Qualities

Campagnolo Record Ultra 10 speed ergo

In this previous blog I mentioned my new tool. It’s called Leica Q, my first piece of this famous manufacturer.

Lux, as a light art show in the dark night of Finnish winter is quite a tough test for a camera. I think The Q performed well. Not that I was terribly unhappy for performance of several M43-bodies I have been shooting for many years previously. Actually, it’s quite amazing how well recent Olympus bodies have handled conditions like these Lux nights – considering their small sensors.

What have disturbed me in basically all my M43-cameras has been handling. It’s nice that camera body is light and small – but it not so nice if it still has almost as many buttons as bigger DSLRs. They just are smaller and closer each other. Handling of The Q is simplier, it hasn’t yet really grown into my hand, but I already think I’ll like its handling much more.

I’m not sure if any digital camera can fit your hand like a glove to your hand, but The Q comes close. For me it’s important. Photographing is about seeing and reacting quickly. Which means that camera has to have so straightforward handling that you don’t have to pay attention for it when shooting.

Suitable object for a Leica Q test shot: Campagnolo Record Ultra 10-speed lever. Top quality road bike component. Probably the best one of it’s era – arguably, of course. It’s after all a matter of taste, Canon/Nikon vs. Leica, Dura-Ace vs. Record…

Nine Views

I have never thought myself as a great black and white photographer. Quite opposite, color has been my strong field. I don’t actually ”look for colors” when shooting, but when I´m going through and editing photos I don´t have to do a deep self analysis to notice that colors are The Thing in many succesful shots of mine. So I guess that colors are somewhere in me all the time, some kind of natural or intuitional thing that just is there, influencing my photography in background.

Despite of that, when I started to think about offering a small collection of prints I right away turned towards black an white. Even for my own surprise, maybe. Going outside of comfort zone? Not really. I played around with few photos for a while, maybe couple of days, on my Mac and that was it. When I found the recipes I liked then rest of the process was just doing it, with small individual adjustments.

The result is set of nine images shot during autumn 2014 exept one which dates back to 1999. No strong theme, but all are landscapes – most actually cityscapes shot in Helsinki. Couple of them are pure nature shots, one is about pure brutalistic construction of urban environment. Most have a combination of nature and human intervention. So I guess that might be the loose theme of this set. How we build our environment successing or failing in fitting our doings with all that has been there before us. Trees and rocks, rivers and moss.

Prints will be ready for ordering later in February or early March.

Holz Hollywood : 30 years of Portraits – The Eye of Photography

There is some magic in classic portrait. In good one.

Basically, tight framed portrait in black and white is something we all have seen thousands of times. Still, when photographer have succeeded in his work – has been sensitive, reactive, carefully looked and listened, felt the shooting situation – the end result is pleasure for eye of the viewer.

Like these portraits by George Holz.

Holz Hollywood : 30 years of Portraits – The Eye of Photography