what do you see like: 2012

i think taking a photo of beckett will do the "otherly & framed & cinematic" for you.

ha yeah i guess so. he's got a giacometti face.

about having the appropriate/convenient gear to use, i think there's another funny equipment paradox, the same way that there is with analogue/digital, in which some people find the perceived limits of analogue actually useful & conducive to getting along with your camera - i feel like having p much restricted myself to a camera i can hang on my shoulder & slightly batter into things (i scraped it against a cobbled stone wall yesterday, high-five), carry around under a bag strap without noticing, &c, is really useful, & what i forgo in having a variety or quality of lenses i make up for in having my camera with me all the time. this is obv my perspective & i can see the compelling better-actual-photos argument against it, but i feel like having a camera there whenever you're outside is the point, for me, & i would be bummed to be restricted by cumbersome equipment. i guess this a good argument for small cameras in general.

I bet everyone pretty much agrees: the best camera is the one you have with you, be it point-and-shoot or cell phone or whatever. The worst camera is the one sitting at home.

yes. & kinda as an extension of that, i am sitting next to a yashica i never use, but the familiarity i have with my om-1 so trumps the added potential of anything new. i know this makes me sound set in my ways. but i don't even have to look at it, sometimes, & alla that old shit is designed so harmoniously to fit well with the way your brain and hands work.

out of curiosity, does anyone have a little kinda pocket camera, stuff like those contax that i have no idea of the model # of or way to describe? i've seen a lot of like really nice photographs by ppl like sofia coppola, & a couple of friends of mine, they're somehow really disruptive to my idea of a slr/medium format hierarchy, & really intriguing to me. i guess i am thinking analogue here.

"point and shoot" "contax t3" <- glossary of terms that are beyond me

I've got an Olympus XA2 (the zone focus one) and a Rollei 35 (guess focus). Are those the kinds of things you're thinking of?
Perfect for the always-carry-with-you aspect.

https://sites.google.com/site/analogcompactcameras/famous-point-n-shoot-users

right, yeah i guess, rollei i sorta think of as something different but yeah i just mean something where you're just clicking, p much, maybe w/flash

There's really no reason that a giant top of the line Nikon 35mm SLR would take a picture that's technically any better than a compact rangefinder or something like the Rollei, really. I mean they're both just opening a door to shine some light on a piece of 35mm film for a portion of time, no matter how big or small the container around it is. Only difference I can figure would be the lens.

xpost

I use an Olympus Stylus too. That's point-and-shoot autoexposure, built in flash etc. For going to bars or the beach or whatever. Does just fine.
And that old picture of Death Valley of mine upthread is from a bottom of the line Olympus Trip from my high school days:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6463613999_f8a573e3d0_m.jpg

Unlike digital cameras where a more expensive piece of equipment gets you a larger sensor (basically like switching film formats), the cheapest and most expensive film cameras all use the same size "sensor." And you get to switch it out at will.

Like you could shoot full frame by buying a 5D ii, or just using the Olympus Trip.

yep. i eventually found that really reassuring - i know we had quite a lens-y discussion on a previous ILP thread, & gear is really only a small priority for me, certainly dwarfed by a) film & b) the thing i am taking a photo of. i think i had an example of a guy who'd tried out taking different shots of a bookcase to demonstrate differences in grain who, to me, seemed to be clinically insane.

i should prob get a point & shoot sometime, maybe just to have a camera with a flash. i like not necessarily having compartmentalised what-camera-works-best, though; when i used to play with a digital i would use it for like 'throwaway' stuff - goofy things i saw - & i like it better using a camera for anything you see that seems appropriate. just talking day-to-day roaming, not that there aren't appropriate & instrumental choices.

xp ah!, more evidence in the pro- column then

Yup it's a clue that you only ever hear guys talking about their lenses when taking pictures of, like, brick walls, and not when talking about, like, great photographs.

looool otm

schlump the om-1 wasn't fully winding all the time on one wind, needed to take two sometimes. I sent it to www.zuiko.com but dunno if that's an option for you, you split time between the pond is that right?

