This is me, taking a picture of my camera, which was taking a picture of me.
You surely have recognized me by my haircut... ;-)
Samstag, 27. Juni 2009
Click!
This is me, taking a picture of my camera, which was taking a picture of me.
You surely have recognized me by my haircut... ;-)
Donnerstag, 25. Juni 2009
The Very First Light
Well, i must admit a bit "cliche" here - but i think, more or less each good looking image contains a certain dose cliche. In my former FC-times some users were derogatory calling such shots "postcard" images (while shooting other kinds of postcard images by themselves at the same time ;-)
Okay - to a certain point they are right, because beautiness or successful colour images are often printed on postcards or posters, they are simple with less image elements, strong colours and they are quickly effective, like this shot obviously is. You don't need to think very much, you can just view and love it. But i think, a certain dose of beautiness is okay for each photographer, unless he/she is not shooting this stuff exclusively or manipulating an ordinary image with painted colours or painted fog in this "dreamy" way.
This shot was really the result of the morning sun, it was NOT taken on a cloudy day - i did NOT clone the sun into it afterwards. The fog was also real, the red of the sun was real (though a bit increased with PS), this scenery was even more beautiful in reality, than it is here as photo.
So i have to say, that i will not apologize myself for showing this beautiful (and true) morning mood and i hope, you enjoy it with me! :-)
Montag, 22. Juni 2009
Dienstag, 9. Juni 2009
Karstadt has busted!
The big german warehouse Karstadt has busted, they have no money to pay the rent for their houses. One more desaster, that we have to face in these days of financial crisis. In my eyes Karstadt is not only victim of management mistakes, but of our modern web-commercial activities - the people are buying always the cheapest stuff, and with the help of the internet they can easy find the cheapest shop. So WE all killed Karstadt and we should not shed crocodile tears about the lost for our city centres. We all get, what we deserve - and many more shops will follow Karstadt and Woolworth.
So i believe, we must rethink our own behaviour as customers, if we want a more human city atmosphere. How about not only buy the cheapest stuff? How about going to the shop close to you, even if you know, that the price is a bit more expensive than the cheapest price recherche in the web. If we all act like hungry grashoppers (in german we say "Heuschrecken"), we will erode our environment totally blank and clear.
So i think, we should return to buy shoes in a shoeshop, we should avoid to buy in the big chains and support more the small shops - and we should buy in our region.
It is f.e. idiotic, to buy frozen beef from Argentina in Northern Germany, instead of buying german beef here in Germany. (And of course also reverse: South american beef for South America.) Even if it is a bit cheaper: It does such big damage to the nature and i will stop this silly behaviour as much as it is possible to me.
I am convinced: We all (me too) are responsible for that, what happens in our world. It does not make sense, to put the finger on others. WE are destroying the nature, WE are acting like financial sharks. WE with our "cheaper-cheaper-cheaper"-behaviour are the true robber barons, and only we can stop this terrible development.
Less is more - this is not only a good rule in photography.
So i believe, we must rethink our own behaviour as customers, if we want a more human city atmosphere. How about not only buy the cheapest stuff? How about going to the shop close to you, even if you know, that the price is a bit more expensive than the cheapest price recherche in the web. If we all act like hungry grashoppers (in german we say "Heuschrecken"), we will erode our environment totally blank and clear.
So i think, we should return to buy shoes in a shoeshop, we should avoid to buy in the big chains and support more the small shops - and we should buy in our region.
It is f.e. idiotic, to buy frozen beef from Argentina in Northern Germany, instead of buying german beef here in Germany. (And of course also reverse: South american beef for South America.) Even if it is a bit cheaper: It does such big damage to the nature and i will stop this silly behaviour as much as it is possible to me.
I am convinced: We all (me too) are responsible for that, what happens in our world. It does not make sense, to put the finger on others. WE are destroying the nature, WE are acting like financial sharks. WE with our "cheaper-cheaper-cheaper"-behaviour are the true robber barons, and only we can stop this terrible development.
Less is more - this is not only a good rule in photography.
Primus Inter Pares
Very difficult light situation. Found this y-shaped tree in the wood, and i used my "old" Canon 300D@Sigma12-24 for the shot. I hope, that i was successful in showing the certain light atmosphere of the forest.
Old Hunting Lodge
This is the old hunting lodge in "my" wood, as i call the big wood behind my house. You see, it is a dark and a bit scary place and it is also a bit rotten in the meantime. I already know this hut for many years (for almost 40 years). In former times it was hidden behind a fence, in the meantime the fence is broken and you can go directly around it, this allows me to take pictures there. It is a perfect background for many images and the darkness allowes long time exposures as you can see on my previous post. The blurness in the leaves on this shot is also a result from the long time exposure.
Donnerstag, 4. Juni 2009
The Puppet
Surreal self portrait, made with my "old" gear (300D@Sigma12-24, long time exposure).
This shot shows, how my photography has changed.
Samstag, 30. Mai 2009
Which photographic community is the best?
In the last months i have thought a lot about the right image management and the best way of using the big communities for my photography. When i started with my digital photography more seriously in 2004, i was only active in the Fotocommunity (FC), and all my images were shown there. I learned a lot from my FC-friends and i am very thankful for the critical or encouraging remarks of my friends there. We used the FC "behind the scenes" for a critical exchange about our works, and i think, this was the time, where i learned the most about how to let images look good. We had the FC-gallery as a public area and "motivation zone" for our works, and i have to admit, that me and my friends supported each other in word and deed - it was always a big pleasure to gain a "gallery star". Unfortunately there are some birth defects in the FC, and these faults were leading to my first turning away of the FC in the end of 2005.
The first big mistake of the FC is: You cannot delete ugly remarks under your images by yourself. You have always to contact the admins, and it is clearly visible, that a few admins cannot control a commmunity of several hundret thousands of users.
Second big mistake: Everybody is able to create a fake account within a few minutes. With these fake accounts you can make trouble under other images - and because of mistake nr. one the photographer must look on remarks like "Sneaky little trash image" for the rest of his life, unless he is "running to mummy" (calling the admins for help).
Mistake Nr.3 is, that they have a lot of packs there, making trouble with other packs (because of mistake 1 & 2), especially in the gallery votings. It has nothing to do with constructive critics, when so called "street photographers" are writing destructive and condescending remarks about the works of nature photographers - it was in many cases the result of personal frustration of some people. In the end they had so many discussions with 200, 300 or more comments, that it was a big waste of time, to take part on this "discussions". I have to admit: Because of my temper i sometimes was argueing there too often, especially when my friends were attacked before. It was leading to nothing, and i regreted it afterwards, but now i think, the trouble is one of the principles of the FC. They probable think, that the users are more active, when they have such ugly discussions, but this works only for a short period. On the long run it is a shot in the foot, cause many ambitious photographers were leaving the FC. Simply, because they have better things to do, than to argue with boneheads.
In the autumn of 2005 things were escalating, when i made some suggestions who were pasted by several tenthousands of users. I was simply phrasing 4 points, to have a better and more constructive gallery voting, my so called "reform ideas", but the FC-admins did nothing, to improve the gallery voting. Main problem there is, that they are publishing under each image the name of the photographer, so that the voters (who are deciding about success) can vote for their buddies or against their "enemies". As a result of this idiotic system they have big brawls there, even today they have a lot of very destructive and ugly discussions between the users and some well know trouble makers, while the FC-admins seem to have no problems with the institution "gallery voting" or "voting center", as they call it in the FC.
You can find my reform ideas even today in many FC-profiles, because up to this day they changed almost nothing in their gallery voting. The old packs are still active there, but the whole FC has become boring, compared with 2005, because so many good photographers have left the community.
In a final big uproar (end of 2005) i left the FC for one year, came back for one year, saw, that nothing had changed (except the fact, that in the meantime many good photographers had left the club) - and left the FC for good afterwards.
In the meantime the number of comments and the quality of the shown images in the FC has gained a very low level. The FC has given away the chance of being a photographic hometown for good photographers, they concentrate their attention on newbies and hobby snapshooters. Very sad, because i like the way, how images are presented there - the dark grey background is much better than the bright white Flickr-background. But i have to face the facts: The FC admins do not want to change a bit there, and so their community has totally lost the attraction to me.
Then i tried some other communities. Here is my personal subjective judgement:
Photo Points should be called "Photofriends", you will only find "nice comments", and the people there are friendly and good fellows - but not very interested to improve their photography. Nevertheless Photo Points have some good artists there, and they are showing not only mainstream-images, but more seriously pictures, selected by a jury.
