Small gear thoughts (with lots of distracting photographs)

I made it a goal this year to purposefully try and think about different types gear.  I decided trying a small carry everywhere camera, and a large format pinhole camera.

This is about the small camera.  More specifically, this a bit of a retrospective of nearly a year with my X100s.

I have taken it Tennessee, and I have even written a bit about it before.  But, I have carried it with me nearly everywhere I went everyday since I bought it.

This had an immediate effect.  I stopped using my cell phone ( as much ) for taking pictures.  I started taking pictures of my kids in restaurants with it.  I used it to document such things as metro's incompetence, dinner, random things that caught my eye because of color or light, etc.  Yes, this was all stuff I had done before with the cell phone, but, at least from a technical quality point of view-- these are much better than if I had used a cell phone.

I can imagine some of you are thinking, yeah, but you own dSLRs you could carry one of those around and do the same thing.  Yes, I *could*, and I did carry an SLR around nearly every day for a year or two prior to picking up the small camera.  But, I didn't use it nearly as much.  In fact, I think the only good it did me was make my back stronger.  It certainly didn't help fill up my picture library with high quality images of everyday moments.  There are a lot of reasons for that, none particularly good.  It was effort to get an SLR out of a bag, my SLR attracts attention, its pretty loud, and did I mention it attracts attention?  In any event, none of those things matter to me if photographing is my primary focus, but for a quick shot it is paramount.

I have also used it for more staged and/or serious pictures too.  It works very well there too.  I tend to work pretty methodically and slowly making those kind of pictures, so the speed disadvantage an x100 has compared to a dSLR doesn't impact me.

This has made me consider picking up one of Fuji's interchangeable lens X-cameras and potentially selling all my SLR gear.  Unfortunately, there are a few things I do that would fall flat if I tried that, and I don't want to support two camera systems.  One is expensive enough.  But, the thought still lingers.

I doubt there are too many people out there that are still on the fence about buying one of these little cameras-- but if you are go try one.  It looks like a an updated model will be out soon so you have 3 generations to choose from!

Okay, this may have been written to give me a reason to put up a lot of different photographs from the year that don't really warrant their own post, and don't easily fit with anything else.

It's suppose to be fun

This is a strange post.  I both worked on it in mind, and decided it should never be written simultaneously.  Then over-ruled the decision.

One of the truisms in photography is the camera doesn't matter.  It is the case.  However, it also isn't.  Ever tried to make a photograph without some kind of camera?  Doesn't work very well does it?

I, personally, have never been too attached to any of my cameras.

But, that may have changed.  A few years ago when Fuji announced the X100 I was intrigued.  I nearly pre-ordered it after see the announcement.  It seemed perfect.  Small.  Manual control.  RAW files. Retro design. I found the rangefinder-like design interesting. The only mark against it at that time was a painful price, but painful prices can be rationalized away. Money can be saved up.  I waited to see reviews.  Early reviews stated the camera was quirky, locked up, and did numerous other unfortunate things.  And those were things listed in the POSITIVE reviews.  I didn't buy it.  Maybe if it was cheaper I would have anyway? Maybe I should have despite the price and issues? [Note: Fuji addressed many of these early issues in firmware -- but I had already decided to pass. ]

But.  This year Fuji released the update for the X100, the X100s.  It has none of the issues. I bought one.

It changed photography some for me.  It reintroduced me to the fun of it.  It fits in my pocket.  It changed the size of the bag I carry.  I feel it is invisible with it.  I have had a "real" camera with me almost every day for a few years.  But, for some reason this one comes out more.  Its not the newness either.  It is less of a "production" to get it out of the bag.  And people around you ignore it.  An SLR gets "looks", most of which aren't of the happy variety.  SLRs also have a way of attracting "that guy" who wanders over your way who wants to discuss his cameras while that little ray of sunlight that caught your attention in the first place gets covered up by a cloud.

