NEWS FLASH - "Non-photography Day 17th July 2006" !!!

NEWS FLASH - "Non-photography Day 17th July 2006" !!!

Image by Bobasonic
I read this on the BBC news site....

(pic above was from the BBC news site and was taken by Chilsta who's on Flickr!

"Photographer urges no-photo day

For irony fans everywhere, a photo of a sign for Non-Photography Day
A photographer from Brighton in southern England is urging the people of the world to take a day out and stop taking pictures.
Becca Bland has launched "non-photography day" - planned for 17 July - through a website together with a sticker and flyposter campaign in various cities in England.

Ms Bland told BBC World Service's Culture Shock programme that the idea has "gone global" with interest in Manchester, Leeds, London and Brighton, and even further afield in Australia and Japan.

She explained that she wanted people to "put your camera down and appreciate the moment you are in".

"Experience life in an unmediated fashion, without anything in front of your eyes. Live in the moment," she added.

'Celebrate, don't document'

Ms Bland got the idea for the day after reading various works about far-eastern Zen Buddhism.

She explained that she believes that in taking a photograph, people are trying to take possession of a place - but that photographs cannot give an "essence" of that particular place.

"For my beliefs - and for Zen beliefs - it is the essence, the whole that is more important " Becca Bland

The sticker campaign for the day has the message "celebrate the moment, don't document it".

"When you simply take photos of something, without fully engaging with it, you're assuming that all you can have and take is the actual appearance of a place - rather than other creative factors that exist in the place," Ms Bland said.

She added that a lot of people think that photographers concentrate on a small part of a place, in the belief that this can allow the detail to be better understood

"For my beliefs - and for Zen beliefs - it is the essence, the whole that is more important," she added.

"I think that's perhaps where photography does fall down - they've got that frame around it, and it's got this inability to capture the whole.

"Those things become signs and represent things, but they can never really be what the place is."

Camera culture

She added that people really committed to the idea could join the "non-photography police" - a group who are telling people about the day when they see them taking pictures on the street.

However, David Rowan, of the Trendsurfing column in British newspaper The Times, said he believes Ms Bland is "fighting a losing battle."

"There is also a 'buy-nothing' day, organised by anti-consumer lobbyists, and I still see shops pretty full the rest of the time," he said.

"There's an organisation called White Dot which tries to get us to switch off our TV for a day a year, and I still see the TV companies in business."

He added that while he thought it right to question the "culture of ubiquitous cameras," it is simply the way that technological developments have led to.

He pointed out that Microsoft is currently developing a project called My Life Bits, based on the idea of infinite storage space. By wearing goggles with a camera and microphone attached, the wearer can record and document everything they see and hear.

"If Becca wanted to be really popular in Britain, she would get closed circuit TV cameras switched off for a day, so they wouldn't be recording your car registration and they wouldn't be following you round the streets," he added. "

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5121856.stm

petting bumblebees

Image by zen
After I read Tom Brown, Jr's account of petting bumblebees, and his subsequent swollen finger and pride, I had to try this for myself. Actually, I first tried butterflies, and the principle is the same, just the worst a butterfly can do to you is to flutter off in a huff.

Late in the summer of '99, Julie and i were out taking pictures of butterflies along the road past the Fish Hatchery, when the Joe-Pye Weed was in full force, and the butterflies were all over the place. A few of them had been thru quite a bit (either traveling, fighting, or cars) and were quite a bit ragged. Most swallowtails didn't have tail-knobs, and many of the others had lost scales on their wings. Julie and i felt sorry for them and after standing around photographing them, they got pretty used to our presence. That day we both petted their furry little backs, especially the ragged ones that looked like they could use a scratch on the thorax.

A few weeks later, by myself, i was taking pictures of flowers along the Shut-In trail and it was a bit nippy. I noticed the bumblebees were sluggish and so, remembering Tom's account, i calmed myself, and practiced swaying with the breeze. After a while i started talking to them, telling them how i meant no harm and how amazed i was for their productivity (I'm not sure exactly WHAT i said, but i think its more important the good thoughts and soothing voice). Finally, after a good long time, i reached my finger out and stroked one of them that was pretty engrossed in the flowertop. She stopped cold, and raised her middle legs in a sort of warning stance, as if to say "Watch it, Bub!" but she didn't fly off. So after smiling at her and talking some more i touched her furry little back. I had to swallow the feeling of being thrilled, because i could tell the bees could sense my state, but i was amazed, too! I talked to her and lightly (you can't imagine how lightly!) kept stroking her back as she grazed. She even paused at times, making me think she might have even enjoyed it some. I tried other bumblebees, calming them and petting them. I could tell that good intentions were not enough, i had to still my internal dialog, accept both of us as equals in the world.

