Off the beaten path

When chasing dreams of years past I feel most comfortable when I am in "adventure" mode.
Sea kayak expeditions certainly give me that but a friendly coast that allows me to explore is not always easy to attain.
Before my wet adventures I used to ride motorcycles, adventure bikes, before that class even existed.
I am now back on two wheels and while backroads away from the main highways do give me a sense of escape, my heart is still in the dirt, dirt roads that is.


Yamaha XSR700

My bike needed some tires that would make it sing on gravel, it needed teeth to bight into the soil.
While not really a machine that could cross the desert like my previous rides, this little thumper behaves well enough to be comfortable on country farm roads that are not paved. And that is where I like to ride.





There is no traffic, only the occasional vehicle that is going into town for supplies. There is a bit of dust and a few creek crossings, a bit of loose stones and mud after rain. There are no curbs or shoulders, no speed cameras and drunken drivers, no ass-hauling trucks with swaying trailer. Mostly there is nobody out there, just me. But I see horses and cows, and towards the evening a few kangaroos that hop across the road. Speeds are low but the ride is thrilling in a different way.





And then I stop anywhere I want and there is nothing but silence, maybe an undertone buzzing sound of insects, maybe a laughing kookaburra.
Inevitably my eyes keep on scouting for suitable places to camp even if I have no intention to do that tonight. It's like in the old days when I used to ride with a few buddies, heading West.
Bikes loaded with camping gear and a map stuck to the gas tank. It was pre-digital era where a compass would be consulted occasionally. I still carry a map today even if my phone could get me out of a geographical embarrassment if needed.






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Imagination

Good photography requires imagination; and that by definition cannot be automated. Net effect: frustration after spending a silly amount of money, move on to the next thing that delivers instant gratification. Ming Thein

The distinct feeling of frustration when after spending a good chunk of money on the latest/greatest and finding the results aren't met but the expectations.
And yet the cycle will continue by chasing the next iteration of the "latest and greatest" in hope that this one will really deliver the promised stunning images as seen in the advertising material.
Without the realization that the missing part is one's imagination that is required to create good photography, the best gear in the world will never produce more than possibly technically perfect images that will unfortunately lack appeal.

Money can buy very good equipment but can not buy talent.

We are all photographers

We are all photographers. Some like to record the world in front of their eyes, others create art from reality.


refitted projection lens Meyer-Optik Diaplan 100mm f2.8  1/400sec

Pretty much we are all photographers, from the simple tiny mobile phones to the invested amateurs with hefty monsters around the neck. The difference lays in what we want: a record of an event or place to share socially (or file for posterity), or is it an outlet to express our creativity?
This goal alone will define us as we pursue our passion.

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Photography and phone-photography

I had a little discussion with an enthusiast on how the public perceives that mobile phones have killed digital cameras.
Then the discussion turned to what is photography...
I wrote:
Once a person acquires a phone with a camera (pretty much any current offering) he/she becomes a photographer. I don't know anybody that has not taken an image on their phone, or others', myself included (I regard phones as phones, not as cameras!).
Then comes the difference: are we just happy recording and sharing or are we driven by the desire to create unique art, with little to no intention to record an event/place for memory/history sake?
I think the latter might be better served by a tool that is dedicated to create images versus a multitasking tool that acts primarily as a mobile phone and happens to have a lens in-built too. While incredible (yes, I use the right word: hard to believe) work has been created on the iPhone (great marketing from them) I just can't bring myself to get in the frame of mind to create something photographically that doesn't make me wish I had a better tool.
Documenting is no longer my priority...


adapted Helios 44-7 58mm f2  1/1600sec

Semantically anybody that makes images is a photographer but I distinguish between mere recording and consciously be driven by the passion to create an image. Occasionally I am just recording but it doesn't feel right; I am more in tune with myself when I "create".
Any camera however is just a tool, although the line blurs sometimes when I hear people defending their choices like it's religion ;-)
So, if it's a tool, I view the phone as a multi-tool affair with screwdriver, pliers, wrench cutting blade and god-knows-what else in one place. A dedicated camera (ideally with interchangeable lenses) is to me a finely tuned job-specific tool.
I know which one I prefer if I want to find pleasure and satisfaction in doing the task hoping for a decent result.

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Make-believe

We make the mistake to think photography represents reality, we want to believe that.

Kodak Cine Anastigmat 63mm f2.7

If we satisfy ourselves with the idea that a 2 dimensional, frozen-in-time moment, cropped vision of an event/place is depiction of reality, sooner or later we probably will find disappointment.

