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 Taken with Holga 35mm Pinhole Camera using Tri-X 400 film, self-developed in Rodinal using stand development. In recent years, photography has changed so much in the world from what it used to be. The advancement in photographic technology, the “super-duper-magical” digital cameras which can shoot at ISO1million (very soon I guess)… , the BOOMING camera-trading industry, the almost complete death of film once (Thank God, it’s very much back alive!), the death of very good professional labs…(they are still not revived yet)… , and the influx of thousands of “professional photographers” who become “professionals” literally overnight by getting themselves a 2000 bucks DSLR.
Recently, we have the PC Fair in Malaysia, and it’s not the first PC Fair to have camera booths selling cameras in it. I thought PC means personal computer? I know me and my wife are backdated… as my wife still asked me, “why are they selling cameras at a PC Fair?”
So many-a-times, I asked myself,” why the hell have I gone digital?”
Because of work, I’ve “gotta” upgrade my digital cameras every few years. (nowadays, the advancement is so fast that it’ll probably be shortened to every one year). Do I really have to upgrade? Even for photo-enthusiasts, they are upgrading, many even quicker than the pros usually. I only know of one wedding photographer around me so far, who upgrades as fast as a rich photo-enthusiast/gearhead, that most of us can’t even keep up to half his speed. LOL… :p
 Shot at a wedding, Nikon FM3A, 85mm F1.8, Tri-X 400, self-developed in Rodinal. What has photography become?
It used to be about mastering the ART of capturing fleeting moments that passes us by too quickly that a paintbrush is hard to describe. Is it still? Oh yes… maybe… and it’s has gone so much easier today with digital cameras isn’t it? Face-detection, smile-detection, what else?
But, why is it that it doesn’t seem any more enjoyable than the old days, when we don’t get to see the results immediately, when we often screw up in our exposures, etc. and etc.. For the new generation, you possibly do not know what I am talking about, then maybe, you should really try getting an old film camera, pop a roll of film in it, and try it out for yourself?
We have heard that Olympus has in her plans, the potential of making cameras that can shoot up to 100 frames per second, like what Casio once did… except that this time, if it’s successful, the images are gonna be stunning. It’s the “motion-jpeg concept” they talked about… when I can imagine future wedding photographers inviting their clients into their posh and cosy lounge, looking at huge screens with a remote control in their hands, viewing “motion-jpegs” or shall we call it video? … and pressing the pause button whenever they see a “moment” to do a screen capture for output as an enlargement print. Oh, not-to-forget some soft background music and two glasses of champagne too… Now, isn’t that lovely?
Will Henri Cartier-Bresson jump out of his grave since he strongly believed in “decisive moment” by the photographer but now, it’s about “decisive pauses” by the audience?
 Shot with a camera called the Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super, made in 1959.
- Also shot with the 1959-made Contaflex, using cheap China Lucky Color Film
I am just being emotional again.
Photography is about being emotional. The whole photography process is emotional. By introducing “better” cameras that supposedly make life easier for the photographer to concentrate on ARTS can also at the same time, take away certain pleasures the photographer is enjoying. I am imagining and asking myself, “if the whole world shoots using the “motion-jpeg/video concept”, will I still be a photographer? ”
I know it’s definitely exciting for technology to advance like this… exciting for the engineers, NOT the artists, not really for me. It’s a cool gadget to have, but not for serious photography I would wanna do.
Photography is such a hybrid. It involves heavily with gears and instruments, and yet you can develop it as ART. So, it’s not surprising that many photographers are more “involved” with changing equipments than actual shooting. You change your camera, you get a different result. Take the camera away from the photographer, and he/she can’t produce pictures anymore. Whereas, a painter can still try painting with his/her fingers. So, it’s definitely highly equipment-dependent.
But how should we develop our artistic vision in the midst of all this technology advancement? Cameras are no different from mobile phones nowadays. The newer and better cameras are always luring us to believe that owning them can make us better photographers, which is TOTALLY UNRELATED to your personal photographic vision!
 Taken with Rollei 35, Ilford XP2, part of my personal project "Cari Makan"(earn-a-living).  Also taken with Rollei 35, but on Kodak BW400CN. Simplify!
