Lessons

Lesson Info

Experiential Photography

Welcome to Hungry Horse Reservoir, Montana. (calm music) This whole episode is about experiential photography. My point with this workshop edition is to make photos where I'm experiencing something. So, my plan was to come ride motors with these guys in this area, but did this on my rest a few weeks ago and then, I can't ride motorcycles, so the next thing that's as cool as that is come with them and camp and take some photos of them riding their bikes and just having fun. So, I've discovered this cove we're in last year actually with my friend Forest Menkins and I've always wanted to come back. So, this summer V-2 workshop is the perfect place for it. I'm super stoked to shoot this. Now, in this episode, I want to talk about three things. Number one, and the most important, if you only remember this, I'll be really happy. It's how do you tell stories? So, I'm gonna make a set of the day with these guys, and I'm gonna show you how I make a photo set. So, just take it with a grain of sa...

lt. I'll give you some pointers on why I'm doing what I'm doing, but what matters is that you decide how do you tell stories. That's completely different. There's no point in imitating people on how they do it. It's like, what are you interested in, right? And I'm not talking about the activities, like do you ride motorcycles or do you hike? That's different, that's the side thing. It is how visually do you tell a story is my whole point here. It's that, do you show really white things? Do you show really narrow things? What do you show? Do you show the whole right end? Do you only show the camping scene? So, these decisions, you should take before you go out. And now I know what I wanna shoot pretty much is I'm gonna get them riding in, setting up camp and having a nice evening out. So, I don't wanna end up shooting a thousand photos of different things and not be sure what I want. It's like, I'm dialed, I know what I want. I'm still leaving room for things to happen, right? I'll have them set up camp and I'll just shoot them as they do it. And these will be like bonus photos for me, but I know that I'm gonna be after intimate moments. That's my thing as an experiential, right? So I wanna show that in my photos. Before I jump into point number two, let me just share something that is profound. That is, what kind of story telling do you wanna be known for? You know, I like two things. I like action, but also, I like to reflect on things. So, on the large scale, all of my photos are either one or the other. It's like there's gonna be an action and there's gonna be some slow, reflective moments. And I always try to bring a mix of both. And that comes down from knowing what you're into. So that was my little profound bit. Now point number two that I'm gonna be talking in this episode is, how do you make wide angle scenes? It's something I don't talk about enough, but I love doing. I'm always like 1635 on my camera and then shoot as wide as I can. And I think that I've developed this approach to it that makes good results and that I like. So, I'll walk you through how I compose my wide shots in this episode. And then after that, we'll talk about how I'm telling the story of this afternoon, this evening, in a photo set. And without, like, 30 photos. 10 photos is enough. I wanna show you how you can be selective with what you show. (calm music) (camera shutter clicks) It's still a little hot, for sure. That could be a good scene though, brrr. Well, I think I'll have the two bikes there just looking out. A blue hour with the lights on. It's like a little ride they do after dinner, you know. They set up camp, they have dinner and then they go for a quick ride at blue hour. I'm scouting for a viewpoint of the camp. Yeah, once we set up camp, I wanna find a place where I can see it through the trees, like really wide. That's what I'm looking for. (motorcycle hums) Some good shots here of the road, of them coming in. I like this spot. Good vantage point over the whole green bay. All right, I think this is it. This is the one. (calm music) (motorcycle hums) So my story begins right now, it's getting Eli and Isaac rolling into town, so they're coming from up the hill, down the hill, have their packs full, they're gonna go set up. So that's what I'm getting now. I'm shooting that pretty wide, and I saw this hairpin on the way up that looks really cool, where if you place yourself well, you can see the entrance of the corner and the exit of the corner. So, now we have this perfect canvas to play with and I like to position myself in a way that I can see both the entrance and the exit of the corner. And I got a 16 