Does the camera make the photographer?

The lighter side of photography...
You don't have to be a genius to know that cameras are BIG business. I red that Nikon sold 2.3 million MORE compact cameras in the last semester of 2010 than the previous years! It did not state how many was sold in 2009, just 2.3m more than previous years! This was in only 4 months! (from Nikon Rumors site) And since the Leica M9's launch, Leica, the company have shot into the record books on sales!

So, before you pull pen and paper closer to start scribbling a note to Santa, telling him to bring you the biggest and best, lets consider a few things;

When did it became such a big deal to have the best/most expensive/biggest/most pixels/most bells and whistles camera? Well, since the second manufacture started selling, that's when.
Henry Ford had a winning formula on cars and would have been the greatest ever, until his opposition sold their first car. Competition is alive and very fierce indeed!

Does it makes you a better photographer to have the Rolls Royce of camera's?
Many will say yes, many will say no!
I have seen people with the best that couldn't make a snap-shot of a house! I have also seen people making absolute poetry with nothing more than a out-of-date snap-camera!

                                                          Newer and faster, or...

                                              Older with less buttons and functions?

On the net there are endless forums discussing the "better" or "best" camera. On one that I looked at, the discussion between Canon and Nikon have been banned because it became just to heated. I guess it is like this between every two, or more, competitors in life i.e Pepsi/Coke, Mercedes/BMW, Honda/Yamaha and so on. But is this not exactly what these big firms want? We squabble about who is best, they increase the prices, and we pay it, because we want the" best", - according to were the debate is at that moment.

If a person is making it look easy, is it not so because they simply know what they are doing/know their trade? We are back at the beginning when we said know what you want from your images, - the camera is merely the device/equipment that does the recording of your art. And that brings us back to ART.

So many people forget what this thing called photography set out to be in the beginning.  It wasn't invented to be this big commercial multi-million dollar empire! It was made to record moments, history. To capture little split seconds of life, the special moments in you and your loved one's lives. To record this progress for the next generation, - whether it be your children, parents, friends or a Nation's history. It was and still is a method of making art, - yes making, because without a person behind it, seeing the decisive moment, it is merely a empty vessel without a commander, a piece of equipment  that on its own is worthless.

                                                      Capture those special moments...

Do we then really need the biggest, or the best to do this? I guess that will inevitably be your choice. Lots will say absolutely yes and many will say not really. My opinion are to get what you are comfortable with. I have seen to many people walking around at what-ever events, historical places, traveling in foreign countries, and what not, with the best/biggest cameras and using it on Program/Auto mode! Don't be suckered into the modern era were you have to show-off your status with your equipment. You might just feature on You Tube.- (Copy+paste this into You Tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5IYahsPK2k )

                                            Some can't handle all the bells and whistles.

If you feel comfortable with the camera in your possession and you can handle all the lighting conditions you encounter in your world of decisive moments then don't think about the person's camera standing next to you, let your images speak for themselves!

Always remember that the camera carrying community likes to be involve in the rat-race for the best, - so weather you own a Merc or BMW, or just a old mr Bean Mini in the camera world, the one next to you will always help you find the right buttons on that spaceship of yours for the right occasion.

                                                             Help is just a smile away!

PS. some picture here were created with the best (at the time) and some with a phone-camera from 2001. I bet you can't tell the one from the other...

Sometimes random stuff is not random...

Have you ever wondered if seemingly random stuff that happens are truly just random?,- or is it really meant to  cross paths with you?
I am not being philosophical here, but it just seems that in more than one way things don't just happen, but for a reason.

Like the time I was sitting waiting for our videographer, whom went into a gas station to ask for directions to a project we had to film and shoot. We have been driving around in a rural township for hours without really making any headway of were to go.

The gas station, was no more than an old dilapidated half-structure of a former building, the roof collapsed at one side and non existing on the other side also served as a local "quick-stop take-away" shop, or spaza as it is also known.

Now as it goes in rural Africa there is no such thing as road-signs once you get of the beaten way. People know the road or, if they ask, are told by land markings or by the name of a person who lives in the same direction, sort-off like in the time of the cowboys.

