Video DSLR's / Waiting

Usually, DSLR’s only shoot still images. But recently, they’ve started shooting videos too. The Canon 5D Mark II is so far the best – it shoots HD video, with full color and exposure control, and it lets you zoom and focus while shooting. It’s so good, in fact, that independent filmmakers are using it to shoot films.

The only problem, though, is that the audio is weak. It only has one input, so if you want high quality or surround audio, you have to use a separate audio recording system. Plus, it’s a very expensive camera.

It’s tempting to buy one right now, just because the idea of having two in one is so much fun. But the quality of the recording isn’t good enough yet. This is still a brand new medium, and it needs to improve a little bit first. It’s still in its “beta” stage. Sometimes it is better to wait for a new gadget to improve than to buy it when it’s brand new. Otherwise, you get stuck spending a lot of money before you get the item you really want.

Sufjan Stevens: The BQE

In an earlier blog post, I wrote about how Flickr user Ettubrute was using his still camera as a way of making interesting films. This post is about what Sufjan Stevens did in his film The BQE.

Using a very old film video camera, Sufjan made a partially documentary-style film about the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, but he did it in a very interesting way. Instead of showing just one screen of footage, he showed three, back to back. Sometimes the images connected, sometimes they didn't. According to Sufjan, the intent of the film is to give an interesting point of view of a part of Brooklyn that he loves, and to develop his photographic eye.

He did exactly that. The film transitions from being mostly photograph-like into a raging geometric maze. He used his video camera to create time-lapsed scenes. But instead of showing them simply as what they were, he mirrored them in the three-across format to turn them into something else.

Unfortunately, the clip with the mirrored videos is no longer available. This is a clip from a different part of the film that uses the three-across format to play on a theme.

ⓒ Asthmatic Kitty Records and Sufjan Stevens. I do not own this.

This is a very interesting presentation, because it is technically and literally a film. But it is set up as photography. In a way, this is a backwards approach to what Ettubrute did. But both accomplish similar things: merging photography and film interestingly.

One thing that Sufjan has over Ettubrute is his incorporation of sound. Sufjan designed the score of the film himself, so it is intended to go with it perfectly. And it does. It goes up and down in intensity and changes at all the right points, making his film even more rhythmic than the patterns of traffic already were. It sounds curious in parts and strong in others.

Ettubrute / Flickr Videos / Uses of Technology

A little bit ago, Flickr began to allow videos to be posted. While many people have taken this as an alternative to YouTube, others take it as a furthrance of photography. 

 

Glowing Cities Under a Nighttime Sky

User Ettubrute has taken lots of still photos of the window-view of a plane ride and put them all together in smooth stop-motion. A similar effect could have been done if he had taken footage of the entire trip and sped it up. But it is more interesting that he did this with a camera, because this is not how still cameras are usually used.

There are two conflicting theories about the nature of technology usage. One is that technology will always be used how it is intended to be used, and the other is that the users of technology will use it however they want and possibly create new ways of using it. I side with the second theory.

People like Ettubrute like to redefine things, and as technology advances, the old things get redefined very quickly. Ettubrute could have used a video camera, but he used a still camera instead, and it shows his manipulation of the medium in a much more thoughtful way. I think that the subtle pauses between photos really add to the effect of the video. Combined with the piecey music, the style of photography gives the video an ethereal feel. If Ettubrute had used a video camera, this would not have been the case.

Ettubrute uses this style for many videos. The following is also enhanced by the fact that it is done with a still camera instead of a video camera.

Lawnchairs between Fall and Winter

St. Vincent

St. Vincent is Annie Clark, a petite, delicate looking woman. She has a sweet, light voice when she sings, and she looks like she could be talented the cousin of Regina Spektor. She incorporates strings, woodwinds, brass, pianos, and keyboards in her music in a sophisticated way.

But she isn't always this light and happy. Her music is often very dark and strange. Her guitar is harsh and "gnarly," as she puts it. Her music can be very intense and brooding, and in just a few seconds, be very calm and moderate. She uses both her guitar and her voice to create this effect, playing or singing sweet melodies, then blasting broken guitar sounds and synthesizing her voice over frazzled lyrics.

She is a paradox.

Like Nate Williams, she has two distinct styles that are very contradicting. But unlike Nate Williams, she merges them into one, making her music laughably dark, in an almost crazy way. It's as if she is happy about being upset, hurt, angry. Her music sounds is masochistic - light about being dark - in the most polite way. There's just something about the combination of her two styles that makes it humorous, but humorous in a sad way.

