I'm an avid photographer like many people on Flickr. In my youth I was very amazed by the colour, depth-of-field, and sharpness of film photos. As I grew older, I realized that sharpness and true-to-life likeness of a photo were not really as important as the mood. Sometimes a dark, almost colour-less, out-of-focus and grainy photo can be very spectacular. Above all, photography means (in my humble opinion) capturing light in such a way as to create a 'work of art'.

 

I really don't have any special interest e.g. landscape, portrait, macro, etc. but lately I've taken an interest in photographing people of different ethnicities at cultural events and usually this means shooting on the street, hence street/event photography is my current interest. Also, I've an interest in Fashion.

  

An important note about sharing my photos

Since I'm a reasonable person I will 'share' my photos/videos without any monetary charge only if you or your child or close relative is the subject of any of my photos/videos and you are using it for personal purposes, not commercial.

 

If your organization is not-for-profit and the photos/videos are your members (e.g. dancers) I will also allow it to be 'shared' without charge as an embedded photo-slideshow/video on your organization's website. In this case, you must state that I am the photographer and have a link to my Flickr profile.

 

For individuals, not organizations, if you want a copy you must meet my criteria as stated above and prove your identity, e.g. by simply telling me in person that you're requesting a copy. If it's inconvenient to meet face to face due to distance then you may email me a video clip of yourself requesting a copy.

 

For those who cannot request a 'free' copy, it's easier to ask than to use a photo or an abbreviated video without my permission. At all times, all rights are reserved by me and you must get my express permission before use.

 

You may contact me at minornik@yahoo.ca

 

Slideshows of my photo sets:

When viewing full-screen (1280x1024) my photos are usually best viewed at least two feet from the monitor because many photos are at Flickr's medium size - 333×500 or 500×500. Please note that sharpness is relative i.e. it depends on viewing distance: the larger your monitor is, the further away you ought to be from your monitor ;-) Isn't this true even with HD TVs ?

 

A sample of my most recent events:

 

Korean Harvest Festival

Hispanic Fiesta

Taste of the Danforth

Beauties of Asia

 

You can see more in my cultural events collection

 

A beauty pageant is not strictly a cultural event or on the street but the beauty pageant that I shoot does have a cultural aspect to the performance (see Beauties of Asia).

  

Some of my most outstanding photos

All my photos on Flickr can be considered outstanding. If I don't think the photo is outstanding enough then I won't publish it on Flickr. However, some photos are more outstanding than others.

 

© Stephen O'Young. All Rights Reserved

 

© Stephen O'Young. All Rights Reserved

 

© Stephen O'Young. All Rights Reserved

 

For a photo to be outstanding the light, colour, grain, focus, pose, facial expression, unusualness, humour, or all must greatly impact the photo and as a result, affect the mood and visual appeal.

 

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and this cliche is no less true for photos. What is beautiful or interesting in a photo depends on the viewer. The photos that I have on Flickr may not score high on the interestingness scale but as long as any of my photos excites at least one of you then I have taken a beautiful photo.

  

Digital or Film ?

I've noticed some people on Flickr shoot mainly/only film and some shoot digital. I'll continue to shoot film because film is simple and mature. Whether I shoot digital or film does not matter. The camera is only a tool. What matters is the outcome of the image: how I want my photo to look. This usually means some post-processing. If I don't do post-processing as per SOOC group rules then I'll tag it as "SOOC". My film shots will usually be SOOC but not straight digital because I shoot RAW and some post-processing is required to convert RAW to JPEG/TIFF/GIF.

 

BTW, I shoot with Minolta or Nikon ... min or nik ;-) ... I also use Sony Nex ... maybe I'll call myself SonNik :D