Larry Louie and his image entitled Path Of Light.

Transcription

1 L T H E SEPTEMBER March St. Albert Photo Club s Monthly Newsletter AST FRAM E Larry Louie and his image entitled Path Of Light. A Passion For Black & White While reading articles in National Geographic magazine as a young teenager, Larry Louie found articles on far-flung humanistic studies and tribal communities halfway around the world especially intriguing. Only 15 years old at that time, his interest in these societies never waned. His current professional practice as an optometrist enables him to take time off and get out to visit and photograph these rapidly vanishing cultures. Even though he has had some of his photography published and exhibited, he describes himself not a stock photographer, but as someone who shoots for himself. As a result, his images only need to appeal to himself. He does, how- APRIL GUEST SPEAKER Con Boland APRIL Night Photography Click here to access our website MAY GUEST SPEAKER Gerald Romanchuk MAY Wildlife Photography

2 PAGE 2 ever, document his experiences so he can share them with others. In the past three years Larry s photography has been exclusively digital. He captures his images in the RAW file format and then converts them Adobe Photoshop to black-andwhite. Larry actually only thinks in black-and-white when he photographs and doesn t really consider colour at all. In landscape photography, which is one genre he used to pursue, one is always at the mercy of light. But when photographing people, it is different; he can move his subject(s) around in relation to the light to create the mood he seeks. His preference is for Tenger Horseman dark, moody images with hard, directional light that reveals textures and hard won wrinkles. Considering himself a documentary photographer, not much digital retouching is performed; the images are pretty much true to what was captured. It is often difficult to photograph tribal people, as they are often darkskinned and live in a dark environment. In order to create a sense of separation between his subject and a dark background, he employs a reflector. And since he prefers to get the surroundings of his subjects in his portraiture he resorts to the use of wide-angle lenses almost exclusively. Since weight is always St. Albert Photo Club Vol:8 Issue:6 PUBLISHED MONTHLY September - June President PRESIDENT Derald Derald Lobay Lobay SECRETARY Treasurer Mrs. and Klaszus Allen TREASURER Skoreyko Allen Skoreyko Web Master PROGRAMME DIRECTOR S Derald Tracey Lobay Doug GuzakPoon Club Contact CLUB Doug CONTACT Poon Doug Poon (780) dougpoon@shaw.ca

3 an issue while traveling, he only carries only two lenses with him, a mm f/4 zoom lens and a fast, prime 24mm f/1.4 lens. The 24mm lets him shoot hand-held in dim light without a flash. Shooting in often windy, dusty, and sandy environments, he protects the glass on his lenses with a UV filter. To use wide-angle optics effectively, he must be very close to his subjects in order to capture a decent size image of his subjects in the viewfinder. He doesn t rush up to them, force a camera in their face, shoot, and vanish forever! Larry said there is a three-step process involved to photographing tribal people. First, he must go out and meet the tribe. Next, he introduces himself. Finally, he gains their trust before coming in close to conduct his photography. Also, having his wife along with him is definitely an asset. Most women do not like foreign men and having her along with him gives him access to subjects he otherwise wouldn t have. To gain access to remote tribes, Larry highly recommends hiring a guide, New Guinea Man and it is best if he can secure the services of one while he is still here in Canada. He has hired them on location, but when he does, he makes sure they are able to speak the local dialect. Larry used to hand out Polaroids to tribal members in exchange for their time and effort. But today, he uses a digital printer to supply onlocation 4X6 s instead of Polaroids. If he had promised to send a print to tribal members, they probably would never receive it. As Larry showed us a series of his portfolios, he recalled some the highlights of his travels and the places that have been significant to him over the years. While in Jordan he wanted to visit and photograph the Ruins of Petra, an ancient Nabataean city carved in a rock cliff. He wanted a more unique image than just the standard view that most people get, but having a preconceived idea about what you want to photograph does not always result in the best photographs of your trip. Part of the fun of traveling, whether locally or internationally, is experiencing new places and

4 new things. Often, your most favourite pictures are the ones you cannot predict and not the ones you intend to photograph. Also while in Jordan, he spent some time with the Bedouins, nomadic herders who lost their homes and lands when Israel was created. They move through Jordan s deserts with their herds of camels, goats and sheep. While their movement is highly regulated by the availability of water, their whole nomadic lifestyle is slowly becoming extinct as they find themselves settling into villages and towns. While in New Guinea, the second largest island in world (only Greenland is larger), he found himself trekking into the rugged mountains and photographing the resident local tribes. Most of the villagers live in round thatched huts and grow sweet potatoes as their main source of food. As a sign of mourning, females in the Dani Tribe cut off one digit for each family member that has deceased. Many of these people in the isolated upland valleys have never had contact with the outside world. Men are primarily hunters with the woman doing most of the work. While traveling through the Tibetan Grasslands he observed that the Tibetans simply want to preserve their culture while the Chinese want to assimilate them as much as possible into their culture. Tibetan nomads are shepherds and herders who roam about the northern uplands of the country. They use yak dung to burn for heat since there is no wood available on the grasslands. Tibetans live in tents of yak hair, and its hide is used for shoe leather and boats. Yaks also provide butter, cloth, cheese, meat, milk, and transportation. Once a year they come to lower elevations to sell their produce and stock up on necessities. China has the world s oldest living civilization. Its written history goes back 3,500 years. From time to time, nomadic herders conquered all or parts of China. However, these invaders had little effect on Chinese civilization. The old China is slowly eroding away and becoming extinct due to modernization. Larry went to Cambodia 15 years ago and went back again a few years ago. Today the place is overrun by tourists. Angkor has magnificent sculpture and architecture of the Khmer empire. Angkor Thom is the Larry Louie on location at Cappadoccia, Turkey. be more than happy to give you a tour of gallery. ancient Khmer capital and Angkor Wat is the bestpreserved Khmer temple. He would, however, like to hire a helicopter so can photograph Angkor Wat from above. Burma is high on his to do list. It is unspoiled and not overrun with tourists. About 2/3 of Burmans live in farming villages where Buddhist monasteries, temples, and colourful pagodas (shrines) rise above thatched bamboo houses in a land of tall mountains, level valleys and thick forests. The monasteries on the outskirts of the villages serve as centers of religious and social life. If you would like to view some of Larry s favourite, framed prints of rapidly vanishing and exotic cultures, please call Larry at his practice and he would Article-Derald Lobay Just a reminder if you want to car pool to Con Boland s April 8th, we are meeting at the Tim Horton s on Herbert with a 6:30 PM leave time. Club Point Standings PRINTS 14 - Al Popil 10 - Josh Forsyth 06 - Sieg Koslowski 02 - Derald Lobay 02 - Mark Pesklewis 01 - Tim Johnston 01 - Tracey Guzak DIGITAL 13 - Sieg Koslowski 08 - Al Popil 05 - Josh Forsyth 04 - Mark Pesklewis 02 - Andrew McLeod 02 - Derald Lobay 02 - Mark Shalanski

5 THE LAST FRAME CLUB MEMBERS WINNING MONTHLY PICTURES MARCH Macro PRINTS Above, 1st Place Print - Al Popil, top right, 2nd Place Print - Al Popil, right, 3rd Place Print - Al Popil DIGITAL Above, 1st Place Digital - Josh Forsyth Top Right, 2nd Place Digital - Josh Forsyth Right, 3rd Place Digital - Sieg Koslowski