Shoot a wedding on an iPhone?

Well, you can't... well, you can, but it's going to be pretty low-fi ya know... Yeah, you could do it if that's all you had... You can print 6x4's You can make yourself a wedding album on instagram. You could print a little book for all your guests as a mementos...

But that's not what this post is about... This post is about the attitude attached.

I was driving out to Healsville sanctuary yesterday with the family, Seb was asleep and M and I were talking about photography, I was trying to work out if I should get a certain type of camera - we eventually managed to get to talking about how photographers are an opinionated bunch, me included, and we are... You know, if someone posted "I can only get someone with an iPhone to take my photos" in one of the professional forums on the internet, that person would be laughed off, escorted out, ridiculed... But why? If that's all they could afford / if that's all they wanted... if that's all... then who are we to judge? I used to be one of those people - so worried about my gear / the gear people used to define their work that I was missing the point... Generally it ain't the 'professionals' that are all about the gear, it's the fauxfessionals or the amateurs with a 9 to 5 and a serious hobby / gear addiction. I'm the first to admit, I love tech, I love gadgets and I love my iPhone... I'll get a 5 as soon as I've got the moolah. But we have to remember, it ain't the gear that defines us, its what we create with whatever we have...

The only reason I can think of that there's all this worry and talking down to people doing the best with what they can is that, people with nice gear and more experience are going to lose work to this army of iPhone equipped photographer types? If you're worried, work harder, set yourself apart from someone with a phone camera or a point and shoot (does anyone bother with a point & shoot anymore?)

If that's not the reason, then what is?

This is a creative industry, why then are our collective creative brains so against people using different ways to create their art? 90% of the population can't tell what your photo, 600px wide on a blog or Facebook was created with... Yes, if you're printing a sweet wedding album, then you're going to notice... If you're printing large, then you're probably going to notice... well, the pixel peepers amongst us will... I had a friend in my office recently, he picked up a print I'd done on my Canon Pixma, it was a 5x7 of a coffee photograph I'd taken with my iPhone... when I told him what I'd shot it on, he was blown away...

Attitude, Snobbery and Hate, there's no place for it... 

 

 

The 'seven things about me' award...

The lovely Chrystal over at ChrystalLoveVintage has nominated me in her list for the 'Seven things about me' awards... I'm very thankful to have been chosen! Thanks!

So, as is the case, I'm going to tell you 'seven things' you may, or may not have known about me. Then I'm going to nominate seven of you to be the next victims lucky folk!

As the seven nominated, you might choose to participate, just do what I've done here... Seven things about you, Seven more.... Seven

So, seven things about me...

  1. I have three dads but only one mum
  2. I was once in Humphrey B. Bear
  3. I once did 'The Caterpillar' in front of a boardroom full of people wearing suits*
  4. I pride myself at reversing articulated vehicles
  5. I have a deep fear of children and dogs near roads
  6. I am deeply, deeply sentimental
  7. I know a lot of people, I don't have many actual friends*
This is NOT the caterpillar I was talking about...

The next part of this ol' game is to mention seven people that I'd like to see play along... Seven people that quietly (..or not so quietly) inspire me. These people are mostly going to be photographic types, but don't let that put you off.

  1. Well, wing man, despite distance, Nathan Pask, Photographer
  2. Another amazing photographer and sweetheart, LaRae Lobdell
  3. Another amazing photographer and amazing woman, Deanne Fitzmaurice
  4. Disco Stu, all around nice guy, photographer and web nerd
  5. Tech Queen, Social Princess, Sweet person to boot.. Yvonne Adele
  6. Photographer and inspiration, Katie Kolenberg
  7. Sam Samantha, been a bit obsessed with her work for a long while...

Not really much else to add to this post, Hope you are inspired by the se7en people listed above, hope you're 'more in the know' about who I am, too...

I'll leave you with my current favourite track, Hanging On by Active Child... Currently on constant rotation...

A bonus "something about me" that I've just discovered myself, I like Twinings Assam Bold.. who knew!...

Let them eat cake...

Well, I can't load content into any blog aside from this one, and I still can't do anything else [plugin updates, etc] on this one, either... but there you go... Brinkster tell me they're working on it.... grrr! Fletch - Cake! You can download the images with a right click, save as.

As the images are large'ish, click the first one to open, then use your arrow keys left and right to look through... perhaps, open the first one and then go for a cuppa!

Sime x

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" columns="8" orderby="title"]

Hosting Horrors with Brinkster

**Update Brinkster have fixed my hosting permissions - Yes, it took them a few days, but they got there in the end. Thank you, Brinkster.

 

I'm hosted with Brinkster, and as a result of them fixing one problem for me (Their server I was hosted on was nearly dead an having a massive impact on performance, so they swapped me to a newer one) they've stuffed my entire blog (times three)

I can't upload an image. I can't post any content. I'm a photographer, working in photography and my medium is mostly images...

There is one word for today....

Grrrrrrr....

Testing to see if Brinkster have done *anything*

 

Under the bridge...

And no, I'm not talking about the very good track by RHCP off Blood Sugar Sex Magik, I'm talking further under the bridge - like, in the water.... Though, I guess you don't need to be 'Under the bridge" but that's the song I had in my head, anyway.... it prompted me, somehow, to think about my experiences with 'hard core' cameras... Waterproof, dust, dirt, sand, mud, jelly... etc - they've been mixed thus far..

The first camera I got hold of to review was the Olympus Tough 8000, it was the first in the (Olympus) series and for the two weeks of review performed very well - what happened to the camera after the review, well that's anyones guess - All I know is the comments on the blog post I made back then, well they started turning less than complimentary. I did contact Olympus, though there was not much they could do, really...

The latest version, the Olympus TG-1, is said to be a whole lot better, but I've not tried it - have you? Leave a comment below...

I have used the Canon D10 which has now been replaced by the Canon PowerShot D20, I've not used the new version as yet, but would hope that it's simply 'better' the D10 was one camera that I was able to hold onto for a little bit longer - I had no trouble with it, but that was only over a month. I hope to get hold of a D20 over Christmas as i'll be back 'at the beach' and will be able to try it out properly... These following two photos come from the Canon PowerShot D10

Second of the 'big names' Nikon, they released the AW100, their new assault on the 'tough' market, though I'm sorry to say it didn't work for me. Long story short - Day one I used the camera in a test kind of way, under water... nothing hardcore - think kitchen sink, and that's about as extreme as it got. Day two and I took it to a friend's kids party - thankfully had my dSLR with me too, as on inspection of the first photo I snapped with it, half of the image was shrouded in mist... [and it wasn't gorillas in the mist, it was 2yr olds]

Some moisture had made it into the camera and had become condensation on the inside of the lens housing. It was something that simply put, stopped me taking photos - I'm sorry to say that, in my book, is a fail... If I were on the second day of a holiday to a country I'd never go back to, with no alternative camera, I'd want blood... Sorry Nikon...

So, there's another I've not tried, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX20 Have you? What's it like?

Looks pretty sexy...

SO, which one would I own if I were to own one? At this point it would have to be the only one I've tried that survived.. The Canon D10

More coming soon...

Sime