Posts tagged as:

contest winners

Interview With the Winners of ANPW #4 – Olga Yiparaki

by admin on April 21, 2009



Congratulations on winning, Olga! You must be very excited. I appreciate you taking time to sit down with me.

Where are you from?

Home has been beautiful Tucson, AZ for the last 12-13 years. I was born and raised in Athens, Greece and moved to the US to attend college/graduate school, and I ended up staying and becoming a citizen. I have lived the nomadic life of an academic–in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Georgia before moving to Arizona.

What kind of photography do you specialize in?

I have a background in art (painting and sculptural ceramics) but I am fairly new to photography, so I am still evolving, still have a lot to learn. Right now I photograph anything and everything that strikes my fancy. I adore my dog Daphne who would make a wonderful photographic muse except for the fact that she is routinely annoyed by my camera and exhales with theatrical flair while walking away from me. Beyond that, I like to photograph food, landscapes, details, and anything that makes and ordinary moment stand out (in good ways or bad). In the end, I see photography not so much about specific subjects, but more about mood, or an unusual viewpoint, or a feeling.

How did you learn about the trip?

I am a regular follower of TWIP! I listen to the weekly podcast on my iPod (usually while driving) and I read the website pretty much everyday.

So you are a Twipper! The website is great and has so much information.

What do you hope to learn on the trip?

Mostly, I hope to learn by observing the pros and their techniques. I hope to learn how to look at light with a more discerning eye. And about landscapes-composing and timing.

Have you used Aperture before?

I have been using Aperture already. I love it. Like all things Apple, it makes everything natural and easy-it gets out of your way so you can concentrate on photography. However, I suspect that I have only scratched the surface of this wonderful program, so I look forward to learning more about it.

What gear are you bringing?

Nikon D700
Nikkor 16mm f 2.8 Fisheye
Nikkor 17-35 f 2.8
Lensbaby Composer
Nikon Speedlight SB-600
Tripod
MacBook

and since I don’t have any telephoto lenses, I am thinking of renting the Nikon 70-300 (or something along those lines.)

What challenges do you think photographers face today?

It depends on the photographer.

For budding photographers, today’s challenges are paradoxical. There are so many choices for lenses, cameras, gizmos, and gadgets, probably more than any other time in the history of photography. Each and everyone serves a purpose and many are wonderful. Technology is wonderful but it can be too much of a good thing. Additionally the internet is an amazing place to get information about photography, but once again, it can be too much, and there is also a lot of misinformation. THe challenge is to be able to ignore much of this and just photograph. In the end, I thin our photographs reflect our mind and our vision, not our equipment.

For professional photographers, today’s challenges come from the increasing competition in the field, since more and more people enter photography as a profession or as a commercial endeavor, often part-time. Additionally, there is a paradigm shift in the business models and distributions of commercial photography-e.g.,stock photography or citizen journalism. It will be interesting to see how this will evolve.

What is your “day job”?

I am a mathematician; I used to be in academia (my research area is in Logic/combinatorial set theory) and now I work in industry. I work with hardware architects on future designs 3-4 years before they get built: to asses tradeoffs by creating mathematical models that predict performance and reliability of enterprise-class storage systems (disk and tape).

Do you have a website or a blog that we can link to?

I just started a new blog intended to document the ANPW experience, in addition to other topics:
http://arizonaolga.wordpress.com/

My Flickr page is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/syzygy/

I also created and run the Tucson iPUG (iPhone and Palm Users Group); we cover all PDA topics, including photography among many others.

{ 1 comment }

Interview With the Winners of ANPW #3 – Ara Roselani

by admin on April 11, 2009

Interview by Cathy Chung

Congratulations, Ara! Your image was stunning. Thanks for sitting down with me so that our followers could learn about you.

Where are you from?

I grew up around Portland, Oregon and have also lived in San Francisco. I am living in Portland now.

Portland is a very pretty area. What is your favorite place/subject to photograph in Portland?

The waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. Mount Ranier National Park is another favorite.

You are lucky to have both of those places in your backyard. What inspiring places to photograph.

What kind of photography do you specialize in?

Landscapes and cityscapes. A lot of long exposures. I’ve started doing wedding photography and portraits.

How did you learn about the ANPW contest/trip?

I did a search for Lensbaby on Google

Well lucky for you, Ara-Lensbay is one of the prizes that you get.

What do you hope to learn on the trip?

Different perspectives! Every time I go out and shoot with other photographers, I learn so much. The ANPW instructors are selling professionals, and I want to absorb as much of that wisdom as possible.

The pros that are coming on this trip are amazing, Ara. You will be learning so much from them.

What gear are you bringing?

Cameras:
Canon 40D
Pentax MX
Holga
Lomo Fisheye

Lenses:
Canon 10-22mm
Canon 17-85mm IS
Canon 50mm 1.4
Canon 70-200mm f/4
Pentax 28-70mm f/2.8
Pentax 50mm f/1.8

Filters:
Hoya Moose Polarizer/Warming
Hoya ND400 9-Stop
B&W 6-Stop ND
Singh-Ray 3-Stop soft GND with Cokin 10x macro ring

Misc:
Bogen Tripod
Hot-shoe level
Gary Fong Lightsphere
Vivitar Flash
Velvia Film
Remote for Canon 40D

I’m really excited to try out the new Rotation 360° backpack from Think Tank. It is really sturdy and holds a lot of gear!

I am excited to hear that you are bringing film cameras. You will enjoy the Rotation 360° backpack. I used it on my trip and it worked perfectly!

What challenges do you think photographers face today?

