Anybody who actually subscribes to this blog (hi there!) would probably wonder why I update it so infrequently, and think that I’m really lazy or something.  Well, I guess I’m sometimes lazy, but really, I’m just so fragmented.  I’ve got at least 3 unfinished articles at the moment, and they’re quite lengthy, and possibly not terribly interesting.  And it wouldn’t take a lot to finish them, but then I hardly want to publish them all at once because that would be too much.

And then there’s photography. Looking at the galleries here, I suppose you’d get the impression I’m basically a “nature photographer”, which is an accurate enough description - sometimes. If you look at my Flickr stream, depending on where my mood is at, you might get a slightly different idea, although I do try to present a certain degree of coherence. Certainly sets like Film Noir are not typical nature photographer ... or are they ?

And then if you could look at the vast reams of unpublished stuff on my computer, you might begin to wonder of I’m actually seeing a doctor for this schizophrenia thing…

I quite often discover new photographers on Flickr who speak to me in whatever way. Unlike, I suspect, quite a lot of “nature photographers”, I’ve got pretty wide tastes when it comes to other’s work.  So, for example, I really like “Sleek Miss D’s” work, especially the Ghosts set.  I suppose I might at times approach similar territory.  At the same time I really admire how she’s managed to convey the disquiet which comes from being compelled to take on a corporate identity just to survive (well that’s how it comes across to me) - but I don’t think that’s a place I’d go to, photographically. I’ve also discovered “Wintercove” in the last few days, and her visions from Alaska are just painfully beautiful, and possibly a but closer to my comfort zone in the photographic starchart.  And then there’s “Raul Loves Photography” who’s main interest, as far as the evidence on Flickr is concerned, is a million miles away from mine - and yet I find his explorations of portraiture captivating.

I’m not a great contributor to the community on Flickr, although I do try. I try to avoid commenting just for the sake of it, and making trite comments, although it’s often hard to find the right soundbite ... and I know people appreciate encouragement.

So, with this completely spontaneous and unrehearsed blog post, from down here by the Lago di Lugano, buon anno!

As my regular visitors (if I have any) will be able to see, I’ve done a bit of redecoration around here.  The current design is well over a year old, and I’ve decided it needed to focus a bit more on photography. At the same time I’ve cleaned up some stuff, and fixed some bugs - although doubtless I’ve missed some, and introduced some more.

Before

After

I had already snuck in a few changes, like making the navigation look a bit more like navigation, and adding one of those trendy lightbox doo-hicky things to the photo galleries.

I’ve also added global search, but thoughtfully hidden it at the bottom of the footer as a sort of post-modern pun (or bad design, not sure which).

Oh, and some of those little social network thingies hanging off the right edge. That’ll give me cool points.

The most obvious change is showing a random photograph upfront, linked to its gallery. After all, this is supposed to be a photography site. Sort of. So I’ve also booted the “other blog” from the home page. The latest “other stuff” is now summarised, remarkably, on the other stuff page. And finally added some permanent links to what I fondly imagine to be more interesting stuff, under the photo.

So that’s about it. There are a few other changes and little fixes I want to make over the coming days, and then when it’s all settled down I need to make the leap to version 2 of Expression Engine. Hopefully nobody will notice.  If indeed there is anybody to notice.

Then maybe I’ll get on to actually adding some content.

So why bother, really? Photography, I mean. Spending hours sifting through literally thousands of of globs digital dross in the hope of finding some kind of gem - always assuming I be able to recognise a gem if I found one, and of course ignoring the point that the question should be addressed before pressing the shutter. It often feels more like an obssessive compulsion, this hobby of mine, rather than a source of satisfaction and fulfilment. I do usually enjoy the process of taking the photos, but that may be more to do with place than process. And when it all comes down to it, I’m left feeling that it is all chaotic, purposeless, blindly repetitive: in summary, I just haven’t got a clue. At all.

Successful photography has direction and theme. In my opinion although individual photos may be successful, even greatly so, successful photographers need to demonstrate, repeatedly, that they can assemble a coherent body of work. They need to be able to convince the audience that they have pursued a well formulated intention. Throwing together a few photos after the act just doesn’t cut it. In other words, developing a conscious style is fundamental, and that’s where I really run into the buffers.

I’m pretty sure than any style I might be perceived to have is dictated by the camera. I mean, I’m pretty likely to take 4:3 ratio photos with an Olympus DSLR, and I’m going to tend to go for well lit and/or fairly immobile subjects.  I suppose I could argue that it was a conscious choice, but really, I just like the physical look, feel and style of the E-1 and it just carried on from there.

With the double blows of broadband internet and affordable digital cameras, photography has become very, very competitive, and is becoming much more about the photographer than the photograph. In fact there’s precious little danger of the camera being more important than the photographer these days - the camera is just another prop for the narcissistic. Just take a look at the most popular accounts on the major photography sites, and tell me that it isn’t all about ego and self-promotion. I mean frankly, are Rebekka’s photos that awesome ? Basically, no, they’re pretty average, actually sub-average considering the raw material she’s got to work with. And I don’t have anything against her (well, apart from the fact that she irritates the hell out of me), it’s just an example - but really, her fame has more to do with her, shall we say, personal characteristics, than her photography.

Whatever. Should it bother me? No. Does it? Well, clearly it does, to some degree.

The problem is there is just so much pressure to compete, and the sheer impossibility to stand out, or to do anything unique, or be part of any kind of meaningful community, is just wearing me down.

Of course, I’m starting to ramble. I’m losing the thread. I’m engaging in unwarranted and unfair diatribes against a person I don’t know in any way. I guess it’s symptomatic of the frustration of being unable to progress, unable to get noticed, unable to decide if I want to get noticed, and unable to decide if what I do has any merit.

Hey. Maybe I should buy a new lens.

It seems that the Olympus E-Club has been shutdown. There are no links to it any more, except the “Who is a Pro” thing you can find somewhere. On the old E-Club page, registrations are disabled, and there is no login, just this:

“Dear customer,

we apologize but this service is currently not available.

Thank you for your understanding
Your OLYMPUS Membership Team”

What, pray, My Olympus Membership Team, am I supposed to understand ? (that “Team” bit is a dead giveaway that they’re Germans, by the way. Germans LOVE teams.)

I think I’m supposed to understand you couldn’t find your arsehole with both hands and a flashlight. Or indeed with a fabulous Olympus endoscope.

There IS still a “Customer Login”, on various European pages, and it accepts my password, and it has my address, but all the serial numbers I have registered are completely gone.

This goes beyond clueless, beyond incompetent. Olympus has always been absolutely hopeless on the web site front, but they’ve really plumbed the depths now.

Unbelievable.

Finally…

New life for Expression Media, as PhaseOne takes it over from Microsoft.  I don’t know quite when I suggested this might be a good idea, but it was a long time ago. Not that I’m claiming any great, unique insight, as it was so obvious.

Now the big question is what will they do with it ?  If they integrate it with CaptureOne - and without throwing out the support for non-digital workflow - it could be a serious challenger to Aperture & Lightroom. But I’m afraid it’s all too late.  The support for non-photographic media assets must open up some interesting crossovers for professional users though, for example managing client paperwork alongside shoots.