426. Don Michie

  Date: August 10, 2005 3:50:34 PM   Please register me to receive your newsletter.   I am studying photography as a night school student at Ryerson University in Toronto. My interests are documentary and street photography and also portraiture. I shoot medium and large format and am transitioning into the digital world.   I have had zone zero bookmarked for some time and browse regularly for inspiration. Your site is particularly interesting because of its international scope. Please keep up the good work.   Regards   --   Don Michie Whitby, ON L1N 6Z8 Canada  

Wednesday, 10 August 2005

428. Aphorisms

    "I am surprised that there are still discussions going on concerning the superior quality of film, because those people who so argue usually do not understand what digital photography is, or have not even used digital media." *** "Those critics that dismiss digital photography, barely knew about photography before, and do so even less today." *** "Digital technology is to analog photography what a life guard is to someone drowning." *** "Children are very wise, they appreciate the advantages of instant feedback in their creative process, that is why they dismiss cameras that use film." *** "Writing (or drawing) with light", has ceased to be a metaphor for the first time in history." *** "It's very gratifying to take pictures without having to spend money for each shot." *** "Film based cameras are like a mortgage, with payments for the rest of your days as a photographer." *** "Digital technology has kept me from continuing to pollute rivers with the chemicals I used in the dark room." *** "Color entered my life like springtime, thanks to digital technology." *** "Still photography stopped being like a silent movie." *** "My work reverses the cinematic notion of moving pictures since it redefines itself as "still cinema", a process that, like memory, distills multiple visual impressions into a single paradigmatic image." *** "The computer screen is amongst other things also a space that functions as a stage, I am the director, I move the lights, the actors and decide where all things go. This is also how I can create pictures today." *** "I was not able to take pictures of my dreams before." *** "The photographer is, at the end of the day, a storyteller." *** "Not all blind people see the same things." *** "The aura of "the real" in photography is a fiction, therefore it is ironic to try to uphold such a notion by attacking digital photography arguing that it is a fiction." *** "The decisive moment has been evolving, so that today it is so much more than just an instant." *** "We should acknowledge that the idea of a "photographic truth" was a great exaggeration." *** "We used to have color in Ecktachrome, Kodachrome, Agfachrome, Fujicolor, etc. and, then they tell me that photography was a truthful representation of reality?" *** "Photography is useless to tell stories that are specific." *** "There are more telephones that can take pictures than all combined analog or digital cameras." *** "The number of photographs published on the web is greater than the total number of photos published in all printed media." *** "The chromatic quality of a photo displayed in a computer screen is superior to any kind of photo printed on paper." *** "Photography was always a witness of it's own veracity. Something that in legal terms is untennable. No one can be a witness to itsel." *** "Who would have thought that my photographic camera would also record sound or that a video camera could make still photos or that the telephone could do both, video and stills." *** "Film has disappeared as quickly as vinyl records or the VHS format." *** "My entire photographic archive has taken on a new life, not only with all the images that I have been able to rescue from damage, but also by correcting exposure, color or definition defects that either occurred originally or are due to the passing of time." *** "It is less violent to eliminate someone from a photograph than in real life."   ***   Pedro Meyer   As always please joins us with your comments in our forums.         http://zonezero.com/editorial/septiembre05/september.html      

