Photo-Opportunities ~ early 2015

If you're in or around Paris in early 2015 and are looking for things to photograph, here's a rather short list of potentially fun things to do.

4-8 February ~ Retromobile where old cars, parts, manuals can be found and that fabulous Baillon Garage Find will go up for auction
15 February ~ 18ème cortège du Carnaval de Paris de la place Gambetta à la place de la République en passant par l'avenue Gambetta, les boulevards de Ménilmontant et Belleville et la rue du Faubourg-du-Temple (text borrowed from Basil's email)

15 March ~  7ème cortège du Carnaval des Femmes, Fête des Reines des Blanchisseuses de la Mi-Carême - les femmes sont invitées à se costumer en Reines et les hommes en femmes, s'ils osent! (text borrowed from Basil's email)

23-24 May ~ Geekopolis at la Porte de Versailles

~ Completed ~ 

Charlie Hebdo murders ~ my images from the memorials can be found here -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/christophersoddsandsods/sets/72157650193734352/

11 January ~ La Traversee de Paris with 600+ ancient vehicles storming the streets - my images can be found here -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/christophersoddsandsods/sets/72157649823674257/

Spanning Iron Spaces ~ Image Portfolio ~ Electronic Distribution

This is to announce that I am releasing Spanning Iron Spaces.

The city my wife and I live in is filled with wonderful old iron structures.  I wanted to celebrate a very simple means of support found around the city.  I use the word support in both it's literal and figurative sense.  I wanted to look at how man has artistically used the base metal.  I wanted to create a series of images of iron, rivets, and the space around them.  I wanted to capture what some might see as the ordinary and reveal it's underlying beauty.

Spanning Iron Spaces, as with the previously released Hauntings of Gothic Ghosts, is offered in short form for free.  The full electronic PDF distribution is offered at 10USD.

Note: The difference in price between this release and the earlier portfolio reflects the fact the new work is yet to be published.  Should a publisher share portions of this work in a journal or book I will adjust the price upward to 25USD.

Re-learning old tricks...

Since moving to digital for all my serious work I've shot with heavy DSLRs and big zoom lenses.

This has recently changed.  Completely.


A Sony A6000 has climbed into my camera bag.  It's taken it's place alongside three Sigma fixed focal length DN lenses.  Everyone looks to be here for a long stay.

Many years ago I used a Leica and three lenses.  This was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and my cameras were loaded with Kodak Tri-X or Ilford FP4 or Ilford HP5 and fixed focal length optics were the only reliably sharp option.  Hollywood was where I lived at the time and New Wave and Punk were the music styles in vogue around the LA basin.  My Fiat 124 Sport Coupe was a blast to drive Hwy 1 and 101.


My three lens photography kit consisted of a 35mm, 50mm, and 85 or 90mm lens.  The Leica wasn't the only kit I built like that.  I also owned Canon F1(original) and Nikon FM systems.  Each built on the basic three lens kit.  With the SLRs I added a 200mm or 300mm lens for wildlife and motorsports work.  This was the way I learned to "see".

When I moved into large and very large format film I built the kits, once again, on the three lens step of equivalent focal lengths to my old 35mm gear.  90/150/210mm in 4x5inch and 210/300/450mm in 8x10inch film.  Continuing to work this way was an extension of how I had learned to "see."

With the move to digital I learned to love the "flexibility" of high quality zoom lenses.  My kit contained zooms from ultra-wide all the way up to ultra-long.  The lenses that got the most use were the 24-105mm and 100-400mm.  The ultra-wide and medium-long zooms sat largely unused.


What I noticed is that my "seeing" became, for the lack of a better word, "lazy."  All I had to do was twist the zoom ring and re-frame the scene.  It was all very simple.  Though now that I look at things it seems like a lot of my work had taken on a "bland" appearance.  Not only had my "seeing" become "lazy", the "look" of my images were bordering on looking "lazy" too.

Moving into mirrorless for all my serious work has been like "backing the horse into the barn."  I've taken small steps.  Four years ago I bought two mirrorless cameras that I used for around-town and travel photography.  A month ago I bought a couple Sigma DN Art lenses and tried them out on my aging around-town/travel NEX5.  I liked how crisp and clear the images were on the small sensor.  A week later I bought a camera with more pixels than the Old Beast.

Wandering around the city and working in the studio has shown me what is possible.  Image quality is very important to me.  I did not want to take a step down in quality by moving to a smaller system.  As a measure of how happy I am with the results I now have all three Sigma DN Art lenses.


Which leaves me to wonder about the need for a high quality zoom.  The mirrorless kit lens is OK on smaller sensor cameras, but has obvious short-comings when mounted on the big-mpixel camera.  Zeiss offers a nice zoom, but would I use it?

A recent visit to Passy leaves me wondering if I really _need_ to spend Zeiss kinds of $$$'s.  I'm amazed at how quickly I've slipped back into the three lens kit way of "seeing."  In fact, I remember how to frame an image and select the correct focal length lens without thinking about things.  It's a natural movement.  Just like when I lived and photographed around Southern California.

Can Old Dawgs really ever _un-learn_ Old Tricks?  In my case it seems not.
 

Working with creative people...

My wife and I have worked with many people over the years.  She assists during a shoot and helps catch things I don't see.

One of the things she's noticed is how tired I am after three hours of shooting.  My arms, neck, back, and legs would ache for a couple days afterward.  It's been this way ever since we moved to France.  I've felt the big Old Beast (Canon 5D MkII/24-105L kit) weight was the source of my recent challenges.

I was interested to see if I could downsize my kit while improving the image quality at the same time.

Enter the new Sony A6000



Last weekend Judith and I were visited by l'equipe de French Steampunk. Anne Delauney-Ladevèze, Alexandre Ls, Matthieu Van Weise came to our atelier to spend two and a half hours in front of the camera.  I love working with creative people like this.  Time flies and magic happens.  This is what I came to Paris to do.  Well, this and enjoy retirement, right?  :-)

Considering the camera-work, I've used the Canon zoom so much that I wasn't sure I could go back to a fixed focal length objective as my prime studio lens.  Would I miss the "flexibility" of the zoom?  Would I feel hindered by a fixed focal length?

I should've known and quickly realized that the A6000 Sony mated with a Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN E is all this person really needs in the studio.  "Sneaker Zoom" (ie: physically moving to/away from the subject) is not nearly as bad as I feared.  I actually like it.  The zoom on the Old Beast gave my prior images an inconsistent "look".  The effect is very subtle, but I can begin to see this as I work with the new setup.

In the darkened room the AF would "hunt" a little.  But, and this is the important part to me, it hunted no more than my Old Beast did under similar conditions.  In fact, there were many times when the Old Beast would completely fail to lock AF.  With the Sony/Sigma kit it's only a short matter of time before the AF settles.


