Christmas and New Year

So it's nearly Christmas and for some reason I've decided to make a new post, that reason being that my New Year's resolution is to get this blog back on track. I feel that maintaining the blog, even loosely, will help me with my degree on various levels.

An early Christmas present!

This time something has to change, people don't read blogs about other people these days, they want to take or learn something from it. They need a reason to read it. That's why I'm going to try to transfer what I'm learning from my degree onto the readers. Hopefully this will help people learn and maybe help others to decide whether a photography degree is for them! You should also look out for reviews and experiences of my own cameras and possible the Hasselblads I'll be shooting with next year!

Until next year!

I love Filofax

I may only have been using it for two weeks but I'm already wondering how I could manage without it! For anyone who doesn't know, a Filofax is an organiser that achieved iconic status in the late 1980s and became associated with Yuppie culture.

I've always wanted a Filofax, I had a FunFax as a child, but I've never really needed one. At Sixth Form and Secondary School, where one would be useful, they always gave out a diary for the year so there seemed little point. Now, at University, I was in a position without a diary. They didn't appear to be planning to give them out either, this was exciting. This meant Filofax.

So I got myself on the Filofax website and I had two shocks, one was the variety and the other was the price. I was dumbfounded by a glorified binder costing up to £170. Now slightly sceptical about whether I could actually afford one I tried to decide what I wanted out of my future Filofax. It needed plenty of space for assignments and briefs, needed to be big enough to fit folded A4 paper and needed to be understated but stylish. This narrowed my choice to an A5 series; the A4 was too bulky and not to mention expensive.

Eventually I decided on one of the cheapest in the range, the Identity. On the official site it cost £35 but I found it on WHSmith for £19 with the help of a voucher.

Sorry, not my own photo!

So how is it? Well, as I've said, I don't know what I'd do without it. I record all my briefs and deadlines in the Diary section along with a checklist in the To-Do section, I can keep train timetables in the cover pocket and I can record any other important student information elsewhere.

Since the purchase I have added a calculator for any difficult exposure calculations and am currently waiting for some 'sticky notes' from eBay.

So, if you want a fancy organiser look no further than the Filofax!

P.S I think I have fallen into the Filofax trap; I'm trying to justify buying a Personal size Filofax and I got slightly excited when I saw a fellow student brandishing a Filofax!

Week Three Round Up

Yet another week has passed and probably the most eventful of the three I have been there. Monday saw us learn about the stereotypical artist in an attempt to help us define what kind of photographer we are and where we want to place ourselves in the marketplace.

Tuesday is our practical day and my favourite day of the week, this particular session was used to introduce the group to large format cameras. It was a very interesting experience. Loading the massive sheets of film was fun but challenging, I'm not looking forward to handling fresh film at ~£2 per sheet!

The Large Format Cameras, ~£3000!

That was the interesting part of the week over, we learned about copyright and developed our ideas for our Large Format Brief of Identity but that was it!

Week Two Round Up

Well, another busy week of University has passed and by busy I actually mean very busy. A lot has happened, I started my real timetable of seminars, lectures and workshops and have even been given details of my first brief!

I have also been given plenty of 'homework' to be getting on with. I received a lengthy piece of work to do from all but one lecture, but work was needed to be able to participate in it!

So far I have started critical studies, this attempts to get us to see work from a new perspective and helps us to create new and original ideas. Practical work was fun, we learned the proper use of light meters for ambient and flash applications; I am still wondering when to use incident or reflected light, though.

Friday was perhaps the most daunting for most, we had to pick a photograph from our Sculpture Park Trip to present to our group of 50 students in a "Concerned Client Task". I was the last of the day to present and I actually received the best feedback for my presentation style, critique on my chosen photograph wasn't bad either!Below is the image, chosen to represent 'form' with elements of 'tone' and 'line'.

Canon 20D - ISO100 - f/5.6 - 1/400

I'll leave you with some important news. I bought a Filofax.

