I went to the theatre last night to see Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The show was brilliant, but not everyone's cup of tea. The audience was overwhelmingly of a certain generation - those darned baby boomers. There were boomers of all sizes and shapes roaming the lobby at intermission and it was fascinating to gaze at all that gray hair and chubbiness and reflect on what used to be.
And that brings me to a brilliant photo book: The Sixties by Robert Altman. Here we are in our glory days, with our long hair, sideburns, micro-minis, tight skin, heavy eye make-up and all our idols. Here are Jane and Peter Fonda, Santana, Jess Colin Young, Tiny Tim and the Rolling Stones. In their prime! Jerry Garcia is alive and young. Chuck Berry is duck walking across the stage and Tina Turner is wearing a see-through crocheted outfit.
We are protesting the war - not the current one, but the last one. The one in Viet Nam. We are caring activists, effecting change.
We are going to concerts by the thousands, wearing our afros and cool shades. We are dancing. Naked.
How sad that time changes and we are now old folks milling about the lobby of a ritzy theatre trying to recapture some of those days through the music of The Four Seasons. How lucky we are that Robert Altman was there with his camera to capture us in our prime!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Update on My Video Rant
I ran into a wedding photographer over the noon hour and asked him if he was excited about the new video capabilities of the Canon 5dmkII. He looked at me like I'd sprouted two heads and said that for video, he'd hire a videographer. As I suspected, the skill-set of a videographer is so widely different than that of a photographer that most photographers will just pass on the video capability unless they have small children around the house and want to record their own family for personal use.
Photokina 2008
Q: Photokina 2008 just wound up and quite a few exciting products were announced. What did you think of all the goings on?
A: Well, I was waiting for someone to ask me that. Here's my take on the situation:
A: Well, I was waiting for someone to ask me that. Here's my take on the situation:
- First and foremost, the best full summary of the show is here at Dpreview.
- I may be biased as a Canon shooter, but I think Canon took back the lead in the DSLR game with the announcement of the 5dmkII and the 50d. I was starting to wonder whether Canon was going to permanently fall behind Nikon, but these two products are significant jumps over the 5d and 40d.
- I don't give a crap about video, so all the excitement about the Nikon D90 and Canon 5dmkII video capabilities fell a bit flat for me.. For some reason, Michael Reichmann is heralding the coming of video to DSLR's as the "next big thing", but I just don't get it. With the exception of wedding photographers, I just don't see still photographers branching out into video. It's bad enough having to learn Photoshop and Lightroom, not to mention buying 1 terabyte hard drives like they're going out of style just to keep up with new 20+ megapixel camera megafiles, but video? I can't even bear to think about the learning curve for video and sound editing software, let alone the skillset required to produce good video stories. It's as much as I can do to focus my energy on producing a still photograph that pleases me, so I'm not about to branch into making movies. Maybe the lure of 35mm video-making will draw people away from traditional video cameras, but if there was a cheaper 5d mkII without video capability, I'd buy it.
- The micro four-thirds standard and the Panasonic G1 are very exciting announcements. I'm convinced that we're only at the beginning of the evolution of cameras from chemical-mechanical contraptions to full electronic and the G1 is another step along the path. This camera eliminates the prism/mirror assembly completely and goes with either live view on the rear screen or through the electronic viewfinder. The result is a very small camera indeed that promises to deliver decent picture quality with a fairly large sensor.
- Sony is making its move to capture a share of the pro-sumer market with the A900. This is a very serious camera, with 24 megapixels, full-frame sensor and anti-shake in the body. If I was starting out and didn't already have an investment in Canon lenses, I'd have to give Sony a good look.
- Adobe is making another annoying grab for my wallet. It irks me that I have to shell out $200 every time another release of Photoshop comes out. There's always this one feature that seems to speak to me and CS4 has this wonderful ability to scale photos without distorting the main features in the composition. I returned my purchase of CS3 and will shell out for CS4 begrudgingly.
- One of the quieter announcements, overshadowed by the 5dmkII and the 50d, was the Canon EF-S 18-200 lens. I look forward to reading reviews of this lens because it would make a good all-purpose lens for my back-up body (20d). I was a bit shocked to read that it didn't have a silent focusing motor - nearly every Canon lens in the last few years has used USM for focusing. The review will be coming soon to this site.
- Finally, I was pleased to here that Zeiss manual focus lenses were going to be available in a Canon mount. I'm not sure I'll ever buy one, but it would be fun to try one out. As sensors get larger and larger, good optics become paramount and Zeiss has a great reputation for optical resolution.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Neat Gizmo
One of the nice things about photography is the opportunity to learn about new things. For example, I'm always pleased and surprised to read about a Photoshop technique that I've never used before. Given my knowledge of Photoshop, this happens quite often!
