Skeuomorphs

It was only a few weeks ago that I was first introduced to this word – meaning bits of design that are based on old fashioned, physical objects – and since then have been picking up more and more of this concept in both my everyday life and the objects that surround us.

Have no doubt, the term skeuomorphs is generally meant as a pejorative term; as it the crowbarring of modern ideas to fit out moded models that is being questioned.

An every day example of this would be the calendar in your MacBook that both looks like an old desk top calendar and even rips pages off as you use them and also forces you to look at a months passed information as you get to the final days of each month and not the future four weeks.

Some times a skeuomorph can be used to assist consumers to move forward from one level of technology to another – like the kindle reader that behaves like a book with the turning of pages but at other times it is just both silly and anachronistic.

As a case in point I give to you the newly launched Olympus OM-D E-M5.

Anyone over the age of 30 is probably going to tell you this looks funnily like the Olympus OM-1, which was probably one of the most rock and roll SLR’s from the 70′s ever made. Iconic concert pictures seemed to be taken with the OM-1 more than any other SLR at the time and today they remain a great old SLR (current ebay prices seem to be anywhere between US$ 10 and US$ 200 for one with the Zuiko 50/1.8 kit lens) .

They will also tell you that it was the first compact SLR – smaller than the other makers at the time, through completely redesigning the internal layout of the SLR.

This parody above unfortunately is mirrorless with the electronic viewfinder in the pentaprism and the 4/3 set up for the growing number of lenses available for this market. It is sold as being aimed at the photographer who is wishing to look more professional – although that seems a strange statement and may just be badly translated from Japanese…

Fuji, who remain one of my favourite camera and film makers, have continued their use of skeuomorphs through the X100 and now the smaller X10 that look like range finders but are not rangefinders – but appear to be pretty decent cameras.

I understand the need for cameras to look like cameras – as they fit our hands and faces and obviously our minds; but their design has changed over the decades and so foistering cameras to play on nostalgia suggests an over consuming society is being pandered to and at the same time, technological design is taking two steps back to take one forward.

Off Camera Flash

So far, the vast majority of my photography has been in available light, with a small amount of on camera flash – and I think this is probably very normal for the keen amateur.

Taking a step to off camera flash has always felt like a big jump and for someone like me that never went to college to study photography; it has always seemed to be a really difficult and complex option.

Over the past year I have borrowed soft boxes for indoor shoots of small rooms – but they have never had enough power for large spaces – and unlike putting a gell onto a flash, they have made colour correcting really hard to sort out for me.

I think the last indoor shoot I did for my wife was the turning point, where the images had far too much shadow areas in them and the blue walls knocked the colours in the whole images – and so earlier this week Nathalie just told me to get my act together and sort out the kit I need to do a better job and stop prevaricating.

As this was the push I needed to take a step into the relative unknown and having already spent time putting together ideas of the kit I needed and the places to buy it – I took a trip to the lighting shops in Sham Shui Po – where most of the strobes, stands etc are from China and very realistically priced.

So as a basic kit – what did I buy?

The most important part of the kit was to change my reliance on soft boxes to strobes with shoot through umbrellas (and of course reflective ones too).

Rather than just buy stands and brackets for my current flashes, where the refresh rate depends on a bunch of AA batteries, I moved to plug in 800W ones from a Chinese company called Jinbei and their units the Digital Pioneers III.

The unit comes with a modeling lamp too that can be set at different levels plus an amazing refresh rate even at full power. Whilst trying the units out last night I cranked them up to full power and it was like someone setting of a small nuclear device in our living room – but I guess if you are going to take pictures like Terry Richardson then this is what you are going to want.

This unit fits directly onto a stand and doesn’t need a separate clamp for the umbrella as it is on the clamp already to ensure you are always pointing into or through the center of the unit.

Along with the two units, stands, umbrellas, extra grips and a smaller three stage stand for a flash unit, a meter of five different colour gells and spare bulbs – I also bought a carry case (thankfully with wheels) for the whole lots that can also be used to dispose of a medium sized body if this is ever needed in the future.

