I have to say I’m not very comfortable with the way Apple ties RAW support to OS X versions.  I’m one of a group of users (relatively small, but not insignificant) who could not use 10.5.6 because it breaks DDC monitor hardware calibration on PowerPC systems (G5s are still pretty good at running Aperture). This affects monitors from NEC, LaCie, Eizo and Quatto and probably others - i.e. all the high end brands used by pro photographers.  Early reports are that 10.5.7 has NOT fixed this, and it is extremely unlikely that it will ever be fixed now.  Note, it does seem that this far from being 100% Apple’s fault, but nevertheless it WAS working up to 10.5.5, and it does work on Intel hardware, so it can’t be rocket science to get it right. It just isn’t a priority in pointy-haired product manager land.

So in this case, we’re stuck with a choice: new camera support, or monitor hardware calibration: pick one.

This could be the issue which drives me away from Aperture - crazy, really.  And really, you have to start wondering if the photography market segment really is considered any sort of priority at Apple these days.  All the signs point to the company being mainly concerned about supporting the consumer level (iPhoto, glossy screens) and considering that anything higher level is commercially insignificant.

Maybe I’m just too old for this s**t, but in a week when I’m questioning if I actually get any benefit from Flickr, i.e. does it help ME to reach whatever nebulous objectives I have for my persona-as-photographer, I came across fotonauts:

Fotonauts, apparently, has the “mission” to “enable the creation of the definitive pool of images for everyone to contribute to, discover, use and enjoy, covering all areas of human interest”. Whew. Is that ambitious, or pretentious, or both ? Whatever, it certainly isn’t holding back! (by the way, the “about” page on the site is veritable treasure trove for Bullshit Bingo fans).

The thing is, what is the point, exactly ?  Is there actually a deep demand for this “definitive pool” ? And anyway, who makes it definitive ? A cursory appraisal finds the usual holiday snaps and latest online trends (like some truly atrocious HDR, but that’s a whole rant all to itself).

One of the things which fotonauts is aiming to fix is “collaboration usually takes the form of shallow “pat on the back” style commenting”, which I fully commend. By how are they going to fix this, hmm ? Well, and I quote, by “(enabling) albums made up of the images from more than one photographer, and (allowing) multiple collaborators”. Well, fab. And how is that different to Flickr, just to take one example ?

The fact is this so badly misses the point that I cannot believe that anybody involved with fotonauts has any photographic background in anything other than family snapshots.

Photography, in very large part, is about self-expression. Not group expression. Would a collection of photos of America in the 1950s randomly assembled from the collections of Robert Frank, Cartier Bresson, Ansell Adams and LonelyGirl13 from Hicksville, Alabama be of any artistic interest ? I doubt it.

And NATURALLY, it’s all hooked up to Twitblogfacebo.  As for the business model, well it is invisible at present, but I wouldn’t mind betting that it will have something to do with bargain basement - and exploitative - photo licensing.

In my opinion there is a real demand for some kind of web resource which is genuinely aligned with ambitions of “serious” photographers. At the moment small self-organinsing clusters within Flickr go someway in that direction. But Flickr is too democratic, and has far too much noise. However, fotonauts, at least so far, is just another “me too” photo sharing site wrapped up in fancy words.

Oh, and it’s a Beta too ... as you can tell from this screenshot:

I didn’t touch anything. Honest.

 

If you’re reading this then you’ll know I’m finally back online. The old, grey photoblogography at snowhenge is no more, but all of its content has, I hope made the move over to this new site. Over the past few years I’ve been living a slightly constrained existence, both due to living in a very small space, and having an extremely time consuming job. Well now I’ve got a lot more space, all of my photography gear is unpacked and dusted down, and my job has become a little less time consuming.

