This article provides a World Photography Day overview and shares some thoughts on the various sessions that were live streamed. If you did not have the opportunity to view any of the live stream sessions held yesterday during the World Photography Day, you can still view them online. Links are provided throughout this article.
I made some time in my schedule to watch 6 of the 7 sessions. Since the one by Sergio Marcos was broadcast in Spanish I decided to take a pass on that particular session.
For what it’s worth, here are my thoughts on the 6 sessions that I watched. You should take my opinions with a grain of salt since my interests may be quite different from yours. It is also important to remember that evaluating photographs is a purely subjective exercise. What one person likes may leave another cold.
The Macro Session
Coffee with the Cla(i)re’s
While the session was titled “The Macro Session’ the presenters didn’t even begin to discuss macro photography until about 25 minutes into their 1 hour presentation. The first section contained a bit of an overview of the World Photography Day program.
Much of the first half of the session was spent on discussing Starry Sky technology. This was out-of-context given the title of this session. When the presenters finally got around to ‘macro’ they were using an M.Zuiko PRO 300 mm f/4 shooting from a tripod. They attempted to do a live example of photographing subjects with this gear while the session was going on. This part of the presentation did not appear to go as smoothly as intended.
The overall content could have benefitted from more examples of related macro images or in-depth discussions about macro techniques.
Exploring Menus & Dials
David Smith
David Smith is a very knowledgeable, Olympus technical expert. Given the complexity of the Olympus menus it would be a challenge for anyone to fit in a lot of detail during a one hour presentation. David was very organized, well prepared, and provided a good overview of the basic menu system.
He answered numerous questions from the audience and demonstrated how to find various functions or make adjustments in real time. This added quite a bit of value to his presentation. While not all of the questions from the audience were of interest to me, David’s command of the subject was evident and I quite enjoyed his presentation.
I think this presentation had quite a lot of value, especially for photographers who are new to the Olympus system.
Exploring Bird Photography
Andreas Geh
Andreas is a somewhat subdued presenter. He did provide some good content on general preparation for bird photography and some insights on camera gear. He also provided some detailed content on camera settings. I enjoyed many of the photographs that Andreas featured in his presentation. His interests also include landscape photography so there were some landscape images captured during his birding hikes included in his presentation.
The Art of Nature
Andre Boss
Andres’s presentation was about shifting one’s photographic style from typical animal photography to pursuing a more artistic approach that tells a story and engages a viewer more deeply. This presentation featured many silhouette and back lit images. Andre took some time to discuss some of his technique to harness available light.
Photographers who want to combine animals and their environment in a more artistic way in their images would probably enjoy this presentation.
Wildlife Photography From Safari to Your Backyard
Brooke Bartleson
Brooke is a talented wildlife photographer and I’ve enjoyed seeing her work in the past. She can be an energetic and expressive presenter. This particular session featured about a half dozen images captured during a recent safari to Botswana. I quite enjoyed the images in terms of composition and lighting. They were all good examples of the quality of Brooke’s work.
Brooke went into a lot of detail about her trip to Botswana and no doubt some folks would find her anecdotes interesting… especially if one is planning this type of photographic adventure. I would have loved to have seen a lot more examples of her Botswana images along with commentary from this talented professional.
Olympus Innovations for the Outdoor Photographer
Peter Baumgarten
In my estimation Peter Baumgarten’s presentation was the absolute highlight of World Photography Day.
His presentation was very well focused and covered a wide range of Olympus technology. This included focus bracketing and stacking. Exposure bracketing. HDR. Time lapse. Pro Capture. C-AF + Tracking. Bird AI. Hand Held Hi Res. Live Composite. Starry Sky. And, Live ND.
Peter did a terrific job explaining the how’s and why’s of his technique and shared a fantastic assortment of photographs throughout his presentation. What I particularly love about Peter’s work is how he uses Olympus technology in very innovative ways.
If you have an interest in the incredible technology that is packed into various Olympus cameras… and want a good dose of inspiration as well… this is the presentation to watch.
I hope this World Photography Day overview has been helpful. If you only have time to view one of the sessions covered in this overview, I would highly recommend Peter Baumgarten’s Olympus Innovations for the Outdoor Photographer.
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Peter Baumgarten was the most interesting to me, followed by David Smith because they revealed to me some new ways to use my Olympus cameras that I hadn’t bothered to look into before. I also appreciated your comments during the presentations for the same reason. I felt like the Baumgarten/Smith presentations were helpful and open. I’m sure you would not agree, but I usually feel like I really have to dig to find the nuggets in your articles – kind of like ‘it’s there but you’re going to have to work to find it.” I’m sure it is just me, but that’s the feeling I often come away with. You’re the expert and what do I know.
Hi Allen,
Thanks for your comment… I appreciate your feedback. There is no intention on my part to make readers dig for nuggets in articles. The objective of articles can be quite different. Some are more technique oriented and I typically try to point things out more directly in those postings. Other articles are intended to simply share some photographs with the hope of providing readers with some inspiration. Any nuggets in those articles would be more difficult to discern. So, I do agree that finding the nuggets is not always easy.
Tom
Tom, I think you nailed it. I have also been following Peter for a while and his video’s have helped me (as have your regular articles). I also noticed that you had some good questions for the presenters. I do thank Olympus for organizing these events.
Hi Robert,
I think that OM Digital is trying very hard to reach out to owners, and prospective owners, with value-added content. I’m also thankful that they are taking this approach.
Tom
I totally agree with your assessment. I really enjoyed Peter’s talk the most. He is a fantastic presenter. I would of liked to see more from him, as I feel like I could learn so much, because of his detailed explanations. Others were good, but I really like it when the pics are posted and a explanation goes with.
Thanks for adding to the discussion Steve. I also very much appreciated Peter providing detailed explanations as they added significant value to his already excellent presentation.
Tom
Great review – and, thanks! I did take in the Macro Session and thought it amateurish and not particularly relevant. Pretty much turned me off to watching anything else. I’ll search out Peter Baumgarten’s – always appreciated his work and shouldn’t have bypassed his presentation based on the Macro event.
Thanks for your ongoing work to enlighten. I’ve been able to use your ProCapture H advice to capture very rewarding images. I sent a small donation your way.
Hi Dan,
I will be making some time in my schedule to view more of Peter’s work on the getolymus website. Our sincere thanks for your support… it helps to sustain our work here.
Tom
Hi Thomas, I have seen the same presentations (mostly live) and have come to exactly the same assessments. For me, too, Peter Baumgarten was the highlight. With the caveat that Andre Boss’ presentation appealed to me a bit more, but that has to do with my interests in artistic bird photography. I love Geogrina Steyltler’s shots and would have been very happy if she had presented something as well.
But overall, I thought it was a successful event and look forward to a repeat next year.
P.S. I would like to refer to your comment in a German language Olympus forum where we also talked about World Photography Day.
Thanks for sharing your perspectives Johannes. You can feel free to reference any of my articles if you think they will be helpful and provide value to others.
Tom