Agan Harahap has taken superheroes and villains, and placed them into various historical events. [link]










See: [link]

Although I've never had any formal training in photography I've chatted to others who have and also my daughter went to art school for a few years.
The students I've talked to told me of teachers who push conceptual art and whose own photography wasn't that great. A case of "those who can do, those who can't teach"?
I don't know but none of the students I talked to were particularly impressed with their courses. Still, I suppose it looks good on a CV and is a way of networking.
For real world work though, I find dA to be better than a degree course. I've learned more in my 20 months on here than I could ever have learned in a tertiary institute.
To follow are some of my observations on why dA is such a great place of learning (yes, I'm having a quiet day at work, which is where my rambling journals originate)

Declines

When I first joined dA I used to get quite precious and offended if I ever get a submission declined by a group. "How dare those peasants decline my masterpiece!!??"

I would leave a group if they regularly declined me, I quit #The-Yard-Collective twice

Months later, after I had grown as a photographer, I looked back on a lot of those photos and realised they weren't that great. I've noticed that photos always seem to look better to me soon after I've taken them, but if I review them weeks later they often don't look so good.  So I tend not to submit photos to groups that I've taken recently. If a recent photo appears in a group it's usually because someone in the group has requested it or because I think it's a fricking masterpiece (but I'll come to my senses and delete it in a week)

Groups will usually give you a reason for a decline if you ask and this can be a learning process for you.
Leave your ego alone and listen to what they have to say, we can all learn something and you're getting free advice. Often from photographers that are far more talented than university lecturers.

As with anything, there are a lot of cliches in photography. We've all seen hundreds of old buildings reflected in the glass of a skyscraper, thousands of photos of Converse Chucks, millions of leaping teenagers. The street photography equivalents are photos of beggars, poster shots, couples kissing, generic photos of people on the streets with no story or other interest about them and so on. Often these get declined as the mods have seen a dozen similar photos that same day.

I'm still learning and often don't take my own advice, see my comments on this photo


Technical issues are another reason for declines. My early uploads were pretty horrible and Mary would often tell me off. I was never offended by her making criticisms as I respected her work so much. And she was right, I needed to spend more time on the technical side of things and I'm slowly improving.  
So that was a case where I learned from criticism and grew as a photographer from it, rather than getting bent and telling her to shove off

With that in mind, I noted a new photographer to dA when I saw his amazing photos had added sepia and vignetting. IMHO it spoiled what were wonderful photos. He could have told me to shove off but took the advice seriously and as a result a lot of people said his gallery was much better and soon after he got a DD after only a few months on dA.

So don't get bent if you get declined or someone offers criticism, treat it as a learning process and strive to improve then upload those wonderful, new improved photos!

PS Here's a couple of tips - if you want more money without working any harder:

And if you want to be thought of as a great photographer - stop submitting every photo you take and just choose the very best to upload.
None of the above applies to me of course

Thought for the day: Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photo of the day: from a stalwart of dA, the very talented

The street photographer – a schizophrenic, scientific serial killer?

Two things made me think of this connection – a documentary which covered the various types of killers: those who kill from afar (by bombs or by shooting with a hunting rifle) the closer kill, such as a pistol shot, and the close up killer who enjoy watching the victims face as he thrusts the knife in.

The best street shooters are the latter, they want to smell the perfume and see the facial expression before they shoot.

One of the many symptoms of schizophrenia is being captivated by details. Some drugs mimic this, hence the stereotype of the spaced out hippy contemplating a flower.

This is also a characteristic of the street photographer. We can be confronted by a mass of hundreds of people on a city street but we notice the small, unusual things – those two are about to kiss, that homeless person is wearing an expensive watch, that tattoo mimics the dress pattern.

But being able to see these things and then capture them is another thing.

An understanding of geometry, perspective, the rules of composition (and when to break them) is needed.

Then the often hugely complex operation of a modern camera, it seems you need a degree to work them! I've had my Nikon DSLR for over a year and am only coming to grips with all the functions, and it's not a 'top of the line' model. Life was simpler with my old Nikon F2 film camera!

A certain degree of fearless is also needed. If I had a dollar for every shot I missed due to not being able to put the camera up to my eye and shoot I would be rich. But the memory of these missed shots (the one that got away is always the best and biggest, same as fishing!) drives me to just shoot regardless of my fears. Also I've learned to not think too much. If there is the possibility of a good shot then just shoot!! The scene will evaporate in a fraction of a second, never to return.

But all that is still not enough.

Something, indefinable to me, needs to be present in the best. The "eye" is how best I could describe it or the "smell" of the streets.

An example, which doesn't include a photo but describes the concept: I was walking down a street in Asia many years ago. I saw an old woman beggar sitting on a piece of cardboard with a rusty can in her hand. I looked at her, she looked directly at me and I saw my mother's eyes! In that moment time froze and I had a deep appreciation of her situation and the realisation that it could easily be me there.

