and so, it begins

SoFoBoMo '09 registration is up. Get in early!

before & after

Triathlon is all about transitions. From the swim, to the bike to the run on race day. From every day life to training rides in the cold. From bed to swimming early in the morning. From work to running in the evening. Training back to normal life again. Back and forth, transition after transition. Swim, bike, run.

thoughts on the Canon G10

As a bit of an impulse buy this week, I picked up a Canon G10 while in London. I've only shot a few hundred frames with it so far, but I thought I'd share a few thoughts.

I mainly bought it because I was so frustrated with the small/ super-compact Panasonic DMC-LX1 that I was using. I like the form factor of the DMC-LX1 but I'm almost always disappointed by the images I get from it, even when shooting in the RAW mode. The pixels are just a bit too muddy, the colours a bit off and everything just annoying enough to not be satisfying. I'd heard good things from friends with the G9 and the exchange rate was such that the UK prices weren't too bad. I wanted something to take pictures with while in London so didn't want to wait until I got home.

Before buying, I spent a bit of time holding the G10. It feels good in the hand. I big, bright LCD screen at the back and a useless viewfinder. Plenty of physical control dials - ISO, exposure compensation all right there on the top. The camera is reasonably responsive too. Maybe takes a bit too long to Auto Focus but the shutter lag isn't terrible. Far from a Canon 1D in responsiveness, but still much better than the DMC-LX1 and most other compact cameras I've used. The menu system and controls all were very straight forward for me, but I've used and owned several Canon cameras so I'm used to their conventions.

Image quality so far has been excellent, when shooting in RAW mode. Adobe Lightroom 2.2 does a great job with the files and I've been happy with the results. ISO 80 through 200 are very useable but things start to fall apart quite quickly above those levels. The wide angle lens has some quite noticeable barrel distortion going on, but I'm happy they made it wider than the G9 - it suits what I use a compact camera like this for. It is for the times I don't want to carry my heavy SLR, typically when traveling in cities or hiking, so the wider the better as far as I'm concerned.

The other thing I'm excited about is the waterproof case that's available. For a reasonable price I'll have a 14+MP camera that I can shoot underwater with. The case lets all of the functions of the camera still be used and costs less than $200. About a twentieth of the price of a waterproof case for a 1DII. High speed sync with an off camera flash also seems to be a real possibility.

I haven't tried video, haven't done anything too fancy other than shoot in Av and M mode (there are a ridiculous amount of 'scene' modes that I doubt I'll ever even use). So far at least, I'm happy with the quality and performance. It isn't a DSLR replacement, but that's probably obvious from the price point and size. Seems to be a great walk about option.

expressionless

Bag by Hendrik Kerstens

While in London I was lucky enough to get to spend some time in the National Portrait Gallery. In fact, the weather was so wet and cold that we went back twice over a couple of days. The first time we visited the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2008 exhibit. A wide variety of portrait subjects are on display in this contest, with work from professional and amateur photographers. I was particularly interested in the Young Guns image, Platon's Puttin and the Thai Boxing portrait, along with noticing something I hadn't really appreciated in portrait photography before. Nobody smiles. In fact, most people are almost expressionless in the portraits that were selected for this collection. I can remember only one image that seemed to be expressing or displaying any real expression - Steve McQueen by Chris Floyd. The rest are almost blank, settled into a resigned non-expression. I suppose I've noticed this before when looking at some portraits, but it was strange to see this repeated, over and over in such a wide range of portraits from so many different photographers.

On the second visit we took in the rest of the portrait gallery, looking at a lot of portraits from British history, of important figures from royalty, politics, the arts and sciences. Looking for it this time, I noticed again, no expressions on the faces. Now as many of these paintings were created over many, many sittings, it isn't surprising to see an accurate representation of an expressionless face. I am left wondering if so much of that artistic style still influences modern day photographic portraiture, even though the fundamental reason for those blank expressions has changed. Talking to my friend Chris today, he mentioned that he thinks Dan Winters has a lot to answer for, in this style of modern photographic portraiture. I found a good interview with Dan in PDN.

unfinished

I'm more interested in a photography that is 'unfinished' - a photography that is suggestive and can trigger a conversation or dialogue. There are pictures that are closed, finished, to which there is no way in.

- Paolo Pellegrin

Maybe a clue as to why I like blur and out of focus images so much. There is some mystery left, some questions still unanswered.

eye in the sky

This shot continues a theme or merging of influences. I've found I really enjoy images shot totally out of focus. This is a technique that seems to sharply divide viewers. Some love it, some hate it, few are left ambivalent. There is a touch of impressionist painting in the back of my mind when I take these images, in fact trying to emulate that painting style is where I started shooting out of focus in the first place. Given Monet's many images of the houses of Parliament, this one seems particularly apt and was the reason I started shooting that way in London. This particular shot is also heavily influenced by a Keith Carter image, of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, shot through winter trees, with very selective focus. I've been down this path before, with the Zilker Christmas tree in Austin.

For a while I've been bothered about copying or appropriating ideas from other places, thinking I needed original ideas, or new and novel concepts of my own. Over time I've come to realise that borrowing or being influenced is the way the world works. I saw this earlier in the week, looking at a self-portrait of and by Rembrandt, in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Other paintings in the same room listed out wholesale lifting of compositions and poses from other older works. There is nothing new under the sun, after all. But if you take it and make it your own, you can't fail to find something new in the old ideas. Twyla Tharp talks about how any creative idea just needs two simpler ideas to be put together in an new way, to make a big idea. It doesn't have to be created out of thin air.

hazlitts

She couldn't resist the old-fashioned bath. Particularly when the only shower option was the mixer tap at the end.

Second photo from my spangly new G10. Liking it so much more than the Panasonic LX1 - it actually takes decent quality pictures!

london

photography connects us with the world

National Geographic editor, David Griffin, presents some of the power of photojournalism and how photography can be used to tell stories, in this TED presentation from last year. Some great images and intriguing background. Well worth the time to watch.

evening run

a small hill. a large loop. repeat.