I have ever mentioned that the Olympus E-P1 helped me in expanding my photographic vision, unleashed the experimental part of me, and that it is a camera that gives you great JPEGs without much retouching. I used it in automatic mode so I could concentrate on my photographic vision. That’s one way. Get a camera which can produce wonderful images without having to do much post-processing and in-camera settings. Set it to auto and concentrate on your composition.
Shoot film.
Shooting film slows you down. From shooting thousands with my DSLRs, I slowed down to shooting 36 per roll, a few rolls per week. Recently, I shoot just 12 shots a day on my favourite medium format camera for about 3-4 days per week. I am telling you this “slowing” is gonna continue for me. I am currently addicted to seeing as high as 10-11 keeper shots out of 12 per roll. And this feeling definitely beats having 30 keeper shots out of a hundred odd digital snaps.
Photography: ART or Gadget Lifestyle for me?
It’s still partly ART and partly a gadget lifestyle for me since I am often tempted by good old film cameras and sometimes the small digitals. :p But, I’d rather keep to my First Love which is Shooting! I WILL NOT spend more time on the computer than going out there for actual shooting as long as my eyes can still SEE.
Do feel free to share the images you shoot with me by inviting me to your flickr or whatever photo-sharing website you have… I’d love to see them!
I’ve been doing private coaching for quite a while now and I am gonna have a group photography workshop soon, so please email me if you are interested. Thanks!
Related Posts:
1. Why Photo-enthusiasts are cool!
2. Good to stay “innocent”.
I have been pixel peeping A LOT lately… … scrutinizing my past works, works done on 120mm film, 35mm film, then the now ancient Canon D60, then the not-too-long-ago Canon 20D, then the Canon 5D, then the Nikon D700, then, the Olympus E-P1, Olympus E-3(loaned), and now, Olympus E-P2.
For those wondering whether to buy Panasonic GF1 or the Olympus PEN series… I have also tried out both. The only thing I can say is, there are 2 camps: the Panasonic Camp and the Olympus Camp. You either love or hate one or the other. For me, I hate GF1′s clanky shutter sound. For those who know me personally, I have this thing in me about Shutter Sound! LOL… probably ever since I touched a Leica Rangefinder. But there are many things good about the GF1 which many appreciates. For me, I use the Lumix 20mm F1.7 lens on my E-P2. No offence Olympus, the Lumix is really way sharper! With rumors about the next EP-xx coming very soon, for all those who haven’t yet invested in MFT(Micro-four-thirds) system, you might wanna hold your horse.
I treat photography as an ART. I used to hang out a lot with some photographers who think highly of themselves as artists. They hate pixel peepers. Who are the pixel peepers? They are those who couldn’t resist pressing the magnifying button on their computer, and those who kept emphasizing on “actual pixels”. They get their satisfaction doing test shots, scrutinizing the difference between F1.2 and F1.4 bokeh, studying chromatic aberration, looking out for “doughnut rings” in the bokehs… and so on.
Artists view them as a waste of time and energy. Artists view them as the bottom feeders, the lowest class of photographers, the proud and unproductive ones, the talk but no action/no true masterpieces ones, the gearheads, the equipment-enthusiasts and not the true photo-enthusiasts, the insecure ones who need big and expensive equipment to boost their self-confidence.
But when the “artist” comes to buying a certain piece of equipment, they seek out internet reviews. They seek out their “gearhead buddies”. They too go pixel peeping online, looking for an answer. How ironical and hypocritical can human be? (I used to be like this)
Just for example, the controversial Canon EF50mm F1.2L lens. This lens has created such a stir on the internet regarding it’s focus-shift issues that at least for me, I will not waste my money on it. So who found out about it’s focus-shift problems? (This lens constantly back focuses at close distances and front focuses at infinity) THE PIXEL PEEPERS!
Photography is not a competition! There are no real champions or real losers! There’s no “finishing line” like in a race! In sports, you can beat someone’s previous record, or score more goals than your competitors, but in photography, don’t tell me you guys out there are calculating how many awards you can win each year in order to compete with your neighbour??? I really hope not! Human is imperfect and so are the judges of each photography competition. You subject your own artistic interpretation for somone else to judge, and you should be prepared that his/her views may not be your views. Nobody’s right or wrong. Can’t you see?
