Travel to far flung countries involves quite a bit of planning. Sometimes the best laid plans go to waste when mother nature rears its head. This was the case on a long deserved break to Costa Rica.

The first couple of days were what we imagined; a smattering of clouds and rain interspersed with sunshine. Exactly what was to be expected in the rainy season in Costa Rica. Plams were made for treks through the jungle, exploring the coastline, seeing a volcano and a side trip to Nicaragua.

Then hurricane Nate struck causing vast amounts of rain and wind. Our resort was flooded and this caused us to evacuate and move to facilities that could shelter us from the driving rain. All of our planned activities were cancelled and a form of house arrest was enforced by the weather. A solid four days of rain and we were ready to head back to the airport. We took off from Costa Rica in nice sunshine but we knew that the severe rain was going to pummel the US eastern seaboard.

In retrospect it was the worst vacation in 30 years.  I look back and think about the many good vacations over the years; so I guess 1 out 30 isn't bad. It was also a learning experience as well. I always assumed I was a savvy traveler; but there are always things to learn in life.

Here are some travel tips to prepare you for some unexpected surprises. Chances are you will not encounter Mother Natures worst conditions but a little of planning never hurts.

1. If tough conditions arise; be proactive in evacuating and also alerting the air carrier and travel provider of the conditions.
2. Frequently charge your phone in case of sudden emergencies.
3. Pack some extra plastic bags to keep valuables and medications dry.
4. Learn to laugh. Things may be tough in a bad situation; but losing control is far worse. Learn to deal with the road bumps in life.
5. Always provide your travel itinerary and detailed plans with friends and family.
6. Don't assume your airline or vacation provider will come to your rescue.
7. Keep up to date with travel advisories through the US State Dept Travel site and the Australian government travel site.

Waterlogged travel pics are in the Costa Rica gallery.

Scholars of Cambridge

The halls of academia are lined with pictures of previous students and sometimes their greatness may be immortalized in statues. As photographers increase their skill levels; the thought often turns to turning professional and earning an income from their skills. Whilst a noble goal; many photographers fail to thoroughly analyze their prospects. Peer review and objective analysis are the key drivers to doing this. Things to consider are:

1. Am I good enough. Don't rely on family and friends to review your photographic work. They will always tell you that your images are fantastic. This is not objective and what is required is a portfolio review by a photographer that has skills above yours.
2. Have you invested in photographic education. Whether it be through the halls of academia or through the plethora of on-line learning courses.
3. Do you have any business savvy or business background that will help you in running a business. Generating income from photography is 75% business and 25% photography skill. Your images may be good enough but unless you have business acumen you will not succeed. 

So far so good. You are ready to proceed in starting up your business. There are the necessary legal and regulatory requirements to address such as company registration, taxation numbers, vendor licenses, etc. The main thing that is required is to generate a business plan. There are numerous web references on how to develop a business plan. The big caveat is that males tend to over estimate their potential income and females tend to under estimate their potential income. You need to be conservative in your numbers. If the numbers don't add up you won't be putting food on the table.

As part of your business plan development you will have to decide what photographic services to provide. A lot of photographers tend to gravitate towards the wedding and portraits services. Is this a conservative choice or a foolish choice. This comes down an analysis of the local market you are in. It doesn't matter whether this is a photography business or if you are manufacturing widgets. You have to look carefully at the competitors in your local market. In business sense it means that the price of entry in an established market comes down to three factors: 1. Do you have a better product or service 2. Is your customer service better than your competition 3.  Is your price more attractive.

Looking objectively at the wedding and portrait market an aspiring photographic entrepreneur is unlikely to win in the first two categories. The third area to compete in is on the price. The danger with this is that you will not generate enough income to sustain your self. The other negative side effect is that you contribute towards the bottoming out of the photographic services market.

As a key part of your business plan development and analysis there should be serious consideration given to serving parts of the photographic services market which are non-traditional. These are often considered to be niche markets. It may take longer to develop a client base but you are likely to be sustainable in the long run. To look at potential niche markets you need to do your research as part of your business plan development. An excellent resource that showcases photography niches is the web site The Niche Notebook. Here you will find an excellent resource on photographers and their specialty niches. The web site provides a detailed breakdown of specialty photographers, the target market, link to the photographers web site and how long they have been in business.

So lets summarize this:

1. Decide what it is you want!
2. Write it down
3. Make a plan
4. Work on it every single day

Lessons from the trenches:

1. Don't quit your day job just yet.
2. Don't bet the farm on it.
3. Always have a Plan B.

  Resources to get you on your way:

• Creative Lives courses
• Business Plan Development
• Media Business Studies at Ryerson University
• Business for Photographers New York Institute of Photography

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

As one gets older you experience the passing seasons and you recollect on whether this summer was hotter or this winter has been colder. The subject of global warming is periodically in the news as weather stories or as politically derived stories on policy. One does not have to live to be 100 to experience the effects of global warming. It is closer than you think.

The wintertime is when many photographers choose to park their cameras until warmer temperatures prevail. This past weekend I got to experience both winter conditions and record temperatures. An hours drive took me to a local snowmobile racing event. The event was actually re-scheduled from December to February due to a lack of snow. The temperature at the race track was a balmy 12 degrees Celsius. It makes for unusual conditions to photograph the races. Melting water in the spectator area and flying snow from the track. In the midst of this, the race announcer made sure to tell all of the fans that sunscreen was available at the concession stands. The race announcer was quick to followup and inform the crowd that next weekends race in London was to be relocated to the Barrie race track. I had my doubts as the weather forecast predicted record high temperatures. We shall see what the outcome is; but I have to reflect on the balmy temperatures by digging out my summer t-shirts.

As our weather patterns continue to change, our daily lives may have to change with it. Weddings may be re-scheduled for early morning to avoid the mid-day heat. Snowmobiles races may be pushed to ever further northern climates. Weather photographer may become a career path for some. The motorsports racing season may have to be shifted to the more temperate part of the year. 

There are many who discount the theory of global warming. I surmise that this in part is due to a large segment of the population does not travel out of their local region and if they do it is to familiar destinations. The more you travel, the more you see examples of global warming occurring. The example that was very clear and direct to me were the retreat of the glaciers in the icefields. Comparing photographs taken in the early 1980s to recent photographs; confirms that this is no longer a theory. My only suggestion for photographers is take advantage now of the events that you enjoy because they may not be around tomorrow.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Sting Ray!

As we move through our daily life we see technological advances that affect our everyday lives. For the older set out there we have seen major strides in technology including the transition from LP records, compact disc, MP3 and finally to streaming music. Telecommunication has also evolved from rudimentary telephones with crank handles, to rotary dial handsets and then the modern era ushered new choices such as in Voice Over IP phones and mobile telephones.

Cameras have also evolved from the early days where chemical processes were used to develop film. Modern cameras no longer capture an image on film but capture an image via a sensor and are stored on a memory card. What hasn’t changed in over 100 years is the popularity of the snapshot camera. In the early days of photography, the Kodak brownie camera was revered by the masses for its ability to take snapshots. A large part of our early social history is preserved due to the introduction of these mass market cameras.Today technology has merged the popular snapshot camera and a mobile phone technology into a portable format that most people carry around.

Attending a sporting event, family gathering or going to a tourist destination quickly illustrates how popular mobile camera phones are and the degree to which people use them. There are more pictures taken with these devices than all other types of cameras combined.

The best part of the mobile camera phones is that the camera technology integrated on these units is very good. The image quality can be quite astonishing. Mobile camera phones may be lacking some of the bells and whistles on modern and complex but DSLRs but there is one factor that surpasses the DSLR. This is the mobile factor. Most people will carry their mobile camera phone with them everywhere. The reverse is true for the DSLR or mirrorless camera which are taken out selectively.

It is time that mobile photography gets a little bit more love and respect. To encourage more respect for mobile photography here are some resources to get your mobile photography up to a higher level.

Let’s start by looking at Apple’s newest phone, the iPhone 7 plus. The camera on this phone features:

* Optical image stabilization

* A f1.8 aperture

* Quad LED tru-tone flash

* 12 megapixel sensor

* 7 megapixel front facing camera for selfies

* Two lenses for wide angle and telephoto use

* Portrait mode to enhance background blur

* 4K, 720 p and 1080p video formats

* Slow motion and time lapse video

If Apple is not your thing, here are a couple of good alternatives in the mobile camera phone space. Google offers the Pixel at a comparable price to the iPhone and has received good reviews. Another good choice is the Huawei P9 with its dual cameras.

Apple offers you a pretty good photographic tool to create some great pictures. To learn how to use your camera and improve your mobile photographic technique; here are some good web resources.

Education Sites for Iphone Photography

http://www.apple.com/ca/iphone-7/

http://iphonephotographyschool.com/iphoneography-websites/

http://www.iphoneographycentral.com/

http://www.lifeinlofi.com/

Apple Video Introduction to iPhone 7 camera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8mR33cp_Fk

Full tutorial on using the iPhone 7 camera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QxSmYZ6G7Q

Web Sites for Mobile Photography Inspiration

http://www.grryo.com/

http://pixelsatanexhibition.com/

https://iphoneogenic.wordpress.com/

https://www.eyeem.com/

http://www.iphoneart.com/

Great Camera Apps for your iPhone

Camera+

Cortex Camera

Camera Manual

Filmborn

Microsoft Pix

Camera Utilities and Editors

Prisma

Photo Pills

Photogene

Photosync

Image Publishing

Instagram

Zenfolio

YouPic

Adobe Lightroom

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Princess

The biggest shows at the convention center tend to be oriented around consumer products; like the Auto show. One of the biggest events that a lot of the population isn't aware of is the annual Fan Expo show held in Toronto. In its 1995 inaugural year only 1,500 attendees showed up. In 2015, there over 127,000 attendees. The 2016 attendance numbers will likely surpass 150,000. This is a big event with partial road closures, traffic calming and crowd control in effect. Far bigger than you think. The attendees range in age from childhood all the way up to senior citizens. Attendees are not shy in emoting their fan favorites in gaming, television, movies and anime.

The attendees at the show may arrive in their street clothes or as their favorite characters costume. To me I think you have to go All In for this event. There is no in-between. If you arrive in street clothes you are the casual fan with a passion. A simple costume reveals that you are half geek and it shows. If you go All In with an elaborate costume and embrace it, you have transcended Geekdom into being totally cool. This is why I love the event.

Here are the gallery images from the coolest of the cool.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

As you get older it is a good idea to be pro-active in managing your health. If you notice any kind of visual disturbances, blackness, floaters or partial vision get to your nearest opthalmologist or hospital right away. It could be the difference between leading a normal life and a white cane. If you would like to learn more about retinal detachments consult the information at WebMD.

In this weeks galleries we have two updates. A series of picture taken at the IMSA GT races just before my retinal detachment and some vintage motorcycle racing taken after medical treatment for my detached retina. So far so good. I can still take pictures and enjoy photography. My recovery is still on-going and time at the monitor has to be reduced. In general I am happy and will be continuing with photography. More updates to come.

Click on the gallery for more images.

IMSA GT Racing

Vintage Motor Cycle Racing

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

In the cover photo we see an old wooden boat past its prime; but certainly had its share of glory back in the day. On the bow section we see the name of the boat “Freedom 55”. People have asked me whether I photoshopped in the name of the boat. The answer is no, I did not.

It is likely that the boat was named after a dream failed to materialize. In advertising we often see a marketing term or product transcend the original intention and become a household word. There are many that come to mind; Xerox, Kleenex, Popsicle and Scotch tape.

In 2000, London Life created a subsidiary called Freedom 55. The goal was to sell financial products intended to help you retire at age 55. Thus Freedom 55 became synonymous with retirement and a household word. The boat was likely named as a pun or somebody’s broken retirement dream.

What does the naming of a boat have to do with photography? It actually has a lot to do with photography. If you are a professional photographer you must make plans for your own “Freedom 55” and succession planning for your business. If you are a serious amateur who has dreams of generating a retirement income there may be stormy waters ahead. Either scenario requires careful planning. Some people will be successful at this and some will end with a broken dream. Although in a photographic perspective, you might paint a famous moniker on your lens cap instead of a boat.

As we pass through the years and decades we experience pivotal moments in our lives. These will sometimes snap our heads back to attention and get ourselves back on the right path. These moments help us re-examine our lives; sort of like the annual year in review show on television. Recently I had one of these moments when an old friend of mine passed away at the young age of 52. It made me think long and hard and I realized that sometimes there is no “Freedom 55” and we have to live our life to the fullest as sometimes there is no tomorrow.

For photographers this means you have to carefully look at your future plans and at the same time come up with your plan B. Will I have to work longer? Can I actually generate any income in retirement? What if my health starts to fail me?

Moral of the story: Get out there and experience life! Create some meaningful images at the same time!

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

 

Everything you can imagine from diverse UNESCO biosphere reserves in Fundy National Park and Gros Morne National Park to the original fishing villages that dot the shorelines in Newfoundland. In some ways not much has changed over the decades.

I spent part of my childhood in the Maritimes and have gone back for several trips since then. When you return after many years it is always interesting to see what has changed, if any. Sometimes as the saying goes "You can't always go home!"

For many travelers, it is not about going home but a chance to have a unique vacation that can be combined with some photo tourism.

Each province offers unique photographic opportunities. Let's look at some of the possibilities.

• Landscape photography in Fundy National Park
• Travel photography in Nova Scotia
• Food photography along the culinary trail in PEI
• Wildlife photography in Newfoundland

There are many other opportunities for the avid photographer. The best thing to do before booking a trip to the Maritimes is to do some initial research. These days good travel books are available from Frommers, Fodors and the Lonely Planet. In addition there are a wealth of internet sites such as Trip Advisor, National Parks of Canada and the provincial government tourism sites. Readers of popular web photography web sites can also solicit information from other members.

Let's start out with some basic photo and travel advice to get you on your way.

• Electricity is your standard 110 North American usage

• Wireless data coverage is good to very good depending on how far off the beaten path you go. Expect 3G, 4G and LTE service in all of the provinces. Going off the beaten path you may encounter No Service or dead spots. This will happen when you are many kilometers from major towns and cities and this is most noticeable in Newfoundland.

• Always check your Trip Advisor ratings for accommodations and restaurants. Experience has shown that if a lot of locals provide the ratings then the ratings will be skewed. Look more carefully at the ratings provided by out of town travelers instead of the locals.

• Don't underestimate or overestimate driving times on your vacation. Your driving time may vary due to weather conditions, local traffic, road conditions, time of day, wildlife and the province you are travelling in. Tongue in cheek of course, everything in PEI is a 45 minute drive and in Newfoundland 4 hours between popular destinations is common.

• Bump up your budget for driving expenses in the Maritimes. Fuel costs tend to be higher and in addition you may have to pay for increased costs for one way car rentals and trips by ferry.

• From a humorous perspective it will take a full week to adapt to the Newfoundlander accent. Actually this is the same whether you travel to the southern U.S. or Australia. It takes a while, so be patient.

• Take some basic precautions to protect your camera equipment from the sand and sea air.

So after two weeks there were some favorite food spots and photo locales from the trip. These are highly recommended.

Culinary Trail

1. The Inn at Bay Fortune --> The Feast
2. Doyle & Son Lobster Pool
3. Alma Lobster Shop

Photo Experiences

1. Gros Morne National Park (Bonne Bay Boat Tour)
2. Iceberg Tour (St. Anthony and Twillingate)
3. Hope Well Rocks

For a complete look at the images click here Maritime Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

The last couple of weeks there have been prime examples of tourists behaving badly at major tourist sites. It seems like the 2016 tourist season is off to a bad start. Is this year any different from previous years? A quick Google search on this topic will show you that there have been some stellar examples over the years. I have seen examples of this behavior dating back to my early days shooting film. This not a digital phenomena. 

