Drowning Pool

These photos were some of the first I took with the X-E1's back in April when I got them. This was part of a shoot in Europe with a heavy metal band called Drowning Pool. While heavy metal is not really something that I listen to much, it was a fun tour and the guys in the band were a lot of fun to work with. 

One of the complaints I had heard about the X-E1's was that they had a hard time focusing under less than ideal light. I figured a rock concert would be an excellent place to test how well the camera could actually perform. I shot the show with two bodies and the four primes, 14mm, 18mm, 35mm, and 60mm (35mm equivalent 21mm, 28mm, 50mm and 90mm)

It was a great night and a great shoot. Initially,  I was worried that I would miss stuff, or that it wouldn't be in focus, but I had just as many keepers as if I had shot it with my Canon gear (which was sitting safely back stage in case the X-E1's weren't up to the task.) One of the things I found is that people paid me a lot less attention with the Fujis than when I use my Canon gear. I guess a smaller camera does not elicit that response to make faces and do weird stuff when someone is taking your picture.

But I was really amazed at how well the metering worked (under crazy, always changing lighting), how well the focus worked, and how well the camera was able to handle some fairly contrasty scenes at high ISO.

This was the night that I really fell in love with what the Fuji's could do. 

And a couple of photos... 

Why am I using an iPad mini?

A question I am asked frequently is why a photographer (me) would use an iPad mini versus a regular sized iPad.

When the mini was first released, I had the current retina display version of the regular iPad and was very happy with it. I looked at the mini as sort of a budget ipad and never really thought any more about it. And then a friend of mine, a photographer who travels as much as I do, got one, replacing his full sized iPad, and started raving about it.

It's funny now, looking back on it, that all the reasons I dismissed the mini as suitable for me were completely WRONG. 

1.  No retina display -- I bought into the retina display mindset fully. How could I ever go back? It really doesn't make that much of a difference on an iPad*. Yes the text is a little bit crisper on the retina, but other than that, it uses more battery power and quite honestly, photos look fine on the non retina display if you are looking at the photos and not searching to see pixels. (* It makes a huge difference on a MacBook Pro vs older screens.)

2. Older CPU so it's slow --  So it is the previous generation CPU, but so what? I do edit photos now and then on the iPad (more for fun and convenience than necessity) and it can churn though large raw files at nearly the same speed as the larger iPad. I mean if I was rendering large movies or something like that, it might make a difference, but it does fine with watching movies on iTunes, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. as well as playing games, including the FPS offerings. 

3. It's smaller- everything will be too small -- True, it is smaller. But everything looks fine on it. Editing photos, writing emails, facebook, etc. The only thing that it might make a difference is playing games where the simulated "thumb sticks" are on the lower right and left side of the screens. I find that my thumbs keep creeping up towards the center of the screen, but I blame my lazy thumbs for that more than the iPad mini design. 

4. There aren't any good protective cases --- WROOOONG. The Otter Box case for the mini is the best case I have ever had for any iPad... ever. It protects it fully (including the ports), looks good, doesn't add much bulk and means that I don't need a neoprene or some other sort of soft case to put it in when I carry it. In the Otter Box case, I can put it a camera bag, laptop bag, backpack, or whatever without having to worry about it getting beat up. 

So these were my main arguments against it, here are a few things I discovered after I bought it that make it an ideal travel companion.

It is much lighter -- I don't notice that I'm carrying it because it doesn't weigh as much as the regular iPads. It is also easier to hold when you find yourself in that weird spot where you are reading, surfing the web, playing games, etc. and you have to hold it for an extended period of time. It is much more comfortable to hold, and easy to hold one-handed. 

It is smaller -- It fits in every camera bag and backpack I own. When I had a full sized iPad, I had to make room to wedge it in most of my camera bag setups. It also took up almost as much room in my laptop bag as the laptop due to the footprint of the big iPad. The mini fits in everything. It'll even fit in my chestvest camera bag. It is much easier to carry around. 

The battery life is awesome -- I assumed that it being smaller, that the battery life would not be good. This thing seems to run forever on one charge. Doing a lot of overseas work, the iPad mini has been my companion now on a lot of 8 - 12 hour flights and the battery life is amazing. Part of this is because it is a smaller non retina display, so it requires a lot less power to keep it going. I use it a lot for reading books and surfing during downtime and it seems to last a lot longer when plugs are in short supply. 

