frasersfotoblog

Photographic Genres

2010-10-07T22:23:00.006+01:00

The more I explore the more I realise that photography is much more than just one subject, it covers a multitude of genres, styles and themes all requiring completely different skill sets.

Earlier this month I bit the bullet and went on a photography shoot with a crowd of other photographers and models where we had the opportunity to shoot a number of models one on one for a one hour period. There was a degree of pre-planning where we had agreed with each model what sort of image we were after and we agreed on outfits. The venue was a large English garden complete with many different settings and backdrops, ideal for such an event.

My photography up to this point has largely consisted of picking up the camera and going to a place and capturing the images that are presented to me. Whether it be landscape, street or sports photography, once there all I have to worry about is composing the picture and making sure technical photographic elements are okay. Now add to this job list - interacting with the subject, making them feel comfortable and directing them and you start to feel like you are juggling with at least another couple of variables. As I see it the basic difference with photographing people is the need for the photographer to interact and communicate with another human being. Consent and co-operation are needed, the image is no longer solely yours to make, there are now at least two people involved in the creative process. Despite the challenge I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and got lots of satisfaction out of trying to take images that capture both something of the person and the idea that we were trying for.

The image above was one such image. Ren and I were going for a Richard Avedon models in motion look.

A Vocation

2010-09-22T13:16:00.005+01:00

"A vocation, from the Latin vocare (verb, to call), is a term for an occupation to which a person is specially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified." - Wikipedia

Ever since reading VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography (Voices That Matter) by David duChemin, who talks a lot about the blurring lines between amateur and professional and encourages everyone to think of photography as a vocation, I keep coming across talented photographers who obviously take this view. My latest find is David Jackson (see his blog) who does some lovely stylish work. He spends as much time on perfecting the creative workflow as he does on the more technical aspects. This can be seen in this video as he explains his thought process.

Shear Chaos Salon Circus Shoot :: Technical Banter from David Jackson on Vimeo.

As duChemin says "There is no substitute for passion"

Helmand

2009-09-20T09:47:00.007+01:00

Yes that place in Afganistan so often on the TV news programs with the all too frequent tragic news that another soldier has died.

I was in our local library, scanning the photography shelves for anything new when I came a cross a book of photographs taken by photographer Robert Wilson, who was commissioned by 52 Brigade in 2006 to come out to Helmand province and record what was going on as their tour was coming to an end. The result is an incredible collection of images - landscapes, desertscapes, military camps, temporary bases, the locals, the internal security forces and above all the soldiers themselves. The images are powerful and left me very moved thinking that most of us have really no idea how hard it is out there and how brave these soldiers are.

The Brigadier in the introduction sums it up with George Orwell's words

"people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf " These are those individuals.

The quality of the images in their detail and their composition is astounding. You can see some of the photos on Robert Wilson's website under the Books and Projects heading, but personally I would recommend ordering the book from your local library or better still buying it here Helmund by Robert Wilson.

Our Highland Journey

2009-08-28T10:00:00.001+01:00

We've just returned from a holiday in Scotland. Having been brought up and spent the first 30 years of my life there, there is always a sense of homecoming even though most of my family are now south of the border.

Travelling north several things start to change. Firstly the density of traffic starts to fall away, secondly the ambient temperature drops a few degrees and thirdly the quality of light improves. Whether these factors are in any way linked I don't know but as a photographer the clarity and softness of the light is the thing I notice most, it's like someone's removed a dirty filter off the end of the lens and you now see everything literally in a new light.

The changing weather is another noticeable difference but as Billy Connolly once said, there really is no such thing as bad weather, you've just got the wrong clothes on. I find weather helps make good pictures. The above picture was taken on a wet, showery, windy evening as the very occasional patch of sunlight would travel across the landscape. It is this sort of transient light that occurs a lot in Scottish landscapes and makes for some interesting and dramatic images.