Finding a neat gizmo doesn't happen quite as often, but it is a treat when it does. Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Natalie Briot, partner of Alain Briot who is running a photo workshop that I'll be attending in the near future. Natalie sent out the final itinerary for the workshop along with lots of helpful hints about clothing and food for the trip. She also sent links to a whack of reading materials just in case insomnia struck me at some point before my trip. And, here's where the gizmo comes in, Natalie highly recommended that we purchase a device called a right-angle viewfinder.
A right-angle viewfinder turns out to be one of those very useful things that has you scratching your head wondering why you'd never heard of it before. If you've ever taken photographs with your camera on a tripod wishing you could actually read the information on the LCD on the top of the camera, then this gadget is for you. If you've ever tried to take a photo of a small wildflower by lying on damp grass so you can peer into the viewfinder, then this is what you've been waiting for. Here's a snap of the device:
As you can see, it is a sort of periscope for your camera's viewfinder. You slip your camera's stock viewfinder off (who knew this slipped off!) and attach the right angle viewfinder and, hey presto, all sorts of things become possible. You can position your camera slightly lower on your tripod so that the top LCD becomes visible. You can take pictures of small things without having to get your clothes all dirty and you can take pictures of the sky without permanent injury to your neck.
There are several of these things on the market. If you are flush with cash, most of the major camera companies make them. However, if you are rather impecunious (especially given the state of the economy), there is a good alternative that is less expensive and fits all sorts of cameras. The manufacturer is a small company called Hoodman. In Canada, the Hoodman unit is about half the cost of the Canon gizmo and seems to be comparable in quality. I went to Vistek to buy mine and the sales guy unwrapped the Hoodman and the Canon and we poked around with both of them. The Hoodman was slightly smaller, but didn't look or feel too plasticky.
I'll try it out in the field on my trip to California in a couple of weeks and report back.
Finding a neat gizmo doesn't happen quite as often, but it is a treat when it does. Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Natalie Briot, partner of Alain Briot who is running a photo workshop that I'll be attending in the near future. Natalie sent out the final itinerary for the workshop along with lots of helpful hints about clothing and food for the trip. She also sent links to a whack of reading materials just in case insomnia struck me at some point before my trip. And, here's where the gizmo comes in, Natalie highly recommended that we purchase a device called a right-angle viewfinder.
A right-angle viewfinder turns out to be one of those very useful things that has you scratching your head wondering why you'd never heard of it before. If you've ever taken photographs with your camera on a tripod wishing you could actually read the information on the LCD on the top of the camera, then this gadget is for you. If you've ever tried to take a photo of a small wildflower by lying on damp grass so you can peer into the viewfinder, then this is what you've been waiting for. Here's a snap of the device:
As you can see, it is a sort of periscope for your camera's viewfinder. You slip your camera's stock viewfinder off (who knew this slipped off!) and attach the right angle viewfinder and, hey presto, all sorts of things become possible. You can position your camera slightly lower on your tripod so that the top LCD becomes visible. You can take pictures of small things without having to get your clothes all dirty and you can take pictures of the sky without permanent injury to your neck.There are several of these things on the market. If you are flush with cash, most of the major camera companies make them. However, if you are rather impecunious (especially given the state of the economy), there is a good alternative that is less expensive and fits all sorts of cameras. The manufacturer is a small company called Hoodman. In Canada, the Hoodman unit is about half the cost of the Canon gizmo and seems to be comparable in quality. I went to Vistek to buy mine and the sales guy unwrapped the Hoodman and the Canon and we poked around with both of them. The Hoodman was slightly smaller, but didn't look or feel too plasticky.
I'll try it out in the field on my trip to California in a couple of weeks and report back.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Algonquin Park Hike
As is often the case, it started with a book: Wayne Van Sickle's Algonquin Park Visitor's Guide. I picked up this excellent guide book somewhere along the way and started to read about hiking in the park. We have a vacation property about an hour away from Algonquin Park, but we had never set foot on a hiking trail or canoed in the park in the 25 years we'd been cottaging in the area. Shame on us!
Inspired by Wayne's book, I convinced Trish to spend some time with me hiking in the park this summer, but between travels to Italy and entertaining friends at the cottage, time was ticking and the end of September was approaching before we finally found an afternoon to hike in the park.
Our timing was pretty good. The bugs had disappeared and the fall colours were pretty close to their peak. The Visitor's Guide describes 14 day-hiking trails that are all accessible from the main Highway 60 corridor through the park. For our first hike, we chose the Mizzy Lake Trail, listed as tops in Wayne's guidebook for wildlife spotting. The trail is 11 kilometers long and rated as taking 5 hours in the guidbook. At the foot of the trail is a signpost that rates the trail as a 6 hour hike, but that is intended for the generally infirm. We took four hours to complete the trail and didn't really push ourselves. A fit, young hiker could probably do the trail in less time.
We really enjoyed our hike. The weather wasn't the greatest, with showers and drizzle, but the trail is pretty sheltered and we quickly got rid of our rain gear because we got too hot from the exercise. The trail is fairly flat, but there are a lot of tree roots and rocks as you clamber up and down the small slopes inherant in the terrain. About a third of the way through, the trail joins up with an abandoned railway line that used to connect Parry Sound with Ottawa (the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway). The railway was built in 1897 and reputedly was Canada's busiest railway line during the first world war. The walk along the railway line is extremely easy and gives a respite from the tree roots and rocks.
About half way into the hike, we stopped and listened. It was magical. We were all alone on the trail, we were looking out over a small wetland with a lake beyond. The fall colours were bright in the distance and it was silent. Completely, overwhelmingly silent. We breathed in the fresh air and enjoyed each other's company as we contemplated unspoiled nature and thought our own thoughts.
We saw lots of evidence of wildlife and a few birds and squirrels. At one point we came to a turtle's nest that had been dug up by raccoons, with broken eggs scattered all around. There were many beaver dams and once lodge that was positioned very close to the trail. However, we didn't sight any moose which was disappointing. The fall colours were quite spectacular, making up somewhat for the lack of wildlife.
Ironically, when we were driving out of the park on Highway 60, we came across a large group of parked cars and found tourists madly snapping away at a lovely female moose that was munching away on some delicate trees close to the roadway.
If you find yourself in the Muskoka or Haliburton areas of Ontario, be sure to devote an afternoon to exploring one of the many trails of Algonquin Park.
Inspired by Wayne's book, I convinced Trish to spend some time with me hiking in the park this summer, but between travels to Italy and entertaining friends at the cottage, time was ticking and the end of September was approaching before we finally found an afternoon to hike in the park.
Our timing was pretty good. The bugs had disappeared and the fall colours were pretty close to their peak. The Visitor's Guide describes 14 day-hiking trails that are all accessible from the main Highway 60 corridor through the park. For our first hike, we chose the Mizzy Lake Trail, listed as tops in Wayne's guidebook for wildlife spotting. The trail is 11 kilometers long and rated as taking 5 hours in the guidbook. At the foot of the trail is a signpost that rates the trail as a 6 hour hike, but that is intended for the generally infirm. We took four hours to complete the trail and didn't really push ourselves. A fit, young hiker could probably do the trail in less time.
We really enjoyed our hike. The weather wasn't the greatest, with showers and drizzle, but the trail is pretty sheltered and we quickly got rid of our rain gear because we got too hot from the exercise. The trail is fairly flat, but there are a lot of tree roots and rocks as you clamber up and down the small slopes inherant in the terrain. About a third of the way through, the trail joins up with an abandoned railway line that used to connect Parry Sound with Ottawa (the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway). The railway was built in 1897 and reputedly was Canada's busiest railway line during the first world war. The walk along the railway line is extremely easy and gives a respite from the tree roots and rocks.
About half way into the hike, we stopped and listened. It was magical. We were all alone on the trail, we were looking out over a small wetland with a lake beyond. The fall colours were bright in the distance and it was silent. Completely, overwhelmingly silent. We breathed in the fresh air and enjoyed each other's company as we contemplated unspoiled nature and thought our own thoughts.
We saw lots of evidence of wildlife and a few birds and squirrels. At one point we came to a turtle's nest that had been dug up by raccoons, with broken eggs scattered all around. There were many beaver dams and once lodge that was positioned very close to the trail. However, we didn't sight any moose which was disappointing. The fall colours were quite spectacular, making up somewhat for the lack of wildlife.
Ironically, when we were driving out of the park on Highway 60, we came across a large group of parked cars and found tourists madly snapping away at a lovely female moose that was munching away on some delicate trees close to the roadway.
If you find yourself in the Muskoka or Haliburton areas of Ontario, be sure to devote an afternoon to exploring one of the many trails of Algonquin Park.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Various Things
Another Monday, another week. Some things to note:
- Epson has announced its Print Academy for 2008/2009, a travelling road show that hits 15 US and Canadian cities and features live and video spots by some of the best photographers and printmakers around. I'll be attending the Toronto show on March 21st. There are two tracks: one for advanced amateurs and another for working pros. There are lots of good presenters in the program, although it is unclear how many will be "live" versus video. Some of the names include: John Shaw, Bruce Dale, Greg Gorman, Jay Meisel and Michael Reichmann.