The most notable examples to kick off 2016 have been:

1) A tourist destroying an ancient statue while attempting to get a selfie.

http://petapixel.com/2016/05/09/126-year-old-statue-smashed-tourist-selfie-stick/

2) A group of photographers damaging the Grand Prasmatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park.

http://petapixel.com/2016/05/17/filmmakers-caught-walking-grand-prismatic-spring-yellowstone/

3) A tourist capturing a bison calf at Yellowstone National park which resulted in the euthanasia of the calf.

http://www.tetongravity.com/story/news/yellowstone-tourists-put-bison-calf-in-car-thinking-it-too-cold-to-survive

The above examples are not isolated incidents. They happen year after year, but it seems like the sheer magnitude has increased.

I have witnessed first hand the terrible behavior of tourists within Yellowstone National Park. In the headline image we see several tourists getting very close to a mature adult bison. The photographer on the right is directing his subjects to get close to the bison to get them in the same image with the bison. I am standing a 100 feet away with my long zoom lens. I see the warning signs from the bison. Deep snorts and expelling of air and the movement of his head. I knew that this was a disaster waiting to happen. To the badly behaving tourists what happened next was unexpected. The bison quickly arose on all fours and did a quick five foot bluff charge. This resulted in the tourists running back to the their car. The tourists were not injured and the park ranger was not dispatched to euthanize the bison.

In the example above, the management of Yellowstone National Park do a wonderful job of educating people about the risks of wildlife, keeping a safe distance through educational materials, awareness sessions and signs. Alas, some people are just born stupid and every year there are major incidents. In 2015, there were five incidents of a tourist getting gored by a bison.

The moral of this story is to follow a photographers code of ethics when visiting a National Park or tourist attraction.

I as a photographer take the following oath:

1. I will keep a minimum safe distance from wildlife as instructed by parks management.

2. My new motto will be to set an example to other photographers and tourists on the correct behavior.

3. I will not desecrate or destroy any living being or inanimate object.

4. Re-evaluate my narcissistic behavior to take "Selfies"

5. I will respect all local laws and will not do anything to further embarrass my nationality.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Much of the rhetoric comes from the inclusion of Auto mode on point and shoot cameras and the full automation provided on phone cameras. This is not the origination of camera automation. Camera automation started many years ago with the mass market adoption of the Kodak Brownie camera. This camera offered fixed focus and a choice of two to three shutter speeds depending on the model. Film sensitivity was also rated at ASA 80-125 depending on the year of manufacture.

The Kodak Brownie was used by millions of people over its product lifetime. Later camera designers adopted automation over the years to the current day. Today camera automation is more sophisticated and encompassing several additional elements; including auto ISO, shutter speed, f stop and automatic lighting adjustments. 

The DSLR and mirrorless cameras of today offer varying levels of automation. There are two primary options for the modern photographer. The first one is the full Auto mode where the camera takes full control of all settings and the photographer does nothing but press the option. The second automation feature offered is the P mode or flexible Program mode. This mode allows the camera to set an optimum setting for exposure but also allows the photographer to vary the settings in either direction via a command dial. This allows the photographer to quickly change f stop or shutter to match the situation but still have the correct exposure.

So why would a serious amateur or professional want to use the P mode on an expensive camera. The answer is simpler than you think. Often in life a fast moving situation presents itself that may interfere with photographic thinking or it is a quickly fleeting moment that must be captured quickly. In the example image you see a massive grizzly bear standing on its hind legs. This is an example of fear interfering with photographic thinking. This shot was possible because the flexible program mode was used to capture the image.

A good practice for a nature or street photographer is to leave your camera in Program mode so that a quick image capture is possible and when time permits then change over to manual or Aperture priority mode. When you are finished shooting simply return the camera to Program mode. This simple practice will let you capture those fleeting moments in life and still delve into more creative settings when using manual mode.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Some would call the people that attend FanExpo or Comicon as freaks and weirdos. Look at this from a different angle. They are actively participating in something that they love. This is a far cry from the bench warming activities of the armchair quarterback. In the Gallery you will see people that have a zest for life. We could all learn something from their passion.

Did you ever wonder how they went from a casual hobby or interest to the "All In" just like in Texas Hold Em' poker. In photographic terms they went went from being a snapshot photographer to full "Pro" mode. What they have is passion and commitment. Attendees of Comicon and FanExpo spend months creating their costumes and plan their travel activities around these events. Total commitment and passion. Imagine what would happen to your photography if you had this passion, this drive. Maybe you should attend the next FanExpo or Comicon event to rekindle your desire and drive for photography.

A hint for photographers, you might want to hire a FanExpo or Comicon attendee as your next model. They already know how to hit the poses.

Vintage Motorcycle

"The Vintage Road Racing Association (VRRA), Canada’s classic and vintage roadracing association, was founded in 1980 by a group of enthusiasts who just wanted to get their treasured machines back on the track. Their avowed purpose: to ensure the preservation of racing motorcycles and to maintain the traditions of racing vintage, and now classic motorcycles in Canada.

The Association has grown and flourished in the ensuing years and now actively promotes four racing events to encourage and expand participation in the sport. The VRRA is the only motorcycle association in Canada devoted solely to classic and vintage road racing – encompassing 1940s to 1980s machines – and is the oldest such organization in North America." http://www.vrra.ca

To fully enjoy the motorcycles and events that the VRRA has put together enjoy the galleries below. Or better yet; attend their next event, you won't be disappointed.

2015 VRRA Gallery

Updated pictures on Racing Life a behind the scenes look at racing.

The Super Bike race at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was a wildly successful event. Fantastic sunshine and exciting motorcycle racing rounded out the day. The weekend was solidified by the back to back wins by Jordan Szoke of Lynden, Ontario piloting the  BMW S1000RR.

Gallery Pics

As always additions to the Racing Life gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

Other disturbing news has surfaced out of Kenya. Five endangered elephants have been slain so that poachers could cut off their tusks for sale in the illegal trade. This is another example where hunting is not done for food purposes but for purposes that many have labelled as "pyschotic" or "mental". 

Killing of Endangered Elephants

What can we do as photographers? The answer lies back in our image catalogs. As our photography skills increase we acquire images that are commercial and can be sold for various purposes. This is where the journey towards image sales becomes fragmented. In our photography perspective with rose colored glasses we tend to view an ideal world. We often think the sale of commercial images of wildlife will result in the publication of images in National Geographic, nature magazines, fine art prints or calendars.

This is far from the truth. Commercial images from stock agencies are quite often purchased by hunting magazines. The total revenue last year for books and magazines devoted to hunting  was $124,313,000. These magazines perpetuate the ruthless slaughter of defenseless animals. Whether they are in the wilderness, national parks or game preserves. These animals do not have a knife, crossbow or gun to defend themselves.

** Google screen shot of typical hunting magazines. 

Photographers can make a stand and make an ethical and moral choice on the subject or they can go after commercial profit. The choice is up to them. You can enforce commercial sales contracts of your images and stipulate they are only for nature, environmental, fine art print, calendar or you can donate your images to animal preservation causes.

We all face ethical and moral decisions in our lives. The time is now to make a stand and refuse to sell our images to commercial hunting publications.

Ricky Gervais has summed it up the best.

"It's not for food. It's not the shooting, or tin cans would do. It must just be the thrill of killing. Mental. "

Not all photographers license their images for commercial purposes. There is still something that we can do to stop "trophy" hunting.

1. Communicate with your local legislative or government representative and motivate them to draft legislation to deny the transport of trophy animals over international borders.
2. Buy stock in major international airlines and become a shareholder activist. In the annual general meeting for stockholders submit a proposal to shareholders to prohibit the transport of of trophy animals.
3. Step up to the plate and book a "photo" safari to Africa. You can do this by supporting organizations and outfits that actively support the conservation of wildlife. Don't believe anything the trophy hunting community tells you. Less than 3 % of trophy hunting fees went to conservation. 97% went to lines the pockets of corrupt guides and officials. Photo safarism is the way to go.

Update: A number of airlines including Air Canada, Delta, American and United Airlines announced they will no longer ship big-game animal carcasses, or 'trophies', for hunters who want to bring their kill home. Other airlines are expected to follow suit in the near future.

Image credit: CBS news

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

The average analogue film photographer who has amassed a great number of negatives over the years would have taken some degree of care when storing the negatives. This would entail storing the negatives in special sleeves and storing them inside of a larger storage container. The environment would be temperature controlled through residential air conditioning; but not too archival standards. The storage conditions can affect the longevity of your negatives but there are other conditions in play here. Two factors that have a bigger impact are the quality of the original film stock and adherance to quality control standards during film processing.

As a general rule black and white negative films will survive the longest, professional color slide/film stock comes in second and last is consumer quality film. Film that was processed in a professional quality lab will last the longest and film that was processed in a 60 minute photo lab will noticeably deteriorate in 25 to 30 years. Let's look at some example images taken in the 1980's.

	This image was taken at the Toronto Zoo at the elephant compound. The elephants at the zoo have now been moved to an elephant sanctuary. This image was taken with Ilford HP5 black and white negative film. The negative has stood up very well over the years. This negative will likely survive longer than its creator.
The Yearling	This image was taken on Kodak Ektar 125. This film was oriented towards the professional market and was manufactured with higher quality materials and quality assurance standards. This film was processed in a professional color lab and has stood up very well to the test of time. Little to no color fading or degradation of the negative.
	In this example we have an image taken on Kodak 100 consumer film in the early 1980's. It was processed in a 60 minute color lab and the negative shows signs of age. Color fading and physical degradation of the negative are clearly shown.

The examples shown above clearly illustrate that the average film photographer may face challenges when storing negatives over decades. Physical prints are similar in nature. Black and white prints will last the longest. Color prints processed in a professional lab will last the longest with due care of the print. Prints that were created in a 60 minute photo lab or exposed to sunlight will exhibit color fading and physical deterioration over time.

Digital photographers reading this right now are rejoicing and reaffirming their beliefs that digital is the perfect medium. Not so fast. The storage of digital image files presents its own unique issues that need to be addressed. Digital photographers probably know the basics. Create a backup copy and store another copy off site. This should cover off most of the disaster recovery scenarios that the average person would encounter. If you are diligent you have included cloud storage for your most valuable images.

The issue with storing digital image files lies with the degradation of magnetic media over time. Every disk drive; whether they are consumer or enterprise level disk drives will experience read errors that increase with the lifetime of the disk drive. What this means that you may experience corruption issues on your image files the longer they are stored on the magnetic media. In the analogue film world your negatives may physically deteriorate and you may still have some ability to recover a usable images. With digital storage once corruption occurs there may be no recovery. This is why you see the emergence of storage management methods for consumers in the form of Windows storage pools and ZFS.

Bottom line is that digital photographers have to realize the limitations of digital storage and how to manage archival storage of digital files going forward for many years. The alternative is to print your images out on archival paper and hope for the best.

Some reading material to educate yourself on digital storage issues and archival management.

Long Term Statistics for Disk Drives

Looking at New Storage Technologies

The Myth of Digital Storage

Looking at Digital Archiving Issues

Digital Preservation Issues

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

Photographers who have upgraded Lightroom over successive versions have no doubt pursued the available performance and tuning options for their systems. The introduction of Lightroom 6 has sped up the workflow to some degree but a high volume of images can still take hours to ingest and render. Let’s look at some numbers in more details. A day of shooting at the race track can quickly lead to 2000+ images that need to be copied over to your system and cranked through Lightroom. In my case this will typically take two to three hours before Lightroom has ingested and rendered the images. This is on a highly optimized PC with dual SSD’s, current Intel processor, 16 gb of memory and USB 3 disk drives.

Lucky for us, some smart folks have come up with some solutions to help speed up this kind of workflow. In this article we will look at two products; PerfectBrowse and Fast Raw Viewer. Photo Mechanic has a similar functionality but its intended market is different. It is oriented towards professional shooters and photo journalists who may be working with in-house or external staff whose function is to cull and process at high speeds with specific deadlines for publication. PerfectBrowse and Fast Raw Viewer are predominantly suitable for the serious amateur and professional photographer who looks after their own workflow.

Pefect Browse from OnOne

Fast Raw Viewer

Both products have specific workflows to help speed up your overall imaging workflow and integration with Lightroom. These products work by being able to render a RAW image in under a ½ second. This will allow you to make your initial sorting selection and culling to go much faster. Once you have made your selections you can then start with your Lightroom workflow. Fast Raw viewer changes your workflow by letting you make selections and then copy the RAW image over to a target folder. In Lightroom you select this target folder to further ingest/render and edit your final selections. Perfect Browse works a little bit different by allowing you to make selections in the culling process and then apply filters based upon your selection criteria (Pick or Stars). The selected images can then be sent over to Lightroom to permit the final ingestion/render and edit of your final selections.

Let’s look at some hard numbers on the impact to workflow. The standard Lightroom workflow can take over 3 hours to ingest and render 2,000 images. (based upon Nikon D810 raw images approximately 32-40 mb in size) At this point you can start your selection and culling process. This part of the process can take me approximately 1 to 1 ½ hours to complete. Once my final selections have been made virtual copies are made and stored in a Lightroom collection. Eg. RacingEvent-EditSelections. Somewhere around the 4 hour mark I can start my actual Lightroom edits of my selections. This will be around 100 images from a race day.

Now let’s look at our modified workflow using Perfect Browse. The first part of the process is to copy the images from the memory cards via a USB3 card reader over to the USB3 disk drive. This will take approximately 30 minutes to perform. I then startup Perfect Browse and start my selection and culling process. This will take me 1 to 1 ½ hours to complete. At the end of this I have made 100 selections which I then send to Lightroom. Lightroom will then ingest and render the images which will take approximately 18-20 minutes. The net benefit of this workflow is that I can start my actual editing at somewhere around the 2 hour mark. The net benefit of using this workflow can easily save you hours which can make or break things if you have tight deadlines to honor. A side benefit of this workflow is that you can keep your Lightroom catalog down to a manageable size.

Now that we understand the time savings and adjustments to workflow we can now examine which product is right for you Fast Raw Viewer or Perfect Browse. Every photographer has specific genres they like to photograph and also a specific workflow that they are comfortable with. There is no one size fits all or perfect choice here. You need to pick something that best matches with your requirements. So let’s look at the pros and cons of each product in the comparison tables below:

Both products offer the photographer a faster workflow and are worthwhile if you have to deal with a high volume of images. The cost is modest or free depending upon your choice. My recommendation would be to use Perfect Browse if you have generalized requirements or you shoot sports. Fast Raw Viewer is the better choice if you shoot weddings or do critical studio work. Both products use the Open GL on your video card to speed up the image viewing process. Lightroom 6 uses the same methodology to speed up the Develop module. I would expect that the next update to Lightroom will use the same methodology to speed up this part of the workflow. In the interim this gives time for the developers of Perfect Browse and Fast Raw viewer to enhance their products further.

Fast Raw Viewer is available for $14.95 at http://www.fastrawviewer.com/

Perfect Browse 9.5 is currently free through this special link. http://www.on1.com/fstoppers/

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

Edge of Reason

Have you ever entered a photo competition or a critiqued review of your images and wondered about the results. Been pondering the results ever since? So let’s start at the beginning. What is the purpose of photo contests? The purposes will generally vary from promotion of local talent, contributions towards the arts or a shameless grab on obtaining copyrighted material for less than commercial value. Yes, there are photo contests out there without scruples. So how do you sort out a good photo competition from a bad one? Below are some of the major considerations to think about before entering.