Whilst travelling I picked up an interesting recently published book written by Scottish photographer Robin Gillander who traveled the Highlands in the steps of a writer called Edwin Muir who wrote a book about contemporary Scotland in 1935. Robin Gillander sets out to update Muir's record by capturing images and accompanying with some related words as to how or why the image reflects Scotland today. The book is a superb collection of high quality well composed black and white images together with a page of narrative for each image.

What made the project more unique was that he chose to capture his images on a 30 year old large 5" x 4" format camera which he purchased specially for the project. He traveled and lived in a camper van developing his film in a converted dark room ex shower closet. From the van he would scan the black and white negatives onto his laptop.

The images are a mixture of urban and rural landscapes and portraits with each image accompanied by a page of narrative about the subject and why he chose to include it. His reasons for using the old large format camera were particularly interesting. In his own words he wanted to take "highly formal and constructed images" which this sort of camera I guess would very much force you to do. Unlike today's modern digital cameras, this camera took sometime to assemble, focus, load sheet film and expose and once set up it wasn't easy to move. You would certainly want a clear idea and plan of what it was you wanted to shoot before you started setting things up. The portraits are very formal and have something of an classical timeless feel to them. I never really appreciated how the choice of equipment could affect the compositional style like that. He uses it to great affect and captures some wonderful images.

The words are interesting too painting a very different picture of the highlands to the one that is most often portrayed in the media. Occasionally he vents his frustrations in the difficulties he has with wielding a a big box camera around the place and the practicalities of living out of camper van for weeks on end. I am always motivated by the different types of projects photographers take on and found this one particularly interesting.

The book can be purchased here at Amazon Highland Journey: In the Spirit of Edwin Muir

Standing On The Dock

2009-08-27T08:56:00.007+01:00

I set this blog up to write down some of my current thoughts about photography. Readers would be excused in thinking that given the current lack of activity here that I seem to have stopped thinking about the subject altogether. Well it's not true, my head is often buzzing with new ideas often influenced by the mass of blogs I've subscribed too, people I've talked with , books I've read, places I've been and images I've seen.

Unfortunately my head is where the ideas often stay. I start out with lots of enthusiasm, throwing ideas around and opening up my mind to lots of possibilities, I even start making tentative plans, visualizing images, picking locations, scouting suitable models and then, slowly at first, my ambition starts to wane, as days go by what seemed to be a really good idea somehow seems to be not so attractive anymore, other less creative more mundane distractions start to occupy my mind, seemingly insurmountable false barriers start to get erected like I don't have the exact equipment or it will cost too much or some other false demon starts to put me off. With everyday the idea gets relegated further down the pile of once good ideas.

Myers Briggs will tell you I'm no finisher, great at the front end with creative ideas but not so excellent at following through, dealing with the detail or working round the problems and delivering the end result. I want to change I need to commit and maybe by using the blog and publishing my thoughts and ideas more then I will feel more obliged to follow them through.

All this has come to a head on reading some recent posts in one of my favourite photography blogs by Zack Arias. I have mentioned Zack's blog before in this post where I talked about his very thought provoking video Transform. It was in reply to this video that he got an email recently which he published in a post called "How Many Of You Are Standing On The Dock?" After reading it I decided I was most definitely one of those standing on the dock.

Zack's next post documents his encounter with a door to door salesman "Dope, Soap, & Hope :: Teachers Are Everywhere"

Cleverly spotting the connection he has taken lessons in the second post and used them to put forward a proposed way of getting us off the dock and into the boat in a third post "Call To Action :: “When I play pretend, I’m an ambitious person…”"

So my current project is to find a group of people who I can photograph. Current thoughts are:

Rowing club
Local neighbors
Local old peoples home

The plan is to report back with updates.

The photograph above was taken a few years ago on a trip to Norway where my favourite model obliged by standing on the dock with both of us completely unaware of its future significance.