for that, and I'm just gonna get them rolling through, simple. (motorcycle hums) (camera shutter clicks) So, I got to tell them what's staggering. You know, they're coming too staggered on each other. Gotta set up a nice spacing between the two of them. Nice, so that's good. It's nice when you come out of this corner like that, but it makes more sense when you're coming down. Do you think you can come out of that corner, it's not as fun I guess, to come out of that corner in a more flamboyant way when you're coming like this. Well, going down-- Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not as fun to-- We can do that, going down first. Do you to see how we were kicking ass going this way? Yeah, it's easier this way. (indecipherable) down, oh yeah. I'm just shooting you guys coming down. Okay, we'll just go first gear and make it look good without having to actually launch into that fucking-- Yeah, that'd be good. And just give yourself like 12 feet of spacing between you two guys. Whatever that is, like three meters. You know, the spacing because sometimes you come too staggered and it's like one or the other. Oh, got you. (motorcycle hums) (camera shutter clicks) Oh, top. The spacing is right. It looks like they're really moving, uh-uh. (motorcycle hums) Good, sweet. Switching up the angles. So, this 16 (indecipherable) or so. A lot of things in the camera, so you wanna make sure you clean it up. You get a shot that's clean, you know. So, if you go lower, it's a little cleaner, you don't see all the grass. Okay, gonna go a little close, a little intimate with that motorcycle tire. (motorcycle hums) (camera shutter clicks) Yeah. So, so close. Gotta get him when he's coming out actually. So we can see the exit of the corner. (motorcycle hums) Yeah, gotta get some dust. If you don't get rocks on your lens, you're not close enough, you know what I mean? (motorcycle hums) Oh, got some rock in the face, that's good. (calm music) (motorcycle hums) Aww, the sun is lighting up the rain. Oh, if I could place myself to the left, I can hide the sun with this big tree. That could be even better so I don't get any lens flair. (calm music) (camera shutter clicks) Yeah. Wow, okay, that's a really cool establishing shot. It looks so dreamy with the bay. It's like Vietnam's down there. Oh, here they come. (motorcycle hums) Dude, the light. Oh, it's so good. When you guys were coming down, look, it was just like fairy tale lights, whoa, probably the best introduction shots of you guys. Nice. Yeah, so I'm just trying to do many wides, it's all white. Okay. Yeah, no whites. So right now, it's like waiting for light to get a little bit better and I already got you guys dicking around, so it's just making a fire and putting up some tents and that's it. (calm music) (motorcycle hums) Jumping back into the action, we've just had a delicious dinner, which I haven't photographed because it's not part of my story. Now, we're gonna resume the action with Isaac and Eli setting up. Their camp is behind me. There's a nice fire ring we've seen, and it just feels like a natural place you would camp. So, I'm just gonna have them set up camp and shadow them as they do that. I might have them redo some actions, but otherwise it's gonna be pretty much documentary. And then still using this 1835. I have a few photos I wanna do that I have in mind and I'm gonna focus on some actions like zipping up the zipper, planting a stake down, just a few actions like that. And that's it, we're good to go, let's do it. (calm music) (camera shutter clicks) (indecipherable) lines in the trees. And Isaac's kind of blending in into the landscape with his green jacket, I like it. (camera shutter clicks) Still wide, still 16, keeping it up. The first set in history to be shot all at 16. (camera shutter clicks) Nice. Okay, I'm gonna get a 100- and get a shot of the camp from up the hill through the trees before the light gets too dark for the zoom lens. Let's do it. Let's do it. (calm music) Got the same birds at the house. See, it sound like a sci-fi movie. Do you hear them? Okay, so, like I said earlier, in all my photos, I like to have either action or reflection of something. So, I feel like I've got a lot of action, them coming down, them riding, now I'm taking more of a reflective step. And I've let them set up a fire there. I walked back up here with my zoom lens to get some more almost voyeuristic photos of them through the trees. Just so it give context to the whole scene, right? It's like this is where they are, there's this small little speck here into this big nature. So, again, that's just me. You gotta think about what you, how you wanna tell your story. You find