My buddy the international award winner

I want to congratulate my pal Johnny Tran- the hippest, freshest, baddest photographer in Calgary on winning the Finao / DWF Photographer of the year - http://www.digitalweddingforum.com/finao_dwf_photographers_year?s=706d3f0938777f7619b39aa42aa40c72

My main man Johnny and I are gonna kick it in Vegas at WPPI. Hopefully, I'll have more hardware to talk about by then too ;-)

Be sure to check out his blog - http://www.jtimages.ca/blog/

One thing I would like to say to all photographers out there, is that print competition is an important part of your growth.

Seeing your images critiqued is an important part of learning. Also seeing other great images, will help inspire, challenge, and educate you (props to Jerry & The ICE Society)!

Some opportunities for Chicago photographers to enter print competitions are Northern - http://www.ppani.org/ and CPPA - http://www.cppa-inc.org/

Til next time

New CPPA newsletter / WPPI / Northern

Hello All,

I know it's been a while since I posted. It was a busy holiday season!

Shot a wedding in Los Angeles, Xmas and a lot of reorganization of business stuff.

For everyone in CPPA wanted to let you know that a new Photoshop tutorial is on its way. The next one has to do with creating actions. I know a lot of people are out there selling actions, and many of them are very good.

With a little knowhow and patience though, you can create your own actions and save a lot of time in your Photoshop workflow.

If you're going to WPPI, let me know. I'll be there Feb 13 - Feb 18. I hope to learn a lot and catch up with a bunch of great people that I met around.

I also hope to see people at the Northern Illinois print competition. I just joined Northern or PPANI.

Print competition is a great way to improve your photography. It's not about creating images that are good for the customer. It's about pushing yourself and going up against the creme de la creme. By pushing yourself technically and creatively, you'll be able to up your talent and create EVEN BETTER images for your clients.

Hope to see you there, and I promise to post more.

Jerry & Me

Well it's been a while since I've blogged. The biggest thing since last time was my attending the Jerry Ghionis workshop in Washington DC.

I must say I was one of the biggest Jerry fans in the world before the seminar. Now that I've spent 5 days learning under him. I'm an even BIGGER fan.

Jerry is seriously a truly gifted person. Not just in photography too. Business, Marketing, Sales, even psychology, design, and human behavior.

I have no hesitation to say he's one of the more intelligent people I've met in my life. In a former life, I interviewed for a job with Lehman Brothers in the world trade center and studied Finance at one of the top undergraduate business programs in the country. So I know some smart peeps.

Although it hasn't been formally announced, I'll definitely be at the Chicago seminar next year.

If you have the chance go. Don't ask questions, just GO!

The day you stop learning is the day you die

I've always been a big believer in education, in all forms / fields / manner.

When it comes to photography, in my short time I've learned in so many ways:

- looking at images
- shooting
- reading
- watching dvds
- attending seminars
- learning from other people

So far the best type of education I've encountered for photography is the workshop.

I've attended one workshop so far. It was done by David Beckstead (he of the American Photo top 10 wedding photogs in the world). If you're interested you can find out more here

Now I'm a few days from attending a weeklong workshop with my wedding photographer idol Jerry Ghionis

When it comes to Jerry, I drink the Kool -Aid
- DVDs? Check
- ICE Society Member? Check
- Now Workshop - Check.

In a workshop, you'll pick up a lot of new info and new tricks. The most important thing about them I feel is the learning about yourself that you do there.

A mentor or teacher can only show you the door, it is truly up to you to open it.

After the Beckstead seminar, everyone who knew me and my images had said there was a HUGE improvement in my shooting. Almost like I was a whole different photographer.David helped me unlock some of my potential, something I hope Jerry can do in week.

Above all, even Jerry Ghionis or David Beckstead. The greatest teacher of photography and life I've ever encountered is my father. Every time I click the shutter, it's because the knowledge he imparted to me from darkroom exposure to composition to understanding the camera.

But onto some cool images now!

Here are some images I captured during the david beckstead workshop

enjoy

5d MK2 rawks my socks off

At the CPPA meeting on 9-17-08, we were treated to something special. We were among the first people in the USA not affiliated with Canon to see the new 5D mk2.

All I can say is that I want one. Bad. Like sell a kidney bad.

Forgetting about the kick butt resolution. 5d Image quality that we have grown accustomed to and expect. Even forgetting the fact that they kept in the incredible direct print button.

I am soooooooooooooooo jacked about the video capabilites of this camera.

I know you're thinking whoa there kemosabe. You're a photographer not a videographer. Well I was thinking this could broaden the range of products that photographers offer, and even for cool marketing things you could do or put on your website.

But the proof is in the pudding and here is a sample of a 5d video.

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2086

that's some pretty tasting pudding if you ask me.

That's my bag baby, YEAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

Gotta love the Austin Powers.

So for anyone that comes across this blog from CPPA or anywhere else. I'm sure a question that will pop up for any photographer from another photographer is:

So what's in your bag?

