Magnum Workshop - Larry Towell's Group Corner

Recent Images

noreply@blogger.com (PK Ben Huang) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:50:00 PDT

Recent photographs from Toronto.

By the way, just a reminder that my current email address is pkh@benhuangphotos.com not pkh@lesfocaleimages.com. The old one has been defunct for almost a year now......sorry for the confusion.

Countdown to TO........

noreply@blogger.com (PK Ben Huang) — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:30:00 PDT

From September last year I was working on this ridiculous seasonal grad photo job which doesn't pay much but often worked overtime. Then there's tons of paper works I need to take care of for my wife as she's immigrating to Canada. Though in the end these works does yield results as I was able to save some money from work and documents I prepared for my wife did produced a good feedback from CIC which granted her permanent residence status very quickly. But not able to pick up a camera and focus on a project just made me feel very uncomfortable. So when the job was finally die down and immigration issue finally resolved last month I was planning on going to shoot more....then came a shocking news - lenses are broken down on me. Not a big deal I said to myself because lenses are repairable...which I did had them repaired. But while I was waiting for my lenses in-law parents came visit from Korea which I have to "serve" them for about ten days or so....which interrupted all my plan (not to mention my only chance to see Lewis Black's show's gone).

Since I could not shoot Chinatown for the last few months and the only time I can go back was taken by my parents in-law I decided to shoot whatever the trip my were taken while in Canada. Honestly, it was a brutal 10 days as we were rushed from Victoria, BC to Calgary, AB at their request due to the fact that they are a bit more demanding than normal parents. This is more or less because they're working for the government in South Korea(Thank god its South....) and because they spent so much time on their jobs the attitude sort of carried over onto their private lives. In some occasions you can clear feel that they were acting like state officials visiting foreign country rather than seeing their daughter. They're constantly harassing their daughter for being fat(not true.....) and they were very ignorant toward local custom. But what irritates me the most is that fact that they were kept on telling their fellow Koreans while we were on the tour that they're government officials in order to gain some respect....which no one cares.

As chaotic as it was, I did learned a thing or two out of this trip. First, I really do feel that The Rockys separates BC from rest of Canada psychologically if not physically. Which explain why Vancouver feel so different than all the other Canadian cities I visited. Then there's whole reminder of why I prefer driving by myself rather than join the tour. But the most important thing is after watching my parents in-law it serve as reminder for me and my wife not to become them.

By the way, as the title states, I'm currently packing my stuffs and will be in TO around late June....so next time we chat will probably be early July....maybe in person.

Chinese New Year Parade

noreply@blogger.com (PK Ben Huang) — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:03:00 PDT

Been busy with a lot of non-photographic, non-projected related works since the last time I posted here. Though I did manage to find some time going back to Chinatown here in Vancouver but that was way back in February and I wasn't able to edit them until the last few weeks. Here are samples of my last shoot.

Etzikom, Alberta

noreply@blogger.com (Ted) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:22:00 PDT

noreply@blogger.com (Ted) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:43:00 PDT

noreply@blogger.com (Ted) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:26:00 PDT

The cost of twelve long stem roses the day after.

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:08:00 PST

More TO after heavy rains.

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:48:00 PST

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:12:00 PST

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:55:00 PST

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:37:00 PST

I've got a couple of images to post. One is from the demolition of Sam's The Record Man store on Yonge St. And another shot from my hood.

Panoramics

noreply@blogger.com (Ted) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:42:00 PST

Rocky Mountain Unbroken View

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:05:00 PST

...For President, Washington DC, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:36:00 PDT

National Day of Republic of China(Taiwan)

noreply@blogger.com (PK Ben Huang) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:16:00 PDT

I think this deserve some explination. I've been approaching some of organizations that has long historical relationship with Chinatown and few days ago I was photographing an event celebrating National Day of Republic of China....or should I say Taiwan?.....

To understand why these people celebrating the holiday that is only marked in the calender in Taiwan there's a bit history lesson to be learned.........To put it simple, this so called National Day which is on Oct. 10th was celebrated in China before 1949 prior to the People's Republic. Then The Chinese Nationalist lost the civil war and retreated to Taiwan so the National Day on Oct. 10th is only celebrated on the territory that Nationalist controls. However for the oversea Chinese organizations, specially the old ones that are locate in Chinatowns, are still supporting the Nationalist so naturally they're celebrating ROC's National day as well.

So what do I make of this? Well, I personally felt like I went into an living antique shop when I attending the event not only because of age group of the attendees but also the prapoganda - may it be the slogan they shouted during the event or the text on the wall. All these remind me of my elementary school times in taiwan 20 years back

NYC July 2008, Patrick Rodrigues

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:16:00 PDT

NYC July 2008, Patrick Rodrigues

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:16:00 PDT

NYC July 2008, Patrick Rodrigues

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:16:00 PDT

Silver Efex Pro

noreply@blogger.com (Ted) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:19:00 PDT

Thanks for that Lucas, you make some very good points, I do love the look Silver Efex Pro can give you. I agree that it is an intuitive application. What I dont like is that after saving and closing an image in Photoshop and upon opening a new image, the last filter command will launch all the manipulations used in the previous image. That would be great if you want to process every image identically but what if you want to use another template or film preset. Then you must launch the plugin again from scratch. Creating an action might be a better way to go.

I have friend who offered this observation. "You have D3 that cost 5k with a 2k lens on it, then you upload to your 3k mac laptop, use an 800 dollar photoshop program, then you want to use a 200 dollar plug in to give you the look of a 30 dollar Holga."