Thursday, 28 July 2005

430. Hand colored journalism

  In cooperation between the G.Eastman House Museum in Rochester, (New York, USA, and ZoneZero, we have the pleasure to bring up this hand tinted daguerrotype that is in their collection. As was pointed out to me by Anthony Bannon, the Museums' Director, it's very interesting to see the way journalism was described by the head of photography at the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).   Pedro Meyer   Robert Sobieszek, writing in Masterpieces of Photography From the George Eastman House Collections (Abbeville Press, 1985) p. 48, declared about George N. Barnard’s Fire in the Ames Mills, Oswego, New York, 1853: “The daguerreotype of the Ames Mills fire is a rare example of daguerreian journalism…Despite the blurring of flame and smoke in Barnard’s views, the sensitive application of colored pigments furnished his picture with a unique sense of the instantaneous.”   Barnard, George N. American (1819-1902)   DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Fire in the Ames Mills, Oswego, New York   1853 Daguerreotype with applied color. 7.0 x 8.3 cm., 1/6 plate Museum Purchase; ex-collection James Cady GEH NEG: 5815 79:3107:0002   "On the morning of July 5, 1853, a devastating fire broke out on the east side of the Oswego River. ... Barnard took his camera outside to make at least two views of this terrifying spectacle. The first photograph, taken shortly after the fire was discovered, was made from the head of West Cayuga Street one block east of Barnard's new studio, looking southeast across the river toward the Ames and Doolittle mills. The small plates in the Eastman House collection are reduced copy daguerreotypes made for public sale from Barnard's larger originals. Since they are 'mirror images' of the original, laterally reversed daguerreotypes, these smaller plates read correctly. The daguerreotype of the Ames and Doolittle mills is delicately hand-colored, with crimson pigment added to the flaming buildings." [Keith Davis, --George N. Barnard,-- 1990, p. 28-29]   BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Newhall, Beaumont. --The Daguerreotype in America.-- Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1968. pl. 27.// Rudisill, Richard. --Mirror Image: The Influence of the Daguerreotype on American Society.-- Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1971. pl. 48.// Sobieszek, Robert A. --Masterpieces of Photography from the George Eastman House Collections.-- New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. p. 49.// Davis, Keith F. --George N. Barnard, Photographer of Sherman's Campaign.-- Kansas City, MO: Hallmark Cards, Inc., 1990. fig. 6.// Frizot, Michel. --A New History of Photography.-- Cologne: Könemann, 1998. p. 50.//   EXHIBITION HISTORY: "Images of Excellence", US, NY, Rochester, GEH - Brackett Clark Gallery, January 1 - April 26, 1987. (Traveled).// "Photography in Nineteenth Century America", US, TX, Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum, October 26, 1991 - January 5, 1992. (Traveled).// "Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photography", US, NY, New York November 3, 2000 - March 18, 2001.//   INSCRIPTION: mat recto-(embossed stamp) "Barnard Oswego" verso-(on backing) "Fire at Ame's Mill, Oswego"   NOTES: Cataloged 11/83, DZ, updated 3/85, RAS.       Barnard, George N. American (1819-1902)   DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Burning Mills, Oswego, New York   July 5, 1853 Daguerreotype with applied color. 5.7 x 6.9 cm., 1/6 plate Museum Purchase; ex-collection James Cady GEH NEG: 5814 79:3107:0001   "The second view was taken a short time later from a rooftop position two blocks south of his studio near the head of West Oneida Street, looking northeast. This latter view conveys the extent of the destruction along the riverbank from the center of East Oswego north to the harbor. The small plates in the Eastman House collection are reduced copy daguerreotypes made for public sale from Barnard's larger originals. Since they are 'mirror images' of the originals, laterally reversed daguerreotypes, these smaller plates read correctly. The daguerreotype of the Ames and Doolittle mills is delicately hand-colored, with crimson pigment added to the flaming buildings." [Keith Davis, --George N. Barnard,-- 1990, p. 28-29]   BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Sobieszek, Robert A. --Masterpieces of Photography from the George Eastman House Collections.-- New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. p. 48.// Davis, Keith F. --George N. Barnard, Photographer of Sherman's Campaign.-- Kansas City, MO: Hallmark Cards, Inc., 1990. fig. 7.// Hirsch, Robert. --Seizing the Light: A History of Photography.-- New York: McGraw Hill, 1999. p. 98.// EXHIBITION HISTORY: ""Permanent" Survey Exhibition - 19th Century", US, NY, Rochester, GEH - Second Floor Galleries, August 1979 - March 1984.// "Survey of the History of 19th Century Photography", US, NY, Rochester, GEH - Second Floor Gallery, March 1985 - April 1987.// "George N. Barnard: Photographer of Sherman's Campaign", US, NY, Rochester, GEH - North & South Galleries, May 17 - June 19, 1991.// "Eventful Camera", US, NY, Rochester July 24, 1999 - March 12, 2000.// "Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photography", US, NY, New York November 3, 2000 - March 18, 2001.// INSCRIPTION: mat recto-(embossed stamp) "Barnard Oswego" NOTES: Cataloged 11/83, DZ, updated 4/91.     http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/articles/daguerrotipo/daguerrotype.html    

