Infrared Season
A personal project from the past two winters highlighted how low the sun is on the horizon during the winter months. It's what's creating those long drawn out shadows. You can get them in the other seasons, but only in the early morning or late evening. In the Winter, you can shoot them all day long on any sunny day.
Photography at f8 at 1/180th sec, ISO 200 - Finch Arboretum.
Photography Classes Available
at
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"Ed Hendler Cable Bridge"
in
the Blue Hour
Pasco, Wa
Photographer: Mike Busby
Mike Busby's School
of
Photography
"Old Faithful"
in Infrared
f8, 1/500th sec at ISO 200
Presented by
Mike Busby's School of Photography
November 1, 2019
Introductory to Professional level
Instruction
"New Friends"
One of my happy shots. I had wanted to shoot the barn in the background, but
this huge horse galloped to us as soon as we got out of the truck.
It was shot in infrared at f8, 1/500th sec at ISO 200.
Mike Busby
Mike Busby's School of Photography
Mike Busby Photography/Google Information
(509) 995-2954 --- E 59 Queen, Suite 106 --- Spokane, WA 99207
A few nights ago I was working on “Last Call” while watching old episodes of the Twilight Zone. It’s been a great source of inspiration due its settings, themes, and unique approach to storytelling. It came to me that it was time to create a body of work that speaks to the Twilight Zone. A new theme to help me see beyond convention. This portfolio reflects past work, it's meant to inform the future, and it flows with my thoughts on creativity.
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Last Call - Mike Busby Photography |
"Last Call at Gallow's End" © 2015, Mike Busby
People say someone is creative, or that creativity is reflected in someone’s work. However, creativity is not a singular trait or skill — it’s the collection of our attitudes and approaches to life. When we look to creativity we find it consisting of our willingness to encounter new events; our temperaments while interpreting new experiences; the capacity to stretch the imagination; and our ability to question our beliefs. Improving creativity is picking one of these categories and start working on it.
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"Out There" © 2013 Mike Busby |
Creativity is more than the crafting of expression — it's how we make meaning of experiences, and it’s essential to navigating everyday life. Everybody has it, and everybody uses it. It manifests when a child uses a crayon, when someone builds something new, or whenever someone engages with their passion. Before expression there is discovery and the imagination, and this is where creativity thrives.
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"Distant View" © 2015 Mike Busby |
Exploration is my passion, and I use the camera to see beyond conventional horizons. My view of exploration is not necessarily one of new places, but one of new perspectives — the thrust of the Twilight Zone. Infrared is used to photograph an alternate light spectrum. One that exists in nature, but resides just beyond the visible realm. Places of reflection are used to view the grandeur of nature, and how it can be observed and shared through design elements. I’ve come to understand that greater themes are not necessarily great in and of themselves, but they become great when framed with the human condition. I’ve used place and space to reflect elements of the known and the unknown and their effect when placed together. Not all of these ideas are used in every shot, but every once in a while something presents itself, and these thoughts give direction to capturing it.
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"To Dwell in Starlight" © 2016 Mike Busby |
The Twilight Zone is the space where a pause is given to the imagination. It’s a place of reflection without concerning ourselves with others. It’s a place of personal freedom and enjoyment, and it’s the place where we become ourselves. Writing to it and giving it language makes it real. Articulating abstract notions into design elements shifts it from romantic ideals into physical representations. Creating a portfolio gives a target to creative direction that will inform future work.
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"Crossroads Tree" © 2016 Mike Busby |
Sterling’s introduction to the first season resonates with the creative thoughts of the great names like Hegel, Kant, Einstein, and Sagan. I consider myself a practical guy living in a practical world, but I’m also someone who wants to explore beyond conventional experience and understanding — and it seems there is some direction emanating from the Twilight Zone.
"Grace" and the Nature of Beauty
The second image to merit at International competition, and this one did exceptionally well. It was selected because it was well liked on social media, and because there's a ton of design elements present in what appears to be a rather simple image. There's form and shape, it's high-key, clear use of the rule of thirds, symmetry, and a little asymmetry using negative space.
"Grace" PPA Merited 2019
One of my passions is philosophy, and finding ways to look past what I know. So much so that I achieved a Masters in Philosophy a few years ago with emphasis on the nature of art, creativity, beauty, critiquing, and the judgments of taste. Beauty, for me, is not necessarily the material aspects of a work of art, but that deep sense of satisfaction we get when we nail a great shot, complete a difficult project, solve a problem, or come across a work that deeply resonates with us. So, beauty is not necessarily in a thing, but it resides in the everyday things that we do as we navigate our way through life. It's also not limited to art world, but encompasses all vocations, hobbies, and interests.
The reason I bring up beauty is because we can break it apart and understand it better through Philosophy. The more we understand, the more we can apply it to our creations. For example, and just one theory, is that Beauty can be broken into three categories. There's the beauty everyone understands by simply being human (elements of space, time, emotion), sensory experiences (colors and textures), and conceptual beauty (beauty related to ideas or how we think beauty should be).
Works that emphasize space, time, or emotion tend to form stronger images, as a broader audience understands it. Sensory experience tends to be more aesthetic to the individual, and the area thats most subjective in critiquing and judging. Conceptual tends to be more cultural - it's an ideal of beauty is suppose to be. In the photography and competition world, the conceptual realm can also be called industry standards - the expectations of good photography. These are not absolute, and one can veer dramatically away from categories. If someone pulls it off, then they are rewarded as being creative. If they don't do well, then it's crash and burn.