Finding a niche

2009-05-30T14:05:00.006+01:00

My challenge at the moment is to narrow down my range of photography, concentrate on one genre and become an expert in that one area. Like so many wannabe professionals I would love to turn my passion into something that could start to pay some bills or even just finance my passion.

In my search for a niche I went on a wedding photography workshop this week. Heading the bill on the course was wedding photographer Mike Larson who is based in California who travels the world shooting for the higher end of the market and he had a lot of interesting and good common sense things to say about the business.

His business model was all about selling the experience, providing a first class service, sending the wedding couple away with their expectations exceeded.

He purposely invests time getting to know the couple, building a relationship and doing a pre-wedding shoot so as he knows something of their characters which will help him capture the true person on the day.

On the wedding day he has several photographers and assistants helping cover the event, with the expected traditional to the unexpected more creative shot.

The experience continues after the event when the photographs are viewed in a specifically decked out viewing lounge with a very wide screen plasma monitor, surround sound music accompaniment, the customer, friends and family can sit back relax and relive the wedding day all over again.

The key underlying message that came out of the workshop was to excel at what you do, make it different and continually aim to exceed your customers expectations. Only by adding this sort of value can you move away from the highly competitive low margin, price driven end of the market.

Pictured above is Mike Larson sharing some feedback with a model bride.

Not another sunset!

2009-03-11T08:43:00.006Z

I've posted before about how, in the new photographic world where the cost and barriers that once stopped people from taking photographs are now removed, the search for originality and something different becomes harder and harder. I recently watched Zack Arias's video Transform which highlighted that never ending quest for originality that all artists seek.

He raises the question, is it not a forlorn hope that one day we will be satisfied or is it a never ending impossible quest in which as we develop and our work moves on so does our aspiration? Perhaps its not confined to just artists but more the story of our lives in general.

The secret I suspect is to shoot for the moment, enjoy what you do and not to fret about how your work is developing.

Are there too many photographs being taken?

2008-11-23T09:47:00.001Z

I was recently corresponding with a professional photographer and asked him of his view of the market for professional photography. He said a few things which made me stop and think.

Firstly he said

"A (more) fundamental problem is that people do not buy pictures anymore. Photos are so disposable now that seeing it seems to be enough - there is no desire to own the image."

Clearly this is with reference to the retail market, I am not sure there has ever been a huge retail market where people went out and purchased photographs because they liked them, people are more likely to purchase a painting or a print than an original photograph but I do understand the point he makes we live in society where viewing photographs on the web free of charge makes it even less likely that we go out and purchase photographs. Perhaps a book of photographs would be a more likely way to purchase photography I wonder how book sales of collections of photographs by modern day photographers has faired since the digital revolution started.

I have a growing collection of books of photographs, some by the old and famous but also some by more recent photographers. My regular visits to the photography shelves of book shops and libraries suggests to me that the boom in digital camera sales is at least in part mirrored by books of photographs. The question still remains do we live in a society where photos are so disposable, where the opportunity for a normal person to take a half decent photograph has never been easier and which people are happy to sell the rights through a stock company for a few cents, where you can get your daily fix of photographs free of charge from the web and have no need to purchase photographs whether they be in book or print form?

Another thing he said

"So many pictures are being taken that originality has become almost impossible. Every picture I see looks like a picture I have seen before - mostly. "

I suppose it stands to reason that with so many photographs being taken the quest for something different becomes ever harder but it certainly emphasises the point that to sell photos you are going to have to come up with an original edge that stands you out from the crowd.

These are just two things that as amateurs we overlook when dreaming about making our hobby into a living. I think there are many other issues, not least the ability to be creative when you are commissioned to shoot something that doesn't interest you and the pressure driven by the need to put bread on the table.

Why do we take pictures?

