Catching up
I went to Akron, OH this weekend to attend my niece’s graduation from Brown Mackey College where she earned here Associates of Applied Business in Criminal Justice. While I was here, I took the opportunity to catch up with a friend and former coworker, Robert Terry. Robert and I worked at York Steak House some 27 or 28 years ago and have, some how, just caught back up with each other this year through Facebook. I guess that it does work!
On Friday evening we spent a pleasant 4 hours together at Bob Evans restaurant talking about old times, new times, the current economy, jobs, family, but mostly photography. It was a pure, unadulterated geek fest! You should have been there. We set outside on the bench for about an hour and compared D300 settings. Something that only a photographer could love! Wait! You say! You had a digital camera with you? But, I thought that you were all film and what not! Well, not completely. I needed this camera to capture these important moments as well as to geek out with Robert. LOL!
Overall, it was a great time and great to catch up. We both made promises to keep in touch. I’m sure that that won’t be a problem as he visits the blog and I’ll be sure to look him up each time that I come to Akron!
I enjoyed my family as well as all of the ‘drama’ that they bring to the table. They certainly are an interesting group of folks, as I’m sure that most families are.
The photo is from my sister’s small garden out front. Not bad for hand-held shot … I did fell totally lost without my tripod, though!
My conversation with George DeWolfe
A couple of posts ago, I had mentioned the possibility of being mentored, specifically, by George DeWolfe. As a first step in the process, George asks that you call him on the telephone so that he can discuss the process with you and see if he might be able to help you.
I completed this first step last night. I spoke to George for about 15 minutes. As expected, based on what I saw of his photos, he is a soft spoken, kind person. He told me that he’d been doing this type of mentoring for 12 years. The length of the commitment is 1 year and consists of a number of assignments and contact with him, via telephone, about every 2 weeks. The next step is to provide him with a group of 20 photos with a common theme. The theme could be anything that you want. Along with that I needed to provide a page telling him about my passion for photography. After I told him that I have an online gallery as well as a blog, he said that he’d look at the pictures as well as read the blog. Further, he indicated that he is going to build a blog of his own. I look forward to that. It’s always interesting to see what’s behind the curtain. 
Using these 2 items, he will make a determination as to if he thinks that he can help me along my journey, assuming that I want to go ahead with it. We did not discuss price. I, for one, didn’t want that to come into play until I had the chance to decide if we were right for each other. The student and teacher must be a good fit to maximize the learning … on both parts.
Immediately after the call, I sat quietly and just started writing without thinking. That is, letting the words flow through me from wherever they come. In the end, I was rather surprised by what I’d written:
From the time that I picked up a camera, a Minolta SRT-101, back in 1980, I was hooked. Photography, for me, is something that I have never tired of. I am constantly seeking out new, better ways to portray a feeling. It is a means of sharing, of discovering, and often times, a way of working things out.
In recent years, I have been deeply touched by reading such books as the Tao Te Ching, Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth and The Power of Now, and various books on Zen. This has changed my outlook on life and my photography. It has caused me to look deeper still into the world, not simply the world of labels, but the that which exists beyond the label.
Certainly, the passion is still there, probably more entrenched, but the desire to see deeper is there as well. I’m no longer looking for the surface prettiness or the perfect light, but looking for that something more.My goal, I think, or more aptly, journey, would be to, first, hone my vision to a razor sharp edge, then to teach this type of photography to beginners and advanced beginners. To help them master the technical aspect of photography and to help them delve into spiritual realm within their own understanding. I seek to find a better way to express this deepening understanding of the world as I see it.
I photograph for myself, not in the selfish manner, but as I mentioned, to discover new things. I am not concerned with outside praise and competitions, as a matter of fact, I find them distracting. I photograph for the pure joy of it.
I want to bring greater power to my photographs. There are those moments of clarity, of lucidity, when I feel that I have reached the apex of my photography, when I come back with some photograph so sublime that I wonder if I was the one who took it. This is one of my favorites.
It causes a stillness in me when I look at it.
There are those other moments when I think that I fall miserably short, yet, the passion continues to drive me to do better. To dig deeper. There’s nothing like picking up the camera again, revisiting a place that you’ve visited dozens of times, and discovering something new, something amazing, something truly worthy of awe.
My passion drives me to attempt to catch the magic of the world that few people ever take time to stop and notice.
