marksda1

One of the interesting questions I often get about my photos, aside from what camera do you use, is if I’ve altered the photo in anyway. I always find the question interesting because I suspect a painter would not get asked that question nearly so much. Painters are practically expected to take artistic license with a scene. In fact, I well recall in college that one of the professors in our art department felt there was no need for photo-realistic painting as you ‘have a camera for that.’

Towan Beach, Newquay, Cornwall

I know in the history of photography it took a good deal of time for it become accepted as an artform in its own right. There was the initial concern that photography was a simple recording of reality and didn’t involve an artistic process. This, of course, is not true. Just as it takes vision, creativity and skill to pick up a brush and paint or a chisel and sculpt, it takes similar ingredients to pick up a camera and craft an appealing picture.

I would say I’m fairly transparent that in the end, all that matters to me is if I’m happy with an image. If I’m thrilled with it straight out of the camera, bravo! But if it took post processing in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, then I just consider those additional tools in the creative process that produced an image that I considered somewhat complete. I have to admit, though, that an image is rarely complete for me. If a particular image gets popular enough, I may let it rest despite any belief I could do better now, but in truth, I always end up looking back at my work and feeling I would either frame the original shot differently if I had the chance again or edit it differently now. And I frequently do wander through my photo archives and re-visit some places where practical. I think that continued re-working is not uncommon. At any rate, I don’t go out of my way to conceal the process. If I did additional work, I’m fine with admitting it.

I did go through my brief purist period. It didn’t last long honestly, but for awhile I was only happy if a photo came out of the camera as a final product. Any adjustment was equated to disappointment. Around that time, I started reading a bit more and discovered that one of America’s best known photographers, Ansel Adams, was the king of dodging and burning his prints in the dark room.  Now, I’m not comparing myself to Adams, but my point is if someone so well regarded used all the tools at his disposal to create his art, why was I stressing over using the tools I have? This wasn’t some earth shattering denouement, and by no means am I suggesting one shouldn’t try to continually improve on each and every step in the process, but there’s no shame in it it either.

In the past couple of years, of course, as I’ve embraced my photo art and texturing, I’ve produced plenty of pieces of visual art that were wholly unconcerned with reality but in those flights of fancy, I think it was always apparent those images were art based on my original photos but not reality. The other day, though, as part of my 365 project, I decided to take it a step further. The image you saw at the beginning of this article? The scene from Towan Beach at Newquay is just a little different in reality.

Towan Beach as it was

Yep, the lighthouse is fictional. Well, it’s a real lighthouse on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean (Tybee Lighthouse in Georgia). It wouldn’t take close scrutiny, but it was a fun attempt at creating something that might appear real at first blush. I’m not sure I’ll attempt these sorts of images in the future but I also have no problem with it. I’m not a photo journalist influencing public opinion nor am I creating deceptive advertising (i.e. advertising you’ll stay in the room at the top of that hotel lighthouse… oh, we haven’t built that yet…). As such, my only concern when I finish one of my pictures, is do I like this enough to share it with the world right now? And I hope that my judgement is sometimes good enough that some of my work will resonate with my audience as well.

So, what do you think? Aside from photojournalism, should photos be constrained to reality or do we all have artistic license at our disposal?

Little did I know until too late to write this post that yesterday (May 24th) was the anniversary of the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883. I may have missed the boat, but it put me in mind that I had yet to do a post here on the blog featuring one of my favorite pieces of photo art from the past year! Not only am I very happy with how this picture turned out, I have gotten a lot of nice feedback in response to it!

Moon Over Manhattan Print

The photo at the basis of this digital art was taken on my so far only visit to New York City back in 2009. One evening there friends and I made our way over to Brooklyn to see the Manhattan skyline at dusk, which was quite an incredible view! I actually have a very similar photo to this one of the Brooklyn Bridge au natural that has been featured here before. If you check out that link, you’ll see it’s almost dead on the same picture as it was taken at the same time from the same spot. I honestly don’t remember now why I used the next picture in my library for this piece of art, but I did.