And finally, if you have got this far you are probably asking yourself about triggering the strobes – and this is the part that most people get a bit squeamish about as receivers can be the most expensive part of the deal. These strobes can be used together with Jinbei triggering units but as last year I had already invested in three Pocket Wizard units, the answer was already made up for me. Having asked a number of people about what to buy here and also seeing a number of professionals in the last couple of years with nothing but Pocket Wizards it seemed to be the general feeling that whatever units you started with, you would always end up with the PW as they are simply the easiest and most reliable units available.

The only point I would make here is that the socket on the strobe and the socket on the PW are 2.5mm jacks and the cables that come with both the strobes and the PW have a 2.5mm jack on one end and a camera flash socket on the other and so you will need to get some 2.5mm double ended cables before you can link the units.

So setting up the units, linking them to the camera, metering for flash etc is a really quick process and much simpler than you would think. I had the cables for the flashes changed to HK plugs from the China three prong and also got extra long cables to make it easier to move the stands around and used a digital SLR for test shots before strapping on the Nikon F5 and some Portra 400 and over the next 30 minutes tested out the units just to see some of the basic set ups and how the film worked.

The pictures are not stunning set ups as it was after work and I really didn’t fancy setting up anything major as my models (family) were all tucked up in bed already…

I took a bunch of the same thing to check the shutter sync in manual which goes from 1/30th up to 1/250th on the F5 and metered with a hand held flash meter that was on the over exposed side of what I was looking for (I turned the highlights down on the image).

I didn’t use a grey card to meter but will do to see if I get more realistic readings.

The image above was f11 with the background blurred through distortion control on the 135/2 DC lens.

I am sure I can meter these off the camera in some way without taking shots – but the F5 manual is very thick indeed and I have been lazy with reading it so far. it has taken me a while to get comfortable with the idea of an F5 as I love the older and manual cameras so much – but running this is aperture priority is a dream.

 

So that leaves me with the obvious question to anyone living in HK who reads this or is traveling through HK – if you want to sit for some portraiture for me, then please drop me a line as I would be delighted to make this happen.

Weston & Co Design

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be asked by Nathalie to photograph her latest job in HK – the remodeling of the living space in a 70′s building in Mid Levels.

The large flat is rented by a lovely Australian family with three children (another two on the way) and a couple of dogs; so the brief was one of livable style and a bringing together of a family area that the kids wouldn’t destroy but could be used for entertainment for work.

With such an open brief Nathalie kept few of the existing pieces and those that stayed were repainted (the cabinets in blues and yellows) to fit with the bespoke carpet, artwork from a tattoo artist in Holland, a dining table made to order and the eclectic use of classic chairs.

Added to this the cabinet under the TV was newly made – accenting the period to fit with comfy chairs and new sofas and the nod to Nathalie’s South African heritage with the Miss Wong by Tretchikoff.

The above shots were taken entirely on Hasselblad 503 CX with Carl Zeiss 80/2.8 T* and Provia 400X in E6 using two large soft boxes to light the flat.

The camera, lens and film choice as well as lighting were meant to create a natural aging to the look of the photos (although a umbrella would have probably been sensible too for some more targeted lighting).

This one below was taken hand held with my Kiev 88 and Zodiak 30mm – cropped to take out the ceiling – but added here to show the fantastic carpet.

Nathalie’s site is just under construction where her look book is going to be westonandcodesign.com along with her design blog.

….but maybe not quite yet.

Walking into the lounge at the airport in Colombo is a regular occurrence for me and in January I reported how the news that Kodak had filed for bankruptcy was hitting the news as I walked in.

Today on entering the lounge I found some better news in my inbox from Darko in Sweden that Kodak are focusing on film and handing digital over to third parties.