Paul
I had a devil of a time sending it to him because of Time Warner’s Road Runner service kept blocking my e-mails saying that I was a spammer! It finally got through! I had to send it from work and just received a confirmation from George.
So, I’m interested in hearing what the next steps entail. I’ll keep you informed …
Photography work that resonates with you.
I really like to look at other photographer’s work and writings. My tastes seem to be constantly changing as I grow and discover more. Currently, I really like the work of David Ward as well as George DeWolfe; Both really resonate with me. Both seem very contemplative and just seem to be able to grasp and hold my attention. I don’t think that I want to ‘be like them’, but I sure find their work appealing. Their work seems to transcend the object that they are photographing and becomes something else.
What I would like to know is whose work you find interesting/fascinating/attractive, and why, if you care to share. It also gives me more links to look at and more points of view to consider. Please feel free to include more than one link!
Thanks!
SoFoBoMo:Last year. This year.
I didn’t finish my book this year. I started on May 10th and here it is June 23rd and still no book. Oh, I have one in progress. The title is Amor Fati: Accepting what comes your way. I have about 20 of the required 35 pictures, perhaps a few more.
It had been on my mind for a very short time: Why didn’t I finish? Yet, it was a question that I easily dropped and continued on with life. I did not and do not consider it a failure. A so called failure is really a learning experience if you take the time to dissect it. One thing that I have learned is that questions are always answered, but not necessarily when and how we want them answered and we have be willing to hear and understand the answer, even if we don’t like it.
This morning I awoke about 6:00 AM. As I lie there, my body wanted to go for a walk. I tried to dissuade it, but it was not hearing me, so we went for a 40 minute walk. It was invigorating. As I walked, I listened to Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth. This morning he was talking about being in the moment, as he is wont to do! Anyway, he was talking about creating gaps in thought streams by noticing your breathing, inhaling and exhaling. So, I fell into that rhythm as I continued my walk. When I got back to my apartment, it hit me suddenly …
I didn’t finish because I was not enjoying the process. I was so focused on the destination. I was no longer there just shooting, enjoying, exploring. The thoughts of doing something different, better, more clever than last year, of secretly wanting some external praise for my efforts, were foremost in my mind. I was in competition with a memory. It became a chore and the last thing that I wanted was another chore.
Last year, I was really into the journey. I was exploring a place that I had never seen and was giddy with excitement. I didn’t care what the final outcome of the book was. Of course, I wanted it to be nice, but that wasn’t important. What was important was exploring Van Landingham Glen, which I did and it is a place that I frequent now … still exploring.
I do plan on finishing the book, but it has to be at its own pace and it will most likely be done entirely with film. So, finally after a shower, my body says to me: Now, aren’t you glad that you went for that walk! Yes! I am!
Momma don’t take my Kodachrome away!
OK! This has been echoed around the blogsphere, so I might as well add my nostalgic 2 cents worth in. Heck, Paul Simon even made a song about the stuff and he mentions Nikon cameras as well 
The man had taste!
Rob Terry also dropped me a note inside one of the comments. I have fond memories of Kodachrome. When shooting slides, it was my film of choice. I have always liked very slow speed, fine grained film and Kodachrome certainly fit the bill in that respect. ASA 25! Sweet. That’s why I shoot Ilford Pan F, ISO 50.
I remember that you could drop of a roll of Kodachrome at the drug store and have it back within about a week. It was a seriously complex product to develop and, from what I understand, to manufacture. I’d like to get my paws on a few rolls of 120 sized Kodachrome. Nothing beat this stuff for color saturation and warm tones. Fujichrome was great for the cooler tones, greens and blues, but I still really enjoyed this stuff!
A force of one
As a matter of fact, the film is so complex and probably costly to process that there is but one lab remaining in the WORLD that processes it and they will cease processing at the end of 2010. So, if you have a few rolls of the stuff stockpiled, you’d better start shooting and get it developed. It’s officially a dinosaur! So, head on over to Dwayne’s and get your Kodachrome developed!
Anyone else here old enough or been involved long enough to have shot Kodachrome? Do you remember the song? I’ll add a picture later! It won’t be a Kodachrome picture, but it will be a picture nonetheless. I’m not at my laptop at the moment!
The next small thing.
Yesterday, I talked about the next big thing. Well, it looks like the next big thing is a small thing: The Olympus E-P1. I saw it mentioned on T.O.P. and then headed over to DP Review to see what it was about.
