Keck Contest Finalists

Keck Contest Finalists

Here are the names of the finalists in the Keck Contest:

Michael Farrell

Jeff Johnston [no relation]

Sherrie Larimore (2)

David Boyce

David Jacobs (2)

Jamie Pillers

Bill Tyler

Melissa O'Shaughnessy (3)

Jakub Pitha

Rob Spring (2)

Nick Kiest

John van Rosendael (2)

Eli Burakian

Andre Yew

R.A. Krajnyak

Kristoffer Tripplaar

Don Ross

Neil Slater

George Barr

Elisabeth Spector

Larry Gebhardt

Markus Spring (2)

Thomas Paris

Ken Jensen (2)

Arne Cröll (2)

David Paterson

If you look in vain for your own name, take heart. The competition was fierce; there were many fine photographs and many fine prints submitted. I have had the devil of a time doing the judging. Many of the non-finalist entries were very fine.

Also, there were a number of people who submitted outstanding work that I just didn't think was exactly appropriate for a print sale, which is what we're aiming for here. Joseph E. Reid gets an Honorable Mention on this score, and so stands for a number of others as well.

I might add that it's been a great pleasure for me to see so much nice work "on the paper" so to speak.

I've already chosen the winner and first runner-up, who will be announced shortly. First I have to select a second runner-up, which I'm having trouble with (I need help; it's why there are often multiple judges for contests, to offer different perspectives and tastes and give all the judges others to push against—sometimes clarity comes from the cauldron of dispute).

Finally, I'll add that I could have gone any one of several ways with winning picks.

We'll have a sale of the three winning prints, with the grand prizewinner also being offered the free week at the luxury condo in Hawaii donated by an anonymous reader.

Two hundred and twenty-eight prints were submitted altogether. I'll offer a few random thoughts about entering contests, seen from a judge's perspective, soon.

More news soon.

Mike

(Thanks to everyone who entered)

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)

Featured Comments from:

Bill Mitchell: "Never heard of any of 'em."

Mike replies: Until now.

Rod Graham replies to Bill: "Haven't heard of George Barr? He does some beautiful, thoughtful work, and is an excellent writer and teacher. Might want to Google him. Several good photography books to his credit."

Whiteout by Matt Hansen

Whiteout by Matt Hansen

Thursday, 26th February 2015

PhotoCompetitions.com Find photo contests to enter sorted by deadline and theme.

The Connoisseurship of Wear and Tear

The Connoisseurship of Wear and Tear

Apropos the Leikravitz...you'd think I'd like it, because I have a weakness for the look of brassed Leicas and I even took a nickel to a pristine OM-4T once and took some of the paint off the titanium*. Back in the days o' film I used to covet black-paint Leicas, although I never owned one.

I once would have liked a pristine, perfect black-paint Leica with brass underneath...so I could use it hard and allow it to wear naturally. It's like having solid wood furniture. Or a leather suitcase (I just threw out my grandfather's old Hartmann when I moved. It must have dated from the 1960s at least, if not the '50s. It showed all kinds of wear. Alas, it had finally gotten too sorry).

Here's where I come down on the aesthetics of wear and tear and weathering: what I like is not so much objects that are worn down, but objects that can wear down. That is, objects that have integrity, such that they look as good or better when they acquire wear as they do when they're new. That's the nice thing about well-made objects in my opinion.

Also, well-made things last long enough to get worn down. That's one reason why we value the look. Cheap crap breaks, and is thrown away. It never gets to look old.

I've always liked the idea of keeping a car for a very long time. I had a chance in college to buy one of these for $500:

...And I think if I had, I might still be driving it. It's possible.

I think the thing that offended me about the Leikravitz is that it presumes to co-opt and make a commodity out of a style that, when real, can be a legitimate badge of honor. Real correspondents have gotten shot at, and their cameras get worn because they're used hard under grueling conditions. To reduce that to mere fashion is uncomfortably close to a dishonest credential. It's like putting a fake Oscar on your mantlepiece to try to make people think you actually won one.

