The ### Projects, they aren’t for me.

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This will come as no surprise to the people that know me, but I am pulling the pin on the 52 Week self portrait project, and the iPhone 365 Day project. I thought it would push me. I thought I would enjoy the challenge. I thought I might have grown up and wouldn’t get bored with it. I was wrong.

That said, I did manage 36 stunningly gorgeous self portraits. That’s a whopping 69.32% finished.

13/52

The iPhone 365 project was less successful. 50 shots so far, that equates to 13.69%. A massive failure in anyone’s books. Given the fact that I carry the bastard with me everywhere I go, it is a disappointment.

7/365

What does this mean for my photography? Bugger all really. I will still be out there pointing my light capture box at all manner of things, just not as part of a strictly regimented project. Having to meet a deadline isn’t one of my strong points and I get bored easily. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Something else it has shown me is the fantastic effort made by people like Kendra “Chapendra” Sundvall, who is on her 4th 365 Day project, and still going strong.

The uber talented Lakshal “Lucky” Perera, who last year produced some terrific work in his 52 Weeks Project.

Also, Andrew “Andrew G” Gunsberg is currently about 75% of the way through his own 365 Day project, and it has all sorts of goodness in it.

It takes a hell of a lot of patience, talent, discipline and creativity to finish these things off, and I don’t have an overflowing cup of any of them. I tips me lid to all the people out there doing this sort of thing. Well done.

N.B. If you know of other great 365D or 52W projects, let me know in the comments.

The Cameras of Apollo.

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I was wondering the other day, what sort of camera gear did they use on the moon landings? Well, the interwebs were at my finger tips, so off to Googleland to see what I could find. Turns out, there is loads of stuff out there, a hell of a lot of it about conspiracy theories, but amongst them, this little gold nugget.

The Cameras of Apollo.

Wonder no more. What a terrific collection of photographic gear they had. That beast in the photo above is a 500mm lens!

iPhone camera and apps equals fun.

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It may come as a shock to some people, the fact that I am pumping up the tyres of the iPhone camera, given my previous rants and raves on other parts of the interwebs. But rest assured, this isn’t a flip flop that Mayor Quimby  would be proud of. To me, the iPhone is the single best gadget I have ever owned. I love the gadget part of it. What it can’t do, with the help of the gazillion apps out there for it, is limited only by your imagination. But, as a mobile (cell for our US and other over seas visitors) phone, it is bloody terrible. I wont go into that here, as I have said previously, I have had many a tanty in other forums.

Onto the fun part. The camera and the amazing apps. At 3 megapixels, you aren’t going to be able to make a poster sized print out of the shots you take, but anything up to A4 will look pretty damned good. The selective auto focus is a great addition on the 3GS. But, what really makes it shine are all the apps at the iTunes App store. And there is a metric bucket load of them. Here are a few that I recommend.

Photoshop.com Mobile (Free) – Photoshop on the iPhone. It is pretty basic, but can get you out of trouble if you need to tweak exposure, saturation, contrast and many others. It also has a handy crop tool. A really great free app.

Mobile Fotos (A$5.99) – If you use Flickr and have an iPhone, this is virtually a must have. It will let you upload a photo, Geotag it, add it to groups and sets and loads more. Really worth the cost.

Gorillacam (Free) – This one is like the Swiss Army knife of camera apps. Bought to you by the people who make the Gorillapod flexible tripods.

Morelomo (Free) – If you love the Lomo look, go no further than this little app. Will take a digital imagine out of the iPhone and turn it into something from yesteryear.

Polarize (free) – Another retro type app. As the name suggests, this one turns the digital imagine into a Polaroid picture. Now shake it.

PerfectlyClear (A$3.99) – This one really surprised me. An auto correcting app, it does an amazing job on some of my photos. Sometimes, too amazing. Watch the over sharpening.

TiltShift generator (A$1.19) – No need for a tiltshift lens on the iPhone, this will do it for you. And it does a great job.

And here are but a few examples of what some of these apps can do.

32/365

31/365

25/365

18/365

So, if you have an iPhone and enjoy photography, you can certainly make some pretty snazzy images from the little pocket rocket, you just need to add steroids!

Sickr Flickr.

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Flickr fans may want to give this post a wide berth, although what I am bitching about isn’t exactly the fault of the good folk at Flickr, well I don’t think it is.

I can recall a day when I used to love to join in discussions in Flickr groups. They were helpful, informative, funny, controversial and a pleasure to be a part of. The last 12 months have seen things slide like a eel on a Teflon slippery dip. I don’t know if it is the groups I had joined, or all groups are suffering from the same general decline in the social aspect. In the past 3 weeks I have left 4 groups that I had been a member for for nearly the whole time I have been a part of the extended Flickr family. These groups were once like immediate family. You knew the other members well. You even socialised with them.

The reason I left each group was the same. It was less like a group of friends with a shared passion, and more like a bunch of teenage boys for ever trying to prove who had the biggest dick, which is terrific if you are an angsty acne sufferer with a backwards baseball cap, but less fun than a prostrate exam (this is supposition on my behalf, my back door has not yet seen a doctors gloved finger approaching)  for a 40 plus cranky bastard like myself. I miss the chit chat, the sharing of links to interesting photographic gold nuggets. I miss the willingness to share advice, experiences and equipment. I miss the friendly banter.

What has happened? I was going to point the finger at all the different types of Flickr user that piss me off, but I can’t see that doing anyone any good at all. Me sitting here whinging and ranting will no more fix things than if I could clone a pig to an eagle and finally stop people telling me I will take a great photo when pigs fly.

So, I ask you, dear visitor, is it just me? Have you found similar happenings on your travels around Flickr groups?

I’m off to find an eagle!

That'll do pig

100 Most influential photographers of all time

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When ever there is a list of the all time best of something, or, like this list, The Most Influential, there will always be debate raging right behind it. No Australian photographers made it into the list, which seems a little odd. Ansell Adams at #23? What do you think of the list?

100 Most influential photographers of all time.

An analysis of EOS-1D Mark IV autofocus performance

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Given all the problems the EOS-1D Mark III had with its auto focussing, you would have thought that Canon would have pulled out all stops to make sure their new flagship was with out fault. Rob Galbraith takes it out to test and the results certainly aren’t as good as I would have expected.

Rob Galbraith DPI: An analysis of EOS-1D Mark IV autofocus performance.


Photo by Rob Galbraith/Little Guy Media