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.

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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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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Backpacking with light photo equipment

On a recent 3 day off-track backpacking trip I decided to go lighter than usual: skip the tent and take just a tarp, take just the minimal food and leave the "gourmet" at home, and lighten my camera equipment.
I committed to have with me a set of 3 diminutive lenses from the Pentax-110 SLR system adapted to Micro Four Thirds: the set is lighter than one single vintage lens that I carried in the past.
There is however a challenge with those lenses: apart from being manual focus only, there is no iris in the lens to control the aperture but a simple wide-open value of f2.8.
On the longer lenses of 50mm and 70mm in particular I had to be very careful with focusing to get my subjects sharp. The payback was a lighter pack, more angles of view to choose from (from multiple lenses) and ultimately that look that my zoom modern lenses can't give me.


Pentax-110 50mm f2.8  1/1600sec

 My friends Melt and Gill, also keen photographers, had more conventional lenses with them.


Pentax-110 70mm f2.8  1/200sec

And this is what they were photographing


Pentax-110 50mm f2.8  1/2000sec

I came across this empty nest, so beautifully crafted.


Pentax-110 50mm f2.8  1/320sec

I also used the 50mm lens paired with an extension ring of 10mm to get some close ups


Pentax-110 50mm f2.8 + 10mm macro ring  1/500sec

and the 24mm with the extension ring to give me an extreme close up of lichen:


Pentax-110 24mm f2.8 + 10mm extension ring  1/6400sec

Running along on the side, some distance away,  while my friends were hiking, proved more difficult to get a sharp image: I had to magnify my scene in the electronic viewfinder to nail the thin depth of field.


Pentax-110 50mm f2.8  1/4000sec



Pentax-110 50mm f2.8

While rather versatile these lenses are not as universal as my modern auto-focus zooms. The difference that I find is in the look that I get from these lenses that were designed in the 70's for a film camera that was truly miniature. The 110 film however never really did give credit to their sharpness and re-purposing and adapting them to digital cameras unleashes the real full potential.

PS the display of this website however, by interpolating and compressing the original files, also dwarfs the sharpness of the Pentax-110 lenses; full size files are muuuuch sharper..
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The orange bag

It sticks out, bright.
Not originally intended as a camera bag, with a custom insert it now serves very well for a kit of a couple of camera bodies and several lenses.
Ah yes, those are Micro Four Thirds cameras, not big monster DSRLs :-)

Around the city:


Vintage manual lens: Nikkor 105mm f2.5 rangefinder  @f5.6  1/500sec

Early morning beach walk on Xmas day.


Nikkor 105mm f2.5 rangefinder  @f2.8   1/3000sec

On the golf course, trying to get a low angle shot.


Industar-61,  50mm f2.8  @f5.6  1/30sec

Moon-rise at the beach, again.


Sigma 60mm f2.8 DN  @f4  1/10sec

The stretchy dress dress and the camera bag seem to live in symbiosis: best combo for outdoor warm weather photography.

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Park session

Only now that I am rediscovering the joy of manual focus lenses I started to seek locations where action is not the essence to create an image.


Russian lens, Jupiter-9 85mm f2  (@f5.6)  1/180sec

The hidden natural little gems of the numerous parks in my city allow me to explore the creativity and challenges that vintage manual focus lenses offer.
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