July 2003
October 2003
August 2004
October 2004
July 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
August 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
Labels: moo
On Thursday evening I had the pleasure of attending a book reading at Waterstones by William Shaw, and others, mainly from the book 41 places: 41 stories written to accompany the 41 places installation during the festival.
In May I had just got my new camera, and needed an assignment. The assignment I gave myself was to shoot every one of the 41 places. This I managed, and duly added my photos to the flickr group.
During the process I met and exchanged emails with William Shaw and so I was delighted when he asked to show some of my photos as a slideshow during Thursday's event. They were displayed, amongst others including some of the installation process, for quite some time. This is the first time I've seen any of my photographs projected during an event. All in all rather pleasing.
Labels: 41places, brighton, brighton festival
Having recently bought a Nokia 6110 Navigator, a phone with a 2MP camera, I wondered what helpful hints and tips this book could give me.
The book is split into 5 chapters which cover
- Choosing a camera phone
- Taking Pictures
- After the snap
- The camera phone community
- Troubleshooting
As I had already bought my phone based on other functionality, much of the advice in chapter one was too late for me although there was still a good section on accessories along with appropriate links.
Unsurprisingly many of the techniques in the Taking photos chapter are the standard set - rule of thirds, using ISO settings to compensate for lack of light, shutter speed and aperture etc etc. The camera on my phone doesn't allow access to all of these settings.
After the snap concentrates on what happens next - covering printing, sharing on mobile social networks (including some I'd never heard of - like fotochatter), digital frames and of course on-line galleries.
The community chapter covers mobile blogging, more about on-line galleries and camera phone cinema (I didn't realise there were camera phone festivals) including linnks and reviews of a number of providers of the various services.
The final chapter, troubleshooting, is what you'd expect but has an intersting paragraph about what to do if you've dropped your phone into salt water, chlorinated water or a fizzy drink (wash it in distilled water apparently).
All in all a great introductory book to the world of cameras in general, but obviously with a heavy mobile bias. The included links are relevant, and useful and all come with an explanation of what the service/site has to offer.
Review by Jane Dallaway, October 2007
My key learnings were about batteries (buy lithium batteries as they aren't as affected by the cold) about traditional sweet spots (1/1000th and f5.6 for film, probably 1/1000th and f7.1 for digital) and got a few more items for my shopping list - a fish eye lens, a light meter and a flash unit.
He recommended shooting on manual, and getting to learn how the camera responds in different situations. I must admit to being an Aperture based photography and I tend to leave my camera on this mode 95% of the time. I obviously need to kick this habit and experiment more. He also mentioned that film was a great way to learn as you were more inclined to try and get it right first time rather than shoot away and choose later. I've found it to be the other way round, and in my early learning days found in really helpful to take lots of shots and use the EXIF information to learn abut both technique and my camera.
He also mentioned the usefulness of flash at all times - to help the rider stand out. Another tip to take on board and trial more. One of the official photographers at Ash and Mitul's wedding also advised the use of flash to remove shadows from portaits, even/especially in bright sunshine (which I've been trying to do) so it looks like time to investigate in a proper flash unit rather than just relying on the on-camera flash.
My shopping list grows ever larger.
Labels: inspiration