This combination of styles is a perfectly valid alternative to Nate Williams' separation of styles. It makes the end product thicker, with more layers, more mysteries. This is a good lesson to be learned - that sometimes the split is good, and sometimes the combination is good. And sometimes all three are good.

Nate Williams / Alexander Blue

Nate Williams

His designs are sketchy and raw. They are made with natural looking colors and look like they might have been printed on paper, or doodled, for that matter.

Alexander Blue

His designs are cartooney and rich. The colors are bright and deep, and they look like something that might be part of a kid's sticker collection, or maybe on his lunchbox.

Two designers, two totally different styles,
one person.

The person is Nate Williams, but in the design world, he is also Alexander Blue. He is one person in reality, but when designing, he goes by two names. Both styles are so distinctly different from each other that they look as though they really were made by two different people.

Shoes designed by Nate Williams and Alexander Blue.

When asked in an interview about why he designs under two names, Nate said, "I created the alter ego Alexander Blue, so I could do another style of illustration, but not confuse "Nate Williams" clients. I think every illustrator realizes you must have a strong unique consistent style, but struggles with committing to one style, so this is how I deal with the struggle."

I think this is a brilliant way to make such an artistic distinction. It keeps clients unconfused about what they will be getting, and it opens up two worlds for him to design in - it gives him more opportunity to design, because he appeals to two different audiences.

I have even had this struggle in my own work: the pull between designing with a natural, smooth look, or a bright, harsh look. My photography often goes in both directions.
I don't know if I'll go as far as Nate Williams did and create my own alter-ego. But I do think that what he did was a good idea, at least for him. At least now, I know the option is open for me. And who knows, maybe I will.

Digital Cross-Processing

Often, I'm sad about having dull digital photos, but for various reasons, I don't have the time to go through and make a thoughtful edit.
I've found an Action for Photoshop that makes colorful photo edits in just seconds, by one click.

It's digital cross-processing.

Cross-processing is a technique that originated with film photography: during developing, the wrong chemicals were used, which causes colors to be switched, changed, or amplified. What's great about this Action is that it has many options. Within the one download are many ways to create cross-processed photos.

The four lower photos have been digitally cross-processed.
The top photo is the original.

Cross-processing is a popular technique among artistic film photographers, particularly lomographers. Cross-processed Lomo film yields ridiculous colors.

Photo by Teppo.

This Photoshop Action is very useful for making nice-looking photos very quickly, but it's even better when used as a tool for making a thoughtful edit. When the action is used on a duplicated layer, the layer can be played around with. Different blending modes and transparencies produce different effects, and typical photo-editing tricks can also be applied.

Tailcast

Tailcast is a website made for artists, writers, and musicians.
It allows people to share their pieces for free or for sale, and it gives them a place to form community with each other. It allows for drawings, paintings, sculptures, photos, and other artistic mediums; for poetry, short stories, and passing thoughts; and for musical works in progress or full compositions.
It creates a space open to collaboration by allowing people to leave comments on other people's posts. Each post is put on the website itself, and each member has a page to themselves, where they can share things about themselves and have conversations with other members.

Essentially, it's a combination of Facebook and Deviantart.
But it works well. It's small enough that nothing has gotten out of hand, but it's large enough that it has a good flow of artists. And its friendly, clean, bright layout makes it a happy, trendy place for people to visit. I think that Tailcast will do very well in the webworld, at least well enough for its creators to make a decent profit.

On Projects

Teppo Moisio of Helsinki Finland
is quite an influential photographer.

Not only did he start the 365 project, which led to the creation of Dailybooth, which was mentioned in an earlier entry; but he also started the 100 Strangers Project, which has grown into a rather popular trend among aspiring photographers and photojournalists.

The 100 Strangers Project has its own website, where people can post their photos and progress in their own attempts at the 100 Strangers Project.

I keep seeing projects like this popping up, which leads me to believe this is a new trend. And I think it's one that will stick. Projects are a great way to keep yourself focused on something you are really interested in, and they are a great way to stay dedicated to something. I believe projects will stick because of the growing digital industry (New Media and such). It needs people who are dedicated and passionate about what they're doing, and a great way for a person to show their dedication and passion is to do a project about it. Also, projects are a great way to learn and exercise curiosity in an area. This is also vital to the future of the digital industry.

