David duChemin's Blog, page 38

Oaxaca Within The Frame 2013

Join Jeffrey Chapman and me in Oaxaca, Mexico from October 27 to November 03 for a week of Day of the Dead celebrations, amazing food, beautiful culture, and some really wild photographic opportunities. Our trip in 2011 was a ton of fun. We stayed in a really great little hotel, ate our fill of amazing food, drank mescal with most meals (except breakfast, but I could be wrong about that) and spent some wild evenings walking through candle-lit cemeteries with thousands of revelers. We had long conversations about photography and making better photographs in a really friendly, beautiful place, and perhaps best of all, made some life-long friends. If you’re interested in this rare, fairly close to home (for some of us) Within The Frame Adventure, there’s more information on the mini-site. We’d love to spend a week in Oaxaca with you!

April Desktop Wallpaper

From Northern Kenya this January, a herder brings his flocks home under the setting sun to celebrate Almatho. I didn’t anticipate this one. We’d been out the night before making portraits and I’d seen similar scenes. I thought the herds were home now. But the next night they kept rolling in, and the celebrations began. I spent a couple hours on my knees in the dust, among sheep and camels, shooting into the sun and deliriously happy. Then someone gave me a camel. I love my work more than I can tell. Click the image to make it large, then right-click it to download as a large desktop wallpaper. Enjoy!

If you missed it this weekend, we announced the dates and details of the Ethiopia trip. Join Jeffrey Chapman and I as we explore and photograph Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas in the ancient city of Lalibela.

Today, April 01, is the last day to save $15 when you reserve your copy of SEVEN, Seven Continents + Seven Years, A Photographic Journey. On Friday I’m on press with my book, watching it print, learning how this whole thing is done and chewing my nails. Excited, but a little nervous. I’ve been overwhelmed by the response to this, thank you.

Tomorrow I’ll be releasing dates and details for the Day of the Dead trip to Oaxaca, Mexico.

 

Lalibela, Ethiopia Within The Frame

The first time I saw the pilgrimage to Lalibela felt like a pilgrimage of my own. Days and days of driving north in what’s a far larger, far more mountainous country than I ever imagined. What I knew of Ethiopia could have been reduced to what I’d learned of it during the heartbreaking famine of the 1980s. A dustbowl. Black skin. Hollow eyes. Distended bellies. Endless dead and dying. Years later I drove through much of Ethiopia and discovered what the news had never shown me, a huge country with an incredible history, hospitable people, and truly beautiful light.

When the Land Cruiser pulled into Lalibela on Christmas Eve, it was like traveling back in time. We got out among throngs of white-robed pilgrims and yellow-robed priests, our ears full of the sounds of donkeys, drums, and the jangle of timbrels. Ancient rock-hewn churches full of worshippers and candle-light, the walls hung with thousand-year-old icons and tapestries. If I hadn’t had a camera around my neck I’d have sworn I was lost in time.

Lalibela is one of my favourite places on the planet, and I’d love the chance to show it to some of you. This January, Jeffrey Chapman and I will be guiding a small group back to Lalibela to explore and photograph this remarkable place. It’s not an easy trip if what you’re looking for is luxury. Luxuries are, thankfully, few and far between in this part of the world, unless luxury, to you, is the suspension of time, the chance to be a part of something extraordinary, and to photograph something you’ll see nowhere else. The hotels are mediocre at best, the food is an acquired taste, the internet is almost non-existent, and the best bottle of wine we found there claimed to have won an award from someone in Cold War-era East Germany. But the experience is hard to believe, and impossible to get anywhere else in the world.

If you’re looking for an adventure, we’ve got space for about 8 people, from January 03 to 10, 2014. We’ll be there for the arrival of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and the celebrations leading up to, and including, Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas. We begin in Addis Ababa, then fly together to Lalibela. If you want more information, get it here on Jeffrey’s Lalibela Within The Frame mini-site.

Here’s a few more images from my time in Lalibela over my past two trips.

For more information, or to register for Lalibela Within The Frame visit the mini-site. See you in Ethiopia!