2008-08-01T09:01:00.004+01:00

Some more thoughts instigated by a piece by Paul Butzi in his blog Musings on Photography. Why do we like taking pictures? To use oil business terminology, is it the upstream front end exploring part of finding, seeing and capturing or perhaps the refining part of developing, processing and creating or maybe even the downstream, back end, retail part of showing and perhaps selling? No doubt that there are elements of each that we warm to, but which one is it that we think is most important and does the time we spend on each of these activities reflect the importance of this bit of the process?

Could we take photographs and not look at them afterwards? If not could we take photographs, allow ourselves to look at them and even work on them, but then not show them to other people?

I have a theory that part of trying to be a good photographer is that you have to be focused on the front end part of making the photograph and really not care too much about the back end part of showing it to others. If we worry about how it will look to others then we are constraining ourselves to working within known boundaries and trying to meet the contrived expectations of others.

So why is it then that I like so many others spend lots of time choosing, preparing and showing photographs on my blog? Is it because we are looking for confirmation that we are on the right track and if so, what is the right track and who's track is it?

Should we not focus our entire energy on just going out and taking photographs?

Post processing style - is this photography?

2008-07-27T14:15:00.008+01:00

Something in me tells me to take more sports related shots. I have always partaken in and watched sporting events and have a particular passion for rowing where I have some experience and have good access to take photographs. With this in mind I went out and bought a quality fast telephoto lens which gives me some great images. The only trouble is that while this lens gives me a lovely clear sharp image against a beautifully unfocused background, I look at the photograph and feel it transmits more of a soft fashion or glamour portrait feel with soft warm skin tones at the expense of all the action and effort.

So I set about trying to modify this by removing the soft warm look using the high pass sharpening filter in photoshop and this is what I've come up with so far

The major change I see here is the treatment of the reflected light off the athletes skin, the soft warm skin tones have been substituted for a more sculpted form with high contrast between light and shade. I'm still not 100% sure about this. The image now has an abstract feel to it and there are still areas which need some work fixing especially in the faces, however what I am pleased about is the removal of the soft warm feel.

The smell of a street photograph

2008-05-24T22:42:00.003+01:00

If you can smell the street by the photo then its a street photograph. So said Bruce Gilden in this great piece of video of him working the New York streets.

Seeing the original masterpiece

2008-05-20T21:01:00.003+01:00

With the wonders of the web you really don't have to go very far to do any research or see a famous photographers work, however everytime I make the effort to go and see real photographs I am never disappointed and so it was today when I took a trip to Oxford to see an exhibition of Ansel Adams photographs. I was thrilled to see Mono Lake and Mount Willimason there in front of me and they looked so much better than on a screen or even in a book.

I've long been an admirer of Adams's work but what struck me today was the amazing variety of shots he took, he is best known for his landscapes but amongst the Yosemite 's and Sierra Navada shots there were some stunning portraits, still lifes, flowers and more abstract shots. What was interesting was to see how is style changed over the years and you could see the f64 club influence creeping in.

I also learnt something more of his technique, quite often he would elevate himself high above an object in the foreground of his shot and use this as an anchor and then have a vast space of water, stone or sand seperating the foreground from the background objects and perhaps leaving the most minimal of sky areas.

Adams developed the zone system which I have to confess I have never fully sat down and studied believing it to be more associated with developing film and making prints than to digital, however the tonal range of these prints was very good no doubt down to the way the prints had been made to Adams exacting standards.

The quality of his photographs is just breathtaking and with all the digital technology there is today rarely do you see anything with such richness and detail as you find in these 60 year old photographs.

Is it the journey or the destination?

2008-04-15T11:45:00.000+01:00

Some years ago we (my wife and I), were traveling across Australia from east to west and somewhere in the middle of the Nullarbor we got to discussing the old philosophical conundrum of whether it was the journey or the destination that we preferred. Of course it's a debate not just about geographical travel but life in general including photography.

