Week 9: Josh Spiers

ls: After a bit of a break we are back to feature our sporting superstars. This week we have Josh Spiers from the Cannons Basketball Club.

ls: What sports do you play?

js: Basketball & a little golf.

ls: What clubs do you currently play for?

js: Cannons.

ls: How many years have you been playing?

js: 12 years.
ls: What position do you play?
js: Shooting guard and small forward.

ls: How did you get involved in these sports?

js: My brother started playing when I was 2 so I had to go to training with him and I used to like bouncing the ball from a very young age. I did terriers at TBI and then started playing when I was 6
ls: What rep honours have you achieved?

js: u12- u18 Townsville heat, Northern School Basketball u12 (07, 08) Qld School Basketball (08) Northern School Sport u15 (10,11) Honary Qld Team (11) Northern Open School Basketball (12,13) Qld School Basketball (13), U16 Qld North (11) u18 Qld North (12, 13) u20 Qld Team (14), Townsville Crocodiles Sharp Start. QBL Townsville Heat.

ls: Ok you have achieved a lot in a short space of time, that is an impressive CV. How much time is involved?

js: Training every day for at least an hour or so and anywhere up to two hours. Sometimes I have multiple sessions a day.

ls: What is the best part of playing the sport?

js: The best part about basketball is just the game itself. It lets you play with friends and makes me feel good about myself. I could be having a bad day and as soon as I start playing nothing else matters.

ls: I think that is important, I know I still play sport for the same reason. What is the worst part?

js: There isn’t really a bad part about basketball, but I would have to say losing. Losing and the fatigue it puts on your body.

ls: What is your favourite event?

js: My Favourite event by far is the Australian Nationals. It allows you to play against the best in the country and allows you to play with other people from around the state that you normally wouldn't play with.

ls: What is your biggest accomplishment in your sports?

js: My biggest accomplishment would be recently signing with the Loyola Marymount Division 1 University.

ls: So the upshot of this is Josh is headed to the college system in the united states. I have come across a few athletes with these ambitions, so all the best in america Josh. What one or two things do you currently do in your training that are keys to your success?

js: Getting a lot of shots up and just working on the fundamentals.

ls: What would be your ultimate achievement?

js: My ultimate achievement would be to play basketball professionally. That’s the ultimate dream.

ls: What is the best advice you have been given?

js: Best advice I was ever given was that to be the best you have to push past your limits.

ls: Do you have a saying or motto that you live your life by?

js: No I don’t

ls: Where do you draw your inspiration from? 

js: My brother, as a little child even being 9 years older he would never let me win. I used this as inspiration to be better than him and still to this day I try to impress him with what I can do. 

ls: Are you sure you want him to know that? How do you set your goals?

js: I look at that is possible to achieve from the game of basketball and try and strive to reach that level.

ls: Great advise for anyone really. What do you like to do in your free time away from your sport?

js:Relax and just shoot around. I can’t really get away from the sport for too long.

ls: Do you have any pre-match routines? 

js: I try not to have any pre game routines, but I would say that I always imagine plays that I can make in the game before I do my warm ups

ls: A few quick questions for Rhonda, Josh's mum to get the parents point of view. Wondering how much time and driving is involved with travel and training?

rs: As we live not too far from the stadium it has not been too bad.  When he started to make state teams we had to travel up the coast a bit more.

ls: Are there limitations on the number of sports that Josh can play?

rs: He has played other sports at school but due to cost, basketball is his main sport and occasionally when he has time he plays golf with his dad.

ls: Are there benefits to them playing different sports?

rs: I think team sports are important to help the learn to work with others.

ls: Are there difficulties in getting them to the sport and in getting them to practice and train?

rs: Josh has always been quite dedicated to his sport, sometimes the early morning sessions were a bit difficult.

ls: Do you enjoy going to the game?

rs: Yes I try not to miss too many.

ls: How much impact does the cost of sport have?

rs: We have used basketball trips as our family holiday but usually only every second year.

ls: We wish Josh all the best in the future, especially with his move into the college system in the United States. There will definitely be an increase in standards, but what is obvious is Josh's passion for the game and desire to get to the top. I will say that Josh was one of the most nervous athletes that we have photographed, he will have to get used to it over there. Most Colleges have a very elaborate photographic and publicity machine driving their programs.

Professional Photographic Standards.

An interesting question for the multitude of "professional photographers" out there is the simple question, "What is the difference between broad and narrow lighting and which do you use to make a person appear thinner?"

The biggest issue with my profession is the the new photographers coming into it often do not take the time to learn the technical aspects of photography. If you do not know what the exposure triangle is, then before you call yourself a professional and start to charge for your services, learn what it is and how it affect your images. It is actually very important.