- I was a little perturbed recently when Adobe announced Photoshop CS4 despite John Nack's remonstrations in his blog that the launch was not imminent. Surprise! It came out before the rumored launch date of October 1st. Based on Nack's denials, I'd finally decided to upgrade my version of Photoshop from CS2 to CS3 a couple of weeks before the announcement of CS4. My disappointment was doubled when it turned out that the widely demonstrated feature where a Lightroom file can be seamlessly opened as a layer object in Photoshop CS3 turned out to be bogus due to a bug that seems to be taking a long time to fix. That feature was one of the things that turned the tide in my decision to upgrade. I went on to the Adobe site and searched for some way of getting credit for my CS3 upgrade towards a CS4 purchase and there is such a credit plan -- but you have to have purchased CS3 after the announcement of CS4 to qualify. Undaunted, I pursued a customer service agent and she happily let me return my version of CS3 despite it being slightly over the 30 day mark. So, I ripped out my CS3 version and went back to CS2. As soon as my Visa card is credited, I'll be ording CS4 which has lots of goodies in it. Who knows, maybe the Lightroom to CS4 photo transfer will work as well.
- We had a great hike this week-end in Algonquin Park and saw the fall colours at their peak. I'll post a more detailed description of this once I get a few minutes to develop the pictures.
- I'm looking forward to the 10th of October when I'll be jetting off to California for a long week-end photo workshop with Alain Briot. We'll be taking photos of the Sierra Nevadas, Mono Lake and the Bristlecone pines. Stay tuned for more on this.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Exciting New Paper
Well, it has been a long time - my last post was in May. It has been a busy summer. My job heated up and we took a nice trip to Italy. Here's a picture to prove it!
This photo was taken in the beautiful Val D'Orcia in Tuscany. More on this to follow.
There were a lot of exciting photo announcements over the summer and into the early fall. The Japanese product designers were just humming along with huge product announcements from Canon, Nikon and Sony.
However, my eye was caught by an announcement from Hahnemuhle, the paper folks. They have developed a new Baryta coated paper on a cotton rag base - combining the look of a traditional gloss print with the long life and lovely feel of cotton.
This summer, I've been printing some photos from our Italy trip in photo books from Innova and just love the way they look and feel. I've also been printing out some photos on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl - a semi-gloss paper with a fibre base. The latter pictures look wonderful under glass, but I just don't like the tactile feel of the fibre (cardboard) backing and I'm suspicious about the longevity of the paper.
I'm itching to try the new Hahnemuhle paper. Here is a link to the announcement.
Neil Snape has written an excellent review that concludes: "This is one sweet paper that you really must try. It's grows on you as you use it, always leaving that very satisfied feeling, delighted but not overwhelmed. You become aware of your prints being united with your goals quietly assuring deserved recognition for print excellence leaving imagery the most powerful statement in what you are showing. It is the first paper that covers it's bases for those wanting to make gallery prints both colour and B&W without reservation.
Verdict: until something else tops this in brightness without OBA there isn't a finer paper today. Highly recommended."
This photo was taken in the beautiful Val D'Orcia in Tuscany. More on this to follow.
There were a lot of exciting photo announcements over the summer and into the early fall. The Japanese product designers were just humming along with huge product announcements from Canon, Nikon and Sony.
However, my eye was caught by an announcement from Hahnemuhle, the paper folks. They have developed a new Baryta coated paper on a cotton rag base - combining the look of a traditional gloss print with the long life and lovely feel of cotton.
This summer, I've been printing some photos from our Italy trip in photo books from Innova and just love the way they look and feel. I've also been printing out some photos on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl - a semi-gloss paper with a fibre base. The latter pictures look wonderful under glass, but I just don't like the tactile feel of the fibre (cardboard) backing and I'm suspicious about the longevity of the paper.
I'm itching to try the new Hahnemuhle paper. Here is a link to the announcement.
Neil Snape has written an excellent review that concludes: "This is one sweet paper that you really must try. It's grows on you as you use it, always leaving that very satisfied feeling, delighted but not overwhelmed. You become aware of your prints being united with your goals quietly assuring deserved recognition for print excellence leaving imagery the most powerful statement in what you are showing. It is the first paper that covers it's bases for those wanting to make gallery prints both colour and B&W without reservation.
Verdict: until something else tops this in brightness without OBA there isn't a finer paper today. Highly recommended."
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