musings from the photographic memepool [the shallow end]

Blurb now allows you to upload a pdf for publication. Using their own templates is part of the process, but I always found their software slow and clunky on my computer.

And it is rumoured that the colour quality is better from them compared to lulu.com, too.

So look out.

I recently began experimenting with alternatives to traditional digital capture. I'd thought about using a scanner somehow to capture images, and some digging around on the interent produced some good results. The main one however, used a simple cheap magnifying glass lens with cardboard apertures and a sliding focus arrangement. I figured I could do better, and with numerous 35mm lenses lying around, I figured I could get something more manageable together. So here's how I made these images.

I used a Canon, flatbed scanner I had lying around, one that I use for low end webscans. I bought some black foamcore, and scrounged up an old 35mm lens.

I cut 4 strips of the foam core to fit the scanner each being 50mm high, and the approprite width and length to fit the scanner. I then cut a piece the same size as the platten of the scanner. This had a hole that held the lens in place. I used the ever useful gaffer tape to construct it.

It took some time to realise that, I had incorrectly calculated the focal length of the lens I'd used. So by modifying the piece that held the lens so that it sat lower inside the 'housing', I had more luck.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Exposure and focus still seemed a little hit and miss, so I set up a studio arrangement, and had more luck, but of course the platten of the scanner is more than A4 in size, which puts it in the realm of an 8 x 10 inch camera, in terms of square area of light capture. This seemed a bit of a waste, and eposures anf focus were stil not at an optimum.

My final experiment was to use a Box Brownie Camera, attached to the scanner, this yielded pretty good results too. Ultimatley though, I'd like to get my hands on an 8 x 10 camera lens, say around 300mm and try to utilise the entire platten.

The last idea came from the scanner project page.

We have reached a certain point here in the history of western art, where history seems to be somewhat insignificant, or perhaps less significant. My training in the arts, had a heavy emphasis on what had gone before it [In all the arts]. The path was/is to an extent linear, but not in a mathematical/chronological sense. The great/new artists of the past, tried/explored/created something that had not been seen/heard before; more importantly though 'borrowing' and sometimes even outright theft was not uncommon, that, 'theft' was then re-invented.

Now we are so far down this slightly linear path albeit curved, twisted, and modulating, path that Modernist Art History is hardly taught at art school.

We can give beginners directions about how to use a compass, we can tell them stories about our exploration of different but possibly analogous geographies, and we can bless them with our caring, but we cannot know the unknown and thus make sure a path to real discovery"¹

What then for young people starting out? Who do they emulate, copy ridicule; other post modernists? Any wonder few people feel they understand modern art.

For me, part of this whole history of art, was the materials, concepts, & techniques explored by all artists, often in combination of all three. Not like the idea alone, as Duchamp said:-
"I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products"²
However; for some myself included, it is difficult to reconcile the quality of brush strokes, in a Caravaggio to the day to day rumblings/ramblings of my own highly digitalised life. Image making in particular using a camera, has become a single point perspective about the moment. Millions worldiwde are participating. With so many 'creators' is anyone a 'consumer', should there be, will there ever be again, does there need to be?

Part of the difficulty in trying to be both an artist and a business person is this: You make a picture because you see something that is beyond price; then you are to turn and assign to your record of it some cash value. If the selling is not necessarily a contradiction of the truth in the picture, it so close to being a contradiction—and the truth is always in shades of grey—that you are worn down by the threat.³

If 'art' is materials, processes, concepts, techniques, how then does digital photography one of the least tactile processes known in the history of art, fit in to this equation? Given that the process of Digital photography is even more removed from the average person's ability to control and manipulate results to match their own emotions and ideas does this make it less of an art-form. Or does it? Photographic prints are still able to be manipulated to match vision and emotion, by more people more easily and more often than in the history of the medium so far. But do people want to, how many stories can be told ultimately? Stories that are expressed iin a unique way; exploiting medium's unique characteristics?

