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Newsletter from Kim Westerskov Email: kimsworkshops@gmail.com

Web: www.kimwesterskov.com

20 Greerton Road, Tauranga 3112, New Zealand

Phone 07-578-5138 -

Newsletter #68 – August 2018 1. Ask me

2. Puddy Tats

3. Photographing People - part 1

4. From Kim’s Field Diaries - swimming with Antarctic seals

5. “Composition & Light” workshop - Saturday 18th August

6. 2018 programme

7-11. Mentoring, Meetings & Tuition

This newsletter goes out to many photographers in New Zealand and overseas - and to anybody who asks to be on

the mailing list. If you know anybody who would like to be on the mailing list, please get them to email me. It’s free

and they can unsubscribe at any time, of course.

1. ASK ME

Ask me. I don’t know everything about photography, obviously, but I’ve learned a fair bit over the

years. All of these things helped me become a better photographer. And I’m happy to share what I’ve

learned. It gives me much pleasure seeing you doing well.

If there’s something you’d like to know, ask me please [I don’t bite �]. And if there’s something you’d

like me to write about in a future newsletter, please let me know. Email is best.

kimsworkshops@gmail.com I’m writing the feature article about people photography because a

photographer suggested that it would make a useful newsletter article.

2. PUDDY TATS

From the “you don’t really need to know”

department: there were more photos of cats

[including kittens] posted on Instagram today

than the total number of photographs taken [of

everything]

during the

entire 19th

century. So

now you

know.

3. PHOTOGRAPHING PEOPLE - part 1

What subject gets more cameras aimed at it than any other? People, of course, probably followed by

landscapes. Kittens would be within meowing distance of the top too, I guess. To state the obvious,

people are hugely important, especially those we love and live with. I feel it really matters to

continually remember to photograph these people. Friends and extended family and community as

well, but most of all those closest to you.

The trouble is that you see them so

often it’s easy to forget to photograph

them now, at least occasionally. But

later in life you’ll be very glad you did.

So, onto people photography. We can

usefully divide people photography

into “candids” and “portraits”, though

once you get to know the main points

about portraits you will be able to

take photos quickly [as you do

candids] but of a quality that is more

like a portrait. The lovely moment I

caught of Alana and Terehi-maaria at

right was one such photo. It was taken

at a busy Tauranga café as we celebrated my daughter Anne’s 28th birthday. I was photographing pretty

much everyone, candid style, when Alana walked back into the room we’d taken over, smiled briefly at

me, and kept walking. It wasn’t till later that I realized what a special moment I’d captured.

So, some thoughts and tips. For portraits, rather than “just candids” ….

WHAT MODE SHOULD I BE IN?

Whatever you’re most comfortable in. Yes, many good photos

are taken in “Manual”, but then again many good photos are

taken in “Auto” too. And in all the other modes. “Portrait” is a

good bet if shooting JPEGs.

What matters most is the end result – capturing great

moments, ones that show the personality of the person or

people? WHAT MATTERS MORE THAN “THE MODE” IS “THE

MOMENT”.

WHAT CAMERA SETTINGS?

If you are not at all sure, for starters try:

1. For portrait photos [one person or a couple]: 70-120mm focal

length, Aperture Priority [or Program or Auto or “Portrait”]

f5.6 or f8, ISO 200 [outside], ISO 400-1600 [inside], image

stabilization “on”, hand held, burst/continuous/motor drive.

If shutter speed too slow [images not quite sharp], then

increase ISO. 1600 is usually fine. Press shutter. Burst of 3-5

photos at a time. Check to see what you’ve just taken. Then

adjust as needed.

2. For group [several people, e.g. family]: as above, either being further way to get everybody in the

photo, or using a wider angle e.g. 30-50mm.

WHAT ELSE?

Connect! Don’t be silent. Chat, smile, be friendly, making them feel as

relaxed [and important] as possible. Talk about their day, the weather,

anything, tell jokes if you’re any good at jokes.

Tell them what you are doing, at least occasionally e.g. “I’m going to use

a telephoto now because that will make you look your best – top fashion

photographers often use long telephotos”, “I’m going to shoot you from

below so that there’s just the sky behind you and not a distracting

background”.

Tell them how it’s going at least occasionally: “Cool”, “Nice smile”,

“Great angle – stay there a bit longer”, “These are looking good!”, “You’ll

like these”, “I’m getting some great shots!” Whatever. Occasionally when you’ve got a good shot,

show them the preview on the back of your camera.