Is it the taking of photographs or the processing of photographs or even the showing of photographs that we enjoy the most. Garry Winogrand died with over 12,000 rolls of film, or 432,000 images that he never looked at, clearly he was one for the journey. Henry Wessel who I've also talked about before archives his images sometimes for 5 years before he takes them out to review, select and show them. He is another who I think prefers the journey. Listen to Henri Cartier-Bresson being interviewed and I suspect he very much preferred the journey.

For all these street photographers they got or are getting their pleasure from the sheer act of pressing the shutter release and capturing the image. I suspect there is something in the psyche of these and other great photographers which removes ego and worries about self portrayal and makes them do what they do so well because they love just the 'taking' of pictures.

I recently read of one interesting experiment on Paul Lester's site which would be a true test and work out whether you were in it for the journey or the destination. Go out and shoot for a day with the intention of getting some good images, then when you get home just reformat the card without saving any of the images. Essentially that is what Winogrand did when he left all those rolls undeveloped and all those processed films unedited.

The image above was from the journey across the Nullarbor taken with an early point and shoot digital.

Only the camera makes it visible

2008-04-12T12:23:00.003+01:00

So said Joel Meyerowitz in this video on street photography. These sorts of no rules photography pieces encourage me to get out on the street and do some more.

Time for Objectivity

2008-03-27T15:10:00.003Z

I saw a video on photographer Henry Wessel a few weeks ago and the bit that stuck in my mind and got me thinking is where he talks about archiving his photos and only after a significant period of time, like 5 years, does he take them out to review which ones are worth showing. Since seeing the video I have come across a few other photographers who regularly go back over old work and discover new images.

Recognising something that sets a photograph apart from the rest of your own work is not always easy and I feel my opinions are often clouded by subjectivity in my current mood, my recent memories of the shoot and other peoples immediate reaction and choosing the best shots to present to other people is a skill in itself. Perhaps what is needed is some time for the emotions of the day to normalise and some context to return before sitting down to decide which photographs you think are your best. I am trying to make a habit of going back to review older photographs although I'm not sure I can wait five years.

Greatness

2008-03-21T07:05:00.004Z

There's an interesting thread over at Photonet posing the question .... Is it wrong to see your own photography as great?

I've long been of the opinion, that the only person that really matters when it comes to taking photographs is yourself as the photographer. I quickly learnt that what I liked wasn't necessary the same as everyone elses preference. Using this rational I suppose its quite possible to see ones own photography as great, however it's probably not going to go down too well if you go out and proclaim yourself to be a great photographer, you risk at best being thought of as arrogant and at worst being corrected.

Having recently listened to interviews with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Garry Winogrand, photographers we might call great, they tend to be surprised at the reaction of the public to their work and clearly don't regard themselves as great. If we ask ourselves what motivated the great photographer, then I suspect apart from the need to earn some money, it was probably more of a deeper routed passion to express themselves using image and not the desire for notoriety.

In my opinion "greatness" is a word to be used by others. As photographers we are far too emotionally attached to provide anything but a subjective opinion. While we might strive for perfection and be pleased with the result we are not able to judge our own work objectively and dispassionately.

Greatness for me also has a timelessness about it. In it's true sense it needs to stand the test of time, it is not a word that can be used off the cuff when viewing recent work. For a photograph to be truly great then it needs to be able to be viewed in 5, 10, 20, 50 years and the current day audience still feel it is brilliant. Perhaps this is why so many artists don't become great until they're dead.

Finally, does it matter anyway? Like the true greats we should not be driven by the wish to be great but by our passion and pleasure to see how something looks photographed.

Is it the camera or the person behind it?

2008-03-17T09:27:00.010Z

There seems to be a debate going on at the moment in photography blog world surrounding camera vs photographer and which is more important. Ken Rockwell started it off by writing a very bold and forthright piece entitled Your Camera Doesn't Matter the theme of which was that "Compelling photographs come from inspiration"...."The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it." [Ansel Adams] ...."Your equipment does not affect the quality of your image." and "Buying new gear will NOT improve your photography."

