In the Rain

I had my good friend Jay, ride his new Harley to Seattle. Apart from being boys on bikes all weekend we decided to do a shoot and try out my new Innovatronix battery pack on my Profoto D1's. I had to put the D1's in garbage bags (likely not recommended by Profoto), but they were loose large bags with plenty of air and rather than travel any distance, we went across the road from my building in Belltown to shoot against an awesome Graffiti wall. The little Innovatronix pack worked awesome. In total, I shoot around 150 shots, most of the time with two lights. One at nearly full power and the other very low. It won't run the 2 lights at full, but after this success I will definitely order another pack.

Here are a couple of the results. I posted the images in HD to my website: Alecwatson.com

Spring has Sprung

Just an amazing day in Seattle today. I met a great friend for lunch and was inspired to shoot Pioneer Square. Pioneer Square is Seattle's Oldest Neighbourhood - the buildings date back to the 1890's. With the old trees, and old bricks it's a great place to shoot infrareds.

Here's a couple of highlights from today.

Breaking the Rules

I often get to shoot AMAZING expensive homes for magazines like Homes and Living Victoria or Western Living. When I arrive at these shots, I have already looked at Google Earth to see what I am facing. I know the time of day I want to shoot each room and I basically plan every angle to make the most of my light hours.

Today, on a visit to Chapalla Mexico to visit my parents, I came across a wonderfully inviting little coffee shop. It was mid-day, there were harsh shadows, and because of this I wasn't even going to shoot the little place. ....Having my camera on me, I figure, what the heck, my eye is likes it.

This little venture reminded me about how, as I became a better photographer and started to forget about the "rules" - responding to what my eye saw, my photos had a much better "feel." For me, this picture shows a wonderfully inviting little place, even though there are wires hanging out, pipes all over the place, broken concrete and harsh shadows. There is also a wonderful pride shown in the plants and signs of what would be an otherwise dilapidated building.

When I look at this place, whether in Colour or BW - I see love. As a view, I can feel things, and those feelings can be at any time of day and break all the rules of staging, lighting and control.

Beautiful December

...you eventually get used to the idea that it is going to be dark and grey all winter when you live in the North West. I woke up this morning and it seemed like the sky was an odd colour - it was going to be blue! An outstanding day for infrared photos. I currently have a friend's 16-35 2.8 so it seemed like a good time to try it out agains my go-to 17mm Tilt Shift. ....Well I got some great shots with it, and really liked it, but wow do you get used to having sharp corners when you shoot with primes.

Here is my favourite photo of the day shot in Gas Works Park Seattle.

You can find lots more Seattle infrareds on my website.

www.alecwatson.com

Pioneer Square Seattle

..I'd heard of Pioneer Square... I Didn't know it had anything to do with this beautiful Cast Iron Pergola on 1st. Built in 1909 as a shelter for travellers waiting for a street car for the World's Fair, it's a reminder for me of how things used to be done-let's get back to doing things right.

I shot this on my newly converted Infrared Canon 5d with a tilt-shift 17mm Lens. I kind of wish I hadn't corrected optically so hard as the distortion on some of the metal work in the bottom corners is getting very heavy; that said, I shot it that way to catch the scope of the structure while keeping the way the sun was streaming through the glass as accurate to what I was seeing.

It was a beautiful fall day.

To check out more infrareds, go to my website:

www.alecwatson.com

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The record breaking cold snap in Seattle, left amazing photo ops when then sun came out. Leaves still left on trees and snow on the ground.

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Had an amaziing social and shoot day in Victoria yesterday. Have a couple of amazing images from the relaxing day in the sun. I LOVE this one!
copyright Alec Watson www.alecwatson.com