The article is here on the British Journal of Photography site http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2145203/kodak-phases-digital-businesses-film-alive

Great news as I really would miss Ektar and Portra.

Shopping for a Blad

I can’t remember when my obsession with having a Hasselblad started, but it was a long, long time ago and the main thing that has stopped me from ever bringing this desire to a conclusion was the fear that either, I was never going to live up to the camera or heaven forbid, the camera wouldn’t live up to the pedestal I put it on decades ago.

What I do know is that the desire started as a very general picture of the camera as an icon of photography and over the years became much more specific about the actual model, the lens and the finish of the model and lens that I have been searching for.

As part of the journey to the Hasselblad, eighteen months ago I bought a Kiev 88 – otherwise known as the Hasselbladski due to it’s uncanny  resemblance to the early Hasselblad 1600F.

The camera comes at less than half the price of the Hasselblad I wanted and as I already had the fabulous Kiev 60 Medium Format SLR, it meant I could share lenses between the cameras.

Now many people will tell you never to buy the Kiev 88 or the 60 or any other Kiev camera and I guess these are either people who have had unlucky experiences with the cameras or just people repeating what is actually a complete myth. The Kiev cameras are fabulous and in fact so good that I found my desire for a Hasselblad reduced as I found so much joy using the MF Kiev 60 & 88.

In writing this article I also had a reason to relive my time with the Kiev 88 and so here are some of the memories in images;

This first one was from the 3rd film through the camera and was our new boy (when he would sit still for more than 5 seconds at a time..).

And I had to include this one using a T64 film and dark orange filter in very poor lighting conditions on a moving ride at HK Disneyland for it’s unbridled joy;

Like the Hasselblad, the Kiev 88 is best as a portrait camera and there is no excuse not to get shot after shot of memories from the camera.

It was also the camera that I first used to start developing my own B/W film (35mm would have been easier but who wants easy…).

These are my Father in Law and Father – members of the family happy/compliant enough to have a camera in their face.

And finally, as readers of previous posts will know; I permanently fixed a Zodiak 30mm to the Kiev 88 and so this is what it looks like today. Still an amazing camera – clunky, heavy (especially due to the weight of the glass on the front and the massive metering prism on top) and to date completely problem free.

The other big lesson here that I learnt is that Medium Format is just so much better than 135. I’m sure that is a view that many people will disagree with but let me elucidate.

-The negative are so much bigger so you are going to get a phenomenal amount of detail from the negative – about 4 times more than you are used too on your 35mm.

-Using a film with 12 or less exposures on the film and a removable back means that you can change films and specifically the ISO you are using much quicker than with a 36 exposure film (this is probably stating the obvious but until you use MF it isn’t something you think about).

-And finally everyone’s negative about MF is my positive – the cameras weigh so much that you take them out specifically to take photographs and not just in your hand or bag in case you fancy taking a picture or two.

So when it finally came to buying the Hasselblad that I had been dreaming of; I actually felt guilty that I was letting my Kievs down….until I used the Hasselblad and realised that everything I had struggled with on my 88 was made perfectly on the Blad.

The  film cartridge works perfectly, all the parts fit together without having to jiggle them like I do on my Kiev. The shutter winder is smooth, aperture is on the lens and uses the classic method of matching shutter speeds and apertures. The dark slide actually is light fast and stops you from depressing the shutter when inserted, the lens automatically stops down before the shutter activates (this was the earliest auto stop down camera) and the shutter is in the lens not the body.

Overall, no effort was required on turning knobs, making settings or loading film unlike the 88.

So what was the camera I wanted, dreamed of and lusted after? The 500 C/M with chrome trim and an earlier fully chrome 80/2.8 planar from Carl Zeiss with the essential T* lens coating.

I know the 500 C/M originally came with the black lens and plastic bits on it but I wanted the lens from the older 500 C with the benefits of the C/M as it allows different screens to be fitted to the body.