Or it's like pretending to be a war veteran when you aren't. Would you display a fake Purple Heart? What would that say about your attitude toward people who had earned real Purple Hearts legitimately?

A Purple Heart is a medal given to people who suffered wounds in combat

To me it feels like Leica is disrespecting its own heritage for the sake of its more recent allegiance to making fashion accessories for non-photographers**. The proper response, when Lenny Kravitz proposed his idea to them, would be for them to say "No. Real Leicas earn their wear honestly." Obviously the people running Leica now do not see it that way.

But it's not a big deal. It's a debasing of the old Leitz tradition, a traducement of its honor, but it's minor, and it's not something that hurts anybody. As David Vestal used to say, "So, okay."

Mike

*Seriously, I did—but my motivation was psychological. I was having "first scratch syndrome" (you know, where you're dreading the first scratch on the perfect finish of your new car) and having trouble letting go of the obsessive/compulsive desire to keep my baby in perfect condition. So I took a deep breath and put fake wear on it. It worked; I stopped worrying and started using the camera. The really weird thing about the experience was that it didn't diminish the value of the camera. When I eventually sold it, it fetched the same price as an un-fake-worn example.

**Most people who use Leicas—I would say 90% of the Leica users I've known, and I've known many—use them because they fit the bill as the proper tools for their work. Most Leica users, it's important to keep in mind, are neither poseurs nor jerks. Those who are are just a small minority.

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)

Featured Comments from:

Omer: "Comparing a fake Purple Heart to a purposely distressed camera is way off base. You need to re-consider that analogy. Seriously, a purposely distressed camera is just a *#&! camera, even if it is a Leica. Frankly, I like that look though the price of the LK is beyond my means."

Mike replies: You're not getting the analogy. I'm comparing war veterans to war correspondents. I'm asking you to assess the message that's being telegraphed to the latter. And comparing correspondents to Purple Heart recipients is not off base at all—photojournalists often put themselves in greater danger, more often, than many (not all, but many) soldiers do. Just look at the rate at which they are wounded and die in the line of duty.

Wayne: "I can't wait for the Victor Wooten model. I love Victor Wooten."

KW Leon: "You could outdo the 124 owners if you sent the camera back to Leica to be repainted."

Winwalloe: "I was amused to see a little bit of paint had come off on edges of my sony A900 after years of use and thousands of miles of travel and thousands of pictures. But magnesium doesn't have the warm color of brass."

Ed Hawco: "Your thoughts on wear and tear remind me of the Japanese idea of 'wabi-sabi.' (侘寂) It’s an aesthetic concept based on the acceptance of transience, or 'imperfection, impermanence, and incompletion' as natural and beautiful. It comes from Buddhism and its teaching of the three marks of existence (impermanence, suffering, and emptiness—or absence of self-nature). Wabi-sabi aesthetics include asymmetry, irregularity, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the integrity of natural objects and processes. It’s also where the idea comes from that a broken and repaired object has more aesthetic value than one that has not broken."

Simon Griffee: "Around a year ago I sent Leica my well-worn M9 to be adjusted and have its sensor cleaned. They sent it back with the brass top completely replaced, as new. I was pretty pissed off, but needed the camera and didn't bother to complain."

Hans Berkhout: "Lenny Kravitz was photographed by Jim Marshall. The nicely used/aged cameras of Mr. Marshall's must have left a lasting impression on the musician."

Not So Cool New Stuff

Not So Cool New Stuff

Each time you think Leica has gone completely off the rails, something comes along to whisper, "It can always get worse."

What is it this time? Well, watch your gag reflex. It's the "Leica M-P ‘Correspondent’ Designed by Lenny Kravitz."

You can't make this stuff up:

Many Leica cameras are unique. But now, all 125 examples of the strictly limited Leica M-P ‘Correspondent’ set are all unique, each in its own way. An elaborate wearing process completely by hand has carefully rubbed, scuffed and scratched the black enamel finish away in several places on both the camera and lenses to let the bright brass surface shine through. The look changes every time the camera and lenses are touched and begins new, personally written chapters in the story of their design.

