Is your wife in to (nudge nudge) -PHOTOGRAPHY- (nudge nudge) ??? (Photography)

Member Name: bigbtommy

Product:	Photography
Date:	11/11/01 (292 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, unique, artistic

Disadvantages: Cameras expensive, As is processing

Thanks to the ever-inventful Monty Python team for the title. OK, it's not as good as Conor and Kieran (the youngest members of the Murphy company) think up, but I like it. This opinion is all about photography.

I love photography. Really enjoy it. It's an artform that lives forever. Unlike most art it can take place on two levels. You have all those party 'snaps' recording a moment of drunken laughter and glee. Hee hee. Hic. And then you can have 'real' photography. Where you go out with the intention of capturing something good, and come back with a photograph or two.

I much prefer the second, mainly due to not being a loud, extrovertive grinning (and often drunken) idiot. I am not great. I'm pretty poor at photography, but if you enjoy it, it's worth doing.

I use a 35mm. Thanks to having a family of photographic enthusiasts, I have access to loads of cameras. My grandad, when he passed away, left to the rest of the family a collection of about 11 or 12 cameras. All sorts. Mostly, I have been using them to take shots.

What type of shots? I have been trying my hand at both colour 'snaps', which are quite interesting. But I find it most interesting doing black and white. The contrast is more interesting than colour can ever be. You can express a lot more without colour sometimes.

For example, today, I went down to the coast and was taking beach pictures. That was good fun. Dogs, people are alright, but the most interesting things have to be windbreaks, stone patterns, pools of water, water flowing, blocks of abandoned wood and the posts to tie boats to. Also, I'd like to try some London photography sometime. Perhaps during the Christmas break, I'll pop up to London and take some photographs.

But unlike most of the 'Kodak-brigade' who take their party/holiday snaps, I try and develop my own. In black and white, it's relatively easy as the temperatures and
times are lower than when using colour. I haven't got access to the sort of equipment and processing chemicals you need for colour anyway. I am not going to go in to a long drawn article about how to process a film, as it's rather long and boring. But, read some books and talk to local camera enthusiasts to get some advice. Perhaps they'd show you, although frankly, the word dark-room usually means that you can't -SEE- anything...!

The other aspect of photography that I'd really like to try out is digital photography. I have, in the course of my studies and work, used a digital camera. They're a pain in the ass! Menus, memory cards, not pressing the button hard enough... and then we get on to PC's!!

But that's just due to not knowing much about the camera. If I had my own camera (like a Sony Cybershot... I wish), then I'd learn everything about it, and could go out, shoot and bring it back to my Mac and play about with it on Photoshop. That's a logical extension of the photographic art. (Read Todd L's article on it...) You can take things out that you don't want, put things in again, and generally play about with your photographs. I haven't even mentioned Kai's PowerGoo yet...

The great thing about photography would have to be it's uniqueness. It may sound cheesy, and crap, but every moment is unique. (No, this isn't a teen B-movie). But, when you take a photograph, you have taken a moment in time, recorded it on to film, and will (eventually) have a print of it. Nobody else will have that print. That is, unless they were standing right next to you and took the shot...


And, as my philosophy goes: a cliche a day keeps the doctor away.... a picture speaks a thousand words. Well, even bad ones can. So, go out, get a cheap camera (one of those disposables even...), go somewhere interesting (try the countryside, or the middle of a big city like London) and get snappi
ng. It's interesting what comes out at the end.

GLOSSARY
So you can keep up with the camera jargon, I'll be adding new words to this list every few days.

Apeture - on your lens, how wide the hole that lets the light is. A wider apeture will let in more light, and a smaller apeture, less light.

ASA / ISO - The 'speed' of the film. If your just starting out, and are going to take daytime shots go for ISO's around 100 / 200, for more general purpose go for 400, and if your shooting in dark areas, use 800, 1600 or 3200. For those getting a bit more advanced, use push/pull services from your lab.

--
thanks everybody for reading.
[] bigbtommy | 2001

Summary: