Lion Sculptures

Sculpture and public spaces are ubiquitous throughout Europe. Whether it's a bust of some historical figure, a Stalinist sculpture from the Soviet Communist era, or some completely random non-sensical artwork, you are sure to get your fill of public art just by taking a stroll through any European city. I found that sculptures of lions were a fairly common sight, and while there are far too many to post, I do like these particular ones I shot in Lviv (Ukraine) and Budapest (Hungary).

George Mach, Contributing Photographer?!

I should really be in bed, but I just got asked to contribute photos to an architecture magazine some students are doing at ACAD (Alberta College of Art and Design). Even if things don't pan out, I'm still super excited that I even got asked! EEEEEEEEEE!!!!

-G

Photo weekend with my niece

My bro and my niece came to visit for Chinese New Year's, and it's always refreshing to take pictures of a model that actually likes it when I point a camera in her face. I got to mess around with my 50mm prime, the SX-70, as well as the Diana Mini with Instax back. I love how each of these shots turned out - the light flare in the three shots with the 50mm prime, the yellow hues of the Polaroid, and then the presentation of the Fuji Instax shots as a triptych. A weekend of family time and photography... absolutely perfect.

Test Drive: Alien Skin Exposure 3 for Lightroom

I took a brief test drive of Alien Skin's Exposure 3 Lightroom plug-in, and thought I'd give a quick review for anyone interested in using it. Exposure is Alien Skin's software suite that simulates the look of various film stocks to give your banal digital photos a retro analog look and feel. I'd used a previous version of this in Photoshop, and it was okay, if a bit on the slow side. The plugin for Lightroom does seem to run a bit faster than in Photoshop, but that could also just be a fault of my poor underpowered iMac.

Having only played with a few sliders and presets quickly, I would say my initial impression of the software is good. There are easily over a hundred different settings you can choose as starting points, each one simulating a specific colour or b&w film look. All the major chrome and colour negative film stocks are there, in regular and cross processed form. Prefer b&w? Well you can simulate pretty much every major variety of those stocks as well, with or without grain. Purists will obviously frown on this - if you want a true film look, just shoot film. But there are settings for film types that no longer exist (kodachrome!!), which render that argument moot. Then you can tweak colour, tone, focus, grain, and what they term 'age' (this is where you add dust and scratches for a truly authentic vintage analog look). The tone curve in Exposure feels more versatile than the one in Lightroom, which limits the number of points you can plot and move on the curve. The Exposure tone curve is actually much more like the one in Photoshop, with individual channels, as well as your overall curve. The grain function is fairly useful as well, especially when using older versions of Lightroom, which don't have grain controls for you to add it if you so desire. The closest you could get in those was to use the 'add noise' function, which was rather useless.

Now having espoused some of the good, I do have a few beefs with the software. I don't like that the Exposure plug-in isn't directly integrated into Lightroom's develop module. Instead, you access it by selecting the photos you want to edit, then choosing 'photo>edit in>Exposure 3'. This then brings up it's own interface for you to do your edits, and you have to close it before the edited version shows up in your Lightroom library. I dislike this for a couple reasons. Mainly, it's that this prevents you from coupling Lightroom presets with the effects in Exposure in any easy way. You have to make all your adjustments in one, then the other. I feel like I'd want to make changes using Lightroom presets WHILE simultaneously working with the Exposure settings. Another big beef I have with Exposure itself is that you can only choose one analog film process per photo in its interface, so you can't compare the differences between the various processes as easily as you could if you were working directly in the Lightroom library and develop modules. It's a minor annoyance, but still... Similarly, you can't switch between b&w effects and colour effects on the fly. You must choose one or the other when you launch the Exposure plug-in, which again is a hassle.

Having said all that, these are more petty inconveniences than actual debilitating hurdles for the software, so take all that I've said with a grain of salt.

Overall, I would say that without going into a full blown point by point explanation of each of the features in Exposure 3, I would say that they are mostly useful, and if you aren't interested in hours and hours of retouching and editing in photoshop to get a certain vintage analog look, then Exposure certainly is a good alternative.

Disclaimer: I'm not a power user by any means, and I don't think I've ever done a software review before. So this crappy review will probably only be useful for similar folks who have about as limited knowledge of computers as I do. I hope you found something useful here. If not, go read a real review. ;P

La Blogotheque Music Blog

Just discovered this music blog called La Blogotheque that features 'Take Away Shows'. You get to see some of your favourite bands playing live impromptu accoustic shows in some weird venues. Spoon plays 'Black Like Me' at the back of a deserted hotel, Yeasayer perform crazy awesome acoustic versions of '2080' and 'Tightrope' at one of their buddy's houses (where an angry neighbour informs them of the excess noise levels mid-set), and Phoenix plays Liztomania on the open air top deck of a hop-on/hop-off bus in Paris (complete with onlookers who have absolutely no idea who Phoenix are). Totally Rad!! And some of the bands allow you to download the sets as MP3's, while others give you the videos in iPod format.

Spoon | Black Like Me | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

#87.2 - YEASAYER - 2080
Uploaded by lablogotheque. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Phoenix - Lizstomania / One time too many - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Plitvice National Park

These were taken at Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, not far from Zagreb. Taken around noon, so even in the shade, I had to slap on a polarizer, crank down the ISO to the lowest setting, and still set an aperture of f/13 before I could get a decently long shutter speed for the top three (handheld at 1/6 sec or so as I didn't have a tripod).

Life Drawing at Harcourt House

Scans of a recent Life Drawing session I attended. I wasn't terribly satisfied with my results from this one, but they can't always be winners.



Pentel Pocket Brush and Copic Markers


2B Pencil


Pilot Uniball Ink Pen

Adventures with the Polaroid SX-70

A bit of Polaroid love for you. I took the SX-70 out for a walk yesterday downtown with Anita, and I just cannot get over how wild and unpredictable the colours of instant integral film are. I love the tactile and physical nature of the experience of shooting polaroids. Seeing the photo spit out the front of the camera after you click the shutter, and then watching as the photo develops in your hands over the next few minutes is a feeling like no other. And then the elation you feel when the photo turns out even more soft, dreamy and beautiful than you had hoped is overwhelming in a way that no digital camera can ever replicate. I've got about 85 Polaroid shots left (not that Impossible Project replica stuff), and will savour every last morsel...

These are scanned versions of the originals, but they really don't do the originals any justice - there is a warmth, richness of colour, and depth that is lost in the scanning process, but it's the best I can do short of having you come over to view them.

Sprocket Rocket

We made a pilgrimage to The Camera Store this afternoon in search of a fairly new to market toy camera. I didn't see what I was looking for, so I inquired with some dude who offered us assistance. I said, "Do you carry the Sprocket Rocket?" His reply was an incredulous giggle, and that was when I realized that 'Sprocket Rocket' (for folks who don't religiously follow toy camera developments) does almost sound like it could be a phallic sex toy. Embarrassment aside, they don't sell this camera there, and we left more than a little disappointed.

Oh well, until I get my hands on one, I'll continue to do semi-wide/ panoramic sprocket shots through my Holga. Photos below taken in Budapest, Hungary.

Doodles

Random doodles scribbled on a scrap page of notes I took during a meeting. The elephant represents the giant weight of accumulated stresses of my current job. I can't wait to go back to my old one in a couple months.