Sorry, but this is not really new news.
Those spinning plates holding your precious data, and yes, I mean photographs, will only really spin for so long.
That’s why we are always advocating a good back up plan. As does everyone else in the industry.
OK, that’s the info, what are some other methods to save the files?
You know about backing up to an external hard drive, or 2. Some people I know go 3x, especially if it’s a paying job. Short cost insurance.
What we do is go another step: back up the files to a solid, non-moving part, medium – DVD’s.
Now they hold 4.7 gb of material, (actually less, about 4.3gb when you get in there), or 8.5gb on a double layer.
These DVD’s are coated with an organic ink that the red laser write on.
The key word here is organic.
” Don’t panic, it’s organic” may apply to food, but when it is holding onto your files for dear life, it can be a problem down the road.
Being organic, it does break down eventually. If you go back into any CD’s or DVD’s you’ve burned in past years, you will probably notice some discoloration. The sweet deal on the spindle looked good then, but if your photos are getting drop-outs as they sit there, was it worth it?

So we use Archival Gold discs. They are coated in, yep, gold, an inert material. So the breakdown will take soooo much longer. The Archival DVD”s discs from Delkin are rated at 100 yrs. Works for us.
But that’s not the only part of the story.
You have to store them in a proper sleeving and binder set-up. Once again, the box of 100 thin jewel cases we got from Staples, were a huge saving, but the destructive fumes they emit (you can’t smell, but the disc can) will defeat the purpose of an archival disc.
We spent days backing up home movies and photos to these DVD’s and placing them in proper archival sleeves and binders.
Oh, and don’t forget- NEVER USE A SHARPIE ON A DISC!!!!
That intense smell you get when the cap comes off ? Yep, that’s helping destroy the disc, too. Delkin and others make a proper pen for that.
Moving on.
The huge files that come from TIFF conversions or even just RAW images, can fill up your hard drive super fast. If you are shooting a 24mg file per shot, and doing a normal shoot, how many cards may you fill up? 1? 2? 6?
And we use 4 and 8 gb cards standard. So then each full 4gb card , fills a single layer DVD and the 8gb fills a double layer.

We made a move to Blu-ray. With almost a 25GB capacity on a single layer, you can put a few cards onto one disc. And if you are adding video to your multi-media capabilities, you know you’ll need that space. Most vid cameras are using some kind of a flash card to shoot with so, unless you are keeping those cards as the master forever, you’ll need to back up to a drive and disc.

The drive we are using currently is the Delkin Blu-ray burner, at 4x speed, we know it’ll get leapfrogged, but it’s right for right now.
It is an external device we can hook up to the MacPro or the MacBook Pro on the road, and save our files to a nice safe and secure place.
Comes with a case and all of the cables you need. Yes, it does need AC, so you maybe waiting till your back at the hotel, or your studio to burn.
The unit is backward compatible, so it will access most of your CD’s and DVD’s. It can play blu-ray discs on your computer, but not on your TV, unless of course you have your computer wired into your flat screen. But it’s not what it’s intended for. We know. We tried.

The discs are a not cheap but you work is worth a bit extra, right?
Save the cheap discs for a quick file transfer.
The best deal right now is at B&H and even the official Delkin site sends you there.

This has saved us time, and gave us peace of mind. Those nice 200yr Blu-ray discs are holding onto our hard work, and they don’t have to spin at all. Till we need them again.
ahhhh.

Ready?
Here we go with some topline on some Nikon new releases!-

First up, there is an update on the D300 now called the D300s with HD video capabilities, plus external audio recording, AND auto focus in video mode. Utilizes that awesome Nikon 51 point focus system. Dual card slots (CF and SD) allows you to record video on one card and stills on the other.

Love that dual card slot that you can configure as you see fit: auto back-up, overflow, vid on one, stills on the other. Full Nikon PR release after the jump.

Next is the D3000:

shoots RAW, 10.2 megapixels, 3D tracking focus systems that’ll keep your subject in focus, as they crawl or run.

A very cool built in Guide, which is kinda like an instruction manual onboard to help you when you have a question on the fly.
Some retouch tools, like selective focus, give you some very creative options. It’s capable of wireless flash triggering, and with a kit lens
of 18-55mm, it comes in at under $600. USD.