4. FROM KIM’S FIELD DIARIES - SWIMMING WITH WEDDELL SEALS

“Rembrandt lighting on the seal’s face, under thick Antarctic sea ice at minus 1.8 degrees Celsius - that’s

clever Kim” Or lucky. Or both. My photography has been a mix of many things: getting to some remote

places, sheer doggedness [“just doing it - and keep on doing it”], technique, whatever camera gear I could

afford at the time, an artistic sensibility from my fine art

background, and a fair bit of luck. Some bad luck as well as

good - not much long-term damage to me, but a long list of

broken, flooded or lost cameras. See Newsletter #47 for a

list, though even that list forgets the very expensive lenses

stolen from my parked van while at a whale conference in

Auckland. My newsletters [for your bedtime reading] are

archived at http://kimwesterskov.com/newsletter/

But back to the good luck. There’s been lots of that too,

especially pushing the shutter at just the right time. This

mattered a lot back in the film days when there was no

autofocus, no motor drive, no auto wind. Just one chance of

getting “the shot” most times. Of my five First Prizes in the

BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, all five

involved pressing the shutter at just the right time as an

albatross soared past [3 times - 3 quite different photos], or

a fish was briefly framed by dancing kelp, or the Weddell

seal was in just the perfect spot and my left arm was

holding the strobe out far to the left and pointed in just the

right direction [the photo above]. In underwater

photography, it’s very easy to not have the flash out far

enough or pointed in the wrong direction.

Antarctica, for all it’s breathtaking beauty, purity and addictive wildness is a tough place. Summers are

fine: the weather is relatively benign and the surrounding seas are some of the richest on Earth.

Winters are the problem. Along the Antarctic coastline the winter weather is the worst on Earth: heavy

cloud, fog and extreme blizzards. In some places the wind averages 80 kilometres per hour and gusts to

over 300 km per hour. Along the coastlines where the Weddell seals live temperatures average minus

10-20°C in summer, dropping to minus 40-50°C in winter. After I’d acclimatized to field life in

Antarctica, I found I could work outside all day at temperatures down to minus 30°C. At minus 50°C I’d

last less than an hour before I just wanted to get back to somewhere warm.

Very few kinds of life are able to live there all year round: the emperor penguin, the Weddell seal, a

few tiny insects [the largest 12mm long], and some small plants. Not a long list.

Weddell seals live all around the

Antarctic coastline, mostly on [and

under] the fast ice near shore. If

Weddell seals had their pups in the

mobile pack ice further out, they

would be hunted by killer whales

and leopard seals, but in the fast

ice they are safe. With no natural

enemies to worry about, Weddell

seals are very approachable. And

very likeable, especially the

gorgeous pups.

Photo at right: me in my red Viking

drysuit about to enter the kingdom

of the Weddell seal.

Weddell seals are master divers, among of the very best. Only the much bigger elephant seals and

some whales are known to dive deeper and for longer. Their food lives on or near the seafloor, so

feeding dives are deep, often 200-400metres, and occasionally down to almost 800 metres. The

feeding dives are short, mostly under 20 minutes. Exploratory dives are shallower and longer. During

these dives the seals may travel as far as 12 kilometres, either as a round trip back to its original hole,

or a one-way trip to a new hole. The longest dive recorded was an amazing one hour and 23 minutes.

Diving with these wonderful animals was a big dream of mine, and one year the stars aligned. A film

crew from Natural History New Zealand would be diving while I was there, and both they and my boss

agreed I could tag along.

Weddell seals need continual access between

the sea where their food is [and shelter when

winter blizzards rage in the long black winter]

and the air they need to breathe. Wind, tide

and currents continually create cracks in the

sea ice, and Weddell seals rely on these

openings. However, any seawater open to

the air normally freezes over quickly, so the

seals spend much of their lives keeping the

holes open by grinding away at the ice with

their teeth.

Photo: Weddell seal breathing holes in the fast sea ice, as seen from underwater.

Crocodiles and sharks can grow new teeth to replace worn or broken ones, but Weddell seals don’t get

another chance. When its teeth wear out, a Weddell seal - unable to get through the ice - either moves

out to live in the pack ice, or dies. Worn teeth become a problem after 8-10 years, and no Weddell seal

lives for longer than 25 years. These likeable mammals pay a high price for their southernmost lifestyle.