So here I was sitting, kind of getting a bit lost in my own thoughts, when I notice three young boys playing with a ball in an open stretch of field. It only took a second for me to realize here are some nice images waiting to be made. I lift the Canon D40 with the 70-200 mm F2.8 from my lap and started to frame. On shoots like these where I am riding "shot-gun" I always ride with a camera on my lap,- you never know what opportunities life will throw at you and it may be over before you know it.

I get out and sit on one knee and keep framing away. One of the little boys sees me and leaves the game to come over. Like a lad with good manners he waits until my head comes up from behind the camera and ask me if I am looking for his team?

He explains that they were sent here by the couch to keep an eye out for some white people who are coming to film their soccer team! At the same moment the video guy returns and said that he couldn't get any information on were we needed to go? Now this is just not random!

We all jump into the vehicle and ten minutes later we are at the project we were meant to film.

Thabang is a young man who saw the need to keep the youth in his area busy and fit as well as to start a local soccer club that can uplift the spirit of the community. He started his club and are currently couching three teams as well as couching athletics at the local school. His team is also leading in the local soccer tournament.

                                                  Notice the sheep on the soccer field.

With the funds we secured for Thabang and his project, he will be able to expand and become a better team and so uplift the whole community.

                                  Thabang is the couch in the green marker with his top team.

Leica M9 does street-photography at Zwartkops raceway...

It was a day of motor-sport at Zwartkops raceway this past week-end and what a nice chance to take the M9 out for some shooting at the races!

I didn't want to do the normal shooting of the cars racing around all day, so i decided to change the view a bit more on the other aspects of a day at the races. So here are a few of the images i made and as usual i was not disappointed by the quality of the M9's images.

                                                  M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80

                              As always, were there are cars,- there will be guys watching them..

                                                  M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80

                                               M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80

                                       There was the cars with the most amazing paint jobs...

 M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80

Families was there..

                                                     M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 1000/s ISO 80

                                       The look from inside...final preparations before a race.

                                   M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80, Bleach-look Lightroom
                                                             Visitor of all walks of life...

                                                   M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                     Some brought their own bikes...

                                                     M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 300/s ISO 80
                                    Last minute checks and changes was the order of the day.

                                                   M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                          Come on in number one...

                                                   M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                        Getting ready for the race...

                                                M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                          On your marks...

                                                      M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80

                                                  M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                                  The grid girls...

                                                  M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                             Some spectators, looking at...

                                                 M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                                 More grid girls.

                                                    M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                             More interesting people?

                                                  M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                      One of my favorites of the day...

                                                  M9, 50 mm Summarit F 2.5 3000/s ISO 80
                                                                Until next time...

Techniques...HDR

Since the beginning of photography the phenomenon of HDR, or High Dynamic Range, have been done.
It is only lately when a lot of software programs that jumped on the bandwagon, brought it into "fashion" again.
For those of you that don't know what it is; HDR is when a scene has to big a difference in the high-light/low-light areas for the camera to capture detail in said areas.
Below is a typical scene were HDR or bracketing as it is also known, will help the exposure,- light in the sky, dark house with lights-on in fore-ground.

This is how you should typically make a HDR photo;
1. Use a tripod if possible.
2. Frame your scene and 'lock' camera on the tripod.

Now using the Exposure Bracketing mode in your camera,-
3. Expose for the dark areas in the scene and shoot.

4. Expose for the light areas in the scene and shoot.
5. Expose for the normal areas in the scene and shoot.

6. When the range between high and low-light areas are very big,- if the darks are very dark and lights are very bright you will need to shoot more images,- expose your stops closer to each other, in order to get the whole dynamic range.
Getting details in the rising-sun sky, as well as in the dark building areas in this image was easily done with HDR.

I like to make a frame of my hand/foot before and after the series of images. This just make it easier in postproduction to see were you started and ended in a specific image. Believe me, when you visit a place like the Grand Canyon and you shoot HDR the whole day, you want to know were a image starts and the next one begins.
Bottom line in taking image in HDR,- Know where and how to quickly access the bracketing buttons are on your camera and how to expose. You can then set the camera on continues mode to shoot the images in quick once-of press of the shutter button.
Below is another image where HDR was used to capture detail in all areas of the image.

