GASTOWN STEAMCLOCK PHOTO

Gastown Steamclock, Vancouver, BC

Living in Vancouver, BC, we witness a lot of rain. A lot. A wanted to create a photo that would convey the wet winter we have along with the beauty and character of the city.

In the downtown district of Vancouver is the area of Gastown. Small cobblestone streets aging back to the date of Canada itself, a mix of old and new architecture and in the heart of it all is the iconic Gastown Steamclock. The Gastown Steamclock is the world's first Steam Clock. Designed and built by clockmaker Raymond Saunders in 1977. The clock is powered by steam from an underground system of pipes that supply steam to heat many downtown buildings. Each 1/4 hour the clock sounds Westminster chimes on 5 brass steam whistlers. The 1875 replica movement is powered by a 'falling ball' drive; it has a cast bronze case and weighs over 2 tons.

I had a vision of getting a night photo of the wet cobblestones and the steamy clock, one of pre-meditative images. So on a rainy evening I prepared myself to get out there and take my shot (brrrrrrrr). My first attempt was around 10 pm with a long exposure of about 13 seconds, I was lucky to catch a break in the rain and after coming home and inspecting the images, something just wasn’t quite right (too many cars in the street, composition wasn’t pleasing etc). I couldn’t fall asleep knowing I could do better, so a few hours later (you can see the time on the clock!) I was out there again, setting my tripod, this time with an umbrella, preparing for a long exposure of 13 seconds and got my shot. (did I mention that persistence in this profession is a must…)

To emphasise and dramatise the beauty of the Steamclock, I separated it from the background, converted the background to Back and White and kept the Steamclock in its original brass colours. Today this image is one of my most popular Vancouver shots. I guess I am not the only one that finds the wetness so characteristic to Vancouver J.

LIGHT AND DARKNESS – DRAWING WITH LIGHT

I believe that unlike drawing with a pen / pencil where you create an image with ink, photography creates an image with light and the darkness is its canvas. 

Watch this fascinating TED talk with Lighting Architect Rogier van der Heide as he explains: Why light needs darkness

Rogier van der Heide: Why light needs darkness | Video on TED.com

 

 

 

What is Daytime Long Exposure Photography

Long Exposure Photography is any photo where the shutter speed is open for an extended amount of time and of course during the day (as opposed to the common practice of night shots)

The Long Exposure Photography technique taught in my E‑book: How to Create Long Exposure Fine Art photography, explores the method where the camera shutter is open (during the daytime) for time periods in the magnitude of minutes, thereby creating a soft appearance for objects that are in motion as shown in the Figure below.  Enabling a long shutter speed in mid day is due to the help of ND filters.  The filters create a darker reality and thus enabling a longer shutter speed.

The beauty of this technique is created when pairing a static (hard) object such as a structure or a cliff, with a moving (soft) object such as clouds or water.  The objective is to create a contrast of soft and hard which adds depth and strength to a photo and produces a Fine Art image.

Figure 1 - New York, A Room with a View

Notice in Figure 1 how the clouds create a blurry, brush‑like effect due to the nature of their movement making the sky look like “streaks”.  The motion of the clouds creates a strong contrast to the stable buildings. Photo Data of Figure 1-1: Focal Length: 18 mm Aperture: f18 Shutter Speed: 121 seconds (2 minutes)

Converting the image to black and white is up to you.  It does demand a striking image and doesn’t let the colours ‘steal the show’ but sometimes, it’s better to leave the colour as in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2

This image was taken in Cuba, the warm earthy colours get lost when converting the image to black and white so in this instance I opted to leave it in colour.

For more information and tips on daytime Long Exposure Fine Art Photography, please visit:

www.SharonTenenbaum.com 

Praise for EBOOK:How to Create Long Exposure Fine Art Photography by Joel Tjintjelaar

Check this out! BMW just bought Joel Tjintjelaar Long Exposure images for their new campaign and now my EBOOK, How to Create Long Exposure Fine Art Photography is being marketed on his web site:
http://www.bwvision.com/
THANK YOU JOEL!!!

 

Joel’s review:

Sharon Tenenbaum is an award winning photographer from Vancouver specialized in long-exposure fine-art photography. A wonderful emerging talent who has earned my respect and admiration. Especially since she has some superb bridge photos in her portfolio that I'm really envious of and also because she wrote a great book on long exposure fine-art photography. It's very well written, informative and so easy to read. Now if you want to learn all about long exposure photography, then don't bother reading my articles anymore, Sharon's book is so much better!

Visit www.SharonTenenbaum.com and check out her wonderful portfolio and go buy her book!

About Sharon Tenenbaum

Welcome to my Blog. 

My name is Sharon Tenenbaum and I live in Vancouver British Columbia (B.C.).

I started my life as an engineer and worked as a P. Eng for 6 years before I decided to embark on a career change into Photography.  I strive to create images that you show something in a way you haven’t seen it before – a photo that will make you go WOW, at least I try J.

I started my photography career while traveling in South East Asia and seeing the world thru the lens of a camera, returning to Vancouver I had to rediscover my ‘backyard’ thru a new set of eyes.  Seeing things and places in a ‘different way’.  Naturally, because of my engineering background, I was drown to Bridges, which gave birth to my Bridges portfolio and my Capilano Suspension Bride Image which won first place in the 2008 International Photography Awards for Architecture – Bridges category.

Capilano Suspension Bridge First Place in the 2008 International Photography Awards for Architecture, Bridges

Kamloops Pedestrian Bridge Example of Daytime Long Exposure with subject of a Bridge

While developing my own style I came across Daytime Long Exposure Photography.  I was mesmerized by the elegance, simplicity and beauty of the images that combined motion with stagnant objects. However, I found that the majority of these daytime long exposure fine art black and white images were of predominantly nature landscapes.  To develop my own style, I decided to incorporate this technique with my passion of bridges and architectural photography.

I found that allot of people would ask me: ‘How did you do that?’ This triggered my E-Book: How to Create Long Exposure Fine Art Photography

E-Book: How to Create Long Exposure Fine Art Photography

In this blog, I want to send out to the world topics in photography that not only about dry and technical information about cameras and photography but also about the nature of following your passion, embarking on a career change and the difference between good and great photography, although the techies will also find some useful tips J.

Thank you for stopping bye and I hope you enjoy the stories I have to share.

Sharon Tenenbaum, Vancouver B.C.