First invite for submission!

First Street Ladysmith-11

Originally uploaded by R J Ruppenthal

What good news for a Friday…yes this is not Friday – I am behind in my news reporting…
Anyway, I got the email from PhotoNews that they saw the photo that I submitted to their gallery on Flickr and now they would like to see the high-res image to see if it suitable and to evaluate it for their spring edition.
This is very cool for me even if not selected because it does show an interest in my work from an editor.
The weekend has not been very productive due to health reasons, so I have been concentrating on looking at articles that I can write with submitting photos to compliment them. This will be something new for me and I am going to start with a local magazine and venture out from there.
In the meantime, I am anxious to get out and shoot again as my “must do” list is getting long.
Thought I would share the news and will keep you posted if this photo does get published.
Cheers

Good Day for a Hanging

Creek Waterfalls-2

Originally uploaded by R J Ruppenthal

This past weekend the weather here in the wet coast was as promised. Wet, followed by rain and then showers. I have still not figured out the difference. One is supposed to be lighter than the other, but where I live – it’s a bit of a running joke.
Having said that, the rain gods did take a break on Sunday and the kids invited us for a drive in the mountains to explore. Explore means photo ops…
We went up behind Ladysmith and followed the main line for a couple of hours until we got the gate. The gate that was closed! Hey that’s not supposed to happen.
The forestry companies gate the logging roads if there is a potential for vandalism due to active logging or people going up to access restricted areas looking for a short cut. There are a number of reasons, all which did not apply to us.
Yes they stop “some” of the traffic, but not all of them. Quads seem to manage to get by…so why not the rest of us.
Aside from this minor set back we ended up at Holyoak Lake. The lake serves the Chemainus town with water so you can only stop and picnic near the lake – no overnight camping. If you click on the link to the Flickr gallery, you can see some of the pictures that I took there.
Going up and down the mountain because it has been raining on and off for days, one can find many scenes like the one for this blog. This was a nice little creek by the road side that we missed going up, but spotting as we were going down. You have to keep you eyes open in both directions or you miss these gems.
It was a fun day for what it was – a day out with the kids. The light was dull and gray most of the time, but there were moments were the colors were brightening up.
Tuesday of the this week is the day of the hanging of the Cowichan Valley Camera Club photos at the local library in Duncan.
There was a lot of excitement generated by the small group scrambling around, resorted the order of the photos and adjusted the wires so that they hanged just perfect…well as near as it was going to be.
I was a bit nervous. It is one thing to show family and close friends your photos and get their reactions…and it is another to post them on sites like Flickr where you don’t see the reaction of others, but usually get good feedback. But it is another thing with a face to face with still people I am just getting to know. The reactions are immediate and the silence or “oh…that’s nice” (you know how many different ways you can say that phrase?) are potential feedback triggers that bring an uncontrolled blush and “is it getting warm in here” feeling.
Don’t get me wrong – I want constructive feedback and to continue to learn through others…but on the first hanging…where you had to show case your best work…(there’s another story – wait I think I did that one)
Any way I digress…all this never happened of course. The group photos were of all very good quality. There were birds, big and small – daisy eating woodchucks – marine and boat pictures both with beautiful skies and foggy backgrounds. A wonderful diverse selection that will catch the eye of any library patron that doesn’t have his nose in a book.
After it was all said and done we parted our ways. It felt good to get the first showing out of the way. No one may ever buy it, but I am sure they might look at it and wonder or dream or wish or do a number of things that a good photo will emote from someone. It was nice to be able to share in a public gathering place.
I can not wait for the next one which we will be providing wall hangings for a local restaurant.
Later

What’s in a name?