Of course, as well as the bleak scenes, there are the many joyful ones that celebrate our life on this crazy planet we call home. I prefer those nowadays.

Street photography is like a kind of meditation on life. Our senses are so finely concentrated on seeking out "the shot" that we forget about our mortgages, disappointments and the unfairness of the world.

I feel the same when I'm fishing, the two activities have similarities.

So why do we shoot street? We would all have different reasons - for some it's for ego, acceptance, to show their view of the world, a drive to create, to communicate.  For me it's like a meditation, as above, for fun and also when I pass I want my children and my children's children to be able to look at my photos and know that I was more than just a father or grandfather, that they can see my world through my eyes.

Why do you shoot street?

When you're in the right place at the right time and all the planets align you get a photo like this, still my favourite from dA:



What's your favourite?

Young Doug hard at work, using a densitometer



I worked in photo labs when I was a young fella in the 80s. Firstly at Kodak then at a more professional lab then 'man about town' for a chain of labs.
Kodak was interesting - I worked in Auckland at the main C41 lab (colour negative) for the whole of New Zealand and we processed up to 5,000 rolls of film a day at the peak Xmas period.

The film came in via couriers and the cannisters were opened and spliced into rolls of dozens of films. These were then fed into the huge developing tanks and wound their way up and down through the chemicals.

Now the utmost stressful time at Kodak was when either the splice failed or the film broke and the whole chain of film going through the tanks stopped. Alarms went off, red lights flashed, it was what we all dreaded! So, in total darkness, we had to very quickly find the break, repair it and start the process again ASAP as all the films in the tank were getting cooked until we started again. If we left it too long then dozens of films would be ruined. It was terrible and we all dreaded those moments. We had night vision goggles but they were cumbersome and we mostly preferred to work by feel and instinct. We were supposed to wear gloves but that affected the "feel" that we needed in the dark and to work very quickly.
I still have nightmares about fumbling in the dark, trying to find the break, up to my elbows in toxic chemicals, and trying to repair it very, very quickly...

Once the films were developed they were taken to be printed. They were printed on large semi-automated machines and the operators viewed each negative and applied any corrections to density and colour balance that were needed. Once there was a roll of prints ready (about 600mm wide) another operator viewed them and wrote on the print any further corrections needed (+1 density, -2 cyan etc) before they went back for reprinting.

Most people may have assumed that all this was done without anyone viewing their films, so we did get the occasional home porn that was a bonus as porn was banned in NZ at the time (even Penthouse magazine was illegal here when I was a teen) I particularly liked the wedding night photos My least favourite was a couple who regularly send in a roll of home porn and they must have been about 80 years old!!

In between all this fun, we had to calibrate the printers and analyse the chemicals etc  - and develop and print our own films

While I was there Kodak unveiled their new Disc film format [link] We spent a lot of time setting up a new area to develop these  new films and Kodak promoted them heavily.
They were absolute crap. Terrible, terrible things - the negatives were only 11mm x 8mm and the results were horribly disappointing to customers who returned them to us to reprint, but there was nothing we could do as it was the format, not the developing and printing. The format and the cameras were discontinued later.

Worst moment ever in my career as a Photographic Technician - a woman came back from a world trip -  the holiday of a lifetime! She bought a new 110 camera [link] another crap format that used tiny film. The cameras were long and skinny [link] Well she arrived at the lab with maybe 50 rolls of film, she was so excited to see the results. We processed the film. and discovered she held the camera the wrong way around and had taken 50 rolls of film of her left eye!!!

Eventually, due to the introduction of 1 hour photo-labs, Kodak closed down their large labs, but I was gone by then. But that's another story

Brian Brake (1927–1988) was one of New Zealand's most internationally successful photographers.

Brian trained as a portrait photographer in 1945. Three years later he joined the Government filmmaking body the National Film Unit as an assistant cameraman. Brake worked on 17 films at the Unit, mostly as a cameraman, occasionally as a director.

He left New Zealand for London in 1954. In 1955 he met Ernst Haas and Henri Cartier-Bresson, members of the photo agency Magnum Photos. This led to his acceptance as a nominee member in the same year, and full membership in 1957. He remained a Magnum photographer until 1967. He worked as freelance photographer in Europe, Africa and Asia until the mid-1960s, when he began working more exclusively for Life magazine.

He is best known for his 1957 and 1959 coverage of China (where he was allowed an unusual level of access), his 1955 photographs of Pablo Picasso at a bullfight, and his series "Monsoon" of photographs taken in India during 1960.

