 It's in fact better than this.  With the Sony's "face detect" capabilities I'm able to let the camera do what it was designed to do and come away with razor sharp eye-lashes 99 percent of the time.Selecting a focus point near the region where I wanted it to be seemed to enhance "face detects" ability to lock AF.  This is a Good Very Thing(tm). 

My last concern was with the electronic view finder (EVF).  On a Fuji I tried, when I panned the EVF had trouble keeping up with the motion and it scrambled my brain.  But... with the Sony I find lag time to not be a problem and my mind remained un-scrambled for the duration of the shoot.

I've already noted that at the pixel-peeping level that the Sony A6000 24mpixel APS-C sensor out-performs the six year old full-frame sensor in the Old Beast. What I haven't mentioned is that the A6000's increased dynamic range gives cleaner, less noisy shadow rendition than the Old Beast's output.  The increased dynamic range of the APS-C sized sensor gives me more information to work with (very slight, but noticable) and, therefore, more flexibility in image processing.  I know.  This is all counter-intuitive.  Can the APS-C really out-perform a Full Frame sensor?  In this case the answer is yes.


 To sum up my experience with the new camera kit I find I LOVE the light weight and wonderfully small size.  The new setup fits my hands nicely.  And... I actually don't mind the EVF.  It's actually quite nice.  Further, the image quality is better than my old kit (see prior posts).  As a bonus, my arms and back don't ache the next day.  Life is good.

Using a fixed focal length lens has become my new approach.  I like it for it's simplicity and "direct-ness."  It feels like the Old Days when I wandered Los Angeles with a Leica M3 and (what I wished I still owned) a Summarit 50mm f/1.5.  I "see" differently and feel more engaged.

To sum up my experience with creative people here in France, I have to say that I spoke far too soon about Paris being conservative.  No, Paris is not as conservative as I first thought.  I just didn't know where to look.  I'm in Seventh Heaven, now that I'm discovering talented creative types who are willing to work with me through the kind help of a few good friends.

Merci, France.  Je vous aime beaucoup.  Let the creativity flow!

Tools of the Trade ~ Print Sizes ~ le deuxieme part

Someone asked how it was possible that I could make a 14.2mpixel Sony NEX5 image look as good as something coming from a Canon 5D MkII or MkIII.

Earlier I wrote about a way of making large prints from small-ish files, but I didn't really give a clear calculation for various sensor sizes and how file dimensions relate to maximum resolution maximum print size. I think it's time to further consider the question.

Here's the basic formula -

[print size in the long dimension] = [file size ~ choose the long dimension for consistency] / [print dpi you feel you can tolerate]

Using a Sony NEX5 14.2 megapixel as an example, here's how this works in the real world -


15 inches = 4592 image nodes in the long dimension / 300 dpi

If you head over the DPReview, they give the file dimensions of various cameras reviewed.  That's where the 4592 image nodes information comes from (or you can simply read the file dimensions if you already have the camera).

300 dpi comes from current common print practices.  Most labs and publications I've dealt with all specify 300 dpi.  This makes sense as young human eyes can resolve 5 line pair per mm.  So 300 dpi gives a printed image more resolution than most of us can with the naked eye.  This is imporant in my discussion here, and I will revisit this number shortly.

Using this approach let's look at several different cameras with a number of different sensor and file sizes to see how big a print we can make while giving more resolution than the naked human eye can see -

• 15 inches = [4592 image nodes in the long dimension / 300 dpi] - Sony NEX5 14.2mpixel
• 18 inches = [5616image nodes / 300dpi] - Canon 5D MkII 21 megapixel
  
• 24 inches = [7360image nodes / 300dpi] - Nikon D800 36 megapixel
• 34 inches =  [10380image nodes /300 dpi] - Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel medium format sensor 

If we consider 254 dpi as giving us EXACTLY the maximum resolution that the naked eye can perceive, then the formula tells us we can make an even larger print from a native file.  Here is what we can achieve -

• 18 inches = [4592 image nodes in the long dimension / 254 dpi] - Sony NEX5 14.2mpixel
• 22 inches = [5616image nodes / 254 dpi] - Canon 5D MkII 21 megapixel
  
• 29 inches = [7360image nodes / 254 dpi] - Nikon D800 36 megapixel
• 41 inches =  [10380image nodes / 254 dpi] - Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel medium format sensor

Very quickly one can see where a 14.2mpixel file printed at 254dpi can have the same print size at full human resolution as a Canon 5D MkII printed at 300dpi.

There's more to it than just this that I find rather interesting.  It's something I should've thought about more closely.

To double native image dimensions requires a four fold increase in sensor size.

We realize that to double the native print size at full naked human eye resolution can be costly.  To go from 15inches to 30inches would require going from a 14.2 megapixel Sony NEX5 file to printing an 80 megapixel Mamiya Phase One IQ180 file.  It requires going from a $500 camera to a $50,000 camera to double native file maximum print size.  So, if cost is an issue, couldn't you just stitch four images from the little $500 camera and "call it done?"

Looking at this from still yet another perspective, we can take the little 14.2 megapixel file, uprez it using a smart sharpening technique to Canon 5D MkII file dimensions, and print the little camera's image at 300dpi.  Taking this approach is not a stretch for the software technologies involved.  The up-rez step is not that large at all.

That is exactly why it's so easy to get 5D MkII print quality out of a small file, as you can see in the attached image.



Much of this up-rez technology is already built into software like the Gimp, Photoshop, and Lightroom.  Adobe goes as far as to say they've carefully chosen the algorithms they use so as to keep as much resolution as possible on the up-rez.

Why, then, would I go to all this trouble to explore a topic that's already handled by some software?  Curiosity.  I like to understand what's going on.  It's takes the magic and wishful thinking out of my processes and brings me to a place where I might be able to carefully tune my output to get the last ounce of information possible from a file.

le Salon de la Photo ~ Paris ~ 2014

There are no doubt numerous "show reports" floating around out there regarding this year's Salon de la Photo.  What could I possible add?  Perhaps not much, but here it goes in any event.



Arriving at opening time is a prime recipe for getting squashed in a righteous French-style queue.  You see, it's Madness and Bedlam as people wade or crowd-surf their way to one or two Gate Keepers.  The Gate Keepers are the ones with the scanners.

Ah... I see I need to explain something, so let me back up a bit.

Last year someone laughed at me when I asked where one buys a ticket to le Salon.  The way the game is played here is that you get an "invitation" to the event.  Unlike fashion runway shows, receiving an "invitation" is as easy as reading Paris Match.


There's a "code" that specifies who's doing the "inviting".  These "codes" are widely available and it seems like any and all dogs, cats, critters, and companies issue them.  Chose a "code", any "code".  They're free.  As in No Charge.  Gratuit.  Zip.  Zero.

Enter a "code" into the Salon website in the right place and what you get is a PDF you can print.  The PDF has, among other things, a bar-code and this is your ticket into the show.

