Almost Living

It has been quite a strange few weeks here in central Kansas. The weather, which is never quite predictable at all, has been anything but normal. I woke this morning to about half a foot of snow on the ground and a prediction for a high of sixty (which it appears to be making good on).

Despite strange weather, heinous winds etc. etc. I’ve still managed to find a little time to get out and about and do some shooting… most of which is rather boring, as tends to be the way here in our little sleepy city. I was growing tired of limiting my shots, a “Sunset” here and an attempt at some flowers in sixty mile per hour wind there, when one evening on my way home I was greeted with something unique. Due to the strong winds, and what is likely some egg head with a cigarette, there have been multiple grass fires burning throughout the state (one large one starting in Oklahoma and blowing north). The smoke from these fires had become so thick that even though they were nowhere near me it looked as though a heavy cloud cover had rolled in to blot out the sun, and ash rained down lightly across the area. From the top of a hill on my way home I caught a glimpse through my rear view mirror that I had to stop and capture.

The smoke and ash continued through the evening, but thankfully by morning the winds had changed and allowed the firefighters to make progress in pushing the fires back. And by Sunday (today) there’s a half foot of snow covering most of the state.

Which brings us to yesterday, and the true purpose of the title of this post. My wife is a student, and a very good student at that. As an assignment she was asked to duplicate images (or artwork) to the best of her extent. The images she chose to duplicate where exposures taken of old animal diorama’s in a way that makes them appear… real.

One of the Zoo’s near me (as mentioned, there are many) houses a beautiful museum inside, with dioramas from all over the world. We made our first visit to the museum a few weeks ago, where we scouted our shots and made notes (as well as taking a few preliminary idea images). Yesterday we went back with the proper equipment, and the hope of imitating another artists work who came before.

As well as helping my wife with her images, I decided to capture my own sets of images. The exhibits, while well created, still have a haunting “almost living” feeling to them. They produce the image of life but lack the essence. The camera can capture that image freezing in and letting us forget that it is just that, an image.

My wife and I got up to run this morning in the half foot of snow, listening to a combination of the digital coach on her phone yelling at us to “start running, now start walking” and the strange tunes of Great Big Sea singing to me about a mermaid and her sister. The snow was beautiful and heavy, the cemetery we run in was untouched and serene. This was living, this and every other day are us living. But to my camera, this too will someday mean no more as “life” than my images of a Diorama which is just almost life.

Thank you for reading today, I’m beginning work on a couple of photo projects in my spare time as well as a few photo shoots in the coming weeks. I will keep my posts coming (apparently on Sundays) and update my site as needed.

~Wes

Gerta the Pug! Or, waiting.

This, is Gerta… Gerta the Pug! Or, as she has been fully named by my wife, Gerta Von Snuggle Puggins. Gerta is loyal, loving, affectionate and many many more wonderful words that most of you probably don’t care about. She is an old Pug, being somewhere around the age of nine (we don’t truly know since we rescued her and she doesn’t have any written birth records). Despite her actual age, she’s quite an energetic and healthy Pug who loves to play and go on walks. She’s lived with us for almost a year now, and came bearing the name “Princess” which was quickly replaced. She’s one of my favorite test subjects for my photography, whether it’s a new piece of kit or a new idea she always ends up being the recipient. Since this is how it tends to go, I’ve decided to give her her own corner of this blog as I’m sure you’ll love her as much as I do.

I  have noticed since she joined our little family, that among her other qualities she has an incredibly emotive personality. I love capturing this, and will (I believe) focus this corner around that primarily. Simple, and short much like my Pug. On that, I present to you

“When you go, I shall wait”

Close up

A closeup, a detailed portrait of an item be it small large near or distant. I decided, this last Saturday, to pull out a piece of kit that I’m not especially proud of but which needs a little bit of back story. So here we go.