To set a standard for everyone to follow is “communism”. It will be so damn boring to have everyone shoot the same way! Organizations which declare themselves as “world standards” often are doing it for commercial reasons, never ARTS. They exist for clients who want quick answers.
So what’s about my “pixel-peeping” lately? I am learning from my previous works. I am doing lotsa comparisons. (I’m still not that “FREE” ok? I pixel-peep in between clearing current workload). I am studying if I am progressing. I am studying if the photographs I made can last a lifetime without making me sick of looking at them. That’s one reason why I hate Fisheye lenses. I just don’t think Fisheye images last. They make me feel giddy. And in today’s digital world, it is also obvious that “overly-photoshopped” pictures don’t last long!
All in all, we should thank the pixel peepers around us. They help us realize the difference between full frame sensors and four-thirds sensors, the beauty of creamy bokeh vs harsh bokeh, the worthy buys and the not-so-worthy ones… … etc. so that we can settle down on which equipment to use for which purposes, and concentrate on creating masterpieces of our own!
Equipment does play a part in image-making! If you are a true hardcore artist, this post is not for you as you are most likely happy with that $20 toy camera in your hands!
 Olympus PEN E-P1, image taken from dpreview.com I’ve been a professional photographer for more than 12 years, specializing mainly in portraits, weddings, people photography, whether choreographed or on-the-move. I have been a fervent Canon and Nikon user for years. But never have I encountered a small camera like the Olympus E-P1 that produces such quality in it’s size with such user-friendly features.
Talking about “Making Photography Easy”. For years, since the camera was invented, the world has been wanting to make photography easy. A view-camera needs about 11 adjustments in order to take a picture. Then came the Nikons and Canons that only require THREE adjustments: Aperture, Shutter Speed and Focus in order to take a picture. And if this wasn’t easy enough, cameras that came later began to even do all THREE adjustments for us – the Program Autofocus SLRs!
To read a detailed article on the above, click here.
 Olympus E-P1, shot through car windscreen in a rain, B&W art filter, 16:9 format.  Olympus E-P1 set to manual focus, b&w art filter, 16:9 format.  This shot shows that E-P1 is quick enough to capture action. My son did this action in a split-second. Though not as fast as a DSLR, it is not that bad after all. I often ask myself, “Why do camera-designers always want to make things easier for us?”
Especially as a earning professional photographer, doesn’t it seem obvious that as photography gets easier and easier, our commanding prices go lower and lower since more and more people think that they can “do-it-yourself” anyway?
But if I think as an artist, I just want to focus on my feelings, my imaginations, my visions and indulge in all my five senses when I go out and create images with my camera.
Isn’t it so much easier to have a camera that doesn’t interfere with my thoughts, by introducing questions like what aperture to use and what shutter speed to set or whether the image is in focus?
Okay, you may disagree with me on this cause deciding how blur the background we want it to be or whether to use a slower shutter speed to depict movement, or whether to set it off-focus in order to create some abstractness do play a part in our creativity process.
But my point is, sometimes it really helps if you just indulge in all your five senses without being distracted by technical functionalities, and shoot what you feel!
 Olympus E-P1, B&W art filter, 6:6 format. I pre-focused the camera to infinity before reaching out to shoot the birds returning to their home using the grainy black and white art filter mode.  Who says you can't see beautiful sunset downtown KL? Shot using "Sunset" Mode in Olympus E-P1, 16:9 format.  Shot using "Pop Art" art filter, Olympus E-P1, 16:9 format. This is a spontaneous shot, again done within seconds spotting the chef's head covered by a bunch of roast pork  Olympus E-P1, shot using "landscape" mode. It really does make the sky much nicer., 6:6 format In today’s digital professional photographer’s context, things have just gone a lot worse! Our modern DSLRs contains at least 100 menu and function options! It throws you questions like “D-Lighting Off, Default, Auto, On, Normal?”, followed by trick questions like “Compression: Lossy or Lossless?”… etc. and etc.