At the time of writing, the actual photography content of this site is very low. A friend of mine convinced almost a year ago that I should try to present concise, edited portfolios online, rather than the huge database driven catalogue (of over 700 photos) that I had built up over the years. I think he’s right, and it is a step in the direction of becoming a better photographer, but it is easier said than done. For a start, I’m not terribly good at editing, and when I do start getting into it, I start to re-evaluate everything, selections, ratings and processing, so I’m not quite there yet. And I haven’t yet designed the web pages to present the portfolio in. So for a while at least, the photography pages will be a work in progress.

I am finding Aperture 2 to be an excellent editing tool, and an underestimated RAW developer and processor. It takes a while to get used to some of the processing tools, especially if you’ve been used to the Adobe way of doing things, but certainly to my eyes the results are at least as good as from any other tool - including the excellent RAW Developer - and the adjustment tools are very powerful. I’m pretty much committed to it now, so I guess the next thing to happen is that Apple will withdraw it…

Well, once again a huge gap has gone by since my last post. I've also made no updates to the site since, well, ages ago. There are a host of reasons for this. Some are technical. Due to a particular software vendor being more than willing to take my money, but less keen to supply a working product, or even to answer emails (I do apologise if Mark Liback is actually dead. It's the only legitimate excuse), my photo gallery upload and maintenance system is kaput. I'm also in something of a limbo regarding web hosting, as my current provider, the hype-heavy, customer service-free Active24 (NOT recommended) is invoicing me for a product they have no description for, and no published price list. And on top of all that, Moveable Type is frankly become a bloated mess of a product which is impossible to work with on anything less than a full time basis. On top of all that, the day job, which long ago went into "Death March" mode despite several clear warnings from several people, is sucking al life from me. So I don't suppose things are going to be fixed for a while. And you know what else ? I'm not actually terribly good at photography, beyond the basic mechanics - and even then, I'm borderline at best. Check out my Flickr stream, which is one thing I do update, for the sad evidence. So, if you are actually reading this, and you would like to see some great photography, as well as some extremely nice and well presented slideshow podcasts, I suggest you stop reading this and put your valuable time to better use at Bruce Percy's The Light and The Land website. Adieu.

Photography has being going by the board recently (strange expression... wonder where it comes from ?). I haven't even got around to writing much about my early March Iceland stuff, still less posting any of it except on Flickr.

However, last week, we spent a few days at the heavenly haven of Casa Bolsinina, Tuscany, being looked after by Maria Pia and Marcello. Although I can't say I was feeling particularly motivated, I took a few bits and pieces of gear with me (only 4 cameras), and intended to get up at least once at 4am for a Tuscan dawn.

Well, one morning I set the alarm for 4am, which given that I got to sleep at 1am was a bit drastic. And when 4am came around, I dragged myself out of bed, far enough to see that the sky was completely clear. This, in context, is bad news. Ideally there would be a thick ground mist, which can be used to artfully used to conceal the less attractive parts of the Tuscan landscape.

So I went back to bed.

And felt guilty.

Finally, at 5am I decided to give it a go. By this point, the sky was lightening, and I decided to head in the direction of Val d'Orcia, since getting to the Crete Senese ridge would (a) take too long, and (b) was pointless given the lack of mist.

At some point I glanced around and saw I'd struck oil - a new crescent moon was just rising. All I needed to do was to find a suitable framing for it. Fast. A "this is better than nothing" opportunity arose just outside Buonconvento, and here it is ...

Before Photoshop...

...after Photoshop

Footnote

In some cultures, a new moon is an invitation to make a wish for the coming month. Well, I didn't make one, but I had been hoping to see a porcupine (or two). And I did. Unfortunately, it was plastered all over the road - a long, straight stretch of road, where some doubtless petrol-head Italian had been compensating for his frustrating relationship with his underpants by bravely travelling at 180kmh.

I have calmed down a bit since, and at the risk of offending my many Italian friends, really, what the F&*% happens to Italian men's brains when they get behind a steering wheel ? Why do almost all of these courteous, educated, polite and cultured people turn into brainless, arrogant, rude homicidal maniacs ?

Same reason the Germans, British, French, etc do I guess.