Some of my dives with Weddell seals were over very deep water, the seafloor many hundreds of

metres below me in the blackness. Others were in shallower water, sometimes just a few metres deep.

The Rembrandt seal dive was shallow. A brownish-green film of diatoms [tiny algae, the “grass” of

Antarctic seas] stained the underside of both the fast ice and the broken ice chunks in the tide crack I

was swimming along. Until that seal swam up to me it wasn’t a particularly memorable dive. All of a

sudden, “click/flash”, it became a great dive.

5. “COMPOSITION & LIGHT” WORKSHOP – Saturday 18th August

How to make your photos sing! For good

photos you need good composition. For

great photos you need great composition. And great light.

Your camera is good at getting some of the

technical things right, such as exposure and focus,

but YOU are totally responsible for the creative

input: where to stand, where to point the camera,

which lens, and – perhaps most important of all –

“seeing” the photo and then composing it, refining

it until it’s as good as you can make it.

There’s many things that you can correct in

Photoshop/Lightroom if you didn’t get them quite right at the

time, but composition is not one of them. You’ve got to get it

pretty much right when you press the shutter. A photo whose

composition is fundamentally flawed usually cannot be rescued,

even by diligent use of Photoshop or Lightroom.

It’s a big and somewhat complex subject, though some “rules”

[guidelines] have evolved to help get you going: the “rule of

thirds”, “leading lines”, the “rule of odd numbers” etc. We’ll

look at these rules and guidelines and then move past them, into

“the new you” where great compositions and real creativity can

flourish.

And light. Without light there is no photography, of course, but it

goes much deeper than that. A great subject in dull light will usually

give you a dull photo. A not-very-exciting subject in great light can

easily be a winner.

It’s a four-part workshop:

1. Saturday morning and early afternoon – the theory. The principles, the guidelines and “rules” & when

to break the rules. My “One Rule To Rule Them All”. A great mix of theory and practical exercises. Many

finer points and tips. Topics include:

Finding clarity & meaning in the busy scene you’re standing in front of [“seeing” possibilities]

Using composition to create order, clarity and impact

Foreground and background, depth and three-dimensionality

The National Geographic style

Why what your eye sees and what the camera sees are not the same

Simplification. Minimalisation. Decluttering

What your eye is drawn to in photos

The crop tool - your new best friend

Patterns, textures, repetition, symmetry

Lines, curves, diagonals

Balance, visual weight

Relationships, negative space

Framing

The golden ratio, golden mean, Fibonacci spirals - yes or no?

Flash - graduating from amateur flash to pro flash

Light - the different kinds. The good and the bad. Dealing with bad light

Colour - a painless introduction to colour theory

Using colour palettes to create your own style

Colour and mood

Black and white, monochrome, colour palettes [limited, bold, pastel etc]

Perfect light for your portraits [it’s easy]

2. Later Saturday afternoon – the practice. We’ll be photographing

a variety of subjects with the emphasis on getting your

composition looking good.

3. Assignment. You will then have 2-3 weeks to put what you’ve

learned into practice. I will give you a series of assignments that

will help consolidate what you’ve learned. Photographers report

that they find this really useful.

4. We meet again [at a time that suits everybody, probably a

weekday evening] to look at and evaluate your assignment photos.

This evaluation can be done by email if you’re from out of town.

Saturday 18th August. 9.00am – 5.00pm.

Venue: Kim’s comfortable workshop studio [18 Greerton Road,

Gate Pa, Tauranga]

Cost: Full course fee [which includes tuition, hand-outs, Vivienne’s

yummy catering, assignment, and

follow-up] $295 - or $245 for Early Birds

[if you register before 10th August].

Fulltime students with ID $145.

6. 2018 PROGRAMME

AUGUST

Tuesday 7th August. “Photos & Coffee” informal meeting. 7.00 – 10.00pm. Free.

Saturday 18th August. “Composition & Light” workshop. Full day plus follow-up.

SEPTEMBER

Tuesday 4th September. “Photos & Coffee” informal meeting. 7.00 – 10.00pm. Free.

Saturday 15th September. “Getting started in Lightroom”. Half day.

OCTOBER

Tuesday 2nd October. “Photos & Coffee” informal meeting. 7.00 – 10.00pm. Free.

Saturday 6th October. “Good photos, great photos – anytime, anywhere” workshop. Full day plus

follow-up.

Saturday-Sunday 13-14 October. “Great Photography Weekend” workshop. Weekend + follow-up.

