As I Xi It

Hmn… not too bad for a first try. There wasn’t any planning involved in the way I shot the individual frames. More frames required though.

I have a new Tumblr account primarily for the curation of things I’ve found interesting on the Web. It’s called ‘The Repository of Nonsense‘. From now on, this blog will focus on my own original content.

Yes, I could’ve used Pintrest, but it’s become too mainstream.

http://therepositoryofnonsense.tumblr.com/

I came across this the other day. It’s worth an entertaining read - Click me!

Spring is indeed in the air.

Aston Rowant

I downloaded EOSInfo to check the shutter count of my vintage 40D. With a rated shutter life of 100,000, it hasn’t even hit half-way yet.

Must shoot more.

No excuse for a new camera just yet

While shooting in Valencia last year, I somehow managed to knock the AF/MF switch off on my 10-20mm. It’d spent the last year or so being held together with tape, I had suspected that it would set me back an arm and a leg to repair but when I finally got round to enquiring about it last week, I was plesantly surprised to find that Sigma would send me a replacement switch for £13 (incl. p&p). Paid yesterday, arrived this morning. My previous dealings with them a few years ago were positive. I’d dropped the 10-20mm face forward into the concrete somewhere out in rural China, sent it in upon my return and it was repaired and back in my hands within two weeks. Can’t fault  Sigma for service.

Before and after

In light of my recent post on de-cluttering, I’m in a bit of a quandary over my film photography equipment. While they have proved to be a worthwhile investment, they have been sitting in dust covered boxes for a while and I can’t think when was the last time I had used any of it. I think I’ve put perhaps two or three rolls of 120 through my TLR camera in the few years I’ve had it in my possession and I can’t see myself taking it out any time soon either.

I love my Oly analogue kit, it’s robust yet svelte compared to my digital gear. Film, while little used, has a certain je ne sais quoi about it, however, it’s just too time consuming. Perhaps that’s a good thing, you’re forced to slow down and think about every image you make rather than spray and pray which there is a tendency to do with digital.

So, the dilemma lies in whether to keep the old school kit or to flog it?

Came across this via Petapixel today which I thought was worth sharing particularly as I’d recently been to the Occupy London site at St. Paul’s. The media often misreports what’s really going on and this just goes to emphasise that you really can’t believe everything you read or see.

It is however nice to see that under these staged conditions, that the more health and safety conscious ones are wearing hard hats and hi-viz, but hold on a minute, where’s the protective eye-wear to keep out shrapnel from the colliding rubble? Shoddy risk assessment.

Photojournalism Behind the Scenes [ITA-ENG subs] from Ruben Salvadori on Vimeo.

The thing about protests is that they’re never just about one thing. While at ground zero of Occupy London at St. Paul’s, I noticed a whole plethora of other issues that also jumped on the bandwagon like climate change, war, nuclear power stations and prostitution.