tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:/articleswww.weisserth.neton photography, gear and web technology2011-12-06T23:31:01ZTypotag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/512011-12-06T23:26:00Z2011-12-06T23:31:01ZpolarapfelFirst heavy snow in Hamburg<div style="" class="flickrplugin"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/polarapfel/6468424631/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6468424631_1062902910.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Winter arrived" title="Winter arrived"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">Hamburg, Germany. December 6, 2011. All rights reserved.</p></div>
<p>Winter decided to visit Hamburg today with the first heavy snowfall tonight after some smaller showers already occurred earlier this week. I had my GF1 with me, happily taking a couple of snapshots after we finished a dinner snack at the Christmas market downtown.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/492011-11-27T13:49:17Z2011-11-27T17:15:49ZpolarapfelI guess Hamburg is not New York<p><div style="float:left; padding-right: 10px;" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6408626239_71bb5f97c3_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Mönckebergstraße Weihnachtsparade"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6408626239_71bb5f97c3_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Mönckebergstraße Weihnachtsparade" title="Mönckebergstraße Weihnachtsparade"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:240px">Mönckebergstraße, Hamburg. Germany.
November 2011.</p></div> <p>I genuinely enjoy living in Hamburg. The city has posh, swanky areas that appeal to my sophisticated side and on the other hand, it’s laid back enough so I can feel good enough about myself leaving the apartment with a shabby, laid back look. Some areas of Hamburg certainly have that urban grittiness associated with the world’s top cities such as Paris, London, New York and Tokyo, but looking closely, I guess “Hamburg is not New York” – at least not when considering the Christmas Parade taking place during the weekends on Hamburg’s premier shopping mile, Mönckebergstraße.</p></p>
<p><br/></p>
<p>The Parade is held only on Saturdays as far as I’m aware. The intention of the whole thing is probably to instill the Christmas spirit of consumption into buyers strolling down the street along the stores. It feels more than weird on a November Saturday with temperatures way beyond the freezing point and grey rain clouds in the sky.</p>
<div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6234/6408630459_7a387ff6a0_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Fingerzeig"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6234/6408630459_7a387ff6a0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Fingerzeig" title="Fingerzeig"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">Mönckebergstraße, Hamburg. Germany.
November 2011.</p></div>
<p><div style="float:left; padding-right: 10px;" class="flickrplugin"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdpny/304291345/"><img src="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/115/304291345_5379ac0b4e_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 06, Turkey - MDPNY20061125" title="Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 06, Turkey - MDPNY20061125"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:240px">NYC Macy's Parade in 2006, by Matthew D. Powell on Flickr</p></div><p>A woman dressed in a white gown with attached wings, leading a pair of white dogs that also have wings attached to their back, marching bands and dancers in cheap costumes performing an amateurish routine and Santas with their sneakers surfacing below their customer, lovelessly themed wagons being pulled by tractors and a city tour bus being repurposed for the parade – this is not exactly a New York Macy’s Parade.</p></p>
<div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6408633403_cdba0196ff_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Parade"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6408633403_cdba0196ff.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Parade" title="Parade"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">Mönckebergstraße, Hamburg. Germany.
November 2011.</p></div>
<p>The impression that sticks with me is that only visitors from the small towns and villages around Hamburg can be impressed by this show. My own thoughts evolve more around being slightly ashamed that obviously, Hamburg is not a cosmopolitan city but more or less a super sized town when it comes to things as this.</p>
<div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6408634855_b863e7f8d0_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Stadtrundfahrt"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6408634855_b863e7f8d0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Stadtrundfahrt" title="Stadtrundfahrt"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">Mönckebergstraße, Hamburg. Germany.
November 2011.</p></div>
<p>The best part still were the desperate and young people in cheesy costumes, performing awkward dance steps, amusing at least some of the audience.</p>
<div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6408635953_270a50f9a8_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Pointy Hats"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6408635953_270a50f9a8.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Pointy Hats" title="Pointy Hats"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">Mönckebergstraße, Hamburg. Germany.
November 2011.</p></div>
<p>I actually liked the ‘candy people’ to some degree. Until they performed a robot move routine…</p>
<div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6408638459_bdba0073ae_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Put your hands in the air"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6408638459_bdba0073ae.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Put your hands in the air" title="Put your hands in the air"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">Mönckebergstraße, Hamburg. Germany.
November 2011.</p></div>
<p>There are better events than this one in Hamburg certainly. I wonder whether instead of running something amateurish like this a couple of times a day each Saturday leading up to Christmas, it should be worth doing it only once a day, done right in good preparation and putting more love into the theme, wagons and performers. Macy’s Parade in <span class="caps">NYC</span> is a major tourist magnet, attracting thousands to <span class="caps">NYC</span> for this event, including the buying power of thousands. Maybe the city of Hamburg should think about this and try to find a local sponsor company to get a real parade organized.</p>
<div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6118/6408641683_139ac0e077_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Candy-Robot-People"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6118/6408641683_139ac0e077.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Candy-Robot-People" title="Candy-Robot-People"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">Mönckebergstraße, Hamburg. Germany.
November 2011.</p></div>
<p>All images taken with a Panasonic GF1 and an Olympus M. Zuiko 45mm.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/482011-09-27T10:30:45Z2011-09-27T10:52:40ZpolarapfelMasahiro Suzuki, General Manager R&D, Nikon interviewed about the Nikon 1<p>Since the launch of Nikon’s new Nikon 1 camera system, public reactions have been very strong with a lot of negative feedback on blogs about the apparent shortcomings of Nikon’s new camera system.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1316730752.html">imaging resource</a> has conducted an exclusive interview with Masahiro Suzuki, General Manager R&D of Nikon. Asked about the image quality of Nikon’s new cameras, his answer surprises:</p>
<blockquote>MS: We are quite confident that we achieved almost exactly the same quality as our <span class="caps">DSLR</span>.<br />
<br />
DE: (surprised) The same quality as DSLRs.<br />
<br />
MS: Yes…Please evaluate! (laughs)<br />
<br />
DE: Yes, obviously, we’ll test and we’ll hold you to that! That’s very interesting, because this is a much smaller sensor, but you say the same quality.<br />
<br />
MS: Mm-hmm.</blockquote>
<p>I really doubt Nikon’s cameras will be able to live up to this claim.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/452011-08-20T21:50:05Z2011-08-20T21:54:52ZpolarapfelLarge prints available in limited edition<p><a href="http://badjupiter.com/2011/08/friday-feature-in-motion/">The BadJupiter Project</a> is now offering large print editions of some of my work from the <a href="http://www.friendlyimitationofwork.com/set/in-motion/">In Motion</a> series. Available now, you can order prints of “<a href="http://badjupiter.com/photos/checking/">checking</a>“, “<a href="http://badjupiter.com/photos/a-tribute-to-harley-davidson/">A tribute to Harley Davidson</a>” and “<a href="http://badjupiter.com/photos/balanced/">Balanced</a>“.</p>
<p>Prints are limited to 80 prints of each released images. More images will be released soon.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/422011-08-17T09:59:24Z2011-08-17T19:02:30ZpolarapfelWhy I won't buy the Olympus E-P3 PEN this year<p>It’s no secret that I’m an Olympus fanboy. We have about six digital Olympus cameras at home, four of those are Four Thirds DSLRs, one is a <span class="caps">PEN</span> and one a tough compact. Along with that, we have a complete Olympus Four Thirds lens lineup with beauties such as the 12-60mm, the 50mm and the 50-200mm and more lenses from Sigma and Panasonic. Most of the images I shoot are now from my E-5. I have been enjoying my E-PL1 as well though. Initially, I got the <span class="caps">PEN</span> to make use of my large collection of legacy Minolta MC and MD lenses. Using a Novoflex adapter, it’s really easy to use these old lens beauties with the <span class="caps">PEN</span>. I got the VF-2 <span class="caps">EVF</span> so I could manual-focus easier and get a steadier hold on the camera with the heavy lenses attached. I am happy about the in-body image stabilization of the <span class="caps">PEN</span>. I valued the image stabilization for legacy lenses more than I did value the need for a fast auto-focus. That’s why I got a <span class="caps">PEN</span> and not a Micro Four Thirds camera from Panasonic.</p>
<p><strong>Changing shooting habits</strong></p>
<p>My shooting habits have changed though. I’m finding myself carrying around the <span class="caps">PEN</span> a lot more than in the past and most of the times, I have the convenient and well performing Panasonic 20mm pancake lens attached to the <span class="caps">PEN</span>. The main problem with using auto-focus lenses on the older <span class="caps">PEN</span> generations though is that the contrast detection auto-focus on PENs sucks. It’s too slow to be of any use for any subjects other than stationary subjects. In fact, I think I can focus faster manually through the <span class="caps">EVF</span> with a legacy manual focus lens than the <span class="caps">PEN</span> can auto-focus it’s kit lens or the Panasonic 20mm. Another issue I have with the E-PL1 specifically is that with this model, the body lacks the control interface to quickly change exposure settings without having to go into a menu and navigate around the settings. In Aperture Priority Mode, I can’t just turn a dial or press a button directly to change the aperture for an exposure, I need to make at least two clicks through the on screen menu to make that change. This is a design fail of a camera meant to be easy to use. When using the <span class="caps">EVF</span>, this design proves to be fatally wrong. Speaking of the VF-2 <span class="caps">EVF</span>, Olympus added a new <span class="caps">EVF</span> to its lineup, the VF-3 which is a little bit smaller than the VF-2 and offers a lower resolution at a lower price. The VF-3 is also a swiveling <span class="caps">EVF</span>. This is a move I do not understand. The only issue I had with the VF-2 was its size. It’s too clumsy and sticks out too much from the camera body. Half the time the <span class="caps">EVF</span> is attached to its accessory port, I worry about breaking it or losing it. The quality of the image in the viewfinder is perfect though.</p>
<p>There is a huge crowd of people waiting for these issues to be resolved. And while I could have bought the much more expensive E-P2 back then to address my camera interface issues, I chose the E-PL1 at about 60% of the price as it delivers the exact same image quality. Now, Olympus is offering a new <span class="caps">PEN</span>, the E-P3 and it promises to finally be the <span class="caps">PEN</span> that Olympus was advertising right from the start when they came to market with their E-P1.</p>
<p><strong>Olympus E-P3 <span class="caps">PEN</span></strong></p>
<center><iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jsy-obolHUI?rel=0&hd=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center><p><br /></p>
<p>Basically, the E-P3 is the camera I always wanted – with one exception. It still uses the clumsy external viewfinder on the accessory port. I am still hoping that either Panasonic or better Olympus will offer a Micro Four Thirds system camera with an electronic viewfinder integrated in a <span class="caps">PEN</span>-like body, providing a camera body format much like a classic rangefinder camera.</p>
<p>Looking at the reviews of the E-P3 and having played with it for a while myself at various stores, I have to say I am tempted, although not tempted enough to shelve out the 900€ that camera costs in Europe. The price in US dollars is nominally lower than the price in Euros and with Olympus offering a global warranty on its cameras and lenses there is little reason not to wait for the next US trip and buy it there.</p>
<p>But even if the camera was available at US prices in Europe, I won’t buy it. The three itches I need to scratch are</p>
<ul>
<li>auto-focus speed</li>
<li>missing direct exposure controls</li>
<li>missing internal <span class="caps">EVF</span></li>
</ul>
<p>The E-P3 addresses two out of the three at around $850 or 900€. Sorry, that’s not worth the investment.</p>
<p><strong>There already is a close to optimal walk-around camera – the GF1</strong></p>
<p>Currently, a lot of stores are getting rid of their remaining Panasonic GF1 items in stock, as that camera is being phased out with two newer models in the same line already available. The GF1 offers a comparable image quality to any <span class="caps">PEN</span>. The auto-focus may not be as fast as the E-P3’s but it’s perceivably twice as fast as the E-PL1’s auto-focus. Also, the GF1 allows direct control of exposure settings without having to click through a menu. Sure, it doesn’t have an <span class="caps">EVF</span> integrated and the one that attaches to its hot shoe is not as good as the VF-2. But when using the GF1 with the Panasonic 20mm, you get a very usable walk-around camera at a very low price. In fact so low, it’s impossible to resist. I got a red Panasonic GF1 for less than 270€ including shipping and handling. If you look harder than me, you will be able to pick up the GF1 body for even less, I’ve seen prices around 240€ online.</p>
<p>So, sorry Olympus. I will stick to my E-PL1/Vf-2 combination for working with my manual focus lenses and use my shiny new red GF1 for auto-focus lenses and wait for that Micro Four Thirds camera from Olympus that targets the near-professional users and offers a decent integrated <span class="caps">EVF</span> in a <span class="caps">PEN</span>-like body. For such a camera I would be willing to pay even a little more than what the E-P3 costs now.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/402011-07-09T21:32:53Z2011-09-30T12:50:26ZpolarapfelReflections on Street Photography<p>The other day, the day I was writing this, I had an epiphany. It was not just about solving a problem that sprang to my mind just then, it was actually a revelation. And like ever so often, it was initiated by what somebody else pointed out.</p>
<p>Before I go on and dive into "<a href="http://youtu.be/gbIv7W7rhx4">the new shit that has come to light</a>", let's put a pin into the above and let me tell you what's been constantly nagging in the back of my mind ever since I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my photography.</p>
<p>Photography as a hobby can be a blessing for anybody who is able to acquire and operate a camera. First achievements are easy enough to reach by sticking to easy motives and clichés. Really good photographs by hobbyists can often be the result of chance - misleading many to believe that one perfect image proves their talent. Most of these hobbyists have no focus as to what they photograph - every topic is their domain. There is no consistency in their "work", there is no style that can be associated to them and there is certainly no such thing as a portfolio. Ignorance is bliss as they say and as long as such hobbyists remain ignorant towards these shortcomings, they enjoy their hobby. When the ignorance vanishes, photography as a hobby is turning into a curse and the identity crisis looms.</p>
<p><em>What is my photographic work about? What should I focus on to improve my portfolio and develop a style of my own? Can my work be categorized in a genre, so that it's easier to attract people to my work and find like-minded photographers to learn from?</em></p>
<p>Those questions have bothered me ever since my ignorance vanished. Some while ago, I thought I had part of the questions answered for myself. Looking at all the images I had taken over the years, I filtered for the ones that were most consistent, those that got the most positive feedback and of course those that I liked personally the best. Two common themes emerged from this pattern: travel related images and urban motives or a combination of both. Also, I started to get interested into the commonly recognized work of other photographers. I started reading books about the art of photography as opposed to the craft of photography. I subscribed to popular resources on the Internet about travel photography and lacking a commonly, broadly accepted characterization of urban photography, I followed the current hype about '<em>street photography</em>'. I was looking for an answer to my photographic identity crisis.</p>
<p>How did I get interested into 'street photography' in the first place? What is so fascinating about it that I wanted to know more and produce photographic results in that genre? Like so many others before me, I got stuck with a fascination about the work of <em>Henri Carter-Bresson</em> (HCB), a legend in his lifetime already and one of the founders of the legendary Magnum agency. HCB roamed the streets of Paris (and most of the rest of the world eventually) with a Leica rangefinder camera and took pictures of street scenes, also documenting the important events of the time, for example the last days of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the last days of the Chinese civil war before the Communists took over. For the coverage of the two latter events and much of his other work, HCB is widely accepted as one of the pioneers if not the founding father of modern documentary photography. At the same time, HCB wears the crown of being the most recognized street photographer of all times. In much the same way that HCB is intriguing to me, I also started to admire the work of Robert Cappa, Erich Lessing, Werner Bischof, Inge Morath and Marc Riboud - all of their early recognized featured in the context of Magnum.</p>
