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aplumpton

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aplumpton last won the day on July 12 2016

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  1. Thanks, Allen. Sentiment reciprocated.
  2. The spire is (was) a very visible part of the cathedral and no doubt a part of what makes Notre Dame one of the symbols of France (with Mont St-Michel and other icons), however Violet-le-Duc lived in the19th century and undertook many restoration-reconstitutions of French heritage sites, often using neo-Gothic or neo-whatever as part of the reconstitutions. The essence of the cathedral apart form its religious importance is its medieval architectural heritage and excellence. I hope that the major part of the building, the other destroyed elements, are restored or reconstituted to maintain the best of the original character. that wil take time and money of course. New architecture is I believe best on its own where it is not attached directly to the original structure. A good example of this is the pyramid at the Louvre, independent (except for underground access) of the various period surrounding structures. Norman Foster is a great architect, but I believe he and other contemporary architects are best in applying their art to greenfield structures where their uniqueness can be appreciated. I have no unique photo of the spire to offer. Sorry. But I do not think the reborn cathedral necessarily needs a 19th century add-on, however interesting. I wish I had images of the evolution of the disappeared timber framing in the transepts. Those structures, conceived by trial and error before the age of mathematical structural mechanical design were things of beauty, albeit hidden from most visitors. They are a great loss, but one that can be replicated more easily and economically with modern framing, without taking away from the visible beauty of a restored structure. It is to be hoped that the French traditional architecture experts who will intervene for the cultural ministry will be allowed to restore-reconstitute as faithfully as possible this icon of French society and leave new magnificent architecture to deal with other contemporary needs. An approach like that of the medieval castle style being built at Guedilon not far from Chablis, using ancient methods, is obviously too extravagant in method for Notre Dame, but some aspects of the reconstruction would be worthwhile to emulate, as France has the traditional craftsmen.
  3. Arnheim may gild the lily in communicating his visual perception analyses, but the essence of what he says is I think valuable. None of it will make you a better photographer, unless you understand the contribution of framing (sometimes only minor, compared to other visual elements) and work with the qualities of that and the other compositional and emotive elements. Perhaps the more important characteristic is symmetry versus asymmetry. Some prefer the first, others (myself for one) the second. Beauty can only be seen, I believe, in the presence of mild or strong disequilibrium.
  4. The 80mm f4 Componon-S is fine for 6x7. I found little or no light loss or significant loss of resolution in the edges of the frame. It also allows you to project larger images at a given height compared to the normal 90mm or longer lenses.
  5. The Gossen luna pro digital is small and accurate. I found one about 5 years ago in mint condition for 100$. It has reflective and incident capability.
  6. <p>Re-reading Leslie's OP I gather the subject is a showcase for weekly photos in both mediums rather than a monochrome or B&W site where the approaches, techniques, results (showcase) and aesthetic of that medium can be discussed and displayed, as opposed to the more prevalent color medium that most adhere to.</p> <p>In that case, there is nothing wrong I think with relocating here and rendering more general a weekly Monochrome Monday OP. Those wishing to specifically discuss approaches, techniques, results and aesthetic of the B&W medium will still have to do so within the various forums of Photo.Net, thereby diluting or dispersing these topics and making them a little harder to peruse.</p> <p>I for one would really love to see the administrators inaugurate a specific "B&W photography" forum, embracing all ways to achieve B&W photographs, which are distinct in a number of ways from the more usual color output.</p> <p>Does anyone think there might be any chance of that? Moderator?</p> <p> </p>
  7. <p>The nice thing about photography is that multiple standards (I might prefer the term "format" or "medium") exist at any one time. There is nothing to stop you making daguerreotypes or collodion or carbon or cyanotypes if you wish and there is a very small fraction of photographers who do so and other old plate camera formats are still in use by some. What you call "standard" may be the prevalent medium or format at any one point in time and this may well be the cellphone in the very near future. For digital capture sRGB and RGB are two of the different standards for color rendition, whereas orthochromatic and panchromatic silver films were and are available for B&W film photographers. These are "standards" that are subject to change or modification over time, but the interesting thing is that pretty well all the formats, media, recording standards and equipment and materials are stil around and you can choose to project slides or show pictures on your tablet or smartphone.</p> <p>Vive la différence, as our Gallic friends would say!<br> </p>
  8. aplumpton

