Thoughts from across the pond

One of the great joys of the internet is the way it breaks international boundaries, even Pixel has an international audience.

Pre-Internet a few of us may have heard of great American magazines but few of us ever got the chance to read them but now....

There is an interesting essay in the online edition  of The Atlantic discussing, not for once on whether photography is dead or if its an art but looking at the more fundamental question of whether the nature of art and artists is changing and our current view of art as "That which you see in a gallery" is becoming out dated.

When works of art become commodities and nothing else, when every endeavor becomes “creative” and everybody “a creative,” then art sinks back to craft and artists back to artisans—a word that, in its adjectival form, at least, is newly popular again. Artisanal pickles, artisanal poems: what’s the difference, after all? So “art” itself may disappear: art as Art, that old high thing. Which—unless, like me, you think we need a vessel for our inner life—is nothing much to mourn.

Link to the complete Article

Landscape Photography

Over on Petapixel, Ugo Cei has posted an article called 'Will the real landscape photography please stand up'.  In the article Cei discusses getting away from what a lot of photographers perceive to be the standard for landscape photography.

While I do believe that a hobbyist photographer should be happy doing what they want to do, I couldn't help feeling that what Cei is saying resonates with how I feel and approach my own landscape photography for some time.

Have a look and see what you think.

Same thing but different

Grouse Butt - Bob Singleton

A couple of weeks ago Bob and I went out taking photographs at the same time.  We were not out together but we were in the same geographical area with a similar sort of subject in mind, snow.

Bob chose to go to the summit of Pendle and take some shots there.  I was at Newchurch which is not more than a couple of miles away from Bob.  Bear in mind that we did not know both of us were out an in the same area.

I don’t think we actually class ourselves as any particular type of photographer, we just enjoy photography but that being said we both favour a documentary approach.

It is interesting to look at both our photographs from that session.  They are both documentary photographs.  There has not been any Photoshopping.  Mine had its final levels and sharpening done in Photoshop but that’s it.  I suspect that Bob’s is straight out of Lightroom.

Winter Whites - Lee Johnson

The interesting point is our approaches to a similar subject at the same time.  Bob has exposed his photograph to show the conditions as they were.  It was a bit grey, flat and not particularly nice.

I was looking for something that would make a nice monochrome image.  I wanted some strong blacks, shades of grey and then some almost paper white.  I knew that my cameras meter would underexpose the image so I dialled in about 2 stops of exposure compensation.  The result is what I wanted to achieve.

Both photographs have a lot in common.  They are in the same geographical location; have a similar subject matter (stone, landscapes and weather conditions.  They both look very cold!); and are documentary in nature.  I like Bob’s image as much as I like mine but the interesting thing is that we have the same approach and still come out with something quite different.

Now I get it!

Not so long ago Pentax Ricoh released the Pentax K-S1.  At first I thought the idea of a light up camera was simply folly, a gimmicky selling point.  Last night I changed my mind.

It's fair to say I am a Pentax fan.  I bought my digital KX because I knew there was a lot of excellent quality lens available both new and old available for it.  I knew the imaging was good, I'd searched flickr and done my homework.  Above all the KX felt right in my hand.  It actually felt better in my hand than the equivalent Canon and Nikon did (although I have to admit, it was a toss up between the KX and Nikon).  I love my KX so much that I bought a K1000 film SLR.  I love that so much that I have a Pentax Espio 115G, a 645 (both film and digital) and 110 Auto on my GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) list.

In an earlier post Liam alluded to the both of us taking part in a course on astronomy.  As part of the course we have to take photographs of the star constellation Orion and last night proved to be the first and best opportunity to do that.  So braving the temperature I set off up the nearest hill to bag a shot.

Orion - best seen on Flickr

I've done night photography before but it has always been pretty much in an urban area.  Last night it was dark, in fact it was so dark that my camera's auto-focus was useless and I hit on another problem.  I couldn't see through the viewfinder.  Well, no that's not strictly true.  The light of the rear display was interfering with my eyes own capability to see in the dark.  Of course, I could use live view or turn the display off.  Well, I could have if I could;

1. remember which button it was in the dark or; 
2. seen the button in the first place.

As a result I have a new mental note.  That is, 'if shooting in the dark take either a torch or phone with me'.  It helps light the back of the camera up even and I can find the buttons!  Either that or buy a camera that has light up buttons.

The K-S1 isn't such a bad idea anymore!

BWPA opens its doors to entry

The British Wildlife Photography Awards has opened to entry for it's 2015 competition.  Now in it's sixth year this competition has quickly established itself as one of the best wildlife photography competitions in the world.

Wildlife photographer and TV presenter Chris Packham said "Each year the British Wildlife Photographer Awards generates an incredible catalogue of splendid, exciting, imaginative and artistic images, proving beyond doubt that we have the richest palette of life to celebrate in our own backyard.

Anyone passionate about protecting and preserving wildlife will be inspired by the British Wildlife Photographer Awards which, in its sixth year, has done more than any other award to raise the profile of British wildlife."

This year the overall winner of the competition will receive £5000 and each category winner will receive a Canon Powershot G7X.

For more information and entry guidelines visit the BWPA website here.

For those that still like to shoot film

A couple of weeks ago we introduced you to the Film Photography Project and their podcasts.  If you want a valuable and fun resource on film photography then this is the place to be.

The new issue is out now and includes items on the Nikon F6, Nikon F2 Photomic and the Anniversary Brownie.  There is a review of some books and a large format photography report.  All good stuff.

The podcast is available from iTunes or on their website here.  Its well worth a listen.

To end the week.

I thought this might become a regular feature.  This week Liam has provided us with a picture.  If you would like to see your picture here then just drop some pictures in to our flickr pool or email us and you could be our picture of the week.

Have a good weekend!!!  See you Monday!