For me Digital photography, is the most cerebral it has ever been. It far more removed from the tactile wet process than many imagine, music too has always been non-tactile, in the sense of appreciating it and responding to it. Therefore being non-tactile like, music, does this make digital photography more art like, only with it's own rules in terms of speed.

In my own mind, I keep coming back to speed; digital almost instant, comparatively speaking. For many it is the 'act' of making an image that is paramount, eg barb, and pw-pix. Caravaggio had no say in the idea of speed, each brush stroke was deliberate and carefully considered.

For digital photography to real art, modern art, it needs to be freed from the constraints of it's birth and development in the last century, it needs to embrace the speed and connectivity that the internet allows, the culture jamming that is being conducted out there as well as loose any connection to the idea that it alludes to truth, or evidence.⁴

References

1. Roberts Adams, 'Why People Photograph' ISBN 0-89381-597-7, pg 39,
2. thinkexist.com
3. Roberts Adams, 'Why People Photograph' ISBN 0-89381-597-7, pg 43
4. For a more detailed and complex exploration of this idea, see Fred Ritchin's 'After Photography' ISBN 978-0-393-050240

Using your ipod or iphone as a remote for certain devices is well known, but how about a remote control for your camera?

Using the software made by onOne, you can tether a Canon to a computer with the remote software installed, then using your iPod touch or iPhone, control all aspects of the hoot, and preview them 'live']

As gadgets go, this is really amazing, and yes I finally confess to being a gadget geek, but those of you who know me, knew that anyway.

Getting organised for the collection of Broadcast Media, using my eyeTV, and g5, I decided my archived CDs needed re-organising, it turns out I've been using a digital camera of some shape or form since 1999, 10 years folks, 10 years! I've been scanning longer of course, but as negatives, they need not be archived via CD. If you count 1998 as my start year in serious photography, this means over half of my time making images have been spent using a digital camera!

Of course 1/2 way though 2008, I got my 'DET leased' laptop that actually has a DVD burner, so that'll slow things down.

Not sure where external drives are going to fit into the equation, nor 'the cloud'.

gallery or street?

This article, by a British writer is tired of Bansky, I can't help but wonder; the irony of his work being sold in galleries?

[...stumbling across his work in alleys and splashed on buildings throughout London. And occasionally the artist has created work both bracingly timely and incisive (”NOLA", is a particularly good example). But it is impossible to contain the raw energy of street art in a formal art space, where any anti-establishment strains in his work are bled away beneath the expensive track lighting.]

Isn't selling this kind of art in a gallery the height of cultural hypocrisy anyway?

Hat tip to AVD

Today, I am attempting to build a scanner camera, primarily for use in a class at work but just for my own curiosity, to see what kind of images I can make, I'm also thinking about an article that questions whether digital [onscreen] images can be art?

This just in in my inbox.

PolaPremium is more than delighted and proud to announce the opening of the very first pure PolaPemium Shop in Berlin. This is our first step into the challenge of presenting our beloved analogue products not only online at PolaPremium.com, but offline as well. On our continuing mission to celebrate the magic of instant photography, we take our first baby-steps to develop and build a worldwide network of selected authorised PolaPremium partners. The new shop in Berlin is the shining starting point of our offline adventures and based on the experiences we collected and will collect there, we will soon start to search for more retailers and partners all over the world. So please stay tuned.

Things are looking up for Polaroid products, eh.

I am very pleased to announce that altfotonet.org now has an ISSN,[ International Standard Serial Number]. This means that the National Library of Australia recognises it as a serial publication, and may at some point in the future add it to it's archive, Pandora's box.

Currently testing a new camera for work.

Current list of likes at the moment:

• two, yes 2 types of histogram available, being a 2 mere button presses away
• fast, AND quiet
• thumb-wheel at the back of the body for aperture and separate one for shutter at front of camera, can be used to over and under expose in Av & Tv modes
• simple menu set up
• weight/feel, this is a real camera.