    Old grudges

    Title or not, this is very imaginative and a tribute to intentional photography as opposed to casual photography. The setting and light are also perfect.
  9. <p>There is a lot of sun but also cold today (- 12 C, or about 12 F?) in eastern Canada for casual-objective photography (that is, wandering around in search of interesting images) so I tend to photograph inside and go out in winter to simply enjoy sports or hikes or conduct my part time business.</p> <p>I also like to photograph more intentionally with a particular theme or objective in mind (including creating a part of the environment or scene), which is independent of season, but that imagination doesn't occur every day. For the moment, deep in winter, inside activities are prominent.</p> <p>I like your approach of just wandering around and observing, although I am not only a street shooter and prefer not to interfere too much with the busy (and likely more important) activities of my fellow citizens. While away in a car on business today I will certainly have my camera at hand in case I see something that is too good to ignore.</p> <p> </p>
  10. <p>(Double post, owing to local server on and off behaviour)</p>
  11. <p>The 50 Loxia f2 (a modern Zeiss Planar) is very good, although you my find your 50 Summicron equal to it. It is also small, like the Summicron (I sold my Summicron version IV so I cannot compare it directly with my Loxia on the A7RII). I use the Zeiss 16-35 f4 and can vouch for its quality, if not quite as good as the Zeiss prime (again, only my 50mm to compare it with).</p> <p>A smaller lens in the A7 than the 50mm? While it is true that the A7 requires different lens formulas than other cameras (film or digital), the offerings from Sony and its partners has not resulted to date in many, if any, compact wide angle optics. Given the absence of the mirror and the prior need to design longer retrofocus lenses, it seems that Sony to date has passed on an opportunity to produce small lenses.</p> <p>Perhaps things will change, but I am looking forward to testing some small optics on the A7, including the retractable 50mm f2.8 Elmar-M, the small Voigtlander Cosina classic 35mm f2.5 optic and others. Perhaps there are some that can better suit Sony's thick cover glass on the sensor. Optics that have more narrowly disperse rays arriving on the sensor might do better than those which impinge at greater angles on the sensor.</p> <p> </p>
  12. The title is fun, like the image (A+ on an unusual treatment, reminding me of the somewhat similar de-pixelated images popular in the early days of computer graphics), but probably not immediately perceived if were to be absent. Some images can mean many things and one can read either fantasy or violence in this one (I am feeling a little raw today, as we have just witnessed a horrific dehumanising incident of terrorism in our otherwise extremely peaceful little city).
  13. <p>Good idea and good luck, Leslie and Sanford. The medium has its specific qualities and aesthetic and it doesn't matter how one produces the black and white image.</p> <p>By the way, the word "monochrome" is more general than black and white and includes color monochrome in addition to that of toning of black and white images to create a color tone, so you may want to define (or not) that the topic is related to monochreome images derived from a black and white source (digital or film), or alternatively call it black and white photography.</p> <p>Having an independent B&W or monochrome forum may not fly, because it would then suggest that a color forum would also be logical, instead of being implied in many other forums, so CPC is probably the place for a sub-forum on B&W photography. In my humble view, it should go far beyond just W/NW as I am sure that there is interest in discussing and giving examples of varying approaches to seeing and producing B&W images and that is often where mutual assistance to other photographers or ideas of how to use the medium are best generated. Discussions on equipment are probably well enough taken care of in specific forums, but the topic or sub-forum might allow discussion of specific B&W materials including papers.</p> <p>Such B&W photography discussions are available of course in the press. The only journal that I am aware of that is supportive of all aspects of digital and film B&W photography, including its approaches, techniques, photographer portfolios, list of current exhibitions, materials and equipment related to the medium is the well regarded British monthly B+W Photography. Other photographic art journals mentioned above provide portfolios and artist interviews and are read by photographers and collectors, but the British monthly perhaps covers more varied topics of the medium for beginner to advanced photographers. The more general photography monthlies of Europe, North America, Australasia and elsewhere occasionally provide very good B&W theme numbers, which can also be of interest.</p> <p> </p>
  14. <p>Mark, I understand your dislike of digital black and white, but is that based uniquely on quality of result? This image is a digital camera conversion with minor post exposure light rebalancing (similar to red optical filter use with film). Although a committed film and darkroom worker, I don't think my film and darkroom craft could have provided a very different result. The digital image printed quite nicely on Canon inkjet paper, although I might have had a better physical texture with some developer and silver papers. I like to "see" subjects in B&W, which is often as important for me as the medium used to achieve them. The necessary slowing down of the visualisation and capture when using film for landscapes and other applications is certainly advantageous in some cases.</p><div></div>
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