That's right. It's a special limited-edition pre-brassed Leica, with a name calculated to taunt every actual photojournalist who has ever actually used a Leica hard enough to put real wear on it. (Especially those of them who are now out of work.)

As for the, um—aaack!—designer: "Lenny Kravitz is famous around the world as an exceptional and very successful musician. But he treats photography with his Leica with exactly the same passion."

Translations:

"Exceptional and very successful musician." Did one of the best-ever covers of The Guess Who's "American Woman."

"Exactly the same passion." Steals classic-rock guitar riffs then proclaims rock and roll is dead.

May I just bring to this post exactly the same passion as Perez Hilton? "Bitch, please!"

(I swear I have never actually spoken that phrase—I'm a grown man, after all—but I did warn you to watch your gag reflex.)

I knew BMW had finally gone off the rails when I learned they were piping fake engine noises into the cabin using the stereo system. Perhaps the "Lenny Kravitz M-P Correspondent" marks the official Jump the Shark moment for the new revived digital-era Leica?

Your thoughts? (And does this post go into our category "Cameras, New" or "Cameras, Old"?)

Mike

(Thanks to O.G.)

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)

Featured Comments from:

Ting-li Lin (partial comment): "[Leica has created] a new category of camera condition: 'NLWU' or 'New, Like Well-Used.' Imagine when these cameras go onto the used market, how would a seller describe their conditions? 'Like New, and also Like Well-Used'?"

emptyspaces (partial comment): "Lenny Kravitz is one of the most overrated musicians of all time. If it weren't for the hair and the leather pants, the snakes, the full-length mirrors, the white pianos, and so on...would we care? Do we care? He dresses and acts like a rock star, and that's pretty much it."

Eric Brandon: "While I completely agree with you about the absurdity of the new Leikravitz 'M-P Correspondent,' I'd like to stand up for Lenny Kravitz as a musician. His first album, 1989's Let Love Rule, is a genuine classic and you know as well as anyone that standing on the shoulders of giants doesn't mean you're 'stealing' anything. His most recent album, 2014's Strut, is the best thing he's done since Let Love Rule, and some of the best rock and roll released in the last year. As an audiophile, you should appreciate that both those records sound great too."

Norm Nicholson: "Something is happening out there. First Lady Ga Ga covers Julie Andrews with reverence and sensitivity, then Leica covers Leica with this!"

William Lewis: "I've recently started playing electric guitar. My axe of choice is a Squier Telecaster. Squier is the 'budget' brand of Fender and is better in many ways, these days, than the low end Fender guitars from Fender proper. Yet go over to the Fender Custom shop and look into buying a reproduction of, say, a classic 1952 Telecaster and you'll have the choice of making it look 'New old stock,' 'Closet Classic,' 'Light Relic,' or 'Heavy Relic' aging. By these standards, the pre-brassed camera would be a 'closet classic' or 'light relic' while the 'heavy relic' would look like a guitar that served someone like Keith Richards or Eric Clapton on the road for decades. An example of a heavy relic Telecaster that is for sale can be seen here. It's just as ugly in guitars as it is in cameras and, frankly, just as stupid. Harsh word I know. But I really can't think of one more appropriate for the precious pretentiousness of a pre-aged tool."

Herman: "It goes to show that Leica has the brass."

Alan B. (partial comment): "Sorry, but you can’t buy real street cred."

Len Salem: "And then there could be the super extra unique versions with dented bodies, dinged filter threads, and very artistic scratches on the lens outer element. Also, to special order only, fungoid growth inside the lens and light leaks from the base plate. Regrettably all these extras will triple the normal unique price point."

igor: "Does each 'example' come with a large number of unique, artistically made, critically acclaimed shots? If not I am not buying."

Jack Foley (partial comment): "I'm a lifelong newspaper photog, so I've brassed my share of camera bodies the legit way."

toto: "How can I restore one to its untouched mint condition?"