If you tried to get a 70-200mm Nikon lens lately you would be having a bit of trouble. The pro go-to lens has been updated with better glass and silent wave motor, and VR II (vibration Reduction) And a newer price.

The 18-200mm, which we love as the perfect travel lens in DX format, had a simple problem which has been fixed!!
The weight of the glass would always make the lens slide to it’s full extension when held downwards.
Well, no more!
There is now a zoom lock that will keep your zoom choice in one place. Nice. Plus VR II.

Was that enough for now?

Click here for more including Nikon’s press release and some more photos of the goods.
(some more news next week!)

Continue Reading »

Summer time usually brings a galleries “permanent collection” out from storage, as many folks aren’t staying inside looking and purchasing art.
But there are always some gem events out there that get you out of the flip-flops, and shift your mind set.
This weekend in Los Angeles, there were 2 events that we attended on Saturday, and we’ll share them, not to say “hey, that was cool”, but perhaps get you thinking about other things and future plans. And even things in the past.

We went from an exhibit of vernacular photography, curated by one of our favorite photographic…historians?…researchers?…hmmmmm…..anyway, her name is Babbette Hines. Well, not sure how to catagorize her, but she has an innate sense of the historical, near anthropological nature, of photography in our lives.
She deals it out to us in a very comfortable form. Nothing clinical, nor judgmental, but familiar.
Her first collection was called Photobooth, which we love, but it has sadly gone out of print.
A collection of random people’s photographs, found in every flea market and yard sale, telling the tale of that moment. You know the photos: the single strip of 4 poses and at least one would have a contorted face, designed to make you smile. Many times, multiple folks would pile in the booth to make sure that they would remember their moments.
It still goes on, but Babbette’s sensibility gave us a shared memory in book form. Yes, you may remember we gave one of these away awhile back. It’s gained in value, too.

This same style has been brought to one of our favorite, eclectic stores in Los Angeles, OK, in a 1st time gallery exhibition in the space called “You’re not The Boss Of Me” about women going their own way.

She has collected a number of these vernacular images, and in an organic type of showing, placed them onto shelves normally reserved for books. As one image sells, it is replaced by another.
We urge you to check out this store online and see what they offer. Larry, the owner, said that since he is not a bookstore, he is not beholden to anyone to carry specific books, so you will find one of the best ranges of photography books we have seen in a very long time. Along with one of kind household items. Yeah, we know. Crazy. Crazy GOOD!
And visit Babette Hines site, FoundPhoto, where you will find some perfect examples of the genre and see when an exhibit may be coming to you.

We then moved down the road to the Annenberg Space for Photography, where after a day long workshop, Steve McCurry, famed National Geographic photographer, presented a slide show of most iconic work. Of course he included the tale of this, his most famous photograph of the Afghan girl, whom he rephotographed 17 years after her portrait graced the cover of National Geographic.

While describing the situations that surrounded his photography, he had an almost cavalier attitude, but we suspect it was more about his on-stage persona, although he did admit to being a hard taskmaster with his assistants.

Here is a vid from youtube as he is interviewed in a Kodak “moment”.

His use of color is phenomenal, and, as his favorite film stock was Kodachrome, he will be the shooting the very last roll of Kodachrome to come off of the Kodak line.
Of course not all at once.
He plans to have it live in a camera and take it around to his assignments and shoot frames as he sees the appropriate subject.
One thing he pointed out though, is that he feels that every color image must be able to work in B&W to be successful. Perhaps because it used to be that you may not know if an image would be finally published in color or B&W, depending on the editor and stories needs.
He also leads weekend workshops, so you may want to check on his site for more info on that.

And he was signing books at the end of the lecture, which were oversized (15.5″ x 11″), horizontal, beautifully printed, tomes which did not have any photographs in the gutter!!!
Thank you Mr. McCurry for not cutting off your photographs. Whew. Always feel that you should either make the book bigger or the images smaller. Why dissect a photograph in to the center binding of a book?

So there you have it. A day in LA, with hopefully, enough links to get you started looking at some of the subject matter we discussed.

Oh, and if you are planning a trip to LA, check out the list of speakers and events at the Annenberg. It limited, but free, so get your name in there.

( At the end of the article we have a special 20% discount code for you if you’d like to go ahead and purchase one of these from the manufacturer. )

You have seen these devices, we’re sure.
Interconnected ball joints, topped with a platform that lets you connect almost anything; heads, cameras, flash units, and video cameras.