I graduated in early 2000 from HS in north west Ohio (sorta far from where I am now, I suppose some day I will tell you that tale as well) and happily marched off to college with dreams of a life in photography dancing in my head. I was going to get in to National Geographic if it was the last thing I did, and I’d be damned if anyone or anything was going to stop me! At the time I was rocking a decent setup for an Olympus OM-1 film camera, and the college that I was attending helped solidify my true addiction to black and white film photography. To this day I still refuse to convert digital images to B&W, call me a snob if you will but it is truly not the same. But on the digital end, I was using an Olympus E500, which at the time was a relatively new camera using the then new 4/3’s mount. I was young, and stupid. I didn’t understand the concepts of crop factor, sensor noise, etc. etc. I was very good with my film gear, and continually trying to apply that training to my poor poor Olympus. At some point my not quite right brain said to me “you know what would make our pictures better? A MASSIVE telephoto!”… Sigh. I’m not proud of this.

We all have thoughts like this, or you know… GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) at some point. This led to me finally looking for new lenses for my E-500 system which, not understanding crop factor, I could not make sense of the options for focal length (I was comparing them to what I knew of my film gear, which doesn’t really work). It did not help that, at the time, the mount was still relatively new and frankly quite expensive. All of this led me to Ebay/Amazon, a very very dangerous place for a young overly confident photographer to be. I don’t know why the number 500 was so lodged in my brain, but there it was right in front of me “Opteka 500mm F8 only $100.00” – dear lord where had you been all my life?!

As I keep saying, this is one of my photography purchases I’m not proud of. Did I need a 500mm lens? No, of course not. Now understanding crop factor, the angle of view of a 500mm lens on a 4/3’s sensor is in fact 1000mm… Once you break that down, a 1000mm F8 (yes, I know equivocally the DOF is around F16) becomes… ridiculous. But since I did not know that then, my order couldn’t get here soon enough! Oh, and bonus of bonus, it used a “T-Mount” so I got the mount ring not only for my E-500 but also for my OM-1n!

To cut this whole thread down a little in size, it’s terrible. The contrast of the lens is MISERABLE, even if you manage to get something in focus (which, surprisingly, the focus ring is actually quite pleasant) it never really looks in focus. I could dig you out over a decade of hopeful shots that looked like they should be oh so good, and were oh so bad! In around 2012, I put this lens into storage, finally admitting defeat.

Fast forward to the current incarnation of my camera kit (I’ve been through… a couple) and the advent of IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization) and that old hopeful voice in  my brain said again “Hey, you should see how that works with that 500”. Well, the answer is… Still pretty terrible. Focusing (hand held) is still nearly impossible. Obviously, mounting on some form of tripod/mono-pod helps, but the contrast is still terrible, and in general the lens is just a little soft. Surprisingly though, I managed to capture a few images that I don’t hate!

This last weekend was spent trying to get closeups, either of things that are normally too far away or things that are normally too small to do so. As I’m sure you can see from above, there’s not many of the first and more of the latter (my Macro gear far surpasses my telephoto gear) but the concepts are surprisingly similar

I love macro work, for many reasons. It’s one of my mates favorite forms (he’s a bit more devoted than me, purchasing the Lowa 60mm 2:1 beast of a lens) so it’s always fun to get him out to shoot that. It is also one of the few ways to make what is normally a rather bleak landscape here in winter locked Kansas into something that’s actually worth looking at!

Getting lost in a world of landscapes and closeups that would otherwise be impossible to capture is truly a great way to spend a weekend (or in this case a Sunday). Thanks for tagging along, next weekend I’m shooting an event for work and then hopefully something fun as well! If you like what I’ve got to say you can follow me with the link down below, or leave a comment or criticism.

Thanks,

~Wes

Reboot

So! As we can see, there has been some… changes made around here. I’ve spent some time since my last post (which was, admittedly, a while ago) and I realized that I truly had no idea what I was doing, or what direction I wanted to go in. As such, I decided it was time to reboot the blog! So! Aside from the obvious visual changes which you can see just showing up, or not if you’re new… which, BTW, welcome!!! I’m laying out some rules for what I will be posting… and in quick proofreading here, better use of punctuation and less comma’s are a start.