As Earl said, this doesn’t push his gear-head buttons. It doesn’t do anything for me, either. I’d like to start by making a comparison that is perhaps not apples to apples, but more of oranges to tangelos! When I got my first serious digital camera, it was a Minolta Dimage A1. Certainly, a competent camera. As a matter of fact, I took one of my favorite pictures with that very camera and it still hangs in my computer room at home in Charlotte.
The major downfall of this camera was that it had two electronic view finders. One for your eye, and one on the back of the camera. The screen on the back of the camera was 1.8 inches diagonal, and the pixel count was 118,000 pixels. Compare this to the new E-P1 which has one EVF @ 230,000 pixels on a 3 inch screen. Certainly more pixels and more real estate. However, what it is lacking that the A1 had is a tiltable viewing screen, invaluable!
I never did get used to using exclusively EVF. It was just slow and somewhat unnatural. Sure, I know that technology has advanced in 5 years and refresh rates and contrast are better; however, I’m just not sold on this format. It’s too difficult to use in the sunlight and almost impossible to focus manually. The crispness just wasn’t there, even on the D300 with its 922,000 pixels!
I would suggest that if you are considering one AND you have a camera that can operate in live view, like the Nikon D300, that you take your camera out for a day and use nothing but live view and see how annoying/fun that is. Mind you, the D300 has the same size screen and more pixels (922,000), so it should be better and easier to use. Or if you don’t have such a camera, borrow one of your friends point-and-shoots that doesn’t have a viewfinder and see how much you like it.
I’ll admit, it is a sexy looking camera, but I don’t think that it is something that I would even consider buying. If I wanted a carry around camera, I’d probably opt for the Canon G9, or something similar.
I’ve seen a few people on other blogs salivating at getting their hands on one and I’d like to see some of the feedback.
What do you think?
The next big thing?
As I sit here on my virtual analog/digital fence gazing at the technological landscape, I wonder. I wonder what will be the next huge technological leap in photography. I suppose that the megapixel wars will continue, unabated, for some time to come. Heck, if you want to talk mega pixels, my scans of the 6 x 4.5 negatives, at a modest 2400 dpi, come out to about 18 MP! Not bad for a $300 camera and a $250 printer! If I scan at 4800, well you can guess that it is almost 40 MP. The equivalent digital back costs nearly $20,000. Ouch!
Manufacturers have a goal and that goal is to sell. So, each year, or perhaps half a year, they have to come up with something new and improved. They have to come up with something that we think that we simply cannot live without. Something that makes our ‘old’ equipment look inferior and in need of replacing. But, I think as I dangle my legs over the fence, what more do we need? I know that I’m not a visionary. Heck! I don’t even know what’s going to happen today, let alone in the next five years, but how much better can cameras get? Are we going for ‘reality’? Do we want a camera that will reproduce, exactly, what we saw? I’m not sure.
Sometimes, I think that it is about formula. People want the camera to do the job so that can have great pictures, which is why, also, I think that beginning photographers are caught up in meta data. They are looking for the formula. Let’s see … he used 50mm f/2.8@ 1/250 … if I do that, stand in the same location, then I’ll get that too! Point. Shoot. Great! We all know that it doesn’t happen any more than some pill can make you loose 50 pounds overnight without diet or exercise. However, most any manufacturer would be willing to sell you these dreams, should you wish to buy them.
Now, you might be wondering, too: Hmmm. Since this guy has started shooting film again, is he a technophobe? Does he want to go back to using rocks and chisels? Heck no! I still like my digital camera. That bit of technology is wonderful. There’s nothing like it for shooting sports, shooting in various lighting conditions (tungsten, daylight, fluorescent, combination of all three, etc), chimping to make sure that you got that important shot, being able to change ISO when lighting conditions require it, etc. There’s no way that I’d want to go back to shooting color film/slides and having to use crazy filter combinations to get the lighting right. Heaven forbid! The right tool for the job!
So, I’m still wondering what ‘they’ will come up with that will continue to entice us to buy. I see that rumors are flying about the Nikon D300S, which will have, of course, HD video. Nikon simply could not let Canon be the only one. Personally, I don’t see the point of having video in a still camera, other than the point & shoots, where it could be useful on vacation to capture a few fun moments; however, for the most part, the prosumer cameras are not vacation cameras.
OK! Time to hop off of the fence and head to work…