Special Phenomena |
Oct 27th 2007 |
They say, in SE-Asia children are raised differently than in the West. I kind of see what "they're" saying. Not that I'm sure, at all. Haven't really done my research. But there's an interesting point there, still diffuse to my mind, regarding children as a whole, which I might just explore over the coming weeks and months in Cambodia and Laos.
It's a huge subject, actually. And I feel like I'm trying to lever a bolder out of a murky swampland using a toothpick and toilet paper. In fact, lately everything in life has been feeling that way. Can't get my head around anything. It's all a big blur. The photographs keep coming - not concerned about that. In terms of writing, though, my mind's a puddle of muddled rubble. And I keep saying to myself "it's a good thing!" It'll come when it comes. Don't worry. Just watch and enjoy. Be with it all. Sponge it up... Go to: Special Phenomena - A Desperate Attempt |
| Village girl near Siem Reap, Cambodia - homage to color photography. |
|
|
|
V-Lux 1 Report in LFI Magazine |
Oct 27th 2007 |
|
... captures without risking an attack of lumbago. Secondly, it can introduce a whole new dimension to people photography: sit on a bus or boat with the camera placed on your lap and the screen flapped open, then zoom right into a passenger's face and perform photographic surgery without the patient ever noticing - the only thing now is to make sure that you don't abuse your new-gained powers by constantly intruding in people's private spheres. Nonetheless, the tilt screen keeps it discreet, and it can help you get away with a lot more than if you were to bring the camera up to your face and cause your subject to act unnaturally or shy away. Thirdly, the tilt screen is gentler on the eyes than the electronic viewfinder. For this reason I use it almost exclusively - but it calls for a fully charged battery before setting off on a sniping spree and, while a spare Li-ion is not necessarily crucial, it won't hurt to have one as...
Download Article V IS FOR Voyage (Right-Click Save Link As) |
|
Warning: Nerdy Content |
Oct 15th 2007 |
A picture taken from my balcony using the Summilux 50 mm set to f/2. A lucky hit? I wonder. Three months ago I landed nearly the same shot at f/1.4 and was surprised, being the result of a mindless reaction, that the focus wasn't all over the place (blurred). I'm also wondering if an autofocus would have known to prioritise the pigeon as I did. Possibly. With a bit of luck. But I guess the beauty of manual focus is that it's something you can work on and improve. It's all you. It forces you to develop an intuitive understanding of your gear. At some point you'll want to be able to plant that focal plane without having to think at all. Drawing from a cellularised feel for distance and timing. I think that's what HCB meant when he spoke about the rangefinder camera being like an extension of his hand and eye. Just a hunch.
Sending y'all my love from Cambodia. More to come soon. -B |
| Seconds before a major downpour. Bangkok, Thailand |
| Born of a mindless reaction |
|
|
|
|
Minh from Nextdoor |
Oct 8th 2007 |
| And no one knows this street better than this young lady. Minh watches the road from a traditional, stilted Thai house made of teak. Day in, day out. |
|
| The other day I showed her my camera from behind the wall and she waved me in for a portrait. The light wasn't all that great, forcing me to up the ISO and open the lens - but this is the domain of the Leica M8 and Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 Asph. |
|
|
My neighborhood is a home to politicians, high-ranking officers and service people; there's a firing range on the nearby military premises; occasionally you'll witness a tank chaining it down one of the sois. The modern condominium I live in looks a little out of place (like my dad says: no zoning in Thailand!), which, in a sense, only makes for consistency. As does the slum village out the back. It's all very mixed here, the wealthy and the poor will be seen dining at the same street stalls. Along with the one crazy Farang (Westerner). |
|
Baby Alert |
Oct 5th 2007 |
|
Magic Wand |
Oct 2nd 2007 |
| Camera: |
M8 Digital Camera (Leica Camera AG) |
| Lens: |
Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 Asph. |
| Focal Length: |
50mm (67mm = 35mm film equiv.) |
| Exposure Time: |
1/1000sec. |
| Aperture: |
Auto aperture value transmission not possible |
| ISO: |
160 |
|
|
|
And we're back! Found a nice little Toshiba at a laptop tradeshow in Bangkok. 2 Ghz core duo CPU, 1 GB Ram, 120 GB hard drive, 4 USB ports, an inbuilt SD card reader, web cam and airport, Vista Basic, surround sound, international warranty... light weight, instant boot up - can't really complain for 553,- buckeuros. But my photographs remain locked away on a Mac-formatted external disc. As to how I'm going to access these I really don't know. Of course it's a pain. But, more than that, it's a new beginning. After an exclusive two-month stint with the Digilux 3 DSLR, it's back to working with the M8 DRC - getting to know the digital rangefinder all over again with a fresh...