I used to carry around a XA2 for color 'graphs, it was okay but it was kind of annoying because exposure was auto w/ no compensation (funny, you figure out why manufacturers include these settings in maybe your 10th year as a photographer.) I switched it for a rollei 35, more inconvenient but has more manual functionality.

I know terry richardson uses some yashica point and shoot (probably because of some kind of affected hipster 'oh I couldn't be bothered to learn how to actually use it, this works perfectly okay' faux naivete) or something

have thought about getting one of the mythical contax or fuji point and shoots but really, they're not that much smaller

leica cl's perhaps the best compromise

I think if I see an Olympus Mju for $5 I'll grab one. They look awesome and are small:

http://www.thecamerasite.net/02_Rangefinders/Images/Olympus-mju-II.jpg

XA always seems to underexpose a bit, but you can trick it with the ASA selector.

This is what I see like in 2012, btw (other photos I've been putting up lately are all from the past):

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6661317289_f2797a2b18_z.jpg

ooh, that's a good one!

Thanks! It's all that winter light.

gonna come back to the post above but just wanna register upon reading that the idea of you wrapping up an object in an envelope & writing a url on the front is blowing my mind, it feels like the future and the past all at once

Yup it's a clue that you only ever hear guys talking about their lenses when taking pictures of, like, brick walls, and not when talking about, like, great photographs.

I don't have a P&S, but I've had a Canonet QL17 forever, a Kodak Retinette (scale-focus 35mm) I found in my great-grandmother's stuff from Canada, and I just bought a Hexar AF off Craigslist.

The AF is interesting - it's big (pretty much the same size and weight as my X100), but freakishly quiet (even w/o turning on silent mode) and the fixed lens is basically a copy of a previous-generation Leica 35mm Summicron.

need to stop reading TOP because via them I know this is in stock:

http://www.steidlville.com/books/892-Emmet-Gowin-Photographs.html

and I think it incldes

http://learn.michenerartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Nancy-Danville-Gowin.jpg

so I have to get it

oh wow
did you ever see those Rene Burri photographs he took, at a school teaching deaf-mute* kids:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qVJIz0b96_8/Seh_rG2pzrI/AAAAAAAAAKk/hriWfQHDLY4/s1600/burri.jpg

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1084/1414544289_962ec96e36_z.jpg

*occurs to me here i'm not sure whether this is in any way an archaic term, as is sometimes the case, so just apologies if i'm miswording

those gowin photos look amazing.

thanks for the point & shoot testament everyone. i can see the appeal, my friend gets a lot out of one. i have never really had access to auto-focus or depth of field which minimises its importance, & i am sometimes ruing the blurry shots i've taken, so maybe i should go somewhere in that direction sometime. i like being able to take photos real quick. the argument against lens caps.

schlump the om-1 wasn't fully winding all the time on one wind, needed to take two sometimes. I sent it to www.zuiko.com but dunno if that's an option for you, you split time between the pond is that right?

ty for this - hadn't occurred to me to get mine done (& it's a much nicer prospect than retiring it, we have bonded) (my camera was my mom's, bought just after my sis was born, in 1981), though i know a guy vaguely-locally who services, etc. so may look up zuiko. i'm in the uk, uh huh, though could swing & envisage times at which usps will be at my disposal.

http://teenagefilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Iggy-and-the-Stooges-8.jpg

belongs in the stooges thread i guess but these are real interesting

man what a beautiful photo

seriously i keep looking at it, the girl's hair on the left, the stripes. ty for emmet gowin, dayo, i can believe i haven't heard of him bc i'm not a great historian but he's amazing, his nudes (i think mainly of one woman) are incredible. also love this sam fentress portrait of him:

http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2009/10/21/pages/2069/LIVE.Gowin_Fentress.jpg

Lightroom 4 Beta is out today

one from 2011, one from 2012:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6489175149_d4125868d4_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6682263427_bcceba1c91_z.jpg

they're great. i like the hand in the second pic, just by the sleeve of the iphone guy; it's like one of those comic book frames in which the artist has drawn their hand or pencil tip to draw your attention somewhere.

huh, didn't even notice that! first thing that stood out to me was "H-A-T-E".