[link]

Sorry if you're in a freezing winter and this makes you feel worse
Actually it's raining here anyway
These images are from last year's New Zealand Herald 'Summer Holiday Photo Competition 2010' and are reader's photos from their Xmas holidays.
I think they very nicely sum up the feeling of our December\January holiday period.

















See all the entries: [link]
This years entries are trickling in: [link]


(all images copyright of the respective owners)

...and a smattering of street photography and other observations then head over to Jonathan Ganley's 'point that thing' [link]

Jonathan has been documenting the indie scene since the 80s and has an incredible resource of great photos.

And all on film! We worked together at Kodak in the 80s as he's as passionate about his photography now as he was then - and it shows.









[link]

Well after my first big test of my new camera I discovered about 10% of the photos were WAY out of focus
I'm not exactly a noob to photography so I wanted to find out what had happened and looked on a few forums that discuss the X10. Other owners had the same problem....uh oh...

I wrote to Fujifilm and they replied:
"They (he means the Fujifilm technical people) are currently investigating the issue as it has been raised by several users globally, and identified by a number of media reviewers.
As you may be able to appreciate resolving a software bug is not an simple thing and requires significant post update testing to ensure the fix works, and doesn't affect other features.
I am aware of at least one new firmware update already available on the support site, have you updated your camera to the latest software?"

My camera already had the latest firmware installed so that wasn't the problem.

The dealer I bought it off said:
"Firstly we discovered how the camera focusses, which is via Contrast Detection (and quite a lot of the Mirror-less Cameras use this system), this system works by traveling through the entire focal range twice and then working out where the sharpest point is. Sounds like a long-winded exercise but the modern cameras have sped this process up considerably (mostly by using lightweight focus elements with in the lens) The drawback is two-fold, one it may not be 100% accurate and the second issue is that in a haste to get the photograph the camera will allow you to fire when it hasn't completed it's 'focus-run'. I personally found this and it would shoot when it wasn't actually in focus. It was listed as one of my (only) gripes with the camera. Compact digital cameras have been using this system of focus for a while now but there smaller sensor allows a greater depth of field so the focus doesn't have to be as accurate. DP Review spoke of this when they reviewed the X10 and queried the use of a Contrast Detection Focus System as opposed to the Phase Detection (used in the Fujifilm X100) System. My tip to you would be to allow it a little longer to focus and see if that fixes it."

As I said to him, I use the camera for street photography so I can't muck around waiting for it to focus or I'd miss the shot! It does work fine for 90% of shots, but the 10% out of focus might include a masterpiece! It's like a fisherman with 'the one that got way'

Hats off to Fujifilm though, they said "Let me know who you are dealing with at WPS and I will help sort out the credit through them."

So they are quick to accept responsibility for the fault and to offer a credit. The dealer though has offered a store credit which I don't want. I want a full refund, but hopefully that won't be a problem considering I have it in writing from Fujifilm that there are issues with the camera and they are prepared to give the dealer a credit.

So I won't be so quick to be an early adopter of new technology again, I'll wait until a camera has been on the market for a year or so and any bugs are fixed.

What a shame as, apart from these issues, it is a beautiful camera.

I needed a replacement for my Canon G11 which got a couple of scatches on the lens, so after a lot of research I decided on the new Fujifilm X10, it just arrived today



It's a beautiful camera with a magnesium alloy body, retro styling and perfect for street photography.
I'm looking forward to heading downtown and trying it out later today





X10 website: [link]

As I take a lot of my street photos downtown I mostly use a DSLR as people are used to seeing tourists with cameras, so it seems normal behaviour to be taking photos there. I chose the Nikon D3100 as it is Nikon's smallest and most compact DSLR. It's considered an entry level model but it's perfect for what I do (except I'm not that happy with the auto focus...but being a DSLR manual focussing is easy)
But the Fuji X10 will be great for those times when I need to be more invisible

...................................
UPDATE 26 NOVEMBER

I went out today and took a few hundred shots. Over 30 of them were WAY out of focus!
I've contacted Fuji to see if there is a problem with my camera or if it is a desgn fault. Will post an update once I know.

It's called "Rhein II" and was photographed by Andreas Gursky, and it sold on Tuesday night for $US4.3 million at Christie's [link]
That easily broke the previous record set by Cindy Sherman's "Untitled #96" which sold at a $3.89 million price point in May.


[link]
Gursky's photo is also the reason you should have become an art broker, like yesterday.

Our Street Photography GM seems to be AWOL, so I'm going to feature some of what I consider to be some of the best street photographs I've seen recently. To keep the journal not too big I'll just put 10, but more to follow...


As I said in my comments this is like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, I love it!




This one makes my head spin - I keep going back and looking at it over and over




Pete is new to dA but has a lot of talent, as evidenced by this beauty:




Classic street from a great steepher!