Friday, 20 May 2005

432. The impact of technology on content

    (This is a double editorial because it covers two months.)     We place a marking on the wall, at each one my youngest sons’ birthdays, he is by now ten. He stands up against the wall and where the top of his head is, we draw a new line. That way we can visualize better how much he has grown from year to year. Of course we are aware of his changes as he outgrows his clothing and toys, however, these lines on the wall are what really provides us with a better perception of how he has been growing.   Although I have not performed an equivalent set of markers for all the equipment that I have used over this past decades’ digital revolution, I have to admit that my studio is littered with all sorts of obsolete tools, that are constantly being superseded with more efficient tools that are always outgrowing everything else. Nothing has lasted ten years that is still being used, which can give you some idea of the speed of obsolescence. Any equivalent markers on the wall would only show us, that this a relay race, with the new items displacing the old at ever shorter intervals.   Having to face this continuous obsolescence of ones’ equipment has become a new source of irritation and frustration, however, one can’t deny that there are indeed benefits from the improvements that can be had, very often at a much lower price ratio to what was offered before, providing new creative options which are after all the reason that all these tools get created and sold, in the first place.   There are a number of very well meaning people who have said to me, there is nothing “new” that is coming out in spite of all these digital tools (as in content of the photographs), which would justify all that is going on with digital photography.   I suspect that they are looking to find transformations delivered so fast because of the speed at which tools are appearing. Obviously this is not going to happen. This would be like expecting a tree to grow to it’s full size in the space of twelve months. We need to understand that new content can not grow by leaps and bounds, but organically. What is more, if you inundate a sapling with water and fertilizer just to speed it’s growth, it will most likely succumb to such a deluge of usually very helpful resources.   As we move forward, we are facing new challenges by the never ending diversity of new tools that are constantly flowing our way. The challenge is the time needed to learn about all the tools and possibilities they offer and how they work, and then putting it all into practice.   We have to also build a theoretical frame work, to understand the transformation of the image and how all these developments end up reshaping our social and cultural values in the process. We need to acknowledge how much around us has already changed, in order to deal with things in a way that helps us cope with this revolution . Who would have thought that the iPod would force the radio industry to rethink how they operate. To give just one brief example.   Lets face it, the main providers of our tools for photography ( soft and hardware) are no longer those who were the leaders of the analog photo industry. As a matter of fact the majority of the most important players in todays photo world had nothing to do with photography not too long ago.   Names such as Epson, who are in fact Seiko the watch makers, or Casio the makers also of watches and calculators, or Samsung, or Hewlett Packard, to name only a few of the main hardware makers did not even have photography as a business plan, nothing to say of Adobe the creators of Photoshop or Macromedia (recently swallowed by Adobe). Their presence in the world of photography is something new, and along with that, come new ways of doing everything, Just notice all those places that cameras are being sold that never before had sold a camera. Or all the objects that take pictures that did not even exist before. Cell phones, video recorders, computers. etc.   When someone addresses the expectations over the work being created and suggests that nothing really new has been produced so far, they are not factoring in that many of the tools that are in existence today, have only been with us, in their present level of sophistication, for only a scant few years. It’s like expecting a toddler who is still struggling with his potty training, to have written Don Quijote de la Mancha. And if a mother were to feel guilty that her child had not yet written such a masterpiece, then you would probably question the mother for being so unrealistic, or the person posing the question, would have to be confronted for the lack of understanding of what they were actually requesting.   Today more than ever, the arrival of new tools will in turn bring with them, new options for producing new photographic work.   Quite possibly there are no more than a handful of people in the world, who have come to use and experience all the intricacies of a product such as Adobe’s Photoshop. What this means is that the learning curve is quite huge, and to boot, is changing all the time.   Although I was working with digital images, a long time before Photoshop 1 came into being, and have used every new version since then (and we are now on version #9), I would venture to say that I don’t know how to use 40% of this product. However, it might just be that we will never need to know it all either, because increasingly this tool has abilities to do things that not everyone needs to use all the time.   This can tells us something of the dimensions involved in learning all the ins and out, of just one software package. But if you add another fifteen applications, some that will allow you to make video, to use sound, and to publish books and over the internet, and to write, and on and on the list grows, I think you get the picture of what it means these days to stay up to date.   In the last thirty days, a new operating system, Tiger, for the Macintosh, came out, along with a new version of Photoshop CS2 ( or version 9), Now expect to face a river of new upgrades by everyone as they adjust their software to work with Tiger, and you get the picture of how all of this is supposed to function. You have to be willing to learn new things from now on forward. This will never stop.   So in this editorial I will take you on a short ride of just a handful of new pieces to this puzzle of digital photography. And see how these tools are changing content.   I will start out by the most surprising of them all, the EPSON R-D1 model. This is the first digital range finder camera ( In the link above, you can see in five languages a wonderful 3 D presentation of the camera that has all the functionality of the real camera) It looks identical to a Leica M6, it even sound like one, and I am sure this is by design, as most of the Leica lenses will fit perfectly well. Even if the camera couldn’t take a picture, it’s already a terrific conversation piece, On a recent trip to New York, I got stopped everywhere there were knowledgeable photographers around. They would ask, is that the new Leica? I would have to tell them that unfortunately the company that made Leicas went bankrupt, had they produced such a model in due time they surely would have been doing well. It took an established watchmaker to create a camera that is as solid as the original Leica was. I am sure you get the idea of what the transition to digital photography represents.   As you all know the Leica M6, like it’s predecessors, was the perfect camera to work in certain ways and places. It’s simplicity was unique. With this being the first digital range finder camera, we might start to see some new work as well. Especially as digital technology allows us to work with poor lighting in so many ways that are better than ever before. I would not be surprised that this camera would bring some new images our way, just as Dr, Erich Solomon did in the early thirties.   This camera takes phenomenal quality pictures, 6.5 million pixels, and of course is almost silent, and light in weight. I don’t think there is photographer alive who does not wish that all the equipment they have, be as light as possible. The images I took were taken in RAW format, letting me have a 72 megabyte size file, after working on the images in the new Raw file format, which allow us to make huge prints that look razor sharp. The noise factor at high ASA ratings, like 1600 were almost negligible. Compare that to the recent fiasco at Kodak with their top of the line model, which they had to take out of the market and suspend any marketing efforts because their five times more expensive camera could not make images of any quality above a 100 ASA rating exposure.   But back to the Epson R-D1, which costs around $3,000 US Dlls. the images are of very high quality, the camera feels just right ergonomically, but then I believe in the excitement of getting the product to market, someone at Epson forgot to include, what even a $ 200 US Dlls. camera has and that is the capability to connect the camera to some outside device in order to download the pictures that were taken. In the R-D1 you can only do so by taking the memory chip out of the camera and inserting it in some other device that then allows you to download the pictures. I did so by inserting the memory card, into a Casio camera. Here the $ 500 US Dlls. camera had a solution the $3,000 (body alone) camera, did not provide.   Imagine a BMW car, were they forgot to include the inside door handles so you can get out of the car, and you could only do so, by lowering the window to stretch out your arm to open the door from the outside. For sure that is one way of getting out, but for your money your probably would want a better solution.   Not withstanding this flaw, I am sure there will be lots of camera collectors who will want this first of a kind camera, and then also a good number who grew up with the look and feel of a Leica will want to make digital images while using their old Leica lenses. All of these will want this camera.   Epson has proven time and time again, that even though they were not in the photo business before, they patiently listened to comments they got, and steadily improved everything and thus built up their market lead for printers that cater to the photography world, something not even HP has been able to challenge, So I am sure that in version #2 of their R-D1, they will probably lower the prices and fit out the camera so you can download right from the camera. Judging EPSON by their track record, I think that this camera is going to become a Classic. Sadly not made by Leitz, gmbh, Maybe Epson decides to buy Leitz gmbh, it would be a very interesting combination.   We now move on to another price range, with equally stunning news. The CASIO Z50 Exilim, Here the story gets interesting in a different way. As I was flying on my way to Germany, I went through the catalog of the stuff they sold in their on board duty free shop, I was thrilled to see that now all of a sudden cameras were an item one could buy even on a plane. Not too long ago, cameras were items sold only in camera stores, today cameras are being offered of course in most super markets.   So here was this CASIO camera, of which I had never heard off. It looked very interesting, the price was around $ 500 US Dlls with a little leather pouch to protect it. I asked the stewardess if I had the right to open it, and see if the camera was worth the money, and if I was not satisfied that I could return it. Right away she said yes, brought me the camera, and I was hooked. It was a lot faster than the Sony T1 I had bought a few months earlier. I knew that I always had a lot of people who want to buy my used cameras, (they can get a good price and a camera that is almost new) so buying a new camera was less of an issue.   The camera was great, 5 million pixels, unfortunately not in raw format, ( I expect will follow very soon). However, the camera had one major flaw, also in design. The buttons to change the settings all had been placed exactly on the same spot were my thumb would land when holding the body of the camera to take pictures, So inadvertently I would constantly change the settings. However aside from this flaw the camera made great images. Then in Madrid one day I lost the camera, and I was looking for it everywhere the following day when I missed it for the first time, when all of a sudden in comes this taxi driver who had taken me back to the hotel, from were I was teaching a work shop the night before. He had found it, but best of all, as he said, it was on the floor of taxi, and people did not see it, only he did so when he was cleaning his cab at the end of the day. As he said, if they had seen it, they would probably not have given it to him. I think he was right.   My next episode takes place in Dhaka, in Bangladesh, as my Sony T1 got lost there, Here I wasn’t so lucky. After exploring all the possible places I could have left it, we came to the conclusion that while riding in a rickshaw with all the inevitable bumps in the road, it could have easily jumped out of my pocket. (Sad to say the person who might have found the camera, will not be able to do much with it, as I still had the power supply which is needed to charge the batteries, and for downloading the pictures ) The Sony T1, did not have a view finder, only through the back monitor could you see what you were going to photograph, in a funny way it behaved more like an old bellows camera, with the rear pane acting like the usual matt glass to see the image you were about to take, or miss, as the camera was very slow in responding.   As you well know, the ever present debate that the still images do not reveal what is on the sides of that which is being shown to us in a photograph. I was taking this image of a man shaving in the old city of Dhaka, you can see here. However what you can not see is that I was surrounded by onlookers, where in fact I had become the object of attention, not the man shaving.   I took out my Casio camera and recorded a video of all that was happening on the periphery of the image being taken. As a testimony on the limitations of photography as a vehicle for showing “reality”. Take a look here and tell me which reality were we talking about?             Quick Time File 1.2 Mb, QuickTime 6.4 plug-in is required   Next stop: Singapore. Of course my friends there took me around shopping, and lo and behold I saw a new CASIO EXILIM Z57. This is now thirty days after I had purchased the camera on the airplane which was being presented as the latest and greatest camera in Europe, and here a month later was an upgraded version already with all the design flaws corrected, the camera coming in all sorts of decorator colors to choose from, and a larger monitor on the back. Same price.   This present us with the constant dilemma I have heard all over the world, When is the right time to buy a digital camera. My answer is always the same: NOW! because if you want to wait around for the return of the era when camera innovations happened over many years, that time in history is probably gone for ever. Your cameras should also be thought off in different terms. Since you are not spending on film anymore, you probably amortize the value of the camera in a relatively short period of time, allowing you to sell it for less that you paid for, in order to invest in the new models plus the savings you made from not spending for film.   