• focusing/focus lock, I had to read the manual to work out how to use it, not bad, but not good in my opinion.
• Lens, light and plastic feeling, focus seems too, touchy and fine, crucial at wide aperture.

After using the camera on and off, over the last few weeks, I'm very impressed, it seems simple to use and operate, I guess if I had some spare cash, I'd buy one. When trying to make some teaching aids for a class about exposure I did notice however some differences between [in density] 1.8 and the other apertures I used, but never got to the bottom of it.

Two Years; today:-

One Year today:-

It's been a while since I did this.

It's no coincidence that I uploaded 2 mophone shots. Looking at my 'organiser' on flickr, I see a few shots, around April 2007, where I remember beginning to think about using a phonecam in a more concentrated and excuse the pun focused way.

But the real reason I did this today I feel, is because I picked one of my books of Robert Adams' essays, and felt inspired to look back and see where I've been and think where I could possibly go.

In the past I have talked at length about why, what and how I do what I do, Mr Adams, sums it up far more succinctly than I ever could.§

*Attention only to perfection, however, invites eventually for urban viewers — which means most of us — a crippling disgust; our world is in most places far from clean. Photographs that suggest an Arcadian landscape are recognisable from the city dweller's perspective as partial visions, and they make us uneasy. We feel defencelessness against what we will encounter on the street. How can trees in a National Park save us from the concrete-and-glass brutalities of a BIG city? The answer is, in simple emotional terms at least, that they cannot; to be reminded of the trees makes city streets seem worse.

*page 104, 'Beauty in Photography Essays in Defence of Traditional Values'

§ The actual place names have been changed/removed, to better contextualise it, both were recognisable as American.

• "Beauty in Photography, Essays in Defense of Traditional Values"
• Why People Photograph

Completely unfashionable in today's post modern world, but an ongoing inspiration for me no less.

This is my favorite quote regarding, the job I do to pay the bils.

"We can give beginners directions, about how to use a compass,we can tell them stories about our exploration of different but possibly analogous geographies, and we can bless them with our caring, but we cannot know the unknown and thus make sure the path to real discovery"¹

¹ Page 39, Why People Photograph.

How quickly we forget... how quickly.

The Victoria & ALbert Museum in London has a wonderful photography collection, when I was in London in 2004 I visited the gallery, looks like I need to to return, who says the tyranny of distance doesn't exist?

At least there is a slide show.

I like that The Met's Website, offers extensive background material on their artists too, along with a wealth of other information that is relative. Including a historical timeline

Postcards and books I've always found interesting, there's something delightful about an image designed to sit on your fridge, or just dash off a quick note to friends elsewhere.

Soon to show Sony 2008 Photography Awards. Opening night, 14th of April, 7:30 -9:30pm, runs for 2 weeks

[From Obscura Gallery]

My apologies, as this is a flash driven site I can only link to the front page. Once there, click on either the right hand panel or the exhibitions link.

Thanks to "sergemarx" on twitter for the heads up.

The CCP has joined the 21st Century, and now publishes it's quarterly online. Complete with blogging, feedback and track backs.

Well done CCP.

Missed this in my news reader last month,, Helen Levit has died age 95, here is the obituary in the NY Times

Some exciting news.

Issue two of our gallery e/zine is slowly gathering momentum. We will look at 3 photographers, and one city, and see, how a place can inspire, motivate, & drive creative individuals. We'll also look at the commonalities & differences between each photographer's approach.

As part of my original idea to set up altfotonet.org, I have lodged an application for an ISSN number. Which I did online over the weekend and am awaiting a response.

The altfotonet group on flickr and the alfotonet.org blog are humming along nicely as well. Join the group if you like what you see there. If you feel you have something you want to say or add to the blog, by all means please do, contact me and I will set up an account for you.

Seaking of the altfotonet blog, this week's picture of the week is by barb, I chose it because it reminded me of Man Ray's Dust Breeding 1920. The formality of the composition belies the casualness of the scene, have a look, see what you think?