out how you see things by just repetition, right? So, I've done this enough that I know that, yeah, I'm gonna get some action and I'm gonna get some more contemplative moments through the trees, or just straight up some landscapes around, but in case of doubt, it's better to get a few more shots than what you need. It always helps in your set when your building it. Especially if the nature's beautiful, like, this would be cool. If you're not sure, just shoot it. Yeah. All right, so, 1600 for sure, 4.5. I got a zooming advance because I only have one hand, 135 should be good. Yeah, this is the best spot. Yeah, this is it with the bikes there. Yeah, 100 is enough actually. Okay, 135. (camera shutter clicks) Trying to get enough water, enough trees in the shot. Check my sharpness because it's pretty dark. Looking good. (camera shutter clicks) So now, if I didn't know what my set is in advance, I'd be freaking out, like, "Oh no, he's lighting up the fire. I wanted to shoot that but I'm here. What do I do?" So, because I know I don't wanna get him getting as dark, the fire, because that's just a shot that I've seen so many times. I'm pretty relaxed here. Just trying to get the best angle of the whole camp and then I'll roll down. So, just knowing what you're trying to shoot will help you be more efficient. And especially eliminate all the guess work because there's nothing more exhausting than trying to second guess yourself all the time. So, just have a rough idea of what you wanna shoot. Much better after that. These are good, but not great. There's always something in the way. So, I'm trying to decide if I walk through the bushes or keep walking down. I think I'm gonna keep walking down. It's all about patience. We'll find the view. All right, you guys up for a little hike? I think I'm gonna have to go bush league. I'll leave my bag behind, I don't need it. I'm trying not to break my wrist again. (camera shutter clicks) I'm using the zoom lens here. It should make some nice blur in the foreground. And I'm balancing it on my shoe for extra steadiness, pro tip. (camera shutter clicks) Okay, oh nice. Yeah, so you got all this blur of the water. It really puts everything in context. I wonder if I like it better even then the ones from up top? It's good to have the options I guess, especially if you have time. We have time. Okay, change my settings again now, 2.8 lens, much more light. Okay, do some really wides to show where we are. (camera shutter clicks) It's quite the amazing place. All right, now I'm gonna go back to camp and shoot my final scene. Actually two scenes, Eli's gonna cook some dinner and then I want to get him cooking on the fire. And then, I'm gonna shoot the wide, the final wide. (calm music) We'll have them go for a little evening ride. And then the bikes will be parked there. Or so the story flows. So let me tell you about taste. The reason we're shooting this here is because I wanted to shoot old bikes. Isaac and Eli have these old bikes, and they just look really charming to me. They're, I don't know, I love riding them. And this is just the very place for it and the tents also match the bikes. I got them to bring one person tents. They're very small tents. Like tents they would just bring on a motorcycle adventure like this, so a small footprint. You know, you're not gonna set up a big old Walmart tent here because nobody takes that on a motorcycle. So think about the sense in your story. Like, these guys are on a ride, they're going miles out. They're gonna travel light, right? They wanna have fun riding. They don't wanna carry a massive tent in their bag. So, the thing about the meaning is you make sense as not make sense. And if you don't know if it makes sense, read magazines. Adventure magazines always have the best photos of people doing amazing things, and then you see what makes sense for the adventure for the task at hand. Sidetracked Magazine's one of them actually. It's not a sponsor, but it's my favorite magazine. The point is that ask yourself these questions, and you're gonna miss some. That's okay, the next time you'll learn it. Like, "I didn't figure it out in advance, I had to figure it out on the fly." That's cool. But the more you can figure out in advance, the better. Let's switch to the 1.4, it's darker. You guys look really good. Okay, about this time of the day we're getting into blue hour, and I'm taking more wide shots with the 24, and I'm trying to find different alternative views of the camp. So, I'm just kind of walking around. And this one comes to me as the perfect example of how you can compose a wide. You have our subjects in the middle, the bikes to the right, the tents to the