Sunday, April 1, 2007

NEW BLOG

Here's my new blog: www.nicoleplamondon.blogspot.com

Thursday, February 22, 2007

ADFH Practical exam continues...




ADFH Practical exam




Hé Ho!!!

This year was a very different experience for me at the Festival du Voyageur. Usually i'm just a spectator but this time I was one of the official photographers.

I would have really enjoyed taking pictures at the street party if it wasn't so cold. I think it was around -40 but Ross told us a lot of it is in your head, so I kept on taking as many pictures as I could to forget about how cold I was. I really enjoyed the concerts that night, they were very up beat! After 3 hours of shooting, my camera froze up so I wasn't able to take anymore pictures. I had some difficulty with my exposures because the stage was lite with bright lights and the sky was black. After a few bad pictures I was able to figure it out.
The next night we had to get all dressed up for the Governer's ball. I was pretty nervous to be there but I figured it would be a very good experience. I was very excited to take pictures of everybody in their nice dresses and suits. Unfortunately we weren't able to, they had very strict rules that night so we only got to take pictures of the people walking in. I thought it was difficult getting pictures that didn't look like point and shoot but that was the best we could get.
La Fureur was fun to photograph. The people that were participating in that game had very expressive faces. Also there were several different groups so there was a good variety. I found that the CCFM had the best lighting conditions (compared to the other places I photographed).
My last night was the most difficult because there were two very different light sources, tungsten and fluorescent. I had trouble white balancing. So I did the best I could and my results were ok. I think I could have done better.

What I had the most trouble with during the Festival was my exposures. I think towards the end I started to better understand exposure compensation ( I had never really used it before). So i'm glad that I was able to practice that.

I thought that I was pretty well equipped. I bought a new memory card just for the Festival ( I was scared that mine was going to fail). I also bought a new backpack to fit all my gear. The only thing I would have wanted was a better tripod. Other than that everything went well.

I thought that most of my images were pretty average. I had a few that were better than others but I took this as a learning experience. It was the first time I ever shot concerts and had to deal with those lighting conditions. Under those circumstances I think I did ok.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Lake of the woods

History of Photography: Assignment #4




The Argus C3(also referred to as the "brick" due to its shape, size and weight) was mass produced from 1939 to 1966 in the States. This camera was very affordable and durable. It managed to outlast most of its American competition and holds the record for units sold of a 35 mm rangefinder camera. It has been argued that the Argus C3 is responsible for popularising the use of 35mm film.
The design featured a diaphragm shutter built into the camera body, so the camera could make use of interchangeable lenses without the need for a complex focal plane shutter. An interesting feature is that the knobs, gears, buttons, levers and dials are on the outside of the camera body. This gave it a "scientific" look. But eventually the design simply became too outdated, so production ended in 1966 after sales declined.
The thing that attracted me to this camera was that the gears are on the outside of the body. Its always interesting to see how things work. It is a very unique camera.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

ADFH Review

I found a french website called itisphoto.com which is basicly an internet guide to photographs and photography. This website is full of interesting information. It contains links to other photo related sites and photo galleries of many different photographers. Also there's a section on techniques which talks about the camera basics, composition and the darkroom. It also has a glossary to help you understand certain terms . You can also join a picture forum, which allows you to read some articles people wrote or you can have image critiques. You can post some or your work or articles on this forum too. If you want to talk to people about photography, you can participate in their live chat.

For me, this website was very easy to navigate. It was very clear and well organized. The black background made it easy to read everything and the images really stood out. The glossary was very helpful to me because I don't always know the french photography terms. I also like that on their home page they had picture of the day (anyone is able to send them a photo for that contest.) I would recommend checking out this website.

Thursday, November 30, 2006