Frank K
Member
Very nicely done. I really enjoy the enlightening narrative.
My M6, another shameless excuse to post photos
- Thread starter Avotius
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cmogi10
Bodhisattva
beautiful, as always.
This thread made me get my sickly ass out of bed for the first time in days to take pictures.
Thank you
This thread made me get my sickly ass out of bed for the first time in days to take pictures.
Thank you
Athos6
Tao Master
Dang it Colin your M6 pictures are following me around the web begging me to spend more money! I'm almost talked myself into selling my D200 for more rangefinder gear...
jayjee
smile
I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that Nh3 meant this under a photo-journalistic circumstance. I'm not a photojournalist but from what I'm aware, any journalist should be objective to the subject. Give the who, what, when, where, why, and how and show the absolute truth.
I do not see this as a photojournalistic essay. It's simply a post on learning to use a new camera within an internet camera forum. The obvious sentimentality is an insight to the photographer's intentions as an artist, not a journalist.
Great job Avotius, really enjoyed the read and eye candy.
Honus
carpe diem
Thanks for posting this, Colin. I think the narrative adds significantly, btw. As someone who has just returned from China and is busily developing and scanning rolls of film, your pictures reminded me of the many potentially wonderful images I failed to capture. I particularly like the shot on the stairs and the taboo shot of the back of Ola's head.
I did find a photo shop in Beijing that stocks Tri-X. Otherwise, expired Kodak color film and Fuji Superia seemed to be the only choices available.
Please keep posting like this. Good discussion and good photography.
I did find a photo shop in Beijing that stocks Tri-X. Otherwise, expired Kodak color film and Fuji Superia seemed to be the only choices available.
Please keep posting like this. Good discussion and good photography.
mfogiel
Veteran
The thumb picture has no detail in the highlights, and even for an XP2 shot, I find the shadows on this one and the other ones are just collapsing into black too quickly. The remedy could be a better scanning technique, and/or a film with a better balanced response across the curve. like Tri-X , Neopan 400 or HP5+.
Avotius
Some guy
Oh my, so many comments to respond to but I am glad it got the brain juices flowing here.
Let me take a short stab at some of the points:
@ cmogi10
Get out of bed, the sunlight will do you good. Your welcome.
@ Honus
Always good to hear from you. Hope you enjoyed China, I am haunted by all the photos I could have taken here. Seriously there is not enough film in the world to capture all the stuff going on here right now. I am surprised you found some TRIX but I guess in Beijing anything is possible. Also I hear that in Guangzhou you can find it from time to time. Online you can get it here but its....well....you never know if you get good film and shipping costs are pretty horrid.
@ jayjee
You are right, this is not meant to be a purely photo journalistic entry. Its some random thoughts sort of thrown together in one spot with my recent purchase of an M6 as a sort of focal point. Naturally if I wanted to make this a truly photo journalistic take on China I would not have been so casual about my writings. I will however be more aware in the future about "expectations" when others are viewing these kinds of photos, as long as it does not distract from my over all intentions of the photos.
@ Athos6
Be still your beating heart 🙂
@ Pablito
I go to art school and also am surrounded by very liberal people. For us rules are made to be broken absolutely. Its pushing those rules that we find our own abilities, limits, and avenues for growth.
@ visiondr
Thanks, I like to show these areas of China that for people who are not here, or even for people who are here and are blind to seeing it everyday. There is a whole world behind the curtain that the news outlets would have you believe, its an amazing place, and why not extend the courtesy to a few fellow people to see such things.
@ fdigital
Then next time I will not be so hesitant about where and when to stick them up. I think I need to do some sort of blog up where I can update a little more frequently. Thank you very much for coming by and looking though!
@ Keith
Thanks for the kind comments. Frankly I am at a loss of words how to respond except that I hope I can keep producing stuff to show.
@ Nh3
While I dont entirely agree with you right off the bat (for instance leaving everything up to the viewer to decide if they dont understand certain nuances of this place which I can provide a small peak at then let them consider on their own) I will take your advice under careful consideration. Also I mean that, I will ponder and take your comments with serious weight. As for sentimentalism and tool worship, this is a tool worship site for the most part, as for sentiment, maybe its strange for a person my age to be connected to an object (camera) the way a child is connected to their favorite teddy bear, but...well....my favorite teddy bear (a raccoon actually) is sitting right next to my computer screen. I am a sentimental person, sorry if you are put off by that.
@ Florian1234
People our age being interested in these antiquated old cameras....its just not....shall I dare to say "politically correct"?
@ mfogiel
I will take the photo and stick it under my enlarger to check the detail. I was not expecting much to come over as the lens is so high contrast and the film has a high contrast punchy look to it and I was over exposing by a full stop. But like I said, just experimenting. I probably could find some more detail in the finger scan though. Also yes some of the blacks are a big strong. I work that way sometimes now, this high contrast, gritty, icky, against the rules way of doing up photos, just a phase probably. Thanks for the constructive criticism by the way.
Let me take a short stab at some of the points:
@ cmogi10
Get out of bed, the sunlight will do you good. Your welcome.
@ Honus
Always good to hear from you. Hope you enjoyed China, I am haunted by all the photos I could have taken here. Seriously there is not enough film in the world to capture all the stuff going on here right now. I am surprised you found some TRIX but I guess in Beijing anything is possible. Also I hear that in Guangzhou you can find it from time to time. Online you can get it here but its....well....you never know if you get good film and shipping costs are pretty horrid.
@ jayjee
You are right, this is not meant to be a purely photo journalistic entry. Its some random thoughts sort of thrown together in one spot with my recent purchase of an M6 as a sort of focal point. Naturally if I wanted to make this a truly photo journalistic take on China I would not have been so casual about my writings. I will however be more aware in the future about "expectations" when others are viewing these kinds of photos, as long as it does not distract from my over all intentions of the photos.