I have never saved the stack of  photoshop layers I use in my photo art, but there are a variety of textures added to this, most prominently the stars and the moon courtesy of our friends at NASA. I have found that dusk skies are particularly suited to over-laying with stars. That makes sense of course as its when we see the brightest stars first appear at night, but in reality the brilliant lights of Manhattan would obscure those very stars. That’s the great thing about art, not being held back by reality! When I was creating the image in this print, it very much reminded me of the somewhat exaggerated feel of a large theatrical backdrop. I could totally see a play about the Big Apple being acted out on a stage in front of this, can’t you? That was very much the feel of a hyper-reality that I was going for when I did this.

The interesting thing is since then I’ve had more than a few people suggest to me that this reminds them of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. It’s interesting because I did in fact go see that famous painting at MOMA while I was in NYC. And it was just as beautiful in person as I expected:

Van Gogh's The Starry Night

So, naturally, I’m flattered with the comparison! Who knows maybe I was channeling my inner Van Gogh (the one we all have that wants to create). And I guess I see it in some of the colors and maybe a general vibe, but of course the subjects are worlds apart, Manhattan versus Saint-Rémy. I think ultimately my ears are safe but it’s still a great compliment to have anything I’ve done compared to one of humanity’s great artists.

It’s interesting how many paths we end on that we never saw. I never imagined coming to love travel so much. I never imagined loving photography and now I’ve added yet another outlet doing my photo-art or digital-art creations. I think I can particularly credit some of this last category to my year long art project. It wasn’t always easy but I really think I’ve benefited from having required myself to go through this “chore” each day. Today was day 283 of my 365 project – in the home stretch!

Chime in with your thoughts about this piece, please! Do you see the comparison? Not so much?

One question I am frequently asked is what camera do I use. The first thing I want to say is that I’m neither brand conscious  nor do I believe the secret is in the camera! If you have a camera already and you want to learn to take good pictures, here are some things you might consider.

• Take a Class! I did, I found a class offered in evenings to get a better handle on the general workings of a camera. You don’t have to have an SLR either, most likely. I had a point and shoot camera at the time that allowed for some general tweaking of ISO, aperture, etc. Check with the folks at your local camera shop, college, etc. and see if there’s an adult learning program nearby. If you’re in school already, then definitely see what your school may offer.
• Get a book! You might buy one, but you may also find many available through your local library. This very much depends on the type of learner you are. I personally find in this respect I did better with hands on instruction than any of the books I read. But after getting the basics, I found books helped me much more.
• Join online sites like flickr and then look for groups where you can share your photos and get advice from others. There are a ton of very active groups on flickr, and you might even be lucky to find one with photographers near you who meet up in real life.
• Practice, practice, practice. Get out there and take photos, especially if you’re using digital. It’s a misnomer to say that digital is unlimited, i.e. unlike film, you don’t waste film with each shot. That fails to take into account the wear and tear on your camera and memory cards which have a finite number of uses. But the instantaneous effect of digital does allow you to get an idea of what did or didn’t work right after you take the photo, thus allowing you to try again on the spot. See what works, see what didn’t work, and learn from those experiences. This is the best way of learning the craft of photography in my opinion.

Now I’m going to share what I shoot with, but stick around after that for more thoughts on cameras that might suit your needs. To be clear, the links that follow are to Amazon. In the event you click through and purchase something, I get a small commission, but it doesn’t affect what you pay, and you are encouraged to shop around for your best price! It may be elsewhere.

Canon EOS 50D Body

Although a lot of the photos you’ll find in my print gallery are taken with my older Canon 20D (my first digital SLR), almost two years ago I upgraded to the Canon 50D which is still available but has been has since been superseded by the Canon EOS 60D.  Amongst the many upgrades between the 20D and 50D is dust cleaning. One of the pitfalls of digital SLRs has been dust getting on the sensor which can happen anytime you swap lenses. The 50D vibrates to clean the sensor. I still had to have my sensor cleaned since then (in Mexico no less), but it’s been far less of an issue with the 50D. So my suggestion is to look for dust cleaning mechanisms on any digital SLR you’re considering.

