Wednesday, January 28, 2015

15-1-28

Things that never happen when you shoot digital: the camera is "on" in your bag and the shutter release continues to release until the film has completely exposed itself to darkness wasting something like 20 frames of film. In the old days I would rewind the film leaving a tail and then rewind it back into a camera. In the 21st when you rewind film, even in my 20th century camera, it buries the tail. So I took my camera out today to take this photo, and the film had expired itself, shooting through 26 exposures or so in my bag. So I took this with the "back up" digital. I'm loading a Fuji Pro 400 into the film camera tonight. The experiment, with this hiccup, will continue.

Edit: I've recently noticed that my photos are changing in colour space through the uploading process. This one has way more detail in the shadows than the original and has a lot more blue in it. A couple of days ago the saturation was adjusted in the photo of the kid. There have been others. This never used to happen with Blogger. I may have to experiment and find another site to host this mess, or at least figure out if this is a Blogger specific phenomenon.

15-1-27


Friday, January 23, 2015

15-1-22

When I was a kid, pre-teen, my Aunt said to me, "I just bought a new Vette." My mind thought, "Corvette. Cool." It turned out is was the other "Vette," a Chevette. Her's was white. I'd have paid the extra $10 for the tan with brown racing stripes.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

15-1-20

Let's Make A Deal, simplified.

15-1-19


"The best camera is the one you have." - any number of people who talk about photography and what camera is the best camera have said that, or similar. And there's those who will call bullshit. Annie Leibovitz praised the iPhone 4 camera, and Apple has made 3 better camera since. My phone has a 20.1 megapixel camera in it. It took these photos today. My first digital camera cost more than twice as much as my phone did, was 3.3 megapixels, and I couldn't play Angry Birds on it, or make a phone call. I'd argue you couldn't really take a picture with it either but at the time it was not only the best camera because you had it on you, it was simply the best digital camera available.

At BlogScale™ they look alright, these pictures. If you see them full sized the noise is awful, the colours muddy, they are not the best pictures, but I only had the one camera on me, the one in my phone.

The best camera is decidedly not the one you have on you, but the camera you have on you is the best camera you have on you even though there are better cameras.

Though I would also argue that, on occasion, the best camera isn't the best camera. To that end I'm going to spend a week or so shooting film for this blog again. I've done it before. It means I don't have to update as often, it also means I don't update as often. The days are getting a bit longer and I might be daring enough to suffer the limits of short days and the single ISO of a loaded roll of film. Kodak Portra 400 in a Nikon F100, if anyone is keeping score. If it's genius I'll load a roll of T-MAX 400 into a Pentax Spotmatic and really push it. Sometimes the limitations of the tools results in building a better thing, if the limitations are understood. Film is magical, and limiting, and probably not the "best" tool, but it's a good tool.

That's probably still a week away.

Or maybe I'll start tomorrow.

I'll have to wait and see what camera I have on me when I find the picture.


Sunday, January 18, 2015

15-1-18


15-1-17

With a nod to Gursky, The Georgia Straight 1.

15-1-16

Floating in the void. Ferries at night are such wonderful, magical things.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Sunday, January 11, 2015

15-1-10

From the north.


From the south.


Friday, January 9, 2015

Thursday, January 8, 2015

15-1-8

I took exactly two photographs today. The other one looks pretty much exactly like this one. So that's that.

15-1-7

Less rain. More fog. It's been a strange winter.

15-1-6

Canucks over The Islanders, 3-2.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Saturday, January 3, 2015

15-1-3


15-1-2

Day 2 of the year and I'm already taking photos of the things I always take photos of. Old habits. This is a new lens. Cheap off craigslist. I've wanted something a bit "wider" for a while but I fear this lens might be a little soft. Since this morning I've adjusted the backfocus as much as my camera will allow for, this may sharpen things up in the future, I'm not sure. But it was cheap. Maybe I'll end up selling it cheap in a couple of weeks. I've done that before too.

Old habits.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

15-1-1

Another year. Another 365 photographs. One down...

14-12-31


14-12-30


14-12-29

The kid is learning French. I wonder if it's going to affect her ability to spell in English. But it doesn't seem to be affecting her desire to grow a desert plant. 1 teaspoon of water, no more, no less.