In New York City – The Skylight Diner

by Posted in Black & White, Buildings/Structures, Photographs, Photography Leave a comment
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By this time in my walk I had been walking around for nearly three hours and I was feeling tired and hungry. So I looked for something/somewhere to eat. I realized that coincidentally I had walked to the largest (I think) photographic store in New York: B&H Photo. It occurred to me that I could find somewhere close by to eat and then after that have a walk around B&H. Then I could return to wherever I found and have a coffee while waiting for my granddaughter to arrive. Looking around I discovered the Skylight Diner, just across the road.

It bills itself as “The Best Diner in Manhattan”, which might be true since there aren’t many classic diners left in Manhattan. I went in and found a very pleasant diner with, to my surprise, a number of nice black and white (i.e. monochrome) prints on the wall. I ordered a full English breakfast. The bacon was American style rather than my preferred English style (less smoky, less salty and more meaty), both other than that it really hit the spot. After I’d finished I went off to B&H. Amazingly I overcame my Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) and didn’t buy anything. Then, as mentioned above returned to wait for my granddaughter.

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Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II

Trying out Infrared Photography – A New Photobook

by Posted in Photographs, Photography, Reading Leave a comment
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I was now producing reasonable infrared photographs. But this was, after all, coming from a 20 year old camera with an old 8 megapixel sensor. Sure the pictures looked OK on screen, but how would they look printed?

So I decided to make a photobook and found that the answer to the above question was…not at all bad!

So far my efforts have all produced black and white images. My next attempt will attempt to produce the type of false color pictures often associated with infrared photography.

And I’m enjoying infrared photography so much that I’m seriously considering acquiring a modern, infrared converted camera.

Stay tuned.

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Interesting video

by Posted in Photographers, Photographs, Photography Leave a comment

Back in April I posted about a photographer, whose work I generally respect, but who seems to have a strong aversion to people who use phone cameras (See: A rant). He seems to feel that you can’t be a ‘real’ photographer if you use a an iPhone. In another post (See:You’re a photographer. You’re not a Photographer) I noted that I don’t feel that the quality of your photograph depends on the tool you use.

So I think that this guy should take a look at the above video, which contains some amazing photographs taken with an iPhone.

His website can be found at Eric Mencher Photography.

Confused by Sony cameras. This will help.

by Posted in Cameras, Photography Leave a comment

I have a number of Sony cameras, both full frame and APS-C, but I’ll be the first to admit that Sony offers so many options: full frame vs APS-C; low cost vs expensive; still vs video; hybrid; optimized for video; optimized for stills; optimized for fast action etc. that it can be difficult to choose.

I find this video from Tony and Chelsea to be incredibly useful in sorting out all of the options.

You’re a photographer. You’re not a Photographer.

by Posted in Photography, Thoughts Leave a comment
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Earlier this month I published A Rant. I let loose on a photographer whose work I largely respect and admire except when he goes on at length along the lines of “Your not a photographer if you use an iphone; don’t print your work; don’t use a sophisticated camera etc. You can fill in the blanks.

He’s at it again, this time on his YouTube channel.

This time he made me think about who is a photographer and who isn’t. He seems to feel that unless you reach a particular standard (presumably defined by him) you’re not fit to call yourself a photographer.

I don’t agree.

As far as I can tell a photograph is “a picture made using a camera, in which an image is focused onto film or other light-sensitive material and then made visible and permanent by chemical treatment, or stored digitally.”. Photography is “the art or practice of taking and processing photographs.” It follows that a photographer is someone who practices the art or practice of photography. So everyone who practices photography is a photographer. The word “photography” was created from the Greek roots φωτός (phōtós), genitive of φῶς (phōs), “light” and γραφή (graphé) “representation by means of lines” or “drawing”, together meaning “drawing with light”.

So let’s have no more of this “You’re not a photographer if…”. If you’re using a camera to take/make/capture (whichever you prefer) something, then you’re a photographer.

To me photographers fall somewhere along a whole spectrum depending on their talent, skills, experience etc. On one end are the truly bad photographers (see picture on the left above taken by me sometime in the 1980s), on the other are people like Robert Frank (see picture on the right above) who’s acknowledged to be a superb photographer. All other photographers are somewhere in between.

So it’s not a question of “You’re a photographer – You’re not a photographer”. Rather it’s “You’re a bad photographer; You’re a mediocre photographer”; You’re a good photographer” etc. “I think that’s what my blogging/Youtubing friend is getting at.