Kyle Thomas

The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)

Photography Tip: The Hip Shot

The hip shot has been around for years, but was just recently brought up in conversation with some friends of mine who also enjoy photography. They were telling me that while in a mall the hip shot is a perfect way to snap a photo.

Having just had the conversation I put it to test while in Jasper this past August. Walking down the crowed streets I could simply take photos and no one would even notice. I have learned there are a couple of reasons why the hip shot can be a creative way to take photos.

The first being the obvious, no one knows you are doing it. If you are like me and like candid portraits of people than this is perfect. The second thing is the angle. Most of our photos are taken from eye level when we are standing up, it is so common. It also doesn’t make a photo look very special, unless you are an amazing photographer. So shooting at a different level than what the eye can see adds a bit of creativity.

Listen Friends

This photo was taken at hip level as I walked down the street. He was on the other side, just hanging out. What do you think? Have you tried the hip shot?

Chasing the Perfect Sunset

I’ll tell you right off the bat I did not actually find the perfect sunset. Recently Fort St. John has had the pleasure of seeing some wonderful, beautiful red sunsets. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case yesterday evening. I saw the sun setting and thought maybe it would be spectacular, but then my dilemma was where do I go?

Having remembered seeing a good spot north of Fort St. John I took off towards Cecil Lake. Now this is a 26km drive through some Coolies, which take you into a large valley where you can’t see the sun. Looking back I actually went the wrong way, I was supposed to go towards Rose Prairie. I ended up going a ways down a farm road until I found this empty fields where I could see the sun slightly.

I’m not proud of these images, I wanted to do so much better. While some would say that these photos are actually pretty neat, which I think they are, but they’re not the level that I wanted them. As I don’t consider myself an actual photographer, I wanted to share them anyways and tell the story about them as it is the journey that I am on to learn how to be a better photographer.

Going Down
Blue to Yellow

So the tip I learned yesterday evening was to scout out your position first. Find the best spot for different types of photographs before wanted to take them. In my case during the day sometime I’m going to scout out the proper place to view a sunset, and also a place where it would make for an interesting photo. I assume that many outdoor portrait photographers are always looking for new places to shoot. Now that I’ve learned my lesson, I’m always going to be on the lookout for that special spot.

Holding print photos in your hand

 

I had a little nostalgic moment  earlier today. I wanted to fill up some of the picture frames I had been gathering during my Garage Saling adventures so I got some prints done up. I had done it once before at Walmart, but I wanted to try the semi-local alternative Unforgettable Memories Foto Source. So 35 minutes after ordering 3 5×7 and 2 4×6 prints online they were ready for pickup in-store. Just like that I had them in my hands.

As cheesy as it sounds it was a real awe inspiring moment. I was actually holding something that I had created. It is funny to think that nowadays we often never print some of our photos. I can only image what it was like before the age of digital.

Pink Mountain Mist Moment

Couple months ago we went up to the top of Pink Mountain, which is almost halfway between Fort St. John and Fort Nelson. While on the top we watched a storm system come in.

The wide angle lens, which is the Tokina 11-16mm, really made this shot seems all that much more powerful. I’m still trying to master the tonemapping techquie or HDR. Currently I’m struggling with making the images come out with detialed enough to look clear. Granted for this image, I know the f/stop would have had to have been around f/16.

ISO200, 11mm, f/3, 1/2500 sec

Pink Mountain Rain

I’m Still Young, I’m Still Hip

This gentleman was walking past the pizza joint I was at in Jasper and I grabbed this photo of him. I like to imagine what kind of people are in my photos. Each person is different and is captured a different way.

This gentleman, I feel is young at heart. He had a grin on his face that made me think he was going “yeah man, I got this, I’m cool.” Then the ball cap and shades top it off. He was confident as he walked down the main drag of Jasper.

ISO400, 115mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec

Still Young