Harald Felgner & the Red Fez

&903/ Advertising Selection & Essential Reading: iPhone Obsessed. Photography Experiments with Apps

2011-05-16T18:33:37Z

It's true. I repeatedly leave my Nikon at home and travel with an iPhone only. Although, and even although I use only one iPhone photography App regularly - Pano. And another one from time to time - TiltShift Generator.

]]> Dan Marcolina, on the other hand has 47 Apps in total to present. Think of the possibilities. It's virtual lenses, virtual filters, virtual camera backs, virtual darkrooms. And a film camera. All combined and crammed into your telephone.

We are entering a completely new world of photography. Watch the ad!

&833/ Essential Reading: Julieanne Kost

2010-09-13T03:25:48Z

Rules from Julieanne Kost, Window Seat -- a collection of photographs shot out of airplane windows during business travel:

"1. Master your tools.

[Support this blog and order via the Amazon widgets below.]

]]> 2. Listen to what your life is trying to tell you.
3. Be open to whatever comes your way.
4. Share what you know and learn from others.
5. Collaborate with other creative people, especially the quiet ones.
6. Be flexible. Learn to negotiate.
7. Fix whatever you complain about the most.
8. View every challenge as a possible discovery.
9. Take 15 minutes for yourself every day.
10. Figure out what you need to do to reach your "zero point."
11. Integrate work and art; both will benefit.
12. Take up an interest in something you know nothing about.
13. Look at new stuff--and at what you already know--with a fresh perspective.
14. Keep a journal.
15. Visualize first, Photoshop second.
16. Replace your thoughts with intuition.
17. Play! Play! Play!
18. Know when you're done."

The only rule applying to photography exclusively or to design in general, is rule #15! Think about it. All other rules apply to work life, creativity, and life life in general.

Julieanne Kost is Senior Digital Imaging Evangelist with Adobe, lecturing on creativity and Photoshop/ Lightroom. Follow Julieanne Kost's blog! | And order the book now ...

&804/ Essential Reading: David duChemin. (En)Vision, Frame, and (In)Voice

2010-08-07T03:34:17Z

How did I stumble upon David duChemin?

Don't remember - even though it was only a week ago. Must have been browsing New Riders user experience publications or something similar on July 28. Didn't know they had photography books as well.

[Support this blog and order via the Amazon widgets below.]

]]> O'Reilly had already jumped the bandwagon with rockynook several years ago and it is evident that digital photography is a trend with a range of possibilities emerging in the transition from darkroom to lightroom: Panoramas, high dynamic range, ... A single image is no longer a single image.

[In addition to the upgrade cycle hell of digital cameras and software these days ;) - a tremendous opportunity for publishers of how-to books.]

Well, David duChemin isn't about tools and techniques for the sake of tools and techniques at all.

The subtitle of his third volume in less than a year, Vision & Voice, may read Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, but it's about the vision behind an image in the first place and using mentioned tool to craft that vision as a consequence only. A tool is a tool in the end.

In David's own words: "At the beginning of Within The Frame I explained my thought that there are really 3 images that go into the creation of the final photograph - the first is the one you envision, the second is the one you shoot, and the third is the one you refine in the darkroom. The better you are at the second two, the closer you can come to the first. Within The Frame was about the image you capture, Vision & Voice is about refining that image in the digital darkroom, specifically Adobe Photoshop Lightroom."

Being a user of Lightroom since version 1.0 myself--but primarily for digital asset management reasons and almost never touching the Develop module except for cropping--that paragraph convinced me to break my personal moratorium on the use of any bookstore for the rest of this year. I want to get serious about digital photography? Ok, I have to have those! I ordered all three of David's books via Amazon right away and sit devouring Vision & Voice now.

Then there's VisionMongers. Making a Life and a Living in Photography. Have to start that one! (En)Vision, Frame, and (In)Voice.

[Update August 8, 2010 4:39 PM: I learn that Peachpit/ New Riders jumped the photographic bandwagon even before O'Reilly did. Wrong statement above.]

Follow David's pixelatedimage! | And order the books now ...

&783/ The State of Photography: Listening to Brooks Jensen

2010-07-06T03:33:07Z

I grew up with a History of Photography volume published in the 60's. As a child I used to browse and re-browse all those magnificent photographs from Alfred Stieglitz, Man Ray, André Kertésh, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassaï, Edward Steichen ...

]]> A dedication evolved. My father gave me his old 6x6 bellows camera and I did 120 roll film for one summer before switching to analog slide photography on a Minolta XD-7 (sold as the XD-11 in the US and as the XD in Japan) for 25 years.

Photography has always been a passion of mine and I actually wonder why I never changed route. Engaged myself in physics/ biophysics first and in digital marketing after completing my studies.

Time to rethink a choice?

For now I began to extensively listen to Brooks Jensen's excellent thoughts he began podcasting in early 2004 ;)

From the iTunes store: "Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These short 2-4 minute talks focus on the creative process in fine art photography. LensWork editor Brooks Jensen side-steps techno-talk and artspeak to offer a stimulating mix of ideas, experience, and observations from his 35 years as a fine art photographer, writer, and publisher. Topics include a wide range of subjects from finding subject matter to presenting your work and building an audience. Brooks Jensen is the publisher of LensWork, one of the world's most respected and award-winning photography publications, known for its museum-book quality printing and luxurious design. LensWork is sold in over 1500 stores in the USA and has subscribers in 62 countries. His latest books are "Letting Go of the Camera" (2004) and "Single Exposures" (2005)."

[Update August 8, 2010 4:50 PM: Visiting my mom today and looking for that volume in our family bookshelves I found it to be Peter Pollack's Picture History of Photography dating from 1969 in a German translation.]

Download Podcasts 1-499! | Subscribe to Podcasts 500+! | Visit LensWork!

&768/ Blink: The Sandpit

2010-06-15T08:34:18Z

Everything looks like toys in this exceptionally shallow depth of field video. Simulating macro photography.

]]> A model railway world from our childhood memories. Love it. The Sandpit - A short film by Aero Director, Sam O'Hare. Via Cameron Moll! | Read an interview with the director! | Watch the video!

&563/ Essential Reading: On Digital Photography

2009-06-22T20:57:56Z

My pile of unread books has been growing for 2 years now. Although my rate of reading increased, it could not keep up with a parallel increase of interest in various topics.

Amongst those topics: Photography revisited.

[Support this blog and order via the Amazon widgets below.]

]]> Stephen Johnson's On Digital Photography is an eye-opener. Until last week I was convinced that digital/ electronic photography was behind analog/ chemical photography in terms of quality. Still. Now I learn the situation is vice versa.

View excerpts on Google Books! | And order the book now ...