In all seriousness now, rereading my past posts my confusion was… painful. As such, I will not be posting nearly as many technical Specs or other… overly convoluted information taking away from the images and their stories. So, going forward, unless I’m writing a post specifically about a piece of equipment, style of photography, or other special technique that is the focus of the post, you’ll all have to rely on any metadata available to satisfy specific curiosity. To ease many of yours discomfort, as I now many of you just love to know the gear involved, I’ll outline what I currently have in my kit at the end of this post… so if you’re that interested, keep reading!

Along with the new “Direction” comes a new posting schedule! I do not make a living in photography, and I do work from 10-7 daily so I usually get to shoot at odd times during the week and then the weekend. I don’t do a large amount of post processing, but as anyone knows there’s always a little something (if nothing else, sorting cleanup and export to .JPG for posting) that takes up even more time. My goal then is to post new content every Saturday night, any images of the week before and their stories. I’ll do my best to keep true to this, and not be too long winded in my weekly posts.

Alright, before we get in to the Kit for those who wish I’ll give a little teaser. Tomorrow’s post (which is currently in post process) is a zoo trip… which I’m pretty proud of! Tune in!

 

And… Gear! I shoot with the Micro Four Thirds system digitally. Specifically, I run an Olympus OMD-Em5 and an Olympus PEN-EP2 body system. I have the Olympus 17mm F2.8, the Panasonic 12-32mm, the Olympus 40-150mm, the Olympus BCL15 (which is a lot more fun than you’d expect) which spends most of it’s time attached to a set of Meike extension tubes. I’ll do an article on this combination one of these days, it’s surprisingly good. I also have a Bower 7.5mm F3.5 Fisheye, you’ll see some of that here and there. I also use a set of Olympus OM-1n film bodies with a 24mm, and a 50mm lens. An old pair of Canon Demi’s round out my set of regularly used cameras (I mention the film bodies not because I use them overly regular, but regular enough). I have lots of other tinker toys here and there, but no interest in listing everything, so if you want to know more please feel free to contact me!

 

I hope you’re willing to come along for this ride!

All comments and feedback are welcome!

One rule, be nice.

 

Thanks!
~Wes

 

 

The past month, in photographs.

I realized this morning that i have not posted nearly as many images as i wanted to. So today, we’re going to have a look at this past month, in photographs. Some of these will have been seen before, some won’t. I’ll include as much information about each as i can, and try to keep them in order of shoot! I hope you enjoy.

Olympus OM-1 with 50mm “Macro” lens. 400iso                                    film.

One of the “nice” things about living in the Midwest this month was a few days of 75 degree weather that allowed for some fun outdoor shoots. This one, in particular, involved a hike to find a “waterfall” that was created when they dammed up a local lake. Unfortunately we made it out during a dry spell, so they weren’t nearly as impressive as they could have been. It did still supply some unique images though.

Nikon D100: Sigma 70-300mm shot at 300mm                            f5.6 and 1/160s.

This is also a product of that hike, even though the larger falls were mostly dry there was still a few smaller trickles and falls that made for some fun shooting.

Olympus OM-1 Zuiko 50mm f1.8 with Fujifilm                                        400iso.

This one should look familiar! It was shot while walking along the man made dam to reach the falls in the wooded area behind and to the left. This was an impromptu shot which is a good argument for why you should always keep a camera handy, and not just tucked in your pack waiting for what you expect to be your “shot”.

Nikon D100: Sigma 50mm shot at f5.6 and 1/160s.

Another “nice” thing about the midwest, macro work outside is almost impossible! The wind is outrageous, and the few times it’s not the heat/cold (dependent on time of month) is outrageous. So, my shooting mate and it, decided to go for some indoor studio macro work. Him and i had both just ordered reverse rings and we decided why not give them a try! The image above is one of the non reversed images i took during the day using my Sigma 1:1 macro, which is great for flowers.

Nikon D100: Shot with reversed 28mm f2.8 at                                    1/160s.

