Conversations with Bruce Bishop

We started talking about the display at library, which was set up by a friend of his.

The flight suite was signed by Paul Tibbets, he was the pilot who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay when it dropped Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Great display, take some time to look at it.

He showed “Drone on a Stick” he made from a painter’s pole. If you attach a go-pro on it, looks like your 40’ off the ground or can be used under water. Can use your regular camera on it if you want.

Focos app works on iPhone photo’s you have taken. Depth of field is always a problem with iPhone photos. This app will let you edit photo’s easier. Check it out.

Bruce did a wonderful job as our first speaker. Bruce had members email him photos but didn’t tell us why. As he talked, he brought up those photos and discussed with the photographer why they took that shot. How they took that shot, and as we went through the photos, most people said taking time to set up the photo was always there. You need to connect with the person you are taking photos of, more natural photos will happen as you connect.

We also found out:

Some people love to take photos of what people are passionate about. Some people take more pictures of macro or portraits. Some people look at a lot of photos online and make folders of the different styles or poses of photos. Then if they are going to go out, they might review those photos so will have an ideal of poses. Some like action shots, some like to try their photo’s in black and white. You have to know what you want your shot to look like and take time to set it up. Street photography some people shoot first and ask forgiveness later, but some ask first and are told no. Travel photography, was talked about what was fun, where did you go. Sometimes connect with a local photographer and get advice from them where to go and take your travel photography. Mirrorless cameras are fast for the on/off. When traveling this is an advantage. Landscape photography: What is your favorite place? Someone loved the Grand Tetons.

Bruce then talked about seeing the light and know how it will look in the frame. Golden hour is great. Bruce has taken photo’s out west in storms and described the light as looking like a platinum kind of light the way the sun comes through the area. If you see something that has the potential, take the time to set up your shot. You could end up with something really special.

Bruce does not believe in Luck in photography, if you take a great picture it is because you know your skills. If you know what you want to photograph and you take the time to set it up, you will either catch it or not and might have to go back if you missed it. Someone might say “Hey what a lucky shot or you must have a really good camera” But if you catch it in the 1/125 of a second, that is skill not luck. Every person in the club is shooters, it doesn’t matter how long you have been doing it. Just keep shooting, everybody has a story, everybody has something to impart, everybody has knowledge, and everybody has different interests. If the club works together and talks to each other and share the stories because there is a lot of years of photography in this room right now, we will all benefit.

Thank-you Bruce for our conversation night, I really enjoyed hearing about everyone’s photograph. Why they took it, how they set it up, and what they loved about it. We were just a group of people having a conversation about photography. Listening and enjoying each other’s company.