The Casio Exilim, is fast, it has very good image quality. You can make videos with it, you can use it as a recorder as well. However, it does not work as a coffee maker nor can you use it to call someone at home. Those are the other type of cameras, called cell phones. Already phone cameras have arrived with a 2.5 million pixel capacity.   Well, I bought the new model, and sold promptly the one I had purchased 30 days earlier, you no longer can approach the ownership of your camera with the same emotional attachment of the past, unless you care more for the nostalgia bit, than for technological innovations. A camera is seen by me today in a totally new ways. I view them almost with the same detachment I have for a taxi. A taxi, I see as a way of getting me from A to B. I pay my fare, give them a good tip, and forget about the car ( unless the taxi driver, brings me back my lost camera the next day). Essentially the cameras have become almost a use and discard item.   So what does the Exilim from CASIO bring to the creative table? With a built in flash that is very good, it can do things, that the Epson R-D1 does not without additional equipment. The spontaneity of having a camera with you at all times, that is both silent, even more so than the R-D1 as I can turn down all sounds to zero, also has a view finder option aside from the rear monitor, a big plus compared to de Sony T1. I just read that Sony already came out with a new generation of the T1 version, that is faster, and has seven million pixels. All of this, is just to point out how fluid all these comments are, and how however up to date a review is, you can not hold on to the information too long.   I find that these cameras will usher in a new form of taking pictures, because of their size, speed, and angles from which the pictures can be taken. Let alone making videos, You might want to see an article we published some months back here in ZoneZero, of how a musician, Fredo Viola did a small film from just such a small camera. I believe it becomes quite evident when you see such fine work, as the “Sad Song” by Fred Viola that indeed we are going places that are new.   If you are trying to figure out why one camera costs $500 Dlls. the other one $3000 Dlls, and the last one I will review which is the new D2X from Nikon, $5,000. You can probably look at the car market as a reference. All cars no matter how much they cost, will take you from A to B. so you are not looking solely at transportation as an issue. You have prestige, comfort, security, and all other good reasons people like to buy one brand over the next one, or one model over another belonging to the same brand.   With cameras, there are of course certain very specific needs, such as very large file format, or certain speed, like 8 frames per second at any setting. So when people ask what camera do you recommend, the first question is always what do yo want to do with that camera. If you needs are to have one of the highest quality images in order to produce large size images, plus speed, then the new Nikon D2X, will fit the bill perfectly.   I find it quite amazing how in such a few short years, the increase in quality and size of images, has been made possible. To capture images a 8 frames per second, at 12.5 million pixels is quite a remarkable accomplishment.   The camera is however very heavy to carry around, at least for me. My wrists really feel it and so does my back, when I have gone out to take pictures for a long time. The Canon cameras I think are as much or more weighty, nothing to say of the digital Hasselblad camera. This to name only a few. Would I like to have all the bells and whistles with out the weight, of course I would, But then the trade off is probably to have it lighter, is to have less options.   One thing that is quite wonderful with the Nikon cameras is that they have been very consistent in having almost the same interface and buttons from one model camera generation to the other. Making it very easy to pick up the camera and without reading too much of the manual figure out where everything is. There have been photographers who had to go an assignment with their brand new DX2 camera, and being able to use it perfectly well, right out of the box.   The D70 from Nikon, which has now become the previous generation, is going to be replaced by a new model the D70S within a few weeks. The D-70 is considerably lighter and if you can, pick up a used one by all means try to do so, you will have great results and at a modest cost.   The benefits of instant feedback, has not been spoken about enough. I recall how we would waste an enormous amount of material with Polaroid tests, and aside from all the litter that was produced, it was always just a reference. Here the images are WYSIWYG ( what you see is what you get). You get to see exactly what your camera will be photographing and too boot, at no additional cost. Now you understand why Polaroid went out of business.   "Popular Photography says that Canon’s 16 megapixel EOS 1Ds Mark II digital SLR edges out film."   ***       Popular Photography Magazine, which isn’t exactly an apologist for digital photography. Has declared that in tests Canon’s new 16 megapixel EOS 1Ds Mark II, took better pictures than a regular shooting high quality ISO 100 film. They are saying that the better color and lower noise of the EOS 1Ds Mark II gives digital pictures the edge over film.     Have you tried the new lens baby version 2?, if not then do yourself a favor, and explore their web site, at http://www.lensbabies.com/ these lenses are absolutely unique, they will fit most models of didgital cameras, and it will convert your digital camera, in the equivalent of a Holga or cardboad pinhole camera,combined with a the old fashiond bellows camera, with the tilt.   You will obviously ask why, would I want to do that? make such images with the digital camera. First because you are interested in the style of images that such cameras deliver, but most importantly because you have the benefit of instant feedback as to what you are taking being along the lines of what you would like to get. Lastly because you have a lot more production power behind you, as you clip ahead, and gather the images that will work for instance with your fashion assignment.   -------------------   NIK Pro2 filters. This is a set of filters that do make a difference in your photography.   http://www.nikmultimedia.com   Their most important advantage is that you can apply the effect with a brush. No more, applying a filter to the entire image, even in those areas you would not want any change.   You can appreciate the impact of such tools, if you look at the image on the cover of zonezero, and then look here at the original without any alteration.     Aside the fact that they are very good filters, with very powerful, controls. What I found that was quite stunning, is that you can apply any effect with a brush, and undo what you just did, and do it over again, with only a click of button.   The idea of applying filters by hand selectively, rather than have it land all over the image evenly, regardless of your intention, is something that soon will make itself present in more and more work. The difference in using filters in this way is outstanding, when you consider the level of control that we have today over every pixel.   These filters are free to you if you buy the new Wacom tablet that has bluetooth connection, which frees you up from all the cable clutter around your computer.       What comes across with all the new tools I have reviewed here, and this is just a small sampling of all the things that are available at present. is that content is just waiting to be transformed. I am convinced that we are but at the very beginning of a new era for photography.   Pedro Meyer May 16, 2005 Coyoacan, Mexico City   As always please joins us with your comments in our forums.       http://zonezero.com/editorial/mayo05/may.html      