"School Trip"

Today we had a 'School Trip' to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It took me over four hours to get there, and four hours back, so it was a long day.

It was a good experience, we were asked to take photos based around the basic elements of photography, which was fun. I also got to see what other peoples' work ethics were like. The images that I captured will be used later on in the course though I'd like to edit some now!

The Year To Come

For the very first time the class was given a hint about what we will be spending the next year of our lives doing. We were also given our first real brief outside of creating a profile picture for our Moodle accounts!

Today's course introduction, while telling us about how the year will be structured, also excited us by hinting at the first four tasks. The class of around 70 students was split into 4 groups, each group is going to take it in turns to do Large Format work, Medium Format work and also 2 modules on DSLRs! I'm in the first group to take on the Large Format work so I'm quite excited!

I'll end this post with a short message about my feelings on one aspect of modern University. Why must the emphasis be placed on free alcohol, cheap alcohol and getting drunk? I don't travel for 2 hours to be told where the best bars are or to be given drinks vouchers. I travel to learn about photography.

Induction Week Continues

My very second day at University was the classes' first opportunity to share its work with each other. We shared images with our allocated groups, discussed how they were taken and how it relates to our career aspirations.

My chosen image was my candid shot of a man at the temporary art installation, on Birkrigg Common, Harmonic Fields. It shows a high contrast, photojournalistic style that I hope to develop. Unfortunately the Mac and projector combination reproduced the image far too dark. Feedback was good but the lecturer was quick to point out that a modern photojournalist must also rely on other means to support themselves, unless part of Magnum.

I am pleased to say that the group I have been allocated to has proven wrong my assumptions from Monday, most had produced high level work though still carrying some niggles. Real critique was at a minimum until Ninja John, the wildlife photographer, gave some real insight into industry standards.

Again this was a short day, a half day in fact, so very little happened. I expect even less is going to happen tomorrow so stay tuned!

University - Day One

As hurricane Katya's dying breaths pass over the UK with winds reaching 70mph I had my first day as a photography student at Blackpool and the Fydle College. Cutting out the two hours of traveling, my first day of the three year course was somewhat uneventful.

After an introduction from the staff we moved onto the first photography related activity of my time at the college, a pub style photography quiz. The quiz, while fun, allowed me to get to know some of the students I'll be sharing the college with. Many of the students I teamed up with appear to share the photographic passion, they have interests in most aspects of the field, a necessity if you want to get through the grueling course.

However, there were some individuals that appeared to have no idea what should really be expected of them at degree level. Photography at University or College level has a bad reputation, the fees are extortionate and there is no guarantee of a stable job at the end. This is something shared by most courses. The thing that struck me is lack of knowledge, I have read about students qualifying with barely a basic knowledge of photographic terms and techniques, have I come to work with similar people? As far as I could tell, and in no way am I elitist, they had very little idea about basic abbreviations or even definitions. And since when did camera shake become a integral part of controlling depth of field, a genuine suggestion from a fellow student.

I'll have more stories to some in Tuesday's edition!

Canon 50mm 1.8 EF II - Review

There's a reason why the reply to the the perennially asked question "What lens should I buy?" is usually to go for the 'nifty-fifty'; they're fast, light and a great all around focal length. But should you spend your money on the Canon 50mm 1.8 II? I'll try to make your decision easier with this short review.

With a retail price of just £99.99 in most shops and probably a bit less on eBay it's certainly an attractive prospect. It's actually the most inexpensive lens Canon produces so it should be within the reach of any budding photographer. However, with such a low cost item there come some drawbacks.

Shot at the maximum aperture of 1.8

Undoubtedly one of the first things you will notice is how light this lens is, at just 130g this is one of the lightest lenses you'll come across. There is one good reason for this. Just about everything, bar the glass, is made from plastic. Plastic body, plastic focus ring and a plastic mount. There's no escaping it. As a result the lens feels very cheap and therefore not particularly durable, I know how un-durable the 50mm 1.8 II can be; my first one fell apart after dropping only 2 feet onto a table.

