Younes Bounhar Photography

Reversing the curse

I found it! That’s it, the search is over.

Ok, let me backtrack, for the past year or so, I have come to believe that I have some sort of curse. I just can’t find good light anymore. I know, I know, you can make great images in any light, but come’on we all know that great light is what will put you over the top.

This curse was never more obvious than last week as I travelled around Washington state: I just couldn’t buy good light if my life depend on it! To make matters even worse, the day after I left, Jay Goodrich and Art Wolfe headed back to Rainier (without me of course), and guess what…light just materialised out of nowhere; the proof: HERE.

But my search has ended today, all I need is buy myself a llama or two…Ian Plant said it, and frankly I need to believe him.

Posted on July 22nd, 2009 in rant | 6 Comments »

Hangin’ tough

Well, I came back, battered and bruised, literally. My long week-end had a lot of good and a healthy dose of bad.

First, the good…Four days off work. Met with Photolife editor-in-chief about future plans for the magazine and me as a regular contributor, shared ideas, had a few laughs. Drove 700 clicks, landed in one of the most beautiful areas this side of the Rockies: the Charlevoix mountains. The sight was one to behold. The air was clean, the water abundant. Saw more wildlife in a morning than all year around Ottawa. Great horned owl. Porcupine. Black bear…can’t even remember the rest. Hiked-up one tough trail that overlooks the whole area. The view…no words to describe it.

Then it all came down crumbling. Was it the solitude? the isolation? The fatigue? All I wanted was to be home right then, not in an hour, not in a day. What was I doing? What’s this photography thing all about anyway? Who am I fooling? Is my photography worth anything? Am I on the right track? Is there a track? Needless to say, I had more questions than there were answers (actually no answers at all). I hiked back down to the campsite, sort of slept, got up in time for sunrise…no sunrise, just drab clouds, yet again. Folded my tent. Headed back home, dazed and confused.

I just got home this afternoon, questions still going around my head. I sat down at my computer, did the usual time wasting. I then remembered a post I read a while back that pointed to this video, by Zach Arias (you can see more here http://www.zarias.com/?p=284). I had meant to see it, but never did. I guess sometimes life has its reasons. It was just what I needed. Sorry for all the moody post, I needed to vent. Thanks for listening.

Posted on May 19th, 2009 in Random thoughts rant | 7 Comments »

Pay the writer

I know it’s a photography blog, and no I am not a writer (though, thinking about it I made more money with my writing than with my photography so far…go figure, may be I am looking at this the wrong way…hmmm…see how easy it is to lose focus! Gosh I wish I could concentrate more). Anyhow… Let me first give credit where credit is due: I owe this superb find to my fellow photographer Gary Crabbe.

Having started in photography very recently, I know all too well how tempting it is to accept any publication offer, even if it is for free. You think “what the heck, no one knows me anyway, any publicity is good publicity, let’s go for it!”. As crazy as it may sound, you should resist the temptation as hard as you can, for your own sake as well as for those who make a living out of it. Too many people expect to get just about everything for free. I have no problems doing pro bono work, I even encourage it. However, it has to be for a cause you deem worthy, not to help another business promote theirs at your expense.  But instead of rambling on (like I usuallky do) and explaining the what and the how of this story, I would simply like to point you to this video featuring American writer Harlan Ellison. I simply couldn’t say it any better. (There is some swearing involved, so use at your own risk).

Like in all my posts, I love to hear your feedback, so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts!

Posted on May 7th, 2009 in Marketing/Business rant | 2 Comments »

Attitude goes a long way

During my early morning round on twitter today, I stumbled on a tweep that said something along the lines of Thank God it’s Friday. My heart jumped in excitement and joy (I don’t hate my job, but I really like my week-ends). Then came utter disappointment, well, it’s only Thursday.

Fast forward to an hour later, I decided to reply to the tweep in question. Initially, I was thinking of saying something like “why the heck did you do that to me, not cool”. Then thinking about it, my final answer was: “For an instant you made believe it was Friday. Short-lived, but intense joy Thanks”. You see, it just got me thinking, on how often we choose to get down on ourselves, choose to see the glass half-empty instead of half-full.

The same happens to me at times when I go out shooting. You are chasing your next amazing shot, you are looking forward to that great display of light. You wait an hour, two, a day, the light just never makes it to your spot. You are disappointed, you mutter, you pack your gear, you leave, disgruntled. When that happens, you just have to remember why are doing this in the first place. Take note of your surroundings. Remind yourself of the beauty of the nature surrounding you. Sure, the sunset may not be the epic one you were praying for, but gee…do you have to take those mountains for granted too?

Just remember that whatever situation you are confronted with you can either cry and whine about it, or try and take the positive and run with it, it’s YOUR call. If all else fails, I often turn to Bobby McFerrin’s words of wisdom: Don’t worry, be happy.

Posted on April 30th, 2009 in Random thoughts rant | No Comments »

Tools of the trade

“Gotta have a big camera, eh?” (yeah, I live in Canada) That’s a question I often hear when people look at my photographs. My standard answer (after several rounds of tongue biting) is somewhere along the lines of “Yeah, it’s HUGE”.

The thing is that the camera is, well, just a thing. It’s true that having a good SLR and a good set of lenses gives you options and more freedom for exploration (unfortunately I am still waiting for the hot models to come flocking my way…I guess that’s what dreams are for). The fact is, though, that the picture-making process is about vision, creativity and conscious decision-making. Pressing the shutter release is just the culmination of the process. This doesn’t mean that I never go snap-happy like Rambo in a shooting gallery, but in general, there is some work involved behind every shot.

Beyond the preparation aspect that I discussed last week on Darwin Wiggett’s blog, every shot involves a set of conscious decisions:

- what is your subject matter?

- which part of the subject matter do you want to reflect, emphasize or present?

- what focal length would better achieve that result?

- how do you frame your subject matter in a story-telling composition?

- how much depth-of-field will be needed to convey your story?

When you have answered all these questions, you can now turn to your camera to record the moment. Your camera comes in handy to measure the amount of light on your subject in order to calculate the required exposure. But even then, it only measures what it perceives as proper exposure. Your sensor/film will take in as much light at f/8 for 1s as it does at f/2.8 for 1/125s, yet the resulting image can be completely different. Similarly, your camera’s meter exposes for midtones (18% gray to be more precise), but is that the proper exposure from an artistic point of view. You may want to underexpose your subject to add more mistery, or to make it stand out from other parts of the image. Overexposing your subject (ah the dreaded blinking highlights), can also be desirable at times. Again, your camera may give you pointers and tools to make your images, but unless you take over and make conscious decisions on what you want in your images, no camera will ever make great images for you (well until the invent the D5billion with the “nocrapimage” button, that is).

Posted on April 29th, 2009 in Gear rant | 7 Comments »

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