On my Facebook page it comes up with a lot of the local professional photography pages so I get to have a look at a lot of them. There are some amazing photographers out there, taking incredible images. There are a lot though, that have no idea about lighting and how to use it. It is one of the frustrations of professional photography because this lack of lighting ability is now becoming the accepted standard by the public.

As a profession we need to lift the standards and maybe have a benchmark for what is considered a professional standard photograph. The AIPP try to provide this but with 97% of professionals electing not to joining such organisations, we are fighting a losing battle.

Photographic competitions

Here is a big comment, but I believe that all photographers calling themselves professional should be entering at least one professional photographic competition a year. If you are a member of that AIPP then it is a requirement of maintaining your membership to enter into the APPA's. Why do I say this? We have learnt so much from the competitions that we have entered and we have had a bit of success. We have also had a few disappointments along the way as well so it does balance out. I will admit we have been professional photographers for 8 years, but only started entering the competitions last year. That was definitely a mistake and in the end, slowed our progress. What better way is there than to get people with huge amounts of experience and technical skills to assess your work.

There are however, a couple of problems with the APPA's. Firstly it is very expensive to enter into the competition and secondly, and my point with this blog, is that you actually need to get the feedback from the judges to really benefit from the competition. That means you not only have the cost of entry, cost of the print and matting and the cost of posting to where ever the location is that year, you also have to travel to the judging. Costly from Townsville and there is also the time factor as well.

This is one of the reasons that I love the International Loupe Awards, (Google if interested). Entry is only $35/image, unlimited entry's and when you get the result you also get the judges feedback from between one and three of the judges. So here is my point. This is one of the images that has just come back from the International Loupe Awards.

The set up is the location shoot of a wedding at The Brewery, one of my favourite locations. We were photographing using the window light, generally in the narrow range, when I noticed the beautiful rim lighting effect that the light was having on Regina. The light is actually coming from the right and reflecting of the wall and through the window, stunning.

So what are your thought about it without cheating and checking on what the judges said about the image. (I have posted their comments below). I knew that I had problems with the reflections and when I took the image should have bracketed the image probably 2 to 3 stops under the exposure that I used. That would give me details in the highlighted areas that were blown out  in the original exposure.

Unfortunately, my Photoshop skills need work and that is one area I did get pick up on. The rest of the comments I completely missed. That being said the image scored 77, enough to score a bronze medal last year, but 3 points shy of award status this year. Still happy with the result and will think a little more about it next time. I also love this image but take on board what the judges have said.

Judges Comments:

Critique Comments:

Judge 1:   line runs directly through her nose

Judge 2:  The light on this is very nice and well handled. There a re a couple of fundamentals here though which weaken the image. Placement of the bride - just an inch back and you would not have that line going through her nose - its very distracting, you have taken the time to set this up so just note small things like this and adjust. She also looks a little stiff but her expression is relaxed. There is a lot of visible retouching which lets this down. Sometimes its good to just leave an image alone..

Judge 3: The line of the window, cut the nose of the Bride.

Summer Weddings

As our last post explained, summer weddings in Townsville are difficult and require a lot of extra planning. With this in mind, Leiden Studios will offer an 10% extra digital images for  all of our packages for wedding booked in the months of December 2012, and February and March 2013. If you are getting married during these months, give us a call and come in and have a coffee with us.

Danni & Paul on the beach at Maggie Island

If you know someone getting married in these months, let them know about this special offer. The offer will only be available until the end of November.

Summer Weddings

Have you noticed how hot it gets in summer in Townsville? So can you imagine how hot it is for couples who elect to get married during our summer months. It produces a range of different problems that southern states would not seem possible. Having said that I met a photographer at the "Hair of the Dog", the annual conference of the Queensland branch of the AIPP. He had flown up from Melbourne where the day before he shot a wedding in 46C heat. Now that is hot.



Kell & Dom at Pallerenda
 

In Townsville, we have to beat the heat in creative ways as photographers. Later weddings, so after 4.00pm, going to an air condition building for photos after the wedding and then venturing out to the Strand or Pallerenda for sunset photos. The Brewery or Cactus Saloon or the Holiday Inn provide lots of great locations for photos while waiting for the cooler and better lighting conditions to arrive outside.

At any wedding in Townsville regardless of the time of year, we always recommend that the bridal party has an eskie, yes have a few bears and wine, it is a celebration after all. However it must have water as well and all need to remember to drink a little through the day. A few nibbles as well are useful as many find it hard to eat before the wedding. Both sides of the bridal party need to be aware of heat stress, not a great way to finish your day if you get a case of heat stress through not drinking enough water.





