Frozen Narratives 102

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.

Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

I have watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.

All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.

Roy Batty (Blade Runner)

In many ways, at certain times, I suppose I feel like the rat Ratatouille in the movie. Sometimes I really feel as if I am running backwards and forwards along the shelf, while the enraged chef aims his throwing knives at me. At one end of the shelf, I am a classic documentary photographer, trained in the old ways which are nearly 2 centuries old, in love with a medium for its own sake. On the other hand, at the other end of the shelf, somewhere past the knives quivering in the wall, is a space where Photography as we know it is undergoing a metamorphosis, where tradition has little relevance and a new paradigm is being born. Where everything has been altered by the power of PhotoShop.

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What NEX(t) ? The new Sony Nex-5- a field trial

Blinded, Cashel Mall

Those of you who have been keeping up with the play will know about the new market which has opened up in the camera scene. Panasonic and Olympus opened the game with the four thirds format. First there was the BSLR (Baby SLR) with the Olympus E-600’s and the Panasonic G-1.  Then the game heated up. Olympus fired a broadside with the Pen EP-1 & 2. Panasonic returned fire with the GS-1, both of which were aiming for the rangefinder ground inhabited by the M-series Leica and the Voigtlander Bessa. Technically cameras in this category are known as EVIL ( Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens).

The  photographic market place has seen a revival of interest in photography, because cameras of this type, quite simply, make it fun to be a photographer. And make serious photographs in the process. To date the Big Three (Canon, Nikon and Sony) have held out, but now Sony have entered the battle with the paradigm-shifting NEX-3 and NEX-5.

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Troll-pilgrim

Kia ora tatou:

Now that I am back, de-jetlagged, downloaded and transferred, and the Bridge of the Starship Enterprise ( BOTSE), also known as my workspace, is at full warp factor, there are things to be shared.

1. You didn’t hear it here, but……the newsletter of a certain NZ camera club ( no names, no pack drill)  advertised that anybody coming (oops!) to the next  meeting could expect to see X put on a mounting display for the club. One can only guess at the degree of audience participation…which reminds me of a standard Best Man’s joke I heard many times ( I photographed 800+ weddings): Have you heard the joke about someone asking for a photograph of the bride and groom, 4 by 6, mounted?  They replied that the best they could do was one of them holding hands…
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Kia ora tatou:

For those of you who use it, Lightroom 3 was released today.

If you are using the Beta version and have it set to check online for updates, it will automatically offer you the option to upgrade online from LR2 for $A124.

Those of you using LR3 Beta have until June 30 to upgrade..

Blimey! With CS5 it is turning into an expensive year….

Almost all the photographers I know and respect have a prime lens somewhere in their kit. It is one of those things that are just what you want when you want it. But there are other reasons for using a prime lens. So prime lens, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

In the Beginning, before the zoom lens, there were only prime lenses.  Zoom lenses did not appear until the mid 20^th century. You may be interested to know that most of the designs for prime lenses were formulated in the late 19^th or early 20^th centuries and, apart from advances in glass and coating technologies, have remained fairly true to their roots to this day. The Planar design is a standard and a classic. When zoom lenses first began to appear, most serious photographers stayed away, because the optical quality was…well…diabolical. My first zoom lens, a Soligor 70-200 4.5-5.6 was the perfect portrait lens, distinguishing itself by being supremely soft at all apertures and all focal lengths. Its optical qualities would have made Claude Monet happy.

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