Multimedia: Lumen Dei Participant Michael Ettema
Michael Ettema
I spoke too soon. Apparently, I still have a few more SoundSlides slide show to present. Today entry is by Michael Ettema. Michael came to Lumen Dei packing light. He sported the only Leica on the trip. His whole kit, three lens and body all fit into a small bum bag. I tried using his fine piece of photographic precision German crafting only to find, I suck at focusing on the fly. Apparently Michael has no problem as you can tell from his images below. For a lawyer (sorry, I had to through that in) he did some amazing work.
My workshops generally are not physically easy. For that matter, they can be emotionally taxing as well. We go to dirty places, eat unfamiliar and at times unpleasant things. We stay at a whole range of accommodations from very nice, to dodgy ,to tight tents. These are hazards of the trade. The good images are not easily found and often they are uncovered in the most uncomfortable and remote places. This trip was no exception. At times I thought Michael was out of his comfort zone, trekking and camping like we did. But the guy survived all this and showed us his photographic “stuff”. Michael was kind enough to do a review of the Lumen Dei workshop. Here is a short excerpt from that review:
And we learned plenty from our mentors… Aside from regular photo critiques in the evening there was very little formal teaching – and I was not missing any of that. Shooting side by side with these guys, getting to know the mindset they apply on different situations, how they approach people (they do it differently and both “styles” are respectful, engaging and successful), just couldn’t be delivered with formal teaching. This was so much more valuable for someone like me, who is the “learning by doing” kind of student. Both were approachable 24/7 and explained, showed, helped even while knocked down from severe cold, E.Coli and mountain sickness.
Visit Michael Ettema’s website HERE. Read his full review of the trip HERE.
You can view all the shows (so far) from the Lumen Dei 2010 Workshop HERE
Interested in other Workshops lead by Yours Truly? Visit my workshop page HERE.
Nice work Micha!
Really stunning work, Michael! I normally don’t like just straight landscape shots but yours are just beautiful. My favorite shot, though, is the one of the small girl with the tent and the mountains in the background. Very moving. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your kind comment. Since I don´t shoot landscapes very often, I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome myself. Matt and David really got us to push our limits. 😉
Could I ask what kind of post-processing you do on your photos? And do you use any filters when you shoot? Curious as to how you achieve the brilliant colors and depth.
I usually don´t use filters on my lenses, with exception of the last picture (the one with the moon). I used a graduated ND-Filter on that only because David gave me his to try. Worked very nice, so I am thinking about getting one. Your question about my post processing is not easy to answer, because I don´t have some special techniques I usually apply. Every picture gets treated differently.
Really great advise Matt! Not shooting hurried is something that really hits home with me because it’s something that I’m working hard to correct right now. I like the sports analogy on this too as it’s said that when a athlete becomes great at their sport, thing slow down for them. I understand that being prepared by really knowing your camera and zeroing out after each shot will go a long way to help slow down but can expand a bit (maybe in another blog post) on what it means to you to not shoot hurried?
oops sorry, wrong thread. 🙁