It hasn't been completely roses.  It is taking me a while to get used to using it.  For example, the hotshoe needs to be turned on.  That caught me out, but instead of fiddling around with figuring it out, made the pictures I wanted to with another camera :)  So, my first "serious" attempt at using was a punt.

But-- I'm making pictures I wouldn't normally make.

I'm also doing things I wouldn't normally.  I'm using the jpegs directly out of the camera for many purposes, primarily the black and white modes.  I'm making "snapshots".  I put a "protective" filter and lens hood on the lens and ditched ( read "placed carefully in a cabinet" ) the lens cap.  I read the camera manual ( who does that, really? ).  I've tried even the "sillier" features of the camera like automatic panorama mode, just to see what it did.  I'm getting used to seeing the world in "mildly wide angle" slices, despite my natural inclination to see it in "mildly telephoto" ones. I stuck an IR filter on it, and that works!  There is a small bit of  circular flare that I need to figure out, but it works!

Anyway, this would make a terrible "only" camera for me because of the fixed lens.  But, as a daily carry kind of thing it is perfect.  The more I use it, the more comfortable I am with the fixed lens. All the pictures in this post were made with it ( told you they weren't my normal "thing" ), as well as all the ones here.  I realize none of these are super amazing, I'm still getting used to things. 

But, they were FUN to make, and that is the point of this post.

Little influences

My kids are the largest creative spark makers in my life lately.  Above is Kathryn at her Christmas production dance.  She was pretty excited.  Enthusiasm is inspiring. Tobias and sat around and drew pictures a couple of weekends ago.  His use of language is also quite interesting at the moment, and sometimes the funny things he says are even intentional.

Around the web I have largely been looking at blogs and sites that seem to have a strong photography component, but are not about photography.  The first is the Sartorialist.  It is created to share pictures of interesting looking people or outfits.  The photographer, well, he describes his motivations very well in the "Bio" section of the blog.  The other blog, Kendi Everyday is generally about the everyday style and clothes worn by the "protagonist", and blog author, Kendi. 

Clothes and style aren't really my interest, which judging by my outfits, is probably the understatement of the year.  However, there is something very interesting in those two blogs.  Sometime in the future I'd like to blend those two ideas and follow the everyday style someone I know.  It shouldn't be hard to find someone with a greater sense of style than me. 

Lessons learned from Modeling

No, not that kind of modeling.  I am talking about the kind of modeling that uses plastics, metals, glues, and paints.

I have done modeling in some form or another for a long time.  The only other artsy/craftsy activity I have done for more time is drawing.  My first kit was built in 3rd grade.

I've built a number of radio controlled models.

More recently I have built and painted a lot of gaming miniatures.  Somehow I was under the delusion that I might actually play the games, but that didn't really come to fruition.  But, the modeling was interesting.

I decided  to try another "traditional" model kit.  I'm working on a Tamiya 1/12 scale motorcycle.

While building up some of the sections together, I started thinking about what modeling has taught me that I apply to photography and other areas.

First, modeling reminds me that I'm never going to have everything figured out, and much of the time I am going to be completely wrong.  When I built my first model I thought the point was to assemble the bits.  When that was done I was happy it was complete.  But the model never saw any paint.  At the time the notion of painting the kit seemed rather silly and dull to me.  Now, I realize the way a model is painted is key to creating the illusion of reality that good models give us.  The preparation and assembly now feels like drudge-work prior to giving the piece life with the brush.

Modeling showed me that you can learn things in unexpected places.  In college I took an art class that was suppose to teach the foundations of a various artistic media.  Instead the professor blathered on about perspective for one lecture, and then left us mostly on our own with the materials.  Thanks.  I learned how to use acrylic paint with my modeling instead of the class I expected to teach it to me.  Because of that I can now thin, layer, wet blend, and dry blend acrylics properly.  Modeling also taught me the importance of an underpainting, and a ton of other painting techniques.  With photography I believe I've learned more from paintings, drawings, comics, movies, etc than I have from photography books.  The photography books show me techniques-- the other stuff shows me interesting ways to apply those techniques.

