Heavy Metal - Extended

Video shot with a Canon 550D and 2 x Panasonic GH1's. Lenses used included:- Canon 10-22mm zoom, Nikon 50mm f/1.2 and 85mm f/1.8, Leica 135mm f/4 lenses.


In complete contrast to the K-5 video this is an extended version of the industrial, "Heavy Metal" footage that Ben and I shot last year. Video editing is very much a work in progress for me and this was an opportunity to try to get to grips with Adobe Premiere Elements. Hence the split screen and overuse of some of the Premiere transitions!! Video editing is a very time-consuming process and though it probably doesn't look like it this took me days!


In terms of quality the final file was incredible. 11 minutes long, it ended up at nearly 5GB, but it looked superb. This YouTube version is compressed somewhat but still looks pretty good if you view it in HD.


Convergence, as its become known, is now becoming a fact of life. The all-in-one Photographer/Videographer/Editor is now a reality. The gear may allow us to do all sorts of things but the workload is certainly getting heavier because of it. There's a growing expectation from clients these days that a "Photographer" should offer more than stills. While it extends work opportunities for many, it does become very demanding keeping up. We're now expected to be proficient in fields that in the past would have been taken care of by others. While speciality is still a reality in the fields of movies, TV, and high-end advertising photography, the jobbing photographer is now becoming the proverbial "Jack of all Trades". Sometimes I worry whether the second half of the cliche "Master of None" is also happening to us. 


One of the reasons I found weddings such as problem was the sheer amount of work. Two of us shot the stills, shot the video, edited both and laid out the wedding albums, with only an extra video cameraman for assistance. So - Photographer, Videographer, Photo Editor, Video Editor and Graphic Designer. I'm all for "Renaissance Man" but this is getting a bit over the top. Part of what's going on is the result of an (incorrect) assumption that because we're using digital gear and computers its easier, quicker and should therefore be cheaper. Often photographers can end up working long hours for a reduced hourly rate and there are many such stories of the pressures that trying to offer too much can cause. 


I certainly enjoy certain elements of producing video and while I feel I'm getting better in terms of shooting and editing, its something thats still very new to me. I am in the fortunate position where I don't have to give myself a crash course in the complexities of the moving image to try to make a living, but I know that there are many photographers just starting out who are doing just that. Where this will all end who knows. However it's a gear led revolution thats going on and what we end up doing is probably more influenced by the advances in equipment, rather than our own aspirations. 


David

Camera Porn

What is Camera Porn? Wikipedia hasn't got round to it yet, so I'm going to attempt my own definition.

How about - "The photographing of cameras and lenses in such a way that arouses the desire for use and ownership in others" Its a guilty pleasure, creating it and looking at it. But should those of us who indulge feel this guilt?

Of all the images I have posted on flickr this is the one that has had the most views:-

4000+ and rising.

Heres a few more that will probably rack up quite a few views in the coming days/weeks/months.

Any of the following sound familiar?

1. You know its showing off to photograph your camera and post it on the internet but you have to do it anyway.

2. Sometimes you love your camera more than the pictures it takes, you know you shouldn't but you do.

3. You don't seem to be able to get through the day without fondling your favourite piece of gear at least once.

4. You bore your non-photographer friends into a coma by telling them all about your latest aquisition. You know they're not interested but you just can't help yourself.

5. You buy a camera because of how it looks, not what it does.

6. You dream about winning the lottery and buying every camera ever made and housing them in a gallery you have specially built.

7. In answer to the age-old question of "In a fire which would you save? Your photographs or your camera?" You say the former because you think you should, but you really want to save your camera.

8. You always think the next camera will be the one, you won't be buying any more.

9. You tell everybody you really need this new camera because it has unique features, but you're lying. You bought it because it looked great and you had to have it.

10. You'll take a picture of just about anything, just to press the shutter.

Enough words - more pictures!!

Guilty pleasures? Why not just pleasure? The worlds in an economic downturn, we need GROWTH! That means go out and spend your money. Your country needs you to CONSUME!! If you're reading this the chances are that you like or love photography. The chances are that you also like or love cameras and photographic equipment. Well thats actually OK. In fact its more than OK, its something to celebrate.

Photography is my passion, outside of my family its my favourite thing in the whole world. I've said enough times in this blog that the reason I became a full-time photographer was so that I could take photographs every day. Its what I want to do. I remember seeing a programme about David Bailey, who's idea of a day off was to wander down to his local church with a 10 x 8 plate camera and then spend all night making prints of what he'd taken. A bit like Tom Watson, the golfer, whose idea of a holiday was to play rounds at a series of obscure Scottish golf courses. My kind of people!

Repeat after me:-

Its not a crime to enjoy taking pictures.

Its not a crime to enjoy using a camera.

Its not a crime to buy a new camera.

Its not a crime to buy a camera just because you like the way it looks.

Its not a crime to own a lot of cameras.

Its not a crime to admit to any of the above.

THE CAMERA PORN ADDICTS MANTRA.

I'm not going to apologise for spending a high proportion of my disposable income on cameras and photographic equipment. I'm not going to apologise for earning enough money to be able to buy expensive cameras and photographic equipment. Its my life, my money, my choice.

(I figure if I say that enough times, I might actually believe it!!!)

So to all you other camera junkies out there, lets banish the guilt. Lets enjoy our cameras and openly share our love of Camera Porn. Lets appreciate the designing skills of Yoshihisa Maitani, Oskar Barnack and Luigi Colani and celebrate their creations. Lets embrace the form as well as the function, and be unrepentant about our passion.

In the same way that a musician forms a bond with their instrument(s), we are entitled to do the same with our camera(s). We don't have to justify it to anyone, especially ourselves. So stop apologising, stop feeling guilty.

Enjoy Camera Porn for what it is - the desire of the beholder to publicly show his appeciation of his treasure(s). We can all understand that. Can't we?

D

DSLR Video 2

Part 2 of the Zacuto comparison of Video enabled DSLR's.

http://www.zacuto.com/shootout

Canon Nikon 85mm f1.8 Test

Comparison between a Canon 85mm f 1.8 and a Nikon 85mm f1.8D fitted to a Canon 550D.

Almost identical performance and colour balance. The only real difference is that the Canon is slightly softer at f16.

As before full-size file is available on flickr.