Why is it worth knowing a bit about this? Well, when you are taking a picture of someone you often want them to look as good as possible. You want the picture to look natural and be a good representation of that person. When you are taking a picture of someone at a wide focal length the resulting image ends up being distorted because of the way that the lens captures the image. When you are at a long focal length (for DSLR cameras 70mm or more) you get an image that is much less distorted and more an accurate representation of what that person looks like in real life.

Here is an example.

The left image was shot at 42mm and you can see the shape of Tyler’s head is a bit distorted/egg shaped. This is because the photo was taken at a relatively wide angle for taking pictures of people. Now look at the picture on the right that was shot at 115mm. His face and features look much more natural and are definitely closer to what you would see in real life if you were sitting across the table from Tyler.

I should mention that Tyler is participating in Movember….a month of growing a mustache to help raise awareness of men’s health issues, and in particular prostate cancer. You can go here to check out his Movember page, rate his “Mo”, and maybe even donate some money towards prostate cancer research?

Vernazza - Cinque Terre © Andrew Johnson

There are so many places that I haven’t seen. Things I haven’t done. But I don’t care about those places or things right now. I just want to go back to Cinque Terre. Why? Is it because it has great shopping? No. Is it a huge city? No. Is there a lot to do there? No. Are the roads fun to drive? No (there are no roads). Is it exciting and busy? No. It is none of those things.

It is, however, an authentic Italian experience with authentic people, food, wine, and landscape. Life slows down, and happiness goes up.

I’ve been debating about a lot of things to do with backing up my digital files from my various computers. I think my main problem is that I have a LOT of data to back up. Pictures and video take up a lot of my hard drive space (especially 1080p video from my Rebel T1i), so I really need an optimum way to manage all that, have access to all of it, and have it backed up in two places as well.

As far as I can tell, the best way to deal with it is to throw a LOT of money at it. Getting something like a Drobo that will house several hard drives and make sure that all data is recoverable if one drive fails seems like a good option….but an expensive option.

Purchasing a whole bunch of external hard drives and backing up everything twice seems like a more affordable option, but I can see myself backing things up on a semi-regular basis at first and then starting to slack off later as time goes on. So then I’ll have some backups of my old stuff, but still be in trouble if my laptop got stolen or damaged and the data on it was not recoverable.

There is some free Microsoft Software (called SyncToy) that can help with that kind of thing. It helps you sync your files to an external drive without having to do much work other than hooking it up and hitting start. It does cut down on the work, but it also requires diligence to do on a regular basis. I often lack diligence when it comes to things like that.

Another option is to build my own computer/server that can have a whole bunch of hard drives in it that are running in a RAID configuration so there is more than one copy of data at any given time. The problem with that is it takes a lot of time to setup and I still am not able to have an off-site copy of my data in case there is a flood or theft of the machine. That being said, I could probably hide the machine somewhere in the house and not have to worry too much about a thief finding it.

So, I’m not really sure what I should do going forward. I guess it’s a balance between cost and effort. Any suggestions for an optimum solution?

Well now, it has been quite the busy couple weeks. I launched of my new website www.BigPicPhoto.com, I created the graphic design for my handouts and business cards, and I prepared some high resolution slideshows for the Bridal Fair last weekend. I’ve been pretty swamped. But it was worth it. The bridal show went very well and I handed out lots of business cards to brides-to-be throughout the day.

I also got a chance to go and take some pictures at the wedding dress fashion show they did in the morning. It was pretty easy to take great photos considering I had pretty ladies in pretty dresses walking down a well lit runway (albeit weirdly lit at some points ~ why did they have the blue lights on so much?). Here is a link to the album on my Facebook page.

The fashion show pictures were taken with a new lens I recently purchased; an 85mm f1.8 prime lens. I’m super happy with it. It’s very sharp and good a focusing….probably better than any of my other lenses. My previous post about my 50mm lens said that it was my favourite lens for parties and hanging out with friends….but the 85mm might join the 50mm in the winners circle after I test it out a bit more.

I’ve added a new slideshow widget to my blog, so I thought I’d drop it in here to show off the bridal fair photos. Enjoy!

