Island to Island

[Katherine Lihou]

Good morning

The stages of addiction:

Stage 1: Several years of Fuji F10 – F50D glued to auto. Constant companion, used daily. Pointed it at anything interesting. Tweaked a bit with Irfanview or Picasa.

Stage 2: Spent the last year teaching myself how to take close-ups with a Canon 450D, Sigma 105 (all manual apart from WB), monopod, natural light and natural habitat (no forced removals or cryogenics ). Love all wee things, especially those that send most people running away screaming. Like to study their behaviour. Learned that friends aren’t always sympathetic to my interests. Gifts of artstuffs soon began to arrive to get me back to drawing again. It didn’t work

Stage 3: A short time ago (in spite of long-kept promises to myself to never get into debt) I took out a bank loan for the following: a 27” iMac, LR3, CS5, a 5D mk II, a Canon 17-40, a Manfrotto carbon fibre tripod and various other bits and pieces like a B&W CPF and ND filters.

I now think that photography was created by the Sirens. I live willingly without a car, credit card, mobile, TV etc. but I can spend hours reading and dreaming about camera gear. But I’m now going to stop with what I have until I’ve learned how to get the most out of it because I know that more gear won’t make me any better at photography.

Future plans are to continue recording the private lives of bugs and suchlike, but also to learn about landscape photography from the very beginning. In the F10 days I’d take it with me as close to the sea as I dared to take storm shots and it survived quite a few drenchings that way. I’m still trying to figure out how to do the same thing with the new camera (and no way will I be dragging a tripod out there with me) but I don’t want to play safe and be stuck with the obvious shots all the time. Might end up having to get an x100 eventually for sheer portability

I’d also like to learn more about B&W and experimental photography. I don’t tend to be drawn to the conventionally pretty subjects. Spiders’ legs backlit by a rising sun are quite beautiful, and many flies are elegant and gorgeous entities rivalling any butterfly, though I’ve yet to find anyone who shares my view of things

Although I’ve used a camera every day since I first had an F10 I’m still very much a beginner; a little better at close-ups but clueless about any kind of photography outside the undergrowth. I will be asking lots of questions about the art and craft of photography in the coming months as I start to learn about landscapes and will need plenty of honest criticism of photos. I’ve seen some stunning stuff here and will be grateful for any advice on how to improve.

Best wishes,

Kate

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Great introduction of yourself. Welcome to the forum... You'll certainly be flooded with greetings by many friendly people on here who can help you in many ways. I'm positive you'll enjoy it.... Looking forward to seeing some new pictures and inspiration all the best

 

[Katherine Lihou]

Great introduction of yourself. Welcome to the forum... You'll certainly be flooded with greetings by many friendly people on here who can help you in many ways. I'm positive you'll enjoy it.... Looking forward to seeing some new pictures and inspiration all the best

Thanks Dan,

I spent quite a while browsing this site and it was the banter and the friendly feel of the place that drew me here. I'm off now to spend a completely hedonistic day with my daughter but will be back in the early hours of tomorrow. I have photos to post but can't yet work out how to do it thanks to changing from PC to Mac just days ago. Explanations and pleas for help will follow soon .

It's quite an oasis you've formed here and I'm very glad to have found you all.

Kate

 

[Rudi Venter]

Welcome to our little group Kate!

Yes, I know all about the addiction.....

Looking forward to seeing your macro shots, I am also fascinated by all things tiny, sometimes spending hours in the garden looking for interesting shots. It seems to be either wide landscapes or tiny living things for me.

Enjoy your day!
Rudi

 

[Hamish Gill]

Hi Kate

Great to have you on board .. its really nice to hear that someone new here appreciates the efforts we have gone to the encourage the friendly feel to the place ... we are still quite a quiet forum but I really hope we can continue to provide a nice welcoming atmosphere for the likes of you self as and when (if?) we do get busier as time goes on ... and it sounds like your jsut the sort to help that happen!

Great intro ... sounds as though you have got it bad ... taking out a loan to buy kit eh? ... that's commitment, i'm impressed
nice set up of kit too ... you will no doubt see me raving about lightroom, its my software of choice too ...

for photo hosting to embed images into threads take a look at photo bucket ... upload images there and then simple copy and paste the "img code" into the post ... very easy! ... the recommended width on images is up to 900px to avoid any automatic resizing

I shall very much look forward to seeing some photos, i think your our first channel island member so that's another area of the world we have "covered"

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Welcome Kate! I'm very much looking forward to seeing your macro shots of insects etc. When I worked for a living I was a naturalist for a forest preserve district. I tried to impart on folks the need to look at the tiny as well as the huge. All have something to tell us as you have discovered.