Easy.  Right?  When it comes to free, you don't know the lengths Parisians will go to make sure there is Egalitie, Libertie, and, well, forget the Fraternitie, OK?  You realize the pecking order of what's important once you're queued.  Any Fraternity comes from how closely packed you are, not from the level of conviviality you might imagine the word should have meant.

Close your eyes and try to envision hundreds of Old Farts of all sizes, shapes, and heights doing their level best to elbow their way to the front of the queue where two and only two men with bar-code scanners await to grant you entry.  Or not.

We'd chosen the wrong side of the scrum.  I mean, queue.  No.  I think scrum adequately describes the experience.  Two elderly gents had reached the front of the scrum and... their bar-codes were not scanning properly... they were arguing with the Bar Code Handlers... and the scrum was becoming as anxious as a herd of Zebras who smelled Lions in the brush...


Our neighbor, Jude, and I skirted the scrum to the other side... et... voila!  After a 25minute surge forward we were having our "invitations" scanned and, as it was a tight squeeze past the Old Geezers Who Must Argue with a Bar Code Handler, it felt like we might be Watermelon seeds being squirted out into the rusting dented parts missing automobile strewn yard while... um... nevermind that.  It was a funny feeling to go from the scrum into the peaceful, calm area inside the barrier to the show floor.

Collecting ourselves (mentally) we found our directions and headed off to see a few nice photographs.  The camera gear portion of le Salon could wait until my wife and neighbor left the show 45 minutes later.

I find it fascinating that HUGE scrums of Fraternitie Loving French People are seen huddled around the camera equipment displays, fondling the latest, greatest, sometimes hugely expensive tools of image making... and you can almost hear the crickets chirping in the areas where the results of putting Image Making Tools to use are displayed.

Why is it that so many people love the tools and so few try to appreciate the art?


Considering the art, one thing that impressed me and at the same time confirmed what I'd proven thru testing was a display of 20x30inch(approx) images made using 16mpixel micro-4/3rd's Image Making Tools.  They were lovely to look at.  They were well composed, well exposed, well printed, and looked every bit as good as photographs printed to the same size taken using 50mpixel medium format sensors.  Yes.  It might be difficult to believe.  To me the Truth was in the seeing.  I was blown away.  Which tool is less important than the results of your artistic process.

Kissing my lovely wife goodbye and telling her "I'll be home later" left me to my own (evil?) devices.  Ah, Libertie!

I wanted to experience the Egalitie of Sharp French Elbows by fondling a few Image Making Tools myself.  To get there I needed to Egalitie my Sharp American Elbows to a camera manufacturer's display of choice.  It had to begin with Sony.

Being on a Mission from the Muse of Photographic Arts meant I was looking to downsize my camera kit.  The older I get the bigger and heavier the Old Beast has become.  Unless it's gained weight eating all that light (which it hadn't) the issue rests with me.  I'm getting old.

I tried my version of Egalitie out on the poor French peoples, elbows and all, and found myself quickly at a Display Counter Filled with Dreams.

Your Humble Servant

on a Mission from the Muse of Photographic Arts 

After a short disappointing look at a Dream A7R (size and weight challenges for me) a strange and eerie light beckoned. It was like First Love.  Or Last Love at First Light.  Um, maybe it was First Love at First Sight.  Whatever.  I could tell there were important differences between what I was holding and what I was looking at.

On the other side of the Sony counter sat a pair of A6000 mirrorless APS-C sized sensor mini-wonders.  I had to try them out and Egalitie'd my way around the Display Counter Filled with Dreams.

Cutting to the Chase, I bought a boitier nu from a Paris local store shortly after realizing my dreams had come true.

If interested, you can read my prior post on testing an A6000 against the Old Beast.


The rest of the show was a haze of images, sounds, further Egalitie-Elbows and More Scrum.  Trade shows can be loud crazy affairs and the Salon to me borders on chaos.  If I hadn't been on a Mission from the Muse of Photographic Arts I'd like to think I would avoid the place.  But that's not true.

I find I love the Fraternitie scrum, Sharp French Elbow'd Egalitie, and trans-national-corporate-sponsored Libertie as only the French can deliver it.  Besides, le Salon is a free "code", a short walk, an elderly scrum, and a scanned bar-code away.

Pixel Peeping and the Real World... le quatrieme part

To recap:  What's a guy to do when faced with a 100Euro instant rebate from Sony and offered a 4 year guarantee for free by the camera shop?  Kick the Canon 5D MkII to the curb?  Maybe.

After bringing my new pride and joy home from le Salon de la Photo I ran a very very quick test to see how the Sony A6000 performed.  Compared with the Canon 5D MkII (henceforth known as The Old Beast) it looked like I could match the 6 year old camera's image performance... but... I wasn't entirely convinced.

I stayed up half the night thinking about this.  Was the AF as accurate as I thought?  Did I use the correct settings on both cameras to produce a valid result?  Did I make a mistake in buying the Sony?  Afterall, DPReview showed images from the A6000 that I thought were clearly superior to a 5D MkIII's output (a generation Canon newer than the one I owned).  I wanted to see the difference "clearly" demonstrated.

So... after defrosting the freezer and cleaning the kitchen floor this morning I hauled out a test setup to see if I could find a different answer to the one I'd worried over the night before.

The heavy tripod mounted, 2second trigger delay test setup -

• Canon 5D MkII/24-105L at ISO100, f/8, image style set to "Standard"
• Canon output converted from RAW at two settings:  1) Zero in Canon's DPP software sharpening.  2) DPP sharpening slider set to 3, with no other manipulations out of the camera.

• Sony A6000/Sigma 30mm, ISO100, f/5.6, image style set to "Standard"
• Using Sony's in-camera sharpening at four settings: sharpening set to Zero, One, Two, and Three and converted without further manipulation using Sony's Image Converter software.

Here's the answer -


Looking at this closely (ie: at 100%) you can see that Sony's "standard" image style default image sharpening set to Zero seems to match, if not slightly exceed, Canon's DPP processed image with sharpening set to 3.  Canon's 0 DPP sharpening is clearly softer than Sony's identical setting.

Further, Sony's in-camera image sharpening settings greater than 0 show increasingly "crisp", some might say "over sharpened" images up thru sharpening set to 3.

These findings are very important to me.  My default has been to use the 5D MkII "standard" image style with sharpening set to 3 and to use DPP to perform the conversion after initial processing.  I've used this approach for 6 years and love the large print resolution I've seen from The Old Beast.  I can enlarge images to 30x40inches and still see very pleasingly sharp images.  This was my baseline against which all other things were to be measured.

With the Sony A6000 it looks like I can use it's "standard" image style with image sharpening set to 0 and still easily exceed The Old Beast's resolution.  With a very light touch in Sony's Image Conversion software I can further enhance the appearance of sharpness/resolution without "over doing" the whole effect of resolution.