My question to you is: Is there interest in a class based on strengthening images. A four day class with four sessions across four weeks. The class would encompass composition, advanced composition, and how we interpret beauty. I envision a classroom session with discussion, and then in-the-field workshops intended specifically to capture stronger images. The final day would be a review of images and open feedback. Class size limited to 4. This class is going to dig deeper and with more specifics as to what makes a strong image.
Thanks for reading and please leave comments here or on Facebook.
Mike
The Spokane Clock Tower
It's one of those shots where there was a lot of drama with the light, so it was a good candidate to show as a black and white.
This was shot just a little past sunset using the 20mm 1.8. In fact, it's the super wide angle of the 20mm that's capturing the transition of light in the background sky. It's something that would be hard to get with a 50mm or higher.
It was shot at f11 for 15 Seconds at ISO 100.
Thanks for taking a look.
Mike
Mike Busby's School of Photography
I caught up on a lot of stuff this week and found myself with a little time. So, I went to Manito Park for awhile and found some cool stuff.
Aperture Priority Mode with Tamron 180mm Macro. F8 at 1/2000 sec, ISO 400
Thanks for taking a look.
Mike Busby
Mike Busbys School of Photography
Another Macro shot using my standard settings.
The settings were 1/750th sec at f5.6, ISO 400. These are the settings for most of my shots with moving insects. Sometimes f5.6 and sometimes f8, bur rarely anything else. The real key is to shoot on bright sunny days. It can be done on darker days, but it becomes problematic pretty quick.
Contact Mike if you want to learn how to shoot like this.
Another shot from an early morning excursion to Manito and I think I'm going to be spending some more time there.
If you want to learn more about Macro photography, or even just general photography, then contact Mike at the School of Photography
Mike Busby
(509) 995-2954
Easy enough, just an nice shot of Duncan Gardens early in the morning.
Mike Busby
Mike Busby's School of Photography
This is geared towards new and intermediate photographers and other photographers who've made photography waaaaay to complicated.
We left early and shot Manito Park a little after 7:00 this morning. I hear advice all the time about shooting on manual and using manual focus for macro. I can't fathom the advice and in my view, it's quite possibly the worst advice I've heard. I bought an expensive camera to work for me, not so that I have to work for it. It's more important for me to be focusing on the moment and not fiddling with the settings. Manual has it's place, but not for general daylight photography and not for beginners. You're doing the same thing as the auto modes, but a thousand times slower, with frequent distractions, and mostly likely getting poorer shots.
So, this was shot on aperture mode and auto-focus. F4.5 @ 1/4000th sec, ISO 400. I intentionally had the ISO up, and by extension the shutter speed, because of shooting between the bright light of the sun and in the dark shadows. This was just a nice mix. Set the camera once, check in here and there, and get the cool shots all day long. I can print this image large at ISO 400 with great quality, but I would have missed it had I been fiddling all morning long.
A pet peeve are "expert" photographers making photography way more complicated than it has to be. If you're new and following the "Manual Mode" advice, and especially if you are frustrated, I'd ask you to reconsider and focus on Aperture and Shutter priority mode and set the camera to matrix metering. Take the shot - get the shot. If it's off a touch, then adjust exposure compensation and shoot again. I've worked with a ton of cameras over the last year, and every single one of them nail the exposure on Aperture and Shutter. There are certainly times for manual mode and spot metering. But learn the easy 95% first with intent on composition and I absolutely guarantee you that your photography will dramatically improve no matter your skill level.
Mike
Mike Busby Photography
Mike Busbys School of Photography
I want to shoot the stars, but the moon is getting bright again and we're at the beginning of fire season. So, time to move on back to the small world and macro photography. For what it's worth, when I make a shift to photograph a new area, I do so with specific intent to improve. So, for macros, the intent is to get the subject as large as I can on the sensor while maintaining sharpness on the face and eye.
This was shot at 1/750th sec at F8, ISO 400 with the Tamron 180mm Macro lens.
Mike
Mike Busby's School of Photography
Member: Professional Photographers of Washington - PPW.ORG
Professional Photographers of America - PPA.COM
We ran the Macro class at Manito Park today and it was fantastic. It will be run again. I enjoy helping people learn new things, but there are often little frustrations that follow people, and it's really cool when they surface and when we knock them out of the park.
This class was for hand held macro and we discussed several techniques and camera settings for different scenarios. We talked about getting close...really really close, and we talk about the balance between managing depth of field while ensuring quality shots.
A really good day today.
Mike
CPP, AFP
Mike Busby's School of Photography
Member:Professional Photographers of Washington and the Professional Photographers of America.
A photograph of the galactic core in the Milky Way near Fort Spokane in Eastern Washington.
10 Seconds at f1.8, ISO 800
I spent last night shooting the stars with a friend. There's nothing quite like being out in the middle of nowhere during the middle of the night.
Nikon d810 with a Nikon 20mm 1.8 lens. ISO 800, 15 sec, f1.8
Mike Busby
Mike Busby's School of Photography
Photography Classes and Lessons
Spokane is hosting the 2016 Washington Chinese Lantern Festival at Riverfront Park. The show runs from September 16th through October 30th. The festival features light displays, food, and shows. These are just a few of the light displays.
All photos by Mike Busby
2016
