Mowing and chewing

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

From the Left

I start liking the jpegs of the GX200. They look better and have more bite than the RAW files. Processing the jpegs is easier too. In Lightroom I increase the blacks for darker shadows, drag the exposure slider to the left, lighten the midtones with the brightness slider, and add a bit of clarity. But the best thing is, that it doesn’t increase the noise either. You could also do the same thing in Apple Aperture, quick and easy.

Just some rumbling about gear, but why the hell does a camera manufacturer with the intention to create cameras for a niche market (with photographers in mind) add options like multi AF, leveler, matrix metering, and image stabilization? If a camera was made with usability and photography in mind, it could still be a basic camera. Do you seriously need all those bells and whistles? I think it is not only about the handling of a camera, but also about the photographs. I don’t think image quality is the best name for that, but I would love to have a larger sensor in a simple camera with a good lens.

All photographs by Wouter Brandsma