Ripples

Advent on flickr

zum 2. Advent
Originally uploaded by pete`s wonderful world.

In the German-speaking world, a lot more seems to be made of the Advent than over here. This is illustrated by the flood of -often very nice- pictures posted on flickr each advent Sunday. This is a nice one I found today. Please visit Pete's wonderful world for more of his pictures...

Coffee gallery

I'm something of a coffee addict. At work, I only drink water (the stuff produced by the coffee vending machines is no good). But before, between and after hours, I can often be found in the neighbourhood enjoying a good cup of coffee.

So I thought it would be a nice idea to kick off my new Canon Powershot A95 by doing a little project, photographing my coffee cups at a series of different locations. The tilting LCD screen is a great help in doing this: it allows me to position the camera like I want without the need for all kinds of contortions to check the framing. This was really a feature I wanted.

The first pictures resulting of this project can be found in my first online gallery, appropriately called Coffee Gallery. I intend to keep adding pictures from time to time, and maybe replace some initial ones with more successful examples. For now, I've put aside any critical sense and just put up what I had. So come back later, and maybe more and better pictures await you. I don't know if they'll mean anything to you, but for me it's just a bit of plain fun...

Powershot

In a surprising move (even to myself) I've recently bought my first digital camera. For a long time I convinced myself that I'd wait until perceived quality and prices felt just right (meaning comparable quality and prices to analog gear).

Some time ago, I almost went for the Konica-Minolta A2, as this seemed a good photographers camera at a price that was about approachable. But I decided to wait until I could have it a bit cheaper, and now it's already superseded by the A200, which doesn't appeal to me.

Then, when we learned that my beloved is pregnant, I thought this might be the right time to go for it. I put all my hopes in the Canon EOS 20D, which is indeed a very good camera. Not cheap, mind you, but as far as DSLRs go it seemed a good buy. Until I got around to calculating how many films I could shoot, have developed ànd printed for the acquisition price of the 20D... Something like three 36 exposure films a day for an entire year! So again I decided it wasn't worth it. Just for the added convenience of immediate availability, this was a bit expensive.

But somewhere the desire to try this new thing out lingered. So finally, after reading lots of reviews (which I do anyway, as I read several photography magazines regularly) I found that the Canon Powershot A95 seemed to be a good compromise for price, quality, photographic possibilities (not for me the automatic-only things or ultra-small jewel cameras). Somewhere it was described as the "G5 killer", and the G5 was considered as quite a good camera (but it, and its successor the G6, cost double of the A95).

So now I'm working through the (quite extensive) manual, trying to find my way around this new gadget, and finding out how it can fit in with all my other photographic gear. It certainly won't be my main camera, but I can already imagine some nice uses for it. Maybe the appearance of this blog will soon change as a consequence of my purchase...

25 years

Today it's exactly 25 years ago that I bought my first serious camera: a Pentax MX, with a 50mm f:1.7 standard lens, as usual in those days (see here for the manual with pictures). This marvellous camera served me well for many years. The first 10 years, I only used the 50mm lens. As a consequence, I still feel very comfortable using standard lenses today: using one feels like walking around in a comfortable pair of slippers to me.

In 1990, I added a 28-80mm zoom lens, which from that point became my main lens. Over the years, my interest in photography grew a bit stale. It was only in 1999 that I gave in to the lures of autofocus and autoexposure, buying into the Canon EOS system with an EOS 300 and a 28-105mm zoom. From that point, my interest was rekindled, and I've by now accumulated a decent collection of lenses for my Canon bodies (my main one now being the EOS 30), as well as quite some second hand classic cameras.

But this renewed fascination with photography also gave my trusty old Pentax MX a new lease of life. So much so, that I built up a nice collection of prime lenses for it from the second-hand market (ranging from 28mm to 200mm, plus some extension rings and even a nice bellows for macro work), and added 3 more bodies (a black one among them), just in case the original one should one day run out. This shows how much I still enjoy using this camera. You can go on shooting without batteries. And because of the manual focussing, I never have an out-of-focus shot, which I regularly get with my Canons (but on the other hand, my automatic cameras allow me to get some shots that I'd miss with a manual camera, so there is something good in both worlds).

Just a few days ago I saw another nice MX in one of my favourite photo shop windows. I'm still hesitating, but quite possibly tomorrow will see me with a fifth one in my collection. Just in case, you know...