If we accept that photography is an interpretation at best and deceit at worse in showing us a snippet of reality then we are closer to its concept.

Anything else is make-believe, including the emotion that we create around a poignant image.

Two images, taken moments apart. Two different messages.

Are they real? they are real to me where real is used as believable.

But no image is real, and all are.

If one looks at them at a philosophical level, yes all images do exist, but do they represent reality? They can't, as mentioned earlier, reality is not a two dimensional print or screen display; it's just make-belief.

If we grew up understanding that photographs represent reality than probably we can satisfy our mind when seeing an image. We can create a story around it, feel an emotion, or none of it.

In the end images are nothing but triggers for our brain to believe what we want.

As Galen Rowell said so well before: ​"One of the biggest mistakes a photographer can make is to look at the real world and cling to the vain hope that next time his film will somehow bear a closer resemblance to it" - Galen Rowell​

but ultimately:

• “All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.”
  — Richard Avedon

Analysis and synthesis

Does great Image Quality of a lens lead to brilliant images?
It depends.
Depends on your interpretation of a great image and Image Quality.

I feel that the definition of Image Quality for a photographic lens is too often a misnomer to describe sharpness as to me IQ is a complex blend of optical properties that create photographs.
But can all the pixel peeping and perusal of resolution charts for the sharpest lens lead to captivating images?
I doubt it.


image by Pete Ware , used with permission

If a photographer heavily concentrates on analysis too often gets lost with synthesis.
The individual that highly values the ultimate resolution in a lens, the highest pixel count on a sensor, the widest dynamic range in a camera, frequently fails to see the forest for the trees.

I see technically perfect images, probably taken on tripods with the largest camera possible that don't deliver emotions. And if a photograph does not stir me inside then it is just an attempt to record reality, sterile and soulless. While it might be useful for analyzing a place or event, possibly for record keeping, it lacks vision.

The deeper I venture into the art of photography the less I obsess over the sharpest results in my photographs and rather concentrate on the passion behind the click. I forego technical perfection while chasing the aesthetic beauty of a scene, and if the image I create does not evoke any feelings then I have failed in my synthesis.


image by Mattias Kühmayer, used with permission

Thank you to Pete and Matthias for being inspirational and showing me that lens IQ is overrated :-)
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Content of shit

I read this and made me pause:

Like those pictures you take. The good ones are either art, or portraits, or, at worst, photography. But the really awful ones you put on Facebook -- that picture of the tunafish sandwich you had for lunch, or your dog licking himself, or the adoring selfie -- that shit. And that content is shit!
The Ad Contrarian

Be proud of your work but be your worst critic. Seek perfection but don't be stuck in perfectionism. Create with passion and not for an audience of imaginary friends with shallow "likes".  Explore and go against convention if that is what drives you, as only by seeking and not following you truly will master the art.
For yourself.

That is what I think when I photograph.


G-Lumix 14mm f2.5  

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Authenticity

A photograph isn’t necessarily a lie, but nor is it the truth. It’s more of a fleeting, subjective impression.   Martine Franck 

That pretty much sums up my view on the truth about photography.
I find that I can never capture the authenticity of a place for each of us has a different view of the world. What I feel in a particular place and moment that "moves" me might not match somebody else's feelings. ​


M.Zuiko 40-150 R   f5.6  1/350sec

The question often arises on what a "real" photograph is.
To some that like to profess themselves as purists, is an image that was created purely in camera.
I often read the defensive statement: "no Photoshop here!" where the author touts that the image is straight out of the camera (SOC).

But what is photographic reality? The two dimensional representation that we have become accustomed to call "un-manipulated image"?
Some call it photojournalism where not much has been done to an image after the shutter was pressed.
Occasionally I can work on images long enough (out-of-the-camera rarely does it for me) to bring back at least the view that I had in that moment.
But does it still count if the shutter was pressed more than once (multiple exposures), or if the shutter was open long enough to create images our eyes can not see?


swirly effect created by wind,  M.Zuiko 40-150mm R   f6.7  1/30sec

Little we know what the real story is behind an image: was it staged? is the clever cropping and isolation of subject making it appear something that is not? .... selective views can do tricks to our minds.
The scene of the image above of the little girl on the beach was selectively cropped; just out of the frame was a large group of people and a marquee. If I were to include those subject in the scene I would get a very different feel from that image.

How about a moment frozen in time that our vision can not capture? a shutter speed so fast or so slow that creates a view that is not "real" reality? I have never seen star trail with my naked eye...
Particular lenses create images that certainly are very different than the human eyes sight.


