Rooms
The last few years I’ve usually had a photo project on the go. Everything from pi – capturing the number sequence of pi, to 365 (and 366) projects. I’ve found the big 365 projects too time consuming. Literally taking over much of my spare time. I think projects work best when you enjoy them and there’s times with the 365-type projects they’re simply not enjoyable. So I’ve been thinking carefully about my next project. I’m a member of the British Museum and regularly photograph the various objects around the museum. At the weekend I photographed one of the rooms I rarely go into and it struck me that maybe I should do a ‘Rooms’ project. Capture the museum and it’s objects, and possibly even it’s visitors, room by room. So that’s this year’s project. Nice and simple and gives me an excuse to visit one of my favourite spaces in…
365 Photo Project
In 2014 I decided to do my second 365 day photo project. The intention was to expand my photography skills, to capture photos that reflect what was happening in my life or to force me to find interesting subjects (in other words, get out of the house and do some exercise). It turned out to be a hit and miss experience. Often becoming a drudgery rather than something I want to do. If I do attempt another 365, I think I’ll base it on themes, something I did with my first 365 project and think it was easier to complete. But I suspect I won’t do another one.
RX100 Mark 3
Every year I go to a lot of gigs. Not only do I enjoy the music, I also enjoy photographing the performances. I’m not taking about ‘holding the camera above my head’ type photographs from the back, I’m usually down the front in small venues across London trying to take interesting photos (though not always successful). As you might be aware, due to the low lighting at many venues, gig photography stretches your camera’s abilities. Flashes only have a limited range and if you’re close enough for it to be effective, then using it may annoy the band. So I’m always on the lookout for the best low-light camera I can afford. One essential for me is a good quality compact camera that can fit in a pocket for times when I can’t use a interchangeable lens camera. My last camera review was of the excellent Olympus ZX1. A camera…
Beautiful planet
For the last two months I’ve been staring each day at beautiful pictures of our planet. They are published to Twitter from the International Space Station. Current ISS commander Chris Hadfield has been awing his followers with regular photos of the planet as the ISS passes overhead. You can follow him on Twitter
Gig photography from the crowd – knowing your camera
I wrote a blog article on my gigs website about using your compact digital camera at gigs to capture reasonable photos. If you’ve only ever use your camera on auto mode. You might find the article useful http://gigs.pahudson.net/archives/768
Privacy in the modern connected world?
For the last few week signs have been appearing all round campus that include a ‘no photography’ symbol. In the modern connected world, with the ability to instantly grab and share photographs with all your friends, I think the instant reaction from most of us was ‘is this realistic?’. But I think this opens an interesting debate about the future of our right to privacy when just stepping out in public has the potential to undermined an individual’s privacy. As you would expect, almost all our students have camera phones. The youngest generation of our students, those who came straight from college, spend an inordinate amount of time on Facebook sharing photos of their life at Uni. To them, the idea of banning photography on campus is ridiculous. At the moment, most of our students are away for the summer, so few are aware of the new rules and it…
Olympus XZ-1
Cameras for me, are like handbags are for many women. You need the right camera for the occasion. An iPhone for everywhere, a compact for gigs, a mirror less camera for times when I’ve got a small rucksack with me, and a SLR for quality. (I’ve recently upgraded my SLR to a Sony A77). For the last 3 years my I’ve been using a Panasonic TZ-5 as my compact of choice. I bought it because it was a super zoom and I thought it would be great for capturing the stage from further back in the audience. But after three years it was showing it’s age. The image quality in low light was very poor. The max ISO is a very noisy and muddy ISO 1600. Although it’s good to have the extra zoom, the maximum aperture would drop to 4.9, not great for low light use. So often, I’d…
Sony A77
Sony recently released a new camera that may turn out to be a game changer, the Sony A77. This new 24 Mega pixel APS-C camera is a DSLT camera. Instead of using a standard mirror like a DLSR. DSLT cameras use a fixed semi-translucent mirror. 70-80% of the light passes through the mirror while the rest is bounced up to an auto focus sensor and because there’s insufficient light for an optical viewfinder, the main sensor is used to generate a live view on an Electronic Viewfinder. Many existing DLSR users will immediately be turning their noses up at the idea of using and EVF. As an existing Sony Alpha user, I have to admit I was unsure of this change. ‘Proper cameras have an optical viewfinder’. Also, like many camera users I’m insatiably hunting for better ISO performance and loosing 30% of the light isn’t going to help improve…
Sony NEX-5
Like many, I have found that I really enjoy digital photography and over the last five or six years developed from using ‘point and shoot’ camera to ‘using’ SLRs. My current SLR is a Sony A700 accompanied by an ever expanding and ever improving range of lenses. (28mm f/2.8, 30mm f/2.8 macro, 50mm f/1.4, 70-300G, 28-300, 90mm macro). But there are times when an SLR isn’t convenient, or in the case of gigs, allowed. So it’s useful having a more pocketable camera and for this reason I also use a Panasonic TZ5. Next year I’m going to SXSW for the first time and plan on taking most of my camera kit with me. But I’m not sure I want to drag a camera bag around all day and I’m not sure what the policy will be on using SLRs at some of SXSWs venues. I’ve used my Tz5 at numerous…