civilized ku # 390 ~ just because it caught my eye

Red cabbage / salad ~ Montreal, CA • click to embiggenOK. So I pictured it because it caught my eye - a picturing act that is all too common with me. I tend to think and act along the lines of -

Photography is never more strong in its emotional appeal or in the authority of its statement than when recording incidents in the life of man or man’s reaction to the life around him. Here is one province where it can be said with some certainty that the camera does not lie. It cannot afford to try. - Norman Hall

All thanks to the digital gods that storage space is cheap.

civilized ku # 388-89 ~ all together now

Street scene ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
Another street scene ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggenWith apologies for a bit of repetition - I have previously mentioned how much little intense spots of color seem to jump out at one in Old Montreal. An effect that is due to the fact that all of the buildings in Old Montreal are so unremittingly and color-neutrally grey. This color-splash effect is never more obvious than it is on "grey" day.

On one of our ubiquitous winter grey days, I'm going to have to jump in the car, being careful not to hurt myself in the process, and get my lazy winter-ass up to Old Montreal for the expressed purpose of walking the length of Rue St. Paul Est and picturing all of the many glimpses / splashes of color that present themselves at the end of so many streets and alleys that face the park / port - the place where all the color resides.

That said, and relative to yesterday's primarily primes entry, I will deliberately limit my lens selection to either the 17mm Zuiko or the 20mm Lumix. Whichever I decide upon, I will take the other along as an insurance policy just in case the lens of choice has a major malfunction. FYI, the above pictures where made with the 20mm Lumix (40mm, 35mm equiv.).

A big part of the joy of picturing with primes is the fact that a single focal length lens, when used in the making of a series or body of work, has 2 major benefits:

1). You don't even think about it. You just (kinda/sorta) point and shoot, albeit with a little 2-3 step shuffle, side-to-side / fore-and-aft, thrown in for good measure and, quite obviously, for good selection ...

... and, 2) By using a prime, all of the pictures in a series or body of work have the same sense of perspective - something that goes a long way in helping pull a body of work together, both visually and cognitively. It gives the pictures an all-of-a-piece look and feel.

For those of you who do not have a prime and have never known the joy of picturing with one, I would suggest getting a small strip of duct tape, taping your "normal" zoom lens to one place on the dial, and then get out there, pick a subject and go to town.

Trust me, it's a very liberating experience. And, if you really like it, you should then use super-glue instead of duct tape - viola, just like that, you've got yourself a single focal length lens.

life in pictures # 8 ~ drink Molson EX

Bell Centre ~ Montreal, CA • click to embiggenI'm really starting to get a bit juiced re: the life in pictures series. Even though the work has initially raised some questions in my mind about direction, content, etc., it seems that those questions are having a tendency to work themselves out as I go on picturing.

Although, it's not as if they are working themselves out without any thought on my part. Quite the contrary. But that thought process has helped me to arrive at a point where I think it is possible to write what would be, at the very least, a preliminary artist statement about the work.

Once I get through this weekend - 3,000 of the wife's family are coming for a visit, I'll get down to the business of jotting down a few words about the life in pictures work and let you have a go at it.

Wish me luck - both on the statement and making it through the weekend.

relationships # 7 ~ primarily primes

Les 3 Brasseurs moments ~ microbrewery-restaurant, Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggenOne of the things that I have rediscovered by picturing with the EP-1 and prime lenses is the joy of making pictures with prime lens.

Last year, when I acquired my first and then only prime lens for my Olympus E-3 digital camera - a 25mm f2.8 Zuiko pancake - I did so on a complete lark of sorts. I was just plain curious with a side-interest in starting to explore primes with relatively fast apertures for wide open / narrow DOF picturing. I also did so with a bit of apprehension regarding the commitment to picturing with a single focal length lens.

That apprehension was somewhat ameliorated by almost 3 decades of prime lens-only picturing. Prior to my entering the digital age, picture making wise, back in 2002, the only zoom lens that I ever owned was the Nikkor 43-86mm and it spent most of its time sitting around unused. Pre-digital picture making, primes ruled the roost. Period. End of sentence.

And, to be completely accurate, prior to my digital picturing days, I did not even own an AF lens.

All of that said, I was rather surprised to find that the "standard" lens on a dslr was a zoom lens. In fact, it seemed that prime lenses were scarcer than the proverbial hen's teeth. So, it was on with the show and zooms it was.

Long story, short - I became quite acclimated to using zoom lenses. My kit included/includes a 11-22mm, a 14-54mm, and a 50-200mm (22-400mm range, 35mm equiv.). For about 90% of my personal picturing, I used the 11-22mm lens and about 90% of that use was limited to and around the 11mm end of things - not exactly like picturing with a prime, but pretty close.

In any event, I was still a bit concerned about using just a prime lens - you know, things like did I still know how to use my legs and feet instead of a zoom ring to get the framing I wanted? Would I be left out in the world feeling foolish and confused because I didn't have the means / lens to get the shot? You know, dumbass things like that.

Long answer, short - my feet and legs still work and I have yet to feel foolish and confused out in the world of picture making. In fact, I've come to the conclusion that I can live on without ever again mounting a zoom lens on my camera (for personal picturing) - I don't need no stinkin' zooms.