The one I ended up with also came with the older 12 Shot cartridge and not the A12 that was standard on this camera and again this was a choice to have no plastic interrupting the chrome trim on the camera. Having used a Kiev 88 cartridge for 18 months that is based on the 12 Shot it also meant that I am not worried about the automatic frame finder on the A12.

The other big difference between the Hasselblad and all other cameras  of the time was the flash synchro at every speed and all the way up to the maximum speed of 1/500th.

The following are from the first few films I put through the camera – and I didn’t manage to put as many through as I would have liked because my Hasselblad came down with the classic disease – the shutter stuck with the mirror up and the rear curtain open and it was game over.

So this is my favourite B/W film – Fuji Acros Neopan 100 – with Lola posing after tumbling off her scooter.

The same film and the same day at the playground in Sai Kung.

And these three are all using Fuji Provia 100F developed conventionally in E6. This is a fantastic film for correct colour reproduction.

This is Eva with her Dad Simon; in Barefoot Cafe in Colombo – bright sunlight and we were sat in shade.

This is also in Sri Lanka, but this time in the Galle Fort Hotel in heavy shade with very bright light behind me and behind the horse. Metered for the shade and with no adjustment to the image.

And finally, on the same day as the above B/W images of Cassius in Sai Kung – very grey and extremely cold day for Hong Kong.

So if only I had read up about the problems with the older Hasselblads, I would have found that a stuck shutter is really common. Looking on ebay you will even find people selling bodies with frozen shutters – and unfortunately this didn’t ring an alarm bell.

It was when I took my camera to the Uncles in TST who specialize in repairing old film cameras that I realized just how common it was as they laughed and smiled at me and the classic Hasselblad condition.

Thankfully the repair was only HK$ 550 including a CLA – but it is something that I think is going to plague me over the years that I hope to use this body.

And so finally, what are my thoughts about a Kiev 88 vs the Hasselblad?

- The difference between the cameras is not as great as I thought it was going to be.

- Framing is better on the Hasselblad – but a little overlap adds to the character of film cameras.

- The winder is smooth and fast on the Hasselblad – but the winder on the 88 doesn’t ever let me down.

- The shutter issue on the Hasselblad worries me and to this date I have never had an issue with the 88.

- Both cameras are heavy but that is what you would expect.

- Accessories are readily available for the Hasselblad – I have a Left Handed Flash Handle on mine that helps shooting in hand.

- The Kiev 88 Prism (spot metering) and WLF fits on the Hasselblad 500 series.

- The Kiev Lenses are not as sharp as the Carl Zeiss T* but give a DOF and softness that is unique to them. They are as fast as the Carl Zeiss lenses and cover the same range but are a fraction of the price.

And the Million Dollar Question – is the Hasselblad 500 twice as good as the Kiev 88? In my humble opinion – it is a better camera but not so much better that I wouldn’t suggest getting a Kiev 88 to anyone.

Personally I love my Kiev cameras – the 88 is much more reliable and hard wearing than the 60 – and I hope to have one that I use regularly for years to come.

It is early days with the Hasselblad and it is a joy to use – but if the truth be told, for me it is 6×6 MF that makes both of these cameras what they are as 120 is an amazing format with great films to choose from.

If you are looking to get one of these cameras – then pick the one you want at the price you are happy to pay and don’t be swayed by the conventional thinking that Hasselblad is the only choice – as it is one of many.

Once you go Blad you never go back……..almost.

I finally gave in to my long term desire and found the Hasselblad of my dreams – a 500 C/M with a chrome Carl Zeiss 80/2.8 T* and the classic 120 back (as this means the whole camera has the chrome trim and no plastic bits anywhere, including the older fully chromed WLF).

The hard part was always going to find a chrome 80/2.8 that had the T* coating; as second hand dealers will have you believe they are so rare and special that they deserve the inflated price tag that is often double or triple the cost of the regular black lens. Finding one without the T* is easy and cheap, but it is worth waiting till you find the right lens at a reasonable price as they really are not that rare.