Today, many professional digital photographers began to take pride in “setting their camera professionally” rather than concentrate on creating excellent images. Photography seems to have “developed more professionally” in recent digital days, cause to operate a DSLR is 100 times more difficult than an old film SLR!
And so we started thinking, maybe we can charge our clients more, since photography has gone so “difficult”! We started to tell our clients how high-end our equipments are, how difficult to use them, how expensive they cost, in order to justify and convince our clients to buy our services. I always thought as a proficient photographer, shouldn’t we be confident that our clients engage us because our works are good, not because of what equipment we own?
 Olympus E-P1, B&W art filter 6:6 format  Olympus E-P1, B&W art filter, 4:3 format The Olympus E-P1 is a camera so small that it fits into your bag easily. I have been carrying it and using it almost everyday since I bought it about 2 months ago. I use it for shooting “nonsense” in my daily life, use it for casual street shooting, and even use it for my professionally-paid wedding jobs!
 I was caught previewing on the E-P1. DON'T SPEND TIME ON PREVIEWS! CONCENTRATE ON GETTING YOUR SHOTS! FOR THE GEEKS:
The ISO is absolutely usable up to 3200. The default setting already produces fantastic images. It’s Auto ISO is also pretty reliable (I hardly have to switch it about). It’s IS (image stabilization) is most impressive! I ever use it down to 1/2 sec and still get a reasonably sharp picture.
You can choose to set “Graduation” to “Normal” instead of “Auto” to get deeper blacks but personally I prefer “Auto” as I prefer to increase contrast in Adobe Lightroom when necessary. I find that images can get too contrasty sometimes if I set it to “Normal”.
 Olympus E-P1, Pin-hole effect art filter, 4:3 format  Olympus E-P1, Pin-hole effect art filter, 6:6 format Olympus is amazing in it’s in-camera processing! It produces such good Jpegs that you almost have no necessity to shoot in RAW for easy post-processing. It’s absolutely a camera for people who just want to concentrate on ARTS and have minimal worries on camera settings or post-processing.
Also, you can choose to shoot in 4:3 format (default), 16:9 format, 3:2 format or 6:6 format for your creativity.
I fell in love with E-P1 files once I laid my eyes on it in a camera store downtown and immediately ordered one for myself. I find that Olympus’s digital files are processed in such a way, closest to what film achieves comparing to other brands. Being a fervent film shooter, I can easily appreciate Olympus’s efforts in processing their digital files closest to what film achieves. (But if you really like film, shoot film! Digital still has it’s digital characteristics in it.)
I have used the Canon 5D, the Nikon D700 (owned 2 of each at my craziest times). I have gone through post-processing my images since “Adobe Photoshop 5″ days. I would say this digital route for me since the Canon D60 (if anyone still remembers what it is) has been crazy! (I plan to write about my crazy path of switching from film to digital in a later post, so keep me bookmarked if you are interested).
What I can say is that after comparing the Canon files, the Nikon files and the Olympus files, I love the Olympus files the most! (Olympus is not paying me to say this)
I love the noise (It’s different from the Canon or Nikon’s noise), I love the skin tones, I love the contrast, I love the blacks (Nikon and Canon somehow captures blacks as grays), I love the colors and I love it’s Grainy Black and White and Pin-hole Art Filters!
 Shot by my wife using "sunset mode". She's not a photographer, if you know what I mean. Then, I love it’s handsome looks and it’s size too.
The best camera is the camera you can easily grab and use when opportunity arises. If you are looking for a camera that can boost your creativity, and it’s light and easy to carry around, with quiet and unobtrusive shutter sound, achieves jpeg files that require minimum post-processing, plus an added convenience of HD video recording (get an adaptor for leica m-mount lenses and you can easily achieve cinematic effects with F1.4 blur)… … … …
THIS CAMERA IS FOR YOU!
Engaging a typical professional? Think again.
After more than 12 years of being a photographer, I have recently re-discovered the joy of being a photo-enthusiast once again. Sometime ago, I discovered that I have sub-consciously lost the true joy in photography after being stuck in the commercial photography world, where each shot better make some money.