BUT .... I am I asking too much by hoping that lens makers refocus some of their design and manufacturing expertise on producing some fast and compact prime lens? Is there a big enough market / demand out there for such products? Or, are so many "serious" picture makers buying up zooms simply because that's virtually all that's available or is that what the really want?

Any prime lens picture makers out there who might add their 2¢ on the topic? Is anyone discovering, has discovered / re-discovered, the joy of primes?

civilized ku # 385-87 ~ Super Bowl Sunday

Rue St. Paul EST ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
Super Bowl night beverages ~ Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggenAs an aside on yesterday's life in pictures # & entry, MikeC (who has ordered an EP-1) asked / stated:

Do you use any filters on your pancake lenses ... ? Your shots look real clean.

my response: I can't remember when the last time was I used any filters on any lens.

That said, keep in mind that, when it comes to filters, my thinking harkens back to the old days when using any glass on a lens that was not lens glass was not encouraged, unless it was absolutely required for one reason or another.

PS - Mike, be sure to let us know what you think re: the EP-1.

civilized ku # 384 ~ captivating

Stationary store ~ Old Montreal, CA• click to embiggenThe wife wanted to go into a small stationery store that we encountered on our Monday walk around Old Montreal. So, we did.

Scattered amongst the bits and pieces of stationery and stationery-related stuff was an assortment of handmade masks that were priced in the 1,500-2,000$CA range. They were very nice and quite alluring / sensuous and a little bit creepy.

life in pictures # 7 ~ 1 + 1 = 10

Sonia Rykeil ~ Bell Centre - Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
RAW ingredients ~ Montreal, CA • click to embiggenA few days ago on the FYI entry, the wife confessed to an act of horrendous proportions - she wrote, "the best life in pictures photo EVER did not happen because I did not want to miss the pre-game skate on Saturday."

In fact, the real reason that she/we almost missed the pre-game skate on Saturday was because, a few weeks ago, she had misread the game starting time on our tickets. Seeing the number 2010 on the tickets, she thought that, instead of denoting the year in which the game started, the number 2010 denoted the time that game started - 8:10PM. She accomplished this incredulous, and nearly disasterous, feat by ignoring the number 1400, the actual time (aka, 2PM) that game started.

Fortunately, the error was discovered early enough on Saturday morning - as opposed to discovering it in a cab on the way to the Bell Centre at, say, 1700hrs (right about the time the game ended) - that we were able to make it to Montreal and the game on time, albeit a bit rushed.

Consequently, on the way to the Bell Centre (less than a block away), when I saw a great life in pictures picture making opportunity (the fashion banner), I was informed by the wife that there was no time to wait for the next band-o'-passersby (hockey fans headed to the arena) to appear. So, just for the hell of it, I made a picture of the banner and kept on moving.

As we arrived at the Bell Centre, I noticed what could have been another opportunity but I did not have any WA lens at hand that would allow me to picture the complete hockey-guy banner that was hanging on the building. So, just for the hell of it, I made a picture of that banner scene and kept on moving.

Fast forward to this AM and, after looking at the shattered picturing remains of the wife's numeric screw up, I was determined that I would not let her brazen and brash forget-about-picturing-and-get-me-to-the-game-on-time hustle stop the making of great Art.

Hey. Where there's a will (and Photoshop), there's a way.

civilized ku # 383 ~ damn it - a clarification, pt. II

The light at breakfast ~ Auberge du Vieux Port - Montreal, CA • click to embiggenAnil Rao left a 2-part comment (see following entry for part 1) on yesterday's damn it entry. Part # 2 read:

2) In a recent post, you had stated that your new digital camera was so good that you really didn't see a need for other (supposedly bigger or better) cameras/formats, except of course for some very specialized needs ... So, why do you want to go back to a Hassy system, color negative film and scanners? Seems contradictory to your earlier position, no?

Good question. And, the truth of the matter is actually quite simple.

While I am indeed quite please and happy with my new digital camera - the Olympus m4/3rds EP-1 (I don't need no stinkin' EVF), I just can't get by the fact that a picture made utilizing large format color negative film (i.e., larger than 35mm) and good optics is, to my eye and sensibilities, the absolute pinnacle of the color print making craft.

IMO, color prints made utilizing digital print making materials and equipment are the equal to, and even surpass, the quality and look and feel of the traditional C-print. However, I have yet to experience a digital picture making device, i.e., sensor, that well and truly delivers the look and feel of a traditional color negative.

IMO, those who would claim otherwise simply haven't seen enough high-quality - custom, hand printed by an experience crafts-person - C-prints to render an informed opinion. To be perfectly clear, that would be an opinion, not about the quality of digital capture, but about "the look" digital image capture vis-a-vis "the look" of traditional analog / film image capture.

Let me also be perfectly clear on a related point - my preference for "the look" of pictures made with color negative film v. those made with digital capture is just that, an aesthetic preference.

All of that said, I really don't want to return to the picture making days of good ol' yesteryear. My picture making life has its fill of ill-processed film, the joys of embedded dust / dirt / scratches, jammed / locked-up Hasselblads, and other "nostalgic" folderol.

But, what I do want is a sensor that captures picturing "data" in a manner that replicates "the look" of color negative film.