A few weeks later and the start of some test films show that this was the right choice for quality of the lens and the smoothness of the operation of the body and the amazing syncro setting.

And just as I was about to write the definitive Hasselblad article (comparing it to the great Hasselbladski – the Kiev 88)  - the shutter stuck and without opening the bottom of the body up myself, it won’t unstick.

So, a few test films in and it has to go to the Uncles in TST who have the experience and skills to fix the shutter mechanism before the article can be finished.

Until then, here are a couple from the few films so far processed that are making me excited about getting it back in working condition and using it much more.

The first was shot on Portra 400 in really grey and raining conditions in Hong Kong and the second a few days later in blinding morning sunlight in Sri Lanka on Ektar 100.

The size of image on the blog are not sufficient to show the amazing effects of the lens and so click on them to see the stunning DOF.

Rock at Waterfall Farm

For those people unfortunate enough to have know me for quite a few years, they will know that I have had some periods in my life where I have been fairly obsessed with climbing. This isn’t mountaineering but climbing on a rock face, generally with but often without a rope.

This is an obsession that started before I left school and stopped for a period in my mid twenties to thirties due to tendon problems in my right hand; that were fixed after my car accident ten years ago; when I had both of my hand rebuilt by an amazing surgeon in Manilla of all places.

She spent a total of 15 hours in surgery fixing my hands and it was 9 months after my operation that I found myself adding climbing at a local climbing wall into my occupational therapy and before long I was climbing again more seriously.

Not long after this I took a year off work and climbed full time between Thailand, New Zealand and the stunning Arapalies in Victoria.

On returning to work, I built a climbing wall in my house and used this to train between weekend flight to Ton Sai in Thailand.

With small children I have found myself having a natural break for a few years and now am getting the itch back to start getting out on the rock again – especially after our trip to South Africa where I found myself surrounded by untouched cliffs and boulders.

So here are a few shots of some of the amazing rock we saw (and I apologise to anyone who feels nothing when they see pictures of rock – I understand it doesn’t make everyone as excited as it does me).

The below picture shows the reason for the name of the farm and is about a 15 minute walk over the hill and around the citrus trees to your own waterfall with clean water to swim in and a small sand beach to sit on a shelter from the sun.

The rock comes into the shade in the afternoon and would be a mixture of natural pro and some bolts. Most areas and lines look like they would go with a bit of a run out or a bit of DWS as the top of the waterfall is about 30 feet and the water reaches a depth of around 12. There are cliffs like this everywhere in the region and so this is not a one off.

This next one shows the cliff behind Lola and how solid the rock is. There are some areas with small overhangs, but I didn’t see anything massive in the area.

What the Country has become famous for; as we were literally just up the road from the world famous Rocklands; is bouldering and everywhere you look there are great boulders of all shapes, sizes with untouched lines.

These ones are from the road into Paternoster, where I saw some cool looking boulders from the road, not realizing that they were further than they looked…

Of course this last picture has little to do with the rock and more to do with Cassius, otherwise know as Boylet.

Shoot the sky

6 months ago in Ko Samui I had a rather abortive attempt at photographing the night sky;  a complete failure mainly due to leaving the attempts too late in our trip and having to face the problem of light pollution and an almost full moon in the only dark area I could find to place the camera.

The other major problem was my lack of understanding about the few simple rules that are essential when taking photos at night.

So the last few days of our trip to South Africa had us staying in the Western Cape outside of Citrusdal on a farm where light pollution wasn’t a problem as we really were in the middle of nowhere and at night you couldn’t see any light from Citrusdal (population 5,000) as it was 6km away and the other side of a mountain. These are the surroundings of the farm and show the regrowth of the vegetation after a fire last year raged for 5 days across the whole Citrusdal region.

So what are the basic rules for taking pictures of the night sky? I guess they are different for different skies and effects – but if you want to capture the stars and nebulas behind them in sharp pin point clarity – then there are a few rules.

