Bokeh

KollektivA @ KooKoo Club, Athens, December 2013

The Nikkor 1.4 D: such a beautiful, beautiful lens, such a wonderful bokeh (this is at F/2.5), and I can't fucking focus with it. Or with anything. Optician desperately needed.

Nikon D5100 and company

Words are wind

In 2009, I boldly declared that (camera) size matters, and smaller is better, mmmkay? And I can't be bothered to carry a bulky SLR everywhere I go. Hence, the Lumix DMC-LX3: compact, light, small, in my purse and off we go.

In 2010, I loudly complained that ISO-400 or higher sucks big time, that this isn't grain, its goddamn noise, and "...I think I need a better camera. Crap." I didn't do anything about it, I just nagged from time to time.

In 2012, I had the chance to fool around with a Nikon D7000 and a prime 50mm 1.8 lens for about twenty minutes. During these twenty minutes, I was SO happy and excited, that the fate of my trusted Lumix was sealed there and then: it was doomed to become a secondary camera.

So, in 2013, I'm finally upgrading to a DSLR, because (sensor) size matters, and bigger is better, mmmkay? And because a fast prime lens is what I should have been working with years ago, and I didn't, and now I really, really want to.


Greedy motherfucker

The upgrade was rather radical, and it goes like this:

Body: Nikon D5100
Nikkor 35mm F/1.8 G AF-S
(equivalent to the standard 50mm prime, simple and fast)
Nikkor 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 AF-S G VR
(all purpose zoom, from wide angle to short tele)
Nikkor 55-200mm F/4.0-5.6 G AF-S ED VR
(big mean tele, though on the slow side)

I don't know how this happened, I swear I was going to get a body and a 35mm prime for starters and wait months or years for secondary lenses, but I got greedy. And very very excited. And I'm not done yet.

In the long run, I'll definitely get a fast 50mm prime, too. I have my eyes on the Nikkor 50mm F/1.4 D, and I'm waiting for a decent one to appear in the used market. (Everything I've gotten so far is used.) F/1.4, I say. It will be glorious.

Until then, I got plenty of stuff to play with, so beware: new camera and new lenses (plural!) means there's a learning curve ahead. Yay for me, groans from the audience. :)

P.S. I'm not getting rid of the Lumix, mind you. I got to love the pretty little bastard. Image quality notwithstanding, it's a great tool, especially for street photography. I'm not (yet?) comfortable to point a big DSLR to people's faces, and I'm still very fond of stealth mode, so the Lumix stays, proudly.

P.S.S. Thanks, Santa!

At dusk, it's supposed to be violet

December 2012, Ymittos, Athens

Enlarge and look at the olive trees at the bottom. Is it me, or does the rendering hurt the eyes? It's not me. It hurtsss us. At ISO-80, for fuck's sake. Ouch. On an unrelated note, did I mention that I'm upgrading to a DSLR?

Ascension

December 2010, Monastiraki, Athens

So maybe I dig camera movement after all. Or maybe I just need to get it out of my system. Time will tell.

Twirl III

October 2012

Don't mind me, I'm just finding out what happens when you spin the camera during long exposure, and then adjust levels in a fairly arbitrary manner.

Twirl I

October 2012

Don't mind me, I'm just finding out what happens when you spin the camera during long exposure.

Existential

September 2012, Patissia, Athens

This is obviously an abstraction symbolizing mankind's eternal fear of the dark and the unknown, of what lies beyond the tunnel, with religious and metaphysical undertones in the subject matter, while the loose composition subtly reminds us of man's existential agony in the face of death.

OR, this is me taking pictures stone drunk in the wee hours of the morning, and neglecting to keep my fingers away from the lens. Take your pick.

Trickle

August 2012, Lisbon

And now I feel like an idiot.

My default film mode when using the Lumix is "B&W Dynamic", which (I assume) is B&W with some contrast, which (I guess) emulates better the old film practice of printing on "hard" paper.

During this trip, I shot almost exclusively in colour, and thought "that's alright, if I want B&W pictures, I'll process them later - how hard can it be?"

