Shanghai Tricycle

When I first started taking photography seriously I would photograph just about anything and everything.  Unencumbered by a lack concern for technique, I photographed with freedom.  A freedom to express my thoughts and capture what I saw.  Of course, there was a lot of dross amongst the images I took.  Without technique, you don’t have the tools to render what you want to capture and certainly not be able to add emphasis or mood to a subject.  So many potentially good images were lost because they were “too” something. Too soft; too dark etc.  Although my technique let me down again and again, I was still encouraged by the fact that there was something in the photos that I was taking.  That I had an eye for an image.  That I could sense a moment and that I could compose the subject within an image.  Then started my journey on improving my technique.  And as I became driven to learn and improve on  my technique, I found that I had lost the freedom I once had.  I was turning out competent images but the content was lacking.  Then, in turn, as my confidence in my technique grew, I began searching for the freedom I once had.  As a result, a style to my photography developed and maturity that can only come through the experience of this journey.  I’ve not given any thought to the idea of having “an eye for an image” for a long time.  A good part of what we do as photographers has to be intuitive, but also, much of it comes through our learned experiences as well.  And where does intuition come from anyway?  It that something we have also learned in our development or is it something we are born with.  Maybe even a mixture of both.  When I was on a recent visit to Shanghai I took the street image above.  I was attracted to the light on the road and I thought the silhouette of the tricycle would be quite striking against it.  I didn’t need to include the rider or even all of the tricycle, just the three wheels is enough to tell you exactly what it is.   There is a striking similarity with the image below that was also taken in Shanghai.  The low angle, the cropping of the subject down to its simplest form are two things they have in common.  However, the second image was taken based on pure instinct.  It was taken with absolute freedom.  The photographer saw something he liked and just took the picture.   The photographer who took this has very little learned experience and certainly no understanding of composition.  The photographer who too this picture was my three year old son.  It suggests that you are born with an eye for an image.

Streets of Shanghai

Performance and perfection

Arthur Pope said that the artist should never write about his art – the artist speaks in terms of his medium. Ansel Adams also said that he cannot tell what a great photograph is. He can answer best by showing a great photograph, not by talking about one. So what about us humble photographers?

Judging by the number of photography blogs (mine included!) most of us are happy to talk about our art, as well as letting it speak for itself. But how do we know what a great photograph is? Is it a perfect balance of composition, light, colour and subject? And what is “perfect” anyway? If you come up with an answer, perhaps you’ll let me know.

In the meantime, here’s a pic from a fantastic French dance troupe performance – there is something about a guy who can balance himself on one hand that screams some sort of perfection to me.

Capa exhibition at Ludwig Museum

A major exhibition of the works of 20th century photojournalist / war photographer Robert Capa will openon 3 July in Budapest. The exhibition is organised by the Ludwig Museum / Museum of Contemporary Arts, housed in the Palace of Arts in Budapest (pictured), and follows a recent, large-scale acquisition of over 1000 of Capa’s photographs by the Hungarian National Museum. A small selection of these photos were on show in the National Museum from 6-15 March this year, but this will be the first large-scale exhibition of the collection. Capa is noted for his extensive coverage and powerful images of the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and the First Indochina War, and for his memorable portraits of Ingrid Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock, Pablo Picasso and others. The exhibition will run from 3 July through 11 October. The Palace of Arts is located at Komor Marcell utca 1, District IX, Budapest, Hungary.

Boy, I wish I could be there!

Kodachrome

Eastman Kodak Company announced today that it will retire its Kodachrome colour film this year, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon. While Kodachrome, which was born in 1935, was not the world’s first colour film using a subtractive method – brands like Gasparcolor had been around for a couple of years by then -, it was unquestionably the first commercially viable one, which put an end to the rule of additive processes like Autochrome or Dufaycolor that had dominated the colour film/plate market for the first couple of decades of the twentieth century. Kodachrome went on to become an iconic film used by many great photographers working for National Geographic and other publications. However, sales have declined dramatically in recent years, as people went digital or turned to newer films. Kodak claims that today it represents “just a fraction of one percent” of their total sales of still-picture films. Steve McCurry, the photojournalist who captured the legendary portrait of the Afghan girl on Kodachrome a quarter of a century ago, will have the privilege of shooting one of the last rolls.

Ring my bell takes on a whole new meaning

I’m not the handiest of guys when it comes to DIY, but the staff at the Digital Photography School have taken it to a whole new level by creating a remote shutter release from a doorbell!

Call me crazy, but I think I’d just rather buy a shutter release off the shelf.

Canon 5DII

Source: www.canon.com/news/2009

TOKYO, May 15, 2009—Canon Inc. and Canon Marketing Japan Inc. today announced that the Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR camera, equipped with a 21.1-megapixel 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor and capable of recording full HD video, has been named “Camera of the Year” in the Camera Grand Prix 2009.

The Camera Grand Prix, the most prestigious award in Japan’s photo industry, is sponsored by the Camera Journal Press Club Japan (CJPC), comprising thirteen photography and camera publications (as of May 2009). The Camera Grand Prix selection committee is made up of chief editors of CJPC member publications, academic experts, technical writers, professional photographers, and representatives from photo-related organizations. The coveted Camera of the Year 2009 was awarded to the most impressive camera released in Japan between April 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009.

The Camera Grand Prix, founded in 1984, marks its 26th anniversary this year. The 2009 Camera of the Year award marks the eighth time that a Canon camera has earned top honors at the Camera Grand Prix, and the first since the top prize went to the EOS-1Ds, the industry’s first professional-model digital SLR camera to feature a 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor.

This year’s title-winning EOS 5D Mark II was recognized for its range of high-performance features, including a newly developed full-size 21.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, the next-generation DIGIC 4 image processor and a sophisticated Live View function, along with its advanced image quality and ease of use. Additionally, the model earned high marks as the world’s first SLR camera to enable the recording of full HD video as well as for its outstanding cost performance.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II was also recently named “Best Digital SLR Expert in 2009″ in Europe by the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA), representing 29 photography and imaging magazines across 13 European countries.