Outdoor Photography Canada

Photo above: A stand-up paddler shows good form on a beautiful day at Heffley Lake, about 35 minutes northwest of Kamloops, BC
Gear: Nikon D700, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 lens, ƒ16@1/250 sec. ISO 320

Having been with this fine publication since its inception, it's truly been a fantastic journey to watch it evolve to encompass the ever-changing art of photography and all it has to offer. Photography has been a huge part of my life over the last 20 years. I look forward to bringing you a new direction with my column that will allow us interaction and feedback, amongst other things, that will help you develop and improve your skill set as well as your passion for photography. There will be four revolving themes with the column: question and answer, critique, a general topic of choice and finally, an advice column. We're hoping that by asking for your queries the magazine will be reaching a target demographic, which ultimately will be a benefit to all, from novices to full-time professionals. There’s a tremendous amount of talent in this country of ours and with this column we hope to bring a style and direction to each one of you. 

Q&A

Next issue will be the question and answer column, where I'll encourage you to ask a broad range of questions that you need help with. They can range from equipment to techniques, taking the next step with your career, business practices, etc. Of course, I'll only be able to publish a few of the questions, but I'll try to get back to all of you. 

Critique

If you love getting your work critiqued (and I love doing this for people), then the next issue will involve sending me your favourites or not-so favourites for some feedback. Usually when I'm doing this, the first course of action is to see if the image elicits an emotional response - if so, great! Then I know we immediately have a strong image. When sending material, look for images that are simple, convey your vision, have good composition and compositional balance and tell a story. These principles are the cornerstones of my images and I look forward to working with you on this topic. You can send the images to me at kfunk@telus.net or directly to Editor-in-Chief Roy Ramsay at editor@outdoorphotographycanada.com. Please keep all images under 300 pixels, and no more than three images per critique.

Photo: The sun rise illuminates Lupine flowers in the grasslands of the Thompson Okanagan region, at Napier Lake, south of Kamloops, BC
Gear: Nikon D300s, Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 lens, ƒ16@1/20 sec., ISO 200, Singh-Ray three-stop hard ND grad filter

Advice

For the fourth installment in this column I'll be giving advice on some of the more intricate questions gathered from all the queries. Unlike the question and answer issue, this may involve uncommon or obscure subjects. Please feel free to address any and all questions you may have and I'll categorize them as I see fit. Please include the topic of the question in the subject line (i.e., question or critique).

I'm very excited about the newly-constructed, fresh column. I believe it will be engaging in its content and benefit a large demographic of photographers. In my previous column, Turning Pro, my information was applicable to photographers just making the transition to professional or established pros. With this new design I'll be able to reach virtually all of you to pass on knowledge of a beautiful craft and help you attain greater results. I look forward to hearing from you

To read more great articles and columns in Outdoor Photography Canada magazine please subscribe or pick up the October issue of OPC today!