It seems to me of late that of the myriad of photography blogs I follow there is a general watering down occurring, that is to say that compared with say last year, or 3 years ago the kind of content I am seeing on said blogs is getting a little less about photography and a little more general. I won’t single any of them out and it isn’t “all” of them, but I’m starting to see more and more non-photography stuff showing up.

So what does that say about the industry/profession/hobby? I will say there certainly isn’t any less camera equipment and gear reviews, they are still rampant which of course makes sense, companies need to sell their gear and reviews bring big numbers to a blog, I know that here on Thorley Photographics most of our hits are for film and camera reviews.

Leaving reviews aside though for a minute, what is going on exactly? is photography reduced yet to a point where anyone with enough nous and a reasonably good quality camera no longer needs to sift through the internet in search of information and opinion on such topics? has the smart phone diluted our art enough that less people actually care about what is being said with photography and how those photos actually look in terms of quality and composition? maybe the few of us with a real passion for the art of photography already “know-it-all” so to speak and there are fewer of the younger generation coming forward to embrace it as an art/hobby.

I might be wildly misdirected but these are just musings at this point, my own life is far to busy to delve as deeply into photography as I have in the past, but I ask of you (if there is anyone out there) what is it you like to see when you read a blog post? What would best serve you from our blog here? more reviews? more tech articles? random photo related ramblings perhaps? I would love to hear from you, hit us back in the comments section below!!

Wow it’s been 12 months since the last update, how slack have I been !

I’ve been super busy but I have a good excuse (see attached photo’s) … Well I’ve been taking lots of baby photos, and I also saw it as an excuse to try out Polaroid cameras. I have never really got the point of Polaroids, my argument was always, it’s way more expensive than film and you don’t even get a negative. But having played with a few polaroid cameras and impossible film, I’m coming around to the idea that polaroid is cool in it’s own way. It’s not something to replace shooting film it’s just something extra to have in addition to film.

Over the past 6 months I’ve been playing with impossible v1 film and V2.0, I’ve got to say v2.0 is a huge increase in quality. I’m looking forward to trying it in spectra format. Also waiting for the v2.0 to come out in colour. Looks like the Impossible people are going full steam ahead.

I have to admit it’s kind of fun.

My first attempt at a photo essay. I decided I’d have a go at photo essay’s as I have been seeing some very lovely ones on the net lately, most notably over at www.theonlinedarkroom.com . So I grabbed my Nikon FM and loaded it with some Kodak Double-X (motion picture film). The Coogee to Bondi beach walk is a 6.5 Km coastal walk between two of Sydney’s most iconic beaches.

First stop Gordon’s bay no-one pays much attention to the signs

Further on at Clovelly the local PADI SCUBA centre trains divers all year around.

The protected beach at Clovelley is very popular with families as well. Where as Tammara beach is where the beautiful people go to be seen in their teensy weensy bikini’s.

The kids play football(soccer) while the older people play lawn bowls

 The historic Waverly cemetery marks the half way point of the walk.

A nice spot to soak up the winter sun and watch the surfers, or read a good book.

Although with all the lovely beaches I cant understand why this surfer is surfing so close to the rocks.

6.5 km and 600 Calories later the end is in sight

 Bondi ice bergs sea baths is one of Sydney’s most iconic outdoor swimming pools. The Sydney coast line has literally hundreds of these sea baths / rock pools / swimming pools. Most of them are owned by the local city council and are free to use, others like the Bondi one are privately owned and charge a small fee.

I came across this post yesterday, and I thought it was so self contradictory, but maybe it was just designed as a trolling piece.

http://leicaphilia.com/?p=311 what do you think

Anyhow here’s my rebuttal

Seems to me this guy has it all backwards. He might have his facts right about early lens quality v Zeiss v nikkor. But he’s conclusions and assumptions are all wrong. Firstly his definition of “Leica Photography” seems to be stuck in the 1920′s, he actually doesn’t even define his definition of “Leica photography” but one can assume from his text, and the way he talks about HCB that he’s definition of “Leica photography” is closely tied to the pictorial movement and “the decisive moment”.

“Leica Photography” is a living organism it evolves,  “Leica Photography” of the 1920-30′s is very different to “Leica Photography”of the Korean/Viet Nam war era. During the pictorial movement photographers, tried to make art that was pictorial/painterly (which was why bromoil was popular at this time), this is why grain and soft focus was popular not because lenses were crap. “Leica Photography” has always been about creating art, fast forward to this decade and the Leica M is no different it’s not about shooting test charts and getting the highest DxO rating. It’s about creating art and if that means using silverFx to add grain to a razor sharp digital file then that’s good too.

Leica became marginalized during the rise of the SLR in the 70-80′s  and then to make things worse the dSLR revolution of the late 90′s and 2000′s pushed Leica further back. It has nothing to do with the Leitz family, quite the opposite, they let Leica slip on their watch they just kept phoning it in, allowing the company to become a dinosaur. Then the Millionaire guy bought Leica, he wasn’t just some soulless venture capitalist he IS a photography enthusiast (check out his interview on youtube). He loved his Leica camera and wanted to make Leica great again. He succeeded!

Not only is “Leica Photography” NOT dead, it’s more alive today than it has been in decades!

Actually come to think about it, the fact this guy has a blog dedicated to Leica photography, proved Leica Photography is not dead.

WestLicht photo auctions in Vienna have some very interesting cameras coming up for sale on 22 March 2014 http://www.westlicht-auction.com/index.php?id=4&L=1

The very first Rolleiflex twin lens prototype ever made, built in 1925/26 with one focusing wheel for the viewing and taking lens (like all later Rolleiflex cameras), for 4.5x6cm plates as the 120 rollfilm wasn’t invented, in fully original condition with certificate by DHW and original patent letter no.519590

Expected to fetch 35,000 – 45,000 EUR

They also have the only Hassleblad to make it to the moon and back. There were a total of 14 cameras to be used on the moon the other 13 are still on the moon and free to anyone who wants them, “local pick up only”!

Expected to go for: 150,000 – 200,000 EUR

The Leica IIIc camera review is up!

Check it out

I just knocked up a quick film review with some thoughts and examples of Kodak Tmax 100.

Check it out Here

My most recent acquisition, this beautiful black Rollei 35

Rollei 35

You may recall some time back my brother reviewed his lovely little Rollei 35 S. The higher end version with Rollei HFT Sonnar lens.

This little black Tessar version is cheaper but still a handy little performer. Don’t believe me? go to flickr and search for images shot with them. The little scale focus Rollei’s punch way above their weight class thats for sure.

I got this one for just over $20, it was marked as faulty, after being dropped by it’s previous owner. I found that it wasn’t much work to get the lens barrel unlocked and back into swift motion. Ebay can be a goldmine of opportunities if you know what you are looking for. I’ve saved lots of money over the years buying “seemingly” broken cameras that need very little to get going.

Anyway, this little beauty has a film loaded and is ready to shoot, being as it’s Xmas I’d say i’ll be burning through this roll quite quickly.

Have a safe and happy Christmas and a great start to the new year

I have just delved into the world of homebrew Rodinal. Lots of fun come and read about it here:

http://www.thorleyphotographics.com/?page_id=271

I just wrote a quick intro on hand colouring prints. It’s in the alt-process section of the site you can read it here.

http://www.thorleyphotographics.com/?page_id=253

Thanks for visiting

Steve