The first to take note of is the rule of 600.

For this you divide 600 by the length of your lens in millimeters and this will give you the maximum exposure you can use without the stars moving.

Obviously the wider the lens the longer the exposure and the more light you get in your image.

(This 600 rule is for 35mm film and so I assume you will need to use different numbers for different formats).

For me this meant 600 / 24mm = 25 seconds maximum exposure.

The next step is to open the aperture to the maximum and so I used 2.8 on this lens.

And finally, use the fastest film that you can – and it was here that a complete lack of forward planning let me down again, as the fastest film I had was ISO 400 and there was no way I was going to be buying a fast film in Citrusdal.

I didn’t want to push the film (Portra 400) as the increase in grain would take away the sharpness of the stars I hoped to capture.

These are a couple of what turned out to be okish but definitely not great photos of the sky around us where I was trying to get the maximum 25 seconds out of the exposure by counting in my head (not very accurate I know).

The moon was half full and over behind me leaving the view I was taking in complete blackness. I assume the light on the leaves on the tree are reflected light from the moon.

The light in the bottom half of the image looks like light pollution but there is seriously nothing but mountains in this direction for many miles, so i am not sure why this came up.

The exposures were too long with my counting not being as exact as you need to be if you don’t want the stars to move in the image.

I should also admit that i wasn’t traveling with a tripod and so these were taken with a gorilla pod and a cable release on a Nikon FE – with me lying on the dirt to look through a view finder that just looked completely black…hence the poor framing.

What was most amazing about the results was that as I sat there in the dark, counting in my head to 25, I could only see 10 or 20 stars in total and I assumed the photos where going to be quite empty. I definitely couldn’t see any of the clouds of stars that appear in the image.

Even though the images are not massively sharp or well framed – they make me want to take these lessons and some really fast film to a remote area and do much more night sky photography. The next time I am going to be better prepared with a tripod and also having checked the night sky using Stellarium (a great free program for checking the sky where ever you are). I used the program for these shots and so knew I wasn’t going to get the Milky Way into these shots but that is something I am looking to get onto some shots in future night time trips.

…and finally.

As I entered the lounge at the airport, the news that Kodak has filed for bankruptcy was on the news.

This isn’t the end but the start of what could be the final death throws.

What would I miss if Kodak disappeared in the next few years?

Ektar 100 and Portra 400 for sure. Tri-X 400 maybe and TMax Developer for certain.

Perhaps it is time to by a damn big fridge and stock pile for the coming winter.

Pigs don’t bite…

On the farm in Citrusdal, South Africa; apart from the orange and lemon trees, dogs, cats, baboons etc; were a couple of young pigs which we quickly christened Peppa and George.

Henry, who looks after the farm and the properties on the land, told us to feel free to take leftover food and peelings down to the pens to feed the pigs and also said that not to worry as the pigs don’t bite.

Now, it is not like I grew up on a farm or spent a youth around pigs, but one thing that is just common knowledge is that pigs have a habit of biting and have very strong jaws. (Perhaps Henry hadn’t watched Snatch where pigs are used to dispose of bodies as they are so good at eating anything).

The morning after our arrival came and I thought I would take the kids to see the pigs with some food and a camera and make sure they didn’t put their hands in the pigs faces.

Peppa and George live side by side in separate pens and are only a year or so old and like the two pigs before I can assume that their future has them getting really acquainted with a braii or two.

Lola and Cassius understood not to try and pet them but to come and feed them each day with Nathalie or me and so I thought I would get some intimate pictures of the kids and pigs whilst they are getting to know one another.

As I lent against the brickwork to get a picture of the kids having a look at George; Peppa decided to give into her basic instincts and tried to bite my left elbow off…

Luckily, reactions and a lack of trust for pigs stopped this from turning into a tale that would end in A&E but also put paid to any belief in the story that pigs don’t bite – i mean really….who was Henry trying to kid?

Would you trust this pig with your children?