Possibly one of the most polarising food items on this planet: Marmite. It seems you have to be English to be able to like it, but it used to be widely available in mainland Europe as well. Nowadays, not as much, as far as I can see. Perhaps a Brexit side effect. In any case, some will lament its poorer availability, and others will think “good riddance”. Marmite doesn’t do mid-field, only extremes.
Bye, 2021
Celebrating a new year is to me a bit a silly and useless event. The sun goes down and comes back up every day. There is nothing special about that. The definition of things as year, january and the first of the month are just conventions. Not entirely random, but still… just conventions.
But it doesn’t hurt to look back every now and then. A bit of retrospective to help frame where to go from here.
Recipes I like (IV)
In previous posts, I rambled about the combinations of film and developer I like: one for all-round bomb-proof performance, one for plenty light and plenty sharpness and one for plenty light and a more old-fashioned look.
The next recipe is one I use a lot less, frankly very very rare. Yet, it’s a tool I like to have in the shed.
Oh, oops!
Probably messed up some settings for comments to posts… if you ever tried commenting, sorry! Nothing made it through the overly tight settings… Hopefully it works better now!
Oh baby, my baby!
A declaration of love for you, my baby. In between all the serious bits and pieces, you’re a fun favourite. Many will say you’re just a toy, but you and I know better. You’re original, different, funny and unashamedly yourself. You’re my Lensbaby, and yes, I do like you an awful lot.
Exchange
In a way, making photos is a solitary thing – it’s you behind the camera, and the rest of the world on the other side of the lens. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a lonely thing.
As an aspiring photographer, there is a lot of value in meeting other photographers. Exchanging ideas, experiences, war stories and all that provides useful input to exploring yourself further.
A bittersweet laugh
Last week via a posting on their instagram channel, Magnum Photos shared a series of photos made by Martin Parr. They came from his work on tourism. That post came very timely for me. I’m just back from a holiday, and witnessed the tourist in full action again. After the long period of travel bans, work from home and so on, seeing this animal again in the wild was nice.
So close, ….
In an earlier post, I shortly touched on the importance of ergonomics in a camera. With the increasing complexity of cameras, the topic has only grown more important. A well designed menu helps the user find that setting, no matter how esoteric it may be. A poor designed menu blocks the user from finding even the most important settings.
A good hand-grip avoid the muscles in your hand to go tired or stressed. A poor one will have your hands trembling after a while. Seriously, there is no underestimating the importance.
Hybrid Workflow
Hybrid workflow – it sure sounds a lot fancier than it is. What I mean with it is the roundtrip from film to digital to print. And that again sounds a lot less complicated than it is.
There is quite a lot of choices in the process, and multiple ways to skin the cat. In fact, it’s a recurring question on many photography forums. On the better forums you will get multiple answers, all valid. So what is what?
Artist vs. Art
Some weeks ago, a discussion around a literary price here in the Netherlands reminded me of some photos that I find very fascinating.
The discussion, in short, was whether or not the author deserved to win a (very esteemed) prize, as the author supported or didn’t condemn a former Surinam regime that is seen as a pretty bad dictatorship. The literary work, as far as I understood, isn’t under discussion and is generally praised.
The issue hence is the political opinion of the artist versus the merit of the artist’s works.