Are we nearing the end of Photography as we used to know it?

[umslopogaas]

#59 pmartel

Yosemite? That word rings dim memories. I never saw it, but I recall some photographs. Would they be by Ansel (Ansell?) Adams? Made with a huge plate camera, Adams was a pioneer of exploration, I think, he went hiking round the American wilds with so much photographic kit that these days we'd need a 4WD to carry it all. Sadly, as usual, when I went looking for the items, I couldnt find them. If you have some, and can post them, I'd be delighted. I've drifted away from photography in the past couple of decades, but I sort of recall a vision of the work of Adams.

[Hornspieler]

Thirty-odd years ago when I was working on a government agricultural research station in Papua New Guinea, a friend decided to write a book on tropical land snails and knowing I was keen on photography, he asked me to do the plates (this will of course reveal my true identity to anyone lucky enough to own a copy, but I'll chance it, I think it quite unlikely that anyone will, it being a rare and very expensive item and not a subject of much interest to most of the contributors to these boards). We decided that 35 mm wouldnt give high enough quality, but then I discovered the station had a Linhof 3 x2" bellows camera buried in a cupboard: it had been bought for a long-forgotten project and hardly used. I persuaded them to let me borrow it. For those used to the convenience of modern digital photography, or even standard 35 mm, this sort of camera is a serious challenge.

umslopogaas:

I've only just read your message #58.

What wonderful memories!
We all tried DIY copying at one time or another, using our enlargers as copying stands or, like yourself, rigging up some sort of Heath Robinson contraption.

I cannot resist quoting from my poem "Life's Ambitions" :-

"Nostalgic dreams will dull the pain,
Of knowing what we failed to gain."

Tell us more, good people.

Hornspieler

[amateur51]

I am no photographer, being left-handed I find that all the knobs and levers are in the wrong place but I do admire good photography.

For those in London I would heartily recommend going to this exhibition at the Natural History Museum. The photographs are stunning and the accompanying text and technical descriptions will fascinate & inform those interested in such things.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/exhibition/index.jsp

Unfortunately I see that it finishes this weekend

[salymap]

that's interesting Am51. one of my cousins worked in the Natural History Museum for years and in the photographic department. When I worked in London I occasionally visited him there and loved seeing behind the scenes. As he's only two years younger than me he's long retired but I remember when we were children he was always collecting creepy-crawlies to photograph them. Not my thing at all, I'm afraid.

[umslopogaas]

#69 amateur51, seconded, that is a wonderful exhibitiion. Its been running for many years (used, I think, to be sponsored by British Gas?) and when I lived in the south east I would be sure to pay a visit. Alas, east Devon is a bit too far away, but anyone who is in the area, make haste before it closes.

[Hornspieler]

Here am I, spouting forth about photography and printing and find that, in spite of reading the forum's instructions most carefully, I am quite unable to actually include a picture in with my text when I submit a post.

So, will some kind soul please explain to this particular luddite how to do this? Please give an example of the correct syntax and show the visual to which the example instructions refer?

Thanking you in advance,

Hornspieler

[gamba]

Thank you Hornspieler, I 'm probably even more ignorant of these things than you. I HAVE been told, only for the information to go straight through & out the other side !

With you I shall eagerly await the outcome of your request & this time make a permanent record of the instructions.

[hmvman]

Fascinating thread. I'm still shooting film, mainly 2 1/4" square (6x6cm) format and haven't had any problems getting film. I've also taken up shooting on 5x4" sheet film. I have a lovely wood and brass field camera and shoot colour transparencies. It can be frustrating but when it all comes together the results are fantastic. It's expensive, of course so I'm very choosy about what I shoot. I also have a digital SLR camera and when I go out with the large format kit I take the digital as well so that I can take shots that don't justify the time and cost of the large format. But the digital is also a handy 'proofing' system in that I can take a number of digital shots of a scene before deciding where to set up the big film camera.

[Stunsworth]

So, will some kind soul please explain to this particular luddite how to do this? Please give an example of the correct syntax and show the visual to which the example instructions refer?

You can't do it directly. You need to upload the photograph to somewhere else on the internet - say Flickr or Photobucket - and then add it as a link in your message. If you do that correctly it will appear in the message.

I'm not at home at the moment, but if I have the time this evening I'll put together a 'how to' guide with illustrations.

The software used by the forum allows photos to be uploaded directly provided the facility is switched on by the admin. Reasons for not doing that might include the allowed bandwidth eaten up by downloading photographs. It's possible to limit the size of photographs, but even so it's the admin's decision.

[Hornspieler]

Fascinating thread. I'm still shooting film, mainly 2 1/4" square (6x6cm) format and haven't had any problems getting film. I've also taken up shooting on 5x4" sheet film. I have a lovely wood and brass field camera and shoot colour transparencies. It can be frustrating but when it all comes together the results are fantastic. It's expensive, of course so I'm very choosy about what I shoot. I also have a digital SLR camera and when I go out with the large format kit I take the digital as well so that I can take shots that don't justify the time and cost of the large format. But the digital is also a handy 'proofing' system in that I can take a number of digital shots of a scene before deciding where to set up the big film camera.

