Melissa Rodwell is a fashion photographer from LA and has some pretty interesting things to say.

Melissa wrote an entry entitled, “Knowledge is Power” on her blog a while back. Maybe some of you saw this back when it was posted, but today the content is more relevant than ever.

The premise of her post is “WHY do you want to be a fashion photographer.” Why not a food photographer, or whatever else. Why a fashion photographer? A lot of people asking her advice on “making it” in that industry were unable to answer her when she would ask. This became even more apparent when she would inquire about their knowledge, love, and passion for the actual core of fashion photography…fashion!

I think this is very relevant to anyone in whatever their choice is. Why do you do what you do? Do you actually love and have a desire for your path?

A lot of people ask me why I don’t shoot weddings. They say “oh your work is nice…come shoot our wedding too!” I always try to refer them to some one I know that truly loves to do weddings. Nothing against weddings…love is great…but unless it’s the wedding band…i’m just not that interested at the moment. If you talk to me about the music industry, you would probably wonder why I am even a photographer! (I still dedicate my personal time to music performance and recording)

So I ask you too, are you shooting what you know? Do you really understand your subjects? Do you have a passion for what you shoot to the point that if you weren’t shooting…you would still be in that same industry some how?
For those of you who aren’t photographers reading this post, think about this in your own context. Ask the same questions of yourself.

I highly recommend reading Melissa’s blog post.

-Tony

Please check out this upcoming show. Your support will go directly towards continuing the aid and recovery of the people of Haiti. Not only will you be helping a fellow human, but you will be entertained for your support! What a luxury! I would like to give huge thank you to all the volunteers and artists that are working to make this happen! Music is our common language. It tells our story and overcomes all barriers. Open your mind, open your heart, and find a way support those that are in need. I hope to see everyone at the show!

You can learn more about this show as well as Vwa Ayiti here:
Voice Of Haiti Organization

You can find out information on the Concert venue, DC 9, and get directions to the show here:
DC 9 Concert Venue

Check back after the show for some images!

What’s the best camera in the world? The one that is with you of course! Even if you have all the hot new Canon bodies and sharpest lenses in your backpack…you can’t create an image if it appears before you. The moment is gone. You haven’t even unzipped the bag fully. It’s so easy to miss the moment.

Lately cell phones have been getting pretty capable at capturing images. They are even putting out images larger than my first digital camera! (some early fuji finepix camera I think…maybe a megapixel or two…) Samsung has even decided to take the next step. Looks more like camera with a phone built in to me… I know its not late-breaking any more, but photographer Chase Jarvis lately put out an awesome app for iphones along with a book and website/community. The Best Camera… It’s definitely worth checking out if you have ever doubted your phone as a way to create images.

I captured the image above with an EnV Touch. No fun apps…but at least I have exposure compensation! (It also handles panoramas and parallax decently to my surprise.) The landscape was captured out of a car window. My camera was in a bag by my feet. I would have never been able to get it out in time. Lately I have found myself really seeing the world differently again. I feel somewhat liberated from equipment again just knowing that if I am in the moment, I can act as long as even my phone is with me. Go make images. Capture the world and show us who we are. If you have a phone…you have an image!

Now if only my phone could trigger Pocket Wizards…

Everything you see, hear, touch, taste, smell, or sense in any way is an aspect of Divinity. It is when you judge it to be something else that it shows up as something else in your life.

Therefore, judge not, and neither condemn.

For that which you judge, judges you; and that which you condemn will condemn you. Yet that which you see for what it really is will see you for what you really are. And therein will be found your peace.
–Neale Donald Walsch

I am fascinated by that statement. I find myself thinking about it so many times in various encounters and situations. I come back to the question…Who do I really want to be? And with that…Who do you really want to be?

I miss the smooth feel of a metal button actually releasing a shutter
I miss the aperture ring and smooth focus ring on a metal lens.
I miss the smell of Italian leather on a thin and compact body when its pressed on my face.
I miss looking through a viewfinder that makes me feel immersed in a world I am creating.
I miss having a sleek little camera hanging from my side…and not getting looks of “who is he, what is he doing, and why does he have a camera that big!”
I miss the feel of being able to create images spontaneously without having to plan what equipment I can take and what will weigh me down.
I miss having a camera that does not feel digital.
I don’t miss chemical dark rooms.
I don’t miss having only 200speed film when i’ve run out of 800 and the light has faded.
I don’t miss having to load film in the worst possible situations.

I have just discovered a camera that reignites what I love about cameras.

Leica M9
Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron
Luigi half-case

No, I don’t feel like a computer guru with imaging devices anymore…I feel like a photographer!

I cannot wait to get one of my own!

So, everyone knows this already. Why post about it? I have finally gotten a chance to experience this first hand. I have been using 5Ds since their release several years ago. I am familiar with what they can produce, how much I can stretch the RAW, and how much I have to work with in terms of printing large. The 5D is a serious workhorse that always impressed me. I’ve got my 5DmkII upon release in December 2008. It really felt like a modern and refined 5D. Fantastic quality in the images, amazing print size for a 35mm, and some great new features. Ok. Great! Until…yesterday.