Monday, 16 May 2005

434. Peter Pfersick (1942-2005)

  In Memoriam Peter Pfersick Oakland, California     To a very good friend and photographer, who not only had a towering presence due to his height, but also through his gentle demeanor and profound respect for all cultures. A world traveler who was welcomed where ever he walked because he understood that he was always the center of attention by being so tall, and therefore needed to put those around him at ease. A man who would be capable of such intenese feelings that he could easily be moved to tears when thinking of those whom he loved and cared for. A man respected for his art, and his dedication to photography.   Visit the Peter Pfersick's exhibition "A vision of Latin America" in the ZoneZero Gallery.       http://zonezero.com/magazine/obituaries/pfersick/pfersick.html      

Tuesday, 12 April 2005

436. Tsunami

    Zone Zero dedicates this space to the catastrophe occurred in Asia. It is intended to show the events through the vision of different photographers to give a real dimension of the tragedy to the people that live far from it.   We will also post advertisements of missing persons or people that are in health care institutuons of which no information is available. We invite you to send your messages of support and comments, which will be published as we get them.   Go to site    

Thursday, 17 March 2005

438. The Planet is a Favela: Numo Rama

  When I was a kid, I was fascinated by the traveling photographers that went to far away towns to shoot portraits either on donkeys or on foot. They returned weeks later with the picture and got the rest of their pay. They were always welcome, except by my grandfather, who kept his distance, thinking they scammed money out of people. I can’t remember being photographed by any of them. I don’t have any pictures of my childhood. My oldest picture was shot when I was 16.   My name is Numo Rama and I am a photographer. I live in a poor neighborhood of Natal, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, with my wife and my two children. Even though we are financially stable now, I don’t feel better off than everyone else here. What I have is the feeling of having great social responsibilities towards the rest of the community.   I come from an underprivileged background, I lived in a small provincial town. My father still lives of farming and raising live stock. My mother worked as a maid. I was five years old when they separated. A year later my father killed another farmer in a duel and had to run away, so our life became extremely difficult.   - The hard days-   I went to live with my mother’s parents, who dwelled in a rich man’s land. We were poor, but my grandparents were even poorer. My oldest brother and I went through very difficult times during our childhood. My other brother was adopted by my father’s parents and my youngest brother always lived with my mother’s parents. But we were strong and kept ourselves active. My grandmother hit me almost every day.   I loved going to the city to see the fair, this was the invention that made my life.   For example, electric light had kind of a spell over me. I would stare at a lamp in an uncle’s house in the city for hours. I made myself suffer electric shocks several times, they would make my hair stand on an end. My mother hit me when I took out the lamp to get another electric shock. In my imagination, light had a smell, but only those electric shocks would bring it out. Radiance, life, everything was contained in the light.   When I was 13, I went to live with my father and worked with him in the farm. My father slaughtered the livestock and my brother cleaned off the meat to sell it on the local market the next day.   (I am currently working on a project called “Meat Eaters”, which is a 100% autobiographical. The images are very disturbing and since I began I haven’t been able to eat meat.)   Three years later I went to look for new experiences in the North, I went to the state of Acre near the Bolivian border. Eight years later, I reunited with my mother in the outskirts of Brasilia, where she still lives. From that point on, my life changed pace dramatically. That place left deep marks on me. Since I couldn’t change the past, I decided to learn from it. I got good lessons out of it. That was my true school, and those are my real assets.   To be honest, I don’t even know if I am a real photographer. Everything started out in Portugal in 1991. I arrived there as an economic refugee, escaping from Fernando Collor de Melo’s government, which had shattered Brazil’s economy. But in 1994, photography crossed my path. My girlfriend, who is now my wife, gave me my first book about photographic techniques.   - Discovering the World -   AI started out to explore the universe of the photographic image. It was all so vast and far from my comprehension, that several times, I tried to do anything but photograph.   Everything became more clear when I read the biographies of the greatest photographers of the different epochs.   I was thrilled when I read about Manuel Alvarez Bravo and the Mexico of his time, about the immigrant Tina Modotti and the American Edward Weston. About the political uproar and the active participation of the artists, the extreme, genius mural painters. Mexico was in turmoil and artists played a major role.   When I came across the work of Pedro Meyer in Sweden, it was easy to understand him because he was Mexican. Later on I identified with his boldness. I really enjoyed looking at a Mexican re-invent his work in the digital age. With Meyer, I truly conquered more space and flew higher.   - The Quest -   After a long, long quest -since I never had a teacher- I understood what I was lacking. I perceived that all art forms and expressions are intertwined. The world in which these photographers dwelled was full of diverse arts. They were friends with great painters, literary geniuses, composers, revolutionaries, celebrities and many more. I didn’t fancy being friends with that kind of people, but at least I could work on my own appreciation of the arts to understand its creators and their message.   After that, it all became easier. I simply mixed my own experience with the human being --which I deem to be the best school of all- a bit of general culture, a camera and a great dissatisfaction with the oppression of the ruling classes over the majority that is in disadvantage in every aspect of the social landscape. These are the elements that drive my work.   When I think about photography , I don’t think about photo in newspapers –which has great importance and should be governed by ethics, like everything we do in life-, what interests me about it is not just the habit of documenting. I don’t photograph everyday or every week or every month. I just do it when I’ve got something to say, and that only happens after a long reflection. The images become a graphic interpretation of reality that I want to transmit.     I recently did a documentary about the life of the garbage workers. I think this was the hardest place to work. It took me four days just to shoot the first images. The Brazilians that worked there did not understand why I was taking photographs. It was very strange for them, because the photographers that had been there before shot from the distance with huge zoom lenses and left immediately.   I lived there for two months. I am a human just like them. Why couldn’t I be there?. Determination and a lot of respect were the key ingredients for the success of the project. I always think that if I cannot achieve to represent my subject-matter as I wish, at least I can walk away having made some good friends.   In the images I show our the inertia of our consciousness. The inert consciousness has a lot of guilt because it knows what is going on and how something could be done about it, but it’s not. On the other hand, the active consciousness looks to act and bring about specific changes. This can be found in every layer of society, but it is always a small minority.     - Pain as an Industry -   My photography is not a denounce. All of those that can acquire information know what is happening in the deprived places. Those people or other entities can bring about real changes in society. Indeed, the whole planet is like a huge favela (slum) on the outskirts of the galaxy with some lavish neighborhoods -represented by the rich countries. I do not make my living out of photography. The material that has been sold outside of Brazil has been re-invested in social deeds. My work is more social than photographic. I make my living in a jeep showing my country to foreign tourists.   The industry of pain has established itself with plenty of violence in systems and societies. We certainly must react somehow. This has been my reaction, we work with the children of the neighborhood and photography allowed us to buy a big piece of land where a school will be built. We are struggling to erect its first walls, but it will happen, I know it because we want it to happen.   (*) FAVELA. This is the name of a wild flower that is given to the slums in Brazil   You can send your comments about this interview made by Miguel Angel Ceballos to the following address: maceballosf@yahoo.com.mx           http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/articles/ceballos/ceballos.html  

