Antarctica…a remote and other worldly destination.

I hope you go one day and experience it for yourself – it will be etched in your mind forever.

Double click on the image to license it.

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Ask me anything you want about Antarctica on Facebook

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This is an excerpt out of my Winter 2011 Newsletter.

“Shortly after arriving in the Cook Islands, I went out for a surf at one of the local surf breaks. Sitting on my board surrounded by the cerulean coloured waters, I knew I had to get myself a water housing and get into water photography during my year long stay.

Water photography all begins with the type of photography you want to do. Generally speaking, water housings are divided into those that can be taken to depth (scuba diving) and those that can’t (surf photography). The difference centers around the way the housings are made, which also relates to the final cost of the housing.

As I was interested in surf photography, my choice was simple: I needed to buy what is called a splash water housing. Though it is one hundred percent water proof, the housing cannot be taken deeper than about 3 or 4-meters.

Deciding on which housing to buy and what lens/port combination to use, is not an easy thing when you can’t physically look at the housings or rent one out for the day. To help me with my decision, I started by looking at similar work produced by other photographers. In this case, Dave Collyer and Nick Hall. After a long phone conversation with Dave and an email exchange with Nick, I came to two decisions:

1. I would stick with my 12-24 mm Nikon f4 lens and forgo buying a fisheye lens (for now)
2. I would buy a dome without the focal lens adjustment (though these are available, the manufacturers themselves don’t really recommend them for surf photography).

There are the odd exceptions though, like the brand spanking new SPL water housing I picked up from the post office yesterday.

Hot dog! I haven’t felt that excited about a piece of photographic equipment…ever.

Today I took it out twice. First to test it without a camera in it. I’ve drowned a camera before sea kayaking and I didn’t want to replicate that experience with my new housing. It passed with flying colours, so I loaded it with my SLR and lens and went to a place I call ‘Weekend Beach’, about 15-minutes by moped from my place.

Using a water housing is quite a different experience to using just a camera. Though I’m still a toddler splashing in the shallow end of the swimming pool when it comes to underwater photography, I did learn a few things today. In no particular order:

1. A camera inside a water housing is a bit like picking up your camera with thick woollen mitts for the first time. Everything feels a bit awkward. It was because of this, I didn’t swim straight out into the bone crunching waves coming in on the reef edge. Instead I got used to the weight, feel and controls of the housing. Baby steps…

2. You have to protect the lens port. Colleague and friend – Dave Collyer – gave me a great piece of advice in this regard. Always flip the port up towards the surface, when not shooting and swimming over rocks and reefs. I can see how in the blink of an eye you could bang the front port and damage it.

3. Though you can look through the viewfinder, it is a bit of a clunky experience (and definitely not something you will be doing while photographing waves while in the ocean). This means I need to learn how to frame my photo without looking through the viewfinder. Today I learnt that I point the lens a little too high.

4. Good light underwater is like good light above water. Wait for the clouds to clear from over the sun, to get the best looking light and colours beneath the surface.

5. I’m using a 12-24mm lens set at 12mm, so it is pretty wide. Like shooting on land, this means you have to get close to whatever it is you are photographing.

This one sort of goes without saying, but shooting in warm crystal clear waters (yeah I know, rub it in), with a water housing IS a lot of fun. I think I walked around all afternoon with a huge smile after that session.

Can’t wait to photograph some water based ideas I’ve had since arriving in Rarotonga. Having a water housing has definitely opened up an ocean world of creative opportunities. (I just couldn’t say it).

A couple of photos from today’s test shoot.

Self portrait. Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Water surface, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

Fish, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. © www.thomaspickard.com

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“In the months after the trip [my first polar trip], I had my photos developed and was sorely disappointed. My dreams of producing epic polar images and long-lasting images of people in the polar environment, was replaced by poorly composed photos, which lacked decent lighting and at times, terrible exposures.”

Excerpt from a 10-page feature spread about my Polar Work in Issue Two of F8 Magazine.

F8 Magazine is a relatively new online magazine, published bi-monthly with the stated aim of ”publishing and promoting contemporary documentary photography and photojournalism”. The editor Miguel A Moya is doing a great job and I was really happy to talk at length about my photographic journey with my polar work. I was brutally honest about my early work, as you can probably tell from the excerpt above.