So; it's been a while, but a new meme has emerged on flickr. According to the blog; a mere 6 weeks ago, this video introduction idea was started.

It has the potential to shift the focus; excuse the pun; of flickr entirely. This something that some people complained about with the introduction of video on flickr last year.

I gotta confess I'm a bit 'over' flickr's meme's, so I'm not planning on contributing, to this one.

If it takes off who knows where it'll go,though. From where I stand the emphasis will have shifted away from still images, to 'personalities'.

Thanks to my Wakoopa account I discovered this new little app called Pixelmator. Quoting the weekly mail from Wakoopa.com, it is the 5th most popular Mac graphics editor and:-

After mucking around with it on this fine sunny Saturday afternoon, I was quite impressed. The interface, has some neat features that make it really cool to look at. I like the fact that I could add a mask directly to the 'background' layer, and the fact that is just opened my raw files no fuss. Generally though, it doesn't do anything special that photoshop doesn't. Of course I'm lucky Photoshop forms part of my job so it is provided for me, therefore cost never need be an issue. More troubling though was the way curves and levels handled colour. Pixelmator handles colour in exactly the same way that photoshop does, so that is a big no-no for me anyway. Also a quick test with levels seemed to indicate that pixels are indeed 'destroyed as I worked, one of Photoshop's most troubling problems, and one never talked about.

Some screen grabs to show how I test these apps quickly and easily.

Interface

First a test file I make to see how some of the basic tools work and to check the way colour works at a default level.

The file was easy enough to create, for the grey-scale measurements, the colour wheel a bit more difficult and I would need more time to make sure it was 'correct'. Even so the blue is meant to be a value of R0, G0, B255, and it looks off on my monitor, which was calibrated only a few weeks ago.

A feature I quite liked was the way tools and their options were enlarged while in use.

Banding

On my test file at a zoom factor of 200%, there was evidence of banding, bit of a concern, no higher bit depth editing available, not surprising given the price I guess, but the banding would/could be an issue for larger prints?

Raw Files.

I was very excited to see that the tool just opened the raw file I asked it to, no questions asked, again though, some processing controls at this point would be nice, even if it was just exposure, contrast and white balance.

There seemed to be some problems in some areas of the file, in terms of colour, but this could be the lens or the software.

Here is the file opened in the raw processor of Photoshop, and, the evidence points to the software; but not conclusively.

Colour Editing

This software works the same as photoshop ie incorrectly, using both curves and levels. Lobster, made by Ian Lobb, goes into an in-depth discussion about why and how Photoshop handles colour incorrectly. Have a read for more information and background on this issue.

Firstly levels. An image made of pure colour, in this case, red, should display some changes when applying changes using the levels dialogue, none were apparent. Note the position of the sliders and the readout from the measuring tool.

Curves; same situation

Pixel Destruction?

Just like photoshop, these two screen grabs of a simple albeit heavy move with the levels tool suggest some data was lost.

The second image below show excessive gaps, which suggests some loss of data.

Photo Browser

Like any good app these days, the facility to 'browse' stored photos is a must and this app has that facility. However, because I have tested several of these tools over the last 6 months, or because of the apps shortcomings, I was unable to locate my external drives where all my photographs are kept. Pixelmator, very cleverly found my small iPhoto library. I however, rarely use it, and so many folders had been created by apps like Lightroom and Aperture already, I gave up trying to locate my files on my external drives.

Colour Management.

One of the least understood and most important aspects of digital photography is colour management. Pixelmator's approach is simple and easy to use, a real plus for a such a piece of software aimed I'm assuming at a level of the market that may not really need to know or care.

Masking.

All the usual suspects here. I guess standard these days. One standout feature though that Photoshop doesn't do is allow you to add a mask to the default image, or as Photoshop calls it 'background'. However I forgot to screengrab it, and am too lazy to go back and re-do it, you'll just have to trust me.

One of my favourite techniques is to use adjustment layers in Photoshop to enhance and manipulate my images, Pixelmator doesn't seem to have the option despite being able to mask a background layer, ah well can;'t have it all I guess.