In short, I can clearly demonstrate that the Sony A6000 image quality exceeds The Old Beast's.

Onward to using the new, small, light tool for serious image creation.

Pixel Peeping and the Real World... le troisieme part

After the prior two posts a reader could probably have guessed it would come to this.

Size and mass differences?  What do you think?

How is the image quality?  Relying completely on the AF systems of each camera and making no allowances for best aperture or anything else that folks might feel is rather important, and not having taken any steps to "dial in" the image sharpening algorithms, have a look and let me know what you think.

Look at these at 100percent and tell me which is which.

Visiting le Salon de la Photo today I was met with a pleasant surprise.  In celebration (or promotion) of the show, the A6000 boitier nu was 100Euros off (not the anticipated 50Euros price drop) and came with a 4 year guarantee.  It's hard not to bite with those kinds of incentives.

Before I bit, however, I went over to Canon's stand to look closely at the SL1/100D micro-DSLR.  I had my NEX5/30mm Sig with me.  It struck me how the front to back length of the Sony setup matched the front of the SL1/100D viewfinder to back.  The Canon had no lens on it either.  I put the Dinosaur down and walked over to the in-show camera shops to find the one who had a boitier nu.

Next up: A serious test in the studio to make sure the A6000 performs as well as the Old Beast 5D MkII.

Pixel Peeping and the Real World... le deuxieme part

Third, ... well... I'll save this for another post... so stay tuned...

Or so I said in the prior blog entry.  Welcome, therefore, to the third thing that I've proven to myself after "testing" an old Sony NEX5 with a couple lenses against my Tried and True and Very Serious Pro-level Canon 5D MkII with a couple more lenses.

The first two things I proved to myself is that a small 14.4 mpixel sensor can still produce an amazing image and that image can be made with a little careful up-rezing/sharpening work to match the native image quality of a Canon 5D MkII (the Old Beast).

What, therefore, is the third thing I proved to myself?  Easy.  DSLRs are needlessly fat and bloated and heavy as boat anchors.  I say this in light of the Sony's image quality and overall performance when compared with my Old Beast.  I'm far from the first to realize this.  Yet...

It's Friday and nearly a week after I spent a Sunday afternoon photographing creative people at a local fair.  I'm still sore in a few places from working the Old Beast.  Hence the search for New Meaning and New Gear.

Here is what the Old Beast looks in my hand.  These images are of the Old Beast and the small, light weight Nikon 50mm f/1.4 pre-Ai.  The 24-105L lens I used last Sunday is much bigger and heavier then the beautiful Nikkor.

Keep in mind, I worked the Old Beast in one hand while holding the flash in my other.  Weight and size matter after a long day.  Yes, I'm getting old.  Yes, if I were younger none of this might matter.  I'm not young, so these things do matter.  Look at the size of my hand and compare it to the size of the camera/lens combo.

Here is what a Sony NEX5 with a Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN looks in my hand.  I used the 50mm Nikkor f/1.4 pre-Ai and Sigma 30mm EX DN to illustrate relative sizes in equivalent effective focal lengths.

You no doubt have seen plenty of the following kinds of images.  For me, size comparisons really don't show, nor can they properly explain the differences in the feelings of mass.  Rest assured, it's in the area of mass that my hands find the Sony NEX much easier to hold and control all day long than the Old Beast.  It comes down to asking if a mirrorless can deliver DSLR image quality.

Viewed straight on you can clearly see the difference in sizes.

Viewed from the top, you can see how narrow the Sony NEX is.  The distance from the front to the back of the NEX is just a little longer than the distance from the front of the penta-prism to the back of the Old Beast.  Such is the size, weight, and mass of adding a mirror-box and trying to make a "pro"-level piece of gear.  You could kill Baby Seals with the 5D, it's that rugged and massive.  Add the 24-105L zoom to the 5D and things get nearly uncontrollable for This Old Man.

Remember that I showed the small Sony's image quality could be made to match the Old Beast's?



Given all these things, what might I be concerned about when considering downsizing?

• Canon offers no small, light products with the flexibility and performance of Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, Fuji mirrorless systems
• Canon offers a rich, deep lens selection where Sony continues to struggle and everyone else wants to charge a fortune (Panasonic.  Olympus.  Fuji.).
• Sony is an electronics company, so how "invested" are they in selling imaging systems into an already saturated market?
• Canon's reputation for longevity - 150,000 shutter life for the Old Beast, where Sony has not published shutter reliability figures for any of their equipment

Addressing each of these areas one at a time is leading me to the point of making a long term photographic tools decision.

Canon seems stuck in thinking they're still selling into legacy photography gear markets.  Their DSLRS are huge and bloated compared with most mirrorless systems.  Canon's EOS-M doesn't deliver the kind of performance I require.  My image-making requires something different than Canon's mirrorless can deliver. 

I can understand the momentum behind legacy systems and the design thinking that generates all this, but it presents a problem when faced with serious market disruptions.  In this case pro-level mirrorless systems are filling the niche where serious photographers want to play.  That is, smaller, lighter, and in increasingly numerous cases more powerful than DSLR and very much World Class image quality coming off World Class sensors.

How do legacy equipment suppliers (Canon, Nikon) leverage old, heavy, bloated products in an increasingly networked world where knowing how to make cameras function like a "pro" is no longer a requirement to creating amazing images?

Canon's lens selection is quite impressive.  Yet when I look at the lenses I actually use, I see other companies offer similar products.  The sole exception being long-teles for birding, airshow, and race photography.  I may, in the end, hold onto an 8FPS, ultra fast AF Canon 7D and two long-teles until mirrorless systems catch up.

Looking at Sony as a company one quickly realizes how small their imaging group is compared to it's gaming and cell phone organizations.  Though imaging is making money for Sony, it'll never, ever make as much money as the other two groups and they seem to be in financial trouble.  When markets appear to Sony to be unprofitable they seem to leave in a Big Hurry.  What if this happened to their camera division?  Well, it's not like the gear on hand would instantly dry up and blow away, right?  Transitioning to another system could happen as the existing gear started to fail.

So why not go with Olympus or Panasonic or Fuji?  Fuji is too big and expensive.  Olympus has too small a sensor and, well, was purchased by Sony.  Panasonic has too small a sensor (shared with Olympus).

Which leads me to asking what Canon provides that mirrorless systems do not.

• AF performance?  Sony's A6000 AF system is pretty damned fast.  
• HDR?  Canon only recently added in-camera image creation to their DSLRs where Sony has had this for years.  
• Leading edge sensors?  Sony bests Canon in pixel density and whatever measurement the folks at DXOMark throw at them.  
• System reliability?  I don't know.  One of my two Sony NEX5 has recently died.  Ugh.
• Shutter reliability?  I don't know.  Sony does not published shutter reliability figures.
• I'll add one more thing: In Studio performance.  For this the Sony mirrorless systems seem promising enough.  My NEX focus under normal room lighting conditions well enough.  My Old Beast occasionally hunts to find focus under low light.  Ugh and shame on Canon as far as I'm concerned.

