January 14, 2006
The subject has been discuted many times. Nevertheless, I am going to put my grain to the granary.
Digital photography is a fact today. It is not a novelty or a curiosity anymore. It has become as normal as the fork. I had the pleasure to live in those remote times when a digital camera was just an idea. The Minolta compact camera I have been given for Holy Communion was really something. I am not about to complain about the pass of time, don’t get me wrong. I think it is just a nostalgy I feel about it all. And I am almost sure that the arguments of the both folowers or adversaries of digital photography is nothing but a struggle between pragmatics and romantics.
I am of the second ones. My vision of photography is to capture the moment before it slips away. I like when I can touch the film. It speaks to me. It has some story behind it. It cannot be destroyed by accidently pushing a button but it is kinder and gentler. I cannot get any sensation from a binary code numbers.
I am not as romantic as you may get me. Digital technology has its advantages and it is undoubtedly true. First of all, its practicality. The images stored on your hard disc, quietly, easy to share with your mom or friend hundred miles away in one second and when you want a print – just send it to the web studio. In deed, it is more comfortable than searching for a good and cheap photo studio; specially when it is raining outside. Nowadays, in our global civilization of fast-food and road warriors, it is more comfortable. I just wonder, who has time to shoot all these photos? Knowing, that the 95 percent of a pictures taken in the world is a crap and bedroom non-of-all-ambiguous photos, I can easy imagine that the majority of digital photos ordered through the web serviced labs are buisnessmen’s toes when sitting in a plane.
I am bitter, yes I am. My nostalgy for “remote times [that] are always better” makes me talk like this. I hope that the plurality of today’s world will let us enjoy what we prefer; whether it is old-fashioned or not (the fork is eternal, I believe). What I am affraid of is that my beloved, old-fashioned photography will be too expensive to enjoy it.
I can only comfort myself with belief that the spirit is priceless.
January 7, 2006
The question may look silly. There are some ’simple’ questions asking for a ’simple’ things that we consider ridiculous. It’s because we don’t get the fact that the simple questions are nothing but a slight parcel with infinite amount of succesive queries about the general sense.
In its complicity, photography cannot be perceived as a single entity, obviously. The fashion photographers and documentalists are maybe the birds of the same tree but, surely, not of the same nest. I am not about, nevertheless, to list all photography types and tag on whether or not it is an art. The list would be too long; but still incomplete. I am not an art pundit. I do not believe the art can be a subject matter for science, anyway. The art is not what we see, the art is what we feel. Van Gogh’s “Vincent’s Room” is not an art because it has beautiful colours; it is work of art due to emotions it arouses. It contains a messsage. And the canvas is fully finished when its message reaches viewers’ perception, when it is read.
Photography acts in the same way. Penn’s portrait of Picasso and Capa’s D-Day landing cannot be compared but they both are works of art. Even if the critics not gave opinion on them, they exist. And the question do not concerns just the great names of photography as Penn, Capa, Cartier-Bresson, Avedon, Kértesz, Brassaï. I believe there are thousands of unknown genius we pass by every day. I believe there are millions of works of art, hidden in drawers for timidity that their creators feel. And I believe they will be shown someday.
To end, I would like to quote words of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, a great Spanish Romantic:
Do not say that, treasure depleted,
subjects lacking, the lyre sits silently:
There may not be poets, but always
there will be poetry.
January 6, 2006
What is photography?
I do not expect any technical answer to this question. I consider photography impossible to be limited to simple notion you can find in Britannica. Its meaning exceeds an encyclopedic entry. Of course, technical answers are simple and quite pithy in most occasions but I am not satisfied with them; they are not complete. At least, not for me and the people who keep on searching. The primary, ordinary reason I can give is that I do not like defeats (who does?). I prefer to search without conclusion, than to find disappointment.
And this, the search, is how I understand photography. Any type of it. Unanswered questions for sense of our being here and now, and doing thing we do can find their conclusion in photography. On the other hand…
I do not expect that someone will give me an answer. We are all looking for something unnamed, distant, unknown. We are living our lives wandering from one doubt and another. Where is the sense of it? For me, the sense consists in trying to understand the paths, not the goals. Therefore, I do not expect the answers. I request questions to confront with.
The question must persist so that the photography make sense.
What is photography, then, you may ask. Do not ask me: I do not know.
December 31, 2005
MINOLTA Dynax (Maxxum) 7
Type: 35mm SLR.
Lens Mount: Minolta A mount.
Eye-Start System: AF and AE automatically activated by combination of eyepiece sensor and grip sensors.
AF System: Minolta’s TTL phase-detection system with CCD line sensors; 9-point AF System with Centre Dual Cross-hair Sensors (CDC912); AF sensitivity range: Ev -1-18 (at ISO 100); AF illuminator range: 0.7 - 7m (based on Minolta’s standard test methods with 50mm lens); AF modes: Single-shot, Continuous, and Automatic Autofocus; Manual focusing selectable.