Essentially letting you put your gear where you want it to be.

We’ve worked em out and found them to be entirely essential in our gear bags.
They have a full range of sizes, depending on the gear you need to support.
Honestly, the most prevalent size has been the smallest one, the orginal .
Everyone I know has one of these in their bag, even if they just use it for a point and shoot camera. The just tight enough joints allow you to maneuver and bend the legs, to get the camera to point in just the exact location you want it to.
But that’s when you use it as a straight tripod type.
You can also attach it to any thing you can wrap its legs around.
Like this.

attached to the handle of my roller camera bag.

Moving up the size ladder, is a unit designed for the new generation of smaller DSLR’s, with a standard kit lens lens. The new units are light enough to be secured with this one.
The additional option you get when you move up to this size is a pretty versatile option of a flash shoe.
Now this is a null, or cold shoe, only allowing you to mount your speedlight, but the beauty is you can mount it anywhere you need to!

Sure you will need to either program it to be wirelessly triggered, or add a trigger slave (yep, it can handle the weight.)

Both this size and the smaller one have collar locks and release buttons to help insure that what you attach, stays there. There are a few different plates to attach items: tripod screw, flash shoe, bubble level, and adhesive mounts. Just attach them to the item you’re using, unlock the collar, slide it in, lock the collar, and you’re good to go.

Next up on the list is the SLR Zoom unit. We dig this one especially since it holds our B-roll HD camera, with Lite and mic. rec. perfectly and with a ball head, you can get where ever you need it to be. Which is the main point of these units anyway.

The biggest question we had was on our Nikon D700 and a 24-70 2.8 lens. We went for the new Gorillapod FOCUS
Could we trust it? would it get a little tipsy?
Continue Reading »

This has got to be one of our new favorite books.
Photographing America: Henri Cartier-Bresson / Walker Evans is on the coffee table and in 2 days, has been opened about 6 times.
Actually, that’s a lot in a short time.
Now , this is a book we first found in Paris last fall, while visiting the HCB Fondation. It is essentially the catalog of a show they exhibited, except brilliantly printed in hardbound form.
If it seems vaguely familiar, we did a giveaway of the original French edition months ago.
This newly released English edition made it almost a new book for us.
Not always the sharpest knife in the drawer, we do not speak nor read French.
The accompanying text is priceless in this edition.

Oh, wait…we got ahead of ourselves. Back to what’s in the book.

The book draws comparisons and distinctions between these two photographers from their body of work photographing America between 1929 and 1947.
Although Walker Evans photographs were made during the majority of time noted in the books title, Cartier-Bresson’s were mainly made in the last 2 years of range.
He had come to the US preparing for a huge show at MOMA, but the curators were quite surprised to see him, as they thought he had been killed in the war, and were planning a posthumous exhibit. Well, he took to the road in the interim to photograph America.

That is actually another really cool story, that ends with a book, that we gave away once before, and may do again.

The two photographers had actually influenced each other, and had a mutual respect for each others work.
The different visions of a similar subject, is always great to see, as you add the 3rd element of perception, in understanding the two artists work. Truly though, both men never thought of their photography as fine art, as painting or the written word is. Looks like it is now.

Accompanied by Truman Capote for the first leg of his trip he described the French photographer as “dancing along the pavement like an agitated dragonfly, three Leicas winging from straps around his neck, a fourth one hugged to his eye â€: clicking away with a joyous intensity, a religious absorption”.

Walker Evans has always been considered a quintessential American photographer, and although his imagery of America was now heading towards the bleak, his influence on Henri Cartier-Bressons work is unquestionable.
And the same goes for Walker Evans being influenced by the man who defined the term ” decisive moment .”

So it is fair to say that his book may hold you spellbound, and the written words will give you a context to, perhaps, place these two masters work into.
Each photo has it’s own page to live on, and the printing is superb.
We are very happy to offer this book this week for the giveaway.
Just remember you have to be signed up for the NEWSLETTER to be eligible, then on Weds. morning at 9:00AM PST, you’ll get an email from us with the full details on getting a copy of this book for free.
Even if you don’t get it gratis from us, you should click here
and order one up. Whether you photograph on the street or just appreciate it when it’s done well, this deserves space in your life.
Next week we are giving away some gear, so the switch is in the air.

Hope you’re having a great summer!