Art | MiKS Media Photography

Winter adventures on film

by Mac Sokulski | Jan 25, 2017 | Art, Landscape, Nature

End of December last year, I had a few days to myself, to think about what I want to do with my photography. Watching videos of Thomas Heaton and his adventures really inspires me, to focus more and really take care what is in the frame of the camera. To look at the world in a different way, and find the beauty everywhere, even in simple compositions that don’t involve glorious sunrise or sunset skies. This is the reason that on this little short sunrise trip I only took a 35mm film camera, and a roll of film. Kasia is happy with her Fuji digital cameras, and she can always find something interesting. She has a keen eye to see the big vistas, and the little intimate details. I still struggle with that. So I forced myself to look around more carefully on this trip, and loaded with 18 (because I already shot a few during Christmas celebrations) frames and armed only with 2 lenses (35 and 50) I began my adventure.

We have been to this old abandoned house, a few times. Yet there is always something new to photograph. With fresh snow, there were a lot of animal tracks all around. Kasia and me separated, so we’re not in each others way, and end up with very similar images. Surprisingly I did manage to finish off the roll of film. I’m actually quite happy with the results, even though the images are very grainy for ASA400 film. I hope I can translate the experiences of shooting old film camera to the new digital, and take images with more care and purpose.

Best of 2016

by Mac Sokulski | Jan 6, 2017 | Art

Another year has passed, and photographically I should be calling it, a year of experimentation. I did not travel far from home this year, like my wife did. This did not preclude me from trying different things. As you can see from the images below, it’s a mish-mash, a chaos, with no definite theme to anything. Landscapes mixed with boudoir, portraits, babies… I mean wow. I wanted to try using old film cameras in different conditions, either outside in full sunlight or inside matching strobes and light meters. Trying my hands at creating large panoramas. Madness.

One thing I learned this year, is to appreciate film a little more and change my shooting style a lot. There were times when I did not take any digital cameras with me on little photo trips. Since the medium format cameras have a maximum shutter speed of about 1/500 sec, I had to learn how to navigate apertures higher than f8. It’s a scary, unknown place for me. I love shooting wide open. I really love making the background in a landscape, out of focus and concentrating on the foreground element. It’s just the way I like doing things. Medium format, and even the 35mm film camera forces me to close down the aperture of the lens, because of the shutter speed limitation, and that in turn opened my eyes to a completely different style. I’m still learning to appreciate it.

This is all an experience, because shooting with film not only slowed me down even more, but forced me to make each picture count. With digital it’s so easy to just shoot one scene a few times, just to get a better shot. Film of course puts a 36 frame or less restriction (12 with medium format!), and that made me more careful what’s in the frame. This also translates well to digital. Taking care what’s in the frame and that everything is set right before pressing the magic button.

So here are my best of 2016. I will admit, it wan’t easy pickings, as I really love every frame in this gallery. It’s definitely not as coherent and nice as Kasia’s, who is growing photographically in leaps and bounds. I really admire that. Then again, I could be biased 🙂

Enjoy!

Is Being Bored Good Or Bad?

by Kasia Sokulska | Dec 13, 2016 | Art

I’ve found myself bored recently, stuck at home and not willing to go anywhere with my camera. There was a very Canadian reason for it. It was freezing outside with winds bringing the cold close to -40 Centigrade and sun making almost no appearance at all. Depressing, if you ask me, so I decided to use my go to therapy for winter blues: play with color. I went back to the set of photos I took wile visiting friends on Long Island, NY last year in fall. We were lucky to spend a lovely morning shooting sunrise at one of the beaches there and driving all over taking in the lovely fall colors. As it happens, I took way too many pictures (greedy photographer that I am) so there was a large amount of shots that were never posted, since they are similar to the ones that were.. It’s my curse, I tell you. When I find myself in a lovely place with great light and colors I can’t stop taking pictures.. Anyway, since I was in need of some colors and didn’t want to post the same stuff from before I decided to experiment a bit. I normally rarely use Photoshop for more than cosmetics while processing my shots thus I am not fully familiar with all the complicated functions that it comes with and, since I had some time on my hands, desire to play and some photos that can be played with I started to experiment…

Now, was being bored good or bad? Do you like the results? What is your opinion?

I, personally, loved all my experiments so I will share them with you, though my opinion is bias ;D. I have to warn you, though, for those of you that are used to winter monochrome they might seem shockingly colorful so brace yourselves! Here they are..

Kasia

Adventures of Film Photography

by Mac Sokulski | Nov 23, 2016 | Art, Urban

From time to time, I like the change things a bit, and go back to time where things were… a bit more complicated. Plus the medium was a little less forgiving than today high quality camera sensors. Shooting on film, as some may say “old school”, takes discipline. Not only some cameras are limited in shutter speeds, but also everything is manual. Manual focus, manual exposure, manual, manual, manual…. In the world of digital photography it is easy to take for granted all the features that come with even the basic of digital cameras. Autofocus, exposure, ISO, are so often overlooked or judged in terms of speed and dynamic range. In the olden days no one cared how fast the autofocus was, as there was none. Somehow people were still able to provide us with amazing sport photography. National geographic still has the most enthralling images. It was all done with clunky manual cameras, on film. Don’t get me wrong, I love what cameras of today can do, and what we can create with them. I love the fact that I can autofocus, that I can set my ISO to automatic, and never really worry about it.

I mentioned about discipline. Having a very limited amount of frames on film, you want to have every image count. You want to frame your shot, and more often re-frame it just to make sure everything works. Making sure there are no unwanted elements in the frame. With old film cameras you do not have the luxury of checking if your camera settings were correct. You have to trust yourself that the image imprinted on film, is as you envisioned it. Thus you need discipline to make sure the images are good and intentional. It’s a great learning tool. Understanding light is all about photography, and using an old film camera will make you understand it even more.

There is also one little tidbit that will help you. A pen and a notebook. Because there can be a fairly long time between taking the photos, and actually seeing them, I find it very beneficial to record the camera settings. I just use my smart phone and a note taking app to do that. It helps to remember and compare the settings to the images.

Adventures on film, can be very rewarding, and great tool for improving your digital photography.

Frost, Frost And More Frost..

by Kasia Sokulska | Feb 10, 2016 | Art

I must say that when we get a frosty morning in winter the world looks so much more appealing. We don’t get too many of those around, but when it happens I go out, whenever I can, to take pictures. The sparkly world just begs to be photographed. Today, I’m going to share some of the images I took over the past couple of years of frosted things. Hope you enjoy them..

Kasia

Art Nude in the Wild – with Fuji X-Series

by Mac Sokulski | Feb 2, 2016 | Art, Fuji X

I like to experiment with flash from time to time. Even being outside, having a flash makes for some interesting results. Like dragging the shutter, while the flash goes off. It’s really not hard to do, and I think it works best with out a tripod. Fuji X-Series cameras make it even easier, because of their size and weight. You can easily operate the camera in one hand, while holding the flash in the other.

I did this session quite a while ago, and it’s been sitting on my hard drive for far too long. I could write cheesy words about the beauty of landscape with a beautiful human element, but I think the pictures speak for themselves. The first part of this session, done with very talented Kate, can be found in the conceptual fairies post. Hope you enjoy the series.

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