1. Look for a contest with a diverse range of categories and scoring.

A competition with a wide range of categories and defined scoring and range of awards will attract a wide range of entries. This will allow you to determine a general form of ranking against other photographers from different locales and genres. A competition that provides feedback at the higher levels will help you improve your “game”. Look for additional categories and specialization. Some examples of this are:

• Nature
• Cityscape/Landscape
• Sports
• Digital Art
• Portrait
• Photojournalism
• Professional/Amateur/Youth

2. Know your rights as a photographer.

Before entering in any competition a little research is the best direction. The first stop to educate yourself by reviewing your rights as a photographer at http://www.artists-bill-of-rights.com.

All competitions should be researched thoroughly. Some key points to look for are:

• A competition that takes excessive rights for the images submitted is a disguise for a thinly veiled attempt to obtain images for commercial purposes with little or no payment to the photographer.

• Hidden fees or extras where the photographer is required to make a payment for the framing and display of the images.

• The awarding of taxes; either monetary or products may incur income taxes depending on your country of residence.

3. Qualification of the judges

The first thing you need to be aware of is that all judges exhibit some form of bias when judging images. The degree of judging bias (sub-conscious or conscious) is based upon the judge’s life experiences, preferences on subject matter and specific types of cognitive bias. They may claim that they did not express bias when judging images but it is very well documented in research papers how bias is displayed in competitions. This is apparent in some sporting competitions and some organizations have taken major steps to try and address judging bias. Bias may not be intentional by the judges but it is very real. As part of your research on a photo competition here are some things to look at and consider:

• Judges should have formal education in the category they are judging or be considered to be in the top 5% in their field. Learning how to be a judge in a two hour training course could signal issues with judging decisions.

• Review the previous year’s winners in your chosen category. Compare these results with recognized international photo competitions. This will give you an idea if the judges are exhibiting bias or a predisposition towards a certain type of image. For example if you are entering the Nature category and your analysis indicates that the winning images were 60% related to ornithology and a recognized international photo competition has statistics that showed only 10%; this would indicate a possible indication of judging bias. A good reference source for comparative research would be:

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/03/winners-of-the-2014-sony-world-photography-awards-part-i/100700/

http://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/are-photography-contests-worthwhile-or-worthless/

http://www.worldphoto.org/

http://www.nikon-photocontest.com/en/

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

4. Entry fees should pay for costs that leads to a benefit.

The logistics of running a major photo competition can incur some major costs. Fees are an important barrier to entry for a contest, because the limit entries only to the most serious and discourage the frivolous. You should look at where the fees are being consumed by the organizers and what benefits they bring to the competitors. Look for competitions that publicize the winners in various media such as internet sites, press releases, publications out to industry creatives and gallery showings.

Good luck on your future participation in a photo competition. Your journey now doubt will be illuminating for you.

A final word:

Brother, you better watch out for the skin deep

The Stranglers

Aural Sculpture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5UfE2BbYSQ

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

As you drive down the road in your car with the stereo blazing away to your favorite tunes; a thought pops into your head. What would it be like to meet a rock star? What are they really like? Do they snap their fingers to music in the car like you do? Do you play the drums or guitar as well as they do?

What actually happens when you meet that photographic rock star? That famous photographer that you revered and thought highly of when looking at gallery showings, publications and reading those in-depth interviews in a photography magazine.

Do you wobble at the knees, stammer a question, break into a cold sweat or freeze with fear. Probably none of the above. Your shyness has probably held you back as you listen to others pose a few questions. As you listen to your rock star you realize the differences are not as great as you think they are. What is it that differentiates some of the great photographers and how they construct a photo shoot? It mainly comes down to different styles. You need to find your own style. Identify where you are and expand beyond it.

As we look at photo shoot styles there three predominant types. 1. FUBAR  2. Anal Technophobe 3. Crocodile. Each method has merits or drawbacks. Let’s examine these in more detail from a tongue and cheek perspective.

FUBAR

Far more wide spread than you think. Some of the camouflage techniques that a FUBAR uses is to disguise themselves in modern accoutrements and technology. Yet basic photography technique may elude them. You may recognize them as MWC (Mom with Camera), DID (Dentist in Disguise) or the revered Uncle Bob at a family wedding.

The warning signs that a FUBAR is close by and conducting a photo shoot may be the steady staccato of a camera shutter, sounds of anger when chimping the camera display or outright hostility when their subjects do not pose correctly.

A FUBAR may bang off an occasional good frame which may make the pedantic masses happy and extend their dreams of a photographic livelihood. What is missing from the FUBAR technique? Keep reading about the other styles to find out.

Anal Technophobe

This is a category that is unique and is more obvious than others. You may have seen it before; but you often walked past because you thought the photographer just had a passion for art. There are obvious signs in this category. This is what you need to look for:

• Tends to exhibit a sour puss look which shadows their views on life. This quite often transcends into their photography and they cannot understand why they cannot capture the joys in life.
• The excessive looks at Liveview, recomposing, then Liveview and chimp again.
• Expressive looks and frequent utterances of the F word.
• Quite often misses the real moment in portraiture and sports.
• Cannot understand why they score so low in photo competitions.
• Often dismiss other photographers as incompetent.
• Occasionally they proffer up an image that shows photographic brilliance.

As a general rule of thumb they do not offer constructive advice or provide commentary on their images or technique. Their feedback directed at other photographers can quite often visceral and exhibit troll like behaviour. Life is too short to deal with the verbal abuse. Move away quickly when you encounter this.

The Alligator

This is often what you miss when you watch other photographers. It is often portrayed as the quick shot or the re-examination of a particular look. They recognize the shot and then move in to explore this in more detail. A lot of photographers will dismiss other photographers merely because they did not see what the other photographer saw. There are some telltale signs to recognize this shooting style. Look for these obvious signs:

• The re-examination of a particular look and specific direction to the model to “rewind”.
• Putting down the camera and announcing that it is a “wrap”.
• A sense of confidence displayed when the shot was nailed.
• The final image conveys a sense of emotion and feeling. Sort of like that feeling you get when you watch an Oscar nominated movie. It transports you to a time and place and makes you feel like you are there almost like an innocent bystander.

If you really wish to improve your shooting style the best advice is to invest time and money in formal photographic education and good quality photography workshops. You may have heard of the concept of mentoring in the business world. Give it a try. Seek out a more experienced photographer and work on a mentor/mentee relationship to improve your game.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

The proliferation of snapshots in the general public raises the visibility of photography. Too many in the photographic community look with disdain at smart phone photographers and causal snapshot takers. This disdain often extends to outright snobbery and elitism against snapshots. Is there justification for these viewpoints towards snapshots or is this simply an issue of illumination.

I think the main reason for the disdain and snobbery towards smart phone photographers and the causal snapshot taker is just ignorance about photographic history.

The use of cameras to take snapshots goes back to the introduction of the Kodak #1 camera in 1888. Invented and marketed by George Eastman. The Kodak # 1 was a simple box camera that came pre-loaded with a 100-exposure roll of film. After the roll was exposed, the camera was sent back to the factory in Rochester, New York.  The film was processed and returned to the customer with the prints and a fresh roll of film installed in the camera.

Technical advances by the introduction of the Kodak # 1 were surpassed by George Eastman's skill in his marketing strategy. By simplifying photography and providing a 

service for the consumer, he made photography accessible to the public.  The marketing slogan for this camera was “You press the button, we do the rest." It is very easy to draw parallels between the marketing magic of George Eastman with that of Apple Corp. when they introduced the first iPhone to the market.

After the introduction of the Kodak # 1; photography for the masses increased exponentially. Snapshot photography became a national craze and ten years later in 1898 over 1.5 million roll-film cameras were in the hands of the public to take snapshots.

The early use of taking snapshots was meant to record important events in life. Typically this would entail snapshots of weddings, graduations, birthdays, travels and family get-togethers and to capture the introduction of changes to lifestyle with the introduction of pets, cars, and houses and the rearing of children.

Snapshots were often placed into family albums and were periodically added to. Family albums were often arranged by historical or narrative sequences that painted a vivid history of family life. Even though 100 years of passed the only difference in the curation of snapshots is in the display medium. Instead of family photo albums; snapshots are now arranged in web galleries of posted for display on social media.

The focus on snapshots has continued and evolved with each successive introduction in photographic technology over the past 125 years. The list below shows the evolution of camera technology used by the public in taking snapshots. I think George Eastman would be proud of the continuing tradition of using snapshots to capture the moments in our lives.

1.       Kodak # 1

2.       Kodak Brownie

3.       Folding camera

4.       35 mm rangefinder

5.       Kodak 126 film and cameras

6.       Kodak 110 cameras

7.       Polaroid

8.       Point and shoot film cameras

9.       Digital point and shoot

10.   Smart phone

A future Part two article will discuss workflow techniques for smartphones. Stay tuned.

Images courtesy of Watsonphotography.ca and Cistrone Photography. Images captures on Apple and Blackberry smart phones.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

Frozen Bodies

Winterscapes

The last winters have been harsh with rapidly changing weather patterns. This is just a foreshadowing of severe patterns we will experience as a result of global warming. Winter can curtail our recreational and pursuing our hobbies. A lot of people; photographers included; tend to hibernate indoors or pursue activities that do not require embracing the elements.

That is a real shame as the photographic beauty of winter landscapes is quite stunning. Look beyond the snowbanks, skidding cars and the people who curse the winter. Snow and ice can form and be transformed into unique sculptures. Ice can crack and create unique patterns or rearrange itself into stunning jigsaw patterns.

Photography in the winter requires a little bit more preparation; but it is well worth it. You need to cover off the basics first. A warm coat, boots and gloves are a must. Then there are some little extras to make your outing more enjoyable. Wool socks, scarf and hand warmers all come to mind. Your camera needs a little bit of care as well. Typically your battery life will be shortened so keep an extra battery in your shirt pocket to keep it warm. If you are brave enough to shoot in very harsh conditions then a camera/lens cover may also be necessary. The last thing to help extend your time outside is a thermos filled with some nice hot cocoa or soup. For some inspiration on creating your own winterscapes have a look at the Winterscapes Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

Jamaica

Winter Escape to Jamaica

The 2015 winter has been harsh for many in in the northern US and Canada. For the the first time in my life I caved in to join the rest of the sun seekers in the Caribbean to escape our dreary winter. Exiting from the airport a lush tropical paradise awaited. Or so we thought. Jamaica is a country of stark contrast.

Abject poverty overwhelms; yet the happiness of the people is all encompassing. This is in stark contrast to the wealthy gated communities disguised as resorts. Many sun worshippers never leave the confines of the resort and see the real Jamaica. This portrays a negative image of the North American traveler. Jamaica has a lot to offer from  cultural values, photographic scenery and a population that thrives on happiness. We can learn a lot from their positive outlook on life.

To get to Jamaica is simple. Open your internet browser and select a travel vacation site. Pull out your credit card and click OK. First step is done. Now get on the plane and embrace happiness. To get you started on the happiness buzz have a look at the Jamaica Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

Maybe this is the time you should be planning out some activities for 2015. My motto is nothing ventured then nothing gained.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

50 Shades

Before the release there was an unusual amount of commentary, protests and analysis before anybody saw the movie. No doubt a lot of the commentary and analysis was intended to further his/her own political and social ideologies. Do I have a particular viewpoint about the movie. Not really, since I haven't seen the movie. The only thing that I can say is that sexuality is very complex and views towards certain sexual activities will vary by country and culture.

The creation of images can convey different meanings and messages. The viewer on the other hand can interpret the images in many different ways and often not what the photographer originally intended to convey to the audience. In the 50 Shades Revisited gallery you will see images that convey beauty and sexuality. Could some of them be considered to be kinky or alternative? Maybe, but this depends upon your viewpoint. 

We must always remember that when Hollywood makes a movie it quite often is made to appeal to the lowest common denominator. The summer blockbuster movies are a perfect example of this. Not much plot and weak acting with some action sequences usually generate big box office numbers. What does this say about the movie 50 Shades of Grey. I guess a lot of people need some kink and spice in their lives.

To see the complete series of images go to the 50 Shades Re-Visited gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

What is exciting is that the races feature all classes of races. You can see the little tykes race their Yamaha and Arctic Cat sleds. Then things get exciting when you see the more advanced and pro class racers with their high performance high horsepower sleds. The days of the old Ski-Doo with a small engine are gone. Top sleds like the Polaris racing sled are not for the faint of heart. Serious horsepower and capabilities. 

If you are missing some racing action action in the winter you can go and get your fix by attending a local snowmobile race. Dress warmly and take an extra battery for your camera. Snocross racing photo gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

Winter has come with a vengeance this year. Many states and provinces have been hit with harsh winter storms. A lot of people head down south to warmer climates to escape the cold wintery blast. For the rest of us mere mortals we stick it out. 

Winter is great time to look back at images and rethink some of the original editing. This week I went back and looked at some images of Crystal Baker. A model with that girl next door look with a personality to match.

This time I used a variety of editing tools to present different styles. I tend to concentrate on Lightroom, Silver Efex Pro and Topaz. If you have some spare time this wunter season why not go back and revisit some images and see what you can do. It is amazing what time and a different perspective can do to interpret your images a different way.

To see more take a peek at Looking Back gallery. More to come in the weeks ahead!

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

Looking Glass

In most cases it has come down to two different approaches. The first concept is to embrace experimentation with whatever your subject matter is and then seeing if organic growth develops from this. The second concept is to develop an idea and then build a body of work on that concept. This concept  is not unique and their are many web sites to help motivate you on that path. These sites revolve around the 365 day project or the 52 week challenge which features different challenge topics. 

What I am suggesting is to take this a step further and pick one subject. It should be vastly different from your area principle areas of photography. For example if you are a bird photographer pick a subject like glass bottles or fruit. The goal is concentrate on that photography subject for a month to many years. The object is to develop a body of work concentrated on that principle topic. As you develop this body of work it will help you refine your technique further and find your niche. 

One of the side benefits of this approach is that your individual images that make up you body of work may be suitable for photography competitions or your entire body of work is best suited for a gallery showing or magazine publication.

One project that I work on the side is photographing doorways. In my travels I have encountered many unique styles. Everything from the monolithic type doors of the Nasa Vehicle Assembly Building to doors built in the 18th century. Gallery on Doors

My project on doors is an ever evolving body of work that I will continue with. At some point I will consider it finished and embark on another topic. To help get you started on your own photography side projects here are some links to get you started:

Photography Challenge

Pinterest Photography Projects

Finding Your Photography Niche

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

As we get older our ability to overcome life’s' challenges becomes stronger. This is achieved through overcoming previous failures and building upon our knowledge in life and education. Common phrases like "Build a strong foundation and your home will last." and "Failure is not an option" are certainly words to live by. But how do you get to a point in your photography that you can get yourself to the next level. 

Too many amateur photographers only take pictures of a subject that they are specifically interested in and they discount all other subjects. Quite often they don't diversify into other areas of photography due a fear of failure. This fear may have developed early on in their photographic journey through negative feedback on their images or by analysis paralysis critique of their own images.

As your portfolio develops and you increase your outreach in the photographic community you will encounter photographers that have strong talents on one specific niche. Did they get to this point by simply picking up a camera and concentrating on shooting fashion, macro, birds or racing cars? No, they learned to experiment in different areas of photography until they found a niche that they excelled in.

Overcoming your fear of failure will lead to greater learning as a photography and can help you diversify into other areas of photography. You may find that exploring different areas of photography you may find your strongest photographic strength.

To really overcome your fear of failure there are two main approaches. The first opinion is to face your fear head on and the second option is to embrace failure. Both options will teach you valuable skills on your photographic journey.

Which type of photographer are you? Embracing your fear or learning from failure?

