Visual Art Archives - Page 2 of 2

A Model at the Photography Show / John Gough / Sony a6300

I went to the Photography Show today, these are just a few impressions:

Canon 6DII

The Canon 6DII had been reduced in price again with a double discount scheme. Below £1400 and with a 24-70 lens thrown in for an extra £100. This is a sure sign that this much maligned camera is struggling. I talked to the guys on the Canon stand who said what we know, which is that Canon was afraid of ruining the market segment for the Canon 5D IV, by raising the specification too far. This strategy has backfired.

Sony A7III

The star of the show was the Sony A7III, I had read the reviews but was not sure how it would feel. It is a small light camera but feels solid in the hands. The EVF is big and bright. I compared it with my Sony a6300, and it is a bit bigger. I think it could be used for street photography. I want one.

Fuji H-XT

There has been some magic lost here. Fuji folk would never admit it. They are the most die hard camera fans there are. Fuji does some excellent marketing to keep them loyal and close. The camera, however, did not have the look and feel of the X-T2, X-T20 or the beautiful X-Pro2. I think it is losing the vintage experience and replacing with a top screen c’ Nikon year 2005, which has something to do with it. Plus Olympus and Sony are demonstrating that cameras do not have to be big and clunky.

Adapting Canon Lenses to Sony

I admit it was on the Sony stand that I heard this, but the Sigma M11 works well joining Canon glass to Sony bodies. There are frequent updates that can be downloaded to the adapter as new lenses and bodies are introduced. There is a big demand for this adapter as photographers switch from Canon to Sony.

Trashhand

Listened to Trashhand on the Live Stage. “Call me Trash”. Liked his approach to street photography which was a mix of people, architecture and urban landscape. He recounted that he had been spat at and assaulted working on the mean streets of Chicago, LA and New York. “If people complain, it is their fault. If they don’t want their photo taken then they should not be on the street”.

Paul Sanders

Saw Paul Sanders in the Adobe Theatre. Beautiful minimalist landscape using Lee big stopper filters to their full potential i.e. 10 and 20 minute exposures.

The End

An excellent day, although I did get collared by security for taking a photograph of a door. I had to point out that this was a photography show.

Looking Out / John Gough / Sony a6300

John Gough

Does persistence beat creativity in the journey to be a better photographer. I guess you need a helping of both, but how do we find our own voice and some originality. These are my notes.

Persistence

This year the number of photographs taken will top over 1.3 trillion. Plus it is growing exponentially. Serious photographers share a phenomenal 350,000 pictures each day on Flickr. How can we ever take pictures that stand out from this enormous crowd.

Trying to be different is not the way according to Finnish-American photographer Arno Minkkinen. Instead the secret to creativity in photography, lies in understanding the operations of Helsinki’s main bus station!

This article in the Guardian explains it all.

Creativity

What he is saying is follow a well trodden path, until you feel you can confidently branch out to be yourself.

This sort of makes sense. If you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s book: Outliers, success he maintains comes with commitment. Bill Gates had access to the mainframe computer at the University of Washington, which was just across the street from his high school. He spent many hours there computer programming. Gladwell has estimated that it requires 10,000 hours spent doing one thing, to build up sufficient expertise to really move on and be successful. He also acknowledges that it also requires a bit of luck.

Arno Minkkinen is kind of saying the same thing, stick in the groove and eventually hard work and persistence leads to creativity.

So what does that mean for us photographers. Well my back of a fag packet calculation puts it at about 50,000 images.