Herskerens Fugle

The title is from a graphic novel I read as a child in Denmark. It translates to "The Emperor Birds" and if you look closely at the full image, you'll see images of birds on this wrecked barge.

Or maybe not. I'm not a huge fan of interpretative art, my view being if I can make it, it's not art. In any case, everyone is allowed to step outside their boundaries once in a while. This is my time. There were many floating hulks on the river this weekend, and judging from the looks of them, they'd been there since the dawn of time. I would have loved to get closer, but the boat wasn't mine and I had no desire to bring it back damaged, so my camera was set for maximum extension, 300mm, to capture from a distance. Detail sufferes a bit at that extension, but it is still acceptable.

Hydra

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you, this image is really turned on the side. I felt it made for a more interesting visualization.

The title of this post comes from a song "Teeth of the Hydra" by the excellent 80s metal band "Omen"

Misplaced

I can't figure out what all these switches were doing at a boat landing, especially considering their condition. Nonetheless it does pique the mind as to their function.

Details

A little bit of macro work while at speed. The water was rather choppy and I had to open the f/stops up to capture this properly. The purple specs are in the water, gasoline or oil I suspect, but they aren't digital artifacts as far as I could tell.

Vacation

Had planned on taking a small vacation out west, on a photography jaunt. Time and circumstances have prevented this, but I was able to do a little river travel recently. These are some of the better images I captured.

My preferred method is of course macro photography, but the day was simply perfect and ever one to push myself, did some landscape work for the first time. I'm pleased with the results, and I hope you are as well.

Film

And thus the debate continues to rage ever oneward. Film or digital? Both have their merits, and only a fool would dismiss one out of hand. Having said that, I have been said fool. Being a fan of vintage equipment, digital photography was dismissed outright by me. But as with any tool, it has its uses, and in the proper setting I would say it's even preferred.

Now in my opinion, film still is the defacto choice for medium and large format. Digital simply is still in its infancy and while very very good for 35mm format, just isn't there for larger scales. So when I started with my Yashica, my choice of medium format film was rather narrow, as it seems every camera shop within a close distance to my place, was discontinuing film. So my choices were Kodak, and something called Ilford.

I am familiar with Kodak products, virtually everyone is, and while they may not have invented the camera, they certainly made it popular. However, they jumped the gun way too early when it came to digital cameras.

The story of Kodak and their move away from film is well documented elsewhere (in length I might add) and as such isn't a topic for here, but sufficed to say, was not my first choice for film. The Ilford stuff was very nice, well packaged, easy to load, all that.

So comes a day when the local shop only had Kodak Tmax 100. Okay, I had the itch and wanted to shoot. I made a mental note that this was all I had to work with, and as such, with the quality of Kodak products in mind (or lack of), I set to work.

And damnit if the film isn't better than Ilford's! The contrast range is better, the warmth is deeper and overall a sharper image than the Ilford stuff. I was floored and quickly became a convert. And while I still dislike Kodak for the business decisions they have made regarding digital cameras, I can't fault their expertise in film research.

So, from now on, it's Kodak's Tmax 100 for me.

Welcome to another pointless commentary from a rank amateur in photography.

Conversion

This is why, Ladies and Gentlemen, a dSLR cannot compare to true and proper B&W film. Although it's a reasonably good shot, if you compare it to the real B&W shots just a few spots down, you will immediately see the difference. Mainly in the range of contrasts. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, no one makes a dedicated B&W dSLR. That would be something I'd buy in a heartbeat.

By the way, this is a straight conversion done in PhotoShop. No other modifications were attempted, or done. Obviously a PS expert could make the tonal range better, but I still say there is no equal.

Return

After doing some moving and adjusting to the new place, I was able to get back into my hobby. This was done with my dSLR, as I'm not experienced enough to pull this off with film.