Below are 5 of the 10 published pages – you can download Issue 2 of F8 Magazine here to see the rest of my Polar Work feature and plenty of other great photography from the likes of Thomas Lee and Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert.

Links:

F8 Magazine

F8 Magazine on Facebook

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Stay in touch: Become a fan on facebook

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Japanese Peace Crane.

I spent a month in Japan in 2010. What I remember most about that trip, apart from the great food, incredible landscapes and high tech cities, was how friendly Japanese people are. To see the photos coming out of Japan of the total devastation in some areas has just been heartbreaking.

On Monday morning I was on route from Rarotonga to Christchurch. I changed planes in Auckland and was on the Auckland to Christchurch leg, seated in 22C, an aisle seat. The middle seat was empty and the window seat was taken by an elderly Japanese lady.

About half way through the flight I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, of the Japanese lady making something. Not wanting to be nosy, I didn’t bother her. A few minutes later, deep in my own thoughts, the lady tapped me on the arm and smiling gave me what she had been making:

A Japanese peace crane.

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‘What type of photography do you do?’

And while this is a fair question, I always have difficulties answering it. I feel as if I say I’m a ‘travel photographer’, then that is what I’ll be remembered as, yet I shoot so much more than just travel photography. There is little in the photographic world that I won’t photograph given the inclination and / or a photo assignment. The bottom line is this: I enjoy the visual challenge of photography.

Case in point: Late last year I received an email from my Photo Editor for Bangkok Airways magazine asking if I was available to photograph a pre-determined list of buildings for a feature story on historical buildings. While I don’t brand myself as an architectural photographer, I didn’t say no. Instead I said ‘yes’, thinking this would be a real change of pace for me.

As any architectural photographer will tell you, it really helps having a tilt-shift lens. It just so happens that I have one, as I often get jobs to photograph exteriors and interiors of buildings and resorts (but don’t peg me as an architectural photographer). In short, these lens’ help correct perspective and lens distortion. They are a speciality lens with a price tag to match.

The final feature was published in the January issue of Bangkok Airways Fah Thai Magazine. Though I was hoping for more published images, it is always good to see photos printed as full page shots. Love the clean, simple layout of Fah Thai magazine too.

Go With the Flow, Bangkok Airways Magazine. Photos © www.thomaspickard.com

Go With the Flow, Bangkok Airways Magazine. Photos © www.thomaspickard.com

Go With the Flow, Bangkok Airways Magazine. Photos © www.thomaspickard.com

Go With the Flow, Bangkok Airways Magazine. Photos © www.thomaspickard.com

Related Posts:

Published in Bangkok Airways Magazine – Artist Hassan Shameem

Published in Jetstar Asia Magazine – Bohemian Rhapsody

Published in Issue One of Island Aviation Vara Magazine

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Screen grab of my new site - www.thomaspickard.com

In response to some client comments I received late last year, I decided it was time to sit down and simplify my web presence.

When I did my initial stock take, this is how things looked:

- Portfolio site with NeonSky.

- Archive site with Photoshelter.

- Blog site I managed myself.

In terms of functionality, I had a couple of problems to deal with:

- NeonSky was too limiting for me, with respect to hosting space, client tools and having to reenter all caption information for uploaded images.

- Photoshelter lacked any decent way of allowing me to show my portfolio images, as just portfolio images. This was a big issue as I needed a good clean interface to showcase my portfolio, without the images being lost in the multiple galleries I have on my Photoshelter site.

In terms of client problems with my sites, I had picked up a couple of issues:

- Clients would often take a screen grab of an image I had on NeonSky and send that to me with their request. It made me realise that I wasn’t offering clients the functionality of a lightbox, which I did have with my Photoshelter site.

- Though my NeonSky and Photoshelter site had a similar look and feel, the two sites functionality, differed in many ways. I realised from some emails and phone conversations with people, that this was causing problems.

In terms of my own workflow, I had these issues:

- I had to maintain two sites and that takes time, particularly when I have to reenter all caption information for images I uploaded to my NeonSky site.

- If I wanted to change the look and feel of one site, I had to do the same to the other site. Again, time consuming.

In short, it was time to simplify.

Fortunately, Photoshelter introduced the ability to show images in a portfolio format around the time I was deciding what to do. That one change made all the difference for me. I decided then and there that I would use Photoshelter as the platform for Thomas Pickard Photography.

Making the changes took time as I had to:

- Prep and upload some hundred photos for my portfolio on Photoshelter.

