teh wide!

Big TrainThe Wrong End of a Field Gun
A couple of test images from my Sigma 10–20mm lens. You have to get really close to things; for example, the front element of the lens was about a hand’s breadth away from the muzzle of the field gun.

The lens handles flare pretty well (the Super Wide Heliar 15mm sometimes went to pieces), and the D70 meters the wide lens accurately. I’m happy.

best … Leonards … EVER!!

best mini traffic cones ever

I found we had some of the best mini traffic cones ever in the office. They’re really tough, made of a kind of squishy plastic. We also have full-sized ones of the same material. Don’t know where we got them, but if Robyn Hitchcock ever starts up his cone artwork again, these would be perfect for miniatures.

Photos of the future

I’ve just ordered some digital prints from Future Photo. Their website seems to work pretty well. Let’s see how they turn out.

I do have one complaint — they send your username and password in clear
text by e-mail when you register. Bad futureshop, no FMCG!

photo printers

I want to print some of my D70 pictures, so I asked the GTABloggers what they used:

I’m looking for a non-proprietary upload system, so Ofoto is out. I’d like to try photocentre.ca, but I know no-one who has tried them.

bunny

tiny_bunny.jpg
We found a baby bunny by the side of the road. He seems a bit stunned, but otherwise okay.

Zoë has veterinarian training, so she’s looking after him.

He fits in the palm of your hand, and is unbearably cute.

Here’s a better picture (thumbnail links to larger image):

Dave’s picture of the bunny

Both pictures by Dave.

damn your photoshop, sir!

I’ve decided I really loathe all those composited, over-sharpened retouched images that folks spew out of photoshop. Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.

To this end, I will mostly photograph without lenses for a while, using pinholes. A small gallery of mostly pinhole images is here (or possibly here: Pinhole).

After all, as Cartier-Bresson once remarked to Helmut Newton: “Sharpness is a bourgeois concept.”

pinholes

I would have told you about my success with pinhole photography last night, but Toronto Hydro decided we didn’t need electricity. Here’s our backyard during a thunderstorm, taken on a 8×10″ paper negative in a modified mailing box. Effective aperture is f/75, exposure time 24’45”. Photo paper makes slow film!

backyard