Orchid Impressions

The last few days, as we’ve opened SEVEN for pre-orders, have been tremendously exciting, humbling, and full of the same fear any artist has when releasing something so close to his heart into the world: what if it doesn’t find an audience? We released it nervously, knowing if no one purchased it, I’d have 4,000lbs of books in my loft for years to come. We released it knowing shipping was expensive – too expensive – but the very best rates we could get after dickering with Fed Ex and UPS and DHL and finally going with Canada Post. And we released it hoping to the gods in control of these things that this book would find a few hearts under which to light a fire. All I can say, after all that, is that your reception of this project has left me so grateful – a posture you put me in so often. Thank you so much.

I made the images above, lit by the fire of that gratitude, with my iPhone as the last rays of the evening hit the orchids on the coffee table 30 minutes ago. Happy Easter, friends.

If you missed it, you can reserve your copy of SEVEN, my limited edition fine art book, now, and save $15 until April 02.

SEVEN, LIMITED EDITION Pre-Orders

SEVEN Linen Cover, Front Plate.

Yesterday we released SEVEN, my first fine art book, for Pre-Orders. We released it in two limited editions and within hours the first 100, a special dustjacketed edition, were long gone, which throws a wrench in my plans because now we have to re-jig the marketing. A beautiful problem to have and a small price to pay for the thrill of seeing so many people support my work with such enthusiasm. I’m extremely grateful. What’s left of the very limited edition of this book – there will only be 1,000 – are available in the original Limited Edition.

SEVEN is a retrospective collection of the personal work I’ve done over the last 7 years on 7 seven continents.  This is a limited edition book and once those 1,000 signed and numbered copies are gone, they’re gone.

If you order before April 02, 20113, you’ve got 7 days to save $15.

SEVEN, Limited Edition

Limited to 1000 copies, hand signed and numbered.
12″ x 12″, 160 pages bound in gorgeous warm Italian linen.
Printed in Canada on gorgeous 100lb McCoy Silk Text stock, at 10 microns.
These are shipped, with a tracking number, in a custom-made double-walled cardboard mailer.
If you place your order within the first 7 days, the price is $75+S/H, saving you $15. Regular price $90 + S/H.

Note: Shipping and handling (S+H) rates are: United States ($25), Canada ($15), and International ($70) – estimated to arrive, with a tracking number, within 14-days.

We’re taking orders now, with payment in full. The book is at the printers and we’re so close we can taste it. We’re expecting to take delivery, sign them, and ship them in the first week of June. We’ll send an email to each purchaser, with tracking numbers, the moment these ship, but you’ll get a confirmation from us the moment you reserve your copy.

I am truly proud of this. I created this as a legacy piece. I wanted to create something beautiful, inside and out. Something that was a delight to touch and hold. I wanted something that would inspire and show you the world the way I see it, in these fleeting glimpses of beauty, hope, and wonder. Unlike so much of what I publish, this is not an educational book. The book opens with a short essay about the gift of photography, and what follows is photograph after photograph, quietly captioned with location and date. I want, at the end of the day, my photographs to speak for themselves. I also believe that looking at, and studying, photographs, is some of the best education we can have in terms of making our own photographs.

I’m so proud to have a chance to put this into your hands, and as always so, so grateful to you for the chance to do what I love and have an audience for my work. Thank you. I hope you’ll celebrate with me and reserve a copy of your own.

SEVEN Now Available for Pre-Orders

 

Today we’re launching my first fine-art book, SEVEN. It’s a retrospective collection of the personal work I’ve done over the last 7 years on 7 seven continents.  This is a limited edition book and once those 1,000 signed and numbered copies are gone, they’re gone.

Today we’re announcing pre-orders of this limited edition, and giving you 7 days to save $15, if you order before April 02, 20113.

SEVEN is being printed in Canada on gorgeous 100lb McCoy Silk Text stock, and hard-bound with Italian linen. It’s going to be stunning. And large too. At 160 pages and 12″x12″ it’ll look great on your coffee table or in your library. We’re offering SEVEN in two editions: a Limited Edition, and a Special Limited Edition.