Mike replies: You know how you drive an OCD-afflicted collector crazy? Casually suggest that he didn't get the best pre-worn Leikravitz.

"They're all different, you know. And they did a much better job with the brassing on some than on others. Some of them are really beautiful. Yours is...well, it's...okay. I guess."

Gabe (partial comment): "When I was involved with Leica clubs and groups and history I always made sure to read Tina Manley's advice, adventures and experiences. Seeing her comment in the Comments Section here reminds me that she always embodied the classic Leica world-roaming journalist/photographer. Very much worth a look."

Learning from Your Mistakes Even When No One Knows You’ve Made Them

Learning from Your Mistakes Even When No One Knows You’ve Made Them

By the time we’re adults, most of us have learned that mistakes are much better teachers than successes are. Mistakes engage our ingrained loss aversion. If you make the mistake of walking away from your camera bag on the sidewalk, if it’s stolen, you’ll feel the sting of losing your camera to a thief every time you set it down in public. Loss aversion is usually a stronger force in our mind than the drive to acquire. It means that, as far as our subconscious learning mind is concerned, we’ll work harder not to lose something we already have, than to work hard to get something we want, but don’t yet have.

Photo by grinapple

One explanation for why this is is because of the way we process reward in our physiology. A mistake registers like a threat, activating our fight-flight-freeze response. This response doesn’t have to go through our rational mind first. It gets to go straight to our body, and its in the rest of our bodies, outside of the brain, where our emotions and experiences take their firmest grasp, and where lessons are learned. This is why, when we’ve made a mistake, we will have a lot of (usually unpleasant) feelings about that mistake. Not thoughts, feelings. Racing heartbeat, sweaty palms, rapid speech, even stomach aches, headaches and lot more. Even if no one was there to witness it, and even if the mistake isn’t rationally going to cost much.

But sometimes it’s necessary to “Save Face”

Photo by Kyrre Gjerstad

A lot of the time, when we can’t own up to our mistakes, it’s a defensive measure we use to keep from feeling like we’ve failed. This is a problem because those defensive measures can shortcircuit important lessons we could be learning. Rejecting mistakes to save your ego is a messy thing. Fooling others and fooling yourself go unsurprisingly hand in hand.

But occasionally, the best solution really is to “play it off” when a mistake is made. But if that’s really what you must do, you owe it to yourself and to others who count on you to make sure you don’t make that mistake again–easier said than done, if you’re not able to be transparent with what you’ve learned.

Transparency is the best policy, right? In most cases, yes. When we’re transparent with people about the mistakes we’ve made, and more importantly, the lessons we’ve learned from those mistakes, we build trust with those around us. Being transparent about your mistakes with those that are affected by them can also imply a transcendent kind of commitment to the quality of your work. They can trust you not only when everything is going great, but also when things seem uncertain because they know if you drop the ball somehow, you’re going to make it right.

Being transparent about your mistakes also comes with a less frequently contemplated benefit. That is, it lets you experience embarrassment and the sting of a mistake in smaller, manageable amounts, instead of occasionally, all at once.

If you want to learn about bees, you’re going to get stung

Photo by USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

Here’s the thing, if you want to learn from your mistakes, it’s not going to be pleasant. But it could be tolerable, at least enough so to make better decisions next time.

In labs, when mice are shocked, they learn not to go where they got shocked. If a puppy has an unpleasant experience peeing in the house, it won’t be long before he’ll only do it outside. When a toddler touches a hot frying pan, they usually don’t do it again. But fully grown people’s mistakes are usually in a much more complicated context. When a baby touches something hot, the sting from their mistake is instantaneous. The correlation is practically impossible to miss. It’s not so simple in adult life.

