1,000,000 finished, processed photographs?

 Photography  4 Responses »
Feb 092011
 

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I stopped by Cedric’s place, as I love to do, yesterday and saw that he mentioned a photographer named Thomas Hawk. I’d never heard of him, so I followed the link and clicked on the about page. Thomas has a goal to shoot and process 1,000,000 photographs during his lifetime. Yes, one MILLION:

When I’m not taking or processing the pictures I’m mostly thinking about the pictures. I’m trying to publish a library of 1,000,000 finished, processed photographs before I die.
~Thomas Hawk

I sat back and thought of that for a minute and wondered, if I had shot every day since I picked up a camera in 11th grade, how many shots would I have to have taken per day to get to a million. Never mind how much time to process them. Let’s call it since 1978, the beginning of my 11th grade year. We’ll make it a nice 32 years. So, 1,000,000 / 32 = 31,250 photos per year, or 85 shots per day and processed. Every. Single. Day. Of course, that means taking it during a 32 year lifespan. Let’s say that I started then and made it to 80 years old. So, that would give me from ages 17 – 80 to do it, or 63 years, 22,995 days, that cuts it in half, requiring only 43 shots processed each and every day for 63 years! Imagine shooting about 16,000 shots per year for 63 years. Not!

I certainly hope that he has a long life. I simply couldn’t imagine such an undertaking. I think that I have shot around 4,000 or 5,000 per year since going digital. Way, way under the requirements to reach a million. Also, 99% of those are unprocessed. I think that I would have to reach for less lofty goals. :)

 Posted by at 00:00  Tagged with: ,

More simplifying

 Photography  16 Responses »
Feb 072011
 

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Leica M6 – Ilford HP5+ – Rodinal 1:50 about 1/30 @f/2
Well, Cedric beat me to the punch with his excellent post, Keeping it simply small, but since this has been on my mind, I felt the need to post it.

For me, things keep getting simpler and simpler, by design. I try to remove anything from my life that does not serve me, especially material stuff. If find that when I have too much ‘stuff’ it takes a lot of psychic energy. I don’t like clutter. Sure, I’m a guy, I handle a certain amount of it for a very short time, though, then I feel the need to clean. When I’m in a clean space, I feel more balanced, more at ease.

Of late, I’ve migrated back to film and, in my opinion, simplicity. Sure, it’s more work than digital to see the images, but less overall, I think. The only time the D300 gets out anymore is if there is a special event that needs high frame rate or if I let my friends use it. I usually have one of the film cameras in my hand.
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Periodically, I think, why do I have this camera? Well, of course, I bought it, but that’s not reason enough. Simply put, it’s an attachment. Were I to sell it, I’d need to sell all of the things that are associated with it. I have 3 SB-600 flashes, umbrellas, this, that, that, and the other. Could I part with it? Sure, but sometimes something sticks in my mind like: What if …? Logically, this makes no sense because I don’t do this for a living. I do it for the pure pleasure of it and, right now, and for the foreseeable future, wielding a simple camera suits the bill. And the times when I really needed a macro or telephoto shot are few and far between, if I were to miss those shots I’d make up for them with some other type of shot.

Sure, I’ve looked, sometimes longingly, at the Leica M9 … yet, somehow it doesn’t thrill me, especially for $6,995 USD. The M6 does. That said, though, there is a new kid on the block that I find interesting. Cedric mentioned it in his post … The Fuji Finepix X100. Digital advantage, simplified design. A camera without a lot of bells and whistles for about $1,199. That’s more like it. Interestingly, it is a fixed lens camera with a 35 mm Fujinon lens. This camera reminds me of the Olympus rangefinders of old, but it’s not a rangefinder. Anyway, it’s all camera and little else. I like what I see.

In an earlier post, I wondered what I could take to China and to Australia. I think that the X100 fits the bill. Hopefully it will be out and available by then.

Yes, I could see myself getting rid of my DSLR equipment, in toto, and moving to a much simpler format. One X100, one Leica M6, and one Mamiya 645. That’s it. 3 cameras, 3 lenses, one tripod for the 645. That’s it. Simpler. Perhaps a goal for summer. Who knows? It’s just where my head is at right now.