Bargain Find #2

It's not uncommon to see plenty of old cameras in Charity or Secondhand Shops, there's usually baskets filled with generic, no-named 35mm rubbish that shouldn't be bought for 50p never mind what must have been payed new.

My most recent find was one of few that are made where I actually recognise the name of the brand. Nestled amongst the bric-a-brac was a gray pouch reading 'Ilford', a name I associate more with the manufacturing of film. Inside the pouch was a grubby looking Ilford Sprite 35, a strikingly angular camera produced in the mid to late '60s.

 This simplistic camera has only one form of control over exposure , three aperture settings. Using the 'Sunny 16' rule you can choose from f/8, f/11 or f/16 with what I read to be a 1/100 shutter speed in an attempt to make a correct exposure. There was an option of external flash, which probably would have helped, unfortunately there were none to be seen at the recycling centre. 

My Sprite, as can be seen above, does not seem to be fully functioning. The film advance lever seems to have no effect but to cock the shutter. My hopes of running film through it appear to have already been thwarted until further notice.

Hopefully I'll find a way to get it up and working! Until then.

Picture of the Week

The photo I have chosen for this week was taken on 25th August during my trip to Blackpool. I took the photo just before I made my way to the University for a tour of the photography department.

I wanted to capture a more unique image of the Blackpool Tower than the typical tourist shot like the one I have posted previously. Stood around 500 feet from the tower I had the idea that if I could find a reflection in the surrounding landscape I could produce a more abstract effect, this actually proved quite difficult. There weren't any large windows or doors that were either immediately obvious or had a complete reflection of the structure.

I crossed roads, passed through Taxi ranks and pushed through crowds of people until I looked higher than street level and saw a marble clad doorway. The picture you see is the reflection I saw, albeit heavily edited.

The photo was taken on my Canon 20D using the ever-trusty 50mm 1.8. Using a relatively small aperture of f/8 selected in Aperture Priority I attempted to capture a wide enough depth of field to maintain sharpness in the reflection.

Post processing was quite extensive, in colour the reflection appeared very washed out which was quite uncomplimentary to such a brilliant structure. Black and white helped to define the reflection more and create an image with much more depth. To achieve such a definite reflection in what was black marble required me to play around with more options than just contrast, blacks and clarity. I had to use colour mixing in the black and white panel to create such a prominent shape.

I hope you enjoy the picture as much as I enjoyed capturing and editing it!

University - My Photography Education Begins Here

As a student recently accepted onto a University Level Photography Qualification I think I should introduce you to my views on British Universities and how they work.

Here in the UK University has lost its prestige, Sixth Form Students are pushed towards finding a place at University regardless of whether their chosen career benefits from an associated degree. The result of this is Degrees have become worthless yet a necessity, employers can demand a University educated candidate because there are such high numbers of degree holders flooding into the jobs market.

Because of this demand for degrees I have to go to University, but I'm not disappointed. For the next three years I'll be studying something I enjoy, I'll be experimenting any way I want and I'll be doing it with Hasselblads and Professional grade equipment.

My University of choice is Blackpool and  the Fydle College, a small-ish institution with an apparently enviable international reputation close to the centre of Blackpool . Today I had the pleasant experience of visiting the college and touring the photography department situated in the basement of an amazing Art Deco building.

Below is the Blackpool Tower, visible from the college, this is an instantly recognisable landmark to many Britons. I'm sure it will become the subject of many photos to come.

While I know that the photography career isn't easy I think I will enjoy the time I get to spend in Blackpool and the College. I'll try to update the happenings of my time spent there, as is usual in the English education system I'll start in September. I hope you continue reading.

Who Made the Rules?

There aren't many questions that I find on forums that haven't already been asked and in most cases answered. Recently, while reading on a relatively small forum, I came across a thread titled 'Photo Authorities' . The topic poster was asking who decided what made a photo look good and how could anyone justify what comments they made when criticising other peoples' photos?