You also have found one of the great values of photography -- that is the continual learning. There is always something new and interesting to try, a new and different way to interpret our surroundings or a new way to see something and make it interesting.

 

[Glen Roberts]

Welcome Kate, I spent a few hours on Monday on my knees looking for bugs so I'm like you in some ways, finding little critters interesting and beautiful in their own way.

I look forward to seeing some of your shots, especially your macro work.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Kate - you've come to the right place

Sounds like you put a lot of thought and time into your hobby before making your investments - and you look to have chosen really well IMHO.

Looking forward to seeing your world through your eyes.

Welcome on board

Chris.

 

[Katherine Lihou]

Welcome to our little group Kate!

Yes, I know all about the addiction.....

Looking forward to seeing your macro shots,

Thanks so much for the welcome Rudi

I am also fascinated by all things tiny, sometimes spending hours in the garden looking for interesting shots.

I think that because many insects have a mechanical look people assume they’re like machines, but their behaviour is far more complex as I’m sure you’ll have seen.There’s even an emerging scientific interest in invertebrate personalities

Macro photography is the closest I’ve found to the kind of state people get into when absorbed in other arts. I completely lose track of time. A macro lens is a bit like a rabbit hole, resizing you and taking you to another world

It seems to be either wide landscapes or tiny living things for me.

Have to admit that the two extremes are what attract me the most too

Enjoy your day!

Thanks. I did. A day without guilt or imperatives….so I hope I may wish you the same

Kate

 

[Katherine Lihou]

Hi Kate

Great to have you on board .. its really nice to hear that someone new here appreciates the efforts we have gone to the encourage the friendly feel to the place ... we are still quite a quiet forum but I really hope we can continue to provide a nice welcoming atmosphere for the likes of you self as and when (if?) we do get busier as time goes on ... and it sounds like your jsut the sort to help that happen!

Hello Hamish, and thanks for the warm welcome.

I’ll do my best to help but I also like this forum just as it is, must confess

Great intro ... sounds as though you have got it bad ... taking out a loan to buy kit eh? ... that's commitment, i'm impressed
nice set up of kit too ...

I've never wanted much in the way of material things in the past and I like a simple life so I never needed a loan for anything before. Luckily I’m not a spiritual type because photography seems to engender quite un-Buddhist type needs in me

you will no doubt see me raving about lightroom, its my software of choice too ...

When I know what I’m raving about I’ll be joining you as I love Lightroom. I’ve made a cardinal mistake though. I have three books on LR3 so I have no excuse, but I was so keen to get into the develop module that I skipped over all that stuff about importing and catalogs etc. Made a couple of folders in Documents then tired of that and imported directly from my card reader without labelling. Huge error! Only one week in and now have a real mess to sort out. An external hard drive now on order and back to reading the books

for photo hosting to embed images into threads take a look at photo bucket ... upload images there and then simple copy and paste the "img code" into the post ... very easy! ... the recommended width on images is up to 900px to avoid any automatic resizing

I’ve only ever sent things direct from my PC before. I’ll set up a Photobucket account and follow your advice.

I shall very much look forward to seeing some photos, i think your our first channel island member so that's another area of the world we have "covered"

You’ll soon need one of those world maps of members

Kate

 

[Katherine Lihou]

Welcome Kate! I'm very much looking forward to seeing your macro shots of insects etc.

Hello Ralph, good to meet a fellow nature-lover

When I worked for a living I was a naturalist for a forest preserve district. I tried to impart on folks the need to look at the tiny as well as the huge. All have something to tell us as you have discovered.

Absolutely. I think that macro photography helps us to have a much greater understanding and respect for creatures most people are barely aware of.

What you said reminds me of Andrew Wyeth’s description of his painting ‘Trodden Weed’:

A self-portrait. It was after a dangerous eight-hour operation on my lung. Afterward I walked and walked the country around Chadds, getting my strength back, wearing these French cavalier's boots which belonged to the painter Howard Pyle. As I walked, I had to watch my feet because I was so unsteady. And I suddenly got the idea that we all stupidly crush things underfoot and ruin them - without thinking. Like the weed here getting crushed........

You also have found one of the great values of photography -- that is the continual learning.

I love learning. I think that photography will be my last passion as there seems to be no end to what can be learned about it. A perfect blend of my greatest loves: art and science

There is always something new and interesting to try, a new and different way to interpret our surroundings or a new way to see something and make it interesting.

The islands are small but blessed with ever-changing weather and light which can transform subjects in an instant. This makes up for our lack of acreage

I shoot mostly landscapes in Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana.

