My favourite photographer William Albert Allard was in town to do a workshop on Saturday at the stampede grounds for 10 lucky (and quick to register) Calgary photographers. It was an unbelievable day with an incredible man with amazing experiences and incredible photographic knowledge.
Here are the photos I chose for him to critique on Sunday's debrief.
extremely beautiful and tricky picture you shown in this blog i like it very much these are so amazing and effective pictures.
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Thanks Sophia!
DeleteBill is one of my favourite photographers too. I wonder if you could share what he had to say about your images. I find I learn a lot from his evaluations.
ReplyDeleteHi Sabrina- yes absolutely. I only showed 8 of these I think and this is what he said:
DeletePhoto 1 (3 cowboys): He thought this was one of the stronger ones and it showed an interesting exchange between the two guys talking. He also thought that the fellow in the blue with the moustache really made the picture. It would not have been nearly as strong had he not been there.
Photo 3 (cowboy looking directly at me) He thought this one had a good sense of place because you could see the Stampedes 'Greatest Outdoors show on earth' along the top in red but thought it could have been improved if there wasnt any overlap between him and the guys on either side behind him. If I had changed my perspective and been a little bit earlier than I would have stripped away the unnecessary and it would have been a lot more compelling
Photo 6 (barrel racer running to right of frame): he didn't directly critique this one- we just had a discussion on how it was the proper amount of motion. It isnt too blurry so that you lose the form but its blurry enough on the legs of the horse to convey the speed. We also had a big discussion about the shutter speed because lots of others tried to catch subject motion at 1/15th of a second but i used 1/50th or 1/60th. I had also had the benefit of shooting the stampede before so I knew what typically worked.....
Photo 9 (horse rearing up in front of chuck wagon driver): He liked this one but said it would be vastly improved if I had been a few steps to the right so that the horse head rearing up would be occupying more of the left side of the frame. It would have created more separation from his yellow coat. Ensuring there was no overlap was definitely a theme amongst everyones photos. Move your feet to achieve it was what he said. Sometimes the difference between good and great photo is really a matter of inches right or left or up or down....
Photo 10 (outrider turning corner on horse): He liked that this one was sharp on the guys face and there was motion in the legs but he thought it would have benefited from being wider. I think i framed it cutting off the horses legs too much which makes it awkward.... Bill is very much against cropping in post processing and is all about getting composition right when you release the shutter. Having said that he did acknowledge sometimes its necessary when things are moving as quickly as these horses
Photo 11 (ride): He liked this spot a lot but I could tell he wanted to know if i had any others from the spot because he asked how long i worked it for and whether I had other perspectives. I only stayed there 5 minutes and he suggested that I go back and spend more time there next time. It was at this point that he actually said that often when you're concentrating really hard on a shot it is important to turn around because there is usually an even better shot behind you...
Another photo he critiqued briefly was a portrait i did of him in another post....
He is such an awesome teacher and if you ever get the opportunity to attend one of his workshops your knowledge will increase tenfold in a weekend. This is my second time going to one of his workshops and its an incredible experience. He's very kind and has amazing stories and is very humble and approachable as well. If you ever get to go to one I highly recommend it!