Sean Duggan Blog

Looking Into the New Year

Looking Into the New Year  [Canon 5D; 17 seconds]
December 31, 2009
(click in the image for a larger version)

Happy New Year to You!

This is my last image of 2009. It was taken on New Year's Eve, just past 11pm. The subject is my favorite old oak tree on our property. I had gone out to take photos of the Blue Moon, but in the time between deciding to take the photos and getting the camera and tripod set up, the scattered cloud cover had become pretty much constant cloud cover (though it did move through the sky is a very atmospheric manner).

With the moon taken off the menu as a reliable subject, I concentrated instead on the silhouettes of the oak trees around our property. For some shots the upward camera angle was so pronounced that the 24-105mm zoom lens would not stay zoomed in. So after taking a few standard shots holding it in place, I began playing around with slowly zooming from 105 to 24 during the exposure and I liked those interpretations much better. Although it looks like the moon is behind this tree, it is not. It was actually behind me. The "light beam" effect is created by the zooming of the lens during the shot. This exposure is 17 seconds.

The Recent Blog Hiatus

My last update here was back on November 22nd. I think that must be a record in terms of my own blog inactivity, or close to it. An incredibly busy, deadline-heavy schedule is the reason, as well as the fact that I just felt like it was a good time to take a break. Of course, since we have just passed into the New Year, one resolution is to bring that hiatus to a close and resume more regular posting. My schedule is still slammed for the next several weeks, so I won’t be making daily posts, but at least two or three per week is my goal at the moment.

Newsletter News

The Creative Digital Darkroom Newsletter has also been on hiatus since late September and that break will also be coming to an end sometime this month. So, if you have signed up since last September and are wondering when the newsletter would show up, it will be back in action soon.

Upcoming Appearances

I will be giving a presentation, doing some portfolio reviews and teaching a couple of hands-on computer sessions at FOTOfusion in West Palm Beach, Florida coming up January 19th through the 23rd . My sessions are as follows:

Wednesday Jan 20 10:30am – 12pm– Lightworks & Shadowplay (Presentation)
Thursday Jan 21 10:20am – 12:45pm– Portfolio Reviews
Friday Jan 22  4:30pm – 6:00pm – Creative Collage with Adobe Photoshop (computer lab)
Saturday Jan 23 2:30pm – 4pm – Painting with Light, Shadow & Color (computer lab)

April Hawaii Workshops

I’ll be in Honolulu teaching 4 short workshops April 22nd through the 25th. Here’s a link for more info on those classes.

2010 Artifacts of an Uncertain Origin Calendar

My 2010 calendar featuring 12 selectively sepia toned pinhole photographs from my Artifacts of an Uncertain Origin series will be on sale through mid March. Follow the link to preview the images and get more information.

Pinhole Travel Journal: Streetcars and Near-Disasters

Streetcar, Halle,  No.1  [ZeroImage 6x9 Pinhole Camera]
July 25, 2009  - Halle, Germany
(click in the image for a larger version)

19 Rolls

In addition to all of the pixel-based images I made during my recent travels in Germany, I also exposed 19 rolls of black & white medium format film. This was mostly in my ZeroImage 6x9 wooden pinhole camera but there were also a few rolls that were used in my plastic Diana camera. The film came back from the lab a few days ago and the scene above is the first image I worked on (the negatives are developed and all further work on the image takes place in the digital darkroom using high resolution scans made from the negs).

The Flight of the Zero

My ZeroImage pinhole camera had a rough trip and suffered two bad falls that would have put most other cameras out of action. The first incident happened on the very first day.  While carrying the camera and a few other items down the hotel stairs, I bumped my arm against the railing and the camera flew out of my grasp. I watched in dismay as it flew through the air and smashed hard against the metal stair railing, bounced off that and then hurtled even farther down the stairs.

It crashed loudly against the stone landing and clattered across the floor before it finally came to a stop. The force of the impact was very strong and as I rushed down the steps I was expecting to see it cracked and broken apart in several pieces, ending my hopes of making pinhole images on this trip. To my surprise, however, it remained intact and seemed OK except for a few dents and a gouge in the lacquer on the bottom front edge. Upon closer inspection I saw that one of the seams appeared a bit loose in the corner so I taped this together with black electrician's tape to ensure that it held together and to ward off potential light leaks.

A week later while exploring Halle (where the image above was taken) the camera fell out of my open camera bag and hit the cobblestones quite hard. But again, it appeared to have survived this fall with only a few additional scratches. Later in the trip, the metal tripod mount on the bottom began to come loose and after this the camera could never be firmly attached to a tripod (it could still be used with the tripod, but it was always a bit wobbly and  opening the shutter had to be done with great care to avoid moving it during the exposure). This had happened once before in the Nevada desert back in March and after that trip I had re-glued it and secured it with new screws. My guess is that the two hard impacts had caused this vital piece of hardware to become loose again.

Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking

In spite of all of these accidents and punishment endured by the camera I was still able to use it for the entire trip and, apart from the few frames mentioned above, none of the damage it suffered showed up in the images, which is a testament to the strength and durability of its construction. Now that we've been back for about a week and I've dealt with the deadlines that were demanding my attention, it's time to take it to the workbench for some much needed repairs and a general tune-up.

Boogie Boarders

Boogie Boarders  [Canon 5D with a Lensbaby Composer]
April 2, 2009  Honolulu, Hawaii
(click in the image for a larger version)

Another image from one of my end of day Lensbaby strolls along Waikiki Beach last week.

Next Workshop..