<p>I wanted to know more about 'street photography' as it seemed to be more accessible than documentary photography. When late Vivian Maier's work was discovered and made available to the interested public as one of the biggest revelations in 'street photography', that seemed to confirm my perception as Maier had no photographic education or art eduction (unlike HCB who underwent an education in painting prior to his photography).</p>
<p>There are many popular blogs and photo blogs by amateur street photographers that are entertaining to follow and to subscribe to. Most people on the Internet, when asked, will refer you to dedicated 'street photography' groups on <a href="http://www.flickr.com">Flickr</a>, the Internet's biggest, dedicated photo-sharing site. Groups such as <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet/">Hardcore Street Photography (HCSP)</a> and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/extremestreet/">Extreme Street Photography (ESP)</a> are the most well known, with thousands of active members. What is characteristic about those groups is that they monopolize the definition of what 'street photography' is and what it's not. Submitting images to these groups for inclusion into the group pool is subject to curation by the administrators of the group. Only a fraction of the images submitted is being allowed into the pools of HCSP and ESP. The criteria by which a submission is judged are obviously very narrow.</p>
<p>As so many resources about 'street photography' pointed to those two groups, I joined both and submitted images from time to time, curious if any of them would make it into the image pools. Every single of my images has been rejected. It seems I just don't understand the definition of 'street photography' imposed by the people running those two groups on Flickr. As group pool submissions are rejected without the possibility to attach a feedback about the rejection, both of these groups offer ways to discuss specific images within discussion threads within the groups.</p>
<p>Reading through the last page of one open discussion topic, judging images posted to the thread, I noticed a discussion about an image showing a man on the ground(possibly a homeless), surrounded by policemen, most of them showing their backs towards the photographer. The scene was not particularly interesting, the image as such was well enough exposed but the composition did not make the image 'work', things were not falling into place. In short, it wasn't an image that you'd normally would look at for more than one second.</p>
<p>The reactions to this image were more interesting than the image. One of the first comments on the image stated, that images with policemen in it were not qualifying as street photography. Rather than being street photography, the presence of a policeman in an image makes it documentary photography. As nobody seemed to disagree with this, I actually took the time and phrased an answer, I went through the available images of Vivian Maier online and found about four or five images displaying street scenes of cops interacting with citizens, using these as examples why the above statements were wrong. Probably <a href="http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-post_11.html">the most famous image displays a middle aged woman arguing with a policeman while being held by the policeman in embrace</a>. The image shows the strong emotion on both their faces as they try to come to terms which each other. The Vivian Maier image does not disclose what this encounter is about, the viewer has no idea what the woman is enraged about and why the policeman is holding her. With no such information, how can such an image 'automatically' be a documentary image if no information about the background of what is happening is provided within the image and all that is visible and 'making the image work' is about the emotions displayed? I remained alone commenting in that way.</p>
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/polarapfel/5865627131/" title="Gazelle by polarapfel, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/5865627131_58272c1390.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Gazelle"></a></center>
<br/>
<p>Next step of my endeavor to interpret HCSP: submitting one of my images for discussion. I chose one of the recent images from my 'In Motion' series, displaying a middle-aged woman, wearing a colorful skirt, riding a bicycle. I followed her movement while releasing the shutter, to isolate her from the environment while still preserving the perception of speed. While she is seemingly frozen in time, the motion blur in the background and the blurred wheels of the bicycle maintain the illusion of movement in the still image. A pedestrian walking into the frame behind here is caught in motion as well, but the motion blur makes him an anonymous part of the environment surrounding the subject of my interest, the woman on the bike. For me, this image stands for an important aspect of modern urban life - mobility, the need to be at specific places at specific times and associated with that, the speed of life in modern cities, that usually makes it impossible to focus on a person rushing through modern life - something that many of my images achieve by exposing and framing them that way. I thought this was a viable motive for street photography, properly framed and exposed. My judgement and confidence was supported by the fact that this image had been viewed nearly a thousand times on Flickr with many approving comments and about ten percent of viewers marked the image as a favorite. By general judgement, it certainly is an interesting image, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten so much positive feedback on Flickr in such a short time - which eventually put this image within Flickr Explore. It certainly generated a lot more positive interest on Flickr than most of the images within the HCSP and ESP pools.</p>
<p>The reacting comments on HCSP were devastating. About the first person commenting was Charlie Kirk aka twocutedogs, a well known member of the group and widely recognized within the group and on other dedicated 'street photography' blogs as a talented street photographer. I won't cite his comments as they were rather rude and vulgar - and pointless. In essence, he reduced my image to the way I chose to expose it, seeing nothing more than the technique of panning. [Charlie has apologized for the rudeness but stands by his opinion regarding the image as such.] An administrator of the group concurred with that assessment a little later.</p>
<p>I was confused. Just some months ago, one of my images a lot like this and no more or no less interesting from a general point of view, won <a href="http://www.cbrephotographer.com/blog/?p=988">second place in CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year 2010</a>, a photographic competition free to enter for all, with about 10,000 submissions and judged by a panel also containing professional photographers and experts of the photographic industry. Puzzled, I leaned back and thought about what's going on here, wondering about the negative reaction, the narrow definition of 'street photography' on HCSP and not least of all the rude, impolite and almost plain insulting reaction of twocutedogs and the group administrator.</p>
<p>It took me some time, but going through the images of HCSP and ESP and comparing those to my favorites within the portfolio of HCB, Vivian Maier and other street scenes I admire (for example those portrayed in '<a href="http://amzn.com/3775722157">Magnum's First</a>'), the epiphany finally struck me.</p>
<p>Let's do a little experiment together. Take some time and browse through the image pools of HCSP and ESP. Note how much time you spend looking at each image, before going to the next. How many of the images you looked at would you consider to be worthy of an expensive print to frame and hang in your living room? Answering that question for myself, I'd have to say maybe not even one or two out of the dozens of images I managed to look at before getting too bored. Next on my scale of interestingness would be considering an image to be part of equally good images that I'd like to see in a book worth buying. Let's take the popular '<a href="http://amzn.com/0500289077">Street Photography Now</a>' book as a benchmark, which is in print again by the way. Again, going through the pools of HCSP and ESP, I wouldn't come up with more than 10 images in total. That wouldn't make even a slim book. Not by far.</p>
<p>So why is that? Judging by the strict curation of both groups, you'd expect HCSP and ESP to be full of images that just make your synapses click with the same excitement when you look at masterful images of the past, wouldn't you? What sets most of the ESP and HCSP images apart from the classics you'd actually print, frame and use to decorate your living room with?</p>
<p>Take a minute to reflect on this.</p>
<p><strong><em>The answer <em>I</em> came up with, and I think it's true for every genre of photography, is that a good photograph has to be appealing by standards not set and defined by genre.</em></strong></p>
<p>Read this last sentence carefully and several times. A street photograph can be as clever and witty by any standard set and enforced by HCSP and ESP and yet it will not appeal to a broad audience in the way that many HCB, Vivian Maier etc. photographs do. Looking at some of HCB's work, it's easy to see that the way he saw the world around him was heavily influenced by his past as a painter and education in fine arts. Many of HCB's photographs are fine art in the classical sense while most of the ESP and HCSP images do not even come close to having that appeal as it's actually a secondary or even exclusive criteria by which those groups are curated. <em>A good street photograph does have to be a good photograph in general and in the first place</em> - something that is often neglected at HCSP and ESP in my opinion.</p>
<p>In my personal opinion, that is the defining and specific reduction those groups apply to the monopolistic definition of street photography as they see it. It's an artificial limitation that - and now comes the irony about twocutedogs' comment on my image about reducing it the exposure technique I used - reduces the accepted images to a very narrow set of criteria that leaves most images to desire the 'special something' that makes timeless and classic images work. In that sense, '<em>Extreme</em>' and '<em>Hardcore</em>' in ESP and HCSP actually are synonymous for '<em>Limited</em>'. I now clearly see that ESP and HCSP are limiting what street photography should actually be about - pleasing images to the eye in the first place, in an urban context that displays a scene from everyday urban live, perfected if the decisive moment has been met by the shutter release.</p>
<p><em>What is a good photograph? What is a good street photograph?</em> Something you would look at for much longer than one second! Something you would come back to, to look at very often, just because it is beautiful and not because it captures the Decisive Moment, that will bore you anyway once you have seen it more than once or twice! Something you would like to see in a photo-book you have in your bookshelf! Something you would like to have as a printed frame in your living room - <em>because it's beautiful</em>!</p>
<p>Most photography minded will be familiar with <a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&VBID=2K1HZSO109T8&IT=ZoomImage01_VForm&IID=2S5RYDZCKY50&ALID=2K7O3R14TE52&PN=22&CT=Album">HCB's image of a bicyclist rushing by a street photographed from an elevated perspective, looking down a flight of stairs in what seems to be a Mediterranean location. It's a picture of a man on a bike, being exposed with a slow shutter speed (FRANCE. The Var department. Hyères. 1932.)</a>. There is absolutely nothing special about the man on the bike. The man as a person is not interesting at all. It's just an anonymous person on a bike not revealing anything specific about him that could lead to an identity in any sense. In short, the person is not interesting at all. It's the way the image is composed and exposed, that makes it a timeless classic of street photography. Would twocutedogs have commented the same way on that image, mocking that the photographer managed to set the exposure to 1/15s? There are many famous and timeless images like this, recognized as masterful street photography. It would actually be interesting, if someone would submit some of those images, maybe the lesser known ones not immediately associated with their makers, to ESP and HCSP and see how they would get rejected. I bet there would be quite a few classic images not being accepted to the ESP and HCSP pools.</p>
<p>Now that I have made my peace with that, I have little incentive to actually engage in a broader discussion with the zealots trapped in the monopolistic and limiting view on street photography, also because I'm not willing to put up with the rudeness and ignorance that obviously comes with such discussions. Nobody wants a flame war. When I look at certain images of HCB and Vivian Maier or others that have a timeless appeal, I now recognize that it's not the scene displayed in the first place, that makes the photograph interesting and 'work', it's the way it's displayed and exposed with the scene displayed being a secondary criteria. <em>That is what art has always been about</em> - or nobody would put a painting of fruits on a plate on their walls in the first place. Fruits as such don't really make for a living and interesting subject. The sick fixation of some people on the 'Decisive Moment' alone for its own sake, and placing it before the general appeal of a photograph as such, is not leading to beautiful and interesting images.</p>
<p>How to escape the narrow-minded hype about street photography? It's not easy to just boycott the narrow-minded, limited understanding of street photography, as the term '<em>street photography</em>' has been literally hijacked by a broad group of people following the limited interpretation, worshipping the <em>Decisive Moment</em>, as cited from HCB, rather than actually looking at HCB's images and recognizing them for what they are: works of art rather than still images of decisive moments. Quoting HCB, <em>"Photography is simultaneously and instantaneously the recognition of a fact and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that express and signify that fact"</em>. Looking at a lot of the accepted images on HCSP and ESP, they lack the "rigorous organization of visually perceived forms" making the image work.</p>
<p>For example, a recent successful submission to HCSP is this image:</p>
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/52335482@N03/5914720590/" title="corner by 6 ft white rabbit, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6040/5914720590_9387148625.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="corner"></a></center>
<br/>
<p>Is this image visually pleasing? How long would you look at it, before going to the next image? What is the message of this image? Why is it interesting? How long does it take you to phrase an answer as to why this image might be interesting?</p>
<p>In my opinion, this is one of the many images that I'd skip over in a split second, as that image does "not work for me" immediately, neither in the sense that it is visually pleasing or simply put beautiful nor that it is particularly interesting as it displays something extraordinary.</p>
<p>Let's take a different example from the same image pool:</p>
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/amccauley/5845521181/" title="#38 by Alison McCauley, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2758/5845521181_b851462bb0.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="#38"></a></center>
<br/>
<p>This image is sweet. And it doesn't take long to say why, you can answer immediately. There is a clear pattern to this image and the characters in it, they all have umbrellas. There are different colours supporting the image's effect. The characters captured in the image are neatly positioned at non-interlapping levels of depth. And of course the young girl adding an element of communication with the viewer as she made direct eye contact with the camera. <em>This</em> image is street photography at its best. If judging by the general response an image creates on Flickr is any help, that image managed to create more than 1,200 views, about 130 favourites and more than 100 comments. It's very easy to argue that this image is popular and interesting because it's a visually pleasing image rather than just capturing the Decisive Moment.</p>
<p>When publishing and/or discussing street photography work at the places most popular and associated with the term 'street photography', it will be hard to uphold an opinion such as mine in a circle of people limited in their view on the subject matter and those people have managed to occupy most spaces on the Internet where the term 'street photography' is being used. I like the idea of 'being the bigger man' and making a step back and let them keep the term 'street photography' - which none of the early masters of the art actually liked in the first place back in the days, as that term was occupied by a different meaning back then anyway. Rather than fighting about two words with a total of five syllables, it's much easier to go with the term '<strong><em>urban photography</em></strong>' and stay open minded and on the lookout for what really counts: beautiful photographs of contemporary urban life around the world.</p>
<p>Although I have expressed obvious reservations about the general value of the HCSP and ESP pools on Flickr, there is a lot of really beautiful stuff available on Flickr in may places outside of HCSP and ESP. I have put some of my favourites into galleries on Flickr, feel free to check <a href="http://flic.kr/y/hsryrB">those</a> <a href="http://flic.kr/y/ez6VeP">out</a>. Most of the images were picked for the reasons outlined in this post.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/392011-06-19T11:58:27Z2011-06-19T12:06:26ZpolarapfelSteve McCurry Reflections<p>Coinciding with the release of <em>Steve McCurry: The Iconic Photographs</em>, a photo-book that includes 165 of Steve McCurry’s most famous and iconic images, <a href="http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/video/2010/october/07/steve-mcurry-reflections/">Phaidon Press</a> have made a number of interviews available on Youtube, with Steve McCurry talking about some of the images. Highly recommended.</p>
<p><iframe width="540" height="337" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C0plNvaR0bg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/362011-05-15T15:07:40Z2011-05-15T15:40:10ZpolarapfelAbout Vivian Maier<p>Although I consider myself not only talented but also interested in photography, I wouldn’t be able to name more than two or three renowned masters of the art, at least when it comes to street photography. Since this week, I can safely put another name on that list – Vivian Maier. She is yet to achieve the status of a renowned master, but given that her work is up to 60 years old and has just recently been discovered, she is probably halfway there.</p>
<p>Vivian Maier, born in New York City in 1926, passed away on April 21, 2009, just a little more than a year after her work has been purchased in auctions by at least John Maloof and Jeffrey Goldstein. Both of these gentlemen have since picked up the job of promoting late Maier’s work and rightfully so. Maier was not a professional photographer at the time. On her days off work, she roamed the streets of New York City and later Chicago to take thousands of street photographs, most of them with a medium format dual-lens Rollei. However, the strengths and impact of her work is evident and has been praised by many. In my own personal view, her work is as significant as the street photography of master of the art Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of modern photojournalism.</p>
<p>I have noticed that I missed an early exhibition of Maier’s work in Hamburg, Germany without knowing it. The resentment I feel over that will last until Mr. Maloof, who is curating the larger part of Maier’s work is able to finish his work on a documentary and a book. I already pre-ordered the book which will probably be available by November 2011.</p>
<center><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/23604952?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="499" height="283" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/23604952">Trailer: Finding Vivian Maier</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user6407067">John Maloof</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><p>In pre-production<br />
For more information about Vivian Maier please visit www.vivianmaier.com</p></center>
<p>To get you started on Vivian Maier, I put together some of the resources that are authoritative on the subject at the moment.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vivianmaier.com/">http://www.vivianmaier.com/</a><br />
The official site on Vivian Maier, run by the Maloof Collection.</p>
<p><a href="http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/">http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/</a><br />
John Maloof started this blog early on after he recognized the artistic (and probably economic) worth of Maier’s work.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vivianmaier.com/contact/">http://www.vivianmaier.com/contact/</a><br />
Be sure to register for the Vivian Maier Newsletter of the Maloof Collection.</p>
<p><a href="http://vivianmaierprints.com/">http://vivianmaierprints.com/</a><br />
The (other) official site on Vivian Maier, run by the Jeffrey Goldstein Collection.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet/discuss/72157622552378986/">http://www.flickr.com</a><br />
Maloof asks about his discovery on Hardcore Street Photography (<span class="caps">HCSP</span>) on Flickr. Browse through the discussion thread to see the initial reaction of Flickr users to this astonishing discovery of photographic art.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-2011/Vivian-Maier-Street-Photographer/Photos-Vivian-Maiers-Street-Photography/">http://www.chicagomag.com</a><br />
Chicago Mag Gallery of Maier’s work, containing 45 images of Chicago street life.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Maier">http://www.wikipedia.org</a><br />
Wikipedia on Vivian Maier.</p>
<p><a href="http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/new-street-photography-60-years-old/">http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com</a><br />
<span class="caps">NYT</span> Lens on Vivian Maier, a good read to get started on the subject, also containing a gallery of Maier’s work, nicely presented.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/16/vivian-maier-chicago-street-photography">http://www.guardian.co.uk</a><br />
The Guardian also has a nice article about uncovering Maier’s art.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12247395">http://www.bbc.co.uk</a><br />
Do not forget to take a look at the BBC’s article on the Maier discovery, also including a Video interview with John Maloof.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/352011-04-29T21:03:42Z2011-05-15T15:38:09ZpolarapfelTracking down your stolen camera? Not impossible!<p>Not discussing the recently uncovered privacy issues with Apple’s mobile phones, one impressive feature of an iPhone is that if you’re a MobileMe user, you can use the MobileMe service to track down your stolen iPhone using the <span class="caps">GPS</span> and connectivity integrated in the iPhone. If only something like this existed for cameras. I have never lost a camera to theft or otherwise – yet. Nevertheless, I stumbled across a new service online that may help you retrieve your lost camera – given someone else is bold enough to use it and post pictures taken with it on the Internet.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.stolencamerafinder.com/">www.stolencamerafinder.com</a> is a new service developed and offered by <a href="http://www.mattburns.co.uk/">Matt Burns</a>. Matt’s idea is simple yet effective. Most modern digital cameras store their serial number within the meta data in the images they capture. So when someone is putting images on the Internet, the meta data embedded in the image will contain the serial number. All you got to do is look for images on the Internet containing the serial number of the camera that you lost or that was stolen. So much for theory.</p>
<p>As the Internet is vast place, Stolen Camera Finder (<span class="caps">SCF</span>) is limited to images published to Flickr – for the time being at least. So, <span class="caps">SCF</span> will not notice images from lost cameras uploaded to places other than Flickr. Flickr is a good start though, as it’s the premier photo sharing platform for photography enthusiasts. In terms of sheer volume, Facebook would be a good place to watch as well.</p>
<p>How does the service work? Well, first you need to find out what the serial number of your lost camera is. You didn’t write it down before your camera got lost? Not a problem, the number will likely be embedded in the <span class="caps">EXIF</span> metadata of one of your old pictures. Once you have opened the <span class="caps">SCF</span> page in your browser, you can either enter the serial number, provided you know it, or when using a supported browser, you can just drag and drop an image taken with your camera. The image must contain <span class="caps">EXIF</span> information with the serial number being part of it. A majority of cameras stores such information.</p>
<p>What happens then is that <span class="caps">SCF</span> compares the provided serial number to a database of serial numbers found in images on Flickr. The database is being populated by crawling Flickr and mapping each newly found serial number from the available <span class="caps">EXIF</span> information against the <span class="caps">URL</span> of the image containing that information. Increasing the number of records in that database that is available to the search that happens when someone enters a serial number in <span class="caps">SCF</span>, is done by volunteers running the crawlers that work through Flickr and populate the database. At the moment, the database is still very limited and contains only a fraction of the serial numbers used in Flickr images. As time goes by, this number will increase, but chances are that you won’t even find your own images you uploaded to Flickr yourself.</p>
<p>Anyway, the idea is good. The project is limited by what Flickr allows in terms of automatic programs crawling its site and the fact that only Flickr is considered when searching for serial numbers. There are already reports of people having found images on Flickr from stolen cameras, which is impressively enough showing the use of this service.</p>
<p>For a more technical background of the service, take a look at <a href="http://code.google.com/p/stolencamerafinder/">the <span class="caps">SCF</span> page on Google Code</a>.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/242010-08-02T22:04:17Z2011-04-24T12:55:20ZpolarapfelFlickr contact of the week: theblackstar<p>Like so many other photography addicts on the web, I am also an active user of Yahoo’s popular image service on the web, Flickr. Rather than just presenting my images in the solitude of my own web site(s), on Flickr I can share my work with like-minded people – and the best thing is that they are already there for the same thing, it’s as easy for them to find my images as it’s for me to find theirs.</p>
<p>To promote individual pictures and increase the likeliness that visitors take notice of individual pictures, Flickr introduced the concept of interestingness. Interestingness on Flickr is basically for images what Google’s Pagerank is for web sites. The crowning of a picture on Flickr is making it to Explore or be even featured in a Flickr blog post.</p>
<p>Since not every image can make it into Explore and there are so many good photographers around on Flickr, I decided to feature some each week and introduce them here. I’ve seen the concept on other web sites and I liked it. For example, The Guardian maintains a camera club section on their web site, introducing portfolios of selected Flickr members. Opposed to “sending” a portfolio to the Guardian’s editors at Camera Club, I want to share some of the Flickr contacts I discovered for myself – each for specific reasons.</p>
