Every picture tells a story and I’m passionate about telling stories and sharing my travel experiences through my landscape and travel photography websites. Quite often I get asked about what kind of camera gear I use to capture my images. Back in the 70s I started out shooting with a simple Olympus film camera. I recorded my journey in pictures and I’m so glad I did. As a … [Read more...]
Sony’s new full-frame baby, Nikon lenses and an Apple fizzle
The Sony A7C – looks a lot like an A6000, but it’s full frame. This one is in their handsome platinum color. Sony just introduced the A7C, which they’re calling the smallest and lightest fully-functional full frame mirrorless camera on the market today. They are quite careful to put conditions on their claim that exclude the Sigma fp, which is significantly smaller and … [Read more...]
Early September News and the start of the Great Luminous Landscape Lens Test
Out testing lenses – Sept 5, 2020. Peaceful Lewis Creek with the A7r IV and Sigma 24-70mm f2.8. There was an important court case decided recently, one that holds substantial ramifications for photographic gear, especially cheap third-party batteries, but also other items that are frequently cloned. In Bolger v. Amazon, a California appeals court ruled that Amazon is liable … [Read more...]
The Almost Hidden Path: Michael Walsh
"I mostly use an Olympus XA4 Macro and a Chinon Zoom 3000 Wide. The film stock I usually use is Kodak Colour Plus 200. Sometimes I use Portra 400 if I can afford it. "- Michael Walsh This profile is unabashedly on an up and coming and very new photographer. I enjoy focusing on all stages of an artist's path. For that reason, I am excited to share Michael's work with the Lula … [Read more...]
Michele Sons Follow-Up: West Virginia
In this follow up to our piece on Appalachian landscape photographer Michele Sons , Michele tells us how she moved away from photographing the famous national parks of Appalachia and ventured into more undiscovered areas of the region. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBmovTgywk8&feature=youtu.be Nick Taylor Sept 2020 … [Read more...]
Michele Sons Follow-Up: The Feminine Landscape
In this follow up to our piece on Appalachian landscape photographer Michele Sons, we take a look at Michele's acclaimed 'Feminine Landscape' series which blurs the borders between landscape and portrait photography. https://youtu.be/CRajI9wm6Jo Nick Taylor August 2020 … [Read more...]
Printing Part V – ImagePrint
The ImagePrint interface in a fairly basic state – making a single fine-art print on Platine with a border. One of the most valuable changes to my printing workflow in the past few years is that I now run all my printing through ImagePrint (Highly Recommended). Every time a photographer says ImagePrint, there are two immediate criticisms… First, “isn’t that really … [Read more...]
Camping in the Japanese Highlands with Snow Monkeys
During summer every year, I start looking forward to my Autumn Leaves Photo Tours and my Hokkaido Photo Tour that are usually just around the corner, or I start planning my photo adventures locally to picturesque locations like Mt. Fuji, Sado Island or the city of Yahiko in Niigata where the autumn leaves are breathtaking and bring people from all over Niigata, all over … [Read more...]
Kings of the Mirrorless Hill – Part 2: Systems and Companies
In part 1 of this article, we looked at the Nikon Z7 and Sony A7r IV in their competitive landscape. This part will look at the Z7 and the A7r IV in their respective systems – lenses, batteries, cards, flash and other accessories, and at the future of the two systems. Neither one has everything available that any photographer might want, and both have advantages and … [Read more...]
Michele Sons: Appalachian Dreams
https://youtu.be/JHkIdtAwzqE The latest in our video series profiling photographers in their favourite environments was filmed last November in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, as the last of the autumn colours gave way to the winter snow. Our guide was Michele Sons, a southern Virginia-based photographer and former Luminous Landscape grant recipient. She … [Read more...]
Design choices – Why do cameras look the way they do – More cameras announced…
A surprising amount of why today’s cameras look and handle the way they do traces back to early Leicas (here, a Leica II). We have three important new announcements since the last roundup, two of them video-related. The mirrorless market for serious photographers has matured to the point where there are five distinct “niches”. One manufacturer, Sony, makes this especially … [Read more...]
The Shoguns & Nikko – How three Samurai shaped Japan
Nikko was founded in the 8th century by Shodo Shonin, a Zen Buddhist monk before there was any bakufu or shogun in Japan. The first shogun was Minamoto Yoritomo, appointed by the emperor, Go-Toba, on August 21, 1192. Although the emperor officially remained the head of the nation by title, Minamoto Yoritomo was responsible for overseeing the day to day welfare … [Read more...]
Large-caliber Canons – two bodies, four lenses, two teleconverters and a printer.
Some very large cannon on the battleship Massachusetts – oh, you wanted Canon with ONE n? How about this brand-new EOS-R5? The 800-pound gorilla finally chose where to sit! Initial specifications of Canon’s new EOS R5 have been floating around online for a couple of months now, some from Canon development releases, others from leaks, and they have looked very interesting … [Read more...]
Lee Towndrow: American Form Beyond Function
I met Lee about ten years ago when I ran a fashion boutique and mini-gallery/store in downtown Toronto. This was before his move to NYC, where Lee cauterized his role as fine art and commercial photographer. Lee's work does something difficult to achieve; it manages to smuggle the absorptions of literary street photography into the commercial realm and, conversely, pulls the … [Read more...]
Olympus has Fallen – Who’s next?
In better days – The tough, compact OM-4Ti with the 50mm f1.2 Zuiko was an iconic film SLR of the late 1980s. In a move that will surprise few watchers of the camera industry, Olympus is selling their camera business to Japan Industrial Partners, a private equity group that specializes in helping troubled companies spin off insolvent businesses. JIP is most famous for having … [Read more...]
