Here are a couple of pictures of South African blues guitarist, Dan Patlansky. I took these at the University's Centre for Jazz, when he performed there some time ago.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
What you need for great photography
There is a story about a young student who was apprenticed to a master artist to learn to paint, but he felt he could not paint properly as his brushes were cheap and of an inferior quality to those of the master. After a while he plucked up enough courage to ask the teacher if he could borrow his brushes. To his great joy the old man agreed, and with the bundle of brushes in his hand he set off to his studio. When he got there he boasted to a fellow student: “I have borrowed the master’s brushes so now I will be able to paint like him.”
His friend looked at him and said, “It is not the master’s brushes you need, but his soul.”
How many times do we think to ourselves: “If only I had the same lens as old so-and-so, I would be as good as he is.” There is no doubt that there is some equipment that is better than the rest but will it necessarily make us better photographers? I don’t think so. Even the best Leica equipment in the hands of a photographer with no imagination will only result in technically superior boring photographs.
As I see it, there are three aspects to making photographs. Firstly, choosing the equipment; secondly, the taking of the photograph; and lastly the processing and printing of the picture. With the advent of digital photography there is much discussion about the choice of equipment and the methods of processing the images in the computer, and it sometimes seems that the picture taking process has become secondary.
How many times have you heard a digital user saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll fix it on the computer.” I am not suggesting that this is always a bad thing but in many ways, digital technology has made us lazy photographers. Meanwhile it should be making us better at making images. Never before has it been this easy to apply Ansel Adams’ concept of pre-visualisation. Instead of shooting madly, and spending hours trolling through hundreds of thumbnails trying to salvage something – think before you shoot.
This brings us to the most important part of the picture making process – the taking of the photograph. We are in the fortunate position of having equipment that can focus for us and seldom gets the exposure wrong. This frees us up to concentrate on composition, but unfortunately many don’t take advantage of this. We are just seeing more perfectly sharp, well exposed, but still badly composed pictures. Perhaps we should forget about the technology for a while and try to capture something of the soul of the old masters. In his day, Cartier-Bresson was not a great photographer because he used a Leica, but because he and an ability to observe people and anticipate the moment at which to press the shutter.
A celebrity chef was at an exhibition of a photographer’s work. He said to the photographer, “Your pictures are wonderful, you must have a very good camera.” On another occasion the same photographer was at a dinner catered for by the chef in question. After the meal he complimented the chef, ”The food was wonderful, you must have a very good stove.”
His friend looked at him and said, “It is not the master’s brushes you need, but his soul.”
How many times do we think to ourselves: “If only I had the same lens as old so-and-so, I would be as good as he is.” There is no doubt that there is some equipment that is better than the rest but will it necessarily make us better photographers? I don’t think so. Even the best Leica equipment in the hands of a photographer with no imagination will only result in technically superior boring photographs.
As I see it, there are three aspects to making photographs. Firstly, choosing the equipment; secondly, the taking of the photograph; and lastly the processing and printing of the picture. With the advent of digital photography there is much discussion about the choice of equipment and the methods of processing the images in the computer, and it sometimes seems that the picture taking process has become secondary.
How many times have you heard a digital user saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll fix it on the computer.” I am not suggesting that this is always a bad thing but in many ways, digital technology has made us lazy photographers. Meanwhile it should be making us better at making images. Never before has it been this easy to apply Ansel Adams’ concept of pre-visualisation. Instead of shooting madly, and spending hours trolling through hundreds of thumbnails trying to salvage something – think before you shoot.
This brings us to the most important part of the picture making process – the taking of the photograph. We are in the fortunate position of having equipment that can focus for us and seldom gets the exposure wrong. This frees us up to concentrate on composition, but unfortunately many don’t take advantage of this. We are just seeing more perfectly sharp, well exposed, but still badly composed pictures. Perhaps we should forget about the technology for a while and try to capture something of the soul of the old masters. In his day, Cartier-Bresson was not a great photographer because he used a Leica, but because he and an ability to observe people and anticipate the moment at which to press the shutter.
A celebrity chef was at an exhibition of a photographer’s work. He said to the photographer, “Your pictures are wonderful, you must have a very good camera.” On another occasion the same photographer was at a dinner catered for by the chef in question. After the meal he complimented the chef, ”The food was wonderful, you must have a very good stove.”
Monday, September 25, 2006
Meeting: October 2006
The October meeting will take place on 3 October 2006 at Hillcrest Sports Club. The meeting will be at 7pm as usual but we will meeting there at 6pm for a meal. The meals have so far been pretty good and, at R30 per skull, great value. Just drop me an e-mail to book if you would like to come for the meal.
Harry and Kevin are going to kick off the meeting by showing us how to photograph using domestic lighting. You're welcome to bring your cameras along as you'll get a chance to try out the techniques out for yourself. We'll then have a break for coffee and finish up with a showing of members' pictures; everyone is asked to bring two prints along for the purpose.
The Blues Broers by Harry Lock.
The Blues Broers by Harry Lock.Outing: September 2006
Our outing this month is to the nature reserve at the top of Alveston on Saturday, 30 September at 7am. Take the Alveston turn-off from Kassier Road (the same one as for the Farmer's Market and Waldorf School) and the the gate is on the left, just a few yards after the little church. You can meet us there at 7am or in the car park of the Hillcrest Sports Club at 06h45 and drive up with us. The cost will be R10 per person at the reserve.
I am told that there is a toilet there but I'd suggest you bring a flask of coffee or something to drink. There is a waterfall and some walks to take; some are apparently pretty strenuous but there is one along the flat for those who are not so inclined. We thought we'd go on to breakfast at Rebel Rock in Peaceval at 9:30 or 10am. You need not book for the outing.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Welcome
Your duly elected committee is going to be using this blog to post details of our club meetings and outing. So far we've communicated solely by e-mail but our messages don't always get through so we thought we'd create this place on the web so members can check to see what's coming up the future.
We also intend to feature members' pictures and you are invited to send in some of your pictures to Allan Jackson. You can get his email address from the e-mail updates he sends out or from him in person at the club. He will post the pictures received and you are invited to leave your comments on them, or on anything else, by clicking the link at the bottom of each post. Comments left will not appear immediately but only after being checked for evil things such as advertising and obscenity.
Here's a picture from Allan to kick off the process:
Flying Tigers by Allan Jackson
And here's a link to an article by Ken Rockwell who is very passionate that equipment is not what matters about photography. He tells the story of the great photographer Edward Steichen who photographed Isadora Duncan at the Acropolis with a camera borrowed from the head waiter of the hotel he was staying at. Click here to read the article.
We also intend to feature members' pictures and you are invited to send in some of your pictures to Allan Jackson. You can get his email address from the e-mail updates he sends out or from him in person at the club. He will post the pictures received and you are invited to leave your comments on them, or on anything else, by clicking the link at the bottom of each post. Comments left will not appear immediately but only after being checked for evil things such as advertising and obscenity.
Here's a picture from Allan to kick off the process:
Flying Tigers by Allan JacksonAnd here's a link to an article by Ken Rockwell who is very passionate that equipment is not what matters about photography. He tells the story of the great photographer Edward Steichen who photographed Isadora Duncan at the Acropolis with a camera borrowed from the head waiter of the hotel he was staying at. Click here to read the article.
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