If you keep forgetting your subject’s name throughout your shoot, you could play that off. But the subject won’t feel valued. They’ll wander off and work with another photographer next time. The sting from your mistake is separated by months and numerous layers of social obstruction. It might take a long time before you realize how significant this mistake is, and when you do, you might get defensive and call it a style thing, rather than a problem of professionalism. But if instead of all that, you were honest about the mistake, and perhaps humbly expressed some of your embarrassment, your subject will respect your honesty and feel more connected to you, and more importantly, you won’t forget their name again.

If you want to learn from your mistakes, you have to accept them

Photo by Missy S.

When the sting from our mistakes isn’t felt immediately, and we’re in a situation where we feel it’s really best for everyone to play it off, there’s a really good chance you’re going to make that mistake again. If for some reason, openly accepting a mistake is not an option, you have to be mindful of the effects the mistake is having on your feelings. They’re the best chance you have at not repeating them.

Say you’ve captured a good photo of your subject in front of a distracting pallet of colors that you hadn’t noticed at the time. In this case, you had lots of other good shots, and you played this one off as a black and white. That is really all well and good. You’re not being dishonest or failing to live up to your promises. But, you did make a mistake, and it’s probably best that you play it off. Unfortunately, if you do, it’s going to take you all the longer to learn to pay attention to your color pallet.

You don’t want to go moaning to your subjects about all the mistakes you made during a session with them. That’s going to make it harder for them to enjoy the images you created. But you also don’t want to convince yourself that shooting without any attention to detail is just ‘your style’ either.

The trick to learning from mistakes you can’t reveal in the moment is noticing and accepting the feeling you get when you’ve realized that you made a mistake. When you see that you do not like an image, quickly applying a black and white filter will probably make that feeling go away. But it won’t make you a better photographer. Try to notice when you have the rapid urge to make adjustments to photos. Try to notice when you immediately feel the need to stick up for yourself or your work. These are telltale signs that you’re not just playing it off for your subjects, you’re playing it off for yourself and it’s getting in the way of being a better photographer.

If You Liked Humans of New York

If You Liked Humans of New York

Someone was clever and cheeky at Strand Books in New York City. I saw this sign yesterday tucked inside Antoine D’Agata’s book Antibodies.

If you’re not familiar with Antoine D’Agata’s photographs, have a look. His work is a nice antidote to the clean-cut banality of “Humans of New York”. And it would be a lovely surprise for someone genuinely interested in HONY to open up this book of harsh, intimate and graphic images. I hope that it does shock some folks browsing the photo book section at Strand.

We’ve been trying to write something about “Humans of New York” and our aversion to the work on dvafoto for months, but this photo will suffice for now.

But as a teaser, start with this brilliant critique on Warscapes of Brandon Stanton’s project. And for some discussion of the discomfort some of us in the photo community have for the work see this article in the New York Times from last summer.

Scott and I keep coming back to this phrase, from the NYT article: “Mr. Stanton professes to be apolitical. “I purposely and pointedly try to avoid infusing any meaning in the work,” he said.” This is a huge problem for this project, and we’ll discuss it later.

“Antibodies” looks like a terrific book, by the way, and I’ll grab a copy for myself soon.

Strong Color

Strong Color

Of course, having run up the flag for B&W recently and professed my preference for subtle, muted color, the first thing I did then was to go out looking for fine examples of strong, saturated, vivid color.

Because with all things photographic and indeed artistic, there's good and bad of most everything. The trick is to find the good.

So check out the work of photographer/collector and old-friend-o'-TOP Rodger Kingston, whose new book Searching for Edward Hopper is more than just enjoyable. I can't afford the book (Rodger might send me a second, and I'll hope for that), but you can look at the book spread-by-spread for free (or buy it if you like) at rpkphoto.

Really nice if you ask me...for color.

I kid, I kid. Don't kill me.

As for the color, this is the color the photographer likes—consistently—and I think he makes it work. It's how he wants his work to look. I sometimes say that "good art convinces," and partly what I mean is that if you're open to art, you're not necessarily looking just for art that works on your terms, but for art that you think works on its own terms.

If Searching for Edward Hopper were a commercial book this work might find lots and lots of fans. Take a nice long soak and enjoy.