Brushes.

The options for the brushes, were somewhat buried I felt. [Of course at no point did I read the manual] but once found were easy to use and modify brush types and sizes, exactly the same as Photoshop.

Here they are, the stand settings for brushes really.

Maybe the jitter options on, hue, saturation, lightness, are different, again not a tool as a photographer I use a great deal, so hard to say how useful it could be.

Value, but...

At 50 bucks US, it's a good piece of software. It has some major strengths, is easy and intuitive to use. If you were starting out in the design industry it's a real replacement for Photoshop. Pro photographers though, well, with Aperture and Lightroom really kicking Photoshop's arse at the moment, I doubt you'd bother.

An exhibition no less. Thanks to 3 thousand.com.au.

New and Used, Warwick Baker

C3 Contemporary Art Space, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford

Launching Wed April 1, 6-8pm, Exhibition runs until April 19

New and Used is the shared title of Warwick Baker's collaborative publication with writer TB Hemingway and his upcoming show at C3. While the publication contains the thoughtful transience of the American realist painter Edward Hopper, the exhibition channels the wild and ever-creepy eccentricities of his surname-sake, Dennis Hopper.

The photographs to be presented in New and Used were taken across California and Arizona and are the artist's response to a land of virtual realities. Some works are saturated, clinging and claustrophobic, while others are odd, even unaware.

Yet, like air conditioning after arid heat, or perfume after petrol fumes, it is the softness of Baker's lens that provides balance and relief. Image by image we witness the drift of this mild-mannered Australian through an American landscape, which fluctuates between the austere and the absurd.

By Chris Barton

My favourite part is where Ansel Adams, says, and i paraphrase, " once you have done your homework, practiced and have enough craft, you can MAKE the image."

Dam straight

Take that pomos!

Not really news, but hey.

[From Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day - home]

Maybe this year I'll see if my students want to get involved?

I sometimes wonder, how much digital photography has played a part in the resurgence of these techniques and ideas?

wow, and the images of course are hosted on filckr

photographs

[From Teens capture images of space with £56 camera and balloon - Telegraph]

Here goes my credit card again! Frank's book still to this day has some impact on my approach and work, even more so in my digital work, on flickr, and on my mophone blog.

[From Review: Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans by Sarah Greenough et al. (Conscientious)]

And I haven't even read the review—yet.

Toshihiro Oshima & Velco Dojcinovski present:
CONVERSATIONS - a three part series of photographic dialogue.

Part 1: The Absinthe Dream (Melbourne, Australia)

CONVERSATIONS is a three-part series of a photographic visual dialogue between photographers Toshihiro Oshima and Velco Dojcinovski. The complete series of visual dialogue will be progressively shown in 3 different cities around the world over 3 years, each highlighting a different photographic story. Overlayed with a bonding and comforting mood the photographs of the series glimpse into the similarities and differences of the cultures and styles of both photographers, aiming to weave a visual symphony of moods and tales

Part 1: The Absinthe Dream is the opening chapter of the series and follows the green dreams of a woman at the end of a long city night. The photographs depict her disturbed and abstract glimpses of memory and subconsciousness, the city she lives in and the people she's been with, breaking away into a bright daydream. Photographed in Melbourne, Tokyo and throughout Asia and Europe in 2008 and 2009, the photographers exclusively used traditional and analogue equipment and a wide range of mediums.

CONVERSATIONS Part 1: The Absinthe Dream will be showing at
McCulloch Gallery, 8 Rankins Lane Melbourne,
Friday March 13th - Sunday March 22nd

More information? http://www.conversations-project.com

Velco, is one of the Melbourne Flickrati, and a contact of mine. I will visit the show, and possibly report back.

I'm often asked what is the best camera to buy.. the answer used to be ...depends, on your perceived needs and uses,; no more.

The best camera to buy is one that you will carry EVERYWHERE, and use ALL THE TIME.