I didn't notice the "hate" on the hand until scanning either, as it turns out.

when you noticed that it perfectly jived with your identically tattooed knuckles, amid your hands delicate adjustments to the placement of the negatives

here are a couple of photos from a month ago, of floral things. i never really used to post photos itt but it's nice that we all do different stuff, i like the comparison.

thinking about going for the zuiko camera overhaul btw, dayo, i haven't figured it out totally yet but i like the idea of getting my om-1 back.

schlump, fwiw I think the zuiko.com guy is the most respected repairman left in the world on olympus cameras, ~keeps the flame alive~ etc.

if you need a liason here in america to handle your stuff lmk

may have linked to this before but a great interview with EG

http://bombsite.com/issues/58/articles/2012

those rene burri pics are wonderful. looks like he was shooting from the hip for the second one though? wonder if those were snuck

i saw those exhibited a while back; iirc it was his first magazine assignment, or maybe one that made his name. 'assignments', or being a photographer in any sort of acknowledged/professional/journalistic capacity, probably has a lot of weird dynamics wrt how open you are about shooting, i imagine. i guess it goes back to that thing about how you should handle (/"wield") a camera & what relationship people have w/someone in the room who has a camera - it seeming established that you're there shooting, it not being too surprising or distracting, etc - all of this came up with the life essay upthread about the doctor, too.

if you need a liason here in america to handle your stuff lmk

ty so much; starting to think about it, had wondered about packing it off with an american friend who's heading over there, to mail internally; we'll see, but that's really good to know. i am glad that i would be getting my camera repaired by master splinter.

dipped into a couple of other EG interviews that were fascinating, talking about living in this kinda post-Frank world in which we're resigned to but fuelled by chance & what we end up seeing & chronicling locality, etc. will try to read the bomb one.

ooh, link me to some other EG interviews!

ha, there was two & i can only see one off the top of my head, i know i've got it tabbed or bookmarked at home though, so, for now:

http://www.americansuburbx.com/2010/09/theory-interview-with-emmet-gowin.html

To be in the presence of our own first hand experience, is probably the only way we can save ourselves. See what I was saying about Robert Frank; what I had to give up was being answerable to Frank. What I had to become was answerable to what was happening in front of me and how I felt about it. That’s what you have to give up, the authority of an answer and replace it with the authenticity of the experience. And that’s why I want to emphasize and celebrate what Sommer was saying. We’re at the mercy of what we find. That’s the big advantage. It’s a big advantage.

so my dad offered to give me the m6 (like permanently) as a birthday present (he will never use it again) and i am srsly torn about how to deal with that?

totally ignoring any family dynamics that might make it ~complicated~, that just seems nice to me. & you'll use it. you will be helping the camera fulfil its destiny as a camera. & also you could always give it back to him (also as a birthday present, it would be very generous).

how has it been playing with it? i mean in the context of 'this is not my camera' but then also just generally, playing with it.

yeah accept the camera and love it! I think the best possible destiny for any camera is to stay in continuous and rigorous use.

schlump: I like those floral pictures a lot, btw

oh hey thank you! floral photz are just a good way to shoot colourfully i think. i can't remember if i posted this a couple of months ago, i feel like it looks like it came out of a tasteful home interiors store's fall catalogue but it is kinda nicely blurry & measured in a way my photos usually aren't. leaves. colours. goodtimes.

i am feeling self-indulgent by posting stuff btw so please everyone else address this by over sharing.

