Great Fun photographing ModSpace ARCA race team preparing for this weekends race at Pocono Raceway. Beautiful day, cars and good people.
The final season episode of the popular TV series House, shot entirely on three Canon 5Dmk2 DSLR cameras, really showed the strengths of the camera and it’s large sensor.
The extreme close-ups with paper thin depth of field set the tone for the entire episode taking place for the most part in very tight spaces.
I have been working on a video with a 5Dmk2, utilizing these characteristics of pulling the important feature out of a beautiful soft ”rest of the world” and it was exciting to see how the crew of House utilized this feature, almost unique among video image making devices.
It definitely had a different visual feel than other House episodes.
Check out the director of House, Greg Yaitanes’ 1 hour interview on the final episode with Philip Bloom.
I wanted to photograph Meredith for some time. The other day I did so with some of her hats. The focus was to pick up the mood of the hat with her expressive face, the lighting and the feel of the image.
In my last post I talked about moving through layers of display lights during the holidays in Virginia Beach.
The whole process of doing this with moved camera, moved focus, moved focal length, moved photographer, and receiving immediate feedback from the camera, to me makes the camera become not a device you hold in your hand, but an interactive part of your being, a visual, mind, muscle link.
Each Holiday season, lines of cars drive the boardwalk in Virginia Beach to view a light show of arches, sea creatures, and fanciful designs in a rainbow of colors. These displays set on plateaus of beach sand erected near the boardwalk, draw thousands.
In walking on the beach as opposed to driving Saturday evening, I was surrounded by the lights and photographed through layers of displays while moving and appreciated the displays from my own perspective.
I’d always used a traditional camera case.
When I bought my first DSLR (Canon 1Ds) I bought a case made for digital work.
Pretty much the same configuration, but with space to have a 70-200 mm lens on the body, a lap top and pockets for CF cards. Incredibly heavy—especially with lap top and full complement of lenses.
But now I have a Lowepro single strap sling back pack.
Still heavy, but ergonomically better to carry and I don’t have to put it down to access the contents. The sling allows the bag to swing in front and everything is within reach.
Great when I’m on the go, moving about. No worry about setting things down in unstable spots, or mud, or where the whole thing can slide off a mountain, taking all my lenses etc with it. Sometimes I like to take off without an assistant and don’t have to worry about unattended equipment when I don’t have to set it down.
Yesterday I started to do something I have wanted to do for some time. Photograph the city of Philadelphia, where I live and have observed for years. In starting this I can see approaching this in various ways. Beginning to search and photograph, what struck me was the rich textural canvas that is the city and the reflections all around me. As part of that canvas, it was enjoyable to have a number of people conversing with me and honestly interested in what I was doing
Recently went to Whitebog Village near Browns Mills New Jersey, a cranberry and blueberry farming community.
A really wonderful experience—bogs with a line of cranberries around the perimeter from harvest flooding, beautiful fall colors and textures from wild blueberry, all sorts of leaves, vines, ponds, frogs, forests.
I attended the Yearly Expo showcase of Photo Equipment at the Javitz Pavilion Oct 22nd (1st show day). To me one of the most interesting developments is the “convergence” of still and video photography, brought about by new availability of DSLRs that provide high Def video recording capabilities, and the quick interest and adoption of this, by both still and video photographers.
Canon’s booth, for instance, had an entire large counter set up with their newest 7D and 1D mark 4 DSLR cameras, shown with various video grips, monitors, steady holds, etc. I also thought it was interesting that Adobe software was absent as an exhibitor from the show. (If you look at the website for the show—one of the featured photos is of the large Adobe Booth from the 2008 show. (Perhaps they feel they have the market sewn up, or maybe it’s just the economy?)
On that note, it was extremely crowded on the first day of the show, certainly not looking as though people were not interested in spending money on new equipment.
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All images © bob emmott