The end of summer is in sight
and with that, a reminder that another semester of teaching photography at Durham
College approaches. I get mixed feelings at this time of year. I love the fall.
I really enjoy my “non-texting” students and being able to inspire them to learn
the craft of photography - but gosh, I sure love the beginning of summer a lot
more than its end!
Of late there has been lots
of opportunity to explore new themes with the camera (both digital and film
based). Shot some 35mm as well as 120 film and got some super images from the
new Fuji X-E2; a fine camera. More to come on these themes…
Events
This coming weekend I have a
show to do in Buckhorn: The Buckhorn Fine Arts Festival. The following weekend
is slated with another event. Here is the information on these two:
Buckhorn Fine Arts Festival:
August 15 -17, 2014
If you can, plan to attend the
Art Festival for a day trip, or vacation. While in the region, come and enjoy
the many attractions the Kawartha region has to offer.
Friday, August 15: Preview Night
Garden Party 7-10pm,
Saturday, August 16: 10 am - 7 pm
Sunday, August 17: 10 am – 5 pm
ENTRANCE PRICES
Admission Friday: $25 good for
re-entry all weekend.
Saturday & Sunday: Adults:
$7.00 Children under 12 free.
Art is available for purchase
using Mastercard, VISA, Interac (debit) and Cash.
Captured by Camera - Show and
Workshops: August 23, 2014
Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Buckhorn Community Centre
Presented by the Buckhorn
Community Centre (BCC), Captured by Camera is a one-day juried Photography Show
and Sale. Browse and buy images presented by the professional photographers,
and learn from the experts while you enjoy your lunch in air-conditioned comfort.
I am going to be presenting a
three-hour workshop on HDR (high dynamic range) photography. Other workshops
there will include a very informative three hours on panoramic photography
presented by Stephen Gilligan. This one should be packed with great tips and
ideas! Book early.
See the Buckhorn Fine Arts
website for further details:
Here’s
the info on this event:
Photography
& HDR Workshops
When:
Saturday August 23, 2014
Check
here for details:
Beaches JAZZ
As always this summer’s Beaches Jazz Festival featured fine new players
and some simply just new to me.
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| Drumhand • Nikon |
Once
again, Bill King, the artistic director of the Beaches International Jazz
Festival, did a remarkable job of ensuring that top quality and crowd-pleasing
musicians filled the streets with music lovers. There were a couple of changes,
the biggest being all the Kew Park stage events were moved a few blocks to
Woodbine Park, where several stages were set up and bands performed simultaneously.
The move was not an issue for me, as I actually enjoy the street-fest vibe much
better anyway. Always fun, always a great buzz.
On the street, many bands, including Jerome
Godboo, Dr Draw and the incredible KC Roberts and the
Live Revolution - who are always great. But this year I was particularly impressed
with the band Drumhand. They have been around for several years I guess. But in
the past I just didn’t get close enough to really experience their sound: Wow. This
is such a unique sound. Drumhand is an ensemble of five or six musicians who
infuse their ancient and new rhythms with the
most compelling music and musical instruments. I’m not going to attempt
describing that sound, but I urge you to sample it. They have web presence so
search them out. Take the Long Road indeed.
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| Drumhand • Nikon |
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| Drumhand • Nikon |
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| Drumhand • Fuji X-E2 |
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| Drumhand • Fuji X-E2 |
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| Drumhand • Fuji X-E2 |
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| Drumhand • Nikon |
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| Drumhand • Fuji X-E2 |
Here are some other images from that event:
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| Dr Draw • Nikon |
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| Dr Draw • Nikon |
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| Dr Draw • Nikon |
A guitarist from Cambridge called Conor Gains (of The Conor Gains Band) was backing up Jerome Godboo on guitar. Terrific player. Here he is in a couple of images shot on film.
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| Conor Gains • Nikon 85mm lens, HP5 film |
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| Conor Gains • Nikon 85mm lens, HP5 film |
A Fuji thing
No sense going into the whole digital
vs film argument once more. Film is, I agree, a constant pull for me and has
been discussed previously here, so I won’t pit the merits of one against the
other. And really, in certain cases no argument can be made. C’mon, with the
digital tools available today, would anyone seriously consider shooting “event”
photography with film? No. Clients want results fast. In many cases we all do. Shooting with digital
files is fast and images are delivered so quickly now…especially once the
workflow has been refined and perfected.
But film is so beautiful. When asked
what is the difference between a digital file and a negative I no longer search
for analogies such as analog (vinyl) vs CD (or any other digital sound quality) or, the
tonality of black and white film vs (even) a RAW digital negative. No, not doing that one either. I’m finished
with that.
Let’s just sum it up with these three
words: Film has soul. That’s it.
Really. And you only need look at both and then realize the truth to it.
K, that’s off my chest so now I can make
an about face and take the hypocritical stand of praising a certain digital
wundercamera: The Fuji X-E2!
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| Fujifilm X-E2 |
This mirrorless APS sized sensor camera
is small, fast to focus, fast to shoot, elegant looking and (most importantly)
has a sensor that is capable of capturing details and colours in a way unheard
of until now (by this camera guy). This is all made possible with the revolutionary
X-Trans CMOS sensor. No, it won’t deliver 36 megapickle files like the new
Nikon 800/810, but that is not a fair comparison. This thing can be carried
around all day without pain, making it a perfect camera to actually use for an
extended period of time. Travel anyone? One only has to use it for a day to see
what I mean.
It is just so sleek.
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| Fuji X-E2 |
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| Fuji X-E2 |
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| Fuji X-E2 |
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| Fuji X-E2 |
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| Fuji X-E2 |
By the way, the lenses are sharp,
growing in number and fast. Check out
the 56mm f/1.2! This is equivalent to an 85mm f/1.2 lens on a full-frame or
35mm camera - very impressive indeed! The
JPG files coming out of the Fuji X-E2 are so wonderful that some enthusiasts
may not even bother with RAW! Not so this guy. Then again no one could be
disappointed with the files straight out of the camera. Oh yes, this is a
company (whose film I still love) which is eager to please all users and their
service people back this up. The only negative (yikes, here we go again) is
that you better get an extra battery as you will want to shoot a lot.
Can a digital enthusiast be happy with
this small elegant camera? Yes. Just don’t expect it to replace a typical high
end DSLR for event shooting.
But enough with praise of things
digital - because it really is all about the image and the image is much more
than a piece of celluloid, or a flash card with a recorded number of bits and
bytes. Here are a few images shot both digitally and on celluloid, which I am
very happy with.
Coming up:
A new website. I am so bored with the existing one that of late I barely ever update it or market work with it.
My intention is a completely new look. Early this fall I hope.
The rest of this has only images with captions. Enjoy!
Thanks for reading.