SEVEN, Limited Edition

Limited to 900 copies (numbered 101-1000), hand signed and numbered.
160 pages, beautifully printed and bound in Canada, linen bound.
These are shipped, with a tracking number, in a custom-made double-walled cardboard mailer.
If you place your order within the first 7 days, the price is $75+S/H, saving you $15. Regular price $90 + S/H.

Note: Shipping and handling (S+H) rates are: United States ($25), Canada ($15), and International ($70) – estimated to arrive within 14-days.

SEVEN, Special Limited Edition

The Special Edition is limited to 100 copies (numbered 1-100), hand signed and numbered.
Wrapped with a gorgeous dust-jacket
 Signed, limited edition print of Arctic Circles, made last fall during my trip north to Canada’s arctic. This 8.5×11 archival print will be hand-printed, signed, and numbered to match your book.
A PDF copy of SEVEN+, an expanded 200-page edition of the book that you can carry on your iPad, phone, or laptop, so you can enjoy the book anywhere and still leave it at home to spare it the damage of day-to-day carrying around. We’ve added 40 more pages of images I so badly wanted in the print book but just couldn’t make them fit.
Like the Limited Edition, these are shipped, with a tracking number, in a custom-made double-walled cardboard mailer.
If you place your order within the first 7 days, the price is $135+S/H. Regular price $150 + S/H.

We’re taking orders now, with payment in full. The book is at the printers and we’re so close we can taste it. We’re expecting to take delivery, sign them, and ship them in the first week of June. We’ll send an email to each purchaser, with tracking numbers, the moment these ship, but you’ll get a confirmation from us the moment you reserve your copy.

Note: Shipping and handling (S+H) rates are: United States ($25), Canada ($15), and International ($70) – estimated to arrive within 14-days.

I am truly proud of this. We created this as a legacy piece. I wanted to create something beautiful, inside and out. Something that was a delight to touch and hold. I wanted something that would inspire and show you the world the way I see it, in these fleeting glimpses of beauty, hope, and wonder. Unlike so much of what I publish, this is not an educational book. The book opens with a short essay about the gift of photography, and what follows is photograph after photograph, quietly captioned with location and date. I want, at the end of the day, my photographs to speak for themselves. I also believe that looking at, and studying, photographs, is some of the best education we can have in terms of making our own photographs.

I’m so proud to have a chance to put this into your hands, and as always so, so grateful to you for the chance to do what I love and have an audience for my work. Thank you. I hope you’ll celebrate with me and reserve a copy of your own.

Building SEVEN: It’s coming!

Next week I’m releasing my fine-art book, SEVEN, for pre-orders. Tuesday, March 26 is your chance to reserve your copy. On Wednesday we’ll be telling the world but it seems only right that you folks get your chance first. And if you reserve your copy within the first 7 days, you can save $15 on either edition.

I’ll spill the beans in detail on Tuesday but SEVEN will be released in two editions – a Limited Edition, limited to 900 of 1,000 copies, all hand signed and numbered, and a Special Limited Edition, limited to 100 of 1,000, and that one’s also hand-signed and numbered, but it comes wrapped in a gorgeous dustcover (that’s it at the top of the post), and includes SEVEN+, an expanded digital copy of the book, giving you 40 more pages and a means to view it your iPad or laptop while leaving the large book – 12″x12″, hard-bound, it weighs 4lbs – safely at home. It also includes a copy of Arctic Circles, an 8.5×11 print limited to 100 copies, hand-signed and numbered to match your edition.

SEVEN is 160 pages, and with the exception of a short essay at the front, it’s all photographs from the last seven years, including work that’s never been published, and a re-working of others, some of which is presented in gorgeous duo-tones. It represents some of the work I’m most proud of, and a vision of the world that’s hopeful and beautiful.

