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Sep, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken just down the road from our home on Salt Spring Island, B.C. in an old heritage barn. Our family has visited this place many times over the past few years, it is a wonderful park with the old farm buildings to explore, open fields, forest and ocean beaches. A perfect place to introduce the natural world to our young children. I am a stay at home Dad, which I love so much and feel blessed to have the opportunity to be with our children everyday and watch them grow and document much of their lives. We feel it is very important to bring our children up in a rural lifestyle with lot's of hiking, exploring and learning about nature. I use my photography to try and inspire other families to get their children outside more in the natural world.Time
This photograph was captured late morning during one of our many outings exploring the countryside while Mum was at work. Sometimes Mum get's jealous of our outings but mostly I think she appreciates seeing what we are up to everyday through my photography.Lighting
This photo was taken on a bright slightly overcast day which allowed enough light to enter into the building and wrap around my daughter so I could expose the image half way between a silhouette and a portrait.Equipment
Nikon d-750 with Nikon 35mm 1.4GInspiration
My daughter and I had been in this old barn before and this time she decided she wanted to climb up on the bench in front of this old window. I checked for any broken glass in the area, then I let her climb up and take a look around. I try not to direct our kids when I photograph them. I like to just see what they want to do and where their curiosity takes them. I find I get more authentic images that way and enjoy the challenge that comes with this kind of photography. I had an idea of what framing I wanted but then she pulled this kung fu move off right in front of the window and I caught it. I spend a lot of our days out exploring and photographing with our kids. My wife and I have a blog about getting our kids outside and try and inspire others to do the same. We believe it is very important to have nature as a big part of our children's lives and I love to document it with photography. You can see our blog at www.campfiresandkids.comEditing
I do all my processing/organizing in Lightroom and I try to keep it fairly simple. I use a black and white preset of mine as a starting point and usually adjust the shadows, contrast, clarity, etc. to where I like it and that's about it.In my camera bag
I have 2 Nikon D-750 bodies which work perfectly for the sort of photography I do. The high iso performance and outstanding autofocus system in such a small package can't be beat in my opinion. Having 2 bodies is very important to me so I don't waste time changing lenses very much. One of the bodies has my Nikon 35mm 1.4G permanently attached to it which I never leave home without. The other body has either my Nikon 58mm 1.4G or my Nikon 24mm 1.4g depending on the situation. I am a natural light photographer so I don't own a flash. I also own a 70-200 2.8 vr2 but it only comes out for special occasions. I much prefer to shoot with my nikon primes.Feedback
Documentary child photography can be very challenging but I find the rewards are well worth it. Letting things happen naturally, always keeping things fun and being very patient is important. Also, always being in the right spot and having your camera ready for that decisive moment is so crucial. I usually work a scene really hard trying to find the right perspective with the right light and always looking for that gesture that brings it all together into a photograph. With children I am also shooting from the hip a lot. I practice seeing through my lens without looking through the viewfinder. I miss focus sometimes but I find I can be really quick and grab shot's that I just couldn't otherwise get. I can get great perspectives close to the ground or above them without having to lie down or climb a ladder to do it. I end up with some shot's with a crooked horizon line sometimes but most of the time I find it only adds to the dynamic of the photograph. With children those special moments and gestures are so fleeting you have got to be really fast and learn to see the moments coming before they actually happen.