I learned that  flaws disappear the further in the process you go.  Many of the small gaps and imperfections that a model has disappear when primer is applied.  Bigger flaws can be addressed prior to primer with gap filling glues, putty, and other material.  But, trying to fix these things when the parts are first put together is futile.  This is true in photography too.  Somethings you need to get right in the camera i.e. lighting, composition, expressions-- but some things are better handled in post.  Why spend 20 or 30 minutes getting something "right" in camera, when 20 seconds in photoshop will get you what you intend?   Why waste the time?  I think the trick here is knowing what absolutely needs to be accomplished in camera, and what doesn't.

Modeling taught me there are times when the proper tool for the job is really the only way to go.  Once I decided to spend the small amount of money on proper files, clippers, brushes, and so-on my modeling vocabulary went from R-rated to PG.  Its that way in photography, too, except the tools carry much heftier price tags.
 
I learned when to sense when my mind has drifted off task through modeling.  If I try to hurry through something to get "done" I tend to make mistakes.  Whenever I start thinking about just being "done" I learned to stop messing with the model.  With personal work, I will do that with photography too.  If its not personal work or I have others' efforts invested in the outcome, I take a few minutes to refocus, more if necessary.

Modeling also taught me to enjoy the process as well as the final outcome.  How many times do we read that life isn't the destination its the journey?  Heh, if it was about the destination we'd all be in a hurry to die right?  Again, this is the same with photography-- I like the process and final outcome.  I also try to really pay attention to and enjoy what I am doing when I am making a picture.

If you got this far, my hats off to you.  Thanks for reading.

Elvis has not left the building.

Its been a while since I've posted, but I haven't abandoned photography.  Pretty far from it actually, I just have been doing things related to my photography that aren't producing many pictures at the moment.  Yeah, I didn't think that made any sense either.   I slowed down a bit today and made this picture.  No, its not amazing, and in terms of my intentions it is a total failure.  But, it still is a picture-- and I need to make pictures.  If I stop, I cease to be a photographer.

I wanted to make a few frames at different focus and blend them together.  None of the lenses I have seem to keep the image the same size when changing close-focus.  I tried blending anyway, and it led to a whacky result.  So, I left that idea alone, and chose the frame where the front bits are in focus.  I'll borrow a real macro lens someday and try again.

So, what have I been doing?  Mostly I've been doing a lot of thinking and some reading.  I've been trying to figure out who I am as a photographer, and who I want to be.  I'm trying to identify the strengths I have that can help get me where I want to be, and the weaknesses that stand in the way. 

What have been thinking about?  What do I see in the world?  What do miss?  What is my reason for photographing?  What am I trying to say?  What is my voice?  What am I interested in enough to make a long term project out of?  Who can help me?  Who can I help?

What have been reading to help me?  I read David DuChemin's Within the Frame, and Chris Orwig's Visual Poetry.  I also read Adam Perry Lang's book Serious Barbecue.  What does that have to do with photography?  It has nothing (in general) and yet everything to do with (my) photography.  He is a guy that found his voice through barbecue, the way he writes about meat borders on a religious.  Listening to passionate people, tends to make you passionate.

I also decided I had to learn something new, which is why there is a harmonica at the top of this page.  My musical ineptness is only matched by my inability to dance, so I thought it was a perfect thing to try.  It takes me away from my creative comfort zone.  Has this taught me anything so far?  It taught me that I can have fun even if I suck.  I should make sure I take that same attitude with me behind the camera, it can only improve my pictures.  The harmonica is fun, with a little work you can play recognizable songs.  That is enough to keep me amused and my family annoyed.

So, no, I haven't left.  I'm just trying to figure out where I'm suppose to be.

Win a Mouse Sculpture!!!

I have a lot of blogs populating my Reader for photographic inspiration.  These are artistic in nature, but not necessarily photographic.  There are drawing, painting, and sculpting blogs.  I also have writing blogs, music blogs, and cooking blogs.  If it is a creative endeavor its in my inspirations folder.