The Creative Eye: Digial Photography & Digital Darkroom Essentials
Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 27  May 1

Destination

Destination
[Canon 5D with a Lensbaby Composer, 2.5 seconds]
Honolulu, Hawaii  March 30, 2009

Another image from my Lensbaby Composer walkabout along Waikiki Beach a few nights ago. The blur in this photo, however, is caused as much by the handheld exposure time of 2.5 seconds as it is by the optical qualities of the Lensbaby. This image may be considered too blurry by some photographers' standards, but I really like the way this turned out. It has a dreamy, almost storybook quality to it that I feel works well for this scene. Although sharp focus is one of the most desirable technical qualities for many types of images, the more subtle and ambiguous qualities offered by the creative use of blur can also result in memorable and evocative photographs. By softening the sharp specifics of the scene, the image enters the ream of metaphor and symbolism, becoming more a photograph of an idea, or a dream, or a hope, than a photograph of a specific place.

Next Workshop...Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 27  May 1

Waikiki with a Lensbaby

By a Glittery Shore
[Canon 5D with a Lensbaby Composer, 0.8 seconds]
March 31, 2009 Honolulu, Hawaii

I'm in Honolulu this week teaching a series of three short workshops for Pacific New Media at the University of Hawaii.  I have the new Lensbaby Composer with me and took it out for an inaugural outing the other evening when I went for a stroll along Waikiki Beach. I've been a fan of the Lensbaby since the first version and have followed it's development an evolution over the years. The design improvements in this new incarnation are very impressive and the Composer is the easiest to use Lensbaby yet. I'll have a more complete review of this very unique lens once I return from Hawaii (and after a few more Lensbaby outings).

A Note on This Image: In addition to the blur effect created by the Lensbaby Composer, this is also a handheld shot with a shutter speed of almost 1 second and this is also contributing to the blur effect. Depending on the level of blur that you choose to create, in Lensbaby shots with shutter speeds more sutiable for handheld photography there is usually a sweet spot that is in focus.

Join Me in New Mexico

My next workshop is coming up at the end of this month at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops in  Santa Fe, New Mexico. It's called The Creative Eye: Digital Photography & Digital Darkroom Essentials and it runs from April 27 through May 1. Click on the title of the class for more information.

Islands

Islands [Canon 5D]
October 2, 2007
(click in the image for  a larger version)

This is a reworking of an image that I posted here about four and a half months ago. In the previous version I treated the color original as a split-toned black and white.

I revisited this because I realized it fit in very nicely with a new group of images I am preparing for the gallery section on my re-designed web site (it's not live yet, but coming soon). That series of images uses a color scheme similar to what you see here: muted natural colors with a strong sepia flavoring that I call sepiaesque. The foreground here has been slightly blurred in Photoshop CS3 using a gradient mask along with the Lens Blur filter. In the first version I posted here I decided that I had blurred it  bit too much. I like this version much better. I also like the colors.

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New Newsletter!

Beginning in a week or so I will be sending out the first issue of a new email newsletter that will contain Photoshop tips and tutorials, musings on photography and the creative process, and updates on upcoming workshops, seminars and special offers.

This is a low volume mailing that will be sent out approximately every 4 to 6 weeks. For example, the tutorials in the first one are about using Photoshop Actions.The tutorials will not be in the actual email, so you don't have to worry about image-heavy mail cluttering up your bandwidth. A link will be provided where you can view them on my website.

If you would like to subscribe, there's a sign-up form near the top of the left column of this blog. Should you ever wish to unsubscribe in the future, there will be a simple link at the end of each newsletter that will allow you to do this. Your email info will never be shared, bartered or sold to nefarious spammers. I've had a world of trouble with spam myself so I am sensitive to this!

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Workshop News

I have some cool workshops coming up in Hawaii in mid April, Pacifica and Monterey, California in late April and early May, and near San Luis Obispo, California in early June. For a complete listing of my upcoming classes, click on over to the Workshops Page at my web site.

December Moon

December Moon  [Canon 10D + a Lensbaby]
December 17, 2004

This was taken 3 years ago in our front yard...a serendipitous alignment of a crescent moon and the top of a tall pine tree. This is a hand held shot at 1/13th of a second with a Lensbaby providing the uneven edge blurring.

Every Christmas I've meant to do something with this, but never got around to it. Finally, I resurrected it from the archives today. If you celebrate Christmas, then do have a good one. Gather round with those who are special to you and enjoy some good cheer, reflect on the things in your life you're grateful for, and hope for a better world.

The Guardhouse

The Guardhouse  [Canon 10D]
Machu Picchu, Peru
July 12, 2005
(click in the image for a larger version)

I was rummaging around in the archive this past weekend and came across this shot from Peru taken a little over two years ago. The couple is consulting a map of the site before heading out to explore the ruins. The trippy lens flare and blur is from shooting into the rays of the early morning sun using a Lensbaby. This was my second visit to Peru and my second time at Machu Picchu. For more Peru images, see the "Peru" link in the Categories section in the right column.

*Upcoming Workshops *

My next workshop will be a 5-day class called  Digital Black and White at the Lepp Institute along the beautiful central California coast February 18-22. Click the link for a course description.

Islands

Islands [Canon 5D]
Acadia National Park, Maine
October 2, 2007
(click in the image for a larger version)

The day after I took this photo I returned to the same location. Fog had cloaked the park all morning long  and I was hoping for some interesting views of the island in the mist but the fog was so thick you could not see any trace of this island from the shore.

**Remember to set your clocks back an hour on Saturday night!**

Conversing with the Incoming Tide

Seascape, Maine  [Canon 5D]
June 28, 2007
(click in the image to see it larger)

Another from the same series as yesterday's photo. 1.6 seconds