The best way to move forward on your photographic journey is to equip your selves with the skills to overcome your fears. Focus on the psychology of fear and improving your photographic skills as a first step. To help you on your journey here are some web resources to get you going.

Resources to help you on your photographic journey.

Overcoming your photographic fear

Photography fears

A guide for artists

Photographic education at Ryerson University

Creative Live course

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

New Years marks the end of a year and the birth of a new year. To celebrate the birth of a new year we have a picture of a young pup. Bold and full of energy to mark a new year. This young pup was photographed lying in the back of a truck waiting for his owner to come out of a local outfitter in Yellowstone. The puppy was overjoyed when his owner returned. Dogs give you love and joy and ask for nothing in return.

Each year I look back at what I have shot through the year and evaluate the images. Some I like and some I wish I hadn't taken. This year I am pretty happy with my final selections for the year. As I reflect on the images I feel happy and confident for the new year. You can view my final selections for the year in the Gallery.

Now for some wild predictions for 2015.

1. Chance of Canon releasing a high megapixel DSLR is 30%.

2. Chance of Nikon releasing a pro-level DX body in 2015 is 10%.

3. This will be the year we see a pro level mirrorless body.

This will probably be the year I don't make any gear acquisitions. 2015 is the time to take my current camera to its full capabilities and see what I can deliver. This will be coupled to investments in photographic education. My goal is to deliver high quality images across a broad spectrum of the photographic spectrum. We will see where I am in 6 months time. This is when most people have given up on their New Years resolutions. Best of luck to you on your resolutions for 2015.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people,travel, nature and racing sports by the Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

The American mid-west is fascinating with its iconic scenery and cliche characters. It is an area that draws me back again and again.  The cast of characters included everything from cowboys to the rich and eccentric in Jackson Hole. Whether your subject is landscapes, wildlife or people it is a photo rich area that keeps a photographer engaged.

This time around it was a visit to another part of the American West. The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone park. If you are looking for an area of the US where you can capture the iconic images that America was built upon then you should definitely consider a trip here. The wildlife is plentiful, scenery is intense and and good all around hospitality. 

The best time of year to go is the shoulder season between fall and winter. As winter sets in early in this part of the continent the optimum time for a trip is the middle to late September. The summer crowds have diminished and most services are still available in the parks. A bonus is reduced rates on hotels and less crowded restaurants.

Thinking of a trip to the US mid-west? Here are some informational links to get you started on your journey:

US Park Service Yellowstone

US Park Service Grand Tetons

US Park Service Devils Tower

Wyoming Inn         4 out of 5. Highly recommended by TripAdvisor and myself.

Explorer Cabins     5 out of 5. Highly recommended

The only negative on the trip was a chef that should be fired for inadequate food preparation skills in a small town restaurant in Wyoming. Can't win them all, but a good memory was the cowboy barbecue at Custer State Park which was a lot of fun.

Images by WatsonPhotography.ca and Cistrone Photography

Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by the Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

The mainstream media has a tendency to only provide coverage of popular sports, hobbies and pastimes. There is more to life than mainstream interests. Television has created a world of spectators instead of participants. You know who they are; the armchair quarterback, the sofa hog or PC jockey. Typically full of criticism and self-loathing of any activity that is outside the norm or not televised on TV. Thankfully there are people that are outside the norm and do participate in their own hobbies and interests. Some would call the people that attend FanExpo or Comicon as freaks and weirdos. Look at this from a different angle. They are actively participating in something that they love. This is a far cry from the bench warming activities of the armchair quarterback. In the Gallery you will see people that have a zest for life. We could all learn something from their passion.

A hint for photographers, you might want to hire a FanExpo or Comicon participant as your next model. They already know how to hit the poses.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

This year sparked the addition of the F1 class to the race lineup. When you look at the galleries see how many of the F1 bikes that you recognize from yesteryear. They are still as awe inspiring as ever. Pit lane and race team areas continue to be an excellent source of images for street photography. Not to be outdone the canines in attendance did their best to look good for the camera. Have a look at Kira the Wonder dog in the "I Love My Dog" gallery. This is the last race of the season for me and I am already looking forward to next year to get my fix of motorcycle racing. My new tagline for the racing images is "Maximum horsepower, maximum speed and photography at the edge!".

I Love My Dog Gallery                 

Racing Life Gallery                      

Vintage Classic Gallery               

Vintage Road Racing Association

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

2014 SuperBike

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This race marked my full time transition to the new Nikon 80-400 G lens. In years previous I had used the Nikon 70-300 and the Nikon 70-200. Although pricey the Nikon 80-400 G lens can certainly deliver on bright sunny days and when it is cloudy with precipitation in the air.

The weekend of racing also featured the Porsche GT3 and Lamborghini classes. This was my first time seeing the Lamborghini's race and awe inspiring.

Race pics can viewed in the Gallery. 

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature, and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

A hot air balloon is made up of a large nylon bag or envelope that contains the heated air and a wicker basket which is fastened with wires and ropes. The heated air inside the envelope makes it float or rise since it has a lower density than the external cold air. The hot air inside the balloon is created using a large gas fed burner that is controlled by the balloon pilot. The wicker basket usually holds the pilot and from 1 to 16 passengers.

The hot air balloon is the oldest method of flight that dates back to November 21, 1783, in Paris, France.  The first manned flight was piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes originally constructed by the Montgolfier brothers.

Every year there are festivals in North America that dedicated to the sport of ballooning. Many of these are located a short day trip away from the greater Toronto area. For those lucky enough to secure a passenger ticket on a balloon flight to quite often is the culmination of a dream or desire to fulfill an item on your personal bucket list. For this week’s update we are lucky to have a dual perspective on a balloon flight. The passenger’s viewpoint photographed by Cistrone Photography and the thrill of the balloon chase photographed by WatsonPhotography.ca. You can view all of the images in the Gallery.

To add another tick mark to your bucket list you can purchase your balloon flight here.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Vintage Grand Prix

An interesting note to the history of the Mustang is that the first serial number was, sold to a Canadian airline pilot.

On April 14, 1964, Stanley Tucker walked into the George Parsons Ford dealership in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The 33 year old pilot made an immediate connection with the white convertible 1964 ½ Mustang. Somehow through persistent customer persuasion the Mustang was sold three days before the actual street date; mandated by Ford. This is how serial number 5F08F100001 ended up in private ownership instead of being shipped to the Ford museum.

A short while later, Ford realized they had a mistake in shipping the first serial number to a dealership. Ford then made an effort to track down the first customer and requested the return of the Mustang. This was subsequently declined by the owner who then went on to enjoy his purchase by putting 10,000 miles on his new purchase. In early 1966, Ford sweetened the offer to the first Mustang owner and offered the up the delivery of the One Millionth Mustang, equipped to his exact specifications.

Today as we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Mustang you can be assured that serial number 5F08F100001 is now in its final resting place at the Henry Ford Museum.

Soon after the introduction of the Mustang it started to show up at NHRA drag strips where it was entered by privateers and dealer sponsored teams. Ford used the company Holman & Moody to prepare its factory racing campaign by building 10 specially prepared prepare ten 427-powered Mustangs to contest the National Hot Rod Association's Factory Experimental class for the 1965 drag racing season.  

Through a collaboration between Ford and Shelby Racing the GT 350 R, a full racing version of the Shelby GT 350, went on to win five of the Sports Car Club of America's six divisions in 1965. Today the Mustang racing spirit is still alive through racing new versions of the car through sanctioned racing events and the vintage Mustangs are still racing at Vintage Road Racing events in the United States and Canada.

You can see more of the vintage racing Mustang’s in the photo Gallery.

To find out more about vintage racing in Canada contact the Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada.

Here is another one for your bucket list, Rent a Ford Penske GT Mustand for the day.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Skyfest

In 2014 the Canadian War Aircraft museum commemorated one of the most notable of  the 419 squadron Lancaster bombers by repainting the colours and markings of "Ropey". The original Lancaster KB772 VR-R bomber nicknamed "Ropey" had an amazing flight service record of 64 operations. "Ropey" was manufactured at Victory Aircraft LTD. of Malton, Ontario in January of 1944. In November 1944 the aircraft was flown to England and delivered to the 419(B) squadron located in Middleton St George, York.

The RCAF Lancaster bombers were known for their colourful paint treatments, with the 419 squadrons having the most heavily painted aircraft. In the case of "Ropey"  it's four engine cowlings were painted with an image of the "Flying Tiger" shark mouth with eyes.

Ropey was flown on 33 air combat operations including the squadrons last operation on April 25th 1945 against the enemy defenses on Wangerooge. Flown on that occasion by Flight Lieutenant J E Short. The raid on Wangerooge was intended to knockout the coastal gun batteries on the Frisian Island. This island was of strategic importance as it controlled the approaches to the ports of Bremen and Wilhelmshaven. It was a spectacular air raid that featured 482 aircraft; including 158 Lancaster bombers.

Lancaster KB772 completed flying 64 operations by April 1945, and was then flown back to Pearce, Alberta in September, 1945.  After the war it served with the RCAF’s Eastern Air Command operation until May 1947 Later it transitioned to a role in maritime reconnaissance and search and rescue operations. In 1964, it was decommissioned.

For more information about the History of the Lancaster you can watch a full length documentary here. Documentary

Do you want to fly on this legendary aircraft? There are only two remaining Lancaster bombers still flying. A once in a lifetime opportunity that may not be available in a few years time.

Book your flight

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Wangerooge mission photo credit of The National Archives UK.

They said that a few days of rest and relaxation was what I needed. It will heal your spirit and your heart. As I packed my luggage I had lingering doubts that this would cure my ills. Life has a way of wreaking havoc and in my case it was a soul destroying divorce and the death of my beloved companion animal that set me adrift. There were few options left to ponder. I could dive into a deep well of addiction, slowly fade away into the bland melancholy existence as do many Americans or try a Hail Mary pass and try to restart my life.

My life to this point had been a series of conservative choices but this time I decided to go counter-intuitive and go for that unbridled Hail Mary Pass. This was a road trip that was meant to rekindle my passion with life and photography. A small duffel bag with a couple of changes of clothes, an old-fashioned paper map and a camera were all that I needed where I was going.

The turn of the key caused the incessant whine of the starter motor and I breathed a slow breath and the engine of the old Jeep roared to life. A couple of brief stabs of the gas pedal exuded a confident but throaty roar from the engine. It was an inspiring yet confident roar that got me on my way to kick start my life.

The goal was to travel the old parts of Route 66 and to look for a quieter, gentler side of life. A stark contrast to the rough sounds of the city constantly berating your eardrums. As the miles racked up on the speedometer I looked over to the passenger seat and remembered fondly of the days when my trusty dog leaned out the window. Snorting in the smells of life at 60 mph. A dog’s zest for life is unparalleled and somehow he always managed to bring out the best in me. Maybe one day I will be re-united with my beloved friend.

The changing sun indicated it was somewhere past the stroke of two. The temperature had climbed considerably and the temperature gauge in the Jeep had started to panic. Dancing with the upper reaches of the red line caused small wisps of smoke started to appear from the engine hood. I slowly pulled over to the side of the road. Lifting the engine hood let loose billowing clouds of steam that seem to merge together with the heat waves echoing off of the pavement. Things did not appear rosy all of a sudden. A quick glance of the 1980 paper map showed a gas station 2 miles down the road.

As I walked along the road I could see the heat waves shimmering and the tumbleweeds blowing along at a leisurely pace. Sweat had been pouring down my brow and then a jackelope ran out from the side of the road. This brought me back to a stark reality and I pressed on to the gas station.

As I got closer to the gas station I could see the old sign reminiscent of 1950’s advertising. Alas, I spotted the oasis of the gasoline pumps. A quick glance around seemed to indicate that the gas station was deserted. The moving clouds caused a large shadow over the gas pumps. Out of the shadows a large man with a weather-beaten face appeared.

 A downcast look was sent my direction and he quoted Ezekiel 25:17 "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.  And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

This was my first encounter with the “Marshall”.

The Marshall

The story continues in the State of Wyoming the following year.....

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

The warm weather is finally in first gear and with it we have the kickoff race of the Vintage Motorcycle Road Racers event at the Shannonville race track. It was an awesome day of racing with some of the racers pushing themselves too hard which resulted in a sidecar falloff and a nasty accident at the end of the straightaway.

Each VRRA race is full of bikes with an excellent racing pedigree. Featured here is the venerable Yamaha TZ250. The TZ250 was produced by Yamaha from 1973 to 1982 and was raced by the legendary racer Kenny Roberts to victory in 1978. In the Shannonvile VRRA round we see a TZ250 being pushed to it's limit. 

More coverage of the VRRA races when we see the Mosport round of races. Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

The wail of a siren, clank of the streetcar bell, the lumbering sound of a diesel truck and the whoosh of a bicycle quickly moving by are all sounds we hear constantly in the city. Technology in every day living is always within reach. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to visit a place that is full of technology from the 19^th century This is when times were different, life is hard and everybody appreciated the simple pleasures in life. Well sometimes you can back to a different era.

Tucked away in the serene countryside and along the banks of the Indian River lies Lang Pioneer Village. The village features over twenty-five restored and furnished buildings constructed between the years 1825 and 1899. The majority of buildings were located within the County of Peterborough and moved to their present site along the Indian River.

Lang Pioneer Village is a true photographers paradise. Everything is as it was in the 19th century. All of the details are there including farm animals, original rail fences, farm fields, quaint roads and people engaged in village life. Everything you see is authentic from the real lemonade served at the hotel, printing of the village paper, sparks at blacksmith to the carpenter building furniture. 

To crown things off there are restorations in progress, derelict artifacts, open fields and nearby attractions to make the trip worthwhile. Next door is the Lang Mill and just down the road is the Hope Saw Mill. This is a day trip that is definitely worth five stars. To find out more about the village visit the web site for Lang Pioneer Village. Visit the photo gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by  Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Polo

Polo is a team sport played on horseback  on polo ponies. The objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Players score by hitting a small white ball into the opposing team's goal using a long mallet. The traditional sport of polo traces its roots back to the beginning of the first millennium. The game of polo was first used as a training exercise for cavalry units. Over time, polo was developed into a team sport that is played professionally in over 16 counties.

There are two major types of polo games. The traditional game is field polo which is played on a large grass field 300 yards long by 160 yards wide with each polo team having four riders and their mounts.  In arena polo, three players are required per team. Arena polo requires more maneuvering and shorter plays at lower speeds.  In contrast, field polo is a fast paced game than arena polo.

The Royal Canadian Riding Academy hosted the Cedar Valley Polo for Learning charity event on May 30, 2014. The VIP charity event was organized to promote the sport of polo and foster learning and knowledge of the game for younger players. To see additional images of the event visit the Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models,people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

On the four wheeled side of the house there will be coverage of the Vintage Grand Prix, Tudor racing, sports touring, classic car events and even some drag racing. 

My photographic goal this year is to improve the composition of my images and improve the overall quality. In simple terms, my goal is to kick it up a notch or two. To start off the 2014 racing season coverage of the Race super series Round 1 races from Shannonville, Ontario is in the Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Jessie Yang

To illustrate the use of black and white in fashion we have Jessie Yang to model the theme Black and White Elegance. Jessie was featured in the TV series Asia's Next Top Model and has been featured in numerous print and new media publications; including Harpers Bazzar. To see more of Jessie click on the Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

In this feature set we go back to an era of Mad Men, pinups and hats that made a statement. To bring out that bold vintage look Kaitlin models a vintage bathing suit, lingerie, a noir styled dress and a glorious pill box hat that reminds me of the glory days of airline travel.