It was an interesting question and it got me thinking. It seems fairly well established that the human brain naturally likes to see certain patterns, one of the most relevant to photography being odd numbers. From an education in catering I know that, for the most part, chefs build plates using odd numbers. As a student of photography I know that good composition can most often be made by following the rule of thirds. The tower in the photo below shows a composition that obviously follows the rule of thirds.

This seemed like an interesting pattern and one that had been 'discovered' 800 years ago in Italy. Fibonacci created the Fibonacci Sequence or the Golden Ratio, a sequence which from what I understand splits things into three. Artists and architects since the Renaissance have proportioned their work in line with the Golden Ratio and the golden rectangle. I may not understand the maths but I can see the results of his work.

I'm sure there are ways to explain other aspects of photography in over complicated ways, I'm content with just this.

Digital Lomography - Will it Happen?

Digital cameras have progressed massively since they became mainstream back at the turn of the Century, similar to the progression of the 35mm format in the '40s and '50s. Now the race for the most megapixels may be just about over can we really see the difference between the old and the new?

Looking back through a decade of digitals no camera really sticks out in the same way as the Smena 8M, Holga or Diana. These Lomography classics are all about the raw essence of 35mm photography. It's just you and your camera. There's no need for a light meter, that's done in your head, an inaccurate exposure adds to the charm.

A digital camera cannot compete with a 35mm in terms of pure experience, it's simply too automated. Perhaps there are areas that could make digital into a lomographic experience. A restrictive battery life, choose the right shot or you won't be shooting at all? Maybe a small memory card? They don't make the experience new or exciting, 35mm's restrictions open up a whole new world of photography.

Even the quality of a digital camera from 2002 like my Minolta Dimage Xi (as above) stands up to today's point and shoots. There may be evidence of vignetting but that's nothing on the look that you get from an 8M. The combination of film and a cheaply produced lens makes magic.

So can Lomography go digital? The Lomo company has no intentions of producing a digital camera so they won't start the trend. Maybe lomography should stick to film and any digital wannabees will have to keep on 'shopping their images.

Quick Strap (Q Strap) - Review

While the strap supplied with your Canon, Nikon or even Sony camera may be perfectly adequate for most situations, there are circumstances where it can limit or distract your shooting. If you've ever had the 'official' strap impair the viewfinder, block the lens, tangle around your hand or fatigued your shoulder then there is some likelihood that you've wished for a solution.

The most obvious replacements on the market appear to be from Black Rapid or Sun Sniper, these are very high quality products that will undoubtedly solve your problem. However, this is reflected in their price tags. A Black Rapid RS-7 alone will cost upwards of £60 from most retailers.

So what are the alternatives? You could either buy a cheaper strap that fixes one or two gripes you have with the 'official' strap or you could buy a replica, copy, knock-off or clone of the big names. Whatever you want to call it. The Q-Strap is unquestionably a replica of the aforementioned Black Rapid RS-7, fortunately without a replicated price. From eBay you'll be able to purchase a Q-Strap for £15, or if you don't mind waiting, a bargain buy of £12 from China.

Back To the '70s - Canon AE-1

The Canon AE-1 released back in 1976 was one of the first SLR cameras to be controlled solely by a CPU, this allowed SLR photography to be accessed by millions of amateur photographers as was shown by the phenomenal sales figures. The AE-1 alone established Canon as a leader in camera innovation, paving the way for many new and exciting products.

The Canon AE-1 was also my ticket into the world of photography.

The very camera you see above was bought by my Dad back in 1978, accompanying it is a 50mm 1.8 that had been attached to the camera until the day I found it in our barn. The condition was very good, the camera wasn't boxed but it had everything I needed to get me into photography. All I needed to do was buy some film and a battery for the light meter!

To be continued...

Nikon D4 - What Do We Know?