My Collection of Lenses

Canon EF 17-40mm f4L USM

Canon 24-70 mm F2.8

Canon EF 100mm Macro

Canon EF 50mm f18

Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye

The workhorses of my lenses are the first two, the 17-40mm and 24-70mm. If i had to choose two lenses to take with me, these would be it. I’d have a hard time choosing between them, though, as I swap between them frequently. I’ll save commentary on Canon L Lenses for another time. My least used lens is the 100mm Macro but it is a nice lens, I just don’t do as much macro work as I thought I would. The point is this all revolves around the type of photos you take. I tend towards the wide angle end of the spectrum, but you might like close-up work and get more use out of a long telephoto or macro lens. The lenses are not a recipe for good photos. Your choices should be dictated by the type of photography you enjoy.

Okay, so, you’ve seen my main gear, what camera should you buy? I’m not going to get into brands. You know I have Canon gear, but that’s pretty much a function of the instructor in my class having a canon and having handled it, I liked it. Now, after you start buying lenses, you start getting more locked into a brand. What I will say is you don’t necessarily need a full fledged SLR, a nice point and shoot may be enough for you, or maybe you might pick up an entry level SLR? You can also consider getting a gently used SLR to start with. Or, as when I bought my 50D, I knew it had been out long enough a new camera was surely on its way. I could have waited and paid a premium for that new camera or be happy with the huge leap over my old camera and at a better price for what was still a new camera! This is the same with any of the leading brands, they are constantly introducing new cameras with new bells and whistles. Something that is about to be replaced (or has just been replaced) may be cheaper but still a great deal for you.

Another suggestion I’ll put out there is for you to research the Micro Four Thirds cameras. These cameras have interested me a lot of late. They occupy a space between point and shoot and SLR cameras. They have done away with the prism of an SLR so they are more compact. Instead of looking directly through the lens as on an SLR, with these you are looking at a digital “live view” of what the sensor sees on the camera’s LCD. There are optional viewfinders for bright conditions, but you are still looking at a digital view. There are some that think this is the future of photography, that the prism is history. Who knows to be honest! But these hybrids still have the size of a point and shoot combined with interchangeable lenses. I have resisted the lure of buying one so far, but I suspect when it comes time to replace my point and shoot, there’s a decent chance I’ll use that as an excuse to try out a Micro Four Thirds camera.

Remember though, it’s not just about the camera, here’s an example, a photo I took with my point and shoot to (I hope) prove my point!

Louvre - Taken With Panasonic P&S

Research your camera choices well and get the best camera you can that fits your individual needs! Here are a couple of sites I have always looked to for reviews:

• Steve’s Digicams
• Digital Photography Review

If you have any places you like to read reviews or have thoughts or questions, please feel free to speak up in the comments below!

Howdy Everybody!

I figured I would have had some Mexico blog posts with photos and short tales by now but I have gotten side-tracked on some website maintenance along the way. And you know how those type tasks seem to balloon!

And balloon is an appropriate metaphor for what happened this time, my website has triplicated! I fear my site combining my personal, travel, and photograph blogs was becoming a bit unfocused, which has implications when you hope to surface when people are searching online. Now, a simple severing of the personal/travel and art/photography sides of the house would have likely sufficed, but in for a penny in for a pound.

I’m sure there will be more change to come as I finesse the new structure of the three sites. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see if I make a resurgence on my personal blog. That was actually the beginning of my online journaling but it languished after I pulled it into my Mark Tisdale Photography website. I doubt seriously anyone but close friends and family would ever want to read it, but it’s out there for those interested.

