophisticated than I really am.)

Without getting into too many details, I was lucky enough to purchase my dream camera and lens back in April of this year: the Leica M (Type 240), with the Noctilux 50mm f/0.95.  I am in no way able to afford this on my salary, and I may go into details on how this purchase was funded later on, but for now, just the fact that I have this camera should be enough.

I may do a review of it later on, but because there are enough good reviews from other people already, I don't know if I have anything else to add.  I may do a mini-review later, then - something simple to start off another post.  Suffice to say that I am incredibly happy with this toy and if you have the opportunity to play with one, jump on the chance.  It was a massive gamble on whether I'd actually like it or not (given I had never played with a rangefinder before), but I have zero regrets about the purchase.

In any case, one thing I didn't see is an unboxing video of this camera.  So, the point of this short post, is to put up my unboxing video.  It's short and awkward, and I had a beard back then.  However, you get to see exactly what's in the box.  I have a video of the Noctilux somewhere in my hard drives, so once I find it an upload it, I will probably post a link of that, as well.

For now, enjoy this video!