One bumbler was my favorite... she had a large narrow tuft of yellow-white hairs almost to her head. Made her look like she had a yellow mohawk. She was the toughest little bee, too. She warned me several times which made me wonder about how smart it was to press my luck, but finally she took a couple of swabs on the back. The photo above is not her. For this one i had to work the camera with one hand while stroking the bee with the other. The flash didn't seem to bother them, but i'm sure i wasn't as calm as before, either.

Still, i didn't get stung, and that's something. Now, maybe it's a personal prejudice, but there's no way i'd even try that with a wasp. They look like predatory miniature Stuka's or something, and i have no desire to pet them. Will probably go on to try it with honeybees though. They seem friendly enough.

_DSC0056-1

Image by bluemonkey.
wish it were full frame lens, though I think it is almost perfect lens , small, light, sharp and fast ...............I carry this every where I go when I take my Nikon out with me.

when I go out with my Canon I will take my EFS60f2.8 or 85 f1.8............

When I take both I will go with this lens on my D90 and 85f1.8USM on my 50D.
or AFS16-85VR on my D300 and EF135f2L on my 50D.

any way, this is my most used lens and really love it.

I also have the AF35f2D and my copy is quite good, very sharp at center , at coners not as sharp as this new G version but at least it works on my dad's D700 so I kept it in case Nikon D400 will disappoint me and force me to get the 700.

I want to stay with DX, though I am quite sure Nikon will cripple DXXX series or even discontinue and force all of us to go full frame if we dislike D90 successor or want more camera than that.

And Nikon is not alone doing this , Canon and Sony also doing the same thing , see there is no D400 coming, nor is the A700 successor , and the 60D will be really crippled compared to the 50D.......................

If the rumored Nikon DXXX that said to be annnounced in Aug is the D400 , I will re-think about this but if it is the D300s , I am sure I am right on this Nikon will not release the real D300 successor but just the D300 with video and SD slot, I dont need that..........

it is sad.

I may get the Sony A700 as my insurance cause I do really hate the idea getting full frame like my dad's 5D and D700 , on these bodies , I need a much longer lens than my EF300f4LIS or AFS300f4 and these long lenses are out of my reach..........

And I dont like full frame lenses cause most of these lenses are re-named film lenses from 1980th..............and I chose all my Nikon lenses for DX , the AFS16-85VR , Tamron17-50f2.8, AFS10-24DX, AFS35f1.8G, AFS50f1.4G(not DX but I use it for low light mid tele lens on my D300 and I dont want it to be a short normal lens) ,AF105f2DC, AFS70-200f2.8VR and 300f4................

But if I move to D700, I 'd have to get the AF135DC ,14-24 or 17-35f2.8, AF85f1.4D, 200f2VR, 400f2.8VR.............that is super expensive and I can't afford that unless I sell my car for the AFS400f2.8G , then how can I carry it out with me?

Hope , I dont have to go full frame and stay one of these 3 DX body producers as long as I can...........I think the Sony A700 will not replaced until next year as Sony will need to develop a new sensor for it , and so , the D400 will not be out until early April or May next year , this means , the rumored DXXX model will be the D300s...........

This is so bad , then I may move to Sony since all Nikon's future DX models will be designed based around Sony DX sesnors..............and this means Sony will always know its sensors better than Nikon and will eventually surpass Nikon in high ISO NR tech.

I played with a A700 many times , comparing it to my D300 and D90, I found out that the D300 has better signal processing program in camera but the sensors are the same or very similar according to RAW practitiner program ,which I used to analyize their unique RAW files.

I also get really impressed with Sony SSS super-steady-shot, Nikon and Canon force us to buy VR-IS lenses all the time and since lenses are used longer than bodies , so we will get our VR-IS sytem upgraded less often compared to Sony and Oly guys.

If I go Sony , my Tamron 17-50f2.8 will be stabilized , my old Minolta AF28f2.8 will be stabilized, so will be my Sigma 70-200f2.8HSM and 10-20EX.......................I only buy 3 Sony lenses , the 70-300SSM G, SAL50f1.4 and Sony Sal 35f1.4G.

If I think logically about this , Sony will be the cheapest system.

If Nikon and Canon disapponits me in Aug announcement , I will get a Sony A700 with Tamron.

Other wise , I will get the Nikon AF135f2DC or Canon EF35f1.4L again.

Framing is important

Image by tourist_on_earth
I jumped excitedly out of my car today when I saw an opportunity to try and emulate one of my flickr favourites *etoile*...alas my crying two year old in the back seat did not help me to find then zen moment that I had hoped for and this certainly isnt the tribute to her work I was hoping for...just poor framing. When I cropped to square as she does so perfectly well I realised my photo was not as it was supposed to be so this image is here to remind me that even in the chaos of a tree framing is important.

Making of an art car

Image by mogmismo
Ran into Brian Quinn painting his car during the photo shoot. He's since joined the Diloa group and put up his own shots. Much like Zen introduced me to the Diloa 1/2 way through the spring shoot. We keep growing!