touchel berne

I've used the F4 for event photography, wow, does it get heavy by the end of the evening.

Personally, if I were looking for an AF Nikon body, I'd get a used N80. It's small, light, and in

many respects is a better camera than the F4.

Okay, folks, I've had the Nikon D50 for just about three months now and I just wanted to say

that there's a world of difference. The A2 is a fine digicam, but that's all it is. The dSLR shoots

circles around it. So much more responsive... interchangeable lenses... there's just no

comparison.

The CCD in my A2 is clearly defective. It may not be the same defect or the same CCD. But it

has ceased working on its own and only after two years. I don't think that that's the way

things should be. And while I realize that that program was set up for a specific defect, I

don't believe that that should end Konica-Minolta/Sony's responsibility for having sold my

dad a lemon. There is just something plain wrong about a product whose most essential

component fails after only two years and even more wrong about a company that won't stand

behind its products. In any case, I've washed my hands of it, the camera is for sale and a

Nikon DSLR is on a fed ex ground truck bound for my city.

After a lengthy telephone conversation with the customer support people, I discovered that

the A2 is not covered in their extended warranty plan. Thus there were no miraculous checks

or offers of slightly inferior cameras. Just this: for $211 they would replace the ccd. Rather

than pay that sum, I decided to sell the A2 as-is for the reasonable price of $130 (including

shipping) and to buy a Nikon DSLR with which I can use various lenses. The ad is in the

classifieds. Thanks Peter for your assistance, I enjoyed using the A2 while it lasted, but there

were aspects of the SLR experience that I missed.

Thanks! Wow, how could I have missed your post when I was searching? I must have been

using the wrong keywords. I will follow your advice to the 't,' and see where that leads. I'm

concerned though that the camera may be well out of warranty and I haven't got a receipt for

it, so that's annoying. Having inherited it from my dad I don't have access to all of the

documentation that I would normally. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Can't believe that it's been more than three years since I've posted here on photo.net! I guess that

happens... Anyway, it seems that I'm having trouble with the Konica Minolta A2 that I inherited from my

dad. I think that it's a problem with the CCD, and I was hoping for advice on how to proceed. I'd like to get

it fixed if possible, it's a wonderful camera. It's a little difficult to describe... I'm looking at one of the

resulting photographs now. Areas of color (mostly shadows) are blotchy and have taken on a mostly

magenta hue, some green/gray. In the photo that I'm looking at, this has only happened to the foreground

subjects of the photo, the background appears completely normal. The image through the eyepiece or on

the screen on the back of the camera has the same blotchy appearance, but is also broken up with green

lines.

What can I do about this? Thanks!<div></div>

Angkor Wat, Cambodia, September 2000, (Running Boy) - it may

not be an icon, but it's a world heritage site.<div></div>

Hello John. I think you're right. I would like to do a better job with

the anti-war folk. After I took the pictures shown, I joined the

counter-demonstration (where I belong ideologically) with the

intention of taking photos. But I found that I wasn't interested in

doing it. Everything seemed very normal to me over there. Maybe

the best thing would be for us to team up and take pictures of the

sides that we oppose politically. Take care.

Still Man, I was actually thinking about the wallet in the guy's back

pocket, which, I guess, is also evidence of bias. I think I failed to

give it adequate focus maybe, somebody else pointed that out to

me. But yes, freedom of expression is one of the reasons I love

this country.

First of all, thanks everyone. This has been really positive for me,

I have plenty to think about before I go out next time to cover

some type of event. There were two problems I think, first what I

was drawn to photograph, and second what I scanned and

worked from in developing the sequence that I presented. When

I get a chance, I'm going to do some more scanning and re-edit

the sequence keeping these criticisms in mind.

* Jack, I took a look at the Depression photo essay that you

mentioned. It's really great, but I think I need some examples that

operate on a more narrow scale. Great stuff though.

* Suda, various experiences in my life have taught me that I

would make a terrible photojournalist. Principally, I seem to be

incapable of photographing anyone who is experiencing

anything tragic. On September 11th, I watched a parade of the

most distraught and damaged people I have ever seen walk

across the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn. I had a camera

hanging around my neck the entire time, several different lenses

and plenty of film. I didn't take any pictures at all, except for one of

two cops standing next to a subway entrance (viewable on my

website). It wasn't because I didn't see anything to photograph, I

was just rendered motionless by the awfulness of what I was

seeing.

I think that for me the most natural place to be is the photo

essay, which is why I care very much to develop a good

understanding of how to construct one. I'm attracted because it's

a.) the type of photography I love doing, b.) has a social/cultural

purpose, c.) and is a richer way to express something specific

than having a body of one-off street photographs. So, this is my

project for the coming months.