I have begun shooting a new body of work this past week. When I loaded the work into Bridge, I was stunned. I myself have never seen work from my cameras that contained such detail. 21+ MP can really do some amazing things! I don’t remember shooting with other 35mm cameras that revealed such minute detail. Mosaic tiles, marble, columns, inlays, etc… all reveal themselves with intricate detail on these images! At the distance I am from these features, I am just absolutely amazed at how distinguished details can be resolved with good glass, technique, and these new sensors!

Here is one example, downsized for the web. This is a combination of 3 images left completely default in ACR and combined in Photomatix. This shot is using a 24-105L @ 105mm, f/13, 1.5s, 6s, and 20 second exposures. ISO 200, Highlight tone priority on, and all noise reduction is off, except for long exposure noise which is set to auto. I use a tripod with a spherical panoramic head. I shot with a cable release, 2 second timer, and live view on. (quick and easy mirror lock up!)

© 2009 Ancient City Photography

For a sense of scale, the altar with the purple cloth at the center bottom of the image is approximately 4.5 feet high. I was a couple hundred feet back.

Here is a center crop @ 100%.

© 2009 Ancient City Photography

Here is a corner crop @ 100%.

© 2009 Ancient City Photography

I am sure sharpness would be even better with a fast exposure and an uncombined shot, but I am looking at real world results for the work I need to produce. I think this is simply stunning from a 35mm camera. Adjust contrast, add some sharpening for output, and it’s just awesome. So…I wonder what we will be working with in a few years from now! Some people spend all their time looking at 100% crops for sharpness and splitting hairs…but I am impressed no matter what.

These new cameras are simply awesome.

The new lenses tilt and rotate separately from the shift and rotation function, a very welcomed update! Why am I so excited? Because I have been using Mamiya lenses mounted on shift-adapters on my Canon 5Ds. A medium format lens has a much greater image circle and works just fine as a shift lens on a 35mm camera. There is hardly any light falloff even at 12mm shifts. I think the widest rectilinear MF lens I have found so far is the Mamiya 35mm f/3.5 Sekor C. (See why I’m excited for this new 17mm!!)

I look forward to adding the new 24mm TS to my lineup. I prefer that to the 17 at the moment strictly for the 82mm filter thread. The 17 does not look like it will accept any form of frontal filter.

A lot of people seem to think Tilt-Shift lenses are a gimmick and used only as novelty by a few bored photographers. This is hardly the case. Camera movements are still king when it comes to image control. Many areas of commercial photography utilize movements extensively. There are several solutions for getting movements on a digital camera. The exotic stuff from Cambo and SINAR are great, but expensive and very specialized. (Especially if you want to play in the medium format digital range!) These are not always practical solutions. Who really wants to lug a 4×5 with a MF back and a laptop around unless completely necessary?

Another major benefit to using a TS lens is seamless panoramas without the need for specialty tripod equipment. Aside from the basic center-left-shift-right-shift 2:1 panorama, you can also do “super-resolution” panos.

Take a center image. Shift the lens all the way to one end. Take another shot, then rotate the lens 15 to 30 degrees at a time and fire off another shot. Continue this until you get all the way around. I get about 12 shots or so. Using Photoshop, PTGUI, or another panorama stitcher, combine the images. There will be no parallax errors since the camera’s nodal point has not moved at all. In fact, the camera hasn’t moved period! You will end up with one massive image!

Example:
My Canon 5DmkII
Single image file dimensions: 5616 x 3744 pixels or 18.72 x 12.48 inches @ 300 dpi
Fully shifted file dimensions: 8776 x 5851 pixels or 29.25 x 19.5 inches @ 300 dpi

5DmkII Image: approx. 21mp (Colored inside box)
5DmkII Shifted Pano: approx 51mp (Entire image)

So on just the 5DmkII alone, you can print almost a 40 x 60 inch print @ around 150 dpi WITHOUT needing to up-res the file. Can you imagine the new Phase One P65+ with this technique?!?!?! By my same calculations using the numbers on the PhaseOne site, that gives you a 135mp image with a 90 x 67 inch print at @ 150 dpi. Not owning a PhaseOne system, I cannot vouch for these numbers, however I am more than willing to donate my time and drive space to conduct the tests should a system be made available!!!

Then again…do we need 135mp images when we resize for the web most of the time? When most images are limited by the paper they are printed on, does that level of quality really make a difference if we aren’t printing at those massive sizes?

Being a panoramic photographer, a lot of my work is making 9:1 images…I guess i’m partial to these large scales!

What a great time to be in photography!

Without a doubt this is one of the most inspiring displays of new technology I have seen in a long time! Just thinking about the possibilities is amazing. Thinking about what applications this might lead to that people have not even thought of yet is even more amazing.

Making sense of mass quantities of media quickly and adding value through intelligent meta-tagging is simply awesome! This will make anyone who has access to the connected world part of a greater collective history. Our children’s world will definitely be fascinating.

Here is a link to the SeaDragon development in case you would like to play with this more!