Vision Landscapes

A sad day for those of us who live in Hawaii. Aloha Airlines, which has served the islands for 61 years, is ceasing all flight operations effective Monday. This is due to extensive competition from mainland Mesa Airlines (operating as go!) and high fuel costs. The shutdown of Aloha's passenger operations will also affect about 1,900 employees.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23872335

 
I rarely write about, or give a lot of consideration to camera equipment, because I see them as tools that allow me to do what I love most. However, I recently purchased a new Nikon F6 as a replacement for an older Nikon F5, and found myself mesmerized by this marvelous camera; it's fit, finish, layout and handling are superb.

Some will probably ask why anyone would buy a new 35mm film camera, especially one as expensive as this one, in this age of digital photography. As we will soon see, this camera is as sophisticated as any DSLR camera on the market, and there are still photographers, like me, who prefer to shoot film for a variety of reasons.

Initial Impressions

When I first received the camera I was immediately struck by the quality of its construction; the rubberized grip feels solid and secure, the layout of its various controls allow for fast and easy operation, without taking ones eyes from the viewfinder, and a build that is as solid as a tank. Being used to the previous generation camera, the Nikon F5, I was immediately aware of what I considered it diminutive size. The camera was just too small!! I questioned whether I could get used to using such a small camera. Fortunately, I had also ordered the optional MB-40 battery pack, which arrived the next day. This made a tremendous difference; the size, weight and balance of the camera was now perfect.

To see the full article, visit: http://www.traditionalphotographer.net/Articles.aspx?Item=2

del.icio.us Tags: Photography, Cameras, Nikon F6, Film

Waikoloa, Hawaii

I'm off for a few days on the Big Island, staying in the Waikoloa area. The trip here was uneventful, save the expected minor inconveniences of modern day air travel. I arrived shortly before 11:00am. The Kona area hasn't changed a lot since my last visit here, although there is a lot of road and building construction going on at the moment.

The weather near Kona is good, but the volcanic haze in the air is quite heavy. They said on the radio that the volcano (on the other side of the island) is currently putting out a record amounts of ash and fumes. According to an article in today's Honolulu Advertiser newspaper "Sulphur dioxide emissions on Thursday reached 1,800 to 2,000 tonnes per day, far above the 150 to 200 tonnes per day that is typical at the crater." It made for an interesting sunset, although I was in the wrong place to take advantage of it.

I'm going to add images of the hotel I stayed at, the Hilton Waikoloa, simply because it is a very stunning hotel; I would love to stay here again someday.

All images were taken with a Nikon D200, with a Nikon 18-70mm F3.5-4.5 G lens, at ISO 100. Additional images were taken (not shown here) on a Nikon F6, with a Nikon 24-120mm AF-S VR lens, on Fuji Velvia 50 and Fuji Provia 400F.

Quite often these days we hear of photographers leaving film and turning to digital. It is a rare, although welcome occasion, when we hear one leaving digital and returning to film. In the Kodak ProPass magazine, we can read the story of Singapore based photographer, Chi Kuang Hwa and his return to film. He writes:

Going back to film has also changed the way Kuang shoots.

 

“It’s a slower process,” he explains. “Using black-and-white film with a LEICA Rangefinder and a fixed lens forces me to think, to slow down, to feel, to anticipate.”

 

He adds that black-and-white film has a look that is very difficult to achieve digitally. “It has more gray tones, organic-looking grain, and a certain transition from your point of focus to the out-of-focus areas which is gradual and beautiful to look at,” he says. “I would blind-test my clients and they would consistently pick the black-and-white film images over the black-and-white digitally captured ones.”

The full article can be found here: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/member/ProPass/magazine/V407/Hwang_GradualReturn.jhtml?id=0.1.14.12.28&lc=en

If you are like me, and still like film, I've got a new website in development - http://www.traditionalphotographer.net. This website is for those who shoot film, with resources, articles and a discussion forum for this target group. The site is in development, but should be up in about 2 weeks time.