An Ode to the F

67 years ago this April Nikon announced the Nikon F SLR camera. To me, this is one of the most important cameras to have emerged in the 20th Century. Certainly, there were plenty of firsts from other manufactuers, such as Contax which produced the first pentaprism viewfinder for a camera in 1949 (the Contax S) as well as the first automatic diaphram lens in 1956 (the Contax F). The precurser to Pentax, Asahiflex, introduced the first automatic return mirror (the Asahiflex IIb) and of course the first true Single Lens Reflex camera was the German made Ihagee Kine Exakta in 1936. What made the Nikon F special was that it put a bunch of ‘firsts together’ and went on to become the professional system camera of choice for over a decade (some would argue for far longer). 

Street Photography Workshop with Myllo Menorah

Photographing people on the street has to be one of the most daunting things that a photographer can do. Some of us look at street photographers of yore as well as of today and are incredulous as to how they manage to do it. What exactly is that secret sauce that allows photographers to approach complete strangers in the street and create photographs of them? This has long been a question of mine too, and one which I grapple with constantly when I shoot on assignment. Enter, Myllo Menorah, a Durban based street photographer whose work is truly inspiring, brave and filled with pathos. Nagging and tugging on his arm and has finally relented and agreed to run a street photography workshop a small group of photographers. 

Introduction to Nik Color Efex Pro and U-Point Selections

I have just posted an introduction video on using Nik on vimeo which can be accessed on this link: https://vimeo.com/161909460

A couple of weeks ago Google announced that their popular Nik Collection of editing plugins would now be free. Gratis. No charge. Originally, before bought Nik, the full collection was a whopping US$349! Photographers believed that it was worth it that price. A couple of years ago Google bought out Nik and began to charge $149 for the collection. Fantastic news for everyone. Then the price was dropped further to $99. At that price it was hard to ignore. Now that that the full Nik Collection os completely free it would be silly not to give it a try. Even if only to use the excellent Silver Efex Pro2.

The instant that the Nik Collection became a free to use application, I received a stream of requests on how to use it. Here is a short video on the use of Color Efex Pro 2, and in particular the use of the u-point selection point for localized adjustments. Enjoy!

Shooting A Personal Project - Faces in my Life

The advice that is given and often ignored is to shoot a project. From the conversations of David Hurn and Bill Jay to the more recent Angela Farris-Belt, to the ever popular internet sensations like Scott Kelby; everyone advises budding photographers and old hands alike to shoot personal projects. Personally I have always found this extremely difficult. My mind needs the crunch that is a client based deadline to be proactive. Otherwise I find myself swanning from one thing to another. Projects like the book I produced for Standard Bank or the timelapse video I put together for Nature’s Light are a lot easier for me to do because someone is relying on me to do it. Give me a project and it gets done. The fear of letting someone down is an extraordinary motivator. When it comes to personal projects the only person there is to let down, is yourself. Maybe that’s worse. What it has meant though that personal projects in the past have been non-starters.