Mike

(Thanks to Rodger)

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

Victor Bloomfield: "This is beautiful work. It's impressive that the aesthetic has been maintained over so many photos, and that the theme permits so many variations."

Open Mike: Food for Thought

Open Mike: Food for Thought

What the heck is that guy selling? (A tragicomic comic by Stephan Pastis, today's "Pearls Before Swine."

How the heck is this guy selling? (NYT article about Peter Lik)

He kinda makes me think of these people.

The Oscars are on tonight. I can't watch them, because I have neglected to set up a TV in the house (of any kind, cable or satellite or broadcast) since I moved last Summer. Which might not be that big a deal, because I have seen zero of the nominated movies. And would doubtless not know who half of the celebrities are.

So here's a question—can you not watch movies and not watch TV and still be a part of culture in the modern First World? I read. I look at still photographs. I listen to a lot of music. Is that something? Or am I out of touch? Food for thought.

Funny line: Joe Piscopo played second banana to Eddie Murphy, "...which is like being the second-most-famous dude in the Jimi Hendrix Experience." That's from an epic list by Rob Sheffield ranking all the cast members of "Saturday Night Live" from worst to best. Piscopo was ranked 66th. Quick, who are the top three? Think about it for a sec, you can guess.

How did Stephen Colbert grow somebody else's beard?

I did see one great movie this year, with S.: it was called Nebraska and it was directed by Alexander Payne and it starred Bruce Dern and June Squibb and Will Forte and it was shot in...uh...oh, never mind, I'm gonna get a reputation. It came out in 2013.

A few more links:

One photographic ("A True Picture of Black Skin," by Teju Cole)

One tragic ("My Own Life," by the wonderful and great Oliver Sacks)

...And here's "My Own Life" by David Hume, which you'll want to read if you read Oliver's piece

Oh, wait...S. took me to see one other movie this year, which was outstanding: it was called Boyhood, and it featured the same actors shot over a long period of time as they aged, an idea everybody has thought about but very few if any people have ever actually done. Written and directed by Richard Linklater. (There's a book of stills, too.) Amazing what a good movie it turned out to be. I'll be rooting for that, but insofar as it's the only nominee I've seen, I don't think my vote counts.

Well worth seeing, still, whether it wins anything or not. Wonderful movie.

Mike

(Thanks to Stan Waldhauser and S.; many readers recommended the Teju Cole and Peter Lik links)

"Open Mike" is the weekly sometimes-off-topic post published on Sundays. This week's is our attempt at a celebrity/showbiz edition. We do not do celebrity/showbiz well, but then we don't do it often, either.

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)

Featured Comments from:

Robin Dreyer: "Teju Cole's article perfectly describes the thing I've always admired so much about DeCarava. In addition to the great humanity and poetry of his photographs, he could get more image out of less silver (in the negative, of course) than any photographer I know of.

"Cole is a fine writer, and it's great to see him writing about photography."

John Krumm: "So much good in this post it makes me happy. The Lik article made me laugh when I read it last night. I had recently looked at his website, looking for images, and first only found the galleries featuring images of Peter Lik taken by some assistant there to document his amazingness, I suppose. I teared up when reading Oliver Sacks' piece in the Times a few days ago. I still need to read his book Hallucinations, which I hear is excellent. On the subject of no movie and no TV watching and whether you can still be a part of the culture, I'd guess that the Internet is increasingly the loose knot that binds us. Watch a few funny cat compilations and you are set!"

Patrick Dodds: "The David Hume piece is beautiful—thanks for the link to that Mike."

Peter Croft: "I do often wonder if I waste time watching TV, but when I see programs like Foyle's War, Silent Witness, Life on Earth, Edge of Darkness, and the forthcoming Wolf Hall dramatisation, I consider myself privileged. This is not vapid time filling, this is fine drama, wonderful writing, brilliant acting. I also feel privileged to have watched The West Wing—I've watched it twice and I probably will again. Sons of Liberty is showing here at the moment. I'm learning things about early American history that I didn't know. No, I fully agree that fine music and books are probably more rewarding. I rarely want to read a book more than once, but I listen to good music repeatedly, discovering new aspects all the time. Some TV is definitely worth watching and you need a TV to do it. You won't see programs like these at the cinema. Movies go a maximum of three hours—many TV drama series are six hours or more."