Well here's what's I own Camera & Lens wise

Canon 5D gripped

Canon 40D gripped

Canon 24-70 2.8L

Tamron 70-200 2.8

Canon 10-22 3.5-4.5 EF-S

Canon 50mm 1.4

Canon 85mm 1.8

Canon 28-135mm 3.5-5.6

Here's my take on each camera I own

5d - I've shot 3 DSLRs in my life (5d / 40d / fuji s2) and the 5d is by far and away the best camera I've used so far. Personally I like the vertical grips because it let's me shoot my verticals straighter. The full frame sensor is superior to the 1.6x for my needs because of low light image quality and the ability for faster wide shooting (the 16-35 2.8L which is one lens I want bad, and the true 24mm on my 24-70). If you can afford to go full frame and do not have a lot of money invested in EF-S or for Nikon DX lenses, then I would highly recommend a Full frame camera.

40d - If your budget cannot reach the 5d or d700, then for professional use I would suggest the most camera your budget will allow. My own personal take is that the 40d / d300 should be the floor of what a professional uses. The image quality of those cameras far outstrips the Rebel Xsi / xti / xs line. Depending on your shooting style, you may actually prefer a 1.6x or 1.5x body to a full frame. The advantages of the crop bodies are added reach and faster frames per second. All in all when I can afford to upgrade to using 2 full frame camera full time, the 40d will make a worthy backup / emergency camera.

Here's my take on my lenses ranked in order of my favorite to least favorite

My main workhorses

1.) Canon 10-22 Ef-s 3.5-4.5 - For me, wide angle is where it's at. If I had a better telephoto zoom then I would probably rank that 1. My style calls for dramatic architectural and scene setting shots. Since I don't have the cash yet for the 16-35mm 2.8, this lil guy will have to do, and it does the job well.

40D / 10-22mm / f6.3 @ 1/640 sec ISO500 @20mm

2.) Canon 50mm 1.4 - the 50mm focal length has been a standard for many photographers through the years and using this lens on my 5D, it's easy for me to understand why. I hope to upgrade to the 50mm 1.2L someday, but for now this lens is more than capable of taking what I throw at it. I use this lens for low light story telling.

5d / 50mm 1.4 / f1.6 @ 1/50sec ISO1600

3.) Canon 24-70 2.8L - Surprising to see an L series lens below an EF-S and a normal 50mm. It all goes down to shooting style. The 2.8L is a VERY nice and sharp lens. But for my style I like extreme lenses, either ultra wide angle or telephoto. For my inbetween work I prefer a prime lens for the low light capability and sharpness. So even though it's the most expensive lens I own, its only rates 3rd for me. But it is a very nice lens that cover the standard wedding fare.

5d / 24-70 2.8L / f-4.5 @ 1/125 sec ISO 800 24mm

4.) Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 - This is a focal length that I absolutely adore. Unfortunately budget limited me to the Tammy. If I had the canon 70-200 2.8L IS then this would be my 1st or 2nd favorite focal length. Due to the lack of IS (crucial for long lenses) and slow AF I can't say I love using this lens. But if budget is a concern then til you can afford to the canon it's a good stop gap

5D / Tammy 70-200 2.8 / f-4.5 @ 1/500sec ISO 1000 70mm

My meh lenses

Canon 85mm 1.8 - Since I got the 50mm I prefer it for the extra 1/2 stop of light. the 85mm focal length doesn't intrigue me as much as the 50mm. So this lens hardly sees the light of day.

Canon 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS - Kit lens, enough said.

So hope that this read was informative. If you're from CPPA please read my newsletter in the CPPA email listing.

If you have any questions, please email me at chrisc@photoprismcolorlab.com or feel free to drop and ask a question.

Til next time.

Best in Show

Well the print competition went better than I expected. I ended up scoring 2 Superiors and a Merit. 2 Prints were in the top 3 and my untitled image pictured above won best of show =)

Now the print you'll see isn't the exact file that was printed. One thing about print competition is that the print has to be very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very deep.

Things to take away from my print competition experience

- Print Deep - as explained above

- Print on glossy - which I did but leading me to the next point

- Matte the print - I had some files that used black backgrounds but when the lights were shone on the print, the black turned a weird color. So I'll have to matte the prints next time.

- Have a title - I lost a lot of points, I feel by not having a title. Sure Jerry Ghionis can win print competitions without a title but he's Jerry Ghionis and we're us. So maybe I'll go all Fallout Boy Style and have 5-6 word titles for my photographs.

- Shadow Detail - Judge were very critical of that

- Contrast - Have some

- Negative space is good but not if it's empty blackness - self explanatory

There's a whole bunch more that I learned but those are the main points.

If you're not entering print competitions and you want to be a better photographer. I think you should start. Learning about what makes a good competition print can only enhnace your photography, especially if you can apply the print competition sensibilities into your regular shooting.

All in all for my first print competition I am pleased that I did well. To improve though you have to look at it in another way. I scored an 80 on the winning print, that means I left 20 points on the table. How does one get those other 20? I don't expect to get 100s but I want to.

I'll post the other images I entered in another post soon!

Til next time.