I attended an artistic nude workshop with Ralph Gibson in Vancouver on August 18, 2008.  This was the first workshop that I attended with internationally acclaimed photographer Ralph Gibson.  I didn’t know what to expect.   The workshop started promptly at 10.  Ralph introduced himself and expressed his views about digital photography.  He strongly believed that analogue film photography is far superior to digital photography and had a way to prove it.  All of us, except two photographers, shot  100% digital with big and heavy cameras.

We all showed up with big heavy bags and long zoom lenses.  Ralph, on the contrary, came with a very small bag carrying 2 Leicas with 50 mm lenses.  One camera was for colour film and the other camera was for B&W film.  That was it.  From an equipment standpoint he made photography look so simple.  He said that he generally shoots 50 mm lens and uses only Leica cameras and he knows his equipment and lenses inside out.  

After the introduction he started to review and critic the photographs and digital images that we submitted.  He found a shortfall in every digital image he critiqued, and pointed out the deficiencies with digital workflow.

Ralph Gibson is a master photographer and one of the most famous living fine art photographers of our time.  His books are usually sold out and  are very difficult to acquire.  We shot everyday in the afternoons and Ralph reviewed and critiqued our shots the next morning.  It was an inspiring workshop with a great photographer, friendly participants and great models.

The workshop was arranged by “Vancouver Photo Workshops”.  The locations were outstanding.  The  first couple of days, we shot in Edwardian mansion located in Shaughnessy.  This is how Vancouver Photo Workshops described the location:

• Built at the beginning of the 20^th century and completed in 1911
• A 30 room house, coach house, mews cottage and surrounding grounds.
• Eclectic furnishings and décor to inspire photographers
• Outstanding landscape for outside shooting.

For the last couple of days, the shoot location was totally different but equally inspiring.  We shot in Brian Adam’s recording studio.  This is the description of the studio provided by Vancouver Photo Workshops:

Built by the Oppenheimer family during the gold rush in the 1800’s, its original purpose was a Klondike supply warehouse, and it even served as Vancouver first City Hall.  It is now the oldest brick building in Vancouver with restorations inside and outside that have retained the historical integrity of the original  structure

Bryan Adam’s Studio, used mainly for music recording and high end commercial photo shoots, had the following features:

·         25 foot ceilings

·         Studio is 2000 sq. ft.

·         Many windows flood the facility with natural light

·         Completely private courtyard open to photography

·         Original brick walls, arches and metal doors provide a modern backdrop

·         Large lounge and kitchen open to photography

During the workshop, on almost every occasion  Ralph stressed the superiority of analog photography.  He pointed out shadow details and blown out highlights in every critique. 

Towards the end of the workshop, I developed and urge to use one of my film cameras which I haven’t used for more than 4 to 5 years.  I recently shot a roll of color print with my Contax G2 camera.  The results were not any greater than digital images.  I will be using film from time to time but only for black and white.

I own a group of companies, which employs approximately 200 people.  Our people travel extensively with West Jet.  After reading about what happened to me last weekend, I am sure that my associates will think twice about flying with West Jet.  I understand that West Jet won’t likely feel the dent.  But this bad publicity eventually will catch up with them as it did with Air Canada.

Sunday August 17, 2009

Last weekend I was travelling to Vancouver for Ralph Gibson photography workshop.  Since this was going to be a week of shooting I took most of my camera gear which consisted of the following:

·         2 Canon EOS Mark III bodies,

·         1 Canon 85 mm F 1.2 lens

·         1 Canon 28-105 mm zoom lens

·         1 Canon 150 macro lens

·         1 Canon 70-200 mm zoom lens

·         2 Canon Camera flushes

·         Some filters and lens cleaning cloth

All of the above fit in a legal size Think Tank carry-on bag.  The combined weight was 35 lb.

I had another similarly sized carry on bag  with two lap top computers, computer and camera charges, two 250 GB portable storage units and some USB cables.  The combined weight of this bag also was about 30lb.

I was travelling with my wife, so I thought that one carry on for each of us wouldn’t cause us any problems.

We checked in Toronto, dropped our luggage and took our carry-on bags.  Everything went smoothly. 

During 5 hours flight West Jet offered us a stale coffee and lousy cookies that gave me a stomach ache.  When we arrived to Vancouver we went to pick up our luggage and heard West Jet announcement that they were short staffed and they will start delivering our luggage as soon as they could.  All of the passengers were very tired as they still were in eastern time zone.  It was 12:00 a.m.  We waited over an hour until the luggage conveyor started to run.

Friday August 22, 2009

As we were leaving Vancouver we approached West Jet counter to check in.  Our flight was scheduled for 13:55pm.  We wanted to catch an earlier flight.   The agent told us that it would cost us $41.00 per person $82 for me and my wife.   We agreed to pay just to catch the  flight one hour earlier (which I think is a new money-grab policy from West Jet).  The agent weighed our luggage.  The weight  of our luggage  for two of us was the same as we left Toronto 56lb, which didn’t cause any problems then.  She wouldn’t allow the extra 6lb.  She made us take the extra 6lb from our luggage. 

And it didn’t end there…  She decided to weigh our carryon’s…  She told us that we were allowed to take only 20lb per carry on and insisted that I should check in my camera and computer bags.  We refused and she called the manager.  Meantime the time was ticking and we had 20 minutes to pass through the security and catch flight.   The manager wasn’t very helpful either…  We ended up taking our computers and our cameras from the carr-on bags and carrying them in our hands.   Then she told us, with a great authority.  “I am going to let you go this time sir but I will put a note in the computer. “ 

I happen to own group of companies, which employs approximately 200 people.  Our employees travel extensively with West Jet.  After reading my blog, I am sure that my associates will think twice about flying with West Jet.  I understand that West Jet won’t likely feel the dent.  But this bad publicity eventually will catch up with them as it did with Air Canada.

The ticket agent managed to make our return home miserable.   The inconsistency of West Jet made my trip a nightmare.  It seems that West Jet employees are not properly trained and they don’t apply their policies consistently.

When we arrived to Toronto our bags didn’t show up with the flight.  We ended up waiting for our original flight to pick up our luggage.  When we asked our $82.00 back West Jet’s response was “this is against our policy sir”.

If you want to take chances with West Jet go ahead.  However, next time, I would prefer to take my business elsewhere.

Last week I installed Lightroom-2 from Adobe.  Lightroom-2 allows you to quickly import, process, manage, and showcase your images — from one shot to an entire shoot.  I was amazed with some of the new features they introduced in this new version, which included a new adjustment brush, support for a second monitor, and support for 64-bit architecture.

Initially, it took me quite some time to orient myself with some of the tools.   This was due to the fact that Lightroom rearranged the layout from the previous version.  One of the changes was the crop tool which was on the right top section of the Developer module.

I am very impatient and have the habit to start working right away with most software without reading the manuals.   Once I found the location of the crop tool, I also discovered some other new tools in the development section, such as the new adjustment brush.   This is when I stopped working on the light room and started to read some documentation and watch training videos from Adobe website.   The more I learned the more impressed I became with Lightroom-2.

The new adjustment brush is simply amazing.    It offers non-destructive localized dodging and burning and various  controls with it.  With this new version of Lightroom I don’t have to go back and forth to Photoshop.  In fact, I like Lightroom’s adjustment brush more than  Photoshop’s dodge and burn tool.

One negative that I encountered with Lightroom was that as I worked with the Lightroom over the weekend,  I found out that it freezes too often.