Dec

07

Andrew Zuckerman: Portrait Photographer

Photographer Profiles

andrew_zuckerman

At only 33, Andrew Zuckerman has already published 3 books, made 2 films, and interviewed some of the most prominent figures of our times, including Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Not a bad start to a photography career. I must admit, with his talent and achievements, I was expecting to read that Zuckerman was 50 years old with 20-25 years of photography behind him. I am in complete admiration of his work and can’t wait to see what the next book has in store. I am happy to see a photography book of that quality out there. It goes to show that there is still space for good creative work in photography that’s not necessarily controversial.

À seulement 33 ans, Andrew Zuckerman a déjà publié 3 livres, produit 2 films, et a même interviewé plusieurs personnes d’influence de notre monde, incluant Nelson Mandela et l’Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Pas si mal pour un début en photographie! Je dois avouer qu’avec son talent et ses ouvrages, je m’attendais à apprendre qu’Andrew avait au moins 50 ans avec 20-25 années de carrière en photographie! J’admire grandement son travail et j’ai très hâte de voir le prochain livre qu’il sortira. Je suis bien content de voir un livre de photographie de cette qualité en magazin. Ça prouve qu’il y a encore de la place pour du travail créatif qui n’est pas necéssairement controversé.

Archibishop Desmond Tutuandrew_zuckerman02

The first book that actually peeked my curiosity was Wisdom, a book about some of the world’s most important elders and their piece of wisdom about life. But, the book that really captured my attention and made me want to learn more about him was Birds, a book which contains some of the best bird portraiture you will ever see in your life. It actually boggles my mind how he did it. The pictures are so crisp and clean, it’s simply unbelievable. See for yourself in some of the photos posted below.

Le premier livre qui a piqué ma curiosité s’intitule Wisdom: un livre de portrait sur des gens importants de notre monde accompagnés de leurs mots de sagesse sur la vie. Très fascinant et beau à regarder. Par contre, le livre qui m’a vraiment donné envie d’en connaître plus sur ce photographe est Birds: une collection de photo d’oiseaux, certains plus rare que d’autre, mais tous de très haute qualité et en très grand format. Probablement les plus belles photos d’oiseaux que vous allez voir de votre vie! En fait, je me demande même comment il s’en est prit pour pouvoir prendre certaines de ses photos là! Voyez de vous-même les quelques photos que j’ai mis au bas de l’article.

bird14andrewZuckerman

More info:

Here is some links where you can get more info:

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Jan

14

Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky: Colour Photography Pioneer

Photographer Profiles

A friend of mine introduced me to this photographer by showing me a photo and asking me when it was taken. Here is the photo:

Prokudin Gorskii

It turns out that the photo was taken around 1915, by a Russian photographer/chemist named Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863 to 1944). He was one of the first photographers to tackle the problem of taking colour photographs. Some of his techniques led to patents for producing colour film slides and for projecting colour motion pictures. Basically, his technique involved taking three monochrome pictures (red, green, and blue — RGB anybody?!) and mixing them together to get the original colours of the scene. Apparently, if you look carefully you can see that there is a “ghosting” effect because the subject might move slightly between the three different shots. Fascinating stuff!!

Links to check out:

Anyways, I personally couldn’t believe it when I saw the date. I had no idea colour photography went that far back! Thanks Thomas for sharing!

Have a great weekend everybody.
Cheers,

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Dec

29

Photo Monday on Tuesday

Photo Monday

I know… It’s Tuesday! But seeing as yesterday was a statutory holiday in Canada, I took the liberty of taking a day off from Photo Monday. Ha ha! While traveling to Montreal, I took a bunch of pictures, but i haven’t had the time to sort through them and process the ones I want to share, so here is a little post to make you dream for your next holiday. The subject this week: Palmtrees. Enjoy and have a great new years party!!

Ahhh palmtrees
Palmtree, Jamaica.

Sunset on Railey Beach
Sunset on Railey Beach, Thailand.

Tonsai beach!
Tonsai beach, Thailand.

Check out all the photos from our Thailand trip. It’ll make you want to leave tomorrow!

Cheers,

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Dec

22

Calvacade of Lights and the Olympics

Toronto

Last Thursday, December 17th 2009, the Olympic torch slowly made its way to downtown Toronto. By sheer luck, I was also making my way to Nathan Phillips Square to catch some of the Christmas atmosphere for one of my Photo Mondays. The unfortunate part of the story is that I made it maybe 30 minutes too late and I missed the whole ceremony… Ha ha!

Luckily, I was able to sneak my way upstairs and get a couple of nice shots of Nathan Phillips Square once they opened up the ice rink and started the fireworks for the Calvacade of Lights 2009. If you are around for the Holidays, I strongly recommend you go ice skating downtown. It was a super cool atmosphere!

One last thing. In the last two shots, if you look carefully, you can see two guys sitting on the far left arch over the ice watching the fireworks (check out the original size to see them). Of course the cops were there waiting for them when they climbed down… Ha ha! Poor souls! I wonder how much their seats cost…

Anyways, here are some shots I was able to get.

Olympic Torch in Toronto
The red carpet for the Olympic Torch, minus the Olympic Torch… I like the policeman just chilling there on the ice.

Fireworks at Calvacade of Lights 2009
The Fireworks added a little something to the atmosphere at Nathan Phillips Square. Very neat!

Fireworks at Calvacade of Lights 2009
One more for good measure!

I hope I get to go ice skating down there once this year. I also want to try out the ice rink by the waterfront. Both look like super cool places to enjoy our winter season downtown.

Cheers,

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Dec

21

Photo Monday: Christmas Bokeh

Photo Monday

With the holidays knocking at our door, I went out this week with the intention of photographing a ton of Christmas decorations around town. Turns out that Toronto doesn’t really decorate its streets the way Montreal does. At least not in our area … so I had to be creative this week.

If you are wondering, Bokeh refers to the aesthetic quality of the out of focus area in a photograph. It’s often used to describe the rendition of out-of-focus points of light, but I think it really applies to all out-of-focus effects. Anyways, here are some Christmas Bokeh for you.

Have a wonderful holiday!!!
Cheers,

Night lights on Spadina
Night lights of Spadina – View On Black

Cold as ice
Cold as ice – View On Black

Christmas Bokeh
Tiny depth of field across the counter – View On Black

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