Obviously he has over simplified with his usual smart ass comment (what are friends for) but he does make a point. So I just bought 50 rolls of Tri X and that will give me the Tri X look with out plugins.

To be honest I miss the analogue approach to shooting, professionally I use digital an it's incredable, lightning fast turn around times from field to client, but for the art of image making and the tactile pleasure of film, the advance of film one frame at a time, the smell of stop bath, fixer, and developer, not to mention the discipline of waiting for the shot instead of editing down 8 gig of shooting in a day, nothing beats it, no way to be sure you have the shot until the film comes out the soup. Ahhh the magic of it all!

No doubt that I'll spring for Silver Efex Pro sometime, it's just another tool to make images, but in the meantime I'll be going silver.

Silver Efex Pro

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:16:00 PDT

Hi all, sorry for the lack of posts over the last few months. I've been blogging over at my own site, but thought I'd get posting here again.

So, to get started I thought I'd put up some thoughts on Silver Efex Pro, which I recently picked up after finding it indispensable after the two week trial expired. I made a couple of posts about it here, and here, but to sum up, for me it really cuts down on my processing time, and lets me fine tune dodges and burns that in Photoshop would be a total hassle. I use it primarily with Apple Aperture, and the plugin is quick to load, and very intuitive (it took me all of 10 minutes to get the main functions sorted, and to save a favourite setting that I now you as a base when processing work.) My only beef with the Aperture plugin is that it produces a flat image, whereas the Photoshop version allows you to save your processing as a Smart Filter, and therefore it's editable later. The difference in file size is enormous though, with the flat version being 25MB, and the Smart Filter version 150+MB.

I agree Ted, it is a little pricey, but worth every penny in my honest opinion. If you're lucky enough to be a student, or know one, the student pricing runs at about half.

Silver Efex Pro

noreply@blogger.com (Ted) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:45:00 PDT

Hi Ben, nice work, highly stylized. I like it.

Has anyone used a photoshop plugin Silver Efex Pro? I downloaded a trial version, and I like it but at 200 bucks a pop, not sure if I'll invest in it or not. Anyone have an unlock code ;-)

It has quite a range of options from film types and grain to templates of antique, holga camera, Ambrotype etc. Here are a few examples, check it out it's free for a two week trial.

Chinatown Vancouver - July & August

noreply@blogger.com (PK Ben Huang) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:21:00 PDT

Greetings to all,

I'm embarrassing to say that I could not really remember exactly what I was doing for the past few month. I was busy....yes.....but then other than working, shooting, and clean up my computer I couldn't recall anything that kept me away this long......

Anyway......Ted, that explosion is a really good wake up call...and I thank you for reminding us.

So, back to my recent images on Chinatown project. There's quiet a lot going on in summer at Vancouver's Chinatown. First being Chinatown Night Market held every weekend between May and September. Then in the early August there's summer festival with section of Chinatown blocked off for vendors for a day. Photographically speaking, I have a very fulfilled summer, but at the same time it kind of create a nightmare when it comes to editing since I over shoot "a bit"

As I mentioned in the previous post way bak in June I do have desire to photograph Chinatown else where. But before I have enough fund to do so I'm still going to explore more about Chinatown here in Vancouver....and for the next part I would like to shoot the section which border with "Downtown Eastside" which is the community known for its drug and homeless problems. Stay tuned.

Have we all lost interest..

noreply@blogger.com (Ted) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:17:00 PDT

"life's a blast".

That is the motto of our explosive techs...

From Vancouver to Victoria

noreply@blogger.com (PK Ben Huang) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:40:00 PDT

Hey everyone,

Been sometime since I posting anything here......was caught up with out of town jobs which I end up spent almost half month in Victoria. But because of the opportunity I was able to photograph Victoria's Chinatown, which claim to be one of the oldest in Canada, on my spare time.

Anyway, it's interesting after visiting several old Chinatowns from different cities to observe how these communities have become. Toronto's Chinatown is still vibrant and remain as one of the commercial center for Chinese communities living in the metro area. Vancouver's Chinatown is still vibrant but many of Chinese in Vancouver today would prefer suburbs where large modern Chinese shopping centers were built to accommodate them. As for Victoria's Chinatown, it is merely become a tourist attraction. Aside from physical appearance, there's very few Chinese that living or operating businesses there. On the street you'll find far more tourist and more than half of the stores are operate by non-Chinese.

So what's next? more Chinatown in Vancouver before going back to San Francisco's Chinatown......but before that I need some more research and a bit help on funding

noreply@blogger.com (trisha) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:49:00 PDT

Hi Everyone,
Glad to see people posting here.
JBG - to answer your questions, I shoot shoot shoot and edit later. I don't think about editing while I am shooting. My husband Peter is nasty brutal (aka honest) when I'm editing. It's great to have a second set of eyes that you trust helping with image selection.
Also, I personally prefer your first bowling image - the one where the ball is just about to hit. The anticipation in that photo is exciting. I dig it alot!
Hi Ted. Pregger photos, hey? I had a friend shoot me in studio - simple black and whites which I liked. I like the idea of shooting in a field - the location is stunning. When I look at the photo you posted, I find myself wondering what her story is - does she live on that farm? is that her dog, etc? Is that what you are going for? You may have already done this but how about going in tigher, focusing on her and keeping the background soft/mysterious so your attn is all on her and that giant belly!
Very best,
Trisha