Auteur/autrice : admin

Had an interesting mail yesterday, from a chap who wanted to use one of my circus images for the cover of his new book.

Judging by the content/title of the book, this is niche publishing in all it’s glory, with a professional audience of about 5 people. He didn’t divulge what the print run was expected to be, but stressed the fact that it would not be main stream!

I suppose I should have been weary when he wrote « I notice on your site, that the images are not free of rights » (Meaning yes, you have to pay to use them) but I looked up the appropriate listing and regardless of the print run, most ‘realistic’ working photographers charge between 300€ and 500€ for a paperback.

I replied to his mail proposing 250€, to which I quickly received an almost curt reply « I’ll be very clear about this, but I shall not be using your photograph »

Er…ok – this means that he obviously expected to be able use the image free of charge, or at least, for very little. Sadly, this can’t happen – it ‘dilutes’ the impact and directly harms the working professional – if everyone were to do this, the pros would never get paid at all. I ‘worked’ to produce the image, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that you will have to pay to use it.

Showing me your pissed doesn’t affect me at all – but rather hi-lights the continuing « It’s on Internet, so it must be free » attitude prevalent at the moment. I wonder if he would consider giving away his book? I mean, after all, if everything is supposed to be free….

 

In fact there are now more than 400 individual albums on my site, 415 to be exact. This is remarkable as I’ve never really counted the contents before, but the system of databases etc. that I have built to ‘control’ the site keeps coming back with ever larger numbers. (For example, there are 4734 images in 181 albums just for the Circus Arts part…for a site-wide total of more than 10900 images!)

I noticed that the albums concerning the CiRCa Festival were not appearing in the general ‘Circus Arts’ part of the site – this was an error, which I have now corrected, and not unreasonably this has increased the total somewhat!

There are only ever a maximum of four albums for the Welcome in Tziganie festival as I keep everything on a daily basis – I don’t break it down into groups or artists. This and a ‘Selection’ album is sufficient.

The circus arts and concert albums are obviously different as these generally have enough content for an album per artist.

Sadly due to lighting problems (or rather, the fact that the level of lighting is getting steadily worse and worse at the Cri’Art, and the people responsible don’t seem to care…)  I am no longer shooting the artists/concerts there. Seemingly the current ‘trend’ is to light the scene from behind, and then to flash the lights on and off all the time, presumably to mesmorise the paying public – sadly this isn’t ideal for taking photographs, so I’ve stopped until they come to their senses.

In any case, I seem to have enough to occupy myself with the companies in residence at CiRCa, and two dedicated shootings later on this year. I’m also hoping to be able to get back into the caserne and continue my ‘Imaginary Dancer’ project this year. Looking forward to that.

The Internet buzz of the moment is a monster Photoshop fail, which will surely lose someone his/her job. The error wasn’t spotted (or the editor didn’t care) with the result that the image made the front cover.

If you look closely you can see the actress Reese Witherspoon has what appears to be three legs…

Strangely, this wasn’t the only error – in another image in the lead article, Oprah Winfrey gains an extra hand…

Possibly the most amazing element is the fact that the images are by Annie Leibowitz – I can imagine red hot telephone lines in New York at the moment!!

This is the latest Hasselblad which will be available in March this year.

It’s the H6D-400c MS – the ‘400’ stands for 400 Megapixels, which is pretty terrifying! The sensor is actually ‘only’ 100mp in the classic 53 x40mm format, but the innovation in this model is what Hasselblad call ‘Multi shot’ – the sensor electronics ‘move’ the sensor by one pixel horizontally and vertically, and the Phocus image treatment software merges the resulting files into one huge 578 mb TIFF file 11600 x 8700 pixels!

The images are quite simply amazing in detail – Hasselblad state « Multi-Shot capture does require tethering to a host computer, static subject, and controlled studio environment.  » This is not something you’ll be using for sports photography, or landscapes in driving wind or rain…

Oh, one last thing – the price: $47,500 –  it’s unnecessary to add, but this is the price for just the body/back… lenses are another thing entirely

It always makes me smile when I see manufacturers add ‘pro’ to the name of their products. The only reason they do it is because there are still gullible people out there who actually believe this makes a difference.

I was reminded of this recently when ‘he who shall remain nameless’ from Facebook announced that someone had lent him a new lens, and that he felt he was now in a position to handle all sorts of different projects as a ‘photographer’

I asked him which lens and he replied « a professional telephoto » rather than giving me information on the focal length, or zoom range, which I was actually hoping for.

I have to say I’ve never actually seen a lens with ‘professional’ engraved on the barrel – unlike certain camera bodies which are ‘considered’ professional due to their features etc. lenses seem to be neutral – they just exist, some better than others, but all depending on the usage. I can only imagine that to him this means that he’ll be able to take ‘professional’ photos now (something sadly lacking from his repertoire…) I wish him luck.

In the unlikely event that this person ever reads my ramblings, please don’t take this as a criticism – just try to stop believing all the hype and get out there and practice your art.

Practice makes perfect, as they say.

The most recent edition of Square Magazine has just arrived in my (PDF) mail box. I’m in two minds about the author/owner Christophe DILLINGER (which, of course, has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that he ‘forgot’ my submission last year…)

Fortunately this edition, 804, is a real pearl – and it’s enabled me to discover the work of arnò.

Black & White, high contrast – everything I love but can’t ever seem to manage myself. The square format gives his work a dynamic that I really envy. The format creates a perfect frame for these powerful images.  There is something very special (in my mind) with the square format – it gives importance, a feeling of immediacy that is often lacking in other formats. These images are MADE for this, and the exquisite composition makes me think of Koudelka.

I can’t show everything here, but this is a glimpse of his work, and I strongly suggest visiting his site for more.

Extracts from « La solitude des champs de béton »

Used with permission © arnò.

Some recent additions to the One Lens Project…

Quite pleased with todays image…taken while I was out hunting fresh croissants for breakfast this morning…

And yes, it was raining!

It seems to have come around so fast!

Well, new year and new projects – firstly the One Lens Project has been launched on Instagram. I’ve decided, for the month of January, to use only one lens on my camera and post images as and when I make decent ones – I’ve chosen to use the 35mm (which is a very decent ‘street photography’ lens) we’ll see what I can do with this idea.

Auch – with the moon…

CiRCa sent out their ‘voeux’ and used images from three photographers who covered the ‘walk’ by Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga in October.

I’m pleased to say they chose three of my images!

And finally, the book has arrived…

 

 

Have a good one folks!