<p>This week’s contact is <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/theblackstar/">Adde Adesokan, also known as <em>theblackstar</em></a> on Flickr.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.adde-adesokan.de/">Adde</a> is based in Hamburg, Germany – just like myself. He’s one of the masterminds behind <a href="http://www.polargold.de/">polargold</a>, a media agency with customers such as Olympus and the likes. I stumbled across his work as I follow <a href="https://twitter.com/getolympus">@getolympus</a> on Twitter and they linked to one of Adde’s shots on Flickr (I can’t seem to find the original link anymore, what a shame…). His work is regularly featured on @getolympus. Describing Adde’s work in one word: <em>urban</em> – but that would do his work injustice as there is a lot more to it than just being images in an urban environment. Most of his street photography images manage to transport a specific emotion, often tied to the atmosphere of the shot – silhouettes, reflections on rainy streets.</p>
<p>Introducing a couple of the shots that I find to be rather intriguing, “that umbrella guy” in black&white is one of my favorite shots by Adde.</p>
<center><div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1423/5113695422_b55cc0ff53_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="That umbrella guy"><img src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1423/5113695422_b55cc0ff53.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="That umbrella guy" title="That umbrella guy"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">That umbrella guy</p></div></center>
<p>In no particular order, I also like these images.</p>
<center><div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5059/5436062804_7201ba048b_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Abstract, Schanze - Hamburg"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5059/5436062804_7201ba048b.jpg" width="500" height="369" alt="Abstract, Schanze - Hamburg" title="Abstract, Schanze - Hamburg"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">Abstract, Schanze - Hamburg</p></div></center>
<center><div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5229/5623554875_96b24a6e16_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="One Day, Hafencity - Hamburg"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5229/5623554875_96b24a6e16.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="One Day, Hafencity - Hamburg" title="One Day, Hafencity - Hamburg"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">One Day, Hafencity - Hamburg</p></div></center>
<center><div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1064/5158618921_2d79859fac_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Dublin's youth of today"><img src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1064/5158618921_2d79859fac.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Dublin's youth of today" title="Dublin's youth of today"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">Dublin's youth of today</p></div></center>
<p>One of Adde’s more recent projects involves taking street portraits of random strangers. Rather than using one image per portrait, three horizontal panels are combined to one portrait – a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptych">Triptych</a>.</p>
<center><div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5217/5498851549_837424fbda_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Triptychs of Strangers #7: France got talent - Paris"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5217/5498851549_837424fbda.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="Triptychs of Strangers #7: France got talent - Paris" title="Triptychs of Strangers #7: France got talent - Paris"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:351px">Triptychs of Strangers #7: France got talent - Paris</p></div></center>
<p>This is an interesting format for photography and also the idea to address random strangers for portraits is exciting. I could not see myself doing this as of yet. Find the full set of Adde’s <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theblackstar/sets/72157626117942754">triptychs of strangers on Flickr</a>.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/332011-04-16T19:18:34Z2011-04-16T19:46:16Zpolarapfel2nd place: CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year 2010<p>I’m pleased to report that my submission to <a href="http://www.cbrephotographer.com/">CBRE’s annual Urban Photographer of the Year</a> contest <a href="http://www.cbrephotographer.com/blog/?p=988">has been ranked 2nd place</a>. As this has been the first serious photography contest I participated in, I am extremely pleased with the outcome. Overall, from the thousands of images submitted, there are some great finalists. I especially like <a href="http://www.cbrephotographer.com/blog/?p=980">the image ranked third place by Aleksandar Tomulic from Croatia</a>.</p>
<p>The image I submitted was “<strong>It’s late baby</strong>” which I took last year in downtown Hamburg after hours when many people were commuting home from work. I was looking to capture cyclists in panning motion for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/polarapfel/sets/72157624810503377/">a series of images</a>. This is by far the most iconic of the images I did for that series.</p>
<center><div style="" class="lightboxplugin"><a href="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4084/5060936390_235b4fd246_b.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="It's late baby"><img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4084/5060936390_235b4fd246.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="It's late baby" title="It's late baby"/></a><p class="caption" style="width:500px">It's late baby - winning 2nd place in CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year - 2010</p></div></center>
<p><br/></p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/322010-11-08T21:50:57Z2010-11-08T22:43:28ZpolarapfelTraveling with film<p>As the photography world has gone mostly digital, there remain some veterans who continue to expose on film. Although their numbers are becoming smaller year by year, some younger generation photographers – like me – are rediscovering the old art of exposing on film as the necessary equipment has never been cheaper on Ebay and the likes. Luckily, companies like Kodak are now offering films better than any available ever before, so shooting on film should be more fun than ever, right? Well, it’s true unless you take into account the enormous hassle that photographers have to go through when they travel with film.</p>
<p>Film, especially after it has been exposed already, is a very sensitive medium. It’s easy to ruin film. All it takes is too much heat, too much radiation, a critical amount of moisture and so on. While handling and taking care of film is usually no problem within the comfort zone of your home town it becomes much more inconvenient when you enter public transportation with all its modern, post 9-11 security requirements. One of the most dangerous sources of radiation that can harm your film are X-rays as you will encounter it in numerous scanning devices at all airports and many train and bus stations in many countries of the world. Also, covering a lot of distance inflight at great height will expose your film to a some radiation unless you shield it properly.</p>
<p><em>To what extend do X-rays harm your film?</em></p>
<p>Well, X-rays can fog the film, rendering it virtually unusable. The effect depends on the total amount of radiation applied to a film and the speed of the film. Faster films (with higher <span class="caps">ISO</span> ratings) are more sensitive. Films already exposed but not processed are also more sensitive. Kodak has done tests with slow and medium-speed films (rated at up to <span class="caps">ISO</span> 200) and they were found to be able to handle up to 16 passes through the X-ray machines used to check hand luggage at modern Western airports. Faster films, starting at <span class="caps">ISO</span> 400 are much more sensitive to X-ray damage. They probably won’t handle more than four or five passes – less if you already exposed them. If you push film – for example exposing an <span class="caps">ISO</span> 400 film at <span class="caps">ISO</span> 800 within your camera – the problem will be more severe as well. The X-ray machines in remote regions of the world will most likely emit a much higher dose of radiation.</p>
<p><em>How can I protect my film while traveling?</em></p>
<p>Answering this question is fairly easy. Keep your film dry, keep it away from direct sunlight and don’t let it get X-rayed. Securing the first two items on that checklist is fairly easy. The biggest problem will be dealing with countless security workers at airports, train and bus stations and many public sites that require a security check. A few general rules of advice apply:</p>
<ul>
<li>When flying, don’t put your film with your checked baggage. Checked baggage X-ray machines use a much higher dose of radiation.</li>
<li>Don’t put your film in a shielded container. Once inside an X-ray machine, the operator will just increase the radiation volume until he’s able to see what’s inside.</li>
<li>Put all your film in a transparent Ziplock bag and store that bag inside your carry-on luggage where it’s easy to reach and pull out. Nothing is more annoying than someone in line in front of you, digging for a piece of luggage deep down inside his bags. <em>Don’t be that guy.</em></li>
