Theme by nostrich.
Quote reblogged from Explore with 727 notes
Nobody gets to be you, except you. Nobody has your point of view, except you. Nobody gets to bring to the worlds the things that you get to bring to the world – uniquely get to bring to the world – except you.
So saying there are enough writers out there, enough directors out there, enough people with a point of view – well, yeah, there are – but none of them are you, none of this them is going to make the art that you’re going to make, none of them will change people and change the world in the way that you could change it.
So if you believe somebody who says, “No, no, we’ve got enough of those”, then all it means is you’re giving up your chance to change the world the way only you can change it.
Neil Gaiman’s advice rings true to everyone seeing someone else’s flickr/Tumblr/portfolio and feeling totally dismayed.
http://www.openculture.com/2012/12/neil_gaimans_advice_to_aspiring_artists.html
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/22/neil-gaiman-commencement
![I ♥ My Mummy
This Christmas I have been whelmed by the thought and consideration that has gone into present choosing. I feel as though everyone has invested a lot of time when buying stuff.
Take this camera for example. A 1986-ish Pentax Zoom-70: My mum saw it in an op-shop window in New Zealand, and had the presence of mind to remember my Flickr and this blog, remembered that I loved old-cameras, bought it, stored it, sent it to me in England for Christmas.
Heck, it’s a £3 camera, but I’m over the moon. The thought that went into giving it to me [loud content sigh]… A test roll of Ilford FP4 is in it, fingers crossed, I’m in the back seat blogging.(I’m not the only person excited about Pentax beasts! Digging Your Scene)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/cdc231bbd59b7004c44087d3cd72fe97/tumblr_mft2ipJjuu1qhfdrco1_500.jpg)
I ♥ My Mummy
This Christmas I have been whelmed by the thought and consideration that has gone into present choosing. I feel as though everyone has invested a lot of time when buying stuff.
Take this camera for example. A 1986-ish Pentax Zoom-70: My mum saw it in an op-shop window in New Zealand, and had the presence of mind to remember my Flickr and this blog, remembered that I loved old-cameras, bought it, stored it, sent it to me in England for Christmas.
Heck, it’s a £3 camera, but I’m over the moon. The thought that went into giving it to me [loud content sigh]… A test roll of Ilford FP4 is in it, fingers crossed, I’m in the back seat blogging.
(I’m not the only person excited about Pentax beasts! Digging Your Scene)
Photo with 2 notes
It Never Ends Well
(photo courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales collection)
When I say things like “prepare for constant heartbreak” I mean it.
Shall we have a quick jog through a list of cameras I love and their current operational status?
- Polaroid Spectra
Too expensive to put damn film in the thing! (£2.15/shot).
- MPP Microcord
Shutter sticking again…
- Fed 1
Chewed its last film to bits, undoubtedly due to hamfistedfuckery when loading.
- Baldamatic I
Balda 1: Rangefinder focus mechanism gone, having to go rangeguessing
Balda 2: Winding mechanism broken
Balda 3: In the United Arab Emirates - still taking lovely photos, but just not here.
- Yashica Auto Focus
Focus mechanism 50/50 at best.
- Olympus Trip
Practically perfect in every way, a totally bombproof camera. Too snobby to use it, I think that MOAR BUTTONZ IZ BETAH!
What does that leave? An utterly excellent Olympus OM1 that I keep (spuriously) thinking needs mega expensive film to honour its Zuiko zenith. And, again, my neglected Canon EOS 300D Modded for Zuiko… Oh, I shouldn’t forget the wonderful, dreamy, divine, wicked little Fuji Instax Mini 7s - but, that is taking personal photos that go straight into an album: I know! Actual hard copy photos.
Well, what to do, what to do?
- Times are tough, film processing is expensive!
More from the Canon coming. My two Zuiko lenses work out at 38mm and 80mm with the 1.6x crop factor. Two lengths I’ve never really shot. That should be fun! - Whang* some cheap film into the OM1 and honour thy local lab.
Why I should do as I say, not as I do…
Just a few short weeks ago, I penned a series of massively misleading posts after misconstruing someone’s vague interest as a cry for me to impart knowledge. I have been told many times that vague interest does not equal a desire to be waffled at by me for a week… but, that is my mumpsimus, and I have to deal with it.
Anyway.
I am a fan of the Berenstain Bears and my mother read me The Bears’ Vacation every other night, for many a year. Hence the nagging sensation that when I give advice, I really should follow it. I have not followed a stitch of the advice that I gave in those posts.
Hence, we are here.
Clockwise, starting with camera:
- Vöigtlander Vito BL
- Handy Andy’s Exposure Slide Rule
- A Rocket Blower
- Fuji Superia 200
- A Notepad and Pencil
I told someone to just walk around and memorise their light/exposure values and count stops. Cripes, I’ve been crapping on about this since July last year. It’s about time I do it. Hence the title picture of this post. A fully manual viewfinder camera with no focussing assistance, my exposure slide rule, film, and a notebook (the blower was filling dead space). I’m going to load that film and memorise EVs and do some counting…
(P.S., Their rig is their, look closely, Zorki 4K, and the slide-rule-I-made-them is slipped in the back of their case: nice.)
Photo with 1 note
It’s just… the vibe… of the thing
A wee while ago, I was banging on about film snobbery, or something else, I can’t really remember. But I do know that a non-too-subtle subtext of my blog has and will continue to be me searching for the new sound an overarching tense to my photographic oeuvre.
I am searching for that signature feeling that a photo is mine. You can look through Flickr and other photoblogs and being to automatically recognise photographers’ essences. Take for example, the instantly placeable
Patrick Joust, Sannah Kvist and Erin McCown (l-r).
I mean, really, I recognise their work a mile away when it pops up in my Flickr.
Well, I think I might have finally, maybe, possibly, found mine… Fed 1 + Jupiter 8 + Cheap Fuji Film + Hoya Skylight (1A) = the title photo of this post.
Super Dork-Tastic Self Portrait Rig…
- MPP Microcord
- Leningrad 8 Meter
- Yashica Tripod
- National Flash
- Haka Autoknips
Photo with 2 notes
I Like to Repeat Things :||
It occurs to me that I fixate on subjects/themes/ideas/photos and repeat them.
For example, my wife’s feet on stairs. 
The kitchen window of our flat
My feet on precarious edges with a crack in the ledge
Me trying to capture the sheer brilliance of wind in my hair and tarmac flying by
Birds above the cliffs of our local beach
Don’t even get me started on my feet…
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