Kayaking Rental Shop

Originally uploaded by Rick Ruppenthal

Well I got my first public showing coming this Feb 1 at the local library. The person that is putting this together gave me the instructions on the size of the frame, color of the frame and mat. All very cool and easy, however she also wanted to know the title of photo, the photographers name and how it should be displayed.
Ok, I am stressed now.
The title…it would be easy if it was the picture attached to this post, it’s the photo used in a previous post. I couldn’t show it twice in the same blog, could I?
The photo is the one with the fog rolling in the morning into the harbour at the marina in Ladysmith and it also has this blue boat house door. The door stands out, but so does the fog.
Alright, family meeting time. I need a consensus on this. Do we call it “The Blue Door” – corny; Morning Fog – I just don’t know; well how about “Marina Fog”. We liked it because it flowed and it was a name we could have given to our 5th child – if we were to have another – and it has some rhythm to it.
Glad that one is over – it only took a couple of days…
What are you going to use for you name? Oh, more choices and we want it to sound professional and elegant and blah, blah, blah…no ego here!
Rick is informal, Richard gets better – Richard John, maybe – Richard J, not bad…
I change my mind every time I am asked. Liking initials of other I artists, I settled on R J Ruppenthal. Simple is good and it has a flow to it too. Can’t believe I have spent more time on this then taking the last 500 photos! But I do realize that I have to be consistent in my labeling or no one will be able to find me or know if they have the right person.
So you will see a slow change on some of the sites to R J to be consistent. I have made up my mind, until some one changes it for me…
But I tell you, all this paper work stuff – titling, key wording, blogging, posting, processing and printing I need to retire to find more time for the fun stuff – taking pictures.

Tracks to Nowhere?

IMG_11157 – BW

Originally uploaded by Rick Ruppenthal

Day by day there is not one that goes by that I do something to advance my photography. From up dating the blog, up loading new photos, processing recent photos, organizing, reading and studying works of other photographers. There is always something to do.
When you think about it there really is not a moment that goes by that one is thinking about photography.
This leads to my story today.
There are so many discarded old books on photography that are sent out to the thrift stores. thanks goodness it is not the trash. These books, although they have old dates on them, the concepts are just as good today as they were yesterday.
My usual weekend romp is to visit thrift stores. I have found lens, filters, photograph printer paper, good and not so good tripods (my wife is wondering when I will stop the collection of these 3 legged creatures) and books…lots of them.
My mantra has always been about learning from others and that is just what these books provide me. Yes you can and I do support the new writers but at 35 to 60 bucks a pop, I can not afford too many of them. As a quick side bar – London Drugs sells their last years computer and photography books at 80% discount. I never know when and it is more miss then hit.
The books from the thrift stores are usually no more than $4 and more times than not if I wait long enough, its a bag for 2 bucks.
The secret to shopping is not to just buy anything with photography on the cover – then you are just collecting and that’s OK too. But soon you run out of shelf space…so I go with a purpose or goal in mind and it is related to my subject of interest.
Recently after photographing birds and not knowing their names, I found a book called “Complete Field Guide to North American Wildlife” for 1.50. It’s small enough to leave in the truck for references.
A couple of weekends ago I purchased a 5 volumes of instructional books by Ansel Adams. For the $5 there is 100’s in information from the master of tone.
The latest book is “Photographic Seeing”, how to train your photo-eye and it came with 16 pages of color! WOW
I have not finished it…and I rarely finish a book but go to chapters that interest me. These books are not too big on plot lines, so starting in the middle will not spoil anything. So for practice when driving to work or on my paper route (those that know me, will know I am not a paperboy) I use some of the knowledge of these books to imagine me taking a picture of the scene that just went by.
If I stopped every time I saw something, my bosses would have me packing and I can’t afford that. Hmm to retire and have the time????
Someday…but for now I will continue to study and take photos when I can.