Looking at this from a different perspective I had to think about the reliability questions for about 2 seconds.

For the price of one Canon pro-level 5D MkII/MkIII bodies I could buy 5 (yes, five) brand new Sony A6000 bodies.  If I was concerned about out of the box system failures, I could buy used gear from owners who've already taken the risk of OOB failure and, well, I could have 11 Sony NEX 5T cameras with kit lens (at around 250Euro each) and still beat the price of a single new Canon 5D MkIII.  Who needs 11 cameras?  But you get my point.

There are a lot of interesting blog entries and videos where people discuss the movement from DSLR to mirrorless systems.  For pros and avid amateurs it can be frustrating to watch Nikon and Canon continue to fail to respond to the market segment that needs smaller, lighter, and yet equally to DSLR powerful imaging equipment.  Maybe their (Canon, Nikon) vested markets are large enough they feel they can continue to make enough money to satisfy share holders?

Yes.  The Photographic World has changed (note: Past Tense).

I will leave the reader to imagine the direction I'm headed.  I'm getting old and there's no time to waste.

Pixel-peeping and the real world...

Le Salon Fantastique is done and over. It was a great show and everyone seemed to have a good time.

I went on Sunday with my camera.  I hauled my Canon 7D/24-105L f/4 kit along with a strobe and umbrella.  It's nearly Friday and I'm still sore from holding what's becoming a heavy brick.  It's my age and I know it.

So... I've been thinking and researching a bit.  I need a small kit that can deliver outstanding resolution, control and performance like my big cameras.  To test the idea of downsizing I bought a pair of Sigma EX DN lenses.  I also wanted to see just how good or bad the Sony NEX kit lens is, particularly compared with the industry standard for overall performance, the 24-105L Canon.

Here is the test subject in all it's glory.  I was looking for very fine textures as well as shadow and highlight details.

Test One - Sony 18-55SEL kit lens vs Sigma 30mm EX DN


Each 300x300 pixel section is real 100% pixel-level output.  This test was broken into two parts, where the first two columns of images are Sony RAW conversions to jpg without sharpening.  This is what the sensor and related electronics puts out.  The second part/third column shows in-camera jpg default sharpening using "standard" image tones.

Analyzing the images carefully I see that the Sigma 30mm EX DN is an outstanding lens and deserving of it's reputation.  It's nice and sharp and contrasty from wide open.  The Sony SEL 18-55 kit lens matches the Sigma at f/8, but that's just about it.  It's not a bad lens, considering it's price.  You can clearly see it's limitations.  Used carefully, however, it can help a photographer make amazingly crisp images.

Test Two - Sony Sigma 30mm vs Canon 5D MkII 24-105L and Nikon 50mm f/1.4 pre-Ai


Analyzing the images carefully shows how good the Canon 5D MkII remains.  The only curious thing is how the L-glass treats the edge/off-center highlight areas at f/4.  It's a little strange.  What's going on here?

We also see how wonderful the Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 pre-Ai remains today.  I am convinced there is no reason not to use old glass on new cameras.  With focus peaking as found on many mirrorless cameras these lenses can be good values for the money.

The Sony/Sigma setup is quite good...  BUT... the scene size was the same in these three tests and the smaller sensor'd Sony gives slightly smaller 100% pixel images.  14.4mpixel files are 4/5ths the size of 21mpixel output.  I needed to move in closer to the subject by 1/5th the distance of the first setup.  Which leads to...

Test Three - Uprez'd and 1/5th closer Sony/Sigma vs Canon 5D MkII 24-105L and Nikon 50mm f/1.4 pre-Ai


This is where things get really interesting.

A straight cubic up-rez on the 14.4mpixel file to Canon 5D MkII file sizes shows things look pretty darned good in the old Sony camp.  These images show a little less "resolution" than moving the camera 1/5th the distance closer to the subject.

Images at 1/5th the distance seem to do well enough to illustrate that Sony pixels are as good as Canon pixels (if you follow the wrangling that goes on over on Canon Rumors, you'll understand what I'm talking about).  The Nikon lens'd images remain outstanding, as do the native 24-105L works.  Nothing changed in that part of the test.

What's amazing to me and what really has potential is that up-rezing the Sony NEX5(original) 14.4mpixel in-camera sharpened jpg image to 5D MkII file sizes... and then adding a little (not-so) Secret Sauce... et voila!  Can you really tell any difference between my NEX5 up-rez with Gimp/FX-Foundary Sharpening and my 21mpixel DSLR images?

Make sure you enlarge these to 100% to clearly see what's going on here.

So what have I proven?  Well, several things, actually.

First, an old APS-C 14.4mpixel sensor can still perform remarkably well.

Second, my thoughts on how Lightroom and Photoshop sharpen files at the print stage seem to play out.  You can take a small Sony NEX5 file and make it look good by carefully up-rez'ing it at or just before making a large print.  Yes, you will not have all the resolution "real" of a native sized-sensor, but... the eye can interpret local contrast as resolution and a good work can "appear" to be as good as something from a larger sensor, even when pixel peeping.  You have to be careful, but you can do it.  Using this approach on a Canon 5D MkII file can yield huge files of incredible quality.

Third, ... well... I'll save this for another post... so stay tuned.

It's alive!

My recently published Steampunk photographic work with Arthur Morgan and Etienne Barillier - French Steampunk Supremos/Authors/Editors - has been hung.

Le Salon Fantastique is ALIVE! from now through Sunday Sunday Sunday ONLY!!!

Come on down and check things out.  I'll be there again most likely Sunday afternoon.

Teaser ~ Salon Fantastique photo exhibition

This video is of still photos Arthur Morgan and I and a cast of very talented creative people worked to create.  Selections of this work have been published in Fiction #19 (France).  Original prints can be seen starting October 31st at the Salon Fantastique (Paris, France) - http://www.salon-fantastique.com/

If you're in town and happen to come by the show, please stop me and say "hi."  I'll likely be there Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Hauntings of Gothic Ghosts ~ Portfolio

My work titled Hauntings of Gothic Ghosts is hereby released in electronic form.

This work was first publised in 2014 by Lenswork Magazine in Extended #119.

During the interview Brooks Jensen and I talked about electronic distribution of photographic portfolios.  We talked about how PDF files are easily distributable and offer a new way of experiencing the photographic arts.  Given the quality of the displays on traditional computers as well as portable tablets photographs can be enjoyed in beautiful glory without the need to store paper or to find a place on the wall to hang an image.

I am offering for free a 12 image distribution of Hauntings of Gothic Ghosts.  You can find it here.