Let us now see how easy it is to merge all the images into one in Photo Shop.
1. Open PS
2. File > Automate > Merge to HDR
3. Chose your files > OK
The program will do the rest and spit-out your final image on witch you can start all the other postproduction steps you want to do.

With the multi-media internet now-a-days any product in just a click away and you get many programs being sold that can convert any one image into an HDR image. However, i have found that most of these take the HDR just to far and then the image looks unnatural.
Below an example,

Others will tell you that HDR have no place in Black and White photography. Once again my opinion is why have the technology and not use it. As with every thing in life use it in moderation and not on every image you take.

                            The best for last,- above image done with the M9, bracketing on F 5.6.

The fix called... Traveling!

When you travel, you open yourself to a world where it is best just to sit back, accept that you are no more in control of your destiny and enjoy the show.

Of cause I am talking about the airplane part of traveling. When we, my wife, son and I, travel by plane, we like to discuss people and their entire funny human trades that make us all special in our own different ways.

It all starts when you arrive at the airport.

At check-in there are always the person that wants to negotiate for a better seat, stating all kind of “facts” why he should get a better seat, normally they all want the one at the emergency exit.

There are the family who have too much luggage and open a bag to try and squeeze another something into the bag. This normally ends with all the clothing lying next to the bag on the floor and then it cannot go back-in the way it was. Underwear seems to have a mind of their own here because they just refuse to stay hidden, they pop out every-were!

Then you move on to the security-check. Here, you will always find the one person in front of you who just can't seems to go through the metal detector without it going off like some prisoner made a breakout. First he looks surprised that HE triggered it, then, at his third or fourth attempt and still taking money pieces, keys and other small items from his pocket, the look turns from shyness to annoyance and finally anger. He later is stripped of his belt, shoes and jackets. After you went through without a problem you find this man sitting, sometimes on the floor, muttering to himself on how he could be so stupid not to clear his pockets in the first place!

Come boarding time at the gate, a whole new bunch of clowns step in-to the spotlight off cause. There are always the ones jumping up and almost running to the front of the queue, just to be told parents with kids and First class are allowed to board first. They turn around a bit disgusted with themselves and the airline rep.

The please-look-at-me-I’m-first-class, gets up, slowly, ‘cause that’s cool, and stroll to the front of the line where he produces his boarding pass with such finesse I always look around to see where's the paparazzi that is filming this important chap. 

I like to stay out of the plane as long as possible, - you are just going to sit and wait some more, whether you are in first or last.

Once inside note the following. The one bringing in the larger than life bag, case or some odd-shaped object that they just have to force into the overhead storing space.- I wait for the day when a head of a body falls from this bag and rolls down the aisle. It would be funny,- hope i have my camera ready...

Normally this is an elderly lady, a short person or a huge man that needs help and then, finally squeezing the article in, sit-down with a ‘thump!’ and gasping for air.

There are inevitably the one that are late. Everyone is just waiting for this person. Where he was, he only knows. Normally he will have a large plastic bag filled to the brim with all kind of stuff from the Duty-Free shop. He arrives under the angry stares and shaking of heads from the other passengers, completely unaware of the lateness or delay he is responsible for on the departure time.

Once everyone is strapped-in, time to get the tube in the air!

Blast-off normally continues without any incidents from the passengers, but as soon as that seat-belt sign is turned OFF, there are a mad scramble for the rest rooms. Its almost as if the G-force of take-off have pushed all fluids to the exit points of the passengers!

When you are doing a long flight to another continent your show will continue to the point of annoyance. Inevitably you will find the following persons sitting close to you, -

The lady with the baby that screams non stop until she realises at long last the infant is just hungry and after feeding time, sleeps like its dead until a humongous smell hits EVERYONE between the eyes in the vicinity! 

And like it goes with babies, they cry again until they are cleaned and fed. The whole cycle starts again.

There is an elderly/obese/child/person behind you that can't seems to move without pulling on your chair, causing it to shake like a Japanese earthquake! You wonder why all this happen just as you are falling asleep or getting into the interesting part of your book/movie?

You wake up during the night after finally falling asleep and see that a person close to you have let their reading light on,while fast asleep, and that the thing is beaming a signal to who knows who, like a SOS to Mars!