Luke & Jesse at the Tea Rooms Harvey's Range
 

The big problem is for the boys, especially in their three piece suits and sweating. While Photoshop can remove a lot of the sweat marks from faces and cloths, it is very time consuming to do a lot of images. How you get around this I'm not sure. I would say if you are going to get married in summer then dress in accordance with the weather. Three piece suits are probably not a great idea, open collared shirt a little more sensible. We have photographed everything from shorts and shirt to full military uniforms. While I remember the uniform was worn with great dignity and he looked fantastic, the post production was a lot more difficult. Of course the same goes for the bride, go for simple, single layered dresses, not multi layered glamour gowns. They might look fantastic, but are easy to over heat in and then your day is memorable for all the wrong reasons.

 



Chris & Lisa at Jupiters

The other aspect of summer weddings is rain. Not much you can do about it if it does rain, but you need a plan B in place if you are having an outdoor ceremony. Most reception venues will allow you to use their facilities if the rain comes down, so talk to them when you are booking your reception. It has only happened to us once, a wedding was moved from Queens Gardens to The Pier Restaurant. Still a great location and at least they had it as a alternative.


The most important aspect of a wedding is that it is memorable an enjoyable. Weddings in a Townsville summer are definitely a challenge, but with a bit of thought a great time can still be had by all.


 

 

 

The beauty of Photography

Photography is permanent, once captured there is a permanent record of the split second in time that will last forever. Well maybe not. The image has to be captured correctly, and in the digital age, stored correctly. This means backing up, backing up, backing up. Images stored singularly on a hard drive of a computer are destined to be lost, simple as that. If you have never had a hard drive failure, you will, it is only a matter of time. It usually happens at the most difficult or inconvenient time.

We have a Raid system that automatically backs itself up. Because we are a profession studios we have to have other systems in place to ensure we do not lose any clients work. This is done with two external drives, one is kept off sight, the other backs up each night. These are rotated every week. As it stands the most we can lose is one weeks work. That is still not good enough really, especially if that week we lost was a wedding. Can you imagine calling someone to tell them their wedding photos are lost. It would kill your business.

Why the need for off sight? Backups only work if you still have them. A fire, theft, or natural disaster destroys both the original and backup. Very frustrating if it is your photos that are lost. It has happened to friends who were backing up their images and were burgled. Of course they stole both the computer and the backup. Suddenly any image that you might need is gone.

The problem with all of these back ups, especially with modern cameras, is the actual size of the files. Last year we took 1.8Tb, that's Tera bytes of images. Drives are mounting up. The DAM (Digital Asset Management) books say that 3 backup is minimum with one of those backups being kept off sight and one a non rewritable disc like DVD or Blue ray. The need to go to Blue Ray is evident when you consider that we take about 32Gig of images at a single wedding or about 9 DVD's. Clearly there has to be ever increasing capacity for the storage of these images.

So if your images are currently just stored on your computers hard drive, time to work out how to back them up and do it today, no time like the present. Why am I writing about this, one of this years backups has just failed. No damage, we have 2 other backups, but to back up a full year, or to October as is the case here will take about 24 hours. Needs to be done know.

Professioal Photographer or Photoshopper

There was an interesting post on Facebook the other day questioning if a photographer who uses photoshop is actually a professional photographer or photoshopper. The question came that it should be captured correctly in camera and therefore you should not need photoshop.

I have to say that there may be merit to this comment on photography, however that is about all I would agree with. Unfortunately in this age, the modern camera is outstanding and is very affordable. The number of people picking up a camera and believing that there is a quick buck to be made out of photography is amazing. So if you are a photographer who does this for a living you have to separate yourself from the pack of happy snappers. This is achieved by the ability to "finish" the image, by covering to black & white, adding a texture or border, or bringing out the detail that is in the image. Producing an amazing print or album, something that has always been the photographic product, not a low res image on Facebook.

Unfortunately, a lot of the new breed of professional photographer believe that by undercutting other professionals is the way to a successful career. A basic understanding of f-stops, shutter speed and composition is not really needed as the camera does it all for you. An image that is correctly exposed with great use of the light and is well composed will stand out from the crowd because so few photographers actually know how to do these things. If you can then finish the image so that it looks like a work of art, then as a professional you will be miles in front of the pack.

So what is a professional photographer? To me it is someone who's primary income is from photography. To do this, the skill set required is large. A basic understanding of all technical aspects of photography is essential, getting back to get it right in camera so that photoshop is only used to enhance the image, not "fix" it. A wide range of Photoshop skills so that the absolute best can be produced from the raw camera image. An understanding of colour balance and colour space to produce the best possible print of the image. And then a range of business skills to allow the growth of the business. Marketing, sales, accounting, networking, cash flows etc. are required to be a successful photographer. Not an easy job, but definitely worth it.

Watch this space, Leiden Studios is going to embark on an adventure aimed at the beginner to intermediate photographer.