Sternview - is a german "clone" of Flickr, but only a poor copy in my eyes. Especially the bright white background shows, that they are not interested in photographic issues. I believe, Sternview was more founded, to sell the "Stern Magazine" and get some images from the hobby snapshooters. The photographic standard is not very high. The same with
Chip Fotowelt: Commercial interests, very much advertising, mainstream and colourful images manipulations instead of good photography. Forget it!
Photo Sig: Club of frustrated amateurs. At Photosig you get comments and critics - but on each image, even if the image is perfect. :-) They would criticize the best works of photo-history there, Henri Cartier-Bresson would get tipps for making his images more interesting... :-) They have also a poor level there, the admins are interfering very much (f.e. one female admin told me, that Ansel Adams was no good photographer in her eyes (though she called herself a professional - i wonder in which business. Obviously not in photography.). I remember one hot discussion with an hdr-freak (a candyman from USA, creator of the most ugly and artificial images, that i ever saw), who was trying to give me lessons about good photography. He found, that my images needed much more hdr and tonemapping...
In my eyes photosig is more something for hobby snapshooters, who have fun in discussions, even if there is nothing to discuss.
I tried some other communities (i still have an account at Fototalk and at Art Limited) - and i will probable try out some more in the future, but Flickr is - so far - the best community for photographers, simply because it is the biggest community - you can find everything there. Professional photographers will find good contacts, and hobby snapshooters can use it for "awards" and "invitations". I use it for an exchange with some dear contacts, that i made there in the meantime. For example my Flickr-friends Michal, Rui and Rob are very good photographers, each new image is interesting and inspiring to me.
But because you have a kind of "image flatrate" at Flickr, there is the danger of inflation. So many images, so many contacts and groups. It is sometimes really exhausting.
So i remembered the old quote: Less is more!
I reduced the number of my contacts, made a new account ("Lutz Breden unplugged") and in the meantime i hide the less interesting images after a little time. So i show not longer more than 200 images, but at least 20,30 images. It makes it more easy for my visitors to take a look at my portfolio and i can be sure, that they will view the most interesting images, not only the latest.
For the future i will concentrate myself at Flickr on less groups, for example AoL (Art of Landscape) and SVS (Something very special, my own foundation) and few good photographers. I don't want to waste to much time with vanity comments.
Beside my Flickr-Work i will build up my own website (www.lutz-breden.de) with a collection of my best images.
I think, this is the best way to use the web for ambitious photography. Each artist needs a feedback and some good words from time to time - but base flattery or feedback of bad photographers is more or less a waste of time.
The first big mistake of the FC is: You cannot delete ugly remarks under your images by yourself. You have always to contact the admins, and it is clearly visible, that a few admins cannot control a commmunity of several hundret thousands of users.
Second big mistake: Everybody is able to create a fake account within a few minutes. With these fake accounts you can make trouble under other images - and because of mistake nr. one the photographer must look on remarks like "Sneaky little trash image" for the rest of his life, unless he is "running to mummy" (calling the admins for help).
Mistake Nr.3 is, that they have a lot of packs there, making trouble with other packs (because of mistake 1 & 2), especially in the gallery votings. It has nothing to do with constructive critics, when so called "street photographers" are writing destructive and condescending remarks about the works of nature photographers - it was in many cases the result of personal frustration of some people. In the end they had so many discussions with 200, 300 or more comments, that it was a big waste of time, to take part on this "discussions". I have to admit: Because of my temper i sometimes was argueing there too often, especially when my friends were attacked before. It was leading to nothing, and i regreted it afterwards, but now i think, the trouble is one of the principles of the FC. They probable think, that the users are more active, when they have such ugly discussions, but this works only for a short period. On the long run it is a shot in the foot, cause many ambitious photographers were leaving the FC. Simply, because they have better things to do, than to argue with boneheads.
In the autumn of 2005 things were escalating, when i made some suggestions who were pasted by several tenthousands of users. I was simply phrasing 4 points, to have a better and more constructive gallery voting, my so called "reform ideas", but the FC-admins did nothing, to improve the gallery voting. Main problem there is, that they are publishing under each image the name of the photographer, so that the voters (who are deciding about success) can vote for their buddies or against their "enemies". As a result of this idiotic system they have big brawls there, even today they have a lot of very destructive and ugly discussions between the users and some well know trouble makers, while the FC-admins seem to have no problems with the institution "gallery voting" or "voting center", as they call it in the FC.
