The Talking Head

The internet has brought us many good and many bad things. One of the latter is arguably YouTube.

The thing that really bugs me with it is when you have self-confessed gurus, icons or people who seem to think they are some kind of God telling you that you should do something. I have never been very good at doing what I am told, so this is not a good start.

Common phrases are:

• You must take it to the next level
• You are not progressing
• If you want to be better
• You should do this
• You have to remember
• You must do this
• I do this, so should you if you want to be successful
• Don’t buy this
• You must buy this
• Why I changed from Brand X to Brand Y
• I have lots of people ask me…

Perhaps they have enlarged heads with that ego and have to walk sideways through doors. There is rarely any consideration of the viewer’s own intelligence, desire or intent, and there is an assumption that we all want to hear their opinions and not have our own.

I would not mind so much if the information was factually correct, and so often it is presented as that but is just an opinion, albeit based on their own experience.

One area that really grabs my goat is film stock and lenses. Many of the YouTubers are too young to remember film when it was all that anyone could use. The comments made about the difference between stock x and y are sometimes just rubbish. It does not tie in with the manufacturer information that is freely available, and they add wild comments that seem to be for effect with no evidence or factual back-up.

There lies the rub… YouTubers should not be relied upon as your only source of information. I suppose that is obvious really. Do your own research. This thing called the internet is great for getting a balanced perspective and forming your own well-informed decisions.

Two Film Manufacturers - One Resurrected

We have had a really mixed bag of weather this summer. When I have arranged to shoot something outside and the weather turns nasty, I cannot always put together an alternative. The end result of this dilemma can mean I end up going online for a while.

Sometimes these forays into the world wide web can be very productive. This week I discovered two film related sites that I was not aware of. Well, I say not aware, one I had heard of before, although I thought it was no longer making film. The other was new to me, but looks interesting.

The first is Ferrania film, who are in the process of recreation from the ground up as a film maker. This means they have the potential to survive if another company stops manufacturing as they will make their entire product on site from scratch. The factory is in Italy, and so far the progress looks promising.

The second one is the previously unknown manufacturer, and it is CineStill. I originally thought this was a film along the concept of LightWorks (I think that was the name) who used to buy up surplus cinema film stock and sell it as photographic film. The trouble with that was that the processing chemistry was very specialised and probably expensive as a result. CineStill film is C41 chemistry, which makes their product much more appealing. The only downside is that allegedly it has a backing to it that can mess up a labs chemistry. I will investigate that further.

I will not repeat what is on the respective websites here, but I have linked both sites above if you would like to take a look. My creative life does not revolve soley around film photography, I am just excited to see it is not as dead as I once feared.

For the Love of Film

I never thought that photography would ever be something that caused me worry or stress, but there is one subject that in recent years bothers me. It sits on my shoulder whispering in my ear...

What on earth could be doing this to me, considering my entire creative existence is based on a love and passion about what I do? The answer is, in fact, simple. I worry about the reduction in the range and availability of film for cameras.

In recent years we have lost some gems – Fuji Reala was a film that I loved using. Hopefully all is not lost though, as I read that Fujifilm now earns more from film sales than their cameras. Film is a consumable, so it may makes sense for them to keep manufacturing it as it actually brings in an income. Sadly, they raised their prices a while back, which was linked to higher production costs as they are creating less of the product.

Ilford have had a rough few years, but seem to be okay for now. I think their FP4 and HP5 will always be in demand as long as people shoot film. I also take some reassurance from The Impossible Project with their instant films. Lomography have done a lot to revive film with their business model. They have some interesting products and special editions. In fact, something to suit everyone.

Kodak have a beautiful product in their Portra films. I love their ISO 160 version. This film has a truly beautiful colour balance and images look gorgeous. It was designed for portraits, but can be used for other work as well. They also make Ektar, which seems to have a slight reddish tone. I think this makes it ideal for landscapes, although I have not shot it myself yet. If Portra continues to be made, I think my own requirments will be catered for.

Is my worry justified? I would like to think it is not, but I hope the industry will continue to provide us with 'camera food' for many years to come. I hope we will always have film of some sort, but the products will probably continue to reduce into the ones that sell well. I suppose that makes good business sense. I know this is selfish, but I hope that my own preferred choices are the ones that survive.

Why the Attitude?

Pretentious – Attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually possessed...

There are many good things that have come with the internet. Possibly quite low on the big list of developments that could be described as amazing is the ability to research information about cameras and read or watch reviews.

One of my favourite places to look for these is YouTube, but when did it get choked with so called reviews that are just an overview of the camera? Why not call it what it is, an overview?

There also seems to be a huge number of videos by photographers explaining why they changed from one camera brand to another. This can be interesting, but does it really need to be a 15-30 minute video? I think not. Each to their own, but I lose interest after 5 minutes because they are too drawn out. However, there are videos that I think are genuinely interesting, and not because they are more technical. One example that springs to mind is DigitalRev. Occasionally you get the personal slightly arrogant opinion sneaking in, but it is not rammed down your throat with a footnote saying 'I am right and you are wrong. No, actually, you do not matter'.

I never fully appreciated how pretentious some photographers are until they started to have a presence on the net. I had noticed it in forums before, but that tended to be people slagging each other off or their respective work. This was probably an early form of trolling. Maybe that would that be called trollism? Either way, the act of being a troll.

I originally thought the drive for attention was for hits associated with affiliate links, but it seems more complex than just earning a revenue. I think that was the case in the early days. In more recent years the obsession for followers and likes seems to have become crucial to some, possibly in the pursuit of some form of acceptance or credibility. The world of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter has taken things to a different level.

While researching this subject a little further before writing this post, I found some interesting links online. The one that stuck out to me and has made it onto my personal reading list for sites is Psychology for Photographers. The author is called Jenika and she has done a far better job than I can of explaining this subject. You can click the link to view her post and also take a look at her site if you would like to read more. Of course, I have not taken anything from her post, so what you will see there will be fresh.

I am not surprised to find someone had already tackled this subject online, but in my unexpected need for justification or validation of my observations, I am pleased to see the posts and articles do exist.