Feature Photo
The Story Behind the Photo
Flowerpot Island, Fathom Five National Marine Park
September 2004
It arrived on Friday... my first digital SLR - a Canon EOS 1D mark 2! I raced down to the camera shop to pick it up, to marvel at its technological beauty and to write a painfully enormous cheque (it cost more than my first two cars added together). This is an unusual purchase for me, I'm usually a couple steps behind the latest technology. In fact, I've always taken pride in shooting more with less, to savor the sweet challenge of out-shooting those with superior gear. This new purchase was just plain cocky.
I immediately dug into the instruction manual (no kidding) and toured the array of switches, buttons and menus that the mark 2 entertains. It was overwhelming, the kind of feeling you'd get jumping into the cockpit of the space shuttle for the first time. But alas, after a couple hours I'd learned that the camera was fairly intuitive to use (in many ways similar to my film bodies) and I basically had the gist of it figured out. I was ready to shoot.
Since it's not every day I own cutting edge technology, there's no way I was going to take it out for an ordinary shoot. So I called my buddy - a boat captain - and arranged a pre-dawn shuttle on his zodiac over to Flowerpot Island for the next morning.
We arrived on the island a half hour before sunrise and I raced to catch the rock formations in silhouette against the predawn sky. I'd been planning that image for a couple of years and must admit that I shot those first few photos with my proven film bodies. There's no way I would chance the opportunity to my yet unproven digital camera!
When the sun came up and I felt confident that I'd captured the critical shots, I switched to the digital body and began to play. I shot the mark 2 in sweet early morning light, experimenting with various settings and compositions. Being able to instantly preview the results was an awesome treat! No doubt this feature will push my images to new creative levels. The above photo of the flowerpot rock formation at sunrise is one of the first images I made with the EOS 1D mark 2. Watch for more to come!
Technicals:
Canon EOS 1D mark II, EF 20-30mm lens at 30mm; 1/10s at f16
Cokin B/Y polarizer and Singh-Ray Colour Intensifier
Past Feature Photos/Stories