So what do we know ahead of the official announcement of Nikon's newest flagship DSLR? Rumours say that the pro level Nikon will encase a new 16.2 megapixel full-frame sensor, up from 12 megapixel of the D3s. Continuous shooting will stay the same at 9FPS or 11FPS in FX mode and HD movie mode will also be familiar in D3s specification. However, the updated camera will have revised ergonomics.

Release is expected for Nikon Professionals at the end of 2011 and everyone else at the start of 2012.

Picture of the Week

This week's photo was taken on July 22nd, the final day of my stay in Brora and the day before I traveled back down to Edinburgh for the rest of my holiday.

 

The photo was taken whilst walking along the beach opposite to our family owned cottage in Brora. It was late on Friday night when I decided for the first time in the week to venture down to the beach to snap some shots, I had deliberated waited for a clearer night to attempt to catch a more attractive sunset. 

I think I must have got lucky; the sun was setting, the tide had just started to make its way back in so I must have been in the right place at the right time. There was an amazing reflection of the salmon pink sky in the freshly dampened sand which I hope you can see above.

I chose to shoot in Manual; Aperture Priority is rarely going to choose the correct area to expose in these kind of conditions. I used my trusty kit lens because before-hand I hadn't decided whether to shoot wide-angle or tight, my 50mm prime would have proven equally good in the circumstances. The aperture was set 'wide open' (f5.6) though it may have been more sensible to have a smaller aperture to retain sharpness, I had plenty of room to move with a 1/100 set as my shutter speed so it would have been viable.

Post processing was minimal. As ever I used Lightroom 3 where I added contrast, sharpness, blacks and a touch of clarity. Vibrancy was boosted very slightly to appear more inline with reality.

Overall I am very pleased with the image, I captured the moment just as it appeared. I hope you enjoy it too.

My Return

I have returned from my holiday, of course with plenty of photos, so will again start to post on a regular basis.

All of my photos can be viewed on my photostream so feel free to go and have a look.

Holiday

I'll be taking a weeks break from posting due to a forthcoming holiday to Scotland. I'll be bringing with me a Canon 20D, AE-1 and my QL17 so I'll hope to bring back some exciting and new shots of Edinburgh and Sutherland.

Don't forget to browse my photostream for updates.

Light Seal Repairs - Canonet QL17

It's a problem that most of us will face at some point in our photography careers, at least if you're into old film cameras, and that's the deterioration of the under appreciated foam light seals.

Many cameras between the '60s and '90s were fitted with a foam on the camera back that helped to prevent light leaking onto the film. This caused clouding and sometimes red streaks, effectively ruining the film. Unfortunately this foam is prone to deteriorating and will eventually start to leak light, a problem that I have experienced with my Canon AE-1, it can also stick to your film and hamper the developing process.

The only solution to fix the sticky black mess that the foam leaves behind is to give the camera a thorough clean and replace the light seals. You can either do this yourself in under an hour or you could take it to your local camera shop and overpay someone else to do it.

I started by cleaning out the old seals with ear buds dipped in nail varnish remover, I then wiped out the remaining slime with some kitchen roll. To replace the old foam I bought a sheet of 2mm self-adhesive foam from eBay for under £4, I cut this to size, stuck it in and Voila! Fixed in forty minutes.

Thrift Store Find - Praktica PLC2

 Like many photography enthusiasts I am always on the lookout for new hardware to add to my collection, you never know when you might get lucky and get an amazing find. Quite recently on a trip to one of the many thrift and charity shops in the area I came across a '70s SLR all in black, my favourite camera colour scheme. I had to have it. After some haggling I got myself a Praktica PLC2 with Pentacon 50mm 1.8 and a Paterson developing tank, all for £5.

Not soon after getting the East German camera home I gave it a good clean, everything appeared to be working fine just as was tested for in the shop. Some of the leather covering was loose, as would be expected from a camera produced in 1975, but a smear of glue fixed that quickly. Unfortunately the paint has also chipped away leaving no traces of the once white PLC2 logo, this seems to be a common problem with Praktica cameras.

