Urban sights.

Oldbones

Oldbones

Member
Registered
Tried out an old cannon power shot SX240HS, had it for years but never realised it could do what it can do.
All I ever did with it was take photographs on fishing trips, and I used in auto mode.
Its sat for a couple pf years in my fishing sling pack, so I dug it out and went through all the options it has, and discovered its a very capable little thing.
I am also trying to teach my self to use square format as I have an old Kershaw med format folding camera that I am trying to get used to.
The Home.
68 Urban Fragment.JPG

Mr Fox.
69 Urban Fragment.JPG
 
Last edited:
It shows what can be done with relatively simple kit. The thing I found with older digital cameras is that the shutter speed can be a little slow resulting in subject movement. I think perhaps the fox suffers from this. It is something you can use creatively if you are aware of it and is worth keeping in mind if you want sharp pics. The old adage of holding the arms close to the body, feet firmly planted a little way apart and squeezing the trigger gently once you have exhaled can go a long way, particularly if the camera has no image stabilisation. In other words film cameras and older digital cameras. Good tonal range and composition in both shots IMO.

Square format is well worth exploring in my view but Andreas Feininger is not a fan. He writes:

"... Photographers working with square format cameras, deprived of the ability to evaluate visually the differences between horizontal and vertical view, usually develop a tendency to compose all their pictures in such a way that the subject entirely fills the square format. This, of course, leads to stereotyped pictures. Photographers finding themselves so disposed should make a serious effort to correct this weakness, i.e., compose their pictures in accordance with the requirement of the subject, even if this means wasting part of the negative through cropping, during enlarging or masking a colour transparency. ..."

I wondered if he practiced what he preached and checked my copy of his photobook "America". I couldn't find a single square format photograph although he often presents images with a 5x4 aspect ratio which is not nearly as wide as most formats offered by modern cameras or mobile phones. His comment was aimed at TLR users who only had the choice of a square format neg so I suspect he was thinking in terms of a mild crop, by which I mean nearly square.

I have submitted square images to camera club competitions with mixed results but they can score because they are different from the rest. Perhaps the passage of time has given them some kind of interest.

It will be interesting to hear what others think.
 
Very interesting aspect to try and work with, as I am finding out.
Some times I use it on the Powershot, but I cant figure out how to use it on the Nikons that I have, don't think that they are equipped to do so, I will look it up.
If I get a (what I would call) a good shot I just crop it with a 1 to 1 crop setting and see what I get.
Some times it works and sometimes not.
Feel lucky that I can experiment with this sort of things, its fun and its not like I have to actually produce any thing for any body.
I am starting to look at famous photographers (YouTube) and I do read the Black + White magazine which I really enjoy.
Some of the photographs from their historical articles are great.
There is one photograph in particular , by Dorothy Bohm, of a woman standing at her front door with a sweeping brush in her hands that somehow really appeals to me.
Is something like that simple, I think its very pure and very natural looking to me.
Which has now made me understand that subject matter in my (work) sort of needs to be connected.
Photographing a tree one moment, and the next photographing something totally different is now starting to feel a bit disjointed for me.
Now I need to figure out what I can and want to do, I think just shooting away randomly is only going to get me so far.
Buying gear, I am over it, I do what I do with what I have, but I would not say no to a 300/400 mm lens someday.
Film, yes I want to go there, I have some gear for that and it should do fine.
I don't have too many square format examples, the club I am in restricts size to 1600 by 1200.
Which means I will attempt to do some 1200 by 1200 photographs and see how I get on with that.
I am not keen on participating in (what they call) fun parks but they do make a good subject for photography.
Trying to create a series of photographs on urban sights.
The Main Attraction.
70.2 Urban Fagment.JPG
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top