Apparently, A LOT. I just can't get it right. So what do I do from now on? Do I practice, fumbling blindly, hoping the right method will spontaneously emerge at some point? Do I look up tutorials? For what exactly? "Convert colour to B&W in a Jenny-satisfying manner"?

Ughh!

Grotto

For some inexplicable reason, ancient theatres compel me to go for wild contrast. Why would they do that??

June 2012, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Athens

Nasreddin I

June 2012, Athens

Cheap souvenir from Istanbul. Love it!

Light sources are the desk lamp (cool) and the room's lamp (warm). I'm debating getting a makeshift spotlight/reflector of some sort...

Folklore

"Folklore" is the maximum deviation from the norm that the dominant culture can approve. (Therefore, harmless.)

February 2012, downtown, Athens

Uncropped for breadth and for subject: folklore.
Cropped for geometry and for subject: the kid. (The kid's for real, he isn't acting.)

Static Off

June 2012, Patissia, Athens

A Technics SL-1200 MK2 + the reflection of a curtain + a polarizing filter = infinite joy

Edge

August 2011, Chios

Further proof why idiots shouldn't be allowed to carry a camera:
When the aspect ratio slips (by mistake, naturally, not by conscious choice or anything) to 4:3 instead of the standard 3:2, it takes us days to notice it. DAYS.

Façade I

April 2011, İstiklâl Caddesi, Istanbul

Hey, how often can you photograph a building with the sunlight coming out from behind the windows?

Strait

April 2011

After all this time, I understand nothing at all about colour. Absolutely nothing. It's impressing. I can only admit defeat and let GIMP handle it.

How does colour work? What does it mean? How should it be? How was it when I took the picture? Does GIMP know what it's doing? Do I, for that matter? No. No, I don't.

Half-open

November 2010, downtown, Athens

burn motherfucker burn

One of the few things that make me optimistic is that lately, when I use the auto-correction thingy of GIMP, there's often nothing to correct. I've nailed the tones during shooting. Well... not always. Still, that's a long long way from nine months ago, when I first started using image-editing software.

Of course, after that I'll start tweaking stuff and occasionally ruin everything in the process, but this time it's on purpose. I think.

Projection

December 2010

So, this particular doll is the Projected Weeping Angel. Technically, not from "Blink" but from "Time of the Angels". Through The Lens, it actually looks like a projection and not a solid plastic thing. Like when you watch TV and you see a computer screen somewhere, and the screen, well, blinks. I know why this happens. No idea how it works with the doll, though.

I used a tripod for all these photos. The light source is fluorescent light - the desk lamp. It's not exactly a spotlight, but it doesn't dissipate all over the place either. Also, easy to move around. Me likes.

As a side note, this was one of the very few times that the auto-focus proved useless. I had actually missed the process of focusing manually. (Good thing they were still scenes and I was in no hurry, though - because if you need to focus real fast with the Lumix... you can't. Or at least I can't.)

Zero gravity

2010

From the fall came such choices
Even worse than the fall
There’s this chain of consequences
Within, without

~ James, "Hey ma"

....

Proof of my huge ignorance #347 : For the life of me, I can't tell if this is slightly out of focus or simply blurred. Or both. Or what.
Also, this is the first processed photo here. Meaning that I fooled around with tone and contrast for about twenty seconds. Hm.

Ola lathos

December 2009, Iris, Athens

A lesson in common mistakes: burned, blurred, grainy AND out of focus. I'm so proud... Oh, and is that lens flare? Yes, I think we covered everything.

I can see for miles

November 2009, Attiki, Athens

I've always said that street photography is simply not my style. Not that I don't like it, of course. Hell, I can spend hours looking at other people's street photos with nothing short of a pervert's glee. But I don't like my privacy being invaded by a stranger's camera, and I don't like invading the privacy of strangers with mine. The fact that lately, hesitantly, this is exactly what I've been doing means one thing: Expect some crappy photos. This is utterly new to me.