 Posted by at 19:00  Tagged with:

A good visit with the doctor

 Photography  12 Responses »
Feb 042011
 

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Getting my Tai Chi on!

Once a year, I go to the doctors office for my yearly physical. Every year, he pretty much tells me the same thing in a kind way: You need to lose some weight, eat this, eat that, exercise, etc. Each year, well, honestly, I didn’t listen. So, today was my yearly physical. It went something like this when he came into the room.

Doc: Hello, Paul. How have things been going?
Me: Fine, thanks. I think that you’ll notice a little bit of difference from last year.
Doc: Oh really. OK. Let me a have a look. Hmmm, ok, ok … Wow! Is this right?! You’ve lost 65 pounds in the last year.
Paul: Not quite. I actually gained about 6 pounds first, then lost 71 in 10 months. (smiles)
Doc: Wow! You are by far my biggest success within the last year or more. How did you do it?
Paul: Well, I changed everything. I went from zero exercise to 16 hours/week, gradually. I cook 90% of my own food. I don’t eat out much and I do Tai Chi 4x week and a lot of other stuff.
Doc: Excellent. I have a number of patients that are in the same shape that you were and nothing that I do will get them to change. I wish that I could take credit for your changes, but you look like you did it on your own.
Me:Your encouragement helped, but deep down, it had to come from me. I really wanted it this time. I went to The Peaceful Dragon, signed up for Zen Super Boot Camp (at this time he is writing on his notepad furiously), got the information that I needed and started this journey in April. To be honest, it hasn’t been that difficult. It was at first, but after a while, I just kind of fell into a rhythm.
Doc: I have people come in wanting pills and surgery, which I don’t want to give them.
Me: We all know what it takes. Good food choices and exercise. Period. But that takes a long time. If I could have had it instantly and maintained the same lifestyle, I probably would have.
Doc: You’re right. Great job!

He then proceeded to ask me what I ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He compared this to my last survey and was quite shocked. What a difference a year can make.

Anyway, the rest of the visit was fine. Blood pressure, excellent. Pulse, excellent. We even got a little laugh when he asked if anything was bothering me. I said that my left knew hurt a little bit. He kind of chuckled, after examining it and said: Probably a bit of overuse. I just laughed with him and said: I’ll bet you never thought that you’d say that to me, did you?! He agreed. :)

In the end, it was a good visit, but not good enough to prevent me from getting ‘the finger in the end’. After 40, you always get ‘the finger’! I then said: So, at 50, I understand that you get ‘the scope’. He said: Yes, we could do it earlier of you want. I decided to wait! :)

 Posted by at 14:05  Tagged with:

Why bother with film?

 Photography  7 Responses »
Feb 012011
 

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Sometimes I do wonder, why even bother with film. Then, all I need to do is develop a roll, see the negatives, and then, I realize why. In my job as a programmer, I spend at least 8 hours per day with a computer. I remember when digital cameras first became available, I was fascinated with the instant gratification of the digital image.

Soon, it became painfully apparent that the images that came out of the camera were, shall we say, less than satisfactory. The next thing, naturally, was some image manipulation tool such as Photoshop, followed by the “light room”. This is all well and good, but it got old kind of quick. I go to work all day, work on a computer. I come home, take some photos with a highly computerized camera, download the photos to the hard drive (more computer terms), open up an application and work on these images.

Sure, it was great a times to learn about layers and masks and all of these cool things, but after a while, it just came down to learning another application. More computer work, if you will.
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With film, I can experience the different characteristics of each film. I can experiment with different developer/film combinations. I can experiment with development time, agitation, temperature, and all manner of variables.

I feel, in this way, I am part of the process. However, I am still a hybrid, preferring to have a bit of convenience. Develop, scan, then manipulate. I do not miss having a full wet-darkroom complete with development trays and an enlarger. I’m just fine with inkjet and lightroom.

Finally, I guess that it is just the simplicity of the film camera. Point. Focus. Shoot. No menus. No nothing. You have to understand the metering of the camera and understand the limitations of the film that you are shooting. No helpful histograms or chimping to tell you if you got it right. You’re an integral part of the process.

