Looking Glass 10, originally uploaded by sugarock.
Strap your eyeballs in ladies and gents, for you are in for a hell of a ride. Some of the photos in sugarock’s photo stream are fantistic to look at, and some of the most original underwater photos I have seen.
Most excellent.
About 3 months ago, I decided I was going to do an experiment, and changed the way I used this blog. From being a blog primarily about my photographic adventures, I changed it into a blog about photographic news and happening from all over the interwebs. It started with a set of interviews I did, and just sort of kept going after that. My original thought was to give it 10 weeks and see how things went. Well it has now been 15 weeks and it has been pretty successful, visitors have increased by a factor of 5, and I have heard some pretty good comments about it.
Well all good things come to an end, and that is the case for the blog. I wont be putting as much time into it as I have over the last 15 weeks. I will still post things which I think are interesting, but less often, and maybe multiple items per post. Despite the amateurish feel to this blog, it is a bit of work, and I find I am stressing trying to find things to fill the pages. I think it also takes me away from photography at times.
So, look forward to more write ups about my own personal experience behind the camera, or in front of it, and less of me copying and pasting random links from around the globe.
And now, here is a photo of a birdeee. đŸ™‚
I hope I don’t ruffle too many feathers!
This years Photo5 is changing according to the website.
http://www1.canon.com.au/worldofeos/photo5/
Keep an eye on the web site for details in September, and good luck.
Here are some great examples of iPhone photography. Really, check them out, they are terrific considering it is a 3MP camera phone.
Another interesting article about the ethics of photo manipulation. Not so much about should you or shouldn’t you, but more about the ethics of doing manipulation on journalistic photography. Like I said, an interesting read.
The Financial Times have a terrific article about the return of Polaroid film.
FT.com / Reportage – Bringing back Polaroid’s instant film.
7/52, originally uploaded by norbography.
May as well get the 52 week project out of the way early this week.
This one is about the wonders of fill flash. I was trying to explain it, and not very well, to a work mate the other day, and promised him I would take a photo that showed how it works.
This is as good as I could do.
… can you tell the difference?
Let me preface this little rant by saying this. I am not a world beater when it comes to photography. I doubt that I will ever make photography my full time job. I love it as a hobby, but I am not sure I want to turn it into work. That said, I know I can take a reasonable photo. Ansel Adams I am not, but I think I take a better photo than Aunty Mary after a few Sherries at the family wedding. I could be wrong.
Now, to the rant.
I have had a bug up my arse for months about this. Bull shit artists selling ordinary photos. It seems to me that there are loads of, lets say, mediocre at best photographers out there that are selling photos for big dollars. How are they getting away with it? Could it be that people are not aware what they should be paying for photos? Probably not, after all, what should you pay for a photo? Some people will say “let the market decide.” I agree, but purchasing a photographer, and photos, isn’t something we do every day like buying your lunch. How many people do you know who have been unhappy with the price of their wedding photos? I was! I got married on a beautiful beach, and yet the photos we got were ordinary at best. We didn’t pay a lot, but I still don’t think we got value. At the time, I knew a little bit about photography, and still managed to stuff the decision up.
So if I manage to make a bad decision, with some knowledge of photography, what chance does Joe Public have? Especially when faced with an over confident photographer who’s real skill is selling, not photography? Time and time again I have seen photos from photographers who really know how to pump up their own tyres, and when you look through their portfolio, you wonder what people see. Obviously they are seeing photos that are better than Aunty Mary’s last effort, but are they really worth the asking price? I know that a lot of time goes into post processing and sorting through photos, but quoting the same hourly rate as a brain surgeon is a little bit ridiculous. I know also that there is some skill involved, but the salesman photographer usually doesn’t possess that much skill when it comes to photography. Photoshop is his best friend. Too often you see some faux vignette added to a photo. Why? A tilted photo, Aunty Mary’s speciality, is seen as some sort of artistic expression!
Now I realise that there are some damned fine photographers out there. I know quite a few of them. There are also the gear heads. A person with $10,000 worth of the latest gear, isn’t necessarily a great photographer, no matter how much they say they are. I know that people are going to fire back that I am jealous that I don’t sell my mediocre photos. Fair enough, but if I can save one person from being robbed by these over confident sales reps, well I will have done my job.
You may be sitting there thinking what was that all about? Well, just know this, I feel better for getting it off my chest. Don’t listen to just the photographer, ask around. Ask friends. Ask work mates. Be informed and you might not get stung like I did.
A couple of years ago, my neighbour was mowing another neighbours lawn, when he saw this weird car go by with what looked like a huge Chuppa Chup on top of it. He didn’t know it at the time, but he had been snapped by Googles street view camera.
It still boggles my mind to think of what Google have managed to, and continue to do. I think it is very cool that my car appears on Street View twice. I can see the house I grew up in. Where my mates live. This photo below has a story.
I rang one of my mates whilst I was walking to the pub. He asked me where I was. I told him Bourke. He then asked for the street I was on. I told him the corner I was on and he said he could see the pub. I turned around and was about to mention the green Thirsty Camel sign when he said “Can you see the Thirsty Camel sign?” Google street view has been to Bourke it seems. đŸ™‚
Check out this link below for a very interesting article.
Art Fag City » IMG MGMT: The Nine Eyes of Google Street View.
Some fantastic shots of balloons over at The Frame, a site not unlike the Big Picture.
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