By the way, for those of you who may wonder: I managed to reach my 25 years of photography without giving in to the siren song of digital. But I'm afraid an EOS 20D is not too far away...

Paris preparations

Tomorrow morning, we leave for a four day stay in the magical city of Paris. Since we visited the Willy Ronis exhibition last Sunday, I've been looking forward to going back to this great photographer's city. And inspired by that exhibition, I've decided to go against the general onslaught of digital photography.

So apart from my trusty main SLR, the superb Canon EOS 30(*), I dug out my equally trusty, but much older, Pentax MX. This was my first serious camera which I bought back in 1980, and it has been my only photographic tool until 1999, when I finally gave in to the lure of auto-everything. The MX is purely mechanical, and if the batteries die, everything except the metering just goes on functioning.

To make things complete, I'll only be taking a standard 50mm prime (non-zoom!) lens, and load the camera with black and white film. This is an adventure, as I'm not really used to B&W, but somehow Paris just seems to beg for it... Of course, I'll have fully automated zoom and color back-up on my Canon...

So we'll see what happens. Will this voluntary restriction of possibilities inspire me to take better pictures? The answer in a few days...

(*) It's incredible to think you can buy such a highly specified marvel at the price of a halfway decent digital compact these days.

I saved money this weekend

This weekend, I saved a reasonable amount of money. To be more precise, I saved €716, which is the amount I was going to spend on the purchase of my first digital camera. Which obviously I didn't buy. Yet.

In fact, I and my beloved enjoyed a marvellous weekend. We had booked a night at the Hotel Maritim in Köln (Cologne) a few days ago, intending to spend Saturday shopping there, and on Sunday to come back via Aachen to visit an exhibition I'd been wanting to see for some time. Especially since Sunday was the absolutely last day the exposition was on...

I've been considering buying a digital camera for quite some time, and I'd even picked the model, a Konica-Minolta Dimage A2, but all those months I kept hesitating and waiting for prices to come down to an acceptable level. Knowing that camera prices in Germany are always more interesting than here in Belgium, I emailed the biggest photographic shop in Köln, Photo Gregor, for the current price. (By the way, if you like cameras old or new, and you're ever in the neighbourhood, you simply must pay them a visit: they're really a treasure trove for photographers...) They replied promptly, stating the very attractive price of, you guessed it, €716.

So the first thing I did after we checked in in our hotel was heading straight for Gregor. But alas, as again you guessed, the last one had been sold a day or two earlier, and I'd have to wait for their next order to arrive in a few days. Checking out the other photographic big name of the town, Lambertin, revealed that they had the item in stock in considerable numbers, but at a price €51 higher than their competitor. I almost cracked, but in the end the idea of spending €51 "for nothing" held me back.

Although I'm understandably disappointed, to my surprise I also felt some kind of relief. Somewhere inside, the fear is lurking that once I surrender to the lures of digital photography, I might quickly abandon film photography, and all those lovely cameras in my collection might begin to collect dust. This would be a big pity. Also, in the time since I made my choice of camera, a new star has appeared on the photographic firmamant: the new Canon EOS 20D, which finally looks like an acceptable DSLR at the reasonable (though, compared to film cameras, still quite high) price of some €1500-1700. So doubt sets in again, and if I decide to go for the 20D, I'll again want to wait a few months for the prices to come down.

The rest of our stay in Köln was really enjoyable, and on Sunday, we made it to the superb exposition of photographs by that other grand old man of Paris street photography, Willy Ronis. Which is a nice transition towards the coming weekend, when we'll be spending four days in that great city.

Photo delivery

A few weeks ago, I acted as the more or less officially appointed photographer at the wedding dinner party of my beloved's niece. At the time I got the request, I was a bit nervous about it, but I'm happy to say all went well. I did three films during the evening, and the exercise yielded quite some acceptable pictures, and even a few really nice one (if I dare say so myself).

Today, we went to visit the freshly married couple to bring them the set of pictures. Again I was a bit worried, because even though I think I didn't screw up, others don't necessarily agree. I shouldn't have worried, as they seemed to really like them. So this adventure has ended well.