We very quickly discovered a few things with the reverse ring; firstly hand holding did NOT provide sharp images,  secondly the focal plane was (as we had read) razor thin. You can read all about how fine the plane is to work with, but until you try it the extreme of it just doesn’t really compute. We also discovered, however, that the soft focused images that came out of it were definitely not failures as a composition, just something different. I love the abstract, almost ethereal feel of these images, and am happy to post and share them.

Nikon D100 with reversed 28mm shot at f2.8 and                              1/160s.

This one should look familiar as well, it was a product of the same shoot.

Nikon D5000: Shot with Sigma 50mm f5.6 at                                       1/200s.

In setting up the lights and subject i decided to snap a few test shots with my partners D5000, one of my favorite images came from this. It had been a very long time since i’d gone through the hassle of setting up my studio lights for something, this afternoon of shooting reminded me why sometimes it’s worth the trouble.

Nikon D100 Shot with Sigma 50mm at F5.6 and                                   1/160s.

This is the last image for this post, again an image shown earlier but now with some back story. The thing that still never fails to amaze me is the final product you see is a culmination of many many hours of work, both with the camera and getting to the locations. I’ve shot well over 500 images this past month, many of which were very good, but only a handful are good enough to make it out for people to see. I hope you’ve enjoyed.

~Wes

Let’s talk about being hateful.

I’ve shot almost every type of camera you can shoot, film SLR, point and shoot film, point and shoot digital, crummy Vivitar video camera’s you name it. Currently i’m shooting using a Nikon D100 with battery grip and (generally) a Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro lens (i have a few other lenses but this is by far my favorite, and also the most crisp). Given a few minutes and google you can quickly surmise that my D100 was released in 2002, and has been largely “out of date” since about 2004. It uses an old APS Sensor size that by many is considered for inferior to a full frame sensor that has the same physical size of a 35mm film frame. Now, i certainly concede the point that there is a lot a modern DSLR can do that my D100 can’t do. Taking a good image is NOT on that list though. The same principles apply to my 6mp camera as apply to a 24mp camera, if you can’t frame and expose a proper image then your image is not going to be good.

Nikon D100 Shot at F5.6 and 1/160s.

I used a pair of studio lights with diffusers and reflectors to light this in an indoor studio. This rant and thought was brought about as a direct correlation to my current hunt for some new gear. I love my D100, and i especially love my OM-1, but what i don’t love is packing that massive D100 out for nature and wildlife shoots. Unfortunately for me these are some of my favorite shooting situations. Fortunately, i’ve found a solution for all of these quarks. The Nikon 1 V1. Again, not the newest of it’s generation by far, but certainly a great system none the less. My problem is that, among all of my attempts at research i ran into a problem. Every “review” i could find, and every person talking about this new syste of system, had nothing but disdain and hateful remarks to make about it… I’m sure right now most people would say “Well why would you get it then? if everything you read was negative?” the answer is easy for me. Every hateful post, almost every negative remark, was in no way geared at the image quality, nor any specific flaw. No, in fact 90% of what i read can be summed up in “it’s such a small sensor, why wouldn’t you get the m4/3 system? it’s sensor is so much bigger it must obviously take better images.”  . . .

To that, I say again.

Nikon D100 with reversed 28mm shot at f2.8 and                                  1/160s

So, if you don’t understand yet, the things that don’t make a good image; sensor size, megapixel count, special lenses. Things that do make a good image; an artistic eye, composition, exposure, focus. So why did i decide that the Nikon 1 V1 was right for me? Honestly, it’s sensor size is a big reason. The CX sensor provides an effective 2.7x focal length boost, which to me means that my 70-300mm lens just became an 810mm super telephoto. So, while my pack weight and general gear load go down, my wildlife photography capability goes up. On top of that the frame rate, auto focus, and lens selection (including the F-mount lenses, which very easily mount to the V1) are incredible! oh, also, the image quality is incredible. So, before you spend a ridiculous amount of time asking if it has enough megapixels for you, instead ask does it fit all of your needs?

~Wes