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Showing posts with label 90mm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 90mm. Show all posts

Sunday, August 2, 2009

The Persistence of Our Memories

There is an interesting concept about time. If I was to describe time not in hours or days or years, I would have to describe it relative to another significant moment. Many before me have tried to define it, many have tried to control it (albeit unsuccessfully). Me, I just want to capture it, freeze it, and imprison it for all to see.


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Space and time are merely human inventions in a crude attempt to comprehend the world. Philosophers, physicists, religious leaders have all been able to come up with a feeble attempt of describing the phenomenon that is time and space. The most noble attempt by far has to be from the self proclaimed genius Salvatore Dali in his painting "The Persistence of Memories"

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This painting is absolute genius. The feeling you get when you first see this painting is impossible to describe. It's a mixture of shock, awe, bewilderment and wonder. To top it off, nobody knows what it means. Why melting clocks? Why FOUR clocks? What is the meaning behind the ants crawling on the clock in the bottom left corner?

In this painting, time has forever been immobilized by Dali. Three watches, suffering the same creative death while a fourth lies mysteriously in its own secluded corner oblivious to its own impending disaster. It doesn't tell time, perhaps it doesn't even have hands. This fourth clock lies there, mocking us in its self-sufficiency, inviting us to come and open it and forever tame its secrets. These watches melt so that our time on earth is not represented by a ticking time bomb.

The persistence of our memories, at times liberating and at times suffocating, but always fleeting. Its meaning? Elusive

NB: On a completely different note, perhaps Dali just melted some chesse which instantly inspired him to paint this cacophany of madness onto canvas.

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Thursday, June 4, 2009

Picking up right where I left off, I'm definitely excited about the LX-3. I've spent the last couple of hours skimming through flickr and looking at what people have been doing with the camera. I was mainly looking for photos that show the LX-3's colour representation, sharpness (with minimal photoshop) and found a couple of gems. Like this one and this one.


Photography makes me do some crazy things. I'm not the biggest fan of bugs and insects and other little bastards like that, but if I have a camera and a macro lens with me ... I'll get as close as I have to just to get the shot.

And all this kind of leads to my photos for today. It's all good when we take photos of the more "graceful" insects. When I take a photo of a dragonfly I think "Hey, that was an awesome shot" and, "I think I'll frame that one"

Camera: EOS 50D
Settings: 1/500, f/3.5, ISO 200
Location: Lake Parramatta (deep in the bushland)

My impression of that dragonfly photo was ... I like that photo, and if I show it to people, I'm sure they'll like it too.

The next photo, however, is slightly more polarising ...

Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Lens: Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro
Settings: 1/125, f/5, ISO 200
Location: Laker Parramatta

In this situation, I'm a photographer first ... so naturally my first impression of this photo was "Wow look at all the detail, I've never seen a fly this close before" and "Damn this is a really sharp lens". After viewing it on the computer monitor for a couple of seconds, common sense prevailed and my thoughts quickly turned to "That's so dirty", "There's so much detail in that it's disgusting", and "I think I'm going to throw up".

Every photographer that loves macro work will go through this thought process. And eventually we realise that some things are better left unphotographed. I have yet to see a macro photo of a cockroach framed in anyone's living room.

So I leave you, my children, with this question ... are we so speciest as humans that we look down upon lowly pests and parasites such as those that belong to the blattidae family? I'm no Buddhist, but I think I'll do everything within my power to not be reincarnated as a cockroach. Time to save the world ...

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Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Decisions, decisions, decisions

While I'm writing this, there is a 3 way tug of war raging on in the cluttered mess that is my mind. And before I get into that, I should explain my situation ...


As a camera salesman working at Camera House, you would think deciding the right camera is a piece of cake ... well you're wrong. I soon realised that I could tell people which camera to buy, and make them believe me ... but I can't do it to myself.

Being an SLR shooter, I wanted something small and compact to carry with me to all the situations where the 50D may not be allowed (ie. State of Origin). I thought to myself "This is easy, I need small and simple, Canon IXUS 100 IS" It's a neat little thing, and it does everything pretty averagely (not sure if that's actually a word). I was fairly keen on that for a couple of days (LOL).

Then I thought ... "if I'm going to get one, why not pay a little more and get something better?" So for an epic 30mins I tossed between the IXUS 100 and the IXUS 990. Eventually I thought, "The IXUS 990 is a great camera, but nothing really stands out. No wide angle, and almost all other features exist in the cheaper cameras in the IXUS range. As a result, more confusion.

In the midst of my internal turmoil, a colleague of mine (bless her soul) threw Leica into the mix. Long story short, I eventually brought it down to the Leica C-Lux 3 ... until I saw the Leica D-Lux 4. While I eagerly await my reply email on the prices for these 2 cameras (contrary to popular belief ... I DO have a budget) ... I present today's photo



Settings: 1/60, f/2.8, ISO 100

I know it's winter, but if you just keep an eye out, you'll find photo opportunities like this. Hypothetically, if I was trapped in the amazon with no food, little water and my future looking bleak ... something this minute would be enough to pick me up and keep me going for atleast a little while longer.

But then again, it was hypothetical, and I could end up a victim of malaria or killer pythons. Who knows, but it would be a decorated ending to a trip of photojournalism.

Hopefully by next time I'll have decided on the compact camera of choice ... or maybe you can decide for me :)

Until then, cheers

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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Synergy, Synchronicity, & Serendipity


 "Serendipity is looking in a haystack for a needle and discovering a farmer’s daughter." 

It was almost certain that I wouldn't get a photo worth putting up today.  Another bleak, wet, depressing day in Sydney.  I was almost desperate to get a photo, and I didn't want to believe that I couldn't get one. 

Almost given up, on the way between my garage and the front entrance to my humble abode I found what I was looking for ... well sort of.  It was more like, I knew what I wanted ... but I didn't know.  

As usual I had my 50mm f1.4 on the camera, and realised I couldn't get close enough to get the type of photo I wanted ... I needed a macro, and more light as the sun was setting pretty early.  As quick as I could, I ran upstairs, switched to my Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro and mounted a Canon 580EXII flash with a diffuser.  After some basic processing in Adobe Lightroom, we have the result ...

Shot Settings: 1/60, f/2.8, ISO 500, External flash fired

This photo is the farmer's daughter, the world is my haystack, and I had no idea what my needle looked like.  I'm a catholic, not a very good one, but one nonetheless.  And for this photo to happen, the raindrop had to be the perfect size, land on the perfect spot between 3 very symmetrical leaves, and on top of that I had to walk past at the right moment to pick up on the details.  Coincidence ... possibly.  

Since we live in a world of such synchronicity and serendipity where different elements combine to produce such a synergistic effect, it's hard not to believe in an omnipotent being.

Simply put, I'm just glad I was there at the right time
And until next time, Cheers

Side note: Dwight Howard had an amazing game today (40pts 14rebs) to lead the Orlando Magic to the NBA finals to play the Lakers in a best of 7 series.  Check out the recap here

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About Me

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Sydney, NSW, Australia
I take photos, and I'll write about them. I call it like I see it, you won't always like what I say, and if you don't ... leave me a comment. I won't always like what you say either, but I'll be open to it. So when it's all said and done, at the very least you might like my photos

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