Today I saw that Steve Worthington is holding a contest to name 3 turtle sculptures.  The prize is a mouse sculpture!

Since I have a liking of turtles and mice, and since one way to enter to win is making a blog post about this contest, I am passing this along.

Go!  Name those turtles!

Trying a "photo essay"

One of the forums I have read has a meme that runs through it.  The idea is present a set of pictures containing some events from a day in the life of a family.  Recently I have spent some time looking through collections over at burn magazine (careful, quite a few of the sets aren't safe for work).

These two things got me thinking.  This can be dangerous, but I have it under control this time.  I think.  I decided to try my hand at a bit of family photo journalism, and try to tie it into a theme like the collections I have seen at burn.

I wanted to started small, because this is a new thing.  I chose to photograph those few moments of during the morning when everyone wakes up.  I decided to make this relatively high contrast black and white, and tried my best to embrace the softness and motion blur caused by the use of high ISOs and slow shutter speeds.  This is all unmodified available light, and the images-- apart from the B&W conversion are straight out of the camera.

So, no more words, here its.  Mornings...

Edward Weston

Found this quote floating about the web...

One does not think during creative work, any more than one thinks when driving a car. But one has a background of years - learning, unlearning, success, failure, dreaming, thinking, experience, all this - then the moment of creation, the focusing of all into the moment. So I can make 'without thought,' fifteen carefully considered negatives, one every fifteen minutes, given material with as many possibilities. But there is all the eyes have seen in this life to influence me. - Edward Weston, The Best of Popular Photography by Harvey V. Fondiller , ISBN: 0871650371 , Page: 280

First image that impacted you?

I saw an exercise posed in various places around the interwebs.  It is a simple thing to do.  Think of the first piece of visual art that caught your attention in a meaningful way.

For me it is Steve McCurry's Afghan Girl.  I first saw the photo when I was about 10.  I still am not sure why it grabbed my attention so much.  It is striking -- for sure, and over the last 20 years or so has grown into iconic photo.  I know that I am not alone in admiring it.  I bet many of you can picture it before even clicking on the link I provided to it.

It is interesting to watch the girl grow younger and younger every year.  When I first saw it, I didn't even recognize her as a child, but it is clear to me now.

As far as the photo itself, I like the simplicity of it.  The frame is filled with the girl.  The light is from the camera's right, and is very soft.  The background is a wash of soft color.  Her eyes are the focus of the picture.  They won't. let. go.

Anyway, no photo of mine here, go look at the picture. Look slowly, and then maybe tell me the first image that grabbed your attention.

Magazines

One great source of images is magazines. I tend to buy a handful of magazines every month. I should probably subscribe to some. Maybe I will!

A very good one is Digital Photo Pro. I went to see if a new issue was out yesterday. It wasn't. Apparently, I missed it by a day. I'll see if I can find a copy tomorrow. (editor note: I wrote this a while before posting!) I did pick up copies of American Photo (Grab the Annie Leibovitz Special if you can find it), Photo Life, Nature Photographer, and Vogue. Vogue? Yes, Vogue, but don't worry I only want it for the pictures. Well, the perfume they sprayed all over this month's issue isn't too bad either.

What do the photo magazines have in common? In general they are very "gear light" in their coverage. They have reviews of gear, of course, but the magazines are focused more on images, photographers, and technique.

Other magazines I will go through sometimes: I will look at any of the massive bridal magazines. You know the types, the ones that are the size of the old-school Computer Shopper magazines (before the web "ruined" them). As long as they are ad heavy, they are great sources of pictures. I also like the images that will pop up in Vanity Fair, or GQ, Sports Illustrated, or perhaps F1 magazine. Like I have said before, I look for all types of pictures, in all types of places!


The image I chose to post is of my wife. Family is a much bigger inspiration than anything else! As a "studio portrait" this is not perfect enough... i.e. we have hair going everywhere, the lighting is a bit hot, I didn't "barbie doll" the skin texture, etc... but I kinda like this one a bunch anyway. This was a spur of the moment thought, taken after Tobias' "graduation" picture posted earlier!

