Younes Bounhar Photography

Architecture Workshop Results

As promised, Hagen and Sandy were both kind enough to send me a few images they took during their private workshop with yours truly over the past two week-ends. Working with these guys was about as much fun as it  can be and I had a blast (and I didn’t even have to pay!).

You can see some more of their work on their respective websites: Hagen Hohn and Sandra Finner.

Posted on March 11th, 2010 in Images Workshops | 2 Comments »

Kaleidoscope

I was in Montreal last week for training. On the way back home I couldn’t help but stop at the Palais des Congres near the metro. I managed to sneak a few shots before I hopped on the bus. I simply couldn’t resist the display of colours and awesome diagonals the building offered at every turn…

Posted on February 28th, 2010 in Images | 4 Comments »

In the metro

A quick grab with my iPhone in the  Montreal subway.

Posted on February 25th, 2010 in Images iPhone | 1 Comment »

Curves, curves and more curves

What else can I say? I am simple man, I like curves (and, no, there are no connotations of any kind tied to this statement, well, OK, may be just a little). Whenever out on a shoot there are several elements you can look for to enhance your compositions. For me, personally, the number one element of design I strive to capture is the curve. It’s beautiful, it’s sensual, it’s soft yet instills energy in your images.

This is a tip that is equally valid when you shoot wide angles as it is when you aim for more intimate compositions.  When I headed out to the Ottawa train station on Sunday, I had a fairly good idea of what the shot I wanted to get: a wide angle composition that nicely captured the structure of the stairs leading to the quay. It was simply a matter of framing the rails in such a way that the spiral leads your eyes down the staircase and into your composition.

Now still keeping with the wide-angle theme, there is nothing that says you have to keep your camera level or straight. There is nothing preventing you from following the natural flow directed by the curves you are shooting. Here, you have to use the distortion of the wide-angle lens to your advantage and accentuate the curve. There is no recipe, I just get there and experiment to my heart’s content. I probably shot close to 80 shots that day only to keep 7-8 at the end (which I would still consider a good day!). Here I would recommend that every now and then you stop, step back and chimp a bit, take a long look at your shots, see what you like, what you like less and see if there is more you would want to work on. It’s a lot easier to take more shots on the spot than have to come back later (specially if you only have one shot at it!).

Now if wide-angle distortion accentuates curves, telephoto compression can allow you to bring together elements in a more 2D composition where curves take on a different look. The photo above and the follow examples show you just that.

Posted on February 15th, 2010 in Images Photography Tips | 9 Comments »

Follow the curve

Sometimes, you just never know where you will find your next subject or when inspiration will hit you and start your neurons firing all over the place. As I was heading to board my plane to Brussels a few weeks ago, I came across this odd sculpture at Toronto’s Pearson airport, when my head said “Jackpot”. This thing has photo opp written all over it and I couldn’t help but take a few snaps in the very limited time I had with it. Before you knew it, I had my Nikon 14-24 on my D700 and I was happy shooting. Here I was particularly drawn to the strong curves and the color contrast between the various structures and the twilight sky showing behind the glass.

Moral of the story: always have a camera ready to go. No, it doesn’t have to be your super duper top of the line D75000XPFS, but any camera is DEFINITELY better than any camera. In my next post, I will be displaying a shot or two taken with my iPhone just to demonstrate this point.

Posted on February 8th, 2010 in Creativity Images | 2 Comments »

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