left. And the smoke kind of washing out to the left, so I am off-centering that composition a little bit just to keep in mind that smoke is kind of unbalancing my image position a little bit. Gonna go a bit more like this, play with the smoke, and we have a clean image that has everything in it. Which is, to me, the point and the challenge and the beauty of the wide angle is being able to do stuff like that. So I'm gonna keep rotating and show you a few more views. Let's say you wanted to shoot here, right? Like, "Oh, that single looks cool, I can see the lake." But the issue is, the motorcycles are on top of the tents, so there's this big mess, so I don't like that. So, this is no-go to me, but I'll take a photo. I keep rotating, my view's good for that. Oh, we're getting better. I see the mountain at the end now. The lake is reflected. We're getting better now. I guess take a big step back. All right, now I quite like this. Come in a little closer because I have, again, a geometry. See that mountain in the back there at the end of the bay? It anchors my image in, and the tents at the bottom, keeps anchoring me in. The bikes to the left and the fire to the right and I'm gonna get these guys to hang out by the fire in a second to balance out the bikes. And I don't want too much ground, right? If you're wondering should I have more ground, no because it doesn't look interesting at all. So I'm cutting my ground as much as I can while still keeping in mind the deformation of my 24 right. If I cut the ground too much, the tents are gonna start to warp and I don't want that either. So, always a nice balancing exercise. This feels good right here. (camera shutter clicks) Everything looks green. It's funny, I'm hoping for blue hour, but right now, we have green hour. Pretty cool, different. See, if I keep going, I'm out of bounds, I don't like this. It doesn't feel right. Do you wanna know why? So I compare this, this view here we have, the mountain is well centered in the middle. That's the shot I took earlier. And then now we're here, and then the mountain is the one to me that wants to be in the middle, but I can't because if I have it in the middle, I got all this negative space here that I don't wanna see. Let me take a photo just so you see. See, I don't want this. That's why I was showing from there earlier, so when you're practicing, give yourself some time. Start shooting blue hour an hour before if you want, and then get the beautiful angles. And you only know that by walking around. Blue hour has begun. It's raining a little bit, which gives a good mood. And then these guys have sat by the fire, everything's kind of coming together right now. I'm really excited. Pumped actually. So, you could move, we're making this final wide. You could sure move the tents a little closer et cetera, if you're nit-picking, but I don't want it to be too perfect. Like I said at the beginning, it shouldn't be too perfect because people see through that, right? This is how they set it up with just a bit of direction. And I wanted as close as possible to natural. Sure, you have to space them a little bit so they don't stagger on each other, but keep it natural. Ooh, that wind's coming. (camera shutter clicks) A bit of a wind gust. It keeps things interesting, yeah? All right, let's wait for this to settle a little bit. So for the final scene, I got these guys sitting on the fire and I already show you making position earlier, so I'm gonna do that. And this time, they're sitting on the right side to balance out the composition, so I just pretty much have to shoot it. My settings are 150th of a second, 1.8 seeking her eye, so all right, this is it. Yeah, and sometimes it just likes to go a little higher up, switch it up like this, and then a little lower. Just make sure you're steady, that's what matters. It is raining, no water on the lens? No. Okay, I'm gonna widen that. So, let's have a look, review. I'm gonna get one from further out. Let's move this thing. No, that's good. Looking good, how is it? Just go wider for precaution. See, it's got too much flow around when you go that far away. And then I'm gonna get into the grass to get a foreground. We just wrapped up. These guys are packing up. We're packing up. So, I've shot my story, that's it. It all went pretty much according to plan except for all the rain, but it comes and goes, that's summer in Montana. That's what you get. So, I executed all my wide angles. I shot the photos I needed for my story. And I had the right bikes, the right props, the right colors. So everything fell into its place because I had planned it before. And now I'm just really excited to go edit these photos. Yay, success.