Anyway, just food for thought.

 Posted by at 18:48  Tagged with: ,

And I danced!

 Photography  7 Responses »
Jan 302011
 

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Don’t hit back! Don’t hit back! Don’t hit back!

OK. I did get slapped! :) It’s a tradition. What can I say? Last night was the most fun that I had had in a very long time. I got to share the evening with my Peaceful Dragon brothers and sisters, talk, dance, dance, dance, and dance a little more, laugh a lot, and even got to take the night off from photography, if you can believe that. Once again, my ace wingman, Tim Starnes took control of the D300 and delivered the goods. Also, that boy has got some serious moves on the dance floor. Just ask any of the ladies that he danced with. I danced with instructors and fellow students alike. It was nice to see everyone in clothes other than black on black on black! :)
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Now, not to toot my own horn, but I danced Shilpa right off the floor. She was quite tired by the end of the evening. I think that we started dancing around 9:45 PM and I didn’t stop, save for one drink of water, until they kicked us out at midnight … way past my bedtime. LOL. What the heck, we were having fun. Had I known that walking paid such great dividends, I would have started walking long ago. Go, Paul! Go, Paul!

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During the ceremony, there were numerous awards given out. I even received one, quite unexpectedly. It was an runner-up for: Most Helpful To Newer Adult Students. Very cool. These awards were voted for by our disciple level (5 years+) and teacher level (10 years+) brothers and sisters. Shilpa got the award for most promising adult student. All in all, the table were we sat received the most awards in the room! What can we say! Ha ha!

I wish that I had a few photos of us cutting it up on the dance floor, Tim and I, but we were too busy having fun to worry about cameras and such. I made it in sometime after 1:00 AM, or so. Now, I’m about ready to head out and do a bit of Tai Chi!

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 Posted by at 09:08  Tagged with: ,

Chinese New Year: Half way done

 Photography  1 Response »
Jan 292011
 

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A nice flying scissor kick! Delivered during a sparing match

Well, the demonstration/festival is over. Today was a fantastic day. We had a large turn out. I got to do a bit of Tai Chi, a lot of photography, and hang out with good friends and meet new people. Tonight is the dinner. Between now and then, I’ll relax a little bit, look at some of the 1,472 photos that I took (egad!), take a shower, and get ready for the evening festivities were more than likely I will get the sh&^ slapped out of me this evening. Wake up call, they call it. Ouch! You’ll see those photos tomorrow. Tim has happily, a bit too happily, agreed to photograph “The slap”.

I downloaded all of the photos into Lightroom, looked at the total count, thought back to my film days and the days when I was a wannabe sports photographer. I remember pictures of hundreds of film canisters lying on the side where the photographers had been. I remember reading stories of how assistants would spend the hole game loading cameras. Photographers would bring three or four cameras and hundreds of rolls of film. Had I been shooting film, I would have shot 41 rolls of film today. Damn! I couldn’t handle such a backlog of developing, either. :)
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One of the senior students asked when I could have the pictures to him so that he could put them on Flickr, I told him that I’d have them this afternoon. Can you imagine such a deadline shooting film? Yikes.

Anyway, it was a great time. I had fun shooting it and while I type this post, it is still exporting. Unfortunately for him, he’s going to have to do his own editing. This gives me much respect for high volume shooters: Wedding photographers, sports, or any other event calling for such high numbers of images. Editing must be brutal. Honestly, I don’t even edit. No point. I find a few that I like, use them, and the rest just stay on the hard drive. I’d rather be shooting than editing, anyway.

 Posted by at 15:20  Tagged with: ,

’tis Friday

 Photography  3 Responses »
Jan 282011
 

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Just a photo to share that I took this morning. I really liked this one. It was nice and cold, sunrise was about 40 minutes away, and Hobbs and I were beginning our walk. I took this while waiting for him to finish his business.

I was thinking: What a peaceful Friday morning. :) Away we went, into the light.

 Posted by at 14:50  Tagged with:
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