Hummingbird Party (on cloudy sky)

Hummingbird Party (on cloudy sky)

Originally uploaded by frog22209

Found this photo on Flickr. Its from frog22209 who made a comment on one of my photos.
What I liked about it was the sense of chaos it gave – which is where my head is at right this moment.
It is so hard to focus on one thing at a time while there are a hundred of tasks to complete. Even while I write this, I am up loading photos to my gallery at Fine Art America…
Oh, I will never change…fluttering from one task to another, doing a little here and there. Before you know it I will have several good starts – some half finished – some almost done – forgot to finish – and finished projects.
Hey, there is always tomorrow!

Join the Club

What is a nonconformist joining a club? Why would I join a club that would have me as a member? All these troubling questions…

Well I went to one last night. I dragged my good friend Ben both as a security blanket, just in case I get roughed up by the group (Ben’s a big guy) and someone to talk to…ok everyone go ahhhhhh…ok stop!

Ben and I have talked about this off and on for over a year. It was his suggestion in 08 if you believe that, to join this group to get some experience and ideas. Well we both became too busy and before you knew it 09 was gone! What happened?!

Enough is enough and busy is busy and nothing was going to change unless I did. So last week I emailed Ben (who phones now a days…?) Said I was going and invited him along. He took the bait and we were set to go.

I posted the link to their we site, because that was the bait for me. The site is simple and informative about the group. There are numerous galleries to view and tons of photos to ooooo and ahhhh over. As a matter of fact there are some really good photographers in this club.

There is one thing I learned when I was younger (yes only one thing,s ad but true). To get good at anything you have to play with the best. I learned that playing tennis, ping pong, billiards, cards and guitar.

I was about 14 when someone I heard this saying:

“You gain experience by doing, but you gain wisdom by learning through the experience of others”

If there was one lesson that I would be stow upon my kids is that one. It has served me well and saved me a lot of time…

So that is why I joined the club. This group was a collection of experiences that I wanted to learn from. There is so much to learn in this field of photography. It’s one thing to have a good eye…but capturing your vision is another thing.

The guest speaker for the evening was Dave Blackey. He had been a club member for 6 years and about 2 years ago started to dabble in stock photography. He had a lot to share and I was grateful for what he shared to the group that night. Dave shared a story about a friend of his that spent 2 years putting together a book. One third of the book was photographs that his friend took the rest text. His friend submitted 300 photos, all tagged and titled to the editor and the editor selected 150 for the book. I suppose that is not too bad a ratio.

He asked the group, how many photos did his friend have to take to get to the 300 for submitting? We all know about taking photos, you have to take lots…so the first number that came up was 1000…nope higher…10,000….nope higher…30,000…nope higher! 40,000 was the magic number. So for over the 2 year period this person took 40,000 photos, traveled all over the valley looking for locations – sorted – deleted – selected – adjusted – tagged – titled – captioned down to 300. That’s a wow…do I hear a wow out there? WOW

That’s what it takes. That’s the kind of dedication and persistence it takes to get this job done sometimes. But at the end of the struggle you have something you truly created – something to share and be proud of…

After the presentation there was the committee up dates and then the evening was over. It went fast, we both signed up and paid our yearly dues and left smiling and chatting all the way home…better than wee wee all the way home. (Got to stay away from my granddaughters books)

So what’s next.

Well I just got an email for a showing at the local library Feb 1 till Mar 15. The photos can have selling prices attached, so that might be interesting. But what to show…it is my first you know…

A good morning in Ladysmith

The alarm didn’t go off, I just woke up. Is that rain I am hearing, hoping that it may be so I can catch a few more winks of sleep.

No I better check. The Town of Ladysmith is not going to keep the lights burning for ever. Often wondered why they won’t because it provides most of the color during our dull gray winters here on the wet coast.

There was no rain. It had stopped over night and now there was nothing else to do but get up and head out. I knew once I got up and started to move the rest would just follow…it’s that first step ;(

Fresh coffee and and I am off. I had preset my camera and mounted my 16-50 zoom. The plan was to stop at the bottom of the First Street and walk up one side and then the other taking pictures of the lights and the store front windows. The windows have been an idea that’s time had come. I like the looks of the windows at dusk or early morning when the owners leave enough lights on inside to show enough detail. (To see those images you will have to visit my flickr site.)

