Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
While my wife was shopping I took the dog for a walk around the Cortlandt Town Center and came across these trucks behind Walmart. I’m not entirely sure what I found appealing in this shot. Maybe it’s geometric shapes? Or maybe the way the trucks recede into the background? Whatever it is I like it. It also demonstrated my new found liking for the 16×9 aspect ratio.
Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and 18-55mm kit lens.
I came across this rooster at Niese’s Maple Farm back in June, 2003. To me he looked rather annoyed (or maybe all roosters look like that?) – like a prisoner waiting for his opportunity to escape. I couldn’t figure out a way to avoid the chicken wire. If he’d been farther back I might have been able to blur it out, but he was right next to it. So the best I could do was to use the chicken wire to frame his eye.
Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and 18-55mm kit lens.
This was my September film camera and it gave me more problems than I’d anticipated.
I’d mentioned in earlier posts that compact, point and shoot cameras were appealing because they allowed me to focus more on the photograph, and less on the camera operation. At the same time I also mentioned that I disliked these cameras because they didn’t give me any feedback at all on what they were doing: e.g. what aperture was chosen, what shutter speed etc.
I knew that this camera had fairly limited functionality and began to think of it as a kind of point and shoot camera with interchangeable lenses that would give me the kind of feedback I needed. And perhaps it would, but after only using it once I found it a bit of a struggle – not so much because of the camera itself, but rather because it forced me to use it in ways that are not my custom.
I started off using it in the fully automatic, programme mode. This worked fine, but the combination of the camera and lens (I’d thought to use it with the rather slow Sigma 70-210mm f4-5.6 UC-II that my friend gave me along with the camera) in the fairly low, early morning light led to it at times selecting shutter speeds too slow for my liking.
So I thought I’d try it in shutter priority mode instead. I usually use aperture priority, but my beloved Minolta Hi-Matic 7sII is shutter priority and I have no problem using it. Just set the shutter and see what aperture is being selected and then adjust as necessary to get the aperture you want. Unfortunately the selected shutter speed is not shown in the viewfinder, only in the top panel LCD. So the process is rather: set the shutter speed, take the camera away from your eye; check the aperture; put the camera back to your eye; repeat until you get something you want. Annoying to say the least.
I must say though that when the conditions were bright enough the camera in programme mode did well. The picture of the horses below is a good example. They came around a bend in the trail and I didn’t see them coming until very late. I had just enough time to lift he camera to my eye and press the shutter release. If I’d had to think about the settings I would have missed the picture.
So my overall impression is that this is a fairly good beginner camera (probably perfect for the friend who gave it to me) and when the conditions are right (i.e. bright sunny day) can produce decent pictures. I’m quite satisfied with the pictures in this post. I also feel that some of my problems would disappear if I were to use the camera more and become more familiar with it. After all this was the first time I’d used it.
Now I have a bit of a dilemma: do I use this camera again (perhaps with a faster lens – I have a Canon EF 50mm f1.8) or to do I select another of my many camera as my October film camera? I think it will probably be the latter. I didn’t like using this one that much (I much preferred using my August film camera – an Olympus OM2-n MD) that, for now, I’d feel inclined to use it again. I may come back to it at some time the future though.
The first two pictures were taken within a five minute was from where I live; the second two at Rockefeller State Park preserve during a dog walk with some friends; and the last two at Law Park, our town park.
I was up early the other day and I was sitting in our living room as the sun rose on the other side of the lake. Just as it came up above the hills low, angled light shone in through our living room windows and fell on our coffee table; the blue and white ornaments on it; and the flowers in this blue and white pitcher.
Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 50mm f1.7.
It’s An Introduction to Camera Game: How to Seduce Women Through Photography and it’s described on Amazon.com as follows:
Photography is an art that is as enriching as it is seductive. It can open up new ways of looking at the world, train you to become more social, and create opportunities to meet an endless amount of attractive women. This guide will: Suggest the proper equipment needed to get started. Teach you techniques to become proficient using a camera. Explain different ‘projects’ that will make it easy for you to approach girls on the street and get them excited to be involved in your photos. Include tips on how to easily set up dates and seduce the women you meet. And much more… If you are interested at all in photography and meeting women, An Introduction to Camera Game is the best place to get started.
Thankfully the reviews are, with a couple of exceptions, universally bad. Even though I’m not a professional photgrapher, nor am I female, one of the comments pretty much sums up my own views:
As a professional (female) photographer, this makes my blood boil. There are already too many predatory photographers in this world who coax girls into “modeling” for them, when their intentions are simply to get a girl in an isolated setting and (usually) semi-undressed. This book encourages sexual harassment between “photographers” and models, and damages the reputation of the rest of the professionals in our industry. DO NOT purchase this book and support someone who thinks that photography is a means to “seduce” women.
