Richard Johnson Photography Inc

Cameras play an important role in one's ability to capture a fleeting moment. While shooting with my Leica M6, I became aware of other Leica users and came upon a web site by Kyle Cassidy. He was posting his best photo that week to his site and the idea intrigued me. Dealing with film processing and scanning was something reserved for my commissioned large format work and I didn't want to spend any more time in front of a computer for my personal work. When I bought a small digital Nikon in May 2003 the possibility of this sort of venue became possible.

The Photo-A-Day project began with a Nikon Coolpix 3100. Its small size allowed me to carry it everywhere, opening up new possibilities of image making. Its strongest virtue was a macro mode which took me places I had never previously explored. Knowing this strength, I began looking closer at plants and flowers. Gardening became a new joy, not just maintenance.

Being a consumer camera, it only came with automated exposure settings which was very restrictive and tested my patience more than once. After only 18 months the on/off switch stopped working. Not wanting to miss a day, I moved over to my Nikon D100. While this camera was superior in image quality, had a much desired manual control for exposure and interchangeable lenses, it was huge and inconvenient to carry around as a "capture the moment" kind of camera. With a DSLR, I found myself going out looking for something to shoot to satisfy the Photo-A-Day requirements. Once met, I would then put the camera away and return to daily life. Many moments were missed with this technique, but I loved the quality of the images.

Shooting in RAW mode allows real enlargements with full colour information, something not possible with consumer point and shoots. Ultimately, missing moments became more important than image quality, for this series, and I am now working with a Canon A620 point and shoot. The jury is still out on how this camera will affect the direction of Photo-A-Day. The limitations of the jpeg'd small Canon files are evident, but I can continue on course to having a camera with me when the moment speaks.



	Objective			Equipment:
With our oldest daughter, Emilie, away at school in Halifax, I chose to create a visual diary of events back home in Toronto to keep in touch. It is, therefore, a personal account of people and places close to home. Images of her sister Zoee, the garden and Lucie's cooking are recurring themes. I do not awake with pre-conceived notions of what today's subject might be, but rather wait to see which moment speaks to me: some days are visually more eventful than others. Never stop seeing. Each image must be captured on the day in question. Actual posting to the web may be influenced by my work load and availability, but only those photos taken each day are eligible. Archived images from other dates, ideas or collections can not be part of the Photo-A-Day series.		Cameras play an important role in one's ability to capture a fleeting moment. While shooting with my Leica M6, I became aware of other Leica users and came upon a web site by Kyle Cassidy. He was posting his best photo that week to his site and the idea intrigued me. Dealing with film processing and scanning was something reserved for my commissioned large format work and I didn't want to spend any more time in front of a computer for my personal work. When I bought a small digital Nikon in May 2003 the possibility of this sort of venue became possible. The Photo-A-Day project began with a Nikon Coolpix 3100. Its small size allowed me to carry it everywhere, opening up new possibilities of image making. Its strongest virtue was a macro mode which took me places I had never previously explored. Knowing this strength, I began looking closer at plants and flowers. Gardening became a new joy, not just maintenance. Being a consumer camera, it only came with automated exposure settings which was very restrictive and tested my patience more than once. After only 18 months the on/off switch stopped working. Not wanting to miss a day, I moved over to my Nikon D100. While this camera was superior in image quality, had a much desired manual control for exposure and interchangeable lenses, it was huge and inconvenient to carry around as a "capture the moment" kind of camera. With a DSLR, I found myself going out looking for something to shoot to satisfy the Photo-A-Day requirements. Once met, I would then put the camera away and return to daily life. Many moments were missed with this technique, but I loved the quality of the images. Shooting in RAW mode allows real enlargements with full colour information, something not possible with consumer point and shoots. Ultimately, missing moments became more important than image quality, for this series, and I am now working with a Canon A620 point and shoot. The jury is still out on how this camera will affect the direction of Photo-A-Day. The limitations of the jpeg'd small Canon files are evident, but I can continue on course to having a camera with me when the moment speaks.
			Richard Johnson Jan 2006