Tamron Recipes: Photography with Cecil Holmes

Images copyright Cecil Holmes. All rights reserved.

by Skip Cohen  
  
In January 2019, we launched the first episode of Tamron Recipes. Well, here we are over a year later with a new series of conversations with our guest "chefs." My co-host, Chamira Young, and I chose to play off the chef analogy because so many great artists are like the fine chefs we've grown to know through reality TV. And the Tamron Kitchen, just like a foodie-driven episode on the food channel, is loaded with great ingredients - one of the most diverse collections of high-quality lenses in photography. 

Cecil Holmes joins us in the kitchen this month, but we thought we'd have some fun with a different kind of "dish" and show his diversity. While Cecil's passion is outdoors with landscapes and critters, there's nothing he can't photograph. So, we thought we'd have fun with two of his favorite extremes - the night sky and a macro of a daisy. 

In these two new recipes, Cecil's using two of his favorite Tamron lenses, the 15-30mm G2 and the 90mm macro. The links to both lenses are below.  
 
Cecil is no stranger to the SCU blog, but until last month we'd only talked on the phone or in cyberspace. At IUSA, we were able to actually meet face to face, as Cecil and his son walked the trade show floor. There's something about meeting people you admire face to face that enhances the impression you've already developed from other means of contact. Cecil couldn't be more passionate about the craft or more friendly and approachable, and his son, Keegan is a chip off the old block.

With each new "chef," I like to search for a quote that applies to their work or personality. 

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Maya Angelou

Click to visit the Tamron Kitchen for more episodes of "Recipes"

Like most photographers, Cecil is a storyteller. I'm so familiar with his work - his images are often about sharing what he's experiencing or observing. In an episode of "Why?" here at SCU, and later featured in a Tamron video, he talked about changing plans on a landscape shoot when Mother Nature didn't cooperate on the weather. He had no choice but to simply go with the flow. 

Whether he's on assignment for his portfolio, teaching, or working with another photographer, his approach couldn't be more relaxed. While he's often got a vision of what he wants to capture, his approach is to head out with his camera and capture what he wants to share. 

​About "Chef" Cecil:  If there's one word that describes Cecil Holmes, it's humility as an artist. I usually don't share a chef's about page here, but I pulled a paragraph from his website that's so appropriate in demonstrating Cecil's love for the craft:

Oh yeah....about me. I am a forty-something. I do not know if my generation has a name. I do not have any kind of art background at all. I didn't study under any of the big names in art or photography, in fact, I am self-taught. I know...I know, it seems blasphemous. I simply picked up a camera some time ago, when my oldest son began playing sports. Even though he was 5, I knew I would need good, sharp images to send to all the college scouts and coaches ten years in the future. That's when I decided to purchase my first DSLR. I still blame my son. Soon after, I combined my love of photography with my love of the outdoors. Those two things fit together naturally. 

Click on either of Cecil's recipe images above to visit his website and galleries.

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"Night Skies"

Camera: Nikon D850
Lens:Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2

Exposure Triad: Manual exposure, 30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400

Daisy - B&W

Camera: Sony A7RII
Lens:Tamron  SP 90mm F/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 VC USD

Exposure Triad: Aperture-priority,  1/ 4 sec, f/16, ISO 400

About the two images:

As you know, there's a story behind every image.  The Milky Way image was made on a solo trip to Yellowstone one spring.  It was so dark out there that I sat in my car talking myself into walking out into the darkness alone for 15 minutes before I got brave enough. 

The daisy was shot in my dining room at home.  I do a good bit of macro on my dining room table.  I have two windows that provide nice natural light and on days when that isn't enough light, I added a Litra to the setup.

Tamron never slows down in their quest to help photographers raise the bar on the quality of their images and skillset. They're manufacturing some of the finest glass in imaging.

It's a new year, and the Tamron team will be on the road with workshops and special events all over the country. Just click on the banner below and make sure they're on your radar! 

The Tamron tech team is one of the most active groups of artists and educators in photography. When they're on the road, they all share the same common goal - helping you raise the bar on your skill set and the quality of your work.​

Click to listen to the new podcast with "Chef" Cecil