The main selling point of this camera back in the day was that the camera could actually read the maximum aperture setting of the M42 mount lenses, this made 'Through The Lens' metering possible for any aperture at any aperture setting. 63,957 of these cameras were produced, I'm happy to have just one sitting at home.

Picture of the Week

Welcome to the first 'Picture of the Week' installment. Every week I will select a picture from my Flickr Photostream that may be a particular favourite of mine or have some other kind of significance.

This week's picture was taken on July 3rd 2011 in the village of Little Urswick.

 The picture shows the dashboard of a car, an abandoned car. It was actually a Volkswagen Beetle, most likely from the '60s, that had been left in a barn for at least a decade by the looks of it. I came across the car whilst walking home from some open gardens which I had been photographing, I was shocked to see such an iconic car left to rot.

The camera accompanying me at the time was my Canon 20D with 50mm 1.8, though I'm sure the affect from a film camera with black and white film would be just as pleasing. I edited the image in Lightroom, firstly converting the image into black and white and then adjusting the black levels and contrast. The end result is the image you see above.

I hope you like the picture as much as I do, please don't hesitate to comment.

Batteries, batteries, batteries.

I did a lot of reading about batteries before I purchased my camera and despite establishing which battery I had to buy for my QL17 there remained a lot of confusion about how Today's Alkaline batteries effect meter readings.


Back in the '60s when the Canonet was first launched the standard battery was a mercuric oxide cell, a battery containing Mercury. In recent years these Mercury batteries have been banned in much of Europe and North America, the result was confusion over what to replace the outlawed batteries with. The answer was an Alkaline cell.

However, the new Alkaline cells have a changed voltage compared to their Mercury counterpart, in the QL17's case 1.5V compared to 1.35V. So how does this affect the meter readings? In my own experience I have seen little change. I have done numerous tests to compare the readings of my 20D, AE-1 and QL17, the first two of which produce excellent exposures. While the meter readings of each camera didn't always match they were all within 1 stop, enough for me to trust the QL17's judgement.

I can't guarantee that everyone will experience the same results but I can say that if you want a new battery for your QL17 then you'll need a 1.5V L1560.

My New Arrival! - Canonet QL17

Today, only 2 days after I made the winning bid on eBay, I took arrival of a new addition to my camera family. The Canonet QL17 was first introduced in 1965 as the flagship to Canon's 'Quick Load' range, in the 17 years that it was produced they released 3 iterations of the compact rangefinder. My version is the second of the three.


The first job was to clean off the 40 years of dirt that had accumulated on the camera body and strap. I can only say that I was shocked and appalled at the seller for not cleaning this amount of dirt off the camera. During this process the viewfinder and film counter windows fell off revealing deteriorated glue, after chipping this away the windows are again glued firmly in place.

As I removed the Canon branded lens cap it was a pleasant surprise to see the 40mm 1.7 lens protected with a 48mm Toshiba SL-C filter, almost as pleasant as the bright and clear viewfinder.

Now to test the focusing and shutter. The focus lever is smooth with a relatively short swing, the green tinted focus window is clear and easy to use in bright light though slightly more challenging in dimmer conditions. The film advance lever feels mechanical, not smooth at all, but does the job perfectly well. And now for the shutter release, the reason I needed a rangefinder, a firm press of the release triggers a leaf shutter that is incredibly quiet; perfect for candid shooting. A pleasingly underwhelming experience.

All that's left now is to replace the light seals, a job common across most cameras of this era, and then to finally run a roll of black and white film through it! Keep updated.

Welcome to The Flash Bulb

Yes, welcome to The Flashbulb. Here you will be able to follow as I journey through the world of photography, old and new. Be sure to read about my latest purchases, ideas and photo based adventures as they happen.

Thanks for reading.