Useful to many of us. That's taking advantage of the best of both formats with the least possible expense.
Does anyone else have similar practices which would be of benefit to us all?

This thread is developing nicely (no pun intended)
Hornspieler

[Stunsworth]

Does anyone else have similar practices which would be of benefit to us all?

One thing I would suggest is that if you have an interest in black and white film photography, consider developing yourself at home. It isn't difficult, it's inexpensive, and you don't need a darkroom just a changing bag.

Of course you then need some way of getting the negatives into either a digital format by scanning, or printing in a wet darkroom.

When I was using film I'd say 95% of it was black and white, and I processed it all myself.

[Hornspieler]

A matter which concerns me is the attitude & outlook of almost all so-called photographic & camera clubs. I would dearly love to meet up with others who might share my love of this medium but cannot. Take a look at a typical local exhibition by members of almost any club & what do you see ? Landscapes, portraits, dogs, natural history etc., all of which have a sameness about them which seems to go on & on year after year. I would award them 95% for the quality of the picture & about 5% for the content. Many of the members that I have met appear to be more interested in their equipment than it's function. This of course is a result of most of them being 'guided' towards what photography is all about by the vast numbers of magazines on sale, all purporting to make a better photographer of you. You'll need the latest zoom, filter, close-up attachment, w/a or telephoto lens in fact, isn't it about time you updated your present model with the very latest & get all those extra pixels !

Encouraged by the pictures I saw from Lord Lichfield, I opted to buy an Olympus camera, which was made in Japan and had the superb Zuiko lens. I went from OM1 to OM2 and then on to digital; starting with a second hand C3030Z, soon I progressed to C5060WZ and C8080UZ.

I joined the Olympus User Camera Club and really enjoyed their OlympusUser magazine. Super quality, published by Archant Dialogue in Norwich. They published my article on colour slide duplicating and over the following years, found space for something like 30 of my photographs. I won a handsome prize in their monthly competition and when, in 2008, I told them that we were setting off on a Round the World Tour, they commisioned me to write an article called "Around the World with Olympus" They even sent me a brand new SP-550 Ultra Zoom (x 18) camera and a dozen memory cards to back up my own C-5060 and invited me to comment on its performance. The article was published in the 3rd quarter of 2008.

Almost exactly a year later, I received a letter telling me that the contract to print the magazine had been awarded to another publisher.

I even had to apply to re-register my membership. A magazine duly arrived, printed on inferior paper, less pages but a lot more advertising content - even for other photographic magazines and non-Olympus products.

That was the first indication that I had that all was not well with Olympus. Once a leader in digital cameras, I discovered that their new range, no longer manufactured in Tokio could not compete with the likes of Canon and Nikon for quality.

Now we know the truth. Cut price means a cut in standards. Olympus are done for and their magazine is only fit for ..... well, it is very thin paper!

Hornspieler

BTW Want to see the round world tour? You only have to ask by sending me a PM and I can forward it to you.

[umslopogaas]

#67 Paul Sherratt: that lot look closer to Charles Addams than Ansel Adams!

[Hornspieler]

For every 1000 Ansel Adams family members there's just in the O Winston Link house. ( Probably the the same for Otis Redding and O V Wright )


O Winston links

http://www.carolinaarts.com/owlink1-999.jpeg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5RMSFKJ0rR...nston+link.jpg

What on earth is all this about? Nothing to do with the demise of old photographic techniques and equipment, surely?

Please enlighten us.

HS

[Don Petter]

I have been much enjoying this thread, and was interested in the observations of gamba and Stunsworth regarding camera clubs. I had toyed with investigating such bodies, with a view to learning and improving my efforts, but am rather glad that lethargy ensured that this did not happen!

Actually, I now feel that I much prefer to find my own way, learning from mistakes along the way, in the manner of Grandma Moses. At least what results is an expression of myself, and no-one else.

I also like Lateral's mention of the 'paintbrush' and having no fixed rules. One of my favourite areas is that of shapes and patterns, and there is a particular interest where apparently unconnected items sometimes echo or relate to each other.


Here, your indulgence for a few examples.

Some patterns are easy, and you can take your time, as with the High Level Bridge in Newcastle:

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee507/Don_Petter/HighLevelBridge.jpg

As also with an un-touristy study of curves on the Sacre-Coeur in Paris:

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee507/Don_Petter/Sacre-Coeur.jpg

Others require some careful timing, as at the Foire du Trone, also in Paris:

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee507/Don_Petter/Funfair.jpg

More interesting are those where the results are not really seen until 'back at base', when shots taken on the spur of the moment reveal relationships which weren't noticed at the time. Only later did I notice that the caps of the two observers neatly echoed the two pairs of magnificent headlights on the cars in the paddock at a VSCC Goodwood sprint:

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee507/Don_Petter/GoodwoodPaddock.jpg

This example, taken from a boat in Venice, shows the angles of the man's plank and his leg uncannily echoing the angled oars logo on the cafe behind:

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee507/Don_Petter/Venice.jpg

Lastly, a Sunny Saturday morning in Paris brings an intriguing contrast of dress styles between the mannequins and the walkers, both seemingly eyeing each other:

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee507/Don_Petter/ParisianSaturday.jpg