About gcquinn / Geoff Quinn  

More than Two Years on Flickr! I still live near San Francisco and work in the city and I still drive across the Golden Gate Bridge every day. (If you want to know more about me, try looking at my gallery of photographs that have inspired me.) I joined Flickr in December, 2006 and it is still very humbling to look at the excellent work on Flickr and it is still an honor to learn from such fine photographers. The experience of these months has been like learning how to write, except in photographs. Here's a list that I've put down here mainly so I won't forget these hard-won lessons!


A few lessons learned the hard (and slow) way on Flickr:
(I started writing these down as I learned them from the first week on Flickr. Its just like me to have a lot of rules(!) so forgive me if I sound didactic. Some of this is good stuff, especially if you are starting out like I was. In the end I have learned that a good photograph touches on something that matters to people -- maybe a myth, maybe an oil spill -- and there's something free and unbounded about it, conditions that often come upon you in a moment and then are gone. Enjoy!)

Its good to have a subject
Courage helps
light matters
Sometimes your subject is light itself
You can compose with light as much as with a physical object!
Crops Matter
Calibrate your monitor
Shoot as low an ISO as possible
Use a Tripod
Get a variable density filter (see below)
It took thousands of JPEGs to learn that it is better to ... Shoot in RAW
If it doesn't look good, get closer
If that doesn't work, get on your belly and shoot low (think Annie Leibovitz shooting Arnold Schwarzenegger at Sun Valley, Idaho -- www.iphotocentral.com/andrewsmith/search/detail.php/256/A...
I used to think that the foreground was unimportant - (its important)
A big step forward was when I started shooting for the foreground
Color matters
Figure out the usual way -- then do it differently.
Focusing the camera before shooting helps (Someone helpfully pointed that out once)
Checking your settings before you shoot also helps (letsee, was that ISO 1600 or 200?)
ISO 200 or less is better
I once loved a narrow depth of field: I'm older and wiser now.
Which is to say, stop down the lens
Composition matters
A good foreground interprets the rest of the photograph
If you have two subjects -- maybe you have two photographs
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The Eye goes to the light
And it anchors itself on dark
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There's something about silhouettes
And reflections
The eye loves patches of intricate detail
Photographs live in the line where light meets dark.
A photo benefits from having place for the eye to go
(Someone pointed that out too)
Which is to say: It's good to have a subject.
Light, Focus, Color, Tone, motion, composition and..who knows..seems to help it get there.
If someone tells you they know all about composition, they don't.
People on Flickr taught me about the rule of thirds, of the golden proportions, of diagonal opposites and about keeping things off center -- And then there's spirals, radials, diagonals, squiggles and that layering thing Escher did...
I'll try anything to grab the eye and propel it somewhere
Perspective is important
Sometimes a photograph is just right and breaks all the rules.
Every Flickr photograph was posted for a good reason, even if I don't think so.
I have learned a lot by learning to like an "ugly" photograph.
Learning about color theory is a good idea.
Forget about Explore -- it will ruin you!,,,
...But get a good thumbnail if you still want it..
Shooting for the thumbnail will ruin you!
I used to believe in a "natural" self-taught understanding of composition...
-- but it helps to know the rules.
I have become comfortable with Photoshop layers.
I nearly fainted when I found Photoshop "noise reduction" (that was on June 26, 2008 -- note the difference).
Of course that became less necessary when I ... started using my tripod, selecting a low ISO and stopping down my lens.
I obsess about Light like Aubrey did wind.
Some people know things that can't be learned in a lifetime.
Some things can't be planned.
Portraits are hard to do.
You can't force a photograph to have something it doesn't
A great photograph can have rhythm and nothing more.
Relationships matter more than beauty
Things that align make great photographs
Counterpoint is good
Just because a 1960 Hasselblad is very cool doesn't mean it works.
Digital is much easier (and I do feel sinful in saying that).
Sometimes the slightest crop makes all the difference
A critical comment is far, far more important than a laudatory one (my ego has survived).
A critical comment is right on if you start arguing with it.
The art of black and white is picking out the right colors
Ansel Adams did that by picking out a filter
Ansel Adams knew which filter to pick.
A photograph that expresses humanity is the goal.
A "style" develops despite yourself: One day its there.
Theme matters
Boldness is good

I never had time to think about any of this for my best shots.

Portraits are still my goal... I find them intimidating and I have much to learn, but my favorite, so far are of Freda Koblick:

People seem to like my action shots. This is my favorite:

I went a little crazy with the Golden Gate Bridge -- finally I made a calendar of my shots (You can click on it)

Ansel Adams has inspired me from boyhood -- I appreciate him more as the years go by: that sense that we humans are small and delicate and tolerated by an awsome huge universe: That little town in the high country with its crosses set out in the graveyard; oblivious to the massive mountains and the moon and that huge black sky looking down on it and letting it be.

Here's my favorite Pelican (note his jaunty leg tag)
The series --


Here's a panorama of My Half Dome shots:


More photos of mine: flickr.com/photos/gcquinn/sets/72157602513573303/
Favorite Shots From my Contacts
Here's one of THE BEST portraits I've ever seen -- Lusitano69 published it on his photostream to honor the unknown photographer form the 1960s in Portugal:
www.flickr.com/photos/23690324@N02/2436926130/?addedcomme...
Here's a favorite shot (this one's from ehpien)
www.flickr.com/photos/91499534@N00/2365294918/
Here's another one (its beautiful and because I spent some childhood time at a lighthouse like this one):
www.flickr.com/photos/bradleya/744500560/#comment72157602...
And here's another one (also a great shot and because my infant son and I found this train by accident in Houston):
www.flickr.com/photos/wizards_stone/1280619677/#comment72...

Some thoughts on Neutral, Variable Density filters They solve the eternal problem of the sky being too light and the subject too dark: These magical devices come as either round filters, or (BETTER) a rectangle that you either hold by hand or place in the manufacturer's filter holder, the idea being that exposure of the sky will be brought down to the f stop of the subject. The results have been extraordinary for me.

There are several manufacturers, I'm using HiTech
Make sure it says neutral density (otherwise things might turn a little pinkish)
They have ranges of exposure differential from one to four F stops:
one F stop is listed as 0.3 (as in "ND Grad 0.3")
Two F stops, 0.6
Three, 0.9
Four 1.2
They come as "Hard," which is a quick transition, and "Soft," a slow transition, and "reverse," Which starts dark and becomes light for low horizon sunset shots. (as in "ND Grad Soft 1.2).