There are a two important things you need to know about Roman.  First, he is a big dude.  His mom gets full points for having to carry him around this first year.  Second, he is one of the smiliest, goofiest kids you’ll ever meet; he’s just a happy boy, and BOY was he happy on his first birthday.

As I did a few weeks back, I shot these in a family photojournalism style – trying to capture the natural ebb and flow of the events.

He went a bit crazy for these balloons.

Romano e nonno

“Take a look at my chompers!”

Fortunately, while I was in Ottawa, I did have some time to shoot some family photos of Hillary, Steve, and Kaeden.  We shot at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, which afforded us some great scenic views of Ottawa, and despite the ominous skies (as you can see below), Kaeden was in great spirits, and graciously allowed me an hour or so of his time to take some photos of him and his parents.

Thanks a bunch, guys!  I had a fantastic time with these (my dew-soaked shirt notwithstanding).

There’s certainly a time and a place for capturing great posed photographs that a family can print, frame, and display in their home (nothing brings me more happiness as a photographer than seeing my work displayed proudly in a client’s home).  But I generally try to incorporate some un-posed, “capture them as they are” photographs into each family session, and I have found that these are usually the photos that the client enjoys best anyway.

This is why I am so pleased to see a new phenomenon taking hold: family photojournalism.  The idea, which is typified by thefamilyphotojournalist blog, is to capture your family (or someone else’s) in their natural habitat; photograph them doing what they do and loving what (and whom) they love.  As you can see at thefamilyphotojournalist, the images that are captured in this style are often very fresh and always engaging, and really allow the viewer to get to know the family in ways that posed portraiture, as nice as it is, often cannot acheive.

My wife and I recently visited some good friends in Halifax (and were joined by some other old friends, making the weekend a bit of an undergrad reunion), and I thought this would be a great opportunity to do some family photojournalism for myself, especially since our friends have three great kids, all of whom LOVE the camera.

Myer is not quite two years old, and he was picking up bits of cake using toothpicks as chopsticks.  No one could figure out quite how he was managing it, but he was very skilled.

“Look, mom; chopsticks!”

Lucas is one of the most inquisitive kids I’ve ever met.  He has an endless supply of questions about how the world works (he’s very into ‘cells’ at the moment, which means I got to field a LOT of questions).  As you can see, though, his dad is really the master at handling Lucas’ questions.

Two brothers, enjoying a snack.

Our friends have a cottage about an hour outside of Halifax; it was a very dreary, cold, and rainy day, but we all had loads of fun just hanging out.

Spooky window overlooking the ocean.

I swear, this picture was absolutely not my idea.  As we were about to leave the park, Lucas said “Mike, can you take my picture?”, and then proceeded to strike this pose.

And this one…

All the girls (and the kids)

We had an absolute blast, and it was truly sad to have to leave and get back to reality.  Can’t wait to see everyone again!

I’m hoping to capture some more shots in this style this weekend at a 1st birthday party for a good friend’s son.  Can’t wait.

M

The camera manufacturers would have you believe that it is the camera body; after all, they generally introduce 2 or 3 new models across different price ranges each year, and they really, really want you to upgrade as often as possible.  In the early days of digital photography, the major feature that all camera manufacturers would use to lure in new customers was the number of megapixels; and if you look at any camera advertisement (like this one or this one, for instance), you’ll see that the number of megapixels is still the major feature that the manufacturers and resellers use to tempt you.

Unfortunately, there are problems associated with having too many megapixels (image noise, most importantly), and the benefit to be derived from increased numbers of pixels drops off as the absolute number of pixels gets larger (summarized nicely as ‘The Megapixel Myth’ here).  Most of the camera manufacturers have realized this (with Canon being the notable exception), and have started to limit the model-over-model increases in pixels, especially in the professional and pro-sumer DSLR lines, and have started to focus on other features to sell cameras.

One of the major features being flogged by the manufacturers these days is the ability to shoot at ridiculously high ISOs.  Back in the film days, ISO 400 was a fast film, but generally gave good results with a little bit of film grain.  ISO800 film was very fast, but grain was becoming a real issue.  You could buy ISO1600 film, and you could even push process it to ISO3200, but grain was an issue.  Today, an entry-level DSLR like the Canon Rebel T2i can shoot up to ISO6400, and with expansion (essentially push processing in camera) can reach ISO12,800.  Professional -grade DSLRs can shoot at a native ISO12,800, with 3 stop push to ISO102,400 (!!!).  The results at the very highest ISOs are rather poor, but that really isn’t the point; the point, as far as the manufacturers are concerned, is that the setting exists (and can be used to sell cameras).

This push towards higher and higher maximum ISOs has resulted in a curious phenomenon; all of a sudden, one of the key features that many people are looking for in a new DSLR is high ISO performance; that is, how well a certain camera performs at these extremely high ISOs (I assume the lost art of cave photography is making a comeback).  Is this a reasonable position to take?  Well, as with most things, that depends.

Let’s go back to my original question; what piece of gear is limiting the quality of your final images?  For my purposes here, I’m going to assume that the user actually does need to take photographs in low light.  In the old days, the way you would facilitate low light photography was to (a) use fast film (which usually meant ISO800) and (b) use fast glass.  I say “in the old days”, but, in reality, nothing has changed except the capture medium (sensor vs. film); the same rules apply.  What has happened, however, is that because camera bodies now have the ability to shoot at extremely high ISOs, people have come to rely on this to achieve their low-light photography goals.