* Andrew, I'm not really interested in being objective. What I'm

curious about is how evident my bias is - I'm more worried that

my bias is not coming through than the reverse. Free republic is

extreme right wing by any measure - it's certainly not centrist or

mainstream. But this probably isn't the right forum for this.

* Phillipe, you're right about the signs. When I was taking the

pictures, I was thinking mainly in terms of taking tight portraits. I

should have had a photo essay in mind from the beginning, and

next time I will.

* Michael, good stuff.

* Tom, you have some really great suggestions. I've done some

wedding work, so I know about having a 'shot list.' I just hadn't

really thought of applying it to this kind of work. You're totally right.

You're also right about focal length, I shot most of this with a

50mm, I had a 135 and 35 with me, but I didn't use them much.

Visual variety, that's good. With all of this advice, I wish I could

think of something go out and document in the next two hours

before the sun goes down. I don't yet agree that a story can't be

told without words, I'm going to try awhile longer and see what I

can do.

Thanks.

Thank you very much for your thoughtful comments. I think what

I'm going to do is sit on this for a little while and then re-edit the

whole. When I was making the scans I focused on portraits,

simply because those are the photos that I found most

interesting when I was making scans. I have more contextual

shots however that would serve to improve the storytelling

aspect of the whole. At best what I have put on line is a portfolio

of shots from an event, not really an essay. I need to work on this

a little harder.

Does anyone have any links to skillful photo essays online that I

could take a look at? I'd like to see what works before I begin

again.

Thanks.

So, on Saturday there was a large pro-war rally here in Chicago,

Illinois. You may have seen footage of it on the national news. I

was there photographing the rally for several hours. This <a

href="http://www.podgehodge.com/hawks/index.html"

target="new">LINK</a> is the resulting body of work. Now, here's

what interests me. I photographed these people with a great

deal of antipathy. The people who gathered may have been cast

as mainstream war supporters by the media, but in actuality they

were very extreme right folks who had been gathered by a

website called freerepublic.com, which is by no means

mainstream. <br><br>They weren't reasonable, and the things

that they were yelling at the anti-war folks who had gathered in

one corner of the plaza are unprintable. <br><br> So, my

question is this: to what extent does my own viewpoint come

across in this work? (My viewpoint being decidedly anti-war and

against the people in the photos). Do you think these photos are

supportive, neutral, or hostile to the people in them.<br><br>And

then, of course, I'm interested in anything else you have to

suggest. I'd like to make more photo essay type things, so if you

have any comments about how what I've presented can be

strengthened, I'd be really interested in that as well. Thanks.<div></div>

Chicago, Il 2002 (Woman in Summer)

It's about 14 degrees in Chicago right now, not including

windchill.<div></div>

Overall, I think the photo.net interface/web site architecture is

exemplary. But, I can think of two things which I feel would

improve the way a person uses the site:

1. When viewing someone's folder, I would like to be able to

navigate to that person's other folders directly without having to

go backwards. This could be accomplished, I think, pretty easily

by adding links to the other folders from each folder page.

2. When I'm on the page on which I write comments on other

people's photos, I'd like to have the ability to rate them from that

page. Right now, if I want to comment AND rate a photo, I have to

first: 1.) click on the comment link, 2.) go to the comment page,

3.) write the comment, 4.) hit "add comment, 5.) go to the confirm

comment page, 6.) click "confirm comment" 7.) go to the 'your

comment has been added page", 8.) backtrack to the original

photo page, which I tend to do with the back button on my

browser, 9.) refresh the page in order to see my comment added

to the page, 10.) Rate the photograph, 11.) or if I'm on the details

and not the ratings tab of the photo display, click the the ratings

tab and then rate the photograph. NOW, if the ratings selector

thing was also on the comment page, I can accomplish the task

of rating and commenting on the photo a lot faster and with many

fewer steps.

3. It would be nice if there were a global link somewhere in the

nav bar that brings me straight to the photo of the week

discussion

I believe that these would be very simple ways to improve the

functionality of the site. Otherwise, everythings really great and

well done.

Thanks,

Touchel Berne (alias)

ps. I tried sending this in to you through the form on your contact

page, but it wouldn't allow me to since I don't subscribe. I'm not

sure if this was a bug or not. I'm using IE 5.1 on a Mac G3

running OS 9.1, if that's relevant information.

(I really like the evil newscaster). Here's one that fills three

consecutive negatives.<div></div>

I think there's a pretty sharp line when photographing someone

else's work, say a poster or a piece of art. For example, if this

flyer had been just flat against a wall, it wouldn't have been very

interesting. But I think that by photographing it the way I did, the

poster was transformed just a bit.<div></div>