@ Athos6
Be still your beating heart 🙂
@ Pablito
I go to art school and also am surrounded by very liberal people. For us rules are made to be broken absolutely. Its pushing those rules that we find our own abilities, limits, and avenues for growth.
@ visiondr
Thanks, I like to show these areas of China that for people who are not here, or even for people who are here and are blind to seeing it everyday. There is a whole world behind the curtain that the news outlets would have you believe, its an amazing place, and why not extend the courtesy to a few fellow people to see such things.
@ fdigital
Then next time I will not be so hesitant about where and when to stick them up. I think I need to do some sort of blog up where I can update a little more frequently. Thank you very much for coming by and looking though!
@ Keith
Thanks for the kind comments. Frankly I am at a loss of words how to respond except that I hope I can keep producing stuff to show.
@ Nh3
While I dont entirely agree with you right off the bat (for instance leaving everything up to the viewer to decide if they dont understand certain nuances of this place which I can provide a small peak at then let them consider on their own) I will take your advice under careful consideration. Also I mean that, I will ponder and take your comments with serious weight. As for sentimentalism and tool worship, this is a tool worship site for the most part, as for sentiment, maybe its strange for a person my age to be connected to an object (camera) the way a child is connected to their favorite teddy bear, but...well....my favorite teddy bear (a raccoon actually) is sitting right next to my computer screen. I am a sentimental person, sorry if you are put off by that.
@ Florian1234
People our age being interested in these antiquated old cameras....its just not....shall I dare to say "politically correct"?
@ mfogiel
I will take the photo and stick it under my enlarger to check the detail. I was not expecting much to come over as the lens is so high contrast and the film has a high contrast punchy look to it and I was over exposing by a full stop. But like I said, just experimenting. I probably could find some more detail in the finger scan though. Also yes some of the blacks are a big strong. I work that way sometimes now, this high contrast, gritty, icky, against the rules way of doing up photos, just a phase probably. Thanks for the constructive criticism by the way.
ChrisN
Striving
Avotius - thanks for the excellent photos, and especially for the narrative - the picture might be worth a thousand words, but a few more choice words set the scene nicely, especially for someone who is never likely to have the opportunity to see the parts of Chine you see daily. Thanks for sharing - keep it up, please!
andersju
Well-known
That might be something to strive for, but I thought it was generally agreed upon that actually achieving some kind of "universal truth" is impossible since everybody by definition is subjective. I live within a certain cultural context and have a certain view of the world influenced by a great number of factors (personal, social, cultural, political). All this decide what I perceive as "truth" (and your truth most certainly differs!) and what to shoot and why, how to frame, when to shoot, how to edit, what to show, where, how, etc etc.. 🙂
I think the best you can do, if you're a (photo)journalist, is to be clear and honest about your background, preconceived notions, intentions, motives, etc. - in other words, be explicit about your "truth", so that the reader/viewer can compare it to his/hers.
I have little knowledge of China and liked Avotius' narrative very much. What he thinks is happening is, in itself, interesting enough.
Avotius
Some guy
I like how everyones thinking juices are getting stirred up. Great. Just as a small gift, here is one more picture:
My cat is a hedonist. He is the hedonism cat.
(elmar red scale)
My cat is a hedonist. He is the hedonism cat.
(elmar red scale)
mccurleyphoto
Established
I think your narratives add depth to the photographs, expecially #1 and #2. You have a knack for providing the right tidbits of information to add interest to the photos (not that they cannot stand on their own). If the photos were not good, I would have no apprecaiation of the narratives. You are not someone who is having to explain poor photography, just the opposite. I'm a big fan of your work...keep it up and enjoy the Leica!!
tomasis
Well-known
I like how elmar render pictures. nice smoothness compared to planar 🙂
raid
Dad Photographer
It's not the camera or lens but the photographer who took these beautiful images. Thanks for the narrative to add flavor and closeness.
maddoc
... likes film again.
Colin, I find your photos very inspiring and also your narratives. Keep posting your good work, it is a pleasure reading your threads. 🙂
nzeeman
Well-known
great photos as always colin. i hope in future we will have more essays like this from you.
tripod
Well-known
Colin, excellent photos and commentary!
Avotius
Some guy
🙄
More people have sent notes to me or commented or something asking the same question over and over again....
What scanner you use???
Here:
Thats the scanner I use.
Oh, and the new toy I got for my new toy. Misery loves bankruptcy:
More people have sent notes to me or commented or something asking the same question over and over again....
What scanner you use???
Here:
Thats the scanner I use.
Oh, and the new toy I got for my new toy. Misery loves bankruptcy:
jplomley
Established
Colin,
I'm not convinced it is the scanner that people are really interested in as opposed to your workflow after the RAW scan is captured. Perhaps you might educate us on your post-processing technique for handling neg film. I'm all ears.....
Cheers for some great images. I just sold my M6TTL for an M8, and already I am missing film....which is why I kept the Mamiya 7, but what a tank compared to the nice little Leica.
~ Jeff
I'm not convinced it is the scanner that people are really interested in as opposed to your workflow after the RAW scan is captured. Perhaps you might educate us on your post-processing technique for handling neg film. I'm all ears.....
Cheers for some great images. I just sold my M6TTL for an M8, and already I am missing film....which is why I kept the Mamiya 7, but what a tank compared to the nice little Leica.
~ Jeff
tripod
Well-known
Please let us know if you find a difference between your new Summicron 35 and the CV35 you were using. It's a pretty expensive upgrade. I'd be interested to now if it is worth it.
Avotius
Some guy
It was Leica GAS in my case, but I will by all means do a very in depth conparison of the two lenses in the next weeks then you can find it in the optics sections when I post.
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