Thursday, 06 January 2005

440. Popular Imagery

  Send pictures that depict the visual identity of your community, they could be murals, graffiti, advertisements, houses or business signs.   Go to exhibition      

Friday, 17 December 2004

442. iView Media

  iView media is a program for making catalogues that help you to organize an finde your files easily; it is designed for photographers, filmmakers or musicians that work with a lot of material.   iView media has the capacity of handling up to 8000 files per catalogue in its regular version. It is very easy to use, you just have to drag the folder or folders to a window that shows its contents, in which the images, files or audios appear either as a list, as icons or one at a time. The images can be seen up to a 2000% and the video or sound files start playing with a single click.             The catalogue keeps a link with the original files without the need of having it stored in the same place as them. By not working directly over the original file , but with a pre-visualization copy instead, the system allows to copy, move or delete images from this window without having to localize them within the hard drive. You can make audio-visuals, contact sheets, print either in low or high resolution, make back-ups in a different folder, CDs or DVDs. You can also write reports about the material.       One of its most interesting possibilities is the capacity to create web galleries without knowing HTML. Each image appears as an icon, that has a link to see it enlarged in another window.   One of the program’s qualities is that it allows to import directly from a digital camera, but has the disadvantage of not being capable to read NEF files, such as the ones generated by Nikon.   It can read the metadata attached to the digital camera files, and it allows to add on more information to facilitate file searching using specific terms by the author of the file or the file organizer.   The program only takes up a space of 3MB in the hard drive and can read, among other types of files, JPG, TIFF, Photoshop, bmp, flash , mp3, AIFF. Quick time movies, Windows’ AVI and DV files. But it cannot read NEF, raw, postscript and PDF files.     There are two versions of iView media, the regular and Pro. The Pro Version has the capacity pf managing 128, 000 images per catalogue and features many more functions, the capability of importing more types of files, make more sophisticated audiovisuals and web galleries with more options than the regular version. This version is intended for its use by production film companies, press agencies or newspapers not really for freelance photographers. However, a large individual photo archive might require such a powerful organizing, search, and presentation tool.   The program is featured in English, French and German, you just have to visit www.ivew-multimedia.com and buy it for US$49.00. You download it and the license is sent vie e-mail. The Pro version goes for US$199.00.   Let me tell you about an experience we had. In Pedro Meyer’s studio we had to edit thousands of images of the record he made in the 80’s of the presidential campaign of the Mexican ex-president Miguel de la Madrid.   I had to edit a sample of the project with no less than 300 images to show it to other editors.   I received the folders with hundreds of digitalized images, using iView media, I opened windows and quickly stored them in different folders by just clicking the mouse. I was able to select 300 photos out of 5000. I copied them to a specific folder in which I stored the catalogue, which could be shown as an audio visual and was uploaded to deliver it to another editor, without altering the original folders and images.   What would happen if I should receive a call by an editor or simply I wished to find one of my images at this very moment, but I had no idea where it is stored because I don’t have any kind of a catalogue that can help me to find it among the hundreds or thousands of images I capture every year? The photographer’s tasks also include filing and making back ups and catalogues. A picture that cannot be found is a like a picture that never was taken, and the time we spend looking for it also means that many images will not become a photograph.   Tools such as iView media allow to optimize the creative process of the photographers by helping them to organize a photo archive.   Mariana Gruener mgruener@yahoo.com         http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/articles/ivewmedia/iview.html    