Let’s say you bought the Canon T2i with the kit lens (an 18-55 f/3.5-4.5 IS); this would run you $999 (all values Canadian).  And now let’s say that you want to take photographs in a room that was lit at about 1/50, f/2, ISO3200; that’s a very dimly lit room, indeed.  So you whip out your T2i, zoom in to 50mm, and set your exposure…1/50, f/5.6, ISO25,600.  Yup, your kit lens is only capable of f/5.6 at the long end, so you’re going to need to bump your ISO setting up by three stops to make up for the difference between f/2 and f/5.6, and that means ISO25,600.  The only problem is, the noise at ISO25,600 is going to ruin your picture.  How could this tragedy have been avoided?  Easy; you could have bought an older DSLR body (like the excellent Canon 30D) for less than half the price, and spent the rest of the money on a faster lens; say, the Canon 50 f/1.4.  If you had done that, you could have taken that same picture at 1/50, f/1.4, ISO1600 (or, if you wanted, 1/50, f/2, ISO3200, or 1/100, f/1.4, ISO3200); this would have produced very usable results, even on an older DSLR like the 30D.  The results would certainly have been better than at ISO25,600 on the Rebel T2i.

Here is an image I took on a 6-year old DSLR (the Canon 1DmkII):

The settings here were 1/200, f/2.8, ISO3200 (in this case, I needed the high shutter speed to keep the image sharp, since the focal length was 200mm); I have not done any noise reduction.  Is the noise in this image objectionable to you?  It’s not to me (and it apparently wasn’t to the client).  If I had only had a consumer lens, rather than the 70-200 f/2.8L, I would have been forced to shoot this at f/5.6 (i.e. two stops slower) and either lower my shutter speed to 1/50 (too slow to avoid blur at 200mm) or raise my ISO to 12,800 (which is unavailable on the 1DmkII).

The point I’m trying to make here is that high ISO capabilities are no substitute for fast glass.  Don’t get me wrong; if you’re already shooting with fast prime lenses and still running into situations where you need high ISOs, then you very definitely should be concerned about how well your camera body performs at ISO12,800 or whatever.  There are many event and wedding photographers for whom this is a reality of life.  On the other hand, putting money into a new DSLR body just so you can have the ability to shoot at these high ISO settings seems like madness to me if you don’t already have fast glass.  There simply is no substitute for a wide maximum aperture; no matter what camera you use, a lower ISO will always be preferable.

So my advice to you is this: buy the cheapest camera that does everything you need to do, and spend the rest of your money on at least one fast lens (f/2.8 or better).

We did these back in November, and had absolutely glorious weather (especially considering things can get a little dicey, weather-wise up here in November).  We planned the session for late-afternoon and were lucky to have a clear day, so we had some wonderful warm light to work with

Best of all, though, the family was absolutely terrific to work with.  You can tell that these guys really love one another (and aren’t afraid to give each other a good razzing now and then to show it!).  It’s a pleasure to photograph a family that enjoys each other’s company.

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Kaya is a cutey; there’s no two ways about it.  What’s more, she’s got the personality to back it up.  She always seems to be smiling.

This shot is from a session I did with Kaya and her parents back in September.  It’s always a bit hit or miss when doing these types of sessions; either the children are in a great mood and LOVE the camera, or you can’t get a smile out of them to save your life.  Well, on this day, Kaya was most definitely in the former category.  And I think we got some killer shots because of it.

Trying desperately to count to 5…I think.

Kaya has this effect on people.

Kaya definitely adores her dad.

I can now report that Kaya is walking…and walking…and walking.

Thanks to Kathy, Scott, and Kaya, for a great session, great laughs, and great fun.

We’re usually pretty big on Christmas around our house; not like super-crazy-bows-and-ribbons-and-holly and Griswold-esque lights on the house, but we do get into the spirit.  This year, things were a bit different and we decided to get away for the Christmas vacation for some much needed rest and relaxation.  So of course, we chose probably the most hectic place on Earth:  New York City.

Of course, I couldn’t pass up the chance to haul virtually all of my camera gear along with me for the trip; my Domke F2, filled to the breaking point, was my carry-on.  We flew Porter into Newark, which was a fabulous experience all around.  Stayed in midtown near 40th and 8th, which was a nice central location right by the 42nd Street/Port Authority ACE subway station.

This was my first “real” trip to NYC (I’ve been once before when I was very young; too young to remember anything specific), so of course we had to do all the big sites.  I generally prefer the second trip to a city, since you’ve already done the big sites and can focus on really discovering new and interesting things that aren’t in the guidebooks.

Rockefeller Center is, obviously, quite popular at Christmas.

The Chrysler Building.

The Empire State Building (this is one my favourites shots from the trip)

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of those things that has been photographed so many times that it’s hard to find a way to see it in new and interesting ways.  Here was my best effort.

Likewise with the Statue of Liberty.  This was taken from the Staten Island Ferry (on the return voyage).  I liked the similarities between the Statue’s raised arm and the cranes in the distance on the New Jersey shoreline.

All in all, we had a great time.  Loads more pictures taken (and lots of non-photographic fun had), and I’m sure some of them will show up on the blog or on the main site at some point.