The street was wet from the rain and provided a nice sheen and glow from the street and Christmas lights. There were little cars parked nor were there a lot of people around, after all it was Sunday and 6:45 in the morning!

Everything went according to plan – except…

The battery! I was using live-view on the K7 and noticed that the 2 bars went down to 1. Oh…oh, not a great sign. so to save on the battery it was back to looking through the view finder. I wear glasses and a baseball cap most of the time and both usually get in the way when I am looking through the finder. The live-view is a great feature. I can stand back and focus…and if I am not too sure on the focus, zoom in with the screen and fine tune. I keep forgetting about that feature – always learning something new with the K7.

Note to Self – I should charge the battery more often. Not used to getting 600 plus shots on a charge but I should get in the habit.

Having finished I noticed the sun rising and producing some color in the sky. Something I was not expected. Speaking of sunrises, the best one so far this year was last Thursday – January 7th. Everyone I met over the last couple of days asked. “Did you see that sunrise the other day?” Yes and no I did not get a picture of it…

I raced down to the harbor turning right instead of left and ended at the launch ramp. Took some shots anyway, but not too happy with them. The sky was nice but the foreground didn’t do a thing for me. I might look at them later again but for now they are off the radar.

So this is the sight I saw when I finally got to the Ladysmith Marina. The fog was rolling in and the sun was rising, however there was a front also moving in. The clouds were broken in the south letting some red light through which caused a wonderful glow when it did.

Met Rob one of the crew at the marina and yes he asked about that sunrise on Thursday. Best he had ever seen and he has seen a lot as he described some beauties from various parts of the world that he has visited. To travel and take pictures – now that would be the life.

The morning was great. The temperature was like spring. The water was so calm…if it wasn’t for the fog and that front…

Can’t wait for boating season!

For the rest of series of photos taken that day visit my gallery at Flickr (link in the column) and set it to slide show. Enjoy and please leave a comment if you like.

Now go and take on the day!

Take the opportunities and zero the camera!

The Bench, The Boat and the Rainbow

Originally uploaded by Rick Ruppenthal

You have to pack your camera at all times. On my way back from picking up supplies to unclog a toilet (yes someone had to do it) I noticed this distant rainbow. Thinking that I should be able to get a good shot near the water, I headed straight for it. I was in luck – there was little time to take photos. Maybe 20 minutes tops. If I had left my camera at home, even though it was not far away, I would have ran out of time.
It turned out to be a good 20 minutes. Got this shot and a number with seagulls flying all over the place in front of the rainbow. They turned out not too bad given I had not zeroed my camera from the last shot.
Zeroing your camera is putting things back to “your”default. For me, I bracket a lot and use the tripod and remote. It’s a little frustrating when you start shooting on the fly and the first is exposed right and the next two are under and over exposed. Would have be ok if I planned it that way…so at the end of your shot – zero the camera. I got the idea from Joe McNally – thank you sir – good advice, just got to remember it…must be getting old

London Drugs Photobook – review

I am so pleased with the results of the photo book that London Drugs printed! Although I missed the deadline for submission to get the bood done for Christmas, it was worth the wait…and now I can’t wait for another project.

I had looked at the Wal Mart offer and was just not too sure. It appeared, and I could be wrong (many times before), that the Wal Mart books were set to a template that could not be changed. With 1000 plus photos to pick from, I wanted to jam as many as I can, but keeping the book looking clean and provide lots of space for text.

London Drugs program seemed to fit the bill. It IS the only program that I have tried and my review here is very bias, so if others have any experience of other services, please share.

Set up is very easy. It starts with enrolling in a free account and downloading the software.