I love street which has a graphical impact. Although he's filed this under conceptual it still has a street flavour to me




A passage to Peru




And a cunning optical illusion




The Italians seem to have a great sense of humour




Great humour but a touch of the macabre as well


:thumb197306087:

OK, I'm going to cheat with this one as it's not uploaded to dA but it is from a well known dA member. Isn't this incredible??




Also, see DD36 gallery, which supports street photography even from non-members of that group. Apparently instigated due to the lack of support for street photography from dA recently...

Darcy Padilla - The Julie Project [link]

I first met Julie on February 28, 1993. Julie, 18, stood
in the lobby of the Ambassador Hotel, barefoot, pants
unzipped, and an 8 day-old infant in her arms. She lived
in San Francisco's SRO district, a neighborhood of soup
kitchens and cheap rooms. Her room was piled with clothes,
overfull ashtrays and trash. She lived with Jack, father
of her first baby Rachael, and who had given her AIDS.
She left him months later to stop using drugs.

Her first memory of her mother is getting drunk with her
at 6 and then being sexually abused by her stepfather.
She ran away at 14 and became drug addict at 15. Living in
alleys, crack dens, and bunked with more dirty old men
than she cared to count.

For the last 18 years I have photographed Julie Baird's
complex story of multiple homes, AIDS, drug abuse,
abusive relationships, poverty, births, deaths, loss
and reunion. Following Julie from the backstreets of
San Francisco to the backwoods of Alaska.

[link]

Matt Stuart is a British street photographer - wow, check out his site:

[link]

David Peat is an award-winning documentary film-maker from Scotland. Travelling across the globe for the past 40 years, he has also been building a huge portfolio from his passion for street photography.

But the 64-year-old had never enlarged any of the pictures beyond tiny contact sheets until two years ago, when he was diagnosed with Myeloma, an incurable cancer.

Not wanting to leave thousands of uncatalogued, unseen images lying in boxes he began going through the collection. The photographs are now the subject of an exhibition at the Watermill Gallery in Aberfeldy, Perthshire.

[link]
[link]

Visiting a national park in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, award-winning photographer David Slater left his camera unattended for a while.

It soon attracted the attention of an inquisitive female from a local group of crested black macaque monkeys, known for their intelligence and dexterity.

Fascinated by her reflection in the lens, she then somehow managed to start the camera. The upshot: A splendid self-portrait.

Another monkey took the camera, at first it scared the rest of them away but they soon came back.

"He must have taken hundreds of pictures by the time I got my camera back, but not very many were in focus. He obviously hadn't worked that out yet. I wish I could have stayed longer as he probably would have taken a full family album."

Read more: [link]





Read more: [link]

Cool website: [link]

Dear Photograph,
Thank you for everything we had.



Dear Photograph.
We had nothing, but you gave me everything. Thank you for your never ending love.  



Dear Photograph,
Me and my first bike. The bike I have now goes a little bit faster.



Dear Photograph [link]

What The Duck [link]

Analogue artists defying the digital age

Dusty vinyl records, vintage film cameras, rickety typewriters and antiquated recording equipment … these are the creative tools being used by some emerging artists. Pure nostalgia? Or a laudable refusal to escape the speed and sanitised perfection of contemporary digital culture?

With indecent haste, the digital revolution has consigned many of our once-cherished artefacts to the dustbin of history. Though enthusiasts and obsessives have stayed loyal to pre-digital formats, for the rest of us it feels like the vinyl record, the photographic print, the Polaroid camera, the analogue recording studio and the darkroom have been cast aside, rendered all but obsolete by a digitally driven culture that devours all that preceded it. Soon, we are told, the newspaper and the book may share the same fate.

The young artists featured here – a poet who composes on a typewriter, a musician who has built an entirely analogue recording studio, a photographer who shuns digital for manual vintage cameras and an artist who DJs on a gramophone – are all, in their different ways, reacting to digital culture's fast-forward momentum. Are they driven by nostalgia for a past they did not live though and in retreat from a present that makes them uneasy as it makes everything easier?







Full article: [link]

Most people spend time with their grandmothers by drinking tea or watching TV, but one photographer has found a novel way to entertain his - by dressing her up as a superhero.

Instead of queuing at the Post Office, Sacha Goldberger's 91-year-old grandmother Frederika dons a cape and spandex suit to become superhero alter-ego 'Super Mamika'.

Photographer Sacha, 41, had the idea four years ago after his Hungarian-born grandmother became lonely and started to show signs of depression.

Sacha said: "It started as a way for us to spend time together. We have always been very close and she would often stay with me. I was wondering how to find a way to be with her and make her happy"

[link]
[link]

I recently started scanning and uploading to Flickr some old family photos that belonged to my mother.

I love the charm and simplicity of these old photos.

And some of them stand alone as just great shots!

   

   

   

   

   

Flickr album: [link]