On the first page of the distribution there is an invitation for people to send me money to gain access to the full 70+ image work.  The free version can be considered an introduction to the complete work.

I also offer individual prints for those who prefer to collect their archival images in a more traditional manner.

In the near future there will be two more projects that I will share electronically.  One has to do with iron, rivets, and glass.  The second is a visual exploration of alchemy education recorded in stone as taught by the 13th century Catholic Church.  Behind these two works are yet two more projects.

So, if you like what you see in the Hauntings of Gothic Ghosts, rest assured that more is coming soon.

As they say in the movies, stay tuned.

Schedule of Events ~ 2014

Here is another installment of what to do when in France and how to keep your camera or your eyes happy.

• 9 Sept - 21 Dec ~ Eggleston's work at the Cartier-Bresson Foundation  (thanks to Al Arthur for the tip)
• 14 Oct - 8 Feb ~ Winogrand at Jeu de Paume   (thanks to Al Arthur for the tip)
• TODAY!!!  8 Novembre 2014 ~ Paris Zombie Walk ~ A wonderful defile of very creative people through the streets of Paris.
• November 29, 30 ~ Expo photo steampunk : Le Paris des Mystères ! ~ My images as part of a shared effort with many creative people will be shown during the Toulouse Game Show (Toulouse).
• January ~ La Traversee de Paris ~ nearly 700 old vehicles take to the winter streets of Paris to show off and to (sometimes) go fast.
• January thru March  ~ Expo photo steampunk : Le Paris des Mystères ! ~ My images as part of a shared effort with many creative people will be shown in Lille.  Stay tuned for further information.
  
• February 4-8 ~ Retromobile ~ A fabulous show of old/vintage vehicles
• February 15 ~ la Promenade de Boeuf Gras ~ A fabulous Carnival-style defile through the streets of Paris.
  
• March 15 ~ la Fete des Blanchisseuses ~ A fabulous Carnival-style defile through the streets of Paris.

If you know of something that needs to be added, please let me know.

• DONE (and was incredible!!!) September 20, 21 ~ Les Journees du Patriomoine - France opens to the public incredible places that are normally off-limits.DONE (and was fun) 4 to 19 October ~ Paris Mondiale de l'automobile.  I used to dream of visiting this as a child.  Now it's just down the street.  I HAVE to go, right?
• DONE (and was incredible!!!) September 20, 21 ~ Les Journees du Patriomoine - France opens to the public incredible places that are normally off-limits.
• DONE (and it was fun!) - October 31 to November 2 ~ Expo photo steampunk : Le Paris des Mystères ! ~ My images as part of a shared effort with many creative people will be shown during the Salon du Fantastique (Paris).

Exposition of images ~ Paris, France ~ 31 October

From friend and colleague, Arthur Morgan -

Expo photo steampunk : Le Paris des Mystères !

Je vous avais parlé il y a quelques temps d’une série de photos pour le magazine Fiction.

L’idée étaient de représenter des personnages célèbres de l’Histoire ou de la Littérature, version Steampunk, dans Paris (Fantomas, Mata Hari, Mina Murray etc).

Il a été difficile de choisir quelle photo devait être publiée tant le travail du photographe Christopher Perez était magnifique. Mais il n’en fallait que 10.

Nous avons donc décidé de faire une expo avec les autres photos.
Retrouvez les 10 portraits du magazine ainsi qu’une vingtaine de photos inédites dès novembre au Salon du Fantastique, du 31 octobre au 2 novembre 2014, Porte de Champerret à Paris.

Autres dates :

• De janvier 2015 à Mars 2015 : Librairie Les Quatre Chemins à Lille.

In short, the images published in Fiction #19 ~ Ete will be on display.  If you're not able to see the show in Paris, we'll be in Lille for three months at the first of the year.

 

Inspiration ~ Beth Moon

Last year there was a big exposition here in Paris in le jardin des plantes.  I missed it.  It was reportedly a nice show of Sarah Moon's work.

I was disappointed until I realized it wasn't her work that interested me.  The artist's name I'd confused should have been Beth Moon.  Two completely different countries.  Two very different cultures.  Two styles separated by a deep gulf.  I felt silly to learn I'd mixed the two names.  Growing old sucks.

I like simplicity and used to like Michael Kenna's 11x11inch silver prints.  His images reminded me of the Weston Family work and Good 'Ol St. Ansel's photography. As time passed I realized his work didn't really speak to me as deeply as others do.  It's likely related to the fact I've come to prefer the pictorialist approach to photography over literalist landscape or documentary approaches.


I'd first encountered Beth Moon's work in LensWork Magazine a number of years ago.  I was thumbing through the issue and stopped the moment I came across the first image of the series.  There was nothing to do but drink in the image, it's softness, it's light, it's powerful composition, it's beautiful realization.

She prints in platinum/palladium in a fairly large format.  While the medium enhances the presentation of her ideas, the high quality printing of LensWork left little to be desired.  Everything they shared was drop-dead gorgeous.

If ever I were to give up the complex, heavily layered, highly textured concepts and subjects I currently work in, my own approach would very likely shift toward the luminous, soft simplicity of Beth's.

Her work is a real inspiration.

How I work...

I love working with creative people.  Absolutely love it.  In fact, I rely on you because I don't have the resources you might to create amazing outfits or to find wonderful settings.


My wife and I (I include my wife in this as she is my assistant in the studio and on many location shoots) recently experienced something that made me realize it would be helpful to clearly articulate how I work in a collaborative setting.

I bought three hours of time in a studio hoping to get a couple solid hours of camera-work with a creative person.  I had several ideas and themes to explore.  Alas, our subject was a couple hours late.  I really wanted to work with this person but there was not time left.  Literally.  We needed to be out of the room within an hour and the subject was not camera-ready.

To avoid tears and drama here is how I work.


I like to trade my photography time for a subject's talent.  If money needs to change hands, I like to negotiate that well ahead of a shoot.

After talking through an idea and agreeing on a general theme I negotiate with you the time and place for creating images.

If we are working in a studio I need to make an appointment with the owner for a room.

I've found that three hours room rental works well for many shoots.  Once set, there is no changing as the studio is busy and it's difficult for them to accommodate last minute changes.  So I try to be as clear as possible when we negotiate time and place.  Additionally, I like to negotiate who will pay what portion of the studio rental.  Three hours is approximately 50Euros.


We trade mobile numbers so we can text in the event something has changed at the last minute, or if someone needs help finding the location.

Upon entry into the studio space my wife and I take 15 minutes to get settled, to greet our subject(s) and to set up the portable studio (lights, backdrop, camera).  Once everything is in place (in 15 minutes) the shooting can begin.

