Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-21)

14 15 June 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

[email protected],AmateurPhotographer,

TI Media Limited, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough Business Park, Farnborough, Hants GU14 7BF

Standingontheplatformendat my

localpreservedrailwaystationI was

peeringthroughmyviewfinder

awaiting‘thedecisivemoment’.The

momentapproached,myfingertensed

ontheshutterrelease,andthenI

becameawareof themachine-gun

chatterof a dozencamerasasmy

fellowphotographersalsobecame

awareof themoment!

I suspectthattheeaseof batch

shootingwithdigitalhascompounded

anage-oldproblem:howdoyou

index/annotateallthoseimages?I

wasdrawntolookupwhatformerAP

contributorLancelotVininghadtosay

in hisusefulbook,MyWaywiththe

Miniature. I wassurprisedtoseethat

evenin the1950scataloguing

negativeswasa liveissue.Viningmade

thepointthatgoodindexingmade

negativesaccessibleandfindable,

butrequireda lotof work.He

recommendedspendingthelong

wintereveningswithpen,paperand

negativefilingsheetsorganisingyour

negativessothatimagescouldbe

quicklyandeasilyfound.

Twothingsimmediatelymademe

regretnotadheringtoVining’sadvice.

First, I was appalled at the chaotic

stateof mynegativefiles:piles

of imagesuntitledandnoteven

a noteastodateandlocation.Then,

horrendously,wasmydigital‘archive’:

whata horridmess!Thefearof losing

imagesmeantthatmostcameracards

had,of course,beenbackedup,but

theneachimagethathadbeen

post-processedhadinitiallybeen

duplicatedtofurtherpreservethe

originalandthenthefinalisedimage

hadtobenamedandfiled,buthow

andwhere?Myharddrives,memory

sticksandCDsarefilledwithvarious

abortedfilingsystemsandstillthe

numberof imagescontinuestogrow.

I takemoreandmore,andit becomes

easiertoendupwitha surfeitof

images.A fellowphotographertellsme

heshootsat 30framespersecond

(surelyheis makingmovies,at that

rate!),andthenfishesoutthebest

imageandthrowstherestaway.

Resolved:I mustbemoredisciplined

in shootingandfiling,butweare

whereweareandI suspectthatmost

of usaresittingona mountainof

unfindableimages.I amsurethat

I haveseveralimportantpictures

somewhere,if only I could fi nd them.

John Tarrant

Inbox

Too many pictures, too little time

Rewindtofilm

JohnWade’sarticlein AP

20 April,RewindtoFilm,is

a realbreathof freshairin

today’sworldof auto-

focusing,exposurecontrol

andmultipleprograms.

Todayevena modern

professionalcameracan

bereducedtoa pointand

shoot,leadingtosome

pretty dire results, as Eric

YOUR LETTERS

LETTER

OFTHE

WEEK

WNS

ASAMSUNG

EVO

PLUS

MCROSD

CARD

NOTE:

PR

ZEAPPL

ES

TOUK

AND

EU

RES

DENTS

ONLY

LETTER OF THE WEEK

Andersonmentionsin

hisletterin thesameAP

issue.I foundit goodtobe

remindedof thebasicsthat

myfathertaughtme 60

yearsago– though,with

increasingage,I do

appreciatetheautofocus

andnothavingtocarry

myoldWestonlightmeter

forexposurechecking.

Recently I have reverted to

usingaperturepriority

tocontroldepthof field,

whichis a challengingarea

ontheFourThirdsformat

thatI usetoday.

Filmalsotaughtusthe

economyof photography.

It is tooeasytojustkeep

pressingtheshutter

releaseona modern

camera,thendeletethe

rejects. I can remember

goingona two-week

holidayandcomingback

with 10 cassettesfor

development.Nowa

batterylifeof 360shots

is consideredbarely

adequatefora day’s

shooting.Havingsaidall

that,myfatherwouldhave

lovedallthethingsthatwe

candotoanimagewith

Photoshoporsimilartools.

Somucheasierandmore

powerfulthanstrugglingin

thedarkroom.AlanSmith

Asecondchance

Afewhoursbeforereading

JohnVhagatsi’sletterin

AP 13 April,I’dvisiteda

cameraclubexhibition,

wheresadly,thefirst

displaywasa prime

exampleof the‘poverty

tourism’hedescribes.

Anotherdisplaywassome

ICMimagerywhichthe

notescalled‘snatched’–

anartisticchoicewhere

thesubjectwasunaware,

sothephotographer

couldtakesomelevelof

ownershipof thesubject’s

self-image.Therewerethe

usualpay-and-display

stocktropes,HDRso

overdoneit waslikeburnt

bacon,andsomeonewho

clearlygotsomeNDgrads

forXmas.Onleaving,

someoneaskedif takinga

shotontheirsmartphone

wouldbeokay,whichit

was.Thatmademe

ponder:weoftenread

complaintsin APthat

someone,likea security

guard,doesn’trecognise

ouractionsorimagesas

morelegitimatebecause

wehave‘proper’cameras.

That’snotart,it’ssnobbery;

it’saboutshovingan

expensivetoyin someone’s

facetomakethemore

fortunatefeelbetter.

Then,in thesameissue,

I readAmyDavies’sarticle

onDonMcCullin,about

emotionalawareness,

empathyand‘concerned

photography’.This

remindedmehowCity&

Guildsphotography

coursesusedtoteachthat

whenaimingtocapture

thedecisivemoment

there’sa finelinebetween

reportage and voyeurism,

Win!

A Samsung64GBEVOPlusmicroSDXCwithSD

adapterClass 10 UHS-1GradeU3memorycard

supports4KUHD.OfferingR/Wspeedsofupto100MB/s/60MB/sanda

10-year limited warranty. http://www.samsung.com/uk/memory-cards.

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