Michael Reichmann of Luminous Landscape responds with Your Camera Does Matter -A Rebuttal putting the case that "It's all about the Equipment". He goes on to argue how important the camera is and concludes saying "Photography is both an art and a craft. We can not perform our craft without the requirement of certain tools, including a camera, lens, and light sensitive substrate."

I think these are two (perhaps slightly contrived) extremes of a polarised debate. The contrasting views can perhaps be explained by the type of reader each blog attracts. Ken Rockwells site seems to be targeted more at the growing number of new prosumers who are perhaps still on their first DSLR, they are in the early stages of developing their photography and perhaps contemplating upgrading. He or she maybe thinks a new camera will significantly improve their photography. Michael Reichmann has a more experienced audience who've most likely been around in the photography world for a good few years, they know exactly what sort of photography they want to shoot and what equipment they need to do it. To take photographs to their exacting high standards they need high spec kit which isn't going to compromise image quality.

Despite the title of the piece, I don't think Ken Rockwell's intent was to minimise the importance of the camera but rather to point out that good cameras alone don't make good photographs. While this might be obvious to some, we do sometimes need to be reminded of this when the camera we bought 12 months ago has just been superseded by a newer model with all the accompanying added extra bells and whistles.

I myself fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes, I can relate to both points of view. I am currently at a stage in my photography where I feel a better camera isn't going to make a huge difference to the artistic quality of my images. Technically, I might get more shots in focus and have better control of my exposure resulting in the overall hit rate eventually increasing but for me at this point in time the biggest potential for improvement is in my composition skills.

That's not to say I'm not eyeing up the Nikon D300 to replace my old D70 and I'm not a tad envious of those who can afford a Leica M8 of which I can only dream. I am sure that if by chance I had these new tools, they would take me to new places and enrich my photography experience.

"I photograph to find out how something looks photographed"

2008-03-12T15:10:00.001Z

So said Garry Winogrand, whose street photography is just fearless and captures the moment every time. For him there were few rules, there was just the subject and a setting. No story to tell, just an image in time. Some of his photography can be seen here: http://masters-of-photography.com/W/winogrand/winogrand.html .

He sadly died of cancer in 1984 and it is said that he left behind more than 2500 undeveloped rolls of film and over 300,000 unedited images. Clearly the joy for him was in taking the photograph not developing it.

Street photography is all about capturing the moment up close, no telephoto lens, no shallow depth of field, this is "in your face" photography. There is video footage of Winogrand at work on the street walking through crowds of people with camera held in hand eyes moving from side to side searching for the image, capturing it and moving on for the next one before the subject realises what's happened.

I often find myself walking down a street full of people and see scenes that would make a good image, I either don't have my camera or worse still do have my camera but am too self conscious to raise it point it at someone close up and take the picture. It feels like I'm invading someones space by taking their picture. Rarely do people actually object, but you need to be quick and move on.

Some other links about Winogrand worth reading.

Coffee and Workprints by Mason Resnik
Class time with Garry Winogrand by O C Garza
Documentary interviewing Winogrand with video footage

The importance of light

2008-03-11T14:01:00.004Z

The more I think about photography, the more I appreciate how important light is, how much there is, where it's coming from, how its being reflected, how hard or soft it is. This has been emphasised recently to me in my introduction to flash photography in trying to visualise how a photograph will look with one or two instantaneous light sources positioned about the subject. It is not as easy as I first thought.

Reading David Hobby's Strobist Lighting 102 series he lists the following 7 things you can do with light:

Vary it's position (or vary your subjects)
Change it's apparent size
Change its intensity
Restrict light
Refract and reflect
Change it's colour
Time - instantaneous or continuous

Whilst these are written from a strobists point of view, I see them as being equally valid for normal outdoor photography. Outdoors we know how hard the midday sun light is and that light at beginning or end of the day is less harsh with better graduation between light and dark and more subtle midtones.