OOC: Meyer Optik Trioplan 50mm f2.9 1/1500sec

Cameras can see in the dark, can bring objects into view that our own eyes can not, create a mood that might no truly represent what I felt and saw at the time. A good article on the subject here.
And the future might totally change how photographs are made; here is just a snippet.

Should we instead pause and don't tout a holier-than-thou when in reality all we do is set different parameters to our reality, that is far from anything but.
A photograph will never ever be "real" (the purpose to represent reality) as it is to the author to interpret what the light created in that moment when the shutter was pressed.
I like to treat photographs as an artistic expression aided by light and form; anything else is open to interpretation.

"All photographs are accurate, none of them the truth" ~ Avedon

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Leaves

It has been years, actually more than a decade, that I took a visit to the botanical gardens, however I clearly remember that photographically I could not "see" the beauty around me then.
This time the shapes and light on the little things caught my eye much easier.

Blood leaf, Iresine species

Helios 44-2 50mm   f2  1/1000sec

Never Never Plant, Ctenanthe species

Zenit Helios 44-2  58mm   f4  1/180sec

Midnight sun

This image was taken while dreaming of being in the land of the midnight sun.


M.Zuiko 75mm f3.2  1/400sec

And now I am making new images, in that very place where the night sky never comes.

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Old school

There is something about the old school lenses from Germany and Russia that have captured my imagination.
It certainly is not about sharpness or autofocus speed, and certainly not the ease of use of mechanical perfection.
The lenses I am interested in have none of that: they are chunky, stiff, rough around the edges and awkward to use.
So why would anybody want this retro low tech lenses?
Hard to describe in words...


Meyer Optik Domiplan 50mm f2.8 (@f2.8)


Meyer Optik Domiplan 50mm f2.8 (@f2.8)


Meyer Optik Domiplan 50mm f2.8 (@f2.8)

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Evening walk with my sister

I wanted to get out of the house but I did not feel like driving for hours to get out of the city.
I rarely explore the countless parks that this great city offers and today I decided to visit one that promised to have uninterrupted views of the river.
Little I knew that the river was not going to be the focus this afternoon.


M.Zuiko 40-150mm   f4.6  1/500sec



M.Zuiko 45mm   f2.8  1/1250sec


M.Zuiko 75mm   f2.2  1/800sec



my sister; we share a passion for images

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Painting

“I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive.
I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence.” –Man Ray


Meyer-Optik Görlitz Domiplan 50mm F2.8
I am no painter and this is how I would like to paint.

Modern lenses are optimized to capture the minutest detail with corrected optics to deliver sharp images, while a vintage lense from 50 years ago allows me to paint, with light.

Backyard ferns

Sometimes natural beauty is only a few steps away.
Literally, 3 meters from my kitchen.


M.Zuiko 45mm  f2.8  1/125sec

Despite living in a high density environment I have a tiny backyard that adjoins my dining room.
For years I have done nothing to it, some would say neglected the little piece of land.
Instead I let the ferns take over and cover the ground in a thick fashion, unruly.
It reminds me of the forests where I enjoy hiking; I like to think of it as my little visual oasis.


M.Zuiko 45mm  f3.5  1/800sec

Winter grass

I tried for the first time a new lens over the weekend.
I wanted to capture the soft red grass that seems to grow only in winter.
As the sun neared the horizon the back-lit stalks glistened in the evening light.


M.Zuiko 75mm   f4 1/1600sec


M.Zuiko 75mm   f6.3 1/2000sec


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Starfish

Water and light fading; a rough night for the starfish


M.Zuiko 14-42mmEZ     F9.0   1/25sec

Silver water

A clear stream away from civilization is an oasis for my spirit.
The sound of the rushing water cleans away my internal noise accumulate in the city.


M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ (at 14mm)  f7.1  1/800sec

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End of summer

Today the weather turned and it took with him the summer spirit.
Shorter days and darker nights are approaching.
A last walk on the beach feeling the ocean between the toes.


Olympus E-P5 with M.Zuiko 9-18mm (at 9mm)

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Beach details

If I take the time for a slow walk on the beach I see what visual treasures that it holds.



M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8 1/6400sec



M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8 1/100sec

The difference

I see two types of photographs: the ones that mean to record an event or place so the mind can be later jogged, and the other, more involved and profound, that are an artistic expression of one's creativity.


M.Zuiko 9-18mm (at 9mm) f7.1 1/80sec

I find myself drawn to the latter.
As light and shapes are constantly evolving in front of my eyes, sometimes present for only a split of a second, my skill to capture the moment is tested; I have to think fast and move swiftly.

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