OK, I am no professional photographer and have no (immediate) intentions to be so. Now that is fine with me. No pretentions, I am not an authority, I just share my thoughts with you and I love the contact with other (likewise) photographers. That is the big deal for me. And I don’t bug you with ‘make a donation’ buttons like he and he does.
Oh yeah, I ramble sometimes about gear, but I can’t give a sh@#t about a button here or a new menu feature there. It is all about pictures for me. Men talk about gear and how gear (might) improve their photography, women make photographs and don’t brag about it. I mean, check out Nathalie’s blog. She doesn’t write about new cameras, but instead makes the viewer smile with her great stories and wonderful photographs.
I have been pretty active at several photography related forums, and some forums were really filled with great photographs. Somehow though they all end with pure gear related topics (mostly men) after some time. And men? They take pictures of their food and upload it to Flickr! Why? To chew and to tell their wifes that they need better equipment.
So therefore I thought some photographs of cows were justified to post here, since they are so much better at mowing and chewing than we are. That is my plug.
All photographs by Wouter Brandsma
And I won’t forget my male signature this time.
Wouter Brandsma
Ricoh GX200
Ricoh GR1
Ricoh 500G
Sigma DP1 (currently)
Pentor Super TL
Praktica Super TL
Praktica MTL3
Agfa Ambiflex
Agfa Click
Pentor Auto 2.8/35
Pentacon 1.8/50
Helios 44M 2/58
Pentor Auto 2.8/135
FT-2 Industar-50
And a fridge filled with food & beverages
Wouter Brandsma 
I like cows!! I like these cows.The last two are my personal favorites in this set 😉
I carefully selected the photographs for this series to keep the best as last :D, unlike the previous series with the old lady in the wheelchair. Cows are great!
That first picture blew me away. You have such beautiful backgrounds to compose with.
Nathalie’s blog is a good example of where we male photographers should be going, if we stopped to realize that the camera companies are not gonna give us the perfect camera. 🙂
Hey James, Dutch light is famous. Camera companies are mostly run by men I presume, and men will never create something that is perfect.
Cheers,
Wouter
What a Moo ving article.
I’m going to milk this for all its worth.
When are you going to tell the udder one, Nah! I’ve already herd it.
OK. Gonna stop right there.
What is it with men and tech/gear?
A few years ago (when the EOS D60 came out) I read in a professional camera publication that 6 megapixels was required for professional A3 printing. Seriously! Now its derisory if you have anything as ‘low’ as 6mp. All of a sudden your professional camera isn’t professional anymore.
When is it going to end Wouter?
What is it about men and tech and gear?
Why the utter obsession?
The complete fetish with it?
Then you have the The Magic Bullet chasers? The “If I only buy ‘this’ or ‘that’ then my prints will glow in the dark” type. OR “If I just buy that new super duper do it all camera my photography will improve by leaps and bounds”. It doesn’t of course. We should say “If I work hard enough and learn and work and work and work then I’ll be able to produce a great result regardless of the camera”. The ‘he’ and ‘he’ you mentioned above, I think, are self appointed and opinionated idiots who talk way tooooo much. However, one of the ‘he’ says that “the camera doesn’t matter”. So, at least one of them has some merit.
I browse this site and that site and its all like free advertising for the camera manufacturers (which are businesses by the way whose sole purpose is TO MAKE MONEY). They (PenNikCanPus) must be laughing all the way to the (barely solvent) Bank.
The answer…
Boredom.
Insecurity.
Unhappiness.
Inadequacy.
I know. I’ve been through it as I am a recovering Magic Bullet chaser.
You are so totally right. Its the picture that matters. And you should be able to produce it on ANY camera, even, yes, a Ricoh!
Bestest Everything.
Chris.
I’m off to chew some grass, sh@#t and fart.
I couldn’t have said it better Chris 😀 As long as I don’t smell your comment! And I believe men will never stop, like cows they are pretty good at rechewing too.
Technology is being used to hide the total lack of any presence of talent, and incompentence. Why learn, when you think you can improve your pictures with a better/newer camera?
