Back From The Front
Friday 2nd May 2008
The steps leading up to the National Gallery enthral me with their symmetry, and as I press the shutter on my old Pentax SV I hear Eli snigger from behind me that it's actually St Paul's Cathedral. I'm stretched flat on the pavement. From my perspective it could be Machu Picchu. I glimpse over at Eli.
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Friday 2nd May 2008
It's a slightly frightening question. It's also a bit woolly. How much do you have to care? If someone started shooting, there are only two people
in the world whom I would protect with my own body: my wife, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Prime ministers? Presidents? Royalty? No way.
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Friday 2nd May 2008
Just before Christmas, my wife Frances Schultz and I were in Clacton, Essex, trying out the four new f/2.5 Leica Summarits. A seaside resort out of season can provide a useful range of subjects and lighting (parts of the pier are quite dark) and a unifying theme.
A few minutes after we had walked up from the pier to the town centre, a young policewoman came up to me and said, 'Excuse me. We have had a complaint about possible photographs you may have been taking of McDonald's.'
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Thursday 10th April 2008
Having spoken with my photographer friend Anita and several other photographers (yes, I can annoy other photographers too, not just Anita), it would seem that there are two major Japanese camera brands in particular that are commonly used by the professionals. Between the users of these two brands, there exists something akin to a religious war over which is the best. Anita, using one of these two brands, obviously has nothing but disdain for the other. According to Anita, the other brand is simply worse. Period.
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Thursday 10th April 2008
Years ago, when they were still affordable, I used to collect old Leicas and accessories. I remember finding a stereo beamsplitter and viewer for £25 (nowadays you'd need to put a couple of noughts on the end of that price); a 21mm finder for a fiver; infrared filters for a pound or 30s (£1.50) each; and a 90mm f/4 Elmar for £11 10s (£11.50).
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Thursday 10th April 2008
Grow or die. That's the mantra of management consultants, and a company that is not growing is already dying.
This is, of course, arrant nonsense. Then again, look who is peddling it. A management consultant doesn't actually produce anything; it is in his or her interest to keep things in a constant state of turmoil – literally, change for the sake of change.
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