<li>Mark the exposed rolls of film, so you can easily sort those out if needed. Also, mark rolls pushed beyond their <span class="caps">ISO</span> value. Having an organized system helps when dealing with airport security while they hand-check your film.</li>
<li>When traveling with film, plan for up to an hour of additional time in security. <em>Yes</em>, you can get that unlucky.</li>
<li>Don’t put film into your camera(s) when going through a security check. The camera will be scanned, there’s nothing you can do about it. If you’re <em>really</em> unlucky, it will be hand-checked and maybe opened, ruining the film anyway. If you have an already half-exposed roll of film in your camera, consider the risk and decide if you want to rewind it and get it out. That’s your call.</li>
</ul>
<p>Dealing with the airport security staff can be frustrating at times. In general, security workers will try to persuade you to just put your film through the X-ray machine. Always bear in mind, that you <em>absolutely</em> need to be friendly and respectful – or you will achieve the opposite of what you intended. Also, <em>always</em> be honest about what you say. If you don’t have exposed film in your luggage, don’t say so. I have encountered countless airport security workers at airports around the world and the discussion about checking film always boiled down to what I have formatted as a dialog guide with the security staff’s arguments and your possible answers:</p>
<p><strong>Security</strong>: It’s safe to put the film into the machine. The X-ray machine has been designed for this (a “photo safe” sticker on the machine indicates this).</p>
<p><strong>You</strong>: It may be safe once or twice, but I will be traveling through quite a few security checks and each one adds up to the total amount of radiation the film will be exposed to. Can you please hand-check the film?</p>
<p><strong>Security</strong>: What do you have there? <span class="caps">ISO</span> 1600? Anything below <span class="caps">ISO</span> 1600 is safe, put it through the machine! (This version often comes with a sarcastic tone when they notice your <span class="caps">ISO</span> 100 rolls)</p>
<p><strong>Security</strong>: You will expose the film to a higher dose of radiation anyway when you take it on the plane. Just put it through the machine. (Also, this one often comes with a sarcastic tone)</p>
<p><strong>Security</strong>: It’s safe to put the film into the machine. I’m a photographer myself, I have tested the machine with my own film and I could not detect any negative effect on my film.</p>
<p><strong>You</strong>: Kodak has tested the effects of modern X-ray scanners on unexposed film up to <span class="caps">ISO</span> 200 and test results have shown that this film can be rendered useless after 16 passes through the machine. As I will be traveling through a lot of security checks with this film, I cannot take the risk of the film being exposed to unnecessary radiation. Can you please hand-check my film?</p>
<p><strong>You</strong>: I have film already exposed here too. Exposed but unprocessed film is more sensitive to radiation. I cannot risk damage to this film. Can you please hand-check it?</p>
<p><strong>You</strong>: I have pushed some of the film beyond its <span class="caps">ISO</span> value (for example exposing <span class="caps">ISO</span> 400 film at <span class="caps">ISO</span> 800). The film is more sensitive now, can you please hand-check it?</p>
<p>When I expose on film I actually always have film rated at <span class="caps">ISO</span> 400 with me and a lot of times, I push <span class="caps">ISO</span> 400 to <span class="caps">ISO</span> 800. For the sake of being able to argue that way, it doesn’t even hurt to take one or two rolls of high <span class="caps">ISO</span> film with you. If you store everything in one transparent bag, it doesn’t make much sense to sort out the slow film, put it through the machine while the fast film is hand-checked, so everything will get hand-checked.</p>
<p>I experienced that it helps a lot if you’re able to speak the native language of the security staff. At Amsterdam/Schiphol (which is a horrible airport by the way), an additional security check with X-ray scanning is necessary before/while boarding the plane. The security staff was extremely uncooperative as there wasn’t much room or time to hand-check baggage items. As I switched to Dutch in our conversation, they became extremely helpful and hand-checked my film – while plain refusing it beforehand. I experienced the same on the return flights through Amsterdam/Schiphol.</p>
<p>Some countries have a weird attitude of high respect towards foreigners which might work to your advantage. In China for example, I just acted like it’s the most ordinary and usual thing that film gets hand-checked. While I put all my carry-on luggage through the machine, I just handed the security staff the bag with my film, asking them in a more or less “matter of fact” way to hand-check the film. I never had any problems. If you want to try this, just remember to stay polite and respectful. At most train and bus stations in rural mainland China, you also have to walk through a security check with a regular metal detector to walk through and an antiquated X-ray machine to check your carry-on luggage. I usually grabbed the bag of film – often showing it to the security guard next to the machine – while passing through the metal detector without subjecting the film to the X-ray scanner. Almost nobody in China wants to deal with a “foreign devil” it seemed, so this worked out neatly all the time.</p>
<p>In hindsight, I will probably avoid traveling with film in the future. While it’s still – or now even more than ever – a great medium for photographic exposure, it’s just a lot of hassle and worry when you’re passing through airport security. Ideally, if you really want to expose on film, you might plan your trip in a way that you’ll buy the film on location if that’s possible and get it processed on location as well. Unless you’re traveling to under- or non-developed countries, that might probably work out fine as long as you research a suitable local store beforehand. In fact, for trips to modern Western countries, passing through major cities, there shouldn’t be any problem with that approach.</p>
<p>For more information regarding this topic, check out <a href="http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion/Support/Technical_Information/Transportation/index.htm">Kodak’s pages about traveling with film</a>. They even have a “do not X-ray” print-out label for your luggage to download. I don’t want to argue about how useful that really is. Maybe it’s useful to you. For feedback, your comments will be most welcome.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/282010-09-01T13:26:05Z2011-04-16T20:02:30ZpolarapfelOlympus E-P2 Special Black EVF Edition<p>Olympus has announced two special E-P2 kits, all in black. Take a look at <a href="http://www.43rumors.com/continually-updated-olympus-announces-two-new-microfourthirds-lenses-and-a-special-e-p2-kit/">43rumors.com</a> which first got word of the news.</p>
<p>The E-P2 Special Black <span class="caps">EVF</span> Edition will cost 1079€ and contains:</p>
<ul>
<li>E-P2 camera in black</li>
<li>M.<span class="caps">ZUIKO</span> <span class="caps">DIGITAL</span> 17mm 1:2.8 Pancake lens exclusively in black</li>
<li>VF-2 electronic viewfinder in black</li>
<li>Historic lens cap with F logo</li>
</ul>
<p>Do you consider this to be a good offer? I don’t. If you care about the color of your kit, you can get away with a much better lens at almost the same price – minus the superfluous “historic” lens cap. It’s not too hard to find the following items for a price totaling at around 1100€:</p>
<ul>
<li>E-P2 camera in black</li>
<li>VF-2 electronic viewfinder in black</li>
<li>Panasonic <span class="caps">LUMIX</span> G 20mm f/1.7 Aspherical Pancake Lens (also in black)</li>
</ul>
<p>For about the same money you get a great little camera and an awesome and small lens without expressing how much you appreciate buying/carrying a camera as a fashion statement.</p>
<p>The most disappointing thing about the announcement of those special edition kits: it probably means that there won’t be any more new <span class="caps">MFT</span> cameras from Olympus this year. I am holding my breath for the successor of the Olympus E-3 though.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/252010-08-26T07:00:08Z2011-04-16T21:10:56ZpolarapfelJava Pattern: try things repeatedly until reaching a timeout<p>Nondeterministic tests are a common problem in test setups, especially with integration tests. For example, imagine you are doing an integration test of two components that exchange messages where receiving a message in one of the systems changes its internal state which you want to verify. However, the message exchange can be delayed due to external factors (network latency, load etc.). When running tests (for example using the excellent <a href="http://cukes.info/">Cucumber</a> framework), testing steps are usually run sequentially. It may happen that the tested system is lagging behind the testing steps, failing your test in some (but not all) cases. You need to make your tests more tolerant for these situations. Often, that means retrying for a couple of times.</p>
<p>How would you implement this pattern in Java? Well, here’s how I did it. I am using a timed runner object that tries an action until it succeeds before it times out. You can define what should happen in case the action times out, by overwriting the abstract method.</p>
<div class="CodeRay"><pre><span class="CodeRay"><span class="c">/**
* Use this class to run actions with a timeout.