Ah, so the links:

• Photography/Art (of course): http://www.marktisdalephotography.com
• Travel Stories: http://openroaddreams.com
• Personal: http://marketisdale.net

Some general info about my mailing list. Everyone who has ever signed up, even though I gave the option to opt out of certain categories has included the art/photography category as one for which they wanted to receive updates. Ergo, all who are on the mailing list currently, you are all automatically still subscribed for art and photography news. If you want to receive updates for the travel and/or personal blogs, you’ll see instructions on the top right column on both sites when you get there. You’ll need to add yourselves to those again if you want to read my stories from the road when traveling or my potentially very lame day to day thoughts.

Market Day in Oaxaca

All that said, the first round edits of the Mexico trip have been up for quite some… er… weeks… now. And there are even some new print galleries up. That part is still a work in progress, though.

• Mexico Photo Album (First Round Edits)
• Mexico Prints Gallery (A Few new galleries and some new prints in the existing one)

And on one final bit of housekeeping, I know many have figured this out already, but I have, in fact, created a replacement Facebook page to share my work with those amongst you who are on Facebook. The reasons are long but basically boiling down to a need to re-brand (re-name) my page which is currently not possible. Knowing Murphy’s Law rather too well, it will be possible about 45 minutes after I click delete on the old page! One caveat, I know some of you out there are making use of Facebook’s HTTPS feature. If so, you will be presented with a page informing you that to see the content you will have to surf using http (less secure). Sorry, but it would cost me recurring fees to set up a secure connection which is a bit much for the admittedly snazzy slideshow you’re missing!  And, hey, it’s the same slideshow (right now) on the home page here! My shopping cart is secured via the third party that administers that side of my site, it’s not profitable or practical for me to pay separately to secure a slideshow when the shopping part is already taken care of. Anyway, you can still click like at the top and/or if you click the wall, info, or photos links on the left hand side, you’ll see you can still see my new page. You’re just missing the one little piece.

• http://www.facebook.com/TisdaleGallery

Thanks as always for keeping up with my photography and possibly my other exploits for those armchair travelers among you. Take care! And hopefully more here sooner than later!

If there’s enough interest, I’ll try to make this a routine thing! I’m offering one photo as a calendar this month in the below desktop sizes – download the one that fits your monitor and enjoy!

Complimentary!

This month’s image is from beautiful Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico! I had the pleasure of spending several days there last January near the conclusion of my annual New Year’s trip abroad. The beach was a great note on which to end my time there. Even on a day like this one that was somewhat stormy, there’s still great beauty to be seen in the Caribbean Sea, isn’t there? There may not have been a lot of people on the beach but I’m so happy I walked down! Actually for me, who loves the air in a storm, this was no sacrifice at all!

• 1024 x 768
• 1280 x 1024
• 1280 x 800
• 1440 x 900
• 1600 x 1200
• 1600 x 900
• 1680 x 1050

I’ve tried to pick some of the most common sizes. If I’ve missed your screen size, please let me know in the comments and I’ll try to add yours. Also in the interest of knowing how much demand there is, please let me know if you like this offer enough for me to continue providing calendar wallpaper for your desktop!

In this instance, silence is not affirmation but a vote of no!  So chime in please!

Amazing how quickly time can pass by isn’t it? I can’t believe I haven’t made an update since returning from Mexico. Very lame of me!

Although I guess it could well be that there’s not a load of announcements to make as another winter slips past us. Although we’ve had a few cold nights, spring is definitely in the air in this part of the country. As much as I’d like to be the type of person who finds something to appreciate in all seasons, what I appreciate most about winter is that spring follows it.

I’m going to wait until I’m done editing to plow back through and pick some highlights of the trip to share here in my blog, but in the interim, I’d love to invite you to take a peek through my photo album from Mexico. As always, please remember, these are first edits that I like to share, but they are not all necessarily bound for stardom so to speak.

