Selective Focus

Perspective is an important part of photography. 

Changing your position in relation to your subject, shooting from above, and getting down low are all ways you can tell a visual story in a different manner.

Another way to give an image perspective is by using selective focus.

Sometimes you want certain elements in the frame, because they give additional information but you don’t want those things to be the focus of the image.  Using a long lens and selective focus lets you show what is most important, while the out-of-focus elements add depth to the story, such as I’ve done in the image above. The story is about the Bluenose II ship, but the Mounties add a very strong visual impression that says that the image is Canadian.

Perspective has been a very important tool in my adjustment to life in Canada. When I first arrived back, nearly a year ago, I expected that the details and patterns of my life would sort themselves out very quickly.  Concepts such as quick or slow depend on your frame of reference, but looking back I didn’t anticipate how long this process of settling into Canada would take and have had to reassess my successes and failures more than once.

Simply finding a city that would embrace us took more than 6 months. It seemed like forever at the time, but in the frame of how long it took us to settle down once we moved to the Emirates, not really that long.

Work has been equally as challenging.

Landing a four month contract with the Rick Hansen Relay was a fantastic opportunity. Rick is a great guy to work for and the Relay had a really positive message that resonated with staff and participants alike.  Much of photo-journalism is wrapped up in stories of hardship, tragedy and exploitation, so spending four months documenting people expressing positive emotions was a real joy.

Unfortunately, most of the contacts I made during this time were in western Canada, and four months on the road did little to help me to settle down and feel grounded in one place.

Once I moved to Halifax, I made the rounds of the papers and agencies. Full-time work would be my preference, but the chances of getting hired to a full time position in a very tight news market when no one knows me from Adam? Not likely. So freelancing it has been.

Setting up as a freelancer has been hard work. If I had gone freelance in Dubai, it wouldn’t have been a problem.  I knew all the news and PR agencies and they knew me. Not so here. Picking up freelance assignments has been slow going. Oh, I’ve done a few jobs and signed on with a few agencies, but they have their regular shooters and they only call when no one else is available. Building a name and reputation for myself will take time.

Trying to stay positive given tough conditions is where perspective comes in.  Life since the crash in 2008 has been hard for a lot of people. And I am extremely grateful for the opportunities that I have had since coming home – working for the Relay, shooting the Bluenose re-launch, and a temporary day job in an office which isn’t glamorous but does bring in a weekly pay cheque, keeps me busy during the day and has allowed me to meet some people in my new city.

Some days I get down, and struggle to see the upside of things. But mostly I remind myself that things could be worse.

I try to focus on what I have accomplished rather than what I haven’t accomplished. Selective focus.

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