Manuel: "I have watched Boyhood. It is a highly involving, heart-warming, yet intelligent movie. I loved it. It will deserve all the Oscars it gets. (And I'm sure it'll get a few.) An interesting thing about this movie (spoiler alert): the main character becomes a student of photography by the time he's 17; in fact, there is an important dialogue taking place at a darkroom. Turns out the actor in the main role, Ellar Coltrane, became a photographer himself. You can take a peek at some of his photos. I didn't know about this outcome before I watched Boyhood, so it wasn't pivotal in my decision of watching the movie, but it was a pleasant surprise."

Paul De Zan [Monday]: "Boyhood is the best kind of genius, an almost casual genius. Dan Kois rips the academy a new one for failing to recognize this."

Mike adds: Paul did not quote from Dan's article, but it's worth a brief reprise:

By nominating Boyhood, the academy gave itself the chance to recognize a movie that is not just good but revolutionary—a film that reconsiders, in surprising and rewarding ways, the medium’s relationship with time, with storytelling, and with its audience. It’s both a singular work—no one but Richard Linklater could have made it—and a universal one, reflecting the elemental formative experiences of nearly every viewer, even those who don’t, on the surface, have a lot in common with Mason or Samantha or Olivia or Mason Sr. It’s the crowning work of a crucial American filmmaker and a profound statement about the lives we live. But the academy gave Best Picture to a movie about an actor’s identity crisis—a movie about, in Mark Harris’ perfect turn of phrase, "someone who hopes to create something as good as Boyhood."

[...]

(Sometimes, of course, epochal travesties are also just plain dumb, as with the previous one, Pulp Fiction’s loss to Forrest Gump.)

Birdman is a terrific movie. Boyhood is a masterpiece, and its loss feels different from an ordinary Oscar loss. It feels like a missed opportunity for the Oscars to seize their relevance, to control their relationship to posterity. It feels like a loss we’ll be smarting about for a long time. Ten, 20, 50 years from now, we’ll look back, and slap our heads and say, How did they let this happen?

This Artist Is Using Photoshop To Make Celebrities Look Fat

This Artist Is Using Photoshop To Make Celebrities Look Fat

We are so accustomed to celebrity photos being photoshopped that it becomes a big deal when an authentic image gets leaked. Singers, models, actresses – you name it, their photos almost always get photoshopped, regardless of the image’s final use. This 20-year-old Spanish artist has been very busy retouching celebrities as well, but not quite [...]

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An Open Letter to the Artist Support System

An Open Letter to the Artist Support System

Support is a funny thing. As an artist, 96% of our career is spent dealing with rejection. Rejection from friends, family, other artists and even the art world itself. Making a living from art can be a very long and lonely, misunderstood journey, especially in the beginning, and having a decent support system can help [...]

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World Record for Light Painting Orbs Broken With 200 Orbs In One Photo

World Record for Light Painting Orbs Broken With 200 Orbs In One Photo

Light painters have many cool tools and techniques at their disposal allowing them to create various shapes, lines and colors. One of my favorite shapes is the light orb, so needles to say I was happy to see so many of them in one photo. The East Coast Light Painting group set a Guinness World [...]

The post World Record for Light Painting Orbs Broken With 200 Orbs In One Photo appeared first on DIY Photography.

6 Tips to Avoid Laziness in Your Photography

6 Tips to Avoid Laziness in Your Photography

Once the first flushes of our photographic journey have worn off, a certain laziness can creep in. This can manifest itself in a slight arrogance that we know all we need to know or that we have the required skill to achieve the look that we desire in our shots. Sometimes it can even be a case of photographers’ block, an effect that paralyses our ability to see and shoot good images. Today we are going to look at some ways to shake off laziness and inject some new energy into your photos.