Cheers!
Here’s a fictional converstion that occurs just a few years from now.
Voice 1: Hmm. I think this will make a nice photo.
Voice 2: I recommend Black and White for impact.
Voice 1: OK.
Voice 2: How about switching to Ansel Adams mode for that extra drama.
Voice 1: OK, that’s a good idea.
Voice 2: If you zoom out a little and move a little to the right and up the composition will be improved.
Voice 1: OK.
Voice 2: I would suggest RAW and using a Polarising filter.
Voice 1: OK. (fiddles then presses shutter release).
Voice 2: Congratulations! Another award winning photo.
End:
Voice 1 is the camera operator (note: I don’t use the term photographer). Voice 2, if you haven’t guessed, is the new PenNikCanPus voice activated 40mp prosumer mini camera with intelligent scene analysis.
Will this happen?
You heard it here first.
And when you want a classical camera with only the most important features to basically photograph, you get bashed for being unrealistic and being a dreamer.
Ah yes, photography forums.
I dared to point out some possible PEN E-P1 flaws on the Micro 4/3 Forum and the response really amazed me. People – well, men 🙂 – suggest me to “stick with peanut sensor P&S cams like the LX3 where the DOF is so deep it doesn’t matter where it focusses.” And I presumably have a “very poor shooting technique,” because I happen to like my LX3 [prefering p&s cams apparently means you are a lousy photographer].
Some of those guys spend hours in a day on these forums, all pretending to be know-it-all masters of photography. I wonder whether they ever go out, carelessly shoot and just have fun.
These guys never go out Robert. They have no life, their women are out with their men’s cameras and are having all the fun.
Well, since I shoot a small sensor camera makes me in category of the lousy photographers too, I guess…
Happy shooting with your “peanut sensor P&S cam”. Or does size matter after all?
Well you have me pegged. As I have stated before (and we have discussed elsewhere), I’m very much guilty of the tech/gear-talk.
For me (and others I imagine) it’s so much easier to discuss the gear than the photography. Numbers, specs, model lines…they are simple to understand and easy to digest. But start talking about colour, presence, rule of thirds, form, etc. and we quickly turn into babbling dorks.
It’s not really our fault…we are male after all.
😉
Believe me, your tech/gear-talk is unlike anything I have seen at several forums. They don’t seem to be doubt, are absolutely serious, they constantly share their thoughts how a new camera will improve this or that. In the meantime you see them never post an image to prove it.
Remember “Home Improvement”? That sitcom mentioned all this very well 😀
Boys like to talk about their toys (trucks, computers, cameras, etc). And roosters will crow from time to time (that is what you need, more pictures of chickens!)
Nice cows by the way. I don’t see to many of them in pasture over here, mostly pent up in dry corrals. But something about them, their look seems to stay the same no matter where they are.
Well, they say: “Toys are for boys!”
Cows look the same, because they don’t care were they are. There life is too short anyway. But I thought you would like these pictures Chris. You have seen some cows in your life 😀
So beautiful place ^_^~
Oh yes, it is!
What a lovely series!
Men, indeed they prevent me from signing up on a photography course, you know what ‘ we’ will talk about.
I admire the most my flickr contacts that are female, indeed they have a different outlook on things.
I’ll skip a signature this time… 🙂
Come on Ronald. Men can’t live without a serious signature, do they? I would only sign up for a photography course when there are only women 😉 And they say size doesn’t matter, LOL!
I would also sign up for a female photography course, and if size does not matter… well than I can bring my dp1 without hesitation.
For the signature; Just one hour ago someone came and bought my canon G7, so that’s one less in the signature.
best,
ronald,
ok, here we go:
DP1/viewfinder VF-11/Close up lens AMl-1/ Canonet QL17 GIII/Olympus trip 35/Gorillapod
Congrats on selling the G7 Ronald, but do I know feel the DP2 coming closer??????
Damn, seeing these photos I definitely HAVE to get a GX200 at last!
(Duck and run… :))
Wait until I have tried the GRD III 😉