I read somewhere that our eyes have a 10 stop optical range where as the best camera can only deal with about 5 stops. This means that landscapes with bright skies and dark foregrounds whilst perhaps looking spectacular to the eye often turn out in part over or underexposed. We can use graduated filters to squeeze the natural light down into a range the camera can handle and will look much closer to the real image than it would have unfiltered.

Whilst knowing all the rules, in the past that I have still taken light for granted. The more I take photographs the more I find myself searching for the right light to take them in. I think light is a key ingredient to that unanswerable question .... what makes a good photograph?

The above photograph was taken at dusk with a neutral density filter and a 10 second exposure.

Colour or Black & White?

2008-03-08T21:54:00.002Z

I find myself being naturally drawn to black and white. Nearly 50% of the images on frasersfotos are black and white. I'm interested to know what attracts people to black and white and more specifically how and why does it work?.

Above are colour and black and white versions of an image I took. The composition itself is nothing spectacular and I was pretty dismissive when I first saw the colour original and was about to move on but thought I would it see how it looked in black and white. My own opinion is that it works much better, the colour picture was over dominated in red with the brick buildings and the scooter which took away from the main point of the photo which was the curve of the street and line of motorcycles. The black and white version captures the point much better. The conclusion I take from this is that if taking a photograph for a reason other than its colour, perhaps say its tone, texture, form or composition then colour might well distract and its worth considering black and white.

Clearly not all photographs work in black and white, if there is a good range of tones right across the spectrum with lots of midtones then its going to make a much better image than one where the histogram is loaded at the front and back ends.

The Perfect Camera

2008-03-07T13:15:00.006Z

I try and refrain from getting too hung up about new kit with the view that there are many other things I can do to improve my photography before I need to get a new camera. I am not always successful and spend some time following what the latest camera, lens or gizmo currently being talked about is. Consequently I occasionally find myself wishing I had a bit more disposable income to upgrade or buy another piece of equipment to add to the growing pile of kit that I seem to have collected over the last 3 years. What is saving me is the fact that the perfect camera does not exist on the market, not at a realistic price anyway.

Here is the specification for my perfect camera:

A large digital sensor which gave me all the richness of film
Small enough to slip into your pocket - think Olympus XA2 (above)
Optical rangefinder - think Leica
Reasonably priced interchangeable fast lenses
Easy and quick to use manual mode function - i.e command dials as oppose to onscreen menus
Quiet operation
Fast response times

The nearest is the Leica M8 which costs £2,500 for the body and another £500 for a standard lens, all in £3,000 (US$6,000 or €4,000) which is way out of my league.

The long awaited, yet to be seen Sigma DP1 looks interesting and should meet a few of these criteria. Roll out is scheduled for this month so I will look out for reviews.

Meantime I will stick with noisy, big, 3 year out of date SLR which takes perfectly good photographs as long as it has a creative person pushing the button.

Blogging and Photo-Sharing.

2008-03-06T12:32:00.007Z

Blogging and photo-sharing, why do we do it?

Is it to gain notoriety, to feed our hedonistic ego's, to improve our self portayal or is there something more? Human nature is such that we all like to be recognised and complimented and we all get a buzz when someone leaves a complimentary comment about our work, better still if its a comment from someone we respect and admire.

I think there is another more important underlying reason for publishing work on the web and that is to add to the resource pool of ideas and influences and use the pool to help inspire new thinking, shape and form our styles, exchange ideas and challenge assumptions.

Whilst I might like to get on to Flickr's most interesting page, I know it wouldn't make me any better a photographer, the comments given while flattering would be mostly of the "great shot" variety leaving little in the way of useful critique, however underneath the surface there are some things on Flickr and other such sites that might improve me, there are critique, educational and project groups which all go to educate, inspire and develop me as a photographer. Flickr groups like the Strobist.com which I mentioned in an earlier post, 100 Strangers which I'm itching to join. All are designed to expand your thinking and make you a better photographer. All have come about by a group of people with one common interest getting together to share photographs.