Thursday, 02 December 2004

444. Street Photography Revisited

    Several topics come together once again. On the one hand that old standing tradition of street photography and the question of what the limits are for “manipulating” an image and still consider it as photography.   I know, these are all hot buttons, which call into question so many of the old ways of looking and doing things. But we have to take risks as we move forward in this new age of photography.     First let me revisit the issues I brought up not too long ago about street photography.   Of course the issue of security for photographers has become more and more a problem in large metropolitan areas the world over. But then the other day I came across a small sign in a little photo store were they do the usual passport pictures, down the street from were I live. The sign read:   “Did you know that the world has as surface of 510,000,000 square kilometers?, Then why do you have to come to this little place and smoke here?"       We could apply the same notion to street photography, if the world is so large why do we need to take our cameras and photograph precisely in those areas that are actually very dangerous? Why not go to those spaces were you are welcome? I am sure everyone can understand the logic of this.   We have all heard horror stories about the dangers of street life in Brazil. Now coming from Mexico, I thought to myself that I would probably be able to cope with those issues in a recent trip I made there. But then there was also another issue, Brazil is the size of an entire continent, so to make those statements about street life for all of Brazil I thought was a bit of an exaggeration. And so it was. I did find that place were I was actually accepted.     I went in Brazil to photograph in the city of Trenedad in the state of Goias, and there no one bothered me in spite of carrying all my equipment around my neck in the midst of a crowd of nearly 300,000 thousand people during a religious procession. I was able to come and go at my pleasure with absolutely no major concerns, and that went on for the better part of ten hours. So it wasn’t a fluke.   The same thing happened to me the year before photographing in the streets of Madrid.   I am about to start a trip around the world. I will be going to Germany, Spain, Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Singapore and then the USA before coming back to Mexico City next January, I will be reporting back to you as the trip progresses as to what is going on with street life all over the world.       The other topic I was going to mention is something I already started to comment on in my previous editorial, and which relates to the manipulation or handling of the photographic image with new ways of moving the pixels around so as to give the image a combination of photorealism together with a more painterly look, both at the same time. I want to explore the visual impact that such a new form of photographic representation will actually offer the viewer.   It appears that there is plenty of room for a lot of very exciting explorations. At least it offers, to what would appear an old tradition, some new visual challenges to deal with.   Pedro Meyer November 2004   As always please joins us with your comments in our forums.     http://zonezero.com/editorial/noviembre04/november.html  

Monday, 01 November 2004

446. The Sad Song

  The Sad Song started out as an improvised melody and counter melody after I learned that my dog had cancer. The improv remained on my hard drive for nearly two years undeveloped.   In March my family found out that my father had cancer, and we spent the following month and a half by his side at the hospital, where he died. I had not been doing any music for probably a month after he died and I had really buried my emotions. When I returned to my studio I decided to finish the track. It was amazing, the melody acted like those floatation devices used to bring heavy sunken objects up from the bottom of the ocean, and up came my emotions.   Go to exhibition    

Tuesday, 19 October 2004

448. Jorge V. Gavilondo

  Date: September 15, 2004 3:22:55 PM CDT To: ZoneZero News   Estimados amigos de ZoneZero:   Los invito por esta vía a que revisen mi recién inaugurado sitio web (http://jgimage.smugmug.com)...les agradezco cualquier comentario... Soy un ferviente lector de los editoriales de Pedro y admirador de su fotografía... considero ZoneZero un foro importantísimo y de vanguardia en la orientación de los fotógrafos y particularmente los latinoamericanos, hacia una interpretación "revolucionaria" de las técnicas digitales en fotografía, y una visión más completa de toda esta actividad humana... a ello estoy dedicando parte de mis energías con mis colegas coterráneos...   Un saludo, Jorge V. Gavilondo La Habana, Cuba  

Wednesday, 15 September 2004

450. Juan Carlos Alonso Rico

  Date: August 26, 2004 5:10:33 PM CDT   Señores ZoneZero   Soy artista y fotógrafo colombiano. Actualmente resido y estudio en Barcelona.   Me gusta mucho su página. Desde hace un tiempo he estado buscando una página con información y trabajos sobre fotografía artística y experimental. La propuesta de la página como encuentro de fotógrafos, información, foros, etc. me parece muy bien organizado y claro; y me parece exelente que se de un énfasis muy grande a la producción latinoamericana.   Por otro lado me parece excelente que se haya incluído el trabajo "Photograph to Remember" via on-line, ya que desde hace mucho tiempo intentaba verlo.   Quisiera registrarme para recibir noticias del site.   Muchas Gracias y Felicitaciones Juan Carlos Alonso Rico  

Thursday, 26 August 2004