This has been such a fun project. Working with Hemlock here in Vancouver has been amazing and at each turn they’ve been encouraging and so helpful. They know books to a depth I do not, so leaning on them has been awesome. Yes, this book will cost more, but that’s the cost of not sending things offshore and not compromising on the things I most wanted for this book. This week it gets proofed. Then it goes to print and I aim to be there for that, to see how it all happens. Then it goes to the bindery. And at the end of May I will have 4,000lbs of books in my loft waiting to be signed and numbered, then boxed and shipped. It’s going to be a lot of work. God help the man who does this for any other reason but for the giddy joy of creating and sharing.

While we’re on the subject of sharing, congratulations to Edith Levy. We’ll be putting the Hokkaido portfolio in the mail to you just as soon as we get a mailing address. Check your email.  Thanks to everyone expressing such an interest. Might have to do this more often…

Timelapse by Dave Delnea

Photographer Dave Delnea and I have had a couple great adventures together. The first was a couple weeks in Iceland, the second roughly the same couple weeks driving down the West Coast. Both experiences were among the wettest and coldest of my life. So now I mostly just stick to having the odd beer in a warm pub with the man. One of the things I learned from Dave, though I’ve still got to spend some time re-learning this stuff now that I am using Nikon gear, is how to shoot and build time-lapses. When we got home from Iceland he put this video together and it lit a fire under me to learn this stuff. Check out this short video -

Beautiful, right? And it’s incredibly easy to do. Not so easy it doesn’t take some learning and practice, and Dave makes it look easy, but there’s a beauty and emotion to these sequences that a still image alone doesn’t create. Used together, stills and timelapses can compliment each other. Commercially, Delnea’s used his timelapses as both a great marketing tool for his work, and a killer benefit for clients. Imagine adding a couple short, beautifully shot timelapses, to what you provide a wedding client, or to supplement the way you display your landscape work online.

In Timelapse, Dave Delnea walks you through the whole set-up right to the end of the process, and lets you in on all the little tips and pitfalls that will otherwise have you tearing your hair out, shortening an otherwise frustrating learning curve. Most of us already have everything we need to shoot and assemble the sequences, Delnea shows you how. I shot and assembled my first timelapse sequence in about two hours after Delnea showed me how to do it. I was in Ladakh, India at the time and I remember giggling at how easy it was when you do it right. If you’ve ever wanted to explore adding another dimension to your work but, like me, haven’t got the remotest desire to dig into digital video, this is an excellent way to do it, and the results can be absolutely moving.

Buy the eBook 

Buy the Bundle 

Special Offer

For the first five days only, use the promotional code TIME4 when you checkout and pay only $4 OR on CraftandVision.com use the code TIME20 to get 20% off when you buy 5+ PDF eBooks. These codes expire at 11:59pm (PST) March 22, 2013.

Buy the Author Bundle

Get both of Dave Delnea’s titles (Below the Horizon, Timelapse) for $8 USD. That’s 20% off – no code required.

New Work Posted

There’s some new work posted to my portfolios, representing some of my favourite photographs from the last couple months. Click either of the images above to be taken to my recent work from Kenya and Hokkaido, respectively. I love the new direction my work is taking, though I’m at a loss to say where it comes from. There is, I think, a common theme in the simplicity of the photographs, but I also think there’s something in the work that arises purely from my love of the places and people I’m photographing these days. Perhaps it’s a contentedness.

Off to the Rockies for week tomorrow morning. A road trip to and from the Persistent Vision seminar put on by Darwin Wiggett in Bragg Creek, just south of Calgary, Alberta. Friday and Sunday are sold out but there’s still a few seats left for the Saturday event. On Monday, March 18, I’ll be at The Camera Store in Calgary, signing books and saying hello. 11am to 1pm. I’d love to see you in either place.

Don’t forget to get in on the draw for some of my work prints, and if you print your work, you can read about my process when printing.

Printing Hokkaido

After narrowing down my Hokkaido work through my edit process, I’m now left with a collection of images to print. Here’s my rough process.

1. Image Prep.

I take each image through a final pass in Lightroom’s Develop module. Here are the questions I’m asking myself as I go through the panels.