NOVEMBER

Tuesday 6th November. “Photos & Coffee” informal meeting. 7.00 – 10.00pm. Free.

Saturday 24th November. “New worlds with your camera” workshop. Full day plus follow-up.

DECEMBER

Tuesday 4th December. “Photos & Coffee” informal meeting. 7.00 – 10.00pm. Free.

Saturday 17 November. “New worlds with your camera” workshop. Full day plus follow-up.

DECEMBER

Tuesday 4th December. “Photos & Coffee” informal meeting. 7.00 – 10.00pm. Free.

Half-day workshops 9.00am – 1.00pm

Full day & two-day workshops 9.00am – 5.00pm

COST: Course fees include tuition, detailed hand-outs, yummy catering, assignment and follow-up

evenings for full and two-day workshops.

Half day workshops: $135 – or $115 for Early Birds if you register by 10 days before workshop.

Fulltime students with ID $70.

One day workshops: $295 – or $245 for Early Birds if you register by 10 days before workshop.

Fulltime students with ID $150.

Weekend workshops: $475 [$425 Early Bird]. Fulltime students with ID $235.

7. PRIVATE TUITION

Yes, like you I’m usually busy doing “other stuff” too, but I can nearly always fit private tuition in, and am

very happy to do so. First 2 hours: $80 per hour, after that $70 per hour. If you come again, it’s $70 per

hour right from the first hour. Think not just about cost, but “value” – it’s one-on-one with a highly

experienced photographer and teacher and we cover a lot each hour.

Or – for just the cost of a full-day workshop [with Early Bird discount] - $245 – you get my full attention -

one-on-one - for 4 hours. This can be out in the field or at my studio, looking at your photos on my

computer, going over your camera functions, looking into specific techniques, or all of the above and more

– whatever you want to do. I’m here for you. For only $475 you have me for the whole day.

8. MENTORING

Definitely the fastest way for you to

move your photography forward

rapidly! “Mentoring” is the ongoing

process of inspiring, advising, guiding,

teaching, critiquing … whatever is

needed for the ongoing development

of a photographer. It’s one-on-one, so

it’s different for each person. One

month it may be about equipment or

Photoshop, next month it may be “I

just want my photos to have more Photos of Kim by Malcolm Macfarlane & Tony Whitehead

‘Wow’ in them”, the following month

it may be about exhibitions or “Should I go pro?”. Who is mentoring for? Anybody. I mentor both

established professional photographers and amateurs. Minimum of 6 months. Talk to Kim about what

would work best for you.

9. KIM’S PHOTOS & COFFEE EVENINGS

We meet on the first Tuesday of each month [every month of the year except January], chat informally

about photography, and view some of the recent photos we’ve taken. It’s free [no charge], supper is

served, and there’s no obligation of any kind. Please email me if you’d like to come [it’s not a big room so I

need to keep an eye on numbers]. These evenings are always fun and friendly - there’s usually many smiles

and laughs. It’s a great way of meeting up with like-minded people, being inspired by the creativity of our

group of photographers, and coming away with new ideas and tips. There’s a wide range of interests and

abilities – so for those of you who have not been before, you’re very unlikely to feel out of your depth.

Bring photos if you wish, but there’s no obligation to bring any. Some people do, some don’t.

The next one will be on Tuesday 7th August starting 7.00pm. 18 Greerton Road, Gate Pa, Tauranga

10. PHOTOGRAPHING ARTWORKS, PHOTOSHOPPING, PHOTO RESTORATION

As well as teaching photography and mentoring a number of photographers, I also offer photo restoration,

Photoshopping, and “Photographing your Artworks” services. $50 per hour [we get a lot done each hour].

11. INVITATION TO ALL CAMERA CLUBS & GROUPS

If your club or group might be interested in hosting one of my presentations - or workshops - or “Field Trip + Photo Critique” days, please get in touch.

ABOUT KIM

Passionate about photography and passionate about inspiring, guiding, and supporting photographers. Passionate about photography and passionate about inspiring, guiding, and supporting photographers. Passionate about photography and passionate about inspiring, guiding, and supporting photographers. Passionate about photography and passionate about inspiring, guiding, and supporting photographers.

Over 30 years as a professional photographer

Five First Prizes in the BBC “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” competition, the Olympics of nature

photography worldwide.

18 books published – written and photographed by me. Five are currently “in print”.

Teaching photography for over 10 years now