I use that lens for two reasons:

1. When I have a fixed lens at 50mm I am forced to find interesting angles and I am forced to move to get the kind of shot that I might want. The picture ends up being either pretty good or really bad; there’s rarely a so-so picture.
2. It’s often pretty dark at a party, so having a lens that can bring in as much of the ambient light as possible is best. The f1.8 is great for that; it allows me to take great pictures without the need of a flash going off…and when you are trying to take pictures of people when they are acting natural, it’s important that they don’t know you’re taking pictures. Most people are camera shy.

A few weeks ago there was a bit of a reunion of sorts at the Daigles house. Danny, one of my old high school religion teachers, was in town and wanted to get everyone together. Danny is actually the reason I decided to get my Bachelor of Education; he inspired me by his way of teaching and passion for youth and their development. He inspired a lot of people, actually….and he still does while teaching at St. Andrew’s High in Victoria BC.

Here are some shots I took at that party. They really capture some moments and give you an idea about what the party was like.

When I have time to make a picture the way that I want to, I think I have more of a style than when it is a real-time situation that I need to capture (couple saying their vows, kids playing soccer, baby playing with a toy, etc). When I have time to setup a shot I think I tend to try to make things look epic. Not dreamy, not blown out, not contrasty or moody, but epic. Colourful, vivid, sharp, and epic.

Here is a contrasting example: the first picture is a natural light shot….it’s posed, but it’s the kind of shot I would take if I didn’t have time to setup the shot the way I wanted. The second is a 2 minute setup and some adjustments on my camera to get what I want.

Both pictures are good in their own right, but the second shot is the kind of shot I like to take. It’s just cool.

When I don’t have time to setup a shot exactly how I want it to be, I have to take what I’m given and work with it…and that’s when I take photos that are a bit more “artsy” and stylized because I have to manipulate what I’m given to try and get something cool. I think most of the time when I am taking photos at events, I’m thinking in the back of my mind “you need to get the kind of pictures that other people can’t get”. I still get the safe shots first, but then I try to see things from a different angle, try to find an interesting framing of a subject, or try to capture a moment that others might miss. If I can get the shots that no one else can get, then my pictures are worth something because they are unique.

I’m sure my style will develop more over time, but that’s how it is right now.

The video also makes me excited about the coming of winter…something I’m usually not that excited about…but being reminded of all the great winter activities that are here in PG makes the coming of snow and cold a bearable experience.

It first started with my first laptop: the Dell Inspiron 4150. It had a problem with the power connector on the motherboard that caused it to crash, freeze, or just turn off if there was too much pressure put on the connector. At first, I thought that my $3500 investment had now been rendered useless (I went all out on my first laptop and bought a high end model). After some time I did some research about that model of laptop and consulted with Dell about the model of motherboard that I needed (my warranty had long expired with them). After doing some searching on Ebay I found a brand new motherboard for my laptop that a bulk buyer had purchased from Dell and put up on Ebay; the best part was that it was only $110! It was a bit of a risk to purchase it as there was no guarantee that I would be able to install it and put everything back together correctly (laptops are a very different beast to work on in comparison to regular desktop computers). But I ordered it and bet on my skills. It arrived a few weeks later and I installed it with no problems. I had a huge piece of paper that I drew a diagram on to keep track of all the small parts and where they went. There were over 70 small screws (of different sizes) to keep track of as well….so that required some organization and planning to remember where each one went.

But after a few hours of carefully replacing the main motherboard and putting everything back together, I plugged the laptop back in and it started up no problem. Right back to where it had been before the failure. Running smoothly. It’s a good feeling to be able to do that, turn it on, and have it just work.

Next I was visiting Peter in Toronto one winter and he had mentioned that his laptop had died, he brought it to a repair shop and they told him it needed a new motherboard and was not worth the money to replace (he might as well just buy a new one…..for $1000 or more). He took their advice and purchased a new one and just kept his old one in a box. With my experience fixing my old one under my belt, I told him I could probably fix his as well and it would only cost him $100 to $150 in parts. He gave me the go ahead to get started, so when I got home I did a search for his motherboard and found one for $108. Next, I decided to prep his laptop for when the motherboard arrived. I took apart the case of his laptop and this is what I found:

His fan and cooling area was clogged with dust and one of the chips had a burn mark on it; undoubtedly the reason for his dead motherboard.

So his new motherboard arrived in the mail, I installed it, and turned it on….and BAM…worked perfectly. That same good feeling of fixing something that was dead and bringing it back to it’s original condition. His laptop was now worth at least $600 instead of $0…and he only had to spend $108. Not bad.