Lomography Trend / Digital Lomography

A bright red sign posted in the window of a local Indie music store advertises a dead photography trend - or at least it was dead.

Lomography, a type of cheap photography that developed in the 1960's is becoming more and more popular among young artists. What makes lomography fun is that the colors are often wildly saturated and unexpected in hue. The photos are also extremely sharp, often grainy, and usually have a strong vignette around the edges.

Lomo cameras are light, made of plastic, and feel like toys. When they were first created, they were sold for mere pennies, but they caught on because of the interesting colors they produced. Then, as instant and disposable photography got better, the lomography cameras gradually got phased out. But apparently they were not entirely forgotten, because now the Lomo is back. Although now, the camera isn't sold so cheaply. On average, one costs between $60 and $200 depending on the brand, the make, and the product quality. And the film costs about $5 a roll, plus $10 for developing. It's a pretty expensive "cheap" photography.

Fortunately, there's an alternative: digital lomography.
This online tutorial is great and easy to follow, and the images it produces really look like they were taken by a film Lomo.


I suspect that as the old photo / lomography trend will only grow in popularity, but that as the economy dwindles, more and more people will start switching to digital lomography. Not everyone is going to be able to afford to buy Lomo film (120mm instead of the normal 35mm), so they will switch to the free kind.

Dailybooth

I was running around on Flickr one fine day, and I came across a brilliant photographer called Teppo. He's currently doing a project called 365, in which he takes a photo every day. I think this is a brilliant way to stretch oneself as a photographer. It's always good to get as much practice in as possible, and doing something daily is a great way to stay dedicated to that practice.

So I looked into the 365 project a little more and found a website that has that as the premise. It's called Dailybooth. But it's a little bit different than Teppo's project. It is designed so that users take one photo a day in order to see how they have changed over an amount of time.

But of course, as with almost all technology, it's never used entirely how it's intended to be. Several Dailybooth users use the website as a creative photography outlet, where they can get feedback from a real community. Dailybooth is large enough that there is a big enough crowd of viewers and commenters, but small enough that everyone is fairly connected with everyone else.

Dailybooth is a social photography site based on the idea of a daily photo, which originated with Teppo. This sort of daily photo project can be done for several reasons: to preserve history and nostalgia, and to improve as a photographer.

I Shoot Film

I shoot film.

Why?

Because the quality is better.
Because it's more natural.
Because they make moments bigger, longer-lasting.
Because I just like to.

What is it about film photography that makes it so great? Why is it growing in popularity while digital photography is growing in efficiency?

There are two reasons:
Nostalgia and artsiness.

Who is Nostalgic?
The easy answer: adults. People who lived before the advent of digital photography. Or broader, people who shot film before they shot digital, which includes me. I shoot film because I used to and because I like having something to hold. I like having my photos exist physically, rather than just imaginarily. I shoot film because I live in the nostalgia of everything before digital, where everything is tangibly real, not made up of abstract 0's and 1's.

Who is the artist?
The younger generation. The people who have always shot digital, but want to experiment. The people who just like the look of old photos. People who want their photos to mean more than a few pixels.

Here's the bottom line: when you take a photo with film, it's there forever, and the moment is more solid. Artists like to save moments. Nostalgics like to save reality - film photos are often more truthful. According to blogger Jade Falcon, "Photos are what help us connect to the past and see the future we had before us. Photos help us relive who we were and the moments we had at that same exact time. Our memories might fade, but photos can last for a long time capturing a single moment in all eternity." This quote sums everything up.

Poladroid

I found a really great application, which works for both Mac and PC. It's called Poladroid. It easily turns your JPEG images into digital polaroids. But it's quirky. Like an actual polaroid, these polaroids take time to develop, and if you shake it, it develops faster. But the wait is worth it, because the images it produces are great.

It's still in beta testing, though, so it has a few problems. The application doesn't automatically come to the front when switching to it from another application. But other than that, this is a brilliant application.

This app is designed for people who have an interest in old, lo-fi photography, for people who are nostalgic about a dying medium, or for people who just like interesting looking photos. This is a seriously fun app for anyone who likes to play with images.

Poladroid is already making its way around social-networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, but it's still in its Early Adapter stage. It's starting to tip. It's not super popular just yet, but I imagine it soon will be, considering the growing photo-editing trend (Picassa, Picnik, etc.). I anticipate that in a few years, there will be editors like this for tons of other types of old photos. Already there is one to make photos look like they were from the 1800's.