Serendipity

I also wanted to bring to your attention a promotion I’m running on my Facebook Page. I’m going to send a free print to some lucky person when the page reaches 2,000 fans, and because I like to dream big, if the page passes 3,000 fans before the month’s out, then there’s three more free prints in it for anyone that enters. The hope is this will encourage everyone to share my work with their friends!  If you’re on Facebook, please pop over to my Facebook page and click on “Challenge” on the left hand menu. You’ll have the opportunity to enter there.

If you’re not on Facebook, I’d still like you to enter if you’re interested! There’s no requirement to enter other than sending me an e-mail request to be included, but I’d appreciate any volume you can provide by suggesting friends check out my site, newsletter, facebook page,  or whatever it is of mine that you want to share to get them to entertain following my work! I know many of you do that anyway and I’m immensely grateful – thank you so much!

I’ll try to do some non-Facebook-centric promotions next time!

Hope everyone out there is hale and hearty!  Take care!

A trip to Paris just wouldn’t be complete without seeing its most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower.  Built in 1889 as the entrance to the World’s Fair, it was never intended to be there a hundred years later.  In fact, the permit was only for 20 years.  However, by the time those 20 years expired, the tower had become valuable to the city as a communications tower and its landmark status had grown.

Tour Eiffel sur la Seine

Until 1930 when the Chrysler Building was completed, the tower was the tallest manmade structure in the world (having surpassed the great pyramids at Giza after millennia).  As a major icon, it’s hard to find a unique take on the Eiffel Tower, but I sure enjoyed my attempts at making my own mark.  This is one of my personal favorites, this color print shows a view from a bit down river, just past where the tourist boats tend to turn around. The guy you see walking along the path on the left was actually returning to the bright red boat in this picture. It appeared to be his home, imagine living like that on the river Seine with the Eiffel Tower dominating your view.  Insanely awesome!

Tilting at Windmills - Eiffel Tower Picture

If the top print is my favorite, this picture is a close second.  This view is also a bit down river but from an observation point that I arrived at just as a great golden light was hitting the tower.  This was actually some of the last light of a winter day.  In the foreground of this photo there’s this great horse statue.  I have not been able to find any details on the statue but would love to hear from anyone who can flesh out this part of the picture.  Also in the foreground was this older couple huddled together looking at the same golden tower.  The title probably seems a bit strange, but I was reminded of Cervantes’ Don Quixote.

These are a sample of my Eiffel Tower pictures, I hope you’ll check out my Paris Prints Gallery to see more of Paris and its famous tower.  I’d also love to hear your thoughts on these prints and the incredible Parisian landmark, Tour Eiffel!

Fall is just my favorite season.  Spring is a close second, but autumn has the cool temps and the bright colors, especially in the north part of the state where I lived for a decade.

Harvest Past

In fact, even though the Alpharetta area where I lived wasn’t really in the mountains or anything, it was far enough up to have some great color.  This is a picture of a scene I used to pass everyday on the way to work. This old farm shed had seen better days but it was actually on what must have been one of the last farms near the Windward subdivision.  One fall in particular, I was getting to work early in the morning and every day I passed it, the above colorful scene bathed in sunlight is what I saw.  So, I made plans to get up the next Saturday morning and go record this for posterity.  The last time I was there, there was a new subdivision across the street and a big for sale sign in front of the brick ranch where the farmer had lived.  So, as another autumn rolls around, I wonder if this remnant of the rural life in North Fulton has finally bit the dust?

Autumn Falls

When I lived in North Fulton, I was always on the lookout for places where it didn’t feel like suburbia had completely taken over (which it more or less had). One of the places I discovered and enjoyed frequently was a nature trail along Vickery Creek. I was rarely alone here, but most who came seemed to enjoy the silence.  Ironically we were all walking pretty much in the history of Roswell. The waterfall seen here in this Autumnal picture is not in fact natural. It’s an old dam that was part of the ruins of the mills that operated here. Roswell King, the father of the town that bears his name, started mills here. I’m not sure if the dam was built by him or his descendants, but this beautiful sight is still owed to their innovations.