* Actions have to be wrapped within
* a yield method of the Yieldable
* interface.
*/</span>
<span class="di">public</span> <span class="di">abstract</span> <span class="ty">class</span> <span class="cl">TimedRunner</span> {
<span class="di">private</span> <span class="ty">int</span> timoutLength;
<span class="di">private</span> <span class="ty">int</span> elapsedTime;
<span class="di">private</span> <span class="ty">int</span> checkRate = <span class="i">250</span>;
<span class="di">public</span> TimedRunner(<span class="ty">int</span> length) {
timoutLength = length;
elapsedTime = <span class="i">0</span>;
}
<span class="di">public</span> TimedRunner() {
timoutLength = <span class="i">10000</span>;
elapsedTime = <span class="i">0</span>;
}
<span class="di">public</span> <span class="di">synchronized</span> <span class="ty">void</span> reset() {
elapsedTime = <span class="i">0</span>;
}
<span class="di">public</span> <span class="ty">void</span> run(Yieldable runMe) {
<span class="kw">for</span> (; ;) {
<span class="kw">try</span> {
<span class="pt">Thread</span>.sleep(checkRate);
}
<span class="kw">catch</span> (<span class="ex">InterruptedException</span> ioe) {
<span class="kw">continue</span>;
}
<span class="ty">boolean</span> success = runMe.yield();
elapsedTime += checkRate;
<span class="kw">if</span> (success) {
<span class="kw">break</span>;
}
<span class="kw">if</span> (elapsedTime > timoutLength) {
timeout();
<span class="kw">break</span>;
}
}
}
<span class="c">// just overwrite this method to perform the timeout action</span>
<span class="di">public</span> <span class="di">abstract</span> <span class="ty">void</span> timeout();
}</span></pre></div>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Now, in other languages, like <a href="http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/">Ruby</a> or <a href="http://www.python.org/">Python</a> you could just call a method and pass it a block of instructions. As that’s not possible in Java, you need to wrap the actions you want to pass within a method belonging to an object you can pass along. That object will be an instance implementing the Yieldable interface:</p>
<div class="CodeRay"><pre><span class="CodeRay"><span class="c">/**
* Implement this interface when you want
* to use TimedRunner. TimedRunner
* expects a Yieldable object, class its yield
* method and calls it until
* it succeeds or a timeout is reached.
*/</span>
<span class="di">public</span> <span class="ty">interface</span> <span class="cl">Yieldable</span> {
<span class="di">public</span> <span class="ty">boolean</span> yield();
}</span></pre></div>
<p><br /></p>
<p>The yield() method needs to return a status of success or failure so that the TimedRunner knows when to stop calling it. You could extend/modify this pattern by changing the signature of yield() to match your specific needs.</p>
<p>What should be done in case of a timeout? The most common thing to do would be to fail the test (assuming usage of <a href="http://www.junit.org/">JUnit</a> 4):</p>
<div class="CodeRay"><pre><span class="CodeRay"><span class="kw">import</span> <span class="ic">junit.framework.Assert</span>;
<span class="di">public</span> <span class="ty">class</span> <span class="cl">FailRunner</span> <span class="di">extends</span> TimedRunner {
<span class="at">@Override</span>
<span class="di">public</span> <span class="ty">void</span> timeout() {
Assert.fail(<span class="s"><span class="dl">"</span><span class="k">Timed out without success.</span><span class="dl">"</span></span>);
}
<span class="di">public</span> FailRunner(<span class="ty">int</span> timeout) {
<span class="lv">super</span>(timeout);
}
}</span></pre></div>
<p><br /></p>
<p>In your test code, you would put the nondeterministic code within a yield method and pass it to a TimedRunner instance:</p>
<div class="CodeRay"><pre><span class="CodeRay"><span class="c">// ... within your test code...</span>
Yieldable runMe = <span class="kw">new</span> Yieldable(){
<span class="di">public</span> <span class="ty">boolean</span> yield() {
<span class="c">// do something here and return true </span>
<span class="c">// if it succeeded or false otherwise</span>
}
};
<span class="kw">new</span> FailRunner(<span class="i">30000</span>).run(runMe);
<span class="c">// ...</span></span></pre></div>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Feel free to leave feedback in the comments. I would be interested to learn how you handle testing issues such as this one.</p>tag:www.weisserth.net,2005:Article/222010-07-25T20:21:41Z2011-04-16T21:15:04ZpolarapfelCanon S90 Caveats: hot pixels and firmware issues<p>Canon’s PowerShot S90 is a great little camera. However, my copy seems to suffer from a particular nasty “hot pixel” which even shows up at <span class="caps">ISO</span> 80. Another rather weird firmware bug I’ve encountered can even render the camera temporarily useless as the camera refuses to read memory cards from its slot.</p>
<p>When you browse the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/canonpowershot_s90/discuss/72157622673948335/">Canon S90 group</a> on Flickr, a few S90 owners seem to complain about hot pixels showing up in shots at low <span class="caps">ISO</span> settings. As this is not unusual for digital cameras, many owners seem to tolerate this, editing the bad pixel out of their images with software in post processing.</p>
<p><img class="article-inline" src="http://www.weisserth.net/files/hot_pixel_s90.jpg" alt="Hot Pixel Canon S90 at ISO 80." align="left" /> The image to the left is cropped from a <span class="caps">ISO</span> 80 shot in both <span class="caps">RAW</span> and <span class="caps">JPEG</span>. It clearly shows a green hot pixel. It’s not too hard to edit it out of the picture. However, when I’m expected to pay 350€ for a high end point and shoot camera, I’m clearly not amused by hot pixels showing up at <span class="caps">ISO</span> 80. I have contacted Canon support about this issue. I will turn the camera in tomorrow, expecting the hot pixel to be mapped out within the camera’s firmware. I will update this blog post about the result.</p>
<p>Another issue I stumbled across by accident is about a weird software bug in the S90 firmware. After turning the S90 on, I opened the lid to the battery and memory card. The camera turns off immediately, the lens will not retract. After turning it back on (with the lid closed), the camera will not recognize any memory card loaded anymore. The Canon support doesn’t seem to be aware about this problem. My S90 refused to accept any card (I reformatted several cards and tried a couple of times) until I repeated the procedure of opening the lid while the camera was still turned on. Afterwards, the camera would recognize memory cards on a “maybe” basis. After turning it off and on again a couple of times, it seems to work again in a reliable way. I will question the Canon repair center about this tomorrow.</p>
<p>I will publish a thorough review of the S90 when I get my copy of it fixed by Canon. So far, I really like the little camera. More soon. Stay tuned.</p>
<p><strong>[Update]</strong> I have turned the camera in for repair with reference to the “hot pixel” problem stated above. From what I asked at the repair dealer, the S90 doesn’t seem to be a model with a lot of defects as my copy was the first they received for repair. According to them, the repair will take about one to two weeks. When I get the camera back, I will give it a thorough test.</p>
<p><strong>[Update II]</strong> The camera came back within a week. I took some images at varying <span class="caps">ISO</span> settings from <span class="caps">ISO</span> 80 up to <span class="caps">ISO</span> 800 and I cannot detect any more hot pixels. Everything works perfectly fine now.</p>