Not far from that, a person is snoring so loudly that you know you are not going to sleep again due to that!

Another passenger can’t sleep and is telling the stranger next to him, in great detail, all about a gross sickness or experience he had back in 1984! Off cause he is talking slightly louder than normal due to the three bottles of red wine that he had with dinner.

Another passenger can’t sleep and is standing in the only space in front of the toilets doing stretches like he is on the Jane Fonda show. 

You are about to think how long can this madness continue when the lights are turned on and people with the weirdest hairstyles start to wake-up and stretch. 

From this moment a mad scramble starts in the aircraft as people start to run for a loo, the air hostesses try to serve break-fast and pack away all the blankets, pillows, ear-phones and help the sod to get his tooth-brush out of the oversize bag that was forced into the overhead storage space the previous night! 

Off cause it is at the bottom of the bag and now he can’t close the zipper again to pack the bag away. He finally gives up and just squeezes the bag back into the space with those annoying underwear popping out again!

When everyone is ready and strapped-in for the landing, one sleepy person wakes-up and start to stretch and goes to the toilet, blissfully unaware that they miss the entire breakfast and we are about to land!

As soon as the plane touched-down there are the ones unbuckling themselves and starts to gather their belongings as if they will be the first ones out at the next stop.

Not so fast Poncho Via! Wait until we are completely at a standstill! The air-host warns. Irritated they sit down grumbling.

When the plane finally comes to a complete standstill the scramble starts all over again. People stand in the aisles and refuse to give fellow passengers space to gather their belongings.

Now everyone gets out of the plane and some start to run with bags over each shoulder and I wonder were they packed all that hand luggage?

As they pass you a triumphant look are on their faces as if to saying they won, they are away first!

These same guys are now so disappointed when we slowly arrive at the luggage carrousel, with a trolley, to pick-up our luggage. They too are waiting for their luggage.

They get even more heated under the collar when our bags are the first to be spit out and after picking it up, we can walk towards the next line, which are customs...

The same i-am-so-in-a-hurry person catch up again. This time behind you, which makes him even more furious. As you go to the next customs counter you notice how this poor chap is now searching for his passport in all the pockets of his jacket, trousers and bags. By the time he finds it, all the customs counters are open and the custom officials start to tap the desktop impatiently. You leave the hall and head to the exit... a smile starts to form on your face.

And so the traveling battle continues until finally you are out of the airport and breathing in fresh air not shared with 300 other fellow passengers in a compressed tube! 

The promise of a new world with so many images to make invite you in! You cannot wait!

You walk away from the airport thinking you survived another one, you can talk and laugh about it! You say to yourself, like the hangover man the next day, - Never, never again! But in your heart you know, travelling gets into your blood and you need it like a fix to a junkie.

So, until we meet again, in a compressed air tube over an ocean, my fellow travellers, farewell and look-out for me and my family because next time it may be me who annoy you!

 

Street photography... more questions than answers?

"Street photography is a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public spaces such as streets,parks, beaches, malls and other settings."

Street photography has been around since the camera became mobile. In recent times though, a lot of photographers are dedicating their time, money and sites to this "new-found" style. Not to mention the amount of workshops being done on it

 Now don't get me wrong,- personally i like to walk around making images of life on the streets in general and searching for that big shot! However, I like to do this much more, when I'm on holiday in a foreign country and get to see other cultures and people, different from my usual. My question is... is this art, or a way we like to document the present, or a form of doing something-to-keep-busy-and-hope-to-sell someday or both?

                                                  Fellow travelers looking were to go?

No doubt that the Grand Maters like Monsieur Bresson, Senior Kapa and Monsieur Doisneau was making art when they did some of the great images of all time. Was this because there wasn't so many photographers around then? Or was it that the images became as big as they are due to the fact that it was something "relatively new" in the time and age? 

                                                       One of HC Bresson's famous images.

Go onto any account in Flikr and you are bound to see row upon row of street-scenes. Now i don't know about you but for me most of these are, to me anyway, meaning-less. I certainly don't want to look at people walking on the streets with no other intention but to simply walk. 

