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Posts tagged with Commentary

Why 50mm and a Leica M3?
2021-02-01 12:36:12 UTC
… and why not 35mm on an M2, given that’s my preferred focal length? I was using film long before the digital age and continue to use it occasionally alongside digital, it’s not a novelty. Most of the time I feel digital is “better” at everything measurable; speed, resolution, cost.…

Close but Unnoticed
2020-10-07 12:32:11 UTC
You may have noticed a slight reorganisation of the photographs on this site. Over a few years I have done a lot of work on close up, wide angle “candid portraits”, I have never thought of this as a project although looking back I think it probably is, certainly they…

The second camera system - Fujifilm X100V
2020-08-30 20:21:59 UTC
Sometimes two systems seems at best an indulgence and at worst, just an obsession with gear. As I have said before, I love photos and photography more than cameras, although over the years there is certainly some equipment I enjoy using more than others London 2020 - low light, high…

Behind the camera - studying the photographer
2020-01-26 21:45:34 UTC
The photography podcasts I enjoy the most cause me to think, I was listening to an older episode of TWIP last week and Frederick Van Johnson was catching up with Rick Sammon. Rick quoted Freeman Patterson (from his book ShadowLight) “a camera always looks both ways” - in other words…

Leica M3 - The best film rangefinder for a 50mm lens
2019-09-24 15:57:32 UTC
By way of history, I have had a few Leica cameras over the last 20 years, all have been film with the exception of my Leica X typ113. My first Leica was a IIIc, purchased mostly out of curiosity, which I used for a little while with a similarly aged…

Collecting Photographs
2019-08-27 19:42:23 UTC
The best advice I have received to improve my own photography is to look at the work of other photographers. Almost everything is available on-line now, but for me nothing compares to printed photographs Books are good and financially accessible, although generally print runs are small and once a volume…

Film vs. Digital Revisited - Opposites Attract
2019-06-20 16:29:41 UTC
For my street photography, I predominantly use an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II - alongside this but less frequently, I use a 1958 Leica M3 - for me these are close to being the best cameras for the way I take pictures - but they couldn’t be more different Olympus…

The Street Photography Audience
2019-05-17 21:20:32 UTC
“Photos don’t exist without other peoples’ eyes” Interesting words from photographer John Sevigny on the always thought provoking United Nations of Photography podcast with Grant Scott For sure there are times that photographs are personal, for me only, but listening to this podcast was one of those moments that I…

Mugshots - some of the best photography ever
2019-04-25 17:32:29 UTC
Just a short one… John Hollings - Larceny I was watching “Sofa Sessions” on YouTube just now, a relatively new series where photographer Martin Parr chats with other photographers. This session was with street photographer Bruce Gilden. Towards the end, at around 18 minutes, Gilden is talking about quality in…

Is Instagram Bad for Photography?
2019-03-08 14:33:53 UTC
How do we share photographs with nuance and detail now. It’s not the normal and it’s changing photography. Pictures are too small, I think composition and more generally style, is becoming increasingly driven around showing impact in a 2 inch square image - detail is lost, even on the best…

It Starts with a Screen
2019-02-04 22:43:53 UTC
We are abandoning rangefinders and optical viewfinders in DSLRs in favour of EVFs - mirrorless is the future. But this means we now start with an electronic screen - the very beginning of a photograph is now looking at the world on a sub-1” LCD or OLED before pressing the…

Developing in Street Photography
2018-06-30 18:44:00 UTC
Why Street? I wrote a few words on why I enjoy travel photography back in November. As you will probably know if you have followed me to this blog, my main interest for many years has been what is now described as street photography. I do street photography (I prefer…

Technology and Computational Photography
2018-06-04 14:43:00 UTC
What does tech bring? Technology advances in the days of analogue photography were mostly around slow improvements to film emulsions and fast development of autofocus - both of these are now mature technologies. Mirrorless cameras and computational improvements have opened the door to a new wave of change in a…

5 Reasons to Go Wider - super wide angle lenses
2018-05-11 20:01:29 UTC
A number of kit zooms start at around the 28mm mark - or “full frame equivalent” focal length, some start a bit wider, but the focus of this article is to look at some of the attractions of going out specifically with a super-wide, 24mm or wider for “normal” people…

35 Problems with Micro Four Thirds
2018-04-05 17:03:00 UTC
Looking back over my photographs across several decades, it’s clear that for my people and travel photographs I always end up coming back to a 35mm equivalent lens. Lately I have been going wider and love the wonderful Olympus 12mm f/2 lens on my OM-D E-M1 mark II for street…

Eric Kim’s ARS
2018-03-26 22:45:00 UTC
ARS is the somewhat unfortunately named platform recently launched by Eric Kim. With all the hype around new social network Vero, on receiving the beta invite, I must admit to being a bit sceptical. However, I jumped to the wrong conclusion, this is the thing, its not a social network…

Micro Four Thirds still has its place
2018-03-12 19:10:57 UTC
Moving subjects in low light, perhaps from a fixed shooting position without concern over the size and weight of equipment - this is the realm of full frame. The announcement of the Sony A7 III last week has caused concern on some forums, this being a mature, sub £2000 full…

Workflow and Post Processing Street Photography
2018-02-22 18:28:53 UTC
Following a couple of forum threads on DPReview, I thought I would add a short article on my RAW workflow, with details on how I post process an image. I have learnt a lot from others and think it’s important to share skills not keep secrets. Firstly a note on…

Nikon D850 - swan song of DSLRs?
2018-02-08 19:23:16 UTC
Is the D850 the swan song of DSLR’s, or as Gordon Laing (of CameraLabs) said on Valérie Jardin’s Podcast, “a last hurrah”? Sharky James is running a competition on his excellent Petapixel Photography podcast, to win the camera of your choice, offering the Nikon D850 or Sony A7r III as…

Augmented Reality, Photo Albums Return
2017-06-12 19:05:12 UTC
In 2013, Craig Mod wrote a fascinating article in the New Yorker, I particularly liked his comment on how digital cameras were a stop gap between the Leica M3 and networked lenses. Apple’s WWDC last week got me thinking further, the steps towards everyday augmented reality that featured are a…

Sky Arts’ Master of Photography Series 2
2017-05-26 12:58:36 UTC
My thoughts - Travel, Candids and Controversy Last night saw the first episode of the second series of Master of Photography on Sky Arts. The series follows Sky Arts’ competition to find the “Master of Photography” through eight episodes, each presenting a different challenge to the participants, who have been…

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