1. A Camera in the Hand

Despite the old photographer’s adage of always carry a camera with you, many of us don’t. They are often bulky and heavy and we might think they are not needed for the day ahead. The thing is though, most of us do take a camera with us wherever we go, it just so happens that it doubles up as a communication device. Don’t overlook your mobile phone, many of today’s models can take a pretty mean picture and whilst they will not match your main gear for quality, if an excellent scene appears in front of you, you can still get a good looking shot. If you are not happy with using a phone, get yourself a compact camera. Something that will slip in a jacket pocket and will be always to hand when a photographic opportunity arises.

Get a decent compact as a carry around camera. Photo by Zhao !

2. Prime Yourself

There is no denying that a prime lens can make you think much more about your composition. There is also no denying that a zoom lens, can, make you lazy. Invest in a single prime and go out with only that attached to your camera. You will find that rather than standing as though your feet are nailed to the ground, you will be moving around, in closer, further away just to get the right composition for your shot. This not only changes the way you compose your shots but also will give you a greater understanding of the role of perspective in photography.

Using a prime makes you seek out a good composition. Photo by Jason Row Photography

3. Understand Focus Modes

It’s very easy, and sometimes lazy to rely on autofocus all the time. Whilst autofocus is superb, it does not always know where we want to focus. Take the time to learn exactly how each of the autofocus modes on your camera works. Learn how to focus and recompose the shot so that the subject remains the focal point. A great tip for this is to shoot a wide aperture, any errors in the focussing will be punished more, due to the shallow depth of field. Beyond the autofocus modes, learn how to focus manually, understand the information given to you in your viewfinder and act upon it to get pin sharp images. Manual focus is a particularly useful technique to know when shooting low light images, where autofocus may fail completely.

Understand focus modes and experiment with them. Photo by Jason Row Photography

4. Set Your Alarm Clock

Dawn is not called the Golden Hour for nothing. However, for many of us, it can be a golden hour of extra sleep. Motivate yourself to get up before the sun rises and start taking pictures in the best light of the day. Planning is the secret to achieving this. Know what you want to photograph, understand where the light will fall on your subject and, most importantly, check the weather forecast before you go to bed. One of the biggest demotivators is getting up day after day to find the weather is not playing ball. Checking the weather before retiring will enable you to evaluate the chances of good light for the following morning.

Get up early to capture the dawn light. Photo by Jason Row Photography

5. Read a Book

The light is often, not ideal for photography. If you are stuck in one of those gloomy, uniformly overcast days, don’t resort to the TV, pick up a photographic book or magazine. You can choose books that are full of inspiring images or learn some new techniques to try out once the light improves. Don’t forget the internet as a great source of photographic inspiration too, an hour spent right here on Lightstalking can provide you with a wealth of tips and inspiration.

6. Get it Right in Camera

One of the biggest traps a lazy photographer can fall into is the concept of fixing it in Photoshop. Try to stop thinking of Photoshop as a way to fix images and more as a way to enhance images. Getting it right in camera means that any Photoshop work you do, is enhancing an already excellent photo, not making a poor one acceptable. Common issues that should be addressed when shooting are composition, level horizons, exposure and white balance. Think about these when shooting and don’t allow the camera to dictate to you, control the camera and get it right. When you get to post production you know that you already have the best technical quality to work from.

Laziness is an issue for many of us, myself included. Using the tips above and other motivators, you can get yourself out of the cycle of procrastination and start getting the images you know you are capable of.

LA on JS (A Heads Up)

LA on JS (A Heads Up)

Chuck Albertson tells me that Lynsey Addario will be the guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight, Tuesday. If you (like me) don't have regular TV, the show should be viewable tomorrow (? I think) on either Comedy Central's website or Hulu.com, or both.

I hope this notice goes up in time. Er, well, for those of you who don't want to watch it tomorrow.

Mike

(Thanks to Chuck)

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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