You have glorious choices in your part of the world. Everything over here would seem miniaturised to your eyes (many of our two-way roads are only wide enough for one, necessitating back-ups into fields ). No mountains, rivers, lakes or forests, but varied habitats and coastlines. We were cut off from mainland France too soon to get any native large mammals or reptiles but we have a brilliant assortment of birds, shore life and insects, and although the escaped Tasmanian Devil colony on the cliffs is long gone, there are recent reports of feral Guinea Pigs to keep an eye out for

I can only imagine that feral Guinea Pigs wouldn't last long in Montana!

Kate

 

[Katherine Lihou]

Welcome Kate, I spent a few hours on Monday on my knees looking for bugs so I'm like you in some ways, finding little critters interesting and beautiful in their own way.

Hi Glen, thank you for the friendly welcome.

I think we're very lucky to actually like bugs and not just treat them as photographic subjects.

As for their beauty, I like what Frederick Franck said in his book 'The Zen of Seeing':

We do a lot of looking: we see through lenses, telescopes, television tubes.........our looking is perfected every day - but we see less and less.........."Subjects" we are that look at "objects".

Quickly we stick labels on all that is, labels that stick once and for all. By these labels we recognize everything, but no longer *see* anything.

..........Millions of people, unseeing, joyless, bluster through life in their half-sleep, hitting, kicking, and killing what they have barely perceived. They have never learned to see.


He also said that you never really see something until you’ve drawn it and I think that applies to photography too. But I must stop now as I can ramble on endlessly about perception and stuff like that

But you mentioned being on your knees. I confess to having discovered a very lazy compromise: a small portable fold-out seat and a monopod placed by a popular natural food source, then I wait for the inhabitants to get over my intrusion and see me as part of the landscape again

I look forward to seeing some of your shots, especially your macro work.

Thanks again. It will be a few days yet as I have a few technical problems to overcome first. I haven't started doing any landscape work yet so it will be all macro

Kate

 

[Katherine Lihou]

Kate - you've come to the right place

Hello Chris, I believe you're right. Crowds or large forums don't suit me one bit. This one feels like chatting, laughing and interesting conversation with good friends down the pub....oh how I miss Waddies 6x....do they still make it? ).

Sounds like you put a lot of thought and time into your hobby before making your investments - and you look to have chosen really well IMHO.

Thank you very much, and you’re absolutely right, I spent ages looking at reviews and trawling the net before making my choices. I’ve not been disappointed

Looking forward to seeing your world through your eyes.

It’s fascinating how we all see things differently. A good painting or a really great photograph can change the way we see that subject forever. Can’t say I’m there yet as I’m still so busy learning the craft that I’ve paid no attention to the art side of photography yet.

Welcome on board

Thanks. Only got as far as Day Skipper though, and even so I should warn you that I've forgotten all my knots

Kate

 

[Ralph Thornton]

I can only imagine that feral Guinea Pigs wouldn't last long in Montana!
Kate

You're probably right there. The grizzlies and wolves would make fast work of them, I think.

 

[Hamish Gill]

You also have found one of the great values of photography -- that is the continual learning.

I love learning. I think that photography will be my last passion as there seems to be no end to what can be learned about it.

This is just why I set up this place ...
To learn and share and learn and share ... No egos, just friendly people with this same idea that learning new things and honeing skills is a great way to spend ones time!!
I'm so pleased so many people have found this place and have that same feeling toward this pursuit ... Make me feel all warm inside!

 

[Mark Grant]

Welcome Kate

I haven't been to the Channel Islands since I was about 12 years old, that was a long time ago.

You’ll soon need one of those world maps of members
Kate

That's a good idea
What do you think Hamish ?

 

[Hamish Gill]

I'll look into it ...
When I get back from holiday I want to get some help drawing up a "road map" of future features ...
I have some ideas on how to expand on the idea of this place being a "community based photography magazine" along side the forum I want to run past people... ...
I also want to get twitter and facebook links in the header as well as the rotating header ... Lots of ideas

 

[Ralph Thornton]

... Make me feel all warm inside!

Just all warm inside or Warm and Fuzzy too?

 

[Katherine Lihou]

Welcome Kate

I haven't been to the Channel Islands since I was about 12 years old, that was a long time ago.

Hello Mark, and thanks for the welcome

I'm thinking about what might have changed since you were there.....populations grow and islands don't so there are too many cars and banks on the bigger islands, but the smaller islands are still pretty much unchanged. We're still half-fairy, occasionally bother Rollo when we raise the Clameur de Haro, and call the English Queen the Duke of Normandy

 

[Katherine Lihou]

Just all warm inside or Warm and Fuzzy too?

Nightcaps make you warm. Warm and fuzzy is what you get if you swallow a feral Guinea Pig without peeling it first