Author: johnmeadowsphotography
An amateur photographer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TimeWarp Tuesday: Manipulation Before PhotoShop
One of the photo sites I hang out on is The Analog Photography Users Group (apug.org). This is a group of people who are dedicated to keeping film photography alive in the face of the digital onslaught. It does have its fair share of purists, who refuse to have anything to do with anything digital, including the hybrid workflow (scanning slides/negatives/prints into a computer and then working on the images in PhotoShop or some other image editing application). One can submit hybrid workflow images to the photo gallery on apug.org but they must be “straight prints.” No other digital manipulation is allowed.
The issue that I have is that almost every kind of manipulation one can do in PhotoShop can be done in a traditional darkroom. I created the image below in the late 1970’s, and what is featured here is a straight scan of the 1970’s print. The effects were done with a combination of solarization and bas-relief, on the print itself, in a traditional dark room. If I did the effects digitally, why would that make it any less valid?
Obsolescence Rocks, Again!
Once again, I celebrate photographic “obsolescence.” I have been wanting to try medium format photography for some time, and last week a listing appeared on eBay for a Mamiya 645J with three lenses. This camera takes 120 roll film, and creates negatives 6cm x 4.5 cm in size. The seller was local to Toronto, so I could avoid shipping/customs fees, although I did have to pay tax. Still, for about $400 I got everything I need to try my hand at medium format film. To put that cost in perspective, the list price for a modern digital equivalent to this camera is well over $5,000 no lens included. I’ll be able to shoot a lot of film with this price differential 🙂 .
The image below was from my first test roll, shot beside the Don River in Toronto yesterday morning.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
The second law of Thermodynamics has to do with entropy, or how systems will go from a higher-ordered state to a state of lower order (more disorganized). Think teenager’s bedroom as the perfect example.
I like the TV show “Life After People” which chronicles just how ephemeral the infrastructure of our civilization would be, without constant upkeep. The image below was taken in Montreal in September, 2009, of peeling graffiti paint. A year and a bit later, I wonder what that section of wall looks like now; continued decay, or a fresh coat of paint trying to forestall the inevitable?
Vibration Reduction to the Rescue Again!
I took this image of the harbour in St. John’s, Newfoundland on Wednesday night. Even with the ISO cranked up, the exposure was half a second, and hand-held; I did not have a monopod, let alone a tripod with me, so I was stuck.
The Vibration Reduction on the D90 got me out of the jam, to an extent; it’s not tack sharp, but close enough that it captured what I was looking for.
The Beauty That Is Newfoundland
I’m writing this at the airport in St. John’s, waiting to head back to Toronto after a brief business trip in Newfoundland. I did have a few minutes for some photography here and there, and my appetite has certainly been whetted to come back to photograph more of this rugged beauty.
Time-Warp Tuesday: Jock Shot
This week I go further back, to first year university in 1980; I was in residence at the University of Waterloo, and with a lot of jocks around, there was no shortage of photo opportunities, such as the night shot below of one of the skiers who will built a jump beside the residence. This image was shot on Ektachrome, with a small flash unit.
I have never been good at sports, and I’m OK with that: the things I love to do (i.e. Photography, music etc) are things I’ll be able to do into my 80’s (assuming I make it out that far, and I certainly hope to be!). I’m not sure ski-jumping would be the best thing to do in one’s 80’s!
Jumping (Or Becoming) the Shark
Today’s picture is not great art; it is just a snapshot. However, it is the best image for the point I want to make today.
The image is of three attendees from the recent Kodachrome photo-walk I’ve mentioned a few times, and the key point is that all three people in the image have cameras, and were actively shooting, creating images at the event. At every other photo walk I’ve been to, it’s been the same; the emphasis has been on creating images, and sharing the joy of doing so in a social setting.
When I compare the photo-shoot vibe and attitude to what I’ve experienced at recent podcamps, the podcamps do not come out on top. Podcamps used to be about creativity (heck, they used to be about podcasting!), but to me it doesn’t seem to be that way any more. The best way for me to describe how I see podcamps now is to describe how a photo-walk would be if it followed the spirit of current podcamps:
- Only a distinct minority would actually carry cameras.
- There would be very little discussion of actual photographic techniques.
- Amateurs would definitely be in the minority.
- We would have sessions and/or discussions like “How to pick the best camera gear to impress an creative director”, “Making money from iStock and Getty” and “Tagging strategies for Flickr”.
- For the most part, the only pictures we would see would be images of people’s photographic equipment.
I could go on, but I think the point is clear; Photo-walks are about creating, and podcamps, despite the best efforts of a determined minority, are about marketing.
Podcamp, you’ve jumped the shark. So long, we barely knew ya.
Life Imitating App?
These days there are a number of popular iPhone Apps (and Photoshop plug-ins) which render an image as monochrome, except for one spot of colour. Yesterday, while on a solitary photo-walk along the banks of the Don river in Toronto, I captured an image which seems to duplicate this effect; the red leaves and stems jump out from the muted shades of the background, and no post-processing was required to get this effect.
Reality is the best app there is 🙂
My Third Eye 