There are a number of choices and decisions to make on the type of book you want. I wanted large pages and probably a book with at least 50 pages. It turned out to have 60 – I was on a roll. There are book styles that limit the type of paper and how many pages you can have. The style I picked is more towards a table top photo book then an album type with thick cardboard pages. Also that type had a window on the cover that was a photo or showed you the image on the first page. The store has several samples to look at if you can’t decide from the pictures on the website and program. My choice enabled me to design my own cover and have it wrap to the back cover…very cool.

Now the fun part. Choosing the photos, size and placement on the pages. You can even have a photo be the background image for either a one or two page spread. This is what I did for 99% of the book. I picked an image that had a lot of open space, like the sky and was able to add text and usually 3 to 4 smaller images on the page, arranged to that it did not take anything away from the background image. This takes a bit of time, but if you don’t rush and think about it you will come up with a good layout.

Like I said, the program is very easy to use and learn. Each page is separate and can be edited at anytime. So if you find that a photo should be on the back page instead of the front, its a cut and paste operation. The program saves periodically, but you know the rule – SAVE OFTEN! anyway.

Each book sytle comes with a minium number of pages for the price. The photobook starts with 20 pages and when you run out, you just add more. The cost is reasonable and is just over $1.00 cdn. The photo album pages are about $2. You can not mix pages and you wouldn’t want to.

Once you got it done, now you can publish simply by hitting the publishing button. The program builds a PDF file of the book with a watermark over each page so that you can not print your own pages. You can print a test page but I did not bother. The PDF file is then reviewed. Read and look at your book very carefully. Spell checks work for mis-spelled words. Where, were, wear don’t show up on spell-checks! The english language is so confusing!

After the review and some minor changes – I hit the submit button and a network link was made and the file was downloaded to the London Drugs site. They say that it should take 7 to 10 days to process and you can pick it up at the store of your choice.

You get an email and phone call – drive down to the store – look at the book for approval, pay and enjoy. Like I said, I was impressed. The photos were from our trip to the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Yellowstone and the reproduction of the images were bang on. The colors were awesome and bounced off the pages. Vibrant and clear.

You can not beat a good photo book for picking up and throwing it in to your bag or dropping of at the Grandparents or just sitting by the fireplace.

Try it once and you will be back looking through your files for more themes to put to print.

To New Beginnings…

Sunset at Cox Beach, Tofino, BC

Happy New Year to all who have ventured to this blog. May you be blessed with many good experiences for many years to come.

Yes indeed, it is another new year and another new decade. Where has the time gone?

It is always at this time of year that we reflect on the activities of the past, our missed goals, our weight gain, lack of funds and a wide range of other thoughts more related to missed opportunities than positive accomplishments.

Why is that? Every year I promise to do better…

So what will I do this year? Lots of stuff! This year will be pushing the envelope and expanding that box.

Last year was a good test. Many things happened that made photography a challenge – mostly around time. You know you can not manage time…you can only manage the results in a given time. So this year will be about getting those results.

I have set up a Redbubble account for displaying and selling what I consider my better photos or fine art. My Flickr site is running and generating a bit of traffic on the view scale. I have submitted 10 photos to Getty for micro-stock and waiting results on that. The “I must have this camera” was purchased and tested in the Grand Canyon and is all the camera I had hoped it to be. (Pentax K7)

So last year was a good foundation. This year is pushing that more. Self promotion through the web – looking at possibly a website. Learning more about printing and what makes a photo fine art. Joining a local camera group has always interested me, so will be looking forward to that. Submitting more photos and setting other micro-stock accounts to generate some mad money for more equipment. Submitting works to more contests, part of the self-promotion. And possibly taking on small photo shots if asked. Not sure on this one as time is precious, however for the experience and to help a family member or friend, it would be worth it.

Goals are great and I believe everyone should have them. More important than goals is your vision. The vision is the context to which you operate from. Goals measure your success toward obtaining your vision.

For this year I hope your vision is clear and that you set some goals that will take you out of your comfort zone!