My immediate thought was that of an airline attendant from Pan Am.  Pan American Airlines was a global airline back in the 1960's which was featured prominently in the movie Catch Me If You Can. Back then this was considered to be a very desirable job due to the lure and romance of international travel. Today airline travel is not romantic and is fraught with delays and security checks. 

To see more of Kaitlin have a look in the Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Outside of cyber-space you can see my work at Debbie's cafe in Ajax where selected images are on display periodically during the year. Currently images from the Old SouthWest collection are on display at the fracture clinic at the Ajax Hospital.

Within the confines of cyberspace you can view my work at WatsonPhotography.ca, on Facebook , Model Mayhem, Nikon Girls and About.me. My web site is always kept current with new images from the studio, my travels around town or on the road and selected photographic publications are made available through a Creative Commons License.

Humility is one of my virtues so I usually don't highlight any recognition that I have received, but this time it involves one of my favourite images from the past few years. The image below received an Acceptance in the pictorial category in the Greater Toronto Camera Inter Club competition. Over 1200 entries are submitted each year from the best photographers in the Greater Toronto Area.

The image features Samantha Carly who gives us a beautiful rendition of a Hollywood Starlet in vintage fashion. To see more images of Samantha go to the Gallery or visit Samantha on the following social media sites: Facebook, Model Mayhem, Deviant Art or Twitter. Samantha is also an accomplished photographer and her images can be seen at Pure Vida Arts.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Brick Works

The site has been converted to a park, market and an environmental energy centre that is mixed in with it's unique heritage. The site has many photographic opportunities with an eclectic mix of graffiti, architecture, urban development and people watching. A highly recommended attraction to visit in the City of Toronto at 550 Bayview Avenue. See the updated gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

The Distillery District is located just east of the downtown core in Toronto. This district has been transformed into an arts and entertainment area. It is one of the largest collection of industrial buildings that are still intact from the 19th century. All of the buildings were used for some function related to the production of alcohol. Whether it was related to the drying of grains, distillation or canning all of the buildings are still intact. As part of the preservation and transformation of the site each building still houses some of the original machinery used. 

Today the Distillery District is an eclectic mix of art galleries, shops and restaurants. It is a popular destination for both Toronto natives and tourists. It is the perfect spot to bring a date for a romantic day out to rekindle that fire. Click the link for for more information about the Distillery District or have a look at the images in the Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Fencing is the sport of  fighting with swords. Today fencing is an Olympic sport and is divided into three weapon categories: foil, sabre and épée.  Fencing is one of original five sports which has been present at every one of the modern Olympic games. Fencing traces its origins back to Spain between 1468 and 1471 which was documented in the book Treatise on Arms by Diego de Valera. 

Modern fencing technique originated in the 18th century in Italy during the Renaissance and later improved by the French. After World War 1 fencing transitioned into a sporting activity with the épée in 1936 with the introduction of electric scoring. Foil was the next to transition to electric scoring in scoring in 1956 and finally sabre in 1988. 

Fencing is an extremely fast paced sport with matches that last only minutes. To demonstrate the sport the Ajax Fencing Club was kind enough to showcase the techniques. Both high speed and slow motion photography techniques were used to capture the images in the Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

MapleFestMapleFest

The winter of 2013 was one of the coldest and harshest on record. The overly cold springtime has affected maple syrup production in many states and provinces this year. The output will be greatly reduced this year. For those people that have never experienced a trip to a maple syrup farm it is a worthwhile day trip. It is an opportunity to see how our forefathers made maple syrup and taffee.

To have a look at this unique process check out the MapleFest Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Calvin Klein Model

In this update, the feature model is Red Orchid who was 2010 Miss October for the Sunshine Girl calendar, a runway model for Calvin Klein, Frederick's of Hollywood among many other credits in the industry. I am sure you will agree that this model has the ability to restart our hearts after a harsh winter and rekindle our desire for the beach in the summer.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Diia recording artist

This week we have a refreshing change from this endless dreary winter. Diia a 23 year old model in Toronto transports us to an exotic land of the Indian sub-continent. A land of warmth and sunshine.

Diia is also an accomplished music artist. You can watch her latest video on Youtube at Diia video.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This week we have a feature set with the model Max Oshiro. You might recognize Max from her previous set in 2013 in a glamorous lingerie outfit. So apart from being a dynamite model Max likes to work out in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. So here she is kicking it up a notch in the high fashion department. Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This winter has been incredibly difficult for most people in North America. The polar vertex has us in it's grips now for weeks and it doesn't look like it is giving in too soon. Snow has been bountiful this winter and the resorts have been overflowing with skiers and snowboarders. There are some winter spectator events if you can brave the winter elements. In this weeks updates we have the testosterone filled snocross racers and the truly crazy ice racers. First up is the snocross races featuring the professional snowmobile racers on a closed track. This is similar to motocross racing with straight sections, curves and big jumps. To see the big air go to the SnoCross gallery. Second up are the 1/2 crazy or full crazy individuals who race on an ice track. Here you will a variety of vehicles on the ice track; snowmobiles, ATV's and the ice bikes. The ice racers are in this gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Here we are in 2014 and I am back with a new posting after a short winter hiatus. Yes, the winter of 2013/2014 truly sucks. Not much warmth floating around the north american continent in early 2014. Our model Marie Christina can certainly help with reviving our flagging morale with an in-depth exploration into the film noir and a retro commercial look. Back in the 1940's, 50's and 60's black and white was still the cutting edge from an artistic point of view and many of our iconic portraits of that time were done in black and white. It is amazing how a classic look never goes out of style, whether it is a picture of a bride and groom, an actor or an architectural image. Marie Christina has been featured in numerous publications, campaigns and on-line media. You can see more of Marie Christina in the gallery. 

Credits

Studio: RevPrint

Model: Marie Christina

Studio Assist: Melanie Gomez

Photography: Peter Watson

Post-Production: Peter Watson

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Toronto PFLAG (Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is a volunteer run, registered charitable organization that works to create a more accepting society for gay individuals and their allies. To read more about their organization see here. http://www.torontopflag.org Please give generously.

Behind the scenes video of the charity photo shoot. Video

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, travel, people and racing sports by the Toronto based photographer Peter Watson.

The origins of the image La Calavera Catrina  come from a circa 1910–1913 zinc etching by famous Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada. He primarily did work with lithographs and pictorial cartoons. The original zinc image depicts a partial female skeleton attired in a European styled hat. The etching was meant to satirize  the Mexican natives who had embraced European traditions of the aristocracy. Later this image became an icon of the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. In the gallery a modern day rendering of La Calavera Catrina.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Credits:

Chanelle Preradovich

MUA: Paige Melvin

Photography: Peter Watson

Post-Processing: Peter Watson

Studio: Pink Panther

Retro 80's Gallery

Organic Gallery

Flowerchild Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Credits:

Model: Elle Fortune

MUA: Paige Melvin

Photography: Peter Watson

Post-Processing: Peter Watson

Set Assist: Maureen Littlewood

Studio: Pink Panther

Kimone is a beautiful model who emigrated to Canada two years ago from Jamaica. Her modelling career is off to a great start and this week she is appearing at the major fashion event MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto. You can see why her strong looks will propel her career. See more of Kimone in the Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Credits:

Model: Kimone Berwise

MUA: Paige Melvin

Studio: Pink Panther

Set Assist: Maureen Littlewood

Photography: Peter Watson

Post-Processing: Peter Watson

This week we have Kristen Marie who hails from the fair state of Louisiana. If you have never been to Louisiana, it is known for two things. The best cajun cooking around and beautiful women with lovely southern accents. Kristen is a model that can transforms into several different looks and knows how to bring out her personality with dramatic expression. In the gallery we have some timeless black and white looks, high fashion and some lighter comedic moments spoofing Miley Cyrus. (or what I actually think of Miley Cyrus.) Click to see Kristen in the gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Credits:

Model + MUA: Kristen Marie

Set Assist: Maureen Littlewood

Studio: Pink Panther

Photography: Peter Watson

Post-Processing: Peter Watson

The origin of the word ‘tattoo’ is derived from the Polynesian word ta which means striking something and the second origin is also from the Tahitian word tatau which means ‘to mark something’. Although this explains the origin of the word it is not where the practice originated from. The practice of using pigments to create tatoos is thought to have begun as early as 5,000 B.C. 

The practice of tattooing has evolved from that of a rebellious activity or an indicator of anti-social behaviour in the 1960s transcended to a fashion statement in the 1990s. Iconic figures in the music industry brought the idea of inking one's body to the masses. An example of this is the music group the Rolling Stones in the early 1970s. Tattooing had, by the late 1980s, become accepted by ever broader segments of the populous. As you look at the sports and entertainment industries the use of tatoos is prolific. Media images of rock stars, professional sports figures, ice skating champions, fashion models, movie stars and other public figures often highlight their tatoos. 

The gradual acceptance of tatoos in mainstream society evolved from the 1960's to the 1990's. The acceptance of models with tatoos increased with acceptance by the arts and fashion community with an increasing exposure to their celebrity clients. Today the tatoo is mainstream and accepted as an art form. 

Showing the blended world of fashion and ink is the model Kehli G.

Click to see the complete gallery Fashion and Ink

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Credits:

Model and MUA: Kehli G

Studio: Pink Panther

Photography: Peter Watson

Post Processing: Peter Watson

Rockabilly

In the late 40s to early 50s, fashion was the buttoned up, conservative look of the post war era. Men stuck to traditional pants, shirts and sweaters. Women aligned themselves with the wholesome pin up girl of the 40s. As the 50's decade progressed, conservative fashion values started moving towards the more racy Bettie Page look.  This is evident if you watch classic B movies from the that era. 

The film “West Side Story”  or "The Outsiders" by Francis Ford Coppola often defines the looks within the rockabilly scene. The youth of early 50s America embraced the sounds of rockabilly music and clothing but this was often transcended by the generation gap, your social standing and class.  

Rockabilly fashion was split between a more conservative look that appeased parents, aligned with your social class all the way to a more youthful rebel for those that wanted to clash or rebel against their parents. For girls the look is often portrayed as full skirt dresses matched with crinoline, conservative makeup, teased hair or ponytails.  Dresses were often a simple look with borders or polka dots with a conservative neckline. For the rebel or youthful spirit this translated into a Bettie Page look with leopard prints, leather jackets and bright lipstick. This look was often accentuated with the Rosie the Riveter open necked blouses in bold prints.

Bringing the rockabilly fashion look to life is Kassandra Love who models the clothing line from Rosie the Rebel boutique in Toronto, Ontario.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Credit:

Model: Kassandra Love

Location, Props and Clothing:

Rosie the Rebel Boutique

961 Bloor Street West

Toronto, Ontario

Photography: Peter Watson

Post-Processing: Peter Watson

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Sooner or later many people will want to acquire some kind of art work to decorate their walls in their home or condominium. The art work could range from a highly commercialized print of a painting,a photographic reproduction or an original piece costing sometimes in the thousands of dollars. If you are picking up some decorative pieces from Ikea it is usually because you like them and it will fit in with your decor. If you are in the market for an original you probably have visited a few art galleries. Usually you will see an artist biography and sometimes accompanying artists statements or interpretations of their work. Below is an interpretation of the image in this blog. The image was done by a local photographic artist. 

Gallery Interpretation Statement

In one of his most meaningful works to date, Toronto based Artist Watson - better known by a select few under his artist 'nom de photo' Le Watson - continues to push boundaries. At first glance a picture of a bear would seem an obvious, even indulgent choice, barely worthy of note.

Yet closer study reveals an unexpected depth of irony and expression that gives this piece a maturity seldom found amongst 'fine art photographers'. Those familiar with his impressive oeuvre know he has a vast array of technical skills, all of which he must have brought to this 'tableau' to give it this mesmerizing illusion of lack of skill. By intentionally placing the subject matter in traditional composition, he mimicks, even mocks, those who believe photography is a science rather than an art, as is expertly proven here. And more so those who claim photography is about art rather than skill. The duality in this statement is truly electrifying.

This is indeed a very powerful, scathing comment on the current state of popular photography in the western world as a whole. It has been a long time since I have seen a single image that better depicts the anonymous, savage threat that the Instagram generation poses to our fine art community. Perhaps the cleverest pun is left for the knowledgeable among us; By using experimental techniques made popular by modern 'hipster', 'Lomo' and other 'fauxtogrpahers' Le Watson has turned his bitingly sharp picture of a charging black bear in his natural environment into what appears to be a technically completely inept snapshot of a generic bear charging through generic scenery with generic flatness. Turning a weapon of photographic destruction on itself. Truly inspiring and a safe bet for future investment IF you are lucky enough to get hold of one of the very rare signed prints on Fine Art Archival High Fibre Paper.

Fine art, bordering on Alchemy. Highly recommended viewing.

The Actual Interpretation by the Artist

NO, the fuzzy bear image is an astounding piece of crap. The real truth about the image was that it was taken in the Yukon territory. The photographer "Le Watson" was taking pictures of the bear when it became agitated by the chain saws of a hydro crew down the road. The pictures were taken paparazzi style as the photographer beat a hasty retreat as the bear had photographer butt in mind on the lunch menu. The real truth is nothing like the artistic statement prepared by the gallery. The fuzzy bear image is a terrible image with no artistic merit.

The point I am trying to make is; be sure that you like the piece of art for what it is. If a piece of art has to be framed up by words, artist statement or gallery interpretative statement then what you are actually buying. The artist biography or interpretive statement are quite often written and edited by a professional writer. Are you buying a work of art or are you buying an idea that is fabricated into an artistic statement by a professional writer unrelated to the artist. If you are after an idea then there are many other choices to reflect on ideas. Some excellent choices would be the Bible, Zen and the Art of the Motorcycle or the Library of Congress. 

A simple acid test before moving ahead with a purchase of art work.

1. Does the art work stand alone without the help of an interpretive statement or artist biography.
2. Ask the gallery about the technical quality of the finished piece. eg. Was it printed on archival papers that are intended to last a 100 years.
3. When viewing the image does it invoke any emotion, idea, have a distinct look or document something in life that you can relate to.
4. The final test is to sit down and view the image or art piece for an extended period of time. The point to remember is that you must like the art work because you will be keeping it for a long period of time. 
5. Are you considering the piece to be an investment because it was done by a famous photographer? eg. Ansel Adams, Annie Liebovitz, Diane Arbus, etc.

Don't be afraid to say NO, I don't like it, it is a piece of crap, it is not worthy of my wall space, the artists statement is complete BS or I am offended that my tax dollars are going towards displaying this in a public gallery. If you like it then let the artist know or purchase the piece.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Street style in photography has always existed, but it was only examined and celebrated in the past two decades. It's early roots can be traced back to Henri Cartier-Bresson with his depictions of Paris street life in the 1930's and later through his extensive travels in Europe and Asia. His style was predominantly a photo journalist style. His work has been featured in many gallery showings and his work is a cornerstone of any photographic education.

Later innovators in street style photography like Bill Cunningham and Terry Jones took the photo journalistic style to concentrate on fashion in the street. Cunningham has been documenting the New York street fashions for the last 50 years. Using an old and beaten up Nikon camera, he travels by bicycle, taking images of street life and the latest fashions on the street. In 1978 he a picture of Greta Garbo walking  the streets and later Bill Cunningham submitted a portfolio of photos of famous people to The New York Times.

In 1980 Terry Jones leaves British Vogue to found a new magazine called I-D. It was a magazine that centered on “straight-up” photographs. These images portrayed regular people on the street dressed up for social occasions and the night life. Today these types of images are commonplace in celebrity magazines and web sites that specialize in documenting current street fashions worn by the common woman.

At the same time Terry Jones was bringing in the "straight up" style, the photojournalist Eric Kroll was experimenting with bringing sub-cultures out into everyday life. His work has appeared in major publications like The New York Times newspaper,  Vogue, and Elle magazines. The fashion world embraced the sub-culture fashions which resulted in lingerie being used as outerwear and fetish clothing was no longer taboo.