Landscape

Landscapes aren't my cup of tea. I can't seem to make a good one (see below, for the only recent attempt at anything that could remotely be considered landscape), and most of the ones I see leave me depressed. The first moment I see a good landscape my brain goes "wow!", but very quickly that is replaced with "oh, hmm, sharp, colorful, but I feel like I've seen this, a bajillion times", and on the heels of that thought is "I'm bored."

It is very very rare thing indeed for me to like a landscape. I think there is something wrong with me. I don't even like any of the work done by the revered Ansel. None of it, zero, zilch, zip. If that isn't a testament to my poor relationship with landscapes, I don't know what is. Ansel Adams is a master, and his work is almost peerless. But, they don't "do it" for me. I feel guilty even admitting that in a public space!


However, there is one photographer whose landscape works absolutely blows me away every time I see it. Its amazing. I have lost an hour in a single frame. I can instantly recognize a picture as his, yet every one I see seems fresh and different. His images show that "all" that is needed for ridiculously amazing landscapes is the strength of character to climb higher than humanly possible, get up extremely early, possess a keen power of observation, and be extremely passionate about your subject. That is it, really. Sounds simple, but most of us couldn't manage it in ten lifetimes. Who is this guy? Galen Rowell.

I got lucky, and found a massive book, Galen Rowell: A retrospective, at the library. Its helped me give the landscape a bit more love than I usually do.

I also kind of like Chase Jarvis' New Zealand B+W Landscapes series.

More Inspirations

This feels like a strange topic for a post. Deep down I really don't know why I reach for a camera. Maybe I just feel a need to play with light, color, tone, and form. Maybe it's because I can't really draw or paint (at least not well, I've been known to waste a bit of paint and paper here and there). Maybe it's because I like the technical challenge of putting what is "out there" in a picture in way that makes sense.

Even though I can't articulate why I want to use the camera, I can write a bit about what makes me want to create something, with anything.

I have already mentioned music, and the images it draws in my head.

Another thing I do is seek out images to see. It doesn't matter to me if they are in the form of photographs, drawings, paintings, television, movies, or video games. One source I've latched onto lately is getting large books of paintings and photographs from the library.

I recently checked out 1001 Paintings you must see before you die. Its a great book to check out of the library. It has a nice overview of many paintings. I can't recommend it for purchase because the images are reproduced tiny. Perhaps the book is meant to encourage you to seek out the originals, but that is impractical as they are scattered throughout the world!

I found two paintings interesting enough to seek out more works from the artist. The first artist that interested me was Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun. The other is Tamara de Lempicka. I am not sure exactly why I found their paintings interesting. I just did. I want to see more of them.

So what do I do with all these images I see? I think they all just rumble about in my brain, entice me to photograph, and maybe they appeal to my subconscious and help me find that certain special something in the subjects I find before my lens.

There are no images here, please follow the Wiki links for this posts images. I will have another post this week full of my own stuff. (This is partly caused by a snafu that posted this before I wanted it to. Note to self, don't push return when adding labels to a post.)

(Sorry for those on RSS readers, you are going to see this twice probably!)

Inspirations

I try to look at a lot of images. I examine photographs, paintings, drawings, and films. I also try to read. Its almost perfect when I can do both at the same time!

I found some books at the library by Berkley Breathed. They are children's books, but I think they will probably upset my kids! But, I find them wonderful stories for older children and adults.

The first is Pete and Pickles. This is a story about how one practical Pig deals with change in his life. It's also a love story. The second book Mars needs Moms, is a cute story about sacrificing for your children. What do these books have in common? I have loved Berkley Breathed's characters, stories, and drawings since I was about 10 years old. The illustrations in the book are great. You may find it odd to receive inspiration from children's books from a comic strip artist. But, even if you are skeptical take a look at the books! I love the last shot in "Mars needs Moms", and the image of Pete standing in the open door pointing at Pickles from the first story is great!

Besides there are stranger places to find inspiration for your work.