Is my monitor recently calibrated?
Am I completely sure there is no dust? One final pass at 100% or more. Clone or Heal out spots and residual distractions. If you have a hard time seeing dust, try keeping the image moving slowly in front of your eyes, the eye tends to track with the spots in motion better than when it’s static. Works for me.
Are my whites white enough, my blacks black enough? This is a matter of taste to me, but the histogram’s really helpful here.
Are the highlights or shadows blown? If so I pull both the black and/or white points back into range with the Tone Curve.
Has my sharpening accidentally gone too far? Pull it back.
If I added much Exposure or lifted my shadows a little, how’s the noise? Quick add to Noise Reduction. I use a very light touch here, often preferring the look of a little noise to the plastic-feel of too much noise-reduction.
Have I enabled Profile Corrections in Lens Corrections panel? I don’t always, but usually. Check box if I forgot. Then make sure the Remove Chromatic Aberration box is checked if I need it. That’s in Lens Corrections > Color. I love this feature. Way better than it used to be.

2. Print Prep.

I print in Lightroom’s Print Module. Here are the questions I ask myself once I’ve chosen a paper type and size to match my images. For the Hokkaido work I’m printing to Breathing Color’s Optica One – nice matte paper without being overly arty and too textured.

Have I set my Image Size correctly?
Are my margins the right size? I prefer the top, left, and right, to be the same. The bottom will be what’s left over, and that depends on aspect ratio and orientation. But it’s always proportionately larger, like the images above.
Is my print sharpening set? (Usually to High)
Have I chosen the right paper profile?
Am I going to be printing to this paper, this size, these margins and aspect ratio again? Make a print template and name it clearly. 17×22 Hokkaido 16:9 Horizontal on Optica. This saves me from stupid mistakes if I’m doing the same thing over and over, like using a wrong paper profile from a previous template. I almost always make a new template.
Is the printer on, any inks running low?
Hands and work surfaces clean? I hate printing something beautiful only to smudge it with a dirty thumb.
Double check I’m printing with the paper the right side up.

3. Dry and Study Image.

I study my work under a large diffused skylight. I don’t have a colour-corrected lamp for viewing my prints. One day, maybe. I like my natural light.
Did I miss anything? Dust spots? Weird banding?
Did the printer miss anything? Paper flecking off during or after printing can leave white specks with no ink. Some media I’ve learned to brush lightly with a large horsehair brush to avoid this.
And most importantly, do I love it? I’m getting pickier, less willing to create anything that’s “good enough.” Or maybe my good-enough is getting better.
If this image is for a client, then I sign and number it, and ship it. If it’s for my archives I signed it as an A/P, or Artist’s Print. Then I put it into a folio, usually one reserved for that body of work. Or I put it up and live with it for a while.
Print it again. If it’s not 100%, I print it again. You have to be willing to print until you get it right.

I print with an Epson 3880 which I love, but I’m eyeing something bigger. I’ve had great luck with the Epson. Lately I use Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper, or Breathing Color’s Optima One.

If you want to bump your digital printing skills a little, or you’re just getting into it, I strongly recommend Martin Bailey as a resource. He’s got a great website, and for $5 he’s got a killer eBook (yes, Craft & Vision published it) called Making The Print. It’s what I used to get back into printing after letting others do it for me for too long. Don’t print yourself? There’s lots of good reasons not to, but almost all of this applies if you’re sending files to someone like mPix or WHCC.

4. Share The Work.

Get it out there. Make a couple extra prints each time you print something you love, and give it away. Want one of mine? I’ve got a set of 5 smaller prints from this Hokkaido series, on 8.5×11 that I’ll sign as A/Ps and send in a nice folio to one reader as a thanks for being part of what I do. No strings attached, leave a comment in the comment section – just an indication that you’d like to be in the draw – and we’ll draw something in a week or so, and put this package into the post.

As always, questions in the comments are welcome. I won’t always answer them all, but there’s often some good discussion and as long as I’m around and have time, I’ll be a part of that.

If you’ve missed some of the Hokkaido work, here are a few blog posts with some images:

Postcard from Yamanouchi
Postcard from Hokkaido
Last Postcards from Hokkaido
Hokkaido Re-Cap
Editing Hokkaido