Today, street style fashion photography has changed into a variety of photographic styles, whether they are contrived by bringing studio equipment out to the street or by sticking to photo journalistic roots. In the gallery Street Fashion we have a local Toronto take on this genre of photography.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Model: Markana

MUA: Kofo Owolab

Art Direction: Toni Wallichy

Studio: Pink Panther

Studio Assist: Maureen Littlewood

Location: Toronto, Ontario

Photography: Peter Watson

Post-Processing: Peter Watson

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

The heat of the summer brings out a classic race battle between Canada’s top motorcycle riders as they compete in a doubleheader points race for the national Canadian Super Bike Championship. This is the premier race of the season for motorcycle racing in Canada. The motorcycle classes racing in this years event are the Pro Sport Bike, Harley-Davidson XR1200 Cup, Amateur SuperBike, Amateur Sport Bike and the Honda CBR250R Series.

There have been many improvements to the track and the facilities at Mosport; including many safety improvements for riders. Will the changes at corners 2 and 3 allow the riders to push harder for the lap record for the Pro Superbike which is 1:21.084. There are many indications that this will be a record setting year at Mosport due to the track improvements and new spectator facilities/services.

Lets talk about some of the race bikes you will see in the gallery. First up is the CBR1000RR  from Honda. This bike has gone through years of refinement to its race pedigree and the engine now delivers a mayhem inducing 131 horsepower. The CBR1000RR is available now from your local dealership along with a hefty amount payable to your insurance company. The Honda will face stiff competition from the BMW S1000RR in the Pro Superbike race. To round out the gallery we have selected images from the amateur superbike, production, CBR250 and Harley Davidson classes.

Image Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

American burlesque flourished and developed an increasing focus on female nudity. Exotic dances increased as part of entertainment provided in clubs and cabarets, as well as music halls and theatres.

The transition from burlesque entertainment to striptease was gradual. At first soubrettes showed off their figures while singing and dancing in elaborate stage costumes. Eventually burlesque entertainment fell out of favor as female entertainers moved away from entertainment acts to acts that were centered solely on increasing amounts of female nudity.

In the 1940’s and 1950’s to increase their public popularity burlesque entertainers, strippers, glamour models and actresses started using photographic advertisements in the form of postcards, calendars and magazine images.

This led to the creation of the term pin-up girl. The popularity of pin-up girls exploded when Esquire magazine released a series of drawings and cartoons of the Vargas girls. The Vargas Girl cartoons were often transformed into images being painted onto the WWII bomber aircraft nose. This was considered to be a symbol of good luck to the airmen. An example of this can be found on the aircraft Sentimental Journey in this gallery.

The pinup era gained more popularity with Bettie Page who was a fixture in many glamour magazines in the 1950’s. This trend led to the eventual introduction of Playboy magazine. Today burlesque is making a comeback as a unique type of entertainment and the nostalgic look of the pinup girls is still being recreated by photographers to this day. Gigi Vanilla re-creates the original glamour of burlesque and the pin-up girl. Enjoy a nostalgic trip by visiting the Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Credits:

Model: Gigi Vanilla

MUA: Kofo Owolab

Art Direction: Toni Wallichy

Studio: Pink Panther

Studio Assist: Maureen Littlewood

Photography: Peter Watson

Post-Processing: Peter Watson

The Le Mans and GT class of cars were on the packed lineup for the July race weekend at the historic Mosport track located just outside of Bowmanville, Ontario. The track has had considerable safety improvements made in the past year. In addition, numerous changes have been made to the track facilities; including a new visitor center and control tower, improved access roads and food/washroom facilities. Bravo, to the track management team for getting these changes implemented. Maybe these changes and a large sponsorship cheque may be the thing that will attract another high profile race event to the calendar.

The July LeMans Grand Prix weekend is unique as it features the different classes of LeMans style cars and GT cars. For a complete breakdown read the background material at ALMS.com. This race also featured the Canadian debut of the Delta Wing car which has a unique concept and design. For additional information about the Delta Wing car go to http://www.alms.com/teams/deltawing-racing. Unfortunately this car crashed in the early stages of the race and received a DNF. The race was eventually won by the pole setting Muscle Milk Acura HPD LMP1, piloted by Germany’s Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr for the fourth consecutive year.

Lemans Gallery           GT Cars

For those that have never attended a big race event, they just might be missing out on spectator sports. There is as much to look at both on and off track. You will see people from a vivid cross-section of American and Canadian society. Full of clichés and at the same time breaking down stereotypes. I have dedicated a special gallery called Racing Life. I will add to these images every race event.

Racing Life

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

After a little bit of a hiatus from the studio, things are back in full swing again. This week something completely different. A fashion statement with an environmental look. A completely fresh organic look that takes us back to a simpler time. Back when symbolic things in life were firmly intertwined with nature. To bring this concept to life, Vanessa Fortune works her magic in the studio bringing the organic elements to life with an air of mystery and intrigue.

Earth Angel Gallery

If you missed Vanessa Fortune the first time, here she is in the Retro80s Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Credits:

Model: Vanessa Fortune

MUA: Paige Maiven

Studio: Pink Panther

Art Direction: Toni Wallachy

Through the past 50 years society has seen a rapid increase in new technology; some of which benefits us all greatly and some technology that is best left to a side note in the history books. Our grandparents saw technology changes that were radical at the time yet they transformed society. Some of these changes we take for granted now. Think of the changes that they saw: electricity, indoor plumbing, telephones, motor vehicles and the phonograph.

The baby boom generation; including myself have seen entire technologies that were created and then retired, or soon to be retired. We have seen an evolution in recorded music where we have seen the introduction of the compact disc, mobile music formats like MP3 and streaming radio. This has lead to the decline of the concept of a record store and soon the death of the compact disc.

From a photographic perspective we have seen an evolution in image taking with the introduction of digital camera technology. This has lead to the pervasive and invasive of digital imaging in society, such as cheap point and shoot cameras, cell phone cameras and digital surveillance cameras. One of the saddest foot notes in history is that the company that introduced digital imaging has also lead to its demise. Kodak commercialized photography for the masses and it is so ironic that its introduction of digital imaging caused its untimely death.

In the gallery below we are reminded of our technology roots and how this technology and evolved or has been retired.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Summer weekends are a vast treasure trove of photographic opportunities. This weekend was no different as the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum played host to Sentimental Journey. She is one of the increasingly rare World War II planes that are still flying today. Interior tours of the plane and flights were available to a lucky few who booked ahead. This was definitely a unique piece of history and the interior tour certainly made it clear that Hollywood movies play liberty with the size of these airplanes. The interior is small and cramped. The environment was harsh, little protection from the elements and enemy fire brings up the truth why so few lads made it home from their missions.

Also, on display and flying that day was the Avro Lancaster bomber, Beechcraft Expeditor and the Fairy Firefly. These aircraft are unique in their rarity.  Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

The week the subject or focus of discussion is "Big Glass". So let's start off by defining what it is. It is a loose definition of a physically large telephoto lens and corresponding aperture size but may equally apply to an exotic wide angle as well. Both the telephoto and wide angle big glass share common traits:

• Commonly used by professional photographers
• Sturdier construction and build. Usually it will built of both metal and plastic carbonate materials
•  Building a lens to these specifications usually means an increase in weight
• Weather sealing from the elements
•  Considerable increase in price

Here are some examples of Big Glass:

• The Nikon 14-24 2.8 wide angle zoom lens
• The Nikon 200 f2 lens
• The Nikon 400 f2.8 lens

The main reasons why photographers purchase this type of equipment is to enable usage in low light, to isolate the background and to limit your depth of field. The a wide angle zoom would have the inverse which would introduce more elements into your picture and increase your depth of field.

The next question an amateur photographer asks about these exotic pieces of glass is around the subject of price.  As a general rule of thumb big glass starts at $1500 and quickly escalates from there. Big glass is usually reserved for automotive sports racing, architectural photography, wedding and other specialty areas where the finished image must be of very high quality.

If you are an amateur photographer with requirements for big glass but cannot afford the price tag there are options. There are definitely trade offs when using these options; such as an decreased aperture size. There are also some positive aspects; such as decreased weight. In the table below I have laid out some options for the amateur photographer and a comparison to the appropriate level of pro equipment.

The Nikon consumer lens choices offer a reasonably level of performance, weight and aperture size. If you have a consumer budget you might want to purchase one of these. But only if you intended to use it quite a bit over the long term. Otherwise, the recommendation would be to rent the appropriate lens as required. The images below were all shot with Nikon consumer glass which confirms that you can can get some very good shots with this equipment.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Gallery Links

Costume Play

Slytherin

Original Latex Set

Lets look at the cosplay world in more detail. 

Cosplay short for "costume play", which is a type of performance art in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea from a work of fiction. The work of fiction could be derived from anime cartoons or television shows, characters in science fiction shows/movies or action adventure heroes. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered on role play. Most people have their first exposure to cosplay when they see a feature on their local news about a Star Trek convention where devoted followers will often dress up in their favorite character.

This week we have something completely different. A glimpse into the world of fetish fashion.  Primarily latex apparel was first worn for protective purposes by hazardous chemical workers and other trades. The use of latex first surfaced in early 1900 as a garment intended to help a woman lose weight and in 1940 Playtex introduced a girdle. Both attempts to move into the fashion world slowly faded away. It is thought that the transition of latex clothing into popular culture was made in the 1960s-1970s by experimental fashion designers who worked with different kinds of material in their designs. The early punk movement in the 1970's adopted the use of leather and latex in their stage costumes. There is some evidence to indicate that latex were used in fetish sex in the 1970's. 

By the 80's the use of alternative materials for popular fashion was actively used and evidenced in many music videos of the day. Fetish wear was still underground but starting to surface and this early time in latex fashion was referenced in Eric Kroll's Fetish Girls through early photographs and eventually published in 1994. Over in Europe fashion was taking bigger risks than sedate America, which gave rise to the formation of << O >> magazine. Certainly not to be confused with the pedestrian magazine called O; published by Oprah Winfrey. << O >> magazine was first published in 1988 and this art, fetish and fashion magazine helped drive up sales of alternative fashions. In the post 2000 world, the use of alternative fashion and latex materials is easily visible in music and Hollywood movies. Today we can find latex clothing available for sale in many boutiques and major specialty clothing chains.

In this set we have Kassandra Love who is a very experienced model in this genre and Vaeda Girl. To see the images from the set see the gallery LatexDuo.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Slytherin is one of the Four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Home to many students who exhibit traits as cunning, resourcefulness and ambition led to Slytherin house developing a negative reputation. To help change the negative image of Slytherin House we have Christine, who is an experienced latex and fetish fashion model. She will be back later on in the month when she models cosplay outfits Squirtle, Captain America and Anti-Hello-Kitty. Until then; enjoy the best of Slytherin House.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This year spring has definitely made a late arrival. This week we have Lacey who brings out the sweetness of spring. The scent of flowers fresh in bloom coupled with the smell of a mountain meadow. OK, enough of the advertising fluff that is reminiscent of an air freshener commercial. Lacey is an international runway model who recently returned from an extended modelling gig in Japan. Lacey is definitely a model that I would like to see in the studio again to explore some different fashion concepts.

In the set of images of Lacey I departed from my usual shooting technique and switched it up a bit. In the set you will see a variety of processing and exposure techniques by shooting hand held at 1-2 seconds to get a dreamlike look.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This week we have Lauren Orosz an experienced model with striking facial features. Also she kicks ass as you can see by her cover picture. Some of the images were shot on a rooftop with rain starting to come down, but our model kept her cool and nailed all of the poses in record time. I think you will find that hits all the marks and certainly a model I would love to shoot again. Here is Lauren's gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This week we have J Gwen, who is a local Toronto model with experience in glamour, fitness and catalog work. To prompt the arrival of spring, Gwen is modeling a sheer chiffon red dress. To compliment this we give Gwen red angel wings to wear. Although the red angel wings are a bit of a cliche, it is still acceptable to fulfill a woman's fantasy. To further complement her looks and blonde hair, Gwen shows us a different look by showing us that silver can be a stunning color. For this set I have deviated from the norm with a little of post-processing experimentation. Click here for the gallery. 

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Lingerie can trace its early roots back to the ancient world where Egyptians, Romans and Greek citizens wore undergarments like tunics to shape or form their lower bodies. Modern lingerie can trace its origins back to Victorian times where corsets were widely used. The next major evolution was the invention of the bra by Mary Phelps-Jacobs. After that the fashion world took it further step by step. Today lingerie is a 50 billion dollar industry with major players in North America like Victorias Secret and Fredericks of Hollywood. 

Couture lingerie is dominated by small design houses and major players such as Aubade, Agent Provocoteur and La Perla. Pieces from these collections can fetch several hundred dollars but this is something that only the wealthy can afford or those that that appreciate the fine quality, fabrics and workmanship.

For those on a budget and the every day woman, there is cheap chic from Target, middle of the road from La Senza and the high end market from Victorias Secret. This photo set may provide you with the inspirational thought to buy your lover, girlfriend, mistress or wife a surprise present. All of the lingerie featured in the photo set is from Victorias Secret and available today.

Click to see the gallery. Lingerie

After a little bit of a winter hiatus things are in full swing again. This week, the theme is "Rock Star" with the beautiful Ashley Carnegie. You will recognize Ashley from America's Next Top Model, Toronto fashion week and many trips down the runway. Drum roll please, here she is:

Rock Star

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

In Part Deux, Kelsey Belle returns to model some evening wear. Kelsey has recently returned from Fashion Week in Europe where she dazzled them on the runway. In this new set of gallery images we showcase her strong looks, eye popping makeup in contrast with colourful evening dresses. To further contrast the images in the gallery, we see how Kelsey transforms from a contemporary model to a beautiful movie star from the 1940's in black and white.

In case you missed Kelsey the first time and her new images:

High Fashion Gallery

Evening Wear

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This week we are going way back to the 1980's. Back to the era of new wave music, big hair and traditional darkrooms. Music was breaking down into specific genres; such as new wave, heavy metal, traditional rock, punk and pop. This decade also lead to the rise and popularity of music videos. This had an amplifying effect on the popular fashions and trends of the day. Some photographers also made the move to producing music videos or shooting both the video and photography stills for a music act. We can look at this as one of the requirements for having both video and stills capabilities in todays cameras, the other driver was from photojournalists. This decade ushered in a lot of technology that we take for granted or has already been superceded. Some of the technology that arrived in the market place was:

• Kodak released a digital imaging sensor (1.4 megapixels)
• Compact audio disc
• Commercialization of mobile phones, VCR's and video games
• The personal computer
• Mobile music players
• Camcorders
• Increasing usage of digital effects in movies

From a photography perspective this was the heyday of the analogue photography era. Digital photography was born in the last part of the decade but would not have impact until the 1990's, but was a foreshadowing of what was to become. Retouching was an art form and highly specialized which lead to careers as retouchers. This work was very detailed and meticilous. Work was done in different ways with internegatices, composites and finely detailed brushwork. Photoshop was only commercialized in the last year of the decade. Digital effects were still in the realm of the movie studios and large commercial advertising agencies. A visial look at the 1980's reveals quite a few different styles but there are a few that stand out:

1. The new romantic movement lead to soft focus and glamour glow techniques in images. This movement also lead to the trend of wearing innerwear as outerwear. eg. Wearing lingerie as a main external clothing item.
2. Black and white photography was still a serious medium. This was in part due to a generation of photographers who grew up with this medium or were trained in more traditional styles. This was captured and reflected in some of the black and white styled clothing of the 1980's. This was in direct contrast to bright clothing and neon colours that also arrived in this decade. This was evident on TV shows such as Miami Vice and 21 Jump Street. Thus two photographic styles predominated: Black & white and a high impact colour look.
3. In the studio the use of Polaroid backs and film was used on a regular basis to check exposure and lighting. Visiual artists used Polaroid transfer techniques to transfer the emulsion layers onto other mediums which rendered a pastel quality that could be easily manipulated. There are those that argue that the use of Polaroid cameras and VCR's triggered the rise of the amateur sex movement and some pundits that say this was just the commercialization of the technology that lead to this.

