In Canada, photography is closely linked to the calendar. Think about the colours and moods of the different seasons—fresh green in spring, bright and bold in summer, crisp and orange in autumn, and frosty white in winter. The seasons affect every Canadian photographer, regardless of the subject. Parents filming kids are influenced by the light and weather just as bird enthusiasts, wildlife photographers, travellers, and college students. We are a seasonal nation, and it shows in our pictures.
The seasons affect photography primarily because of light. Canada is a country of dramatic light: in the summer it is bright and overpowering, in the winter, glaring off the snow, it is bouncing and unpredictable. In the spring and fall, the strong, directional light and unpredictable weather patterns create their own challenges. To be a photographer in Canada, you must think about the season, and therefore think about the light.
Looking back at 2011
As 2011 winds down, we have the perfect photography project for you: group your photos, season by season, and look at the light. With digital albums, this is very easy to do.
- Look at your photos sequentially, season by season, looking for light quality. Look for skin tones, shadows, glare, and crispness.
- Don’t pay attention to how you look. When we look at photos of ourselves, often our photographer brain shuts off. Am I blinking? Should I lose 10 pounds? Do I have a mouthful of potato salad? Forget about it. For this project, you are looking only at light and photo quality.
- Pay attention to the failures. Do your ski holiday photos look murky? Your beach shots dark? Your winter birthday parties over-exposed by the flash? Think about what went wrong—often a bad picture could have been transformed if the white balance was adjusted, the subject was angled differently with respect to the light, or you used (or didn’t use) a flash.
- Note the type of shots that worked. Perhaps you shot a group photo in the shade during the summer—no one was squinting, no one was in shadow, the group looks cohesive, happy, and interesting. Your successes, season by season, will lead to more successes next year.
- Print your successful shots. A picture’s impact can be significantly different on paper than it is on the screen. Colour, proportion, everything can appear differently in print. We encourage you to get your best shots off your hard drive and onto paper, whether you make simple prints, compile them into a photobook, or make a custom calendar—more on this later.
Looking forward to 2012
Year to year, we are faced with the same type of photographic challenges. Skiers will shoot winter photos, those born in November will have indoor birthday parties, the lake by the cabin will continue to reflect light in a weird way.
- Now that you’ve reviewed all of your 2011 photos, create a calendar of your best photos from 2011.
- In each month, note what you have learned: a bed of cherry blossoms makes a spectacular backdrop, Halloween pictures are best shot during the day; the family reunion picture is best when taken from above.
- Our Home Edition calendar software gives ample room for comments. Write them in, so you will remember your thoughts when Autumn 2012 rolls around.
- After completing and sending off your Seasonal Photo Project to be printed, go back and change the notes. Write regular photo captions, add birthdays and special celebrations, and print out a second version for gifts.
Our unique, cyclical light is what gives Canadian photographs their charm. We encourage you to look at your light, learn what works, and take even better pictures in 2012.