If you go and look at the Master's images you will see that they managed to capture ordinary people doing something not so much extra-ordinary, but just that something different, in the ordinary world. Now in so many studies of arguably the greatest,- Henri Cartier Bresson's work it is said that he had great patience in walking around and waiting for the correct "set-up" in a specific scene that he already chose. 

                                    One of HCB images where patience was obviously a virtue.

Some images are also a lot closer to the subject than others were it is quite clear that he was observing a large field-of- view. Inevitably this bring the next question,- is it "correct" to use a zoom-lens today or does it have to be primes?  And even with some of these great images there are a lot to be found wrong with.

                                                    Is it street if you use zoom lenses?

Look at the image of the boy carrying the wine. The frame cut some people off in the background and it is framed skew to one side, the main subject's feet are cut off,- and yet it is one of the greatest images! Why? Some say it is the emotion on the face, you decide. 

I stumbled on a photo-blog where the said photographer walk around and actually ask people if he can photograph them in their daily activities! Is this street photography or just strange people posing on the street in normal situations? Will this guy get the Bresson moment? I think not.

                     A not-so HCB moment where i asked the friends to pose as they were playing.

Bresson also never shot in color, -which brings us to the question, - Does street have to be in B+W? Even on this topic you will find a million and one answers and opinions. Purest will tell you that b+w expresses  the view of the scene better, while others will say we see the world in color so why shoot anything else? I guess the topic on image post processing has also been around as long as photography itself ?

                                                        Color street shooting or b+w?

Go to You-tube and look at the way some of the photographers are shooting on the street. More than one are using a on/off camera speed-light. Some jumps from behind hiding spots and shoot the people’s surprised faces or shove the camera/flash combo into their personal space and make images this wayand call it street photography. Is this street-photography?

                                       Should your subject not be aware you made an image?

Should your subject be aware that you are making an image of him? Should they be looking at the camera or must they be "caught " in normal daily situations? Is it wrong to show an image of a subject when they are in not so classy situations? And we are not talking about the legal aspect of street-photography here,- that changes from country to country and can be discussed later.

                                         Should the subject be aware of you making the image?

Is art not subjected? Meaning the one looking at it will know if he likes it or not, will make-up his own mind whether he likes what he sees or not and will think differently about what he see, than the next person.

Experts will have more serious thoughts on subjectivity. They can/will find fault with an image and there-for will degrade or reject the image. But as said before masters like Bresson made mistakes in the framing/set-up of certain images and yet they turned-out to be some of the best. So what is the golden rule?

                                                         Is street about "stolen moments"?

It is necessary to look at your own images with a critical eye. It will help you to work harder on making better images and look for that HCB shot! When one looks at your own images you will naturally be partial towards your images. 

You are after all, the creator of it, you felt emotion when you made the image and you saw it in context with what transpired before and/or after the image was made. But remember that your "audience" will not be in this "mood", - they did not feel the emotion or in what context it was made and that make them subjective. It is here where an image needs to stand on its own. The viewer must be "transformed" to the moment the image was made and then he will see it in a different way.

                                           Look at your own images with a more critical eye.

In some ways showing images to audiences, especially if the are not friends/family will make you look at your images more realistically without being partial. 

                                                         The kiss - Robert Doisneau

Let me end of today with one of my favorite images, it is by Robert Doisneau and my favorite because i have heard many stories about it. One said it was posed, one it was a total Decisive Moment, another that it was two lovers,- but my favorite is that the lady and the gent sitting, you can only see his shoulder, was having an argument, the chap was walking by and grabbed her and kissed her just to show the gent and help the lady,- therefor her hand is hanging loosely, as she was taken by surprise and his smoke is still in his other hand. Monsieur Doisneau was sitting having a coffee off cause! 
Does the truth matter in this case? You decide, but if you are a romantic...

What-ever your view on street-photography,- don't let any-one stand in your way of doing what you love. It is after all a way of expressing yourself. This is in no way meant to turn you to one side or the other, it is merely a bunch of thoughts put into a few paragraphs to make you think, or not.

I for one, will continue to make images, - whether it be on the streets, in color or b+w, people close-up or from afar, subjective or objective, it is after all, my expressions.

                                                                       Au revoir!