Not entirely sure of my decision when I bought the mini, I kept my iPad3, expecting that I would continue to use it along with the mini. But after buying the mini, the full sized iPad just sat, unused. I was happier using the smaller iPad! I ended up selling the iPad3 about two months later after realizing I never used it!

The iPad mini with a picture of my daughter in ballet class. The image was shot with a Fuji X-E1 and 60mm lens and processed and edited on the mini

The Chair

I found this chair in an alley sitting in the cactus on a walk back home from the gym a while back. It was next to some trash bins so I assume it was meant to be thrown out. I shot it, and knew I liked it (the photo, not the chair), but spent most of the rest of my walk home trying to figure out what is was abouth the scene that grabbed me.

Was it the contrast between the green and red? Was it the fact that the chair, which didn't look to be in too bad of shape was abandoned in such a prickly spot amidst the cactus? Even though it is a total juxtaposition of elements, every time I look at the image, the chair just seems to belong there. Almost as though the cactus has grown up around it.

I guess in some ways it reminds me of a throne and in that setting, I suppose, a throne for a particularly prickly ruler of some sort.

Maybe what it is that gets me is the unanswered question of how did it end up there.

This was shot with my iPhone 5 (since I don't take a full loadout of cameras to the gym with me)

Happy Aug 6

Fuji

I have had the opportunity to shoot with the Fuji X-E1 bodies and primes for the last few months. If you are not familiar with them, they are beautiful cameras. They remind me of the Contax G bodies that were around in the late 90's and early 00's. There are a few important differences. The Fuji's are digital and the Contax G1/G2 were film bodies. The Fuji bodes can focus properly (and have only improved with a number of firmware updates) and the Contax bodies could never focus properly. But what they have in common is that they are both very attractive cameras that feel great when you are using them.

What was heartbreaking about the Contax G1/G2 bodies was that they felt so great when you held them and shot with them, but then were crushed with the results when you would get film back with images horribly back focused or front focused. The Contax cameras were rangefinders, but they did not include any type of split-focus or other focus confirmation in the viewfinder so you had to hope that the autofocus was focusing on what you wanted it to... and more frequently than not, it didn't.

But back to the Fuji's... the more I use them, the more I have fallen in love with the X-E1's. They are small, quiet bodies with sharp lenses, and what comes out of them rivals the quality of my DSLR's, even at high ISO. I also find that when I use them, I am able to blend in much better as a guy with a small digital camera or two versus using the Canon DSLR's and the EF-L zooms or primes. They have become my "personal" cameras. I was able to take some time after a couple of shoots in Germany and put the Canon's away and wander a few cities in Germany using the X-E1's and had an amazing time of not only really good food, but had a blast shooting... Here are a couple of images from one of the trips. I will post more images soon.

Fred 2.0

So believe it or not, I nearly forgot that I had a blog. It has been nearly three years since I posted here, and life, three kids, work and other stuff seemed to slowly pull me away from sitting down in front of the computer (or a variety of other devices now) and writing something. I started this blog in 2007. Since then, a lot has changed. The world of "editorial photography" has almost completely disappeared in terms of finding sustainable (i.e.: profitable) work. Not to say that there are not still some great publications out there that recognize the value of good photography, but there are certainly fewer of them now there when I stared this blog. Most of my work now consists of commercial clients that is shot in an editorial style. I get to tell their stories with the camera. I am very blessed that my editorial skills have allowed my transition over to better-paying commercial work while still being able to shoot in a style that I love. Honestly, I miss the fun of regularly shooting a the deadline, seat-of-your-pants rush-rush-rush stuff of the photojournalism world. When big stories happen here in Southern California, I still am shooting for some news clients, but not nearly as much of it as I was doing in 2007. On the other hand, I don't miss the "drop everything and go" calls from editors that used to come on a very regular basis. I enjoy being able to go out to dinner with my wife, or LEGOland with my kids without having to worry about the logistics of getting one of those "go right now" calls and having to choose work over my family (or if you say "no" too many times, they start calling someone other than you to shoot their assignments.) But I am back. And will be writing more.

Me and three of my favorite reasons for not blogging. This was shot in Palm Springs on vacation by my wife on her iPhone 4, which does not perform well in low light. ©FredGreaves2013