THEN, a few years go by and I have another problem with my 3 year old laptop….it’s starts to freeze at random times and every diagnostic I do says that everything is working at 100%. It’s one of those things that is really hard to pin point because you can’t really re-create the same conditions to make it freeze. At that time I couldn’t be without a laptop, so I ordered a new one from Dell (a Studio 17) and did some exhaustive testing of my freezing laptop….something that I wouldn’t do for someone else because it just takes so much time…and time is what I am in short supply of. But after a lot of time here and there trying to figure out what was wrong, I came to the conclusion that it was most likely the video card that was overheating and causing the computer to freeze. Since I wasn’t 100% sure that was what the problem was, it was a risk to order the $75 video card replacement…but I figured it would be worth it if it worked and not a huge mistake if it didn’t.

Took everything apart, removed the video card (pictured above), installed the new one….and that was it. No problems. Everything worked an now that laptop is running smoothly and currently the accounting computer at Allan L Johnson Financial Group.

So, that’s all the laptop repairs I’ve done over the years. I also changed the motherboard on my Canon Rebel XT DSLR camera a few months back…and that worked splendidly too. The camera is now in the hands of Mr Peter Bagnall and hopefully getting some amazing shots of Columbia scenery as he spends the next couple years teaching in Bogota. When I gave him the camera body I told him I wanted a return on my investment…he had better send me some great photos. Here are a few he sent me a few weeks ago:

I’d say he’s doing a good job with that Rebel XT!

I posted some landscape photos yesterday of the sandstone hoodoo’s in the Pinnacles Provincial park. It was awesome to be able to see something so different like that and not have to travel very far (2 hours from PG to Quesnel). I’m so lucky to live in a place where there are amazing sights that aren’t very far away.

Morgan, Lisa, and I decided to go to the Pinnacles rain or shine. We knew that it was a short hike, so getting wet wasn’t too big of a deal. We came prepared to get wet, and when you are already mentally prepared for that type of thing it makes the experience that much more enjoyable. At any rate, I really enjoyed myself on our little hike.

During the drive there, I shared an idea with Morgan and Lisa about a photo I wanted to take with an umbrella and a picturesque view. When we got to a certain spot on the trail, it was obvious it would be perfect for the idea I had.

It took me a bit to get the settings right on the camera and flash to get the kind of look I wanted. It was also a bit of a challenge to hold the flash in the right spot as well as hold the umbrella (with no handle) to reflect the light back into their faces. I came to realize just how hard it was when I asked Morgan to take a picture of me doing the same thing after I got the settings nailed down for her and Lisa’s picture.

After getting some umbrella shots, we hiked down and around to a cool-but-a-bit-sketchy view of the Pinnacles.

The viewing area that we hiked down to had a some awesome sandstone and blocked the light and rain in such a way to get some very nice light for portraits. We decided it would be cool to do some serious mug shots and I think they turned out great.

Where we were at the Pinnacles, you could just barely see the pulp mill in Quesnel. As you drive into Quesnel from Prince George there is the stinky smell of the pulp mill…a mix of rotten eggs and sulfur. But for anyone who lives in a pulp mill town, we know that it’s just the smell of money.

The Smell of Money

The Smell of Money

You can’t actually smell the pulp mill from the Pinnacles. They air there was awesome to say the  least.

Anyways, it was a great day hiking in the mountains and I hope to go back on a sunny day to get some new pictures that are equally as cool as these one’s are.

The Pinnacles Provincial Park is 10 minutes out of Quesnel BC and has unique formations of sandstone hoodoos that have been wind and water-sculpted over the years. The 1.5km hike we went on has two viewpoints of the Pinnacles and a picturesque view of the city of Quesnel (and it’s pulpmill!). The park consists of about 124 hectares of pine forest overlooking Baker Creek.

I’ve been meaning to go out to The Pinnacles for some time now. Since the hike is so short, I even considered stopping there on my way to Vancouver a couple times, but each time I am on a long drive like that I just want to keep going. Since September 6th was Labour Day (and a holiday), I though it would be the perfect way to spend a Monday. Morgan, Lisa, and I decided that we’d go do the hike rain or shine.

So, here’s a few of my favourite hoodoo photos from the day. (more epic photos with people in them tomorrow!)