To recreate the 1980's retro look we have Vanessa Fortune. There are three sets of images in the gallery: Soft focus romantic look, black & white and a pastel polaroid look. To see the gallery click here. Retro80s

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This week we have something completely different. A glimpse into the world of fetish fashion.  Primarily latex apparel was first worn for protective purposes by hazardous chemical workers and other trades. The use of latex first surfaced in early 1900 as a garment intended to help a woman lose weight and in 1940 Playtex introduced a girdle. Both attempts to move into the fashion world slowly faded away. It is thought that the transition of latex clothing into popular culture was made in the 1960s-1970s by experimental fashion designers who worked with different kinds of material in their designs. The early punk movement in the 1970's adopted the use of leather and latex in their stage costumes. There is some evidence to indicate that latex were used in fetish sex in the 1970's. By the 80's the use of alternative materials for popular fashion was actively used and evidenced in many music videos of the day. Fetish wear was still underground but starting to surface and this early time in latex fashion was referenced in Eric Kroll's Fetish Girls through early photographs and eventually published in 1994. Over in Europe fashion was taking bigger risks than sedate America, which gave rise to the formation of << O >> magazine. Certainly not to be confused with the pedestrian magazine called O; published by Oprah Winfrey. << O >> magazine was first published in 1988 and this art, fetish and fashion magazine helped drive up sales of alternative fashions. In the post 2000 world, the use of alternative fashion and latex materials is easily visible in music and Hollywood movies. Today we can find latex clothing available for sale in many boutiques and major specialty clothing chains.

In this set we have Kassandra Love who is a very experienced model in this genre and Vaeda Girl. To see the images from the set see the gallery LatexDuo.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Living up to the mantra "my body is my temple" is difficult for most people. Except most people are not like Julia Powell who is an internationally published fitness and lingerie model. In the gallery we can appreciate her dedication to maintaining a fit lifestyle. For more of Julia and her dedication to fitness go to the Fitness gallery.

There is another side to Julia, which is the demure romantic side, attired in lingerie. See Julia in Lingerie

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Think way back when you got your first camera. Not all of those shots of Aunt Sue turned out correctly. I am sure that Uncle Bob was not left out either. A lot has transpired from the days of analogue film. The advent of digital has allowed us to instantly check on our image on the display LCD of the camera. A lot of photographers delete the bad image and make a few adjustments to their camera and carry on. Are they right in their workflow technique or are they missing a good learning opportunity. Digital storage is cheap these days and it is affordable to keep these images as a critical learning step in your post processing technique and review. Quite often that shot is not as bad as you though and you may have made a rash judgement when rushing to delete it. A bad image can often be viewed as a challenge in your beliefs about digital technology and your editing techniques. In our thumbnail example we see a black image or do we?

By carefully adjusting exposure, shadow recovery, whites and blacks we can pull a usable image out of what we thought was a lost cause. By further adjusting the saturation, blacks, contrast and clarity we can render the image as a soft romantic black and white look.

Here are the Lightroom adjustments made to the image. 

Then finally a crop adjustment to remove the negative space in the image.

Blonde  Vs.  Brunette

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

On Hollywood movie productions, the property master will make arrangements for the acquisition and use of all props on the set. Usually they work with set designers and crew to create the necessary larger props or they go to an external company that specializes in furnishing props to movie productions. This can be further broken into companies that specialize in specific genres or types of props. The major prop houses would carry from 40 to 100,000 types of props within their warehouses; but if you need twenty 1920's automobiles you would have to go to a specialty prop house to acquire them.

So what does this have to do with a photography studio and home photography. Most studios props are limited to a small collection of props or clothing that can be used in the studio. So what do you do for a home studio, studio rental or small studio. 

You have to get creative in acquiring and using props. A Hollywood prop house is not at your disposal. But a lot of things are available close by. There are many objects around the house which can be used as props when doing a shoot in your studio location. When taking pictures of family it can sometimes make it easier if you give them a prop to work with. This is the same for new talent that you are working with. Give them a book, scarf, jacket to work with. If you have a male model you may have to change it up a bit. Think a little bit differently, but a book, sports shirt,  sports equipment, home reno tools, etc could also be used as props. 

In our first example we have the model working with an old ladder that was lying around. This prop gives the model a chance to move around and create different poses and create symmetry with the ladder. Experiment with your lighting to create different shadows and effects. Try to think creatively when using furniture as well. Most people gravitate towards the obvious and seat their model on a sofa. Switch it up and pose your model on the edge of the sofa or arm with one leg hanging off.

Next up we have a model posing with a prop acquired from Pier 1 Imports. This store is full of small interesting props, fabrics and other  household goods. Usually with vibrant colors or eye catching shapes are the norm. In this image we have a model balancing a replica antelope head. If your model has a good sense of balance try varying the arm positions to create symmetry within the frame or for bonus points see if you can get your model to wink while balancing the prop.

In this image we have the model working with something unconventional.  It is circular copper piping from Home Depot. The color of copper can lend itself quite well to  models with darker hair. Again we have used the concept of symmetry by getting the model to create different points within the frame using her hands and arms. This concept could be taken in a different direction by getting the model to pose with various different types of metal bars and pipes. The look could be further augmented by grease and dirt to give it a rough industrial look. The image could be further transformed by converting to black and white and adding additional contrast and grain.

In the final image we have the model working with some silk flowers that are available at most home decorating stores. These replica flowers are available in a variety of breeds and colors. The final look of the image can be altered in many different ways by changing the clothing style, hair and flowers in complementary ways or in a total contrast to create a vibrant image.

In closing, you don't need the budget, staff or assets of a Hollywood prop house to create good images. All that is required is a photographer, model, imagination and a few simple but inexpensive props.

This week we have Mash; a very experienced model in print and social media advertisements and videos. Some of her credits include Rogers, Walmart and Givenchy.

Masha takes some sexy clubwear and liquid latex and gives us a transformational change from weekend suburban chic going out to the bars to a very hot and sexy dirty girl look on the prowl. We will see more of Mash in some demure portraits and an upcoming article on "The Use of Props Part 2".

Dirty Girl Gallery

Many in the industry have contributed extrordinary images into the public consciousness. Some excellent examples are in the links below:

Time Magazine's Pictures of the Year

The Big Picture I

The Big Picture Part II

Best Nature Pictures

Fashion is oriented towards spring and summer seasons 6 months ahead of the actual calendar year so it is hard to pinpoint the best images of 2012. There is one photographer that has brought us exceptional images and to a level that they are a world upon it self.  Numerous publications and advertising campaigns are par for the course for Benjamin Kanarek

As New Year descends upon us it is often a time to reflect on the past year and set goals for the new year. So here goes. Looking back at all of the sets for the past year there are definitely some favourites. 

#3 Samantha Carly recreated the vintage world of fashion. A fascinating look at fashions from the 1950's and 1960's modelled with a high degree of old fashioned romance. Since I am a romantic at heart this set got high marks from me. Vintage Fashion Gallery

#2 The Big Bang Theory is a hit television show, but sometimes fiction is closer to reality than you think. In this set we have Katie Buitendyk who has her degree in astrophysics and who happens to model as well. This set will challenge your stereotypical view on intelligence and beauty. Here is Katie Buitendyk in the real life Big Bang Theory Gallery

# 1 Here is my selection for the hottest set of the year. Kelsey Belle models some high fashion looks both in the studio and on the rooftop. Kelsey is a model that can hit that special look with ease and she certainly brings it on set and she is definitely a pleasure to work with. If you keep up with the spring and summer fashion shows you might have seen Kelsey on the runways in Milan. Maybe one day in the future there might be another shoot with Kelsey. Gallery

To kick off the festive season this week we have Santa Claus Unmasked. The beautiful Markana got into the spirit of Xmas by posing as Santa Claus or Ms. Claus. So let's find out a little bit more about Santa.

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas and simply "Santa", is a figure with legendary, mythical, historical and folkloric origins who, in many western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24.  The modern figure of Santa Claus was derived from the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, which, in turn, was part of its basis in hagiographical tales concerning the historical figure of Christian bishop and gift giver Saint Nicholas.

In the past few years we have seen trends toward political correctness and the re-branding of Christmas as the winter holiday. There is even a disturbing trend whereby the parents tell their children that Santa is a big lie because they don't feel like deceiving children. 

This year there has been a number of disturbing events in the world and sometimes we need to feel the good in the world. If that means saying Merry Christmas and believing in Santa Claus to think about peace and humanity, then I say Merry Christmas and long live Santa Claus.

To see more of Markana go to Santa Claus Unmasked.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Fashion is often cyclical and usually two seasons ahead of the actual time in the year. The fashion industry calendar is actually divided into two major time seasons. Spring generally refers to the six-month period from January to June, and Fall refers to the months from July to December. From an end-consumer perspective we are now looking ahead to the calendar spring season of March through May.

We are now heading into the depth of winter we are already looking ahead at the beginning of spring when the weather turns nice and the spring flowers come in bloom. The thought of warm spring breezes and newly bloomed flowers evokes a time when a young man or woman's thoughts turn to love. To help us with that lovely notion of spring we have Kassandra Merritt to spur along our imagination.

Beauty in Bloom Gallery

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

As fall comes rapidly upon us, so does the changes in range of colors in clothing. Gone are the spring and summer colors and in comes more traditional colors of black, grey, brown and blue. Stronger earth colors are more predominant and in synchronization of the colors in the fall and winter landscapes. November and December are often the time for formal occasions and the slinky dresses abound in many an event. Here modelling fall colors with an edge and a formal look is Angela Edwards.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This week is all about stereotypes and in particular geek culture. Nowhere is this typified more than the television show The Big Bang Theory. Brilliantly written and acted by five characters: roommates Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, two physicists employed at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech); Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who lives across the hall; and Leonard and Sheldon's equally geeky and socially awkward friends and co-workers, aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz and astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrappali.

So in real life, what do female astrophysicists look like. Do they look like Amy Farrah Fowler, who is the pseudo part-time girlfriend of Sheldon or do they look Penny, the gorgeous girl next door type. In our society we have quickly stereo-typed intelligent people as plain and unattractive and beautiful people as devoid of intelligence. This is pervasive in the thousands of blonde jokes that have been circulated for an eternity.

What if our stereotypes are wrong? Have we judged people according to our stereotypical view of intelligence and beauty?

This week we have a model that breaks all the stereotypes and would be just at home at Caltech in the astrophysics department or in the photography studio. Introducing Katie Buitendyk who has a degree in astronomy and astrophysics. (minor in music; cello)

Click to see the full gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

In June of 2011, the erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey written by E.L. James was published. The storyline begins in Seattle, and documents the relationship between college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. The novel is erotic and is notable for its liberal use of sexual practices  involving bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism.

Quite often you will see women and men reading it on their daily train commute. As with all of the dull and dreary commuters they have latched on to this book a flagrant way to dream about their own sexual fantasies or to try and spice up their sex life. Most critics have widely panned this book as being poorly written and labelled it as "mommy porn". The book and its followups have spawned many comedic imitators and variations across different genres.

From a photography perspective, 50 shades is just a play on the infinite variation of colors that can be used to create different moods. So to kick things off; here is 50 Shades of Red.  Click to see the gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This week we have a different spin on fashion. We turn back the clock to the 60's when we had beehive hairdos and a time when a girl becomes of age at a debutante ball. First let's talk a little bit about the background of the hairstyle and the debutante era.

The Beehive is a woman's hairstyle that resembles a beehive; it is also known as the B-52, for its similarity to the bulbous nose of the B-52 Stratofortress bomber. It originated as one of a variety of elaborately teased and lacquered versions of "big hair" that developed from earlier pageboy and bouffant styles. It was developed in 1960 by Margaret Vinci Heldt of Elmhurst, Illinois, owner of the Margaret Vinci Coiffures in downtown Chicago, who won the National Coiffure Championship in 1954, and who had been asked by the editors of Modern Beauty Salon magazine to design a new hairstyle that would reflect the coming decade. She originally modelled it on a fez-like hat that she owned. In recognition of her achievement, Cosmetologists Chicago, a trade association with 60,000 members, created a scholarship in Heldt’s name for creativity in hairdressing. The beehive style was popular throughout the 1960s, particularly in the United States and other Western countries, and remains an enduring symbol of 1960s kitsch.

A debutante (from the French word débutante, "female beginner") is a girl or young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "debut" presentation.

Re-creating the retro debutante look is Ashley Carnegie, who was the Model Mayhem 2011 model of the year. Ashley Carnegie

Click to see the complete gallery. 

Shot on August 26, 2012 at Darkrum Studio in Toronto.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Quite often, people that see your images or other photographers may ask how this was photographed in a studio. There are countless books about studio lighting for the novice and seasoned photographer. What separates one image from another is the photographer's creativity when adapting different lighting techniques or by creating new ones. The hard part is by explaining how it was done in a studio without going into a long lengthy conversation which has lead the listener into a state of suspended animation. The old expression "a picture is worth a thousand words" is certainly true. A creative individual has taken the requirement by photographers to document their lighting setups and created both an on-line application and a mobile application for creating lighting diagrams. The product is available for on-line use at http://www.sylights.comor for download at the Apple store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sylights-for-ipad/id445217552

It is true that you can document your lighting diagrams with sophisticated tools like Microsoft Visio or using Google Sketch. Microsoft Visio is expensive, sophisticated and takes a bit of training to become proficient at it. I came across the Sylights application at a portfolio development workshop and I have quickly put it into use. Using Sylight to document your studio lighting setup from a photo shoot is just the beginning. You can share your lighting diagrams with your fellow photographers by using the mail option in the tool or you can make it available on-line. You can also view the lighting diagrams on-line and see the photos that resulted from the lighting documented. It is a great way to learn new lighting setups and share with your fellow photographers. Give it a try and see if it helps improve your photography. Free for the time being.

Below is the lighting setup that was used for photographing Courtney.

1. Do models eat? Of course they do, you doorknob. Maybe, you have been reading Playboy too much, or your mind has gravitated in it's thinking that models are just fembots or androids who exist merely to satisfy your fantasies. The only thing slightly out of the ordinary is that you will typically see a model eat standing up. (They don't want to spill food or drink on the pricey clothes.)
2. Do models fart in the studio? No they don't. Didn't you read the paragraph above. Fembots do not fart. OK, if you believe this you are a complete moron. Every human being farts. Models may be more discrete by going to the restroom and letting one go or they just hold it in until they are with their boyfriends and then they really let loose.
3. Do wardrobe malfunctions happen on person? They only happen on purpose if it involves a celebrity and a television appearance. Otherwise, the stylist and the model work together in a very professional manner to ensure that there are no wardrobe malfunctions. Two sided tape, bobby pins and clips are amongst the things used to ensure that accidents don't happen. Despite the efforts of all those involved, wardrobe malfunctions do happen on occasion. But photographers have to remain professional at all times. Sometimes, a wardrobe malfunction may make its way into my bloopers gallery.
4. Is a photography studio just a synonym for a swingers pad? This is just a common misconception that is perpetuated by married guys. They pass this information along until it becomes an urban legend. A psychologist would tell you that this all rooted in the common sexual frustrations of married guys. Just to clear things up, only a little bit of sex goes on in the studio. So in a four hour shoot there is about 3 1/2 hours of cheap gratuitous sex and a 1/2 hour where the photographer bangs out a few frames. (pun intended) OK, now that I have twisted your mind a bit. Did you ever hear about the expression "Never dip you pen into the company ink!".
5. All models are smokin' hot. No, models come in various shapes and sizes. Specialization comes into play here. There are full-figured models, petite models, hand models, fashion models, car show models, etc. A photographer is only going to show you the "A" list of models to further perpetuate item # 4.