Go to: Faces for cont. and Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 Asph. photos from northern Thailand and Bangkok.
Left: blessed be thy beads. |
|
Do your backups, kids |
Sep 21st 2007 |
| Oh, boy. Just when I was getting all psyched up about the big update. I mean, I was, like, really motivated. Had a super plan. I was going to get some work done and pat myself on the shoulder for a job well done. Alas, life had other plans for me. Someone came into my room today. While my dad and I were out circling stupas. Oh, dear. Laptop gone. iPod Nano, too. Funny, they didn't take the cables, or the passport, or the Elmar-M 28 mm. Only the Mac products. And Alhamdulilah they didn't take the 2.5 inch external hard drive. That would have been devastating. Tens of thousands of images gone. Lucky me I only lost 2.000 pics (*gulp!). The photographs from Cambodia and the recent ones from Thailand. Several great high-quality portraits. Ugh! Now that hurts. I'm not too fussed about the Angkor photographs because I'll be going back there in about 2 weeks time - but I wish I'd done a backup more recently. Is there anything else we can learn from this? |
| Camera: |
M8 Digital Camera (Leica Camera AG) |
| Focal Length: |
50mm (67mm = 35mm film equiv.) |
| Exposure Time: |
1/45sec. |
| Aperture: |
Auto aperture value transmission not possible |
| ISO: |
160 |
|
|
|
|
Initiating big Update |
Sep 20th 2007 |
| Mother with newborn baby on the streets of Bangkok, Thailand. |
|
| Camera: |
DIGILUX 3 (LEICA) |
| Focal Length: |
50mm (100mm = 35mm film equiv.) |
| Exposure Time: |
1/500sec. |
| Aperture: |
f/3.5 |
| ISO: |
100 |
|
|
| Camera: |
DIGILUX 3 (LEICA) |
| Focal Length: |
50mm (100mm = 35mm film equiv.) |
| Exposure Time: |
1/500sec. |
| Aperture: |
f/3.5 |
| ISO: |
400 |
|
|
| Fun in the mud, Siem Reap, Cambodia |
|
|
Hello friends and greetings from Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Over the past 2 months I have taken some 10.000 photographs in Vietnam and Cambodia, leaving me a little disorientated in the ensuing floods of digital data - now in need of some dedicated channeling and damming. Where to begin? I know, let's upload all at once! Well, here's a first batch.
Setting up new categories in "Picture All"; check out "People" and "Nature" in the Type section. More uploads to come soon, and maybe even a little order to the chaos.
Meanwhile, Go to: People Chaos and Go to: Bugs & Petals
Photographs mostly taken with Leica Digilux 3 DSLR. Also note a few M8 + Summilux 50 mm f/1.4 shots - of which there will be many more in the weeks to come. |
|
What was King Jayavarman VII thinking about? |
Sep 18th 2007 |
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
**********************************************************
********************************************************** |
| King Jayavarman VII, mightiest king of the Khmer Empire, serenely smiles down upon us. While we riddle over the significance of his expression, the King clearly has nothing left to riddle over |
|
|
|
Moments |
Sep 11th 2007 |
| At the foot of a temple near the Tonle Sap Lake in Siem Reap |
| Sure I'll fix your flip flop. |
|
|
| Cockfight at the Cambodian People's Party |
|
| The countryside around Siem Reap |
| Camera: |
DIGILUX 3 (LEICA) |
| Focal Length: |
20mm (40mm = 35mm film equiv.) |
| Exposure Time: |
1/1000sec. |
| Aperture: |
f/6.3 |
| ISO: |
100 |
|
|
|
| Camera: |
DIGILUX 3 (LEICA) |
| Focal Length: |
14mm (28mm = 35mm film equiv.) |
| Exposure Time: |
1/800sec. |
| Aperture: |
f/4.5 |
| ISO: |
100 |
|
|
|
| Camera: |
DIGILUX 3 (LEICA) |
| Focal Length: |
18mm (36mm = 35mm film equiv.) |
| Exposure Time: |
1/1000sec. |
| Aperture: |
f/6.3 |
| ISO: |
100 |
|
|
|
|
Descending the steps of a hill temple near the Tonle Sap Lake just outside of Siem Reap, a shirtless old man sitting half way down the stairwell asked me to repair his left slipper for him. The rubber strap had popped loose and needed to be fed back through the sole. Naturally I kneeled down and got to work, forcing the ends through the Styrofoam holes with a stick. It was a task, and it took awhile. Several minutes passed when a group of Cambodian tourists came up from behind and offered to take over. I had already wedged one of the bits back into place and was frankly a little...
Go to: Moments for continuation and more short anecdotes.
All pictures taken with Leica Digilux 3. |
|
| Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (Posts:73) |
