Canopy

August 2012, Lagonisi

Booze II : caught in the glow

January 2011, downtown, Athens

come in and drink
with a false name

~ Iggy Pop, "TV screen"

Eyrie

November 2009, Patissia, Athens

Σιγά μην κλάψω
Σιγά μη φοβηθώ

~ Γιάννης Αγγελάκας & Οι Επισκέπτες

....

8 seconds exposure with tripod this time. Not a very good tripod, mind you, just my old one. The mechanical parts can't keep the camera completely steady for so long, and it doesn't allow for a vertical position - which I wanted very much here. It's not perfect, but it was the best I could manage for an interior scene in the middle of the night: the only light source was the light from the computer screen. Especially since I decided that ISO-400 and higher doesn't satisfy me any more, and I'll stick to ISO-200 and lower from now on, unless completely necessary.

Or desirable? Sometimes grain is cool, right? Grain, yes. Noise, no. This is noise and, unlike a couple of months ago, it now annoys me to no end. It horrifies me to say it, but... I think I need a better camera. Crap.

8 seconds away

June 2009, Patissia, Athens

8 seconds exposure: Look, ma, no tripod!
OK, this is not technically a good shot, but I like it and it's interesting in several ways.

1) With my moderately steady hand and holding my breath for eight freaking seconds, I get this. "This" being a NOT complete fuck up, which is a big deal, as far as I'm concerned. I'm happy. Yet another reason to like a lightweight camera.

2) Barring that pathetic excuse of a moon (it's blurry here, but actually it was a very thin slice), this cloudy night sky was pitch black. And look at it now.

3) Weird, weird colours. I had no idea what to expect when I took the shot, but now I can rationalise it. The moon itself offered little light, at least directly. The main light sources here are the clouds above (yellowish-red, carrying rain) and the yellow street lamps below. Both quite warm. The result reminds me of expired film or underexposed Kodachrome (R.I.P., by the way) or a combination thereof. All in all, weird enough to be interesting.

4) Pictures like this just compel you to fool around endlessly, don't they? Now I want to play with all the settings and perhaps colour temperature - though this is a strictly digital thing and I won't have a clue what the fuck I'm doing. Which is great.

5) And I didn't try black & white at all. Damn.

6) A tripod would be tremendously useful here, and at the same time defeat the entire purpose of getting a camera which is small and easy to carry around etc. I'll go restrain myself now...