So without further ado, here is a supermodel joke from the internet.

Supermodel Joke

Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, and Cindy Crawford are flying to a super models conference in Paris, when the captain of the plane announces: "We have just lost power to the engines and are going to make an emergency crash landing -- assume the brace position immediately!"

Immediately the three models start preparing for the worst. Claudia pulls out lipstick and make-up and starts fixing her face. Bewildered, Naomi and Cindy ask: "What in the hell are you doing fixing your make-up when we are about to friggin' crash!"

Claudia responds: "I know for a fact the rescue workers will search for, and save first, the ones who have the best looking faces -- which is why I am putting on my make-up."

Cindy Crawford rips open her blouse to expose two beautiful mounds of flesh which inexplicably defy the law of gravity. Totally confused, Naomi and Claudia shout: "Cindy, have you lost your senses? Why are you baring your breasts for everyone to see when we are about to die!"

Cindy responds: "I have it on good authority in plane crashes, the rescue workers look to save first the women with big beautiful breasts -- which is why I am exposing my tits!"

Not hesitating, Naomi Campbell pulls down her skirt and panties to expose her love triangle." Freaking out, Claudia and Cindy yell: "Naomi -- Are you crazy?? Why are you exposing your crotch for everyone to see?"

Calmly, Naomi responds: "BITCHES PLEASE! I know for a fact the first thing the rescue workers look for in plane crashes is a black box!"

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

This week we have some beauty portraits of the lovely model Courtney. She currently works for ICON models and has done a variety of fashion and beauty shoots in the past two years for many project in the fashion industry. The portrait series of Courtney was done with three different lighting setups accompanies by makeup changes. I think that everybody can see her beautiful eyes and she brings a unique quality and look to the set.

To see selected images from the series click here

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

In case you missed her, Kelsey Belle has appeared in Italian Vogue, numerous runways around the world, fashion videos and numerous fashion publications. It is not too late to catch a view of this gorgeous model. Go to High Fashion

Last week Samantha Carly re-created some vintage looks for us. Everything from a classic Chanel jacket to a Helmet Newton inspired look with a chair. On a future shoot we will continue with the vintage look by doing all black & white look with Paramount lighting. Stay tuned.
Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Where do I find those fashion accessories. A big hint, our shopping malls are full of clothing and accessory stores. Still not sure what to buy in the accessories department for next photo shoot. That is easy. Just walk into a clothing and accessories store and walk up to the hottest looking sales clerk in the store and explain your dilemma. The sales clerk will be more than willing to help you your fashion accessories selection. Note: Always carry your business card with you at all times. This same technique should be applied when shopping for lingerie for your wife or girlfriend.

Now that we have had a successful shopping trip and maybe picked up a phone number of two it is time to get serious about using fashion accessories in the studio or out in the field. Let's start with something simple. What clothing.shoes or jewelry is model already wearing. A slight change can make a difference to your image. For example a lightweight jacket or blazer can be carried by your model or flung over that shoulder a casual look. Think about asking your model to remove her high heel shoes and carry them instead. Make sure you vary your poses to capture the right mood. Think about a model walking bare foot in the surf while carrying her shoes. What you are trying to capture is a playful atmosphere.

In out first image we look at how the simple use of the model's jacket  and hat has created a mysterious look, while at the same time changed the focal point to be on the model's eyes. The use of a hair light and a conversion to black and white has dramatically changed the picture.

In the second image we have used a construction hammer to change the tone of the picture. The use of a construction vest and some "dirty" makeup has now changed the mood to a lighter comedic look. 

In the final image we used a semi-transparent sheet to change a nude shoot to an implied nude with a fashion context. The simple addition of the sheet wrapped around the model has dramatically changed the mood of the picture.

Changing your portrait or fashion style doesn't mean that you need to spend a lot of money on fashion accessories or "props". Sometimes simple things will suffice and as the images show they can change the mood of your scene to great effect. Remember have fun with it and use your imagination.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Watson Photography is back from it's short hiatus due to some technology upgrades. In that short hiatus period a sweltering heat wave has gripped North America. Record temperatures have been broken this year and the heat has certainly taken it's toll on our environment through catastrophic wildfires and drought conditions.

In this doom and gloom about the impact of high temperatures, here at Watson Photography we tend to look at the more optimistic side of the equation. The plus is that our beaches are full and everybody is shedding their clothes and inhibitions during the heat. Quite often a young man's thoughts during summer are equated with bikini clad beauties frolicking in the water. I think one of the most prolific music artists of this generation has summarized it all in his epic song about summer. I am referring to Bruce Springsteen's song Girls in their Summer Clothes. I was humming this tune while shooting the bikini clad beauties. Enjoy the gallery Beach Wear to help get you through the heat wave.

If the gallery Beach Wear is not enough to get you through the heat wave; the gallery Summer Passion won't help things. In this gallery we have two bikini models in several beach scenes that is photographed in the style of Sports Illustrated. The two models are smokin' hot. These models are so hot, the word hottie was named after these two. Enjoy!!!

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

So let's get back to the subject of sensors. Lately this has been a hot topic that has really inflamed relations between Nikon and Canon fanboys. Canon for the most part dominated the high megapixel sensors in the past few years. The Nikon D3x was actually unusual as the rest of the Nikon lineup was not at this level. Canon enjoyed dominance in the sensor race for a few years. Then out of nowhere Nikon introduced the D800 with a 36 megapixel sensor and a short time later Nikon announced that the entry level D3200 model would have a 24 megapixel sensor. 

What is clear is that Canon and Nikon have both been in the first place position when introducing technology. Then periodically the competitor leap frogs you with a major introduction to technology. Thus we can assume that Canon will rally it's engineering staff to regain the technology lead at some point. Until then let's examine the reason how Nikon overtook the sensor wars. The actual reason would go back over 3+ years. Nikon made a strategic business decision that they would no longer follow a sole source strategy for the design and production of sensors for the Nikon camera bodies. This meant that the in-house Nikon engineering staff would have to compete with external vendors for sensor designs. This allowed Nikon to introduce cameras with in-house Nikon developed sensors and sensors from Sony or Aptina. This created a very competitive atmosphere in which engineers thrive. We can expect to see more these co-productions and mutiple sourcing strategy from Nikon in the future.

The other thing to consider in the on-going debate about the merits of different sensors is that we are talking about two different lines of business. There is the sensor business and there is the camera business. In Canon's case they try to compete in both lines of business. In Nikon's case they have a different business model, which is to multi-source, contract out and work in partnership with other companies to introduce imaging technologies that will benefit their customers.

Canon on the other hand made a business decision a long time ago to sole source the design and production of sensors to internal Canon staff. The danger of sole sourcing in business is that you will pay a higher price for your product/service or you will no longer be on the leading edge of technology. On the other hand external sensor designers and manufacturers would have economy of scale that Canon would not have. Canon would require 1-2 million sensors a year including the point and shoot market.  I think that Canon miss-read the changing sensor market. The third party sensor companies would be designing and producing sensor designs and manufacturing for different markets and companies. They would be producing for DSLR's, point and shoots and for the smart phone market. The smart phone market is a huge market involving hundreds of millions of sensors. This economy of scale permits these companies to invest in research and development. 

Does this mean that Canon may change their direction on sole sourcing of their DSLR sensors. I think it is safe to say that this would only be known by the upper level executives at Canon. Canon is not down and out and it is only experiencing a technology lead change which given history is only a temporary situation. I am going to venture a guess that Canon will release some competitive sensors in 2013-2014. Until then, Nikon will be releasing two more DSLR camera bodies in 2012 and all indications are that these will be 24 megapixel or higher. 

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

What can the passionate amateur with limited funds do about acquiring equipment? My first suggestion is stop practicing gear envy. People have new or used gear for a variety of reasons. It is best not to dwell on why they can afford new camera equipment every year. The best thing to do is to sit down and budget for your hobby. Set yourself a realistic budget that fits your income and photographic lifestyle. So if you are a beginner or a student with a limited funds you should set your budget at a realistic figure. For example $500 per year. 

Now you are wondering, can you really pursue digital photography with $500 a year. The answer is definitely yes. The used camera market on Kijiji and Craigslist is alive and well. One can easily pickup a used camera body such as a Nikon D80 with a kit lens for under $500. The important thing about being used equipment is to check for the overall condition. You want a camera body that was well cared for. Look for scratches, dents and marks both on the camera body and the lens. Check to make sure all of the buttons and switches on the camera body are not loose and feel firm to your fingers. Check to make sure that the focus ring on the lens is smooth and is not sloppy or loose. The final thing to check is to see how many times the shutter has been pressed. To do that ask the buyer to send you a picture in a jpg format. (A picture of the current newspaper is a good idea in case of fraud.) Take the picture and load it in the Opanda exif viewer. (freeware available at http://opanda.com/en/iexif/ ) This software will tell you how many times the shutter has been pressed on the camera and it will give you a general idea how much usable life is left in the camera. Many consumer grade DSLR's have shutters that can last for 50 or 75,000 clicks. It is very easy to pick up a used camera body with less than 10,000 clicks on it. 

Next article we will talk about how to invest your second year budget in your new hobby.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

The bad I am talking about is in the area of etiquette. Modern cameras can take several images per second. Back in the film era it was only professional level cameras that could accomplish this. Taking several images per second is a great thing if you are trying to capture action at a professional sporting event or your child's soccer game. Using the capability to shoot 5 frames per second at a family event or other public event is similar to a machine gun kelly approach. How many images do you need to capture. Or do these type of photographers not possess the skills to press the shutter button selectively to capture important family events. As photographers we must always remember that some people are camera shy or do not wish to have their picture taken. Using the machine gun kelly approach is simply bad etiquette. Good manners and etiquette are free in life so give your fellow photographers a friendly reminder.

For more info on photography etiquette here are some good reference sources:

Photographer Critiques and Etiquette

Working with your subjects

Photography Travel Etiquette

Meeting a new photographer

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

What is interesting about the D800 technology is the hysteria in the camera forums. There is a lot postulating about the sensor, camera performance and the the perceived need for the increased resolution. The camps are firmly divided between the two. Is the camera snobbery at its worst or a healthy discussion. Well let's roll the clock back a few years. 10 years ago the Nikon D1x with 5.2 megapixels was released and four years later the Nikon D2X with 12.4 megapixels was released. These cameras ushered in the transition to digital in the professional arena. These cameras were used to produce commercial advertising, fashion and sports photography images. If these cameras at the those resolutions (5.2 + 12.4) were good enough back then we must ask ourselves whether we need the big jump to 36 megapixels. 

The main thing to consider about these cameras is that they are just tools for a photographer and a business expense for many. There is no surprise that Nikon only releases pro camera bodies every four years. This is strongly related to the accounting write-off cycles by professional photographers. The decision to upgrade is a personal one or one that is dictated by business reasons. The decision to upgrade should be reviewed from a logical basis and not by the gee whiz kid in a candy store approach. 

In today's business climate it can often make sense to turn to the used camera market to obtain pro gear. These cameras are workhouses with an intended long life span. Sometimes we just don't need to put the old horse out to pasture. Maybe we just a return to common sense.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

An in-depth interview with the photograph:

Why would a photographer and photographs want to upset the arts community?

Photograph:  I only want to upset those in the arts community that instruct in the field of art and those who criticize it. Let’s look at the root of the issue. Where does the slogan Art for Art’s Sake come from. From our ever popular internet resource Wikipedia:

“Art for art’s sake” is the usual English rendition of a French slogan, “l’art pour l’art’,” which was coined early in the nineteenth century by the French philosopher Victor Cousin and became a bohemian slogan during the nineteenth century. Although Théophile Gautier (1811 – 1872) did not use the actual words, the preface to his novel Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) was the earliest manifesto of the idea that art was valuable as art, that artistic pursuits were their own justification, and that art did not need moral justification and was even allowed to be morally subversive.

Define the meaning of  “What does Art not For Art’s Sake ?”

Photograph: The new standard in the art’s community that a follows the mantra that created piece of work is simply a piece of work. It is what it is and nothing more. It is not Art, it just simply is. There are no trappings of grandeur and pontification by an art critic. It is “Hi! I am simply a photograph for you to enjoy or dislike at your pleasure. You may pontificate and search for the reasons for the photograph but you must do so with your inside voice.”

Why the slamming of art critics?

Photograph: There are too many critics and instructors in the art world that only talk in words, but have no substance. There is no background behind their words. For the layman, the equivalent is a unlicensed car driver working for an automotive magazine. Simply put, put up or shut up. If you do have something to back you up, then you have at least the basic requirement for being an art critic.

What about constructive criticism?

Photograph: The best kind of criticism. If you are a working professional photographer and you can offer constructive criticism in a sincere effort to help somebody progress in the field you are positioning yourself on your first step to sainthood. There are too few people who can offer good constructive criticism. Too often, people deviate from this path and end up providing sarcastic criticism.

Before we go, any funny anecdotes about the art world?

Photograph:

A well-known instructor in the image arts field was giving a gallery tour to group of photography students. In the middle of the tour of a well-known twentieth century portrait photographer, a student asked the instructor a question. Can you comment on the lighting style used in the portraits. Most of them appear to be simple two and three light setups. The instructor replied that she knew nothing about lighting as she did not shoot. (take pictures)

The photograph rests its case and the jury is out for deliberations.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

In the past five years the transition to digital technologies has been rapid. The influx of digital technology has also heightened the competitive pressure within the creative community. Business clients have also changed their business operations and processes which has led to the abandonment of in-house photography departments and the explosive rise of stock agencies. Photographers have also had to change their methods of operations. One of the big casualties was the studio. Many photographers have now closed their studios and instead they have moved to studio rentals when the work is available. Why have they done this? The major reason is that all costs of running a studio are considered to be overhead from an accounting perspective. These costs usually never vary and can present a serious cash flow challenge when client work slows to a crawl in uncertain economic times. A studio rental is considered to be an expense from an accounting perspective and the cost can be charged back to the client or worked into the quotation for the project. The overhead vs. expense issue was brought to the forefront many years ago when corporations decided to outsource work to other countries or sub-contracting companies. These business driven economic factors have now invaded the creative community and led to the considerable decrease in the number of private photographic studios.

Now back to our model TF photo shoot. From the model's perspective he/she just wants to show up at a studio for a couple of hours for a photo shoot. But if a TF shoot is supposed to be about fair trade then he is contributing most to an artistic shoot and portfolio development. The model is giving up a couple of hours. The makeup artist is giving up his/her time along with the costs of providing the makeup. The stylist is providing the clothes at his/her expense along with their time. The photographer is giving up his time to do the shoot, time doing the post-processing of the images and in today's business climate expenses for a studio rental. We all want fairness, but the photographer is quite often getting the short end of the stick. So for the models, wake up to the new business reality you have to give to get. Time is just one part of the equation.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.

Feel free to look around the web site during the construction phase. Please bookmark us and return to see new image content blog entries. Previous work will be transitioned from FirstStepImages.com into Watson Photography. FirstStepImages.com will be transformed into a web site showcasing photographers who wish to display their work that is inspired by social justice.

Peter Watson