oh wow, the green/blue/orange contrast there is really striking

i mainly take blurry unflattering photos of friends btw, i'm just not so big on posting identifiable ppl here

xp why yes it screams AUTUMN, it just screams autumn at your face

idk - I think the contrast between green and red is very striking

ty man

just finished reading the interview w/ frank where he disses HCB. will try to scan it (and by scan I mean take shitty pictures with my outdated iPhone) but I will transcribe this quote

"I'm not interested in taking a beautiful photograph. I don't mean that there's no room for it; I just don't want to do it. For example, I live in a very beautiful place. I could get a camera, and make a very beautiful picture. It could be almost as good as Ansel Adams. But I don't want to take a beautiful picture, and I can't, really. It makes me feel good to look at it. It wouldn't make me feel good to take that picture."

Very bright day today, went up to the Lake District, got a few shots that I like, will upload after I've stared at them for a while to make sure I like them.
Here's one I like straight away, desaturated it and straightened it, then just added a little clarity to it.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6697220533_7ac6402f3f_z.jpg
Coniston by carljgodwin, on Flickr

Oh man... that is breathtaking! And I do say that too because I was there just some months ago. But really, a spectacular capture. It reminds me of Phillip Lachenmann's Grey Study series, a series of photographs I adore:

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_114305_400857_philipp-lachenmann.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3452/3402836688_3c011d676d_z.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4134/4784159004_e7f6232732_z.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4042/4660475067_1a3d4db5a4_z.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4121/4917891970_21d83df1a7_z.jpg

damnit middle two in the wrong order. not that it would be any more grammatical.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8191/8098581162_459dd59dc6.jpg

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/25/41089839_721e19348f.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5125/5302086490_3dc66ae837_z.jpg

that jacket is so bomb

http://i.imgur.com/IO1Gd.png
http://i.imgur.com/mfJFg.png

first roll w/ my first SLR:

http://i.imgur.com/SmGZJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/CRn0J.jpg

ended up with a nikkor 28mm-105mm lens that has a macro mode-- very very different from what i've been doing for the last 3.5 years, but that's kind of the point-- the rest of the roll is blurred/out of focus/overexposed lol

also have a 50mm prime f/1.4 coming in the mail this week.

ha i guess even those two are blurred/out of focus, but i like them anyway

they're lovely. so soft. that's w/400CN, right? doing things that are different in a way that makes you fuck up a lot is really good i think. i am pretty into the distortion of my phone camera right now.

rad words phots btw! i love that anything was ever industrially branded with FECALS

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3265/5872070283_b9bd93fcd2_z.jpg

One from a while back.

I wonder how many of us make a loose New Years resolution to take more shots, I am still a newbie pretty much but I've just gotten a couple of lenses for my Rebel (cheapo 50mm 1.8 Canon and an EF 85mm 1.8) and am looking at a Tokina Wide Angle lens. So this is my resolution, just opened a Flickr account and am also going to try to overcome my street shyness (this is hard, I live in London.)

I was up on the roof of my workplace testing my new 50.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8362/8300112430_fb6b8999fa.jpg
IMG_1787 by nwrhns, on Flickr

I decided pretty much on a whim last Jan 1st to do a 366 project for that reason ("take more shots"), as all i was really doing was photographing bands. I've stuck at it, but not sure I've really improved all that much from it. Less than a week to go now, so that's good!

just playin with new camera, nbd dog pictures

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8212/8292787250_a58c992344_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8080/8292783294_ceeb1de847_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8497/8328420964_11a7b9e5a0.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8292451986_846358543c.jpg

last one is like, ok put the f**king camera down already

and some words too

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8359/8328397122_3dcbc833cc_c.jpg

i love love love that pic of the dog with the window frame in focus

me too :-)

just thinkin baout things

first roll on a new camera, apologies for posting again so soon:

http://i.imgur.com/Kffqe.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/3kxzu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/o4uIV.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xP7LK.jpg

oops wrong thread

my Winogrand tribute:

http://i.imgur.com/mJVmBBz.jpg

god damn it can we lock this thread