Autumn on Vickery Creek Print

Another view of the same falls, this one from further downstream.  The water fills the foreground but there’s some good autumn color around the sides and top of the picture.  I was literally lying on a rock in the stream with my tripod to get this picture.  The water is so soft from the longer exposure it feels sort of painted.

Roswell Mill

One last autumn picture from along Vickery Creek.  This is one of the most intact of the various ruins of the old mill.  Where most of the remains are just random walls or flumes, etc., this building near the trailhead probably doesn’t look much different than it did many years ago.  A new roof and covered windows show it’s being kept from collapse at least!  In this view, the darkness to the left is actually the deep drop to the creek below. The effect is definitely a piece of art you wouldn’t expect to be in the midst of suburban Atlanta.

There will always be a soft spot in my heart for pictures of lonesome backroads.  So many of the places pictured in them used to be the site of some small community.  Cars opened up our world, but amongst the costs was the loss of these small places.  Of course, some people simply moved away, but those that didn’t went to shop in nearby cities.  The communities some of our grandparents called home have simply become highway signs noting their location and little more.

At The Crossroads - Print

This particular picture is from rural Crisp County in South Georgia.  I had spent  a day wandering through small towns and in late afternoon came across a dirt road.  The street sign said its name was Crossroads Store Road. Intrigued, I decided to follow it awhile.  I don’t know for sure that this photo is of the mythical Crossroads store, but it was at a crossroad nonetheless.  The old chipping white paint has a lot of texture and the natural pallet of the earth and sky just really puts this photo over the top for me.

Would love to hear from anyone with a history of this place or from those of you who enjoy these types of places as well in the comments!

If you liked this, you may like some of the other pictures from my Rural and Small Town America Prints Gallery.

I guess in a way my posts for Notre Dame de Paris are out of order, as I’ve presented the pictures of it from the daytime first in these previous posts.

• Notre Dame Paris Prints
• Gargoyles of Notre Dame

The thing is, I first saw Notre Dame Cathedral in the dark.  My flight out of Dublin was delayed by fog and by the time I managed to navigate the train, the metro, and the streets of Montmartre and settle into my home for the following five nights, it was dark.  Given it was the depths of winter, little surprise there. With little on my mind other than a night stroll, I rode the metro to a station near Notre Dame de Paris, and only shortly after coming up from the station, the cathedral came into view.

Shining Star - Notre Dame

I normally prefer night pictures that are taken right at dusk, when the sky has just a bit of deep color left to it and the city lights have come on.  However, sometimes you have a moment like this when you really are painting with light genuinely.  I’ve heard photography referred to more than once as the art of painting with light, and I think in the night, we can really appreciate just how much of a scene is painted by the light that reaches it.  The cathedral is literally bathed in floodlights which are reflecting star like off its light colored stone.  The light recedes as you move away from it, but includes the small group of young ladies nearest the camera.  Their little huddle is only just in the fringes of the light reflected.  And in all directions in the sky, there’s just an ebb of light reaching away from the cathedral and then disappearing into darkness.  The photo has a really dreamy aspect to it with the soft focus used.

Stardust Over Paris

This was another picture taken on that same first night.  I’ve actually featured this on a previous post which went generally into the art of mixing photos with other images to create something completely different and fairly unique.  Having not saved the layers that created this, I’d be hard pressed to come up with this precise look a second time.  I love the winter feel of this photo.  The Christmas tree to those of us in the states is pretty anchored to just the month of December, but as it was nearly February when I was there, you can tell it’s more of a winter tradition here.  The couple pausing with their bags may have been other tourists or locals stopping to admire the view.  It’s hard to guess which, but they add a human scale and interest to the scene.  I really just love the warmth this exudes.  I’d be hard pressed to pick one photo of Notre Dame de Paris that’s my favorite, but this one is definitely up there, particularly for the uniqueness of it.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these prints or your memories of Notre Dame in the comments!  It always helps to connect with the people who are enjoying my work!

And in the event you’d like to see more of my Paris shots, don’t forget to check out my Paris Prints Gallery.