I hadn't been the only photographer of the day, though. The wedding took place on a Friday, so we couldn't attend the afternoon ceremony at the town hall, and the couple had asked someone else to take pictures there. We of course had to view these pictures while we were there, and I have to say that what I saw slightly distressed me. That person took his pictures with a (probably decent) digital compact, and the results looked rather unconvincing to me. Bad exposures, with people often quite dark, as the camera (and the photographer) didn't seem to correctly detect and adjust for backlighting situations, and the small built-in flash couldn't cope with the large rooms. And most distressing, the pictures looked as if they were taken at a much too low resolution. Even on the computer screen, I could clearly see jpeg compression artifacts. I tremble at what they will see when they'll have prints made of these pictures.

Anyway, the bride seemed to be very happy about these pictures too, and after all that's what matters. But somehow, it leaves me feeling less satisfied about her reaction to my own photographs...

HCB

HCB is no more. To anyone even remotely interested in photography, these initials mean a lot. Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of the most famous photographers of the 20th century. He's best known for his black and white street photography. His sense of composition is legendary. He was one of the founders of the Magnum photo agency. But of course he'll forever be associated with Leica and the "instant décisif" (decisive moment, that split second when everything falls in place for the perfect photograph).

People like HCB and Robert Doisneau inspire me a lot. I'd love to try my hand at their kind of street photography. But the current climate, and my own shy nature, make it difficult for me to simply point my camera at total strangers, so I generally prefer different kinds of photography. But their pictures mean a lot to me. If you're not familiar with them, I can only recommend that you explore them!

____________________
Sent from Palm T3/Sony-Ericsson T610

Nature´s composition

By now, we´ve left St. Moritz and are for a few days in Abtenau, in Austria (Salzburgerland). This year, it´s exactly 20 years ago since I first came here, but that´ll be the subject of a future blog entry. Today, I want to talk about something else.

What strikes me whenever I´m in the mountains is the endless photographic possibilities they offer. The mountain regions of Austria and Switzerland I´ve visited seem to be made to measure to satisfy our aesthetic sense of composition. With their mountains, trees, houses, rivers, lakes, walking paths, bridges, etc., they seem to be full of leading lines and ideally staged subject planes.

Therefore, it´s sometimes surprising how difficult it can be to transform all this beauty and preconfigured ideal compositions into satisfactory photographs. Breathtaking views and impressive scenery, that are so impressive to the eye when you´re immersed in them, require quite some effort in order to transform them into a good picture. This is something I often find quite frustrating. But the only way to learn, I think, is to take a lot of pictures, and then study them with a critical eye afterwards, to learn what works and what doesn´t. So I´m into my 7th transparency film this vacation, with more to come. I´ve put myself the challenge to select a series of nice pictures when I get home, to scan them and to upload them as a picture gallery on this blog. So watch this space (but give me a few weeks...)

Wedding Photographer

It was bound to happen one day. I've been asked to take pictures at a wedding.

To be honest, this comes as no surprise. On the contrary, I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier. Everyone probably knows at least one example in their family of the typical amateur photographer who shows up at every family occasion with his/her camera, taking pictures of anyone and anything in sight. In my family, that's me. And most of the time, because you're the proud owner of an expensive and complicated looking camera, and are using it a lot, people jump to the conclusion that you must be a good photographer. Not that this conclusion is always justified...

Anyway, once you've established this reputation, it's only a matter of time before someone from the more budget-conscious members of your family kindly remembers you when they are looking for a photographer for their wedding. And that's where the trouble starts.

Up till now, I've been lucky to escape such requests. Of course I've always happily been shooting pictures at any wedding I've been invited to (except my own), giving a set of prints to the happy couple. But the major difference there is that people don't depend on you for their pictures: anything you do is a nice little extra. If you're explicitly asked though, then that brings with it a whole new level of expectation and responsibility. If you screw up, you're spoiling the memories of their big day, at the same time compromising your relationship with them...

And then there is the touchy topic of finance. Because you're family, and not a professional, people tend to think that (a) you'll be honoured to have been selected to be their photographer, (b) all this doesn't really cost you much and (c) any costs you incur should somehow be part of your wedding present to them. I've not yet mustered the nerve to bring up this subject...

So what am I to do? I promised an answer by the end of the week. The above suggests that I'd be better off refusing the "offer". But on the other hand, as an amateur photographer, I think I'd really enjoy the challenge... So I guess I'll have to make some very clear agreements before accepting, and make sure to be very well prepared on the big day.