There are a lot of talented photographers in the world and it’s a challenge to stand out and offer a unique outlook. It can be easy to rely on technology and the latest and greatest to make you a “better photographer”, instead of going back to your eye, imagination and individuality. I love the photographers who can shoot with a $10,000 SLR or a $20 plastic camera and come up with equally amazing photos. Marketing and finding outlets to sell photography are other challenges that I want to learn more about facing. Again, with so many talented artists out there, standing out from the crowd is tough.

What is your “day job”?

I am a Litigation Project Manager for a legal support company. I manage databases and electronic evidence for law firms and corporations.

Lastly, do you have a website or a blog that we can link to?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aralani

Thanks for you time, Ara and I look forward to meeting you face to face in Yellowstone.

{ 1 comment }

Meet the Winners of ANPW Contest #2 Nikki Frantz

by admin on December 30, 2008

Nikki interviewed by Liana Lehua

Are you a lone photo walker, or do you prefer to conglomerate with other like-minded photographers and shoot to your hearts’ content? Our own Nikki Frantz, who is joining us on our Yosemite workshop courtesy of her winning contest entry, can go either way but tends to be more inspired when walking alone with her camera and her imagination. Learn more about Nikki here.

Location: Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Website: www.nicoleraestudio.com
Blog: www.nicoleraestudio.com/blog

Main camera body and equipment used:
Canon Rebel xti

Your dream photography trip (location): A European tour

How did you get started in photography?

I got started in photography just under two years ago. Some online friends of mine had heard about a challenge called Project 365. It involved taking a photo a day and posting it on a blog for one year. I had never really taken a lot of photographs before, but thought it would be fun. I had no idea it would change my life. I started with a small point and shoot and by the end of the year ended up with a dslr. I did not miss a single day that year. It became a sort of therapy for me, a way to see things in my life differently.

What is your favorite aspect of photography? (Example: being outdoors, the art and science of capturing the image in the camera, telling a story, etc.).

There are so many things I love about photography that it would be hard to pick my absolute favorite. I love the art of it – being able to see things others don’t and bringing it out to the open. I love being outside, walking around with just my camera – whether it’s the city or out in the middle of nowhere. It always feels like it’s just me and my camera and I can see the world through new eyes. Picking just one aspect I think I would say it would be the therapy. Unless you’ve experienced it it is hard to explain. A friend once told me holding a camera up to your face tends to shut off the world. It becomes just you and what you see throught viewfinder.

What is your shooting style? (Example: lots of photo walking, planned photo taking trips, group meetups, etc.).

I definitely do a lot of photo walking. I will either go with a friend or on my own, but I tend to be most inspired when I take some time to just walk with my camera.

Are you planning on buying any new gear specifically for the workshop between now and the workshop?

The only thing I really plan on purchasing is a filter and maybe some snowpants! I am renting a few lenses and then probably purchasing one or two after the trip. I’d like to use this trip to find out which lenses I like the best and which ones I would get the most use from.

What inspires you?

Just getting to different places inspires me. I like seeing new things, new people, new places. Another thing that inspires me is looking at other photographers’ works. There are several photography blogs that I check daily. There is some beautiful work out there and looking at it makes me want to be better.

{ 1 comment }

Meet the ANPW Winners: Bryan Mahler

by admin on October 3, 2008

ANPW: Bryan using a graduated filter on his panoramic shot

Photo and article by Lisa Bettany

Our final contest winner is Bryan Mahler from Boulder, Colorado.

Tell us some more about your photography. What’s your focus? What do you love to shoot.

My photography is often nothing more than another excuse to get outdoors. I’m a life-long climber, hiker and backpacker, and I was first drawn to photography by a simple desire to capture my outdoor experiences and share them. The more I shoot, though, the more I appreciate the ability cameras have to enhance outdoor experiences as well as record them. Photography encourages you to slow down, absorb your surroundings and think creatively. I’m attracted to photo opportunities that not only allow me to capture an image but capture a unique, interesting, and/or meaningful perspective as well. Whether this takes a close-up lens, a graduated filter, patience, a quick run up a nearby hillside or a down-and-dirty, ground-level shot…

How did you find out about the contest and what made you decide to enter?

I first spotted the contest on the RSS feed for Apple’s news page. I’ve been using Aperture for a long time now, so I thought I’d check it out. The photo I submitted was one that I had just shot the weekend before in Rocky Mountain National Park. I caught Dream Lake at the foot of Hallett Peak – a little under an hours hike from the trailhead – in especially intense alpenglow. Even with a three-stop graduated filter I could barely hold the exposure back enough for the foreground. It was an exciting vista to catch, and, on an impulse, I uploaded the image to Photrade. Turned out to be a lucky decision

Luck and talent! It was a fantastic shot! Before attending the workshop, what were you looking forward to the most?

I was looking forward to working with the four pros and watching their technique. I’m interested in the process they use to visualize an image, explore a scene and find photographic opportunities from landscapes to macros. In post, Aperture’s power for breathing life into RAW images is fantastic. There’s a lot to learn about digital imaging and Aperture is a critical part of the imaging process. I’m interested in learning to control the color in my photographs to bring out the images, saturation and range of light I see when they’re captured.

Lastly, what gear did you bring with you to the workshop?

Nikon D200, Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8 AF-S, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF D, Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF D, Gitzo 3540 LS, Really Right Stuff BH-55, Canon 500D Close Up Lens, Variety of Singh Ray Graduated Neutral Density Filters, Nikon Circular Polarizer II, LowePro Orion AW, LowePro Vertex 300, MacBook Pro, Apple Aperture 2.

Thanks Bryan! And to all the contest winners, you inspired everyone with your enthusiasm and talent. Can’t wait to see your amazing photos!

{ 0 comments }