The photo above is in the world of Flickr the most interesting photograph I have taken. I'm not sure I would agree.

Photography Courses

2008-03-05T18:42:00.004Z

With new cheaper digital technology bringing photography to the masses it is inevitable that people with new sophisticated cameras will start to realise, perhaps after several hundred snapshots, that their camera is capable of a lot more and indeed it is not really the camera that is holding them back but themselves, and so it was for me. I had bought myself a brand new dSLR and after seemingly photographing everything I could and not being very satisfied with the results I started to wonder - what do I do with it now? Even after reading the manual and understanding what all the bells and whistles did, I still felt that I wasn't quite getting it.

I started asking myself quite philosophical questions like what is a good photograph? Questions I was to later realise had no definitive answer. I decided to enrol on a photography course, which I thought would make me a good photographer. I was of course wrong again, however it did move my thinking on quite a bit.

Apart from the obvious mechanics of the camera and how to use it, I was encouraged to think more about composition, the subject of the photograph and how it interacted with the rest of the image. For each course module there would be a theme which would be illustrated by the works of famous photographers of the past. I was required to go away and study more about the history of photography and names such as Adams, Doisneau, Lartigue and Cartier-Bresson started to become more familiar. Each module would be concluded with an assignment to submit several photographs to illustrate what I'd learnt and emulate the great masters. The above photograph was my attempt to photograph in the style of Ansel Adams's Mono Lake.

I now realise that there isn't a set of rules, merely a pretty undefined framework of guidelines and even these weren't absolute. The way I see it now is that there are these classical guidelines of composition which if you know what you're doing and have a creative spark then you can start to move outside and create something truly original

One of the harder parts of the course was to choose various photographs and explain why you like them. I would often say "I like them because I like them" not being disciplined to analyse them any further.

I finished the course thinking it's much more about art and composition than about technical know how and whether your camera has the latest gizmo. For me photography is a life long search for an ever changing treasure, just when you think you've found it you see someone else's work which takes you off in another direction. You also find that like all art, photography is a very subjective thing, what appeals to some does nothing for others, so at the end the only person that really matters is yourself and whether you like it.

The Strobe Affect

2008-03-04T18:30:00.000Z

I recently followed a link to the Strobist website, since that visit I have been busy on eBay acquiring a light stand, adaptor, flash trigger and reflective umbrella to go with the speedlight that I already had. With great enthusiasm and much to my wifes annoyance I have set it all up in the living room to try it out experimenting with volunteers and when their patience has run out with various uncomplaining flowers and plants.

For those who have not visited the Strobist there is a great introduction Lighting101 and a more in depth step by step course Lighting102

On top of all this they have a large Flickr group where you can see some quite edgy photo's. What is so surprising and impressive is the way David Hobby, the founder of Strobist, has struck accord with the photographic community with this quite specialised niche area. His attitude is generous in the information he shares and his writing style humorous. Perhaps I should not be so surprised that his site gets some 50,000 page hits a day.

Welcome

2008-03-03T21:55:00.005Z

I spend more time than I like to admit browsing websites related to photography. I have a news reader service with a growing number of subscriptions (currently 70) to photoblogs, blogs about photography and photography websites. Off line I visit exhibitions, camera shops, book shops, attend courses, read books and magazines all in the quest to learn more, be inspired and discover how to take the perfect photograph ...and of course I take some photographs too.

In thinking about all this information that I'm collecting, it occurred to me that I too should try and compile it in the form of a blog and see if it makes a bit more sense when written down.

The intention is for this blog to be about photography, its history, its masters, the techniques, the equipment and my attitude towards it all. Hopefully others will find it interesting.

The blog accompanies my photoblog www.frasersfotos.com which is long on photos but short on words. This site will hopefully redress the balance.