I realize that some subjects require a little time to finish getting made up or getting into their outfits.  I can be pretty flexible about the time these kinds of things take, particularly for the more complex themes or extreme implementations, but I like to negotiate this too as I'm sensitive about the amount of time we can get actually shooting.

Once we're all "camera-ready" and the shooting begins it takes me in my artist's way of working about 20 minutes for everything to start "falling into place."  Within an hour of entering a studio space all parties are "rocking and rolling.

I've found that talented subjects can bring one and no more than two outfit changes.  It's a little tight, but after two+ hours of shooting, we have a lot of material to work with.

Which is another thing to point out: I like to shoot a lot.  It's how I think.  It's how I work.  It's how I begin to "see" a final result.  Again, this is why I tend to be sensitive about the amount of time we can spend together actually shooting.


After we are done it takes my wife and I 10 minutes to knock down the studio.  For this we need to wrap things up no later than ten minutes prior to the end of our studio space rental time.

If any part of the team can't keep a commitment, it can really impact the success of a shoot.  This is why ahead of time negotiation is so important to me.  I rely on all team members to know what they are capable of and to be honest about what they can and cannot do.

These things hold true whether money changes hands or not.

Working this way allows all parties to come away with pretty amazing images.  It's taken me years to hone this approach, but it's pretty successful.  Professional results come from taking a professional approach with professional scheduling and professional execution.  It enables success in ways we seldom foresee.

I look forward to working with you.

Our tools... viewed from the producer side...

It has been over one hundred years since photographers were required to control nearly all aspects of image making.

"Back in the day..." an artist could build his own camera, cut his own glass plates, mix his own chemicals, break eggs, coat the plate, process an image, make a hand coated print, and hope the negatives were safe from breakage in transportation.  The only thing not commonly produced by an artist of the era was an optic.  But even a lens could be ground by hand and mounted into a hand-turned brass barrel if the artist so desired.

Increasingly, photographers handed over control of their craft to manufacturers who could produce adequate tools.  Lenses and camera bodies could be mass-produced while achieving strict tolerances.  Light sensitive materials transitioned from wet to dry plate, and then from glass plate to celluloid flexible substrates.

Occasionally an artist may still build his or her image making system, but for the vast majority of us we have no desire nor need to build our own equipment.  Similarly, painters no longer commonly build their own brushes nor mix their own paints.  They also don't seem to talk about their equipment as much as photographers do, either.

Reading on-line forums one might believe that camera manufacturers "simply can't get it right."  So many people seem to be demanding so many things.  To my way of thinking it's all too easy to complain when you've not taken the responsibility of tool production.

Flipping things around, what do the equipment suppliers think?  What do they do?  How do they consider us as artists?

Someone posted an interesting article where two of Canon's leading designers talk about these and many other topics.  It's worth a close read.

One day. One location. One photograph.

Working with creative people here in France has opened up into being an incredible experience.

Sometime I would like to write about how and why creative expression is so different in France from what it is in the US.  For this post suffice it to say that once I gained access to the artistic community, finding subjects eager to work with me has become a lot easier.

I am forever grateful to Arthur Morgan for personally introducing me an amazing group of people.  After our work was published in Fiction #19 (France) my association with M. Morgan gave me an all important Stamp of Credibility.  There's a French word for this.  I need to ask a friend to remind me what it is.

Recently, a friend of a costume artist I'd work with contacted me with the suggestion that we shoot in an old abandoned chateau.  How quick to you think I was to reply "hell yes!!!"?  Indeed.  I was very excited to be involved in the project.

We plotted and planned.  The project coordinator wrote in excellent English.  The model had a few interesting costuming ideas.  The makeup artist turned out to be someone we'd worked with.  Her boyfriend was interested in lending a hand on the project too.  Jude, my wife, was thrilled to come along after looking at a few images of the location.

On the day of the shoot we had several inauspicious events.  Jude bumped her head against a cabinet door that I'd left open.  The weather was to turn sour during our prime shoot time.  The chateau turned out to be at least an hour out of Paris by donkey cart or TGV.  I was unhappy to leave Jude behind but she needed to rest after her accident.

I kissed Jude goodbye and met Niko (aka: Project Coordinator and Abandoned Building Safety Officer) at his waiting donkey that was standing in front of our apartment building.  Into the saddlebags/boot/trunk (depending on which side of the Pond you live) went a tripod, light stand, cheap Chinese flash (I really need to get a better piece of equipment as I _know_ this thing will leave me High and Dry some day soon), huge reflector, large umbrella light modifier, RF triggers, spare batteries, camera body, and three lenses.

Just outside of town we could see a huge black cloud that stretched from horizon to horizon.  From time to time the sky lit bright with streaks of lightning.  Things did not look good.

Passing through the first wall of water was unlike anything I'd ever experienced.  We couldn't see the road.  We couldn't see any of the cars around us.  We swore we could see salmon trying to swim up-stream.  We didn't like the fact that it was August and these kinds of things Just Don't Happen pendant les conges annuels.  The drenching went on for far too long.

Eventually the Big Black Cloud finished having it's way with us and decided to move on to Paris to give everyone behind us an Equal Opportunity Drenching.  The Big Black Cloud would trap the model, the MUA (make-up artist), and her boyfriend just as they were leaving Paris.  It produced a enormous embouchon (traffic jam).

To me it was instantly obvious what needed to be done while awaiting the arrival of the rest of the team.  Exploring the site we learned from a man who used to live on the property (20 years ago) that the chateau had been sold and would be torn down in the next couple weeks.  Knowing this gave me a strong reason to get as much of it "on film" as I could.  It would be the first and last time I ever visited this most amazing place.

After working a couple hours with the model and team we packed up and headed back into town.  Greeting us over the Normandy horizon was the last of this year's Supermoons.  La lune hung in the evening sky guiding us back into Paris.

The following image is nearly straight out of the camera.  And this is just the Warm Up.  That's how good it was.  Magic.

Tintypes in the Park

Here is a wonderful opportunity to experience good old fashioned photographic processes.  If you live in or around Portland, Oregon in the USA, check this out.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Near the Southwest Park Avenue entrance to the Museum's sculpture court

Portland Art Museum

1219 SW Park Avenue

Portland, Oregon 97205

Emogene ©Ray Bidegain

Own a unique keepsake tintype photograph of you, your friends

and/or your family made by Ray Bidegain Saturday, August 9,

during the Portland Art Museum's Plein Aire Paint Out. This is a

fundraising event for the Museum's Photography Council and a unique

experience in portraiture!

Ray and assistant Greg Bell will set up a complete wet-plate photography studio

and darkroom near the Southwest Park Avenue entrance to the Museum's

sculpture court from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Each unique, hand-made 4x5-inch

likeness is just $40.00.

Come and participate in an event that is as much performance art as it is

photography and walk away with an "instant print" that will last

for generations!

Funds raised by the Photography Council are used to purchase

photographic works for the Museum's photography collection.

