Possibilities Not Boundaries

Tender spring Magnolias in Nanaimo. Canon EOS XSi EFS 75-300 f/4-5.6 at 160mm f/20 1/200 IThe tender heart of spring pushes itself from the rank mouldering earth and reminds of what life is.  We see it again in new ways and we feel our own hearts become younger.  And even though spring is delicate, even though it is fragile it gives us hope and allows to break free from the serious contemplations of winter.  It is the place and time where journies begin again and we see possibilites not boundaries.  

“Let us be like a bird for a moment perched

On a frail branch when he sings;

Though he feels it bend, yet he sings his song,

Knowing that he has wings.”     

-Victor Hugo

I went out on a spring morning a a couple of years ago to walk around Nanaimo and photograph some of the wonderful flowers that were springing to life and I came across a series of Magnolia trees in Bowen Park.  The petals had recently emerged and had not yet finished growing.  I was immediately struck by a flower that had a wonderfully disorganized look to the petals.  It seemed as though they were in a hurry to get out and had burst out of the tree before they could get themselved organized.  The long focal length threw the background out of focus nicely yet helped to establish the setting.  I also really like the way that the fuzziness of the seed pod brings texture to the image.

-Russell Berg

That Peculiar Silence

A headshot that I took of an intense young actor with remarkable blue eyes. Canon EOS 7D 50mm f/1.4 at f/5.6 1/200 ISO 400The young actor steps into the light.  She feels the warmth of it touch her cheeks, she feels the boards under her feet, she hears that peculiar silence of 200 pairs of eyes watching her, and she feels their anticipation.  The theatre is old and battered, a thousand different actors have walked these same boards and felt these same things.  She can feel their eyes watching her too.  She takes two steps to the right, downstage centre right, and breathes deep and slow.  It is time... to tell her story.

I teach theatre and I always take headshots of my actors as we prepare to perform.  I knew that I wanted to do something to accentuate the red hair and blue eye of this young lady.  I felt like putting her in a pose that was looking up at me, partially through her hair would draw the viewers eye in dramatically.  I was using two off camera flashes using Cactus V4 radio triggers to light her.  The key, at camera right, was in a shoot-through umbrella and was at a slightly higher power than the one at camera left.  I wanted fairly even light but this did produce a small amount of shadow.  Both lights were set low enough and the background was far enough back so that it went to full black.  I also made a slight increase to the saturation levels of her eyes and hair in Aperture.

-Russell Berg

Below is the picture I took just before the image above.  I feel like the two of them tell a bit of a story.

Background Noise

I found this old ship's engine sitting outside a small maritime museum in Cowichan Bay Canon EOS XSi 17-85mm f4.5-5.6 at f/5.6 1/60 55mm ISO 320

The old man's patience was wearing like a the corners of a ragged edge of paper wrapped around a package for too long.  He had been on the water 2 weeks and the young deck hand who he had hired was an idiot.  He could no longer put up with the inane stream of chatter that poured from the between boy's fleshy lips.  The boy didn't talk about anything in particular, the words had become background noise of the kind that runs up and down your spine with all the comfort of a bag of nails wrapped in sandpaper.  This was going to end.  The old man stepped toward the boy and was about to speak when he heard the engine cough, and sputter... and die.

My family and I went to a restaurant in Cowichan Bay one afternoon and we saw a small maritime museum next door.  We went to wander through it and as we left I noticed this very large ship's engine mounted on block outside the entrance.  I know nothing about ship's engines but I loved the heavy industrial look of the machinery and as I moved around it taking more pictures I was looking for just the right angle to eliminate the background and to find dynamic shapes that spoke of movement and power.  I knew right away that this was going to be a black and white image and after I imported it into Nik Silver Efex Pro I processed it, increasing the structure to give it the grainy appearance.

-Russell Berg

The Open Spaces

My daughter, sitting in the sunset at Neck Point. Canon EOS 7D EFS 17-85 f4-5.6 at f4 1/8000 70mmThe sun hits the water like mercury on broken glass and spills around her.  The breeze lifts her hair and sets it down and it catches that quicksilver light as well.  The great open spaces threaten to loose her in their vastness but there she sits, calm, thoughtful, and alone.  A strong young woman able to see the world around her.  The mountains stretch out and fade into the mists and the distances call to her.  These are the places and times when great journies begin.  Whether they be journies of the mind or of the the road we do not know yet but soon one step follows another.

My daughter and I went out to catch a summer sunset at Neck Point in Nanaimo.  We both love this spot and I almost always get a decent photo when I am out there.  She walked off while I was photographing some rocks and few minutes later I looked up to see where she was.  I was immediately struck by how small she looked but how dominant a presence she seemed.  I wanted to emphasize the large spaces so slid her over to the left of the frame.  I had noticed that on the right side of course we had the sunset on the water but the hill background also provided some visual weight, a counter to the presence of my daughter and the rock she is sitting on, pulling your eye into the image.

-Russell Berg

Faster This Time!

I thought that a shoe was an interesting place to put your cookie while waiting for the zip line. Canon EOS 7D EF 50mm f/1.4 at f/3.2 1/640 ISO 100The little girl runs to the the zip line again.  She grips the handles with a fierce determination and wild smile.  I reach up to steady her and she smiles down at me.  "Faster this time!" and she giggles.  My hand in the small of her back I push her and she flies down the length of the contraption, her strawberry blonde hair a fiery trail in the mid-morning sun.  It is all freedom, and laughter, flying and exhiliration but this time she has... a cookie

I swear to you I did not pose this picture.  I was out in a park with family friends and I was pushing their daughters on the zip line.  Somehow taking off their shoes made them fly faster.  They were enjoying it with the abandon that only children can and at one point they got a cookie from their mom as they ran back to the platform.  What to do? they weren't going to stop going on the zip line to eat.  They could eat on the platform while they waited for their turn and of course the shoe was a perfect place to store their cookies.  I felt like this photo captured the joy and innocence and abandon of a child at play.

-Russell Berg