Finally the day has arrived when I retire my Canon 1D Mark 2. This camera has served me for 6 years! I get nostalgic when I think of the time I got ‘her’. She was one of a handful in the shipment to arrive in Singapore. The rest were routed to Athens for the 2004 Olympics. For 6 years she endured the hardest abuse and came out unscathed. Two of the most memorable experiences I had were:
1. Shooting a triathlon in Bintan in heavy rain. Mid-way through the race, a thunderstorm developed. What started as a light drizzle turned into a fierce tropical thunderstorm which blew my makeshift shelter, made of black trash bags, away. I was in the middle of nowhere and my 1D had a 70-200mm lens coupled to it. Together they formed a completely weather-sealed system. So here I was in a thunderstorm, with my camera exposed to the elements, still shooting away. Onlookers would’ve been amazed at this sight. I was strangely confident that the rain would not get into the camera and lens and I was right. I wiped them dry in the hotel room and went on shooting the next day.
I’ve been scouring the net for information of a possible replacement for the 5D Mk 2 since I’ve been toying with the idea of one to replace my 1D Mk 2 as a 2nd body. After my experience of buying the D60 just weeks before the 10D was released, I don’t want to end up kicking my own butt.
So what have I found? I’ll be safe for a year if I get one now. Rumours has it that the replacement will probably be due later part of next year. And after the 1Ds 4 is released. A little peace of mind if I proceed with the purchase. Else, it’s butt-kicking time again for me.
Here’s what else I found. There are rumours that the 35 F1.4 will be obsoleted. I find this crazy but this one site I read had sources around the world stating that they’ve been discontinued and have been disappeared from a few sites. This is one of my favourite lenses and it’ll be a shame to see it go. Perhaps a better one is in the pipeline. But what’s more believable is the new 24-70 F2.8L IS. Now that’ll be an interesting buy. Maybe not for me since I shoot with prime lenses most of the time now but a combination of F2.8 and IS will make this a very potent low-light lens.
Well some rumours are more accurate than others, mainly because they make perfect sense for Canon. Others will remain as rumours. But I’ll give the 5D Mk 2 a serious thought now. Anyone else know anything?
Think your life with a camera is getting out of control sometimes? You’re not the only one! One day we swing from a gear geek, to a time we think we have a shot at National Geographic and then bang, we are sometimes too ashamed to bring out the camera. Got this from the internet one day and I think it’s a humorous and good reflection of what photographers go through, amateur or professional.
Let’s start with Knowledge.
At the beginning, we’re born with zero knowledge of photography. At least I am. So we have a new camera, things are set to auto mode (unless you’re like me who started without auto modes). Then you learn about properly exposing your images and wow, you can actually take pictures and then you drool over the pictures in National Geographic and you’re convinced all you need is gear, and more gear. So break your piggy bank, starve a bit, work part time, and then you enter the gear geek stage. You improve on techniques, attend workshops, and then your knowledge just increases from then on.
Check out this footage of me in action…..all 3s of it courtesy of Liz who assisted me in this shoot. This happened yesterday as we were wrapping up the last bit of photography for the YOG. You should’ve seen me telling the gymnast to go as slow as possible so my 5D Mk2 and lights can catch up. If only she could defy gravity and the laws of momentum…my life would be so much easier.
The idea was to get a series of shots to superimpose them onto a life-sized panel. I don’t know how that will turn out. We’ll have to wait and see when the YOG exhibition opens.
And that was where the April Photography Workshop was conducted last weekend. The cafe mentioned is Tossz. specialising in sandwiches and salads. Here’s what Hungry Go Where has to say about it. It’s a very cosy place and ideal for a small class, and best of all situated near Chinatown with plenty of photo opportunities. There were altogether 6 participants so a place to plonk ourselves down, hook up a monitor and some paper for brainstorming was needed.
The class. Photo courtesy of Desmond
Demonstrating aperture selection via remote live shooting
The participants were a bit more advanced compared to the previous workshops so that allowed me to zoom past the basics and get into the more techie details. So we got past camera basics, lenses, mode settings and metering fast and concentrated more on actual shooting and critiquing. That was enough material for them to get on with the first assignment. They were tasked to play around with different aperture and shutter speed settings to pan and freeze motion. I was quite surprised to find that most of them use the M mode most of the time, and were quick in setting both the shutter speed and aperture.
The techie details
The techie details
Photo critique is a very important segment in any workshop because that allows each person to share their thoughts behind their images and also a great opportunity for me to guide them to get what they want. We spent a lot of time on it and moved on to composition after that.The second shooting assignment was much longer and they had to demonstrate the different compositional techniques. My stand has always been for them to know what the basic accepted composition techniques are and then to be creative in breaking them or using them for their needs. We had some really impressive shots.
At the critique session. Photo courtesy of Desmond
We wrapped up with an intro to flash photography and the effects of bouncing light off different surfaces to get even lighting vs shooting straight.
What happens to your subjects when you aim the flash directly at them
The next workshop is on 5 June. Please check out the details here. Places are limited because I believe in small classes to be effective. I can then spend more time with individuals rather than just address the entire class all the time. So do sign up fast!
Every once awhile I change my photobooks, looking for those that give the best in terms of presentation and quality. Prints must have a wide tonal range, good contrast, accurate colours and saturation. These photobooks are ideal for weddings and family/kids photography. The one I’m providing now has impressed me a lot and I think is the best thus far. It’s a 12″ X 12″ coffee table book, like those sold at Borders and it’s perfect for displaying pictures since each print is made on the page itself and the pages are laminated. The laminated pages do not bend so you don’t have to worry about unsightly creases if you accidentally bend it. It’s bound in such a way that the pages can open completely, making it possible to view landscape images. Each photobook is designed to best display your pictures. It also comes in a hard box to protect it even further.
Why do I like it so much? It’s light, unlike the traditional photobooks or albums. And you can easily display them in your living room or the book shelves. Easy access means frequent viewing. Who wants to have their pictures taken and then stored in a cupboard somewhere, hidden from view?
It was one of those unique weekends with rain continuously over two days. We originally planned to do the shoot on Saturday evening but postponed it to Sunday when the weather didn’t look promising. Well, Sunday morning wasn’t much better.
My immediate thoughts were, thank goodness the shoot’s at Capella. That would’ve been one of the best places to shoot indoors. The hotel prides itself with marrying the old colonial building and new architecture. It was the colonial setting that attracted me most and we’re glad that came out well in the pictures. So the cure for a rainy day? Look for the beautiful window light to work with since the light outside isn’t too strong and contrasty. The last few images were a good blend of warm and cool light. I though that came out quite well.
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