As I think deeper and deeper into it, I realized it’s partly Chinese culture where my parents used to teach me when I was young, that I better grow up doing something that makes lot of money like a lawyer or doctor, rather than being an artist. So if we discover something that we are good at, we tend to use how much money we make out of it to measure how “successful” we are! And there we go digging for money, comparing ourselves with our competitors, and get stuck in the “Gold-digging Game” that never ends. How Sad!
 Taken from "Project-Disillusion". Shot with Olympus E-P1 with kit lens during a photo-outing with friends. As a person who really loves photography, photography is my everyday life and not just a 2-hour weekend hobby. When I was stuck in that “Gold-digging Game”, photography became unhealthy competition and comparison, and money became the ruler for measurement of so-called success. Here’s why I think photo-enthusiasts are cool… …
1. Photo-enthusiasts shoot what they like, how they like it without having to think whether it makes money or not, or whether it must be better than a competitor’s shots.
 Shot with Canon A480 point-and-shoot, a reflection of a glass panel near my office 2. Photo-enthusiasts express freely all the time without the fear of rejection. But many professionals will call their daily mundane shots “nonsense”. Probably, “nonsense” to commercial photographers means it doesn’t make money OR it’s not up to commercial standards of sharpness, megapixels, photoshop retouching, bokeh… … etc. I shoot “nonsense” all the time.
 My Boy's Toy Cars, shot with my Olympus E-P1 using 6:6 format during a dinner  My leg, shot with Olympus E-P1 and 14-42mm kit lens on 16:9 format. This shot was taken spontaneously during one of my photo-outings with my friends out on the streets. 3. Photo-enthusiasts are never tired of shooting. Sometimes, a commercial photographer will rather “take-a-break” when it comes to shooting for pleasure, shooting streets, shooting a family’s outing.
4. Photo-enthusiasts NOT equipment-enthusiasts, I must emphasize, are not insecure about what sort of equipments they own. They can shoot from their mobile phones and be happy. They do not need high-end equipments to prove to others that they are professionals, cause they don’t need to. Many of them own the simplest photographic equipments and produce works that can put many commercial photographers to shame. When I was stuck in that commercial rat race, I was stuck in upgrading my equipments every 1-2 years. And I recently discovered some of my best wedding shots are only done with my humble Canon 20D camera I used to own.
 Shot spontaneously during a wedding dinner in year 2005 using Canon 20D I used to own  Shot in year 2005 with my Canon 20D I used to own during a Sikh Wedding. Effects added in photoshop then. 5. Photo-enthusiasts also do not constantly need to prove to others by shooting with new gimmicks every time, just to attract attention to themselves, or prove that they are knowledgeable in gimmicks, or to “stay ahead” in their particular photography industry.
6. Photo-enthusiasts can stay happy, really happy, just within their small group of friends and families without the need to prove to others that they have a multitude of supporters.
7. Photo-enthusiasts have the time to learn new skills, whether it’s from the internet, from books and magazines, or from another individual. It’s hard for a commercial photographer to suddenly slow down and cut down their number of jobs, just to spend time learning.
 Taken with Canon A480 Point and Shoot Camera. The Sky's the limit in learning. 8. Photo-enthusiasts loves to share. They are not insecure about what they know. They have no fear of competitors. They are humble and real. They are not living in disguise. They have no need to put up a false commercial front to attract business or fool their competitors. They basically are themselves and expresses themselves freely. They shoot purely for pleasure.
As a commercial wedding photographer for many years, I was forced into thinking, my shots must make money, they must be approved by my clients, or I’ve gotta be better than my competitors. I’ve got clients who came showing samples of other photographers’ works asking if I could do the same. I’ve got clients who bargain over 50 bucks! The point is, I have lost myself. I shot for people to approve, I shot what people will approve, I shot what people wanted. There’s nothing totally wrong in that but it’ll be wrong if you just do that.
Now that I’ve found myself, I’m not gonna lose it again. I shoot from my heart. I shoot what I feel, what I love. Photography is the best hobby I’ve ever had, that’s why it’s stuck to me longer than many other hobbies, and I’ve found out that if you do something that you genuinely love, you’ll excel in it and you’ll have your supporters!
I am a photo-enthusiast once again!
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