Please click here for more information about the Photo Council: http://www.portlandartmuseum.org/page.aspx?pid=435

For more information contact Ray Bidegain.

Confusion and doubt...

After a photoshoot where I wasn't entirely pleased with the results, I've thought long and hard about lighting and composition.

It helps to have a talented creative people to.  I rely on them, in fact.  Yet, if I don't my part, it doesn't matter how talented nor how creative a model is.

I was recently contacted by sean360x.  He was in town and was wondering if we could do a shoot together.  The theme would be steampunk.  We would share the studio rental costs so I said "sure."

The theme is one I'm familiar with.  It's my stock and trade these days.  In fact, my good friend Arthur Mogan asked me earlier this week for four more "steampunk-like" images for another Mook.  It will hit the streets on October 15th, 2014.  It's another wonderful opportunity and I can't wait!  The thought  of shooting more steampunk, however, left me feeling adrift as to how to proceed.

This year has been good for publications and my work.  For the past 12 month the latest work will put my publishing total at 5 (FIVE!) great opportunities.  First there was the LensWork #111 with my work on Paris cemeteries.  Then there were two issues of the Gimp Magazine where I gave tutorials and had a portfolio of work printed.  This was followed quickly by a large work of images that appear in Fiction #19 (a magazine book called a MOOK) here in France.  And now this newest prize.  Soon to be followed by gallery shows in Lille, Lyon, and Paris, yes, _that_ Paris!

Yet... and yet, I was not confident going into this latest shoot.

I worried about the lighting.  Some more.  I worried about composition.  Some more.  I worried about my ability to capture something shared between a talented creative person and myself in creating an image.  Some more.

As we started the shoot I shared these fears with sean360x.  He, as an Egyptian god, smiled, nodded, and we got down to the business of creation.

There was no firm creative ground to stand on.  I didn't feel at all confident about my abilities.  Which might explain many things about where I am with my art.  Constantly seeking, constantly trying to improve, and constantly studying the works of others while sorting out how to incorporate all these things into my own work stream makes for rather arduous going.

A rational question, the very first question that leaps to my mind, at least, is how to proceed in the face of uncertainty?

The answer?  I have no idea what the answer is.  Really.  I don't.

Perhaps the Magic comes of it's own accord?  Perhaps the Muse dictates what will happen and when?   It's very frustrating.

Whatever the reason, and very much in spite of myself, circumstances have conspired to confuse me even further.  A quick look at the results confirmed that we had come away with something amazing.  I can't wait to process more images from this most recent shoot.

Inspiration ~ Kirsty Mitchell

I never believed it could be so easy to contrast the consumerist/techno-worship culture of camera collection against true artistic photographic image-making creativity.

I am moved by the stories of art creation and with the incredible images of John Wimberley, Christopher Burkett, and Bill Gekas.   I wonder at the technical talents of Sandy King and Kerik Kouklis.  I miss my talented friends, Ted Mishima and Ray Bidegain.  I try to understand what drives their vision, practice, and try to incorporate aspects of their approach.

Going into a recent photoshoot with a fire breather and bellydancer I thought I had enough of a vision and image design to make the whole thing work.  Alas, I'm not sure of and am not yet convinced by the results.  It appears I need to pay more attention and to spend more time working on "seeing" images before picking up a camera.

Today I read Kirsty Mitchell's latest blog post about her last and final image in her amazing Wonderland series.  Here is a moving example of an artist exploring the depths of human emotion.  Photography is clearly the vehicle Mme Mitchell uses to express her feelings, and yet the tools of image creation are rather unimportant compared with her ability to design, craft, and create a fantastic world into which we're invited to step.

My creative world is rocked (as it is nearly every time Kirsty lets another image escape into the wilds).  My world is moved.  My vision thoroughly challenged.

How to apply what I appreciate and learn from her approach?

Inspiration ~ 1x.com interviews Bill Gekas

If, like me, you're interested in what motivates photographic artists, what they think about, and what they find important in their art, head on over to 1x.com and their interview with Bill Gekas.

I feel M. Gekas is one of the finest "classic" lighting strobists of present times.  It's well worth a read.

... and filed under the heading of shameless self promotion, the following image was made here in Paris of a friend who texted me to say he was in town for a few days, and, gee, it'd be fun to have a beer together.  Give me a small umbrella, a cheap Chinese strobe (seriously, I _must_ get a better strobe), and a camera with RF triggers and we can make just about anything into fine image.  IMNSHO, that is.

LOL!

It feels good!

A collaborative work between Arthur Morgan, Etienne Barillier, and myself and a cast of dozens of talented people has been released into the wild.  Fiction number 19, ete (summer) is a French fantasy/sci-fi mook (magazine-book).  It contains well written stories, articles, and, now, photographic portfolios of related subject matter.

Our series of images and words cover a range of ten characters and personages famous or infamous in French history and literature.  Arthur Morgan brought us together to recreate these people in a very Steampunk style.  We worked with talented creative costumers to bring the reinterpretations of history to life.  Everyone brought something rather special to the project.

From a photographic perspective, the effort covered a wide range of situations and possibilities.  We shot on location at the Palais Garnier (the old and still incredibly beautiful Paris opera house), Pont Alexandre III (of which more will be seen in my next major project), in the narrow streets of l'isle Saint Louis, Parc Georges Brassens, and in the studio.  We shot in the cold.  We shot in strong wind.  We shot in the rain.  We shot in small spaces.  We shot in vast landscapes.  All involved using strobe techniques to help isolate and properly light our amazing subjects.  Quickly followed by image processing (press ready) using the Gimp.

The entire project was shot and processed in three weeks in March, 2014.  That was the month before my wife and I returned to the US to clear out our "Plan B" storage unit.  We'd kept just enough furnishings and personal items to populate an apartment should Paris not have worked out.  This photo project was wedged into our lives and, well, the results are in the viewing.

Our work has been reviewed by Lorkhan et les mauvais genre.  Here is a translation of our portion of the review.

... And finally, the portfolio that struggled to convince in the previous issue is back, except that this time it is very successful! A collaboration between Stephen Barillier, Arthur Morgan and American photographer Chistopher Perez, offers us a gallery of the most famous characters from the imaginary (and also some real), the French, and the late nineteenth / early twentieth century, all mixed with a nice steampunk sauce. Fantomas, Dr. Mabuse Rouletabille, Arsène Lupin, Marie Curie, Mata Hari and so on, a real nice little collection, with an explanatory text for each of them, it is a real success!...

A real success, eh?  Right nice words, those.  Yes, we're thrilled.

I've put off posting outtakes from the project until September.  I'm doing this so that French readers have time to go away pour les vacances.  I'd like to share these images with as wide an audience as possible and feel I'll have everyone's attention after spending a relaxing month or two in the summer sun.

As has been said many times: Stay tuned!