Rob. Works + Thoughts

I feel a bit unoriginal posting some similar photos, but shooting a sunrise in the same location two days in a row forced me to look a things a bit differently. I’ve been so opposed to shooting in the same location more than once, but I realized it takes some time and practice to really fully realize an environment. There are many more shots to be had at this beautiful spot.

P.S. Be sure to check out my friend Drew’s shots from this morning

I haven’t been awake to take shots at sunrise since I first got into photography about 4 years ago. Considering how much I love sunset/dusk/twilight I figured I might as well start enjoying the early morning version as well. I took my Zeiss Ikon with me and managed to get a few film shots, but the camera’s batteries soon got too cold and thus I switched to digital. All shots posted below were taken with the 5D Mk II.

ISO 640 50mm 1.4 @ f/4.0 1/1000th

ISO 640 35mm 1.4 @ f/5.6 1/500th

 ISO 640 35mm 1.4 @ f/5.6 1/640th 

We’ve recently been borrowing a lot of library books from the public library. I used to want to buy books rather than borrow but then I realized something- I skim. Sometimes I read books cover to cover but more often then not I like to just pick out the parts I’m intersted in come back to the rest (this is especially true for technical manuals and biographies). When I buy books I always feel compelled to read them all the way through before moving onto the next. When I borrow them, if I really want to finish reading it I can always renew it or borrow it again (or buy it if I love it). Anyways a big digression into why the public library is the most awesome thing ever for me. (Also you can browse the whole catalog online, place reserves on books and have them shipped to your local branch. And you can take out up to 40 at once!)

Last night I did work through a book cover to cover. It wasn’t exactly reading but the content was extremely difficult to get through. It was James Nachtwey’s Inferno. Nachtwey describes himself as an anti-war photographer and has produced some of the most compelling photojournalistic images documenting conflict and human strife, throughout the world. I’ve known about his work for quite some time, but hadn’t had the opportunity to work through one of his books. 

All of the images are extremely difficult to view, but the most difficult of all are the ones focusing on starvation and famine. I can understand becoming desensitized to violence (because of mass media), but viewing humans in such severe states of starvation definitely affected me.

The foreword and afterword were were extremely well written, and I won’t say much about it except to borrow the book for yourself. Nachtwey has helped me realize that it is possible for every one of us to help change the world. I think most people think about change as something out of their control but the fact of the matter is that change will only be possible if you take steps to educate yourself and help educate others. 

“…a perfection of means but a confusion of aims is the misfortune of our time.” - James Nachtwey

Film is a new foray of ours.

I remember the first time I got glasses as a child. Back then it was kind of a cool thing to go to the optometrist and have them tell you had bad eyesight. I’m pretty sure a few of the kids in my class actually faked it, in order to get a pair. Things are different now.

When I got my first pair (because of legitimate hyperopia) I wondered if they would be the sort of novelty that I would find hidden under the bed in a months time along with pogs and cap guns. Turns out glasses have been a bit more important in my life (unfortunately!).

The first time I shot film I had the same kind of doubts that I had about glasses. Would I find boxes of film in the basement years from now as a memento of some failed photographic adventure? Well I guess it’s too early to tell, but I’m betting that film will become a much larger part of my photographic career. It’s too beautiful to resist :)

Most film shots shown on this blog so far have been taken with a Zeiss Ikon rangefinder with 50/2 planar lens. We also have a Contax G1 with 35/2 planar that I plan to use more. I’ll try to post details of camera and settings with each shot (when I can remember) for now you’ll be able to identify film shots by the border surrounding the image. The beautiful thing is that you can actually see the grainy edge of the film when you zoom in. I’ll have to post a closer look sometime in the future. :)

I’ll start off by saying that I’m not big on words. I use them when I need to, and I’m sure Lauren thinks that I never stop talking. But when it comes to people and expressing my opinions and thoughts to others, I’m generally pretty shy. I’m not sure why really, but I’ll save speculation about such causes for another post sometime in the distant future.

I’ve started this blog because I have something to say. I guess that’s the reason why most people start blogs. The last time I posted regularly to a blog was when I met Lauren five years ago. Then, as now, I was going through a pretty transformative period in my life. When I look back on it now, I can see that only good things came from it (I met Lauren!) even though at the time it took me so long to think about what I wanted to say/write. Things have changed now though and photography has provided another medium with which to share thoughts and ideas.

If it were solely about sharing though I don’t think I would be writing this post. Over the past four years Lauren and I have maintained a professional blog at www.robandlauren.ca the sole purpose of which was to share recent work. Actually it was just Lauren doing the blogging! I always wanted to be a more active participant with that blog but the content I thought about posting never seemed to fall into the unofficial guidelines of recent work, it would always be something more random.

I’ve never thought that such a random collection of ideas, thoughts, and photographs would make for good material to share. However, over the past four years I’ve had the opportunity to really fall in love with photography. What I realized about myself (in relation to photography, and likely the rest of the world) is that my perceptions will always be an ever-evolving collection of random ideas and thoughts. I’ve realized the necessity in embracing such chaos and more importantly exploring it.

This will be a journal about exploration. I have goosebumps about this being the beginning, but I guess this all started a long time ago. So for this first post I just wanted to thank all the people who helped me get to this point, who were patient with me, believed in me, and who let me photograph them. Chances are that if you’re reading this you’re one of those people.

And of course none of this would be possible without Lauren. She is the one who designed this blog, but more than that she’s the one who provided the most encouragement of all. I love her so much :)