Flying over Loos

Voting Result

the result of the last poll was rahter surprising for me. i expected that digital is the preferred capture medium but it was a draw. so film isn´t dead yet.

last fall imaging dinosaur KODAK released a new film emulsion called EKTAR 100 in 135 small format. in earlier times the ektar family was a kind of film that was very sharp, very saturated and had very fine grain-structures but it was very slow, like ISO 25 or 64. the new EKTAR 100 implements technologies found in the kodak motion picture emulsions. the new film is said to be able to capture high contrast scenes with ease and is much faster than its predecessors while still incorporating the old virtues. it seems there is still a lot of money in the film business as kodak has now released the EKTAR 100 also as 120 rollfilm. can´t wait to feed it through my Mamiya RZ and the Contax 645.

Book Review: Julius Shulman - Modernism Rediscovered

as everybody knows, i can´t pass a good bargain so one of my favourite bookstores caught me again with the Julius Shulman - Modernism Rediscovered which they had on sale for €19.90. this book weighs more than 3 kilogramms for sure, the paper size is large enough for not fitting in my cupboard. it is printed on good paper and in the best TASCHEN manner.

Julius Shulman was on of the best architecture photographers of the last century. his speciality was modern residential architecture in the West of the USA. He was discoverd by the famous architect Neutra who pushed him strongly and helped him to break through. i am sure that you have already seen lots of shulmans work, just do a google image-search on julius shulman to boost your memory. IMHO shulman´s images are just adorable, i wished i had such a compelling body of work (but i am young and still alive so there is still something to expect... or just check out the photos in the architcture section on my website).

the book itself is gorgeous and the images are gorgeous too. unfortunatly there is only little about shulmans technique. i think the book is more targeted towards the architecture crowd and not towards photographers. but shulman wrote another book together with neutra that seems to adress photography: Photographing Architecture and Interiors: Updated and Expanded. but i haven´t seen this on sale yet.

Me says: this book is a good buy, i give it a rating of 4 out of 5 (for not fitting in the cupboard and for showing some weaknesses of shulman concerning the use of indoor fill flash. but hey, with the equipment of that age, his work is still remarkable).

Welcome to CPS !

Welcome to Canon Provessional Service !

The recent purchase of the Canon Eos 20d also had a side benefit that i didn´t consider before: Membership to the Canon Professional Service. To apply for membership you need to have 2 pro-camera bodies and 3 pro-lenses. so i made the cut just barely.

CPS offers a lot to working photographers:

- two free sensor cleanings per year

- two check and cleans for every lens per year

- free test drive for equippment a.k.a. free renting (i think i will like this the best)

- prefered service treatment (like faster repairs and replacement unit )

- free CPS-magazine

and other goodies.

And the good thing is, all these things come for free! Can i call myself a pro now?

Secret Device unveilled

The tech-savies might have already found out by checking the exif-data of my last image that i got a Sony Ericson G502 cell-phone that has a 2 Megapixel camera built in. and it shoots video too. i will give it a review soon, have to get familiar with it first.

Teaser

From the secret device.

EOS 20D arrived

Lots of things happend since my last postin my life. photographically speaking the most important is the arrival of the 20D i got via ebay. i am pretty happy about my purchase. the camera feels so much more responsive and faster in my hands than my Canon Eos 5D or any of my medium format cameras. it is great fun to shoot with 5 frames per second and the larger depth of field the smaller sensor yields make it a lot easier to handle the camera.

there is also a second addition to my arsenal which i am even more thrilled about but i don´t want to reveal what it is just yet. have to use it more and make my mind up on it.

ebay: DSLR on the cheap

today i won an ebay auction on a Canon EOS 20D. i bought this camera to take it on my upcomming trip to Cuba. i wanted to have a second camera with me because of various reasons:

• to have a backup-body in case one camera fails 
• to minimize lens swapping and to always have the right lens on the camera (no lens swapping means i can remove the camera straps as i alwasy hung the camera from my neck while changing lenses.
• the 20D comes with two additional batteries so i will have more batteries with me (maybe i can leave the charger at home too), it shares the same type of batteries as my workhorse, the Canon EOS 5D, same goes for the memory cards. this was the deciding factor over the other models i looked at like the 350d, 400D and 450D. the 20D also has the same control layout, larger viewfinder, better autofocus and is sturdier at the expense of higher weight.
• the higher pixel-density of the 20D lends itself for use with longer lenses which turn into higher magnification or more pixels per duck.
  

But actually i wanted to tell you something else instead. the Canon EOS 20D was one of the first really mature digital single lens reflex cameras back then. today the price for used 20Ds is very low, the camera still offers the same magnificent image quality and will do so for the comming years. this makes it a real bargain today. the one i bought from a commercial seller via ebay is in good condition, comes with 2 batteries, charger, cables and the box, and this all for only 226€. many point&shoots cost more and can´t deliver the same image quality. the economic crisis makes ebay a great place to buy photogear, for example  last week i got a polaroid back for my Mamiya RZ67 (more about this baby later) for only 10,50€! 

Book Review: Annie Leibovitz At Work

I just finished reading the book "At Work" by Annie Leibovitz. In this book the world famous photographer she is speaks about her career in the photoindustry. it is a very nice read and it contains lots of little stories that keep the book entertaining ( i read it within a week). All those who expect how-to instructions on how every image was constructed will be disapointed, better look elsewhere. The images shown in the book are of fantastic print quality but rather small, why can´t they be larger ??? To see them larger i recommend to look at the book "Photographs Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990".

Featured in the Visual Lyric Exhibition

November was 2008´s month of photography. So lots of special photography-exhibitions were showing great stuff. I was featured in the Visual Lyric Exhibition at the Graphische Wien with this photo.

3rd in the "Light & Architecture" Photo-Contest

I participated in the "Light & Architecture" Photo-Contest hosted by the Vienna Photographic Society. I came in third and was awarded with a €1000 voucher by CANON Austria. Now i have to decide how to spend the money, this definitly is most difficult.

About me

It might be a good idea to introduce myself at the beginning. I am a 27 year old photographer living in good old Vienna, Austria. In earlier times i graduated from law-school, but i am now studying photography at the Graphische in Vienna where i am about to graduate in september this year. So there is still a bit of learning to do.