Metering:
Ambient: 14-segment Honeycomb-pattern, Centre-weighted Average, Spot metering.
Flash metering: ADI, TTL 4-segment, or TTL Average can be selected.
Metering cell: 14-segment Honeycomb-pattern SPC (silicone photo cell), 4-segment flash-metering SPC
Metering range: 14-segment Honeycomb-pattern: EV 0-20; Centre-weighted Average: EV 0-20; Spot: EV 3-20 (ISO 100, f/1.4 lens).
Exposure modes: Programmed AE (P mode), Programmed control of aperture (Pa mode) and shutter (Ps mode); Aperture-priority (A mode); Shutter-priority(S mode); Manual (M mode); Full auto ([P] mode); Memory (3 entries).
Build-in Flash: Guide number 12 (at ISO 100); Flash coverage: 24mm angle of view; Recycling time: Approx. 2s.;
Film-Speed Setting: Automatic setting for DX-coded films ISO 25-5000; Manual setting range: ISO 6-6400 (1/3-stop increments); Recommended range with flash: ISO 25-100.
Exposure Compensation: +/- 3 EV (1/2 EV increments) or +/- 2 EV (1/3 EV increments).
Flash Compensation: +/- 2 EV (1/2 EV increments).
Exposure Bracketing:
Single-frame Advance Exposure-Bracketing: 3-, 5-, or 7- can be selected (0.3, 0.5, 0.7, or 1.0 EV increments).
Continuous Advance Exposure-Bracketing: 3-, 5-, or 7- can be selected (0.3, 0.5, 0.7, or 1.0 EV increments).
Shutter: Electronically-controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane; Range: 1/8000-30 s, bulb (time count-up is available); Flash sync: 1/200 sec. or slower.
Film transport: Automatic with built-in motor drive; Auto threading, auto advance to first frame, auto rewind, and manual start of rewind; single-frame or continuous advance; Multiple exposure.
Viewfinder: Eye-level fixed pentaprism; Focusing screen: Spherical acute matte; Field of view: 92% of vertical and 94% of horizontal; Magnification: 0.8X (with 50mm lens at infinity); Diopter: -1 diopter (eyepiece diopter adjustable from -2.5 to +0.5 diopter); Long eye-relief.
Depth-of-Field preview: yes
Self-timer: electronic with 10-second delay, cancelable. 2-second delay (delayed shutter mirror lock-up function) can be selected.
Data memory: up to 7 rolls of 36-exposure film; Every roll of film: Data number, ISO value; Every frame: Aperture, lens focal length, lens smallest f-number, exposure compensation/exposure bracketing values, shutter speed, flash compensation/flash bracketing values (including flash on/off status), exposure mode, metering mode, date/time information.
Audio: Available during self-timer count down or when focus is locked.
Power: 2 x 3-volt CR123A/DL123A lithium batteries.
Dimensions: 143,5(W) x 97,5(H) x 65.5(D) mm
Weight: 575g without batteries or eyepiece cup.
My comment:
I had just one opportunity to work with this camera… and it is my goal now to have it. When comparing datasheet of Dynax 700si and 7 you may think the cameras doesn’t differ a lot. But datasheets do not tell the truth, all the truth and only the truth… Both cameras do work great, it is a real pleasure to take pictures with Minolta. The difference consist in the construction solutions. Since Dynax 7 has no slot for cards none of the functions are hidden behind the slot doors. And it’s a great facility. I am a fan of Minolta cameras, so I won’t be bothering you with my admiration for Dynax 7. If you have any comments: your welcome.
All data from www.konicaminolta.com.
December 28, 2005
“Every minute I was there, I wanted to flee. I did not want to see this. Would I cut and run, or would I deal with the responsibility of being there with a camera”
These are the words of the protagonist of Christian’s Frei documentary. James Nachtwey, born in 1948, studied Art History and Political Science. I think personally that this fact has it’s echo in his work. The movie shows a man, a photographer, conscious of the reality he is living in and making art of it. But can the war photos be called an art? Definitely. Even though the main objective of Nachtwey is to show us, people of 21-st century, that our times are not golden; that the hermetic worlds we create around us is not the only ones; that there are still places on our planet Earth that doesn’t fit in the margins of civilization - I had no doubts when calling Mr. Nachtwey’s work an art.
I think this kind of photography is the major medium today. It is surely more effective than newspapers; since we read less due to a lack of time, we just look at photos in the color newspapers. Who remember the article read about events of July, 21? I can only remember a huge photo of the destroyed bus on the front page of next day’s paper.
This movie left me an impression impossible to get rid of. It made me realize that we are so blind sometimes, even more, we shut our eyes pretending that nothing happens. If I have this feeling of losing my time by not doing something to help people a hundred miles from here, what should feel all those who have opportunity - called money these days - but not even thinking of helping the ones around them…
…and this supposed to be a post about photography.
What can I tell you? I highly recommend the movie. It is more than worth seeing it.
© Christian Frei Filmproductions