Sony Diaries #983: a renowned mathematician, and the Sigma 35F1.4ART

It was a distinct honour and a pleasure to cover the 2016 Symposium at the Fields Institute, esp since the guest of honour was Manjul Bhargava, Canadian-American mathematician, awarded the Fields Medal (known as the Nobel Prize for Mathematics) in 2014. Manjul, who combines sky-high intelligence with a beautiful personality, can mesmerize an audience of mathematicians and lay people (like myself) with the same material: quite a feat!

As he was being introduced for his talk, Manjul was in the back of the theatre, in the upper stands where he seemed to glow with an electric energy, in the dark. Wanting to capture this image in my head, I knew I had to shoot wide-open, slow shutter speed (1/30, Sony SteadyShot helped avoid camera shake), high ISO (6400). I chose the Sigma 35 F1.4 ART, one of 2 lenses I own that is sharp wide-open.  He was looking straight ahead, slowly shifting from left to right, wanting to avoid being in front of me, thinking that he was in the way of my shooting. I kept the camera pointed at him, hoping that he would turn to his left side for a profile. For a split second, he did! and the light reflected off of his glasses was perfect, punctuating what would have been a profile all in shadow. I only took 1 shot.

More photos of Manjul in "sufficient " light:

University of Toronto, November 2016

Sony Diaries #982: Sandy

Sleeman Park, Guelph, ON

Sony Diaries #981: Patti

and then this

Lockwood Conservation, Rockwood, ON

previsualizing an image + good timing

Last night while shooting a wedding at Hart House, University of Toronto, on my way to the car (to grab my monopod), I came across the War Memorial lit up with a melancholy glow. I raised my cell phone (LG G5), set to 16x9 to capture the scene. It had been set to sepia for a previous photo and just as I was about to change it back to normal colour, a group of students walk across my field of view in silhoutte. Something clicked subliminally and what happens oftentimes is that a fully developed image develops in the brain  so quickly there isn't time to process it for articulation. One just has to go with the flow and go with the image, not exactly knowing how it will turn out. The image was that of weary soldiers with knapsacks, bowed down with the rigours of war, the sepia hinting of the past. The good timing involved some luck in that since a cellphone is not as responsive as a regular camera, I just had to hope that the the front person would be exactly dead centre when I clicked the shutter.
For more on this War Memorial check it out here.
Meanwhile, back at the wedding earlier, a harpist was entertaining the crowd.

Sony Diaries #980: the Oak Tree on Hart's Farm

The majestic oak on Hart's arm, 12.5 hectares soon to be developed into 279 units of homes, townhomes, apartments, and commercial/office space. Great news for Guelph but I hope they don't cut down this oak. An oak icon is on the development's promotional material so this could be good news for this tree.