- Select a new Photoshelter skin and tweak that to the look and feel that I wanted (you never think those tweaks will take long, but the devil is in the detail).

- Find a new host for my blog, which meant backing it up; migrating the blog database to a new host and configuring it myself via CPanels and various other things I’d never dealt with before  (I’m amazed I didn’t accidentally nuke my blog in the process).

- Rebranding my blog to the look and feel of my main Photoshelter site.

All up, these changes took about a week. Just coordinating shifting my blog hosting felt like a military exercise in synchronising watches and agreeing when NeonSky would turn the switch off and when Laughing Squid (new blog host) would turn the switch back on (they both use RackSpace for hosting).

And inevitably there was the unexpected curve ball with the portfolio functionality provided by Photoshelter. Thankfully, Photoshelter came through with flying colours, responding to the problem I identified with the portfolios and making the necessary tweak.

By the time I was finished I’d achieved what I wanted to do. Namely:

- Have one site for Thomas Pickard Photography, which shows my portfolio; works as an image library (e-commerce enabled); provides clients with lightbox functionality and lets me deliver images to clients in various ways (ftp, private galleries, lightboxes).

- Minimise the time required to keep my site fresh with recent work, tear sheets and news.

Regarding SEO, my NeonSky site had always ranked well (page 1 for my funnel keywords), so SEO wasn’t an issue for me. Likewise with Photoshelter, which provide some serious SEO juice with their sites. True, you do have to do the work to determine your SEO plan, but I’m the sort of guy who would rather roll up his sleeves and do that, than pay someone. Call me old fashioned.

My NeonSky site served me well for the time I had it and you only have to look at NeonSky’s client list to know you are in good company when you sign up with them. Photoshelter has served me well since I signed up in 2006. Photoshelter today is a mature product and while it does have some outstanding issues to be solved (lightbox functionality needs to be a LOT better), Photoshelter is now the platform that meets my image hosting and distribution requirements.

And that is the key – requirements.

You need to work out what your requirements are and what your clients’ requirements are. Making a list of must have’s and nice to have’s is a great start. Then you need to canvas what is available and decide on what works for you. That may be A Photo Folio, LiveBooks, NeonSky, Photoshelter, a designer or some other company.

Whatever you choose to do, don’t forget these two things:

- You are building the site primarily for your clients’, not you.

- Keep it simple. The easier your site is to maintain, the easier it is to keep it up to date and relevant.

[I've opened Comments on this post. Feel free to leave any comments or experiences you may have].

Related Links:

A Photo Folio

Livebooks

NeonSky

Photoshelter

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Feature spread on Siem Reap published in Jetstar Asia Magazine.

Feature spread on Siem Reap published in Jetstar Asia Magazine

At the end of last year I put the word out to some Photo Editor’s that I would be going to Siem Reap for a week. In the space of three days I had two assignments to shoot.

The first one was for Jetstar Asia Magazine. The brief was to photograph ten different venues to accompany an article on the up and coming tourist destination of Siem Reap. Ten different locations in two days is a lot to cover, when you consider I have to arrange access as well. Knowing this, my editor managed to cut the shoot list down a bit and use some existing imagery from some of the establishments they needed to cover for the article.

The article was published in the December 2010 issue. I remember seeing it while sitting in a cafe in Hanoi of all places!

Thanks to Haryati for the assignment and the great spread. And a big thank you to the people that let me photograph their premises on such short notice.

You can view and license more photos of Siem Reap here.

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Portrait of a woman, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Our last day in Vietnam was spent cruising the streets of Hanoi and catching up with friends.

What always strikes me about Hanoi is how hip the younger generation is. It is such a contrast to the people you come across out in the rural areas of Vietnam. It almost feels like a generational time warp.

We had lunch with this lady and I knew as soon as I met her that I wanted to take her portrait. She seemed to sum up the younger generation of Hanoi, which I’m referring to – young, confident and hip.

This ends my series of posts about my 14 day trip in Vietnam. Next up, the Cook Islands and my new home.

Related Posts:

Vietnam Day 11. Hill Tribe Portraits

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Early morning in Halong Bay, Vietnam.

So here’s the thing – when you get up really early, not only do you get to enjoy the peace and quiet of Halong Bay, you also get the best light of the entire day.

Related Posts:

Vietnam Day 7. The Reunification Express.

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