You can find my reform ideas even today in many FC-profiles, because up to this day they changed almost nothing in their gallery voting. The old packs are still active there, but the whole FC has become boring, compared with 2005, because so many good photographers have left the community.
In a final big uproar (end of 2005) i left the FC for one year, came back for one year, saw, that nothing had changed (except the fact, that in the meantime many good photographers had left the club) - and left the FC for good afterwards.
In the meantime the number of comments and the quality of the shown images in the FC has gained a very low level. The FC has given away the chance of being a photographic hometown for good photographers, they concentrate their attention on newbies and hobby snapshooters. Very sad, because i like the way, how images are presented there - the dark grey background is much better than the bright white Flickr-background. But i have to face the facts: The FC admins do not want to change a bit there, and so their community has totally lost the attraction to me.
Then i tried some other communities. Here is my personal subjective judgement:
Photo Points should be called "Photofriends", you will only find "nice comments", and the people there are friendly and good fellows - but not very interested to improve their photography. Nevertheless Photo Points have some good artists there, and they are showing not only mainstream-images, but more seriously pictures, selected by a jury.
Sternview - is a german "clone" of Flickr, but only a poor copy in my eyes. Especially the bright white background shows, that they are not interested in photographic issues. I believe, Sternview was more founded, to sell the "Stern Magazine" and get some images from the hobby snapshooters. The photographic standard is not very high. The same with
Chip Fotowelt: Commercial interests, very much advertising, mainstream and colourful images manipulations instead of good photography. Forget it!
Photo Sig: Club of frustrated amateurs. At Photosig you get comments and critics - but on each image, even if the image is perfect. :-) They would criticize the best works of photo-history there, Henri Cartier-Bresson would get tipps for making his images more interesting... :-) They have also a poor level there, the admins are interfering very much (f.e. one female admin told me, that Ansel Adams was no good photographer in her eyes (though she called herself a professional - i wonder in which business. Obviously not in photography.). I remember one hot discussion with an hdr-freak (a candyman from USA, creator of the most ugly and artificial images, that i ever saw), who was trying to give me lessons about good photography. He found, that my images needed much more hdr and tonemapping...
In my eyes photosig is more something for hobby snapshooters, who have fun in discussions, even if there is nothing to discuss.
I tried some other communities (i still have an account at Fototalk and at Art Limited) - and i will probable try out some more in the future, but Flickr is - so far - the best community for photographers, simply because it is the biggest community - you can find everything there. Professional photographers will find good contacts, and hobby snapshooters can use it for "awards" and "invitations". I use it for an exchange with some dear contacts, that i made there in the meantime. For example my Flickr-friends Michal, Rui and Rob are very good photographers, each new image is interesting and inspiring to me.
But because you have a kind of "image flatrate" at Flickr, there is the danger of inflation. So many images, so many contacts and groups. It is sometimes really exhausting.
So i remembered the old quote: Less is more!
I reduced the number of my contacts, made a new account ("Lutz Breden unplugged") and in the meantime i hide the less interesting images after a little time. So i show not longer more than 200 images, but at least 20,30 images. It makes it more easy for my visitors to take a look at my portfolio and i can be sure, that they will view the most interesting images, not only the latest.
For the future i will concentrate myself at Flickr on less groups, for example AoL (Art of Landscape) and SVS (Something very special, my own foundation) and few good photographers. I don't want to waste to much time with vanity comments.
Beside my Flickr-Work i will build up my own website (www.lutz-breden.de) with a collection of my best images.
I think, this is the best way to use the web for ambitious photography. Each artist needs a feedback and some good words from time to time - but base flattery or feedback of bad photographers is more or less a waste of time.
New Start for this Blog
I have decided to post here on this blog in the future mostly in english language, because most of my contacts are international - and in the meantime i am able to write much faster in english, than in former times. (Thx to many Flickr posts...)
If i nevertheless make some mistakes, i was glad, if you would correct me. It is not always very easy, to write in another language than the mother tongue. F.e. i wrote in many of my posts "watch this shot in big" - a Flickr-contact told me, that american and english countrymen would have used "VIEW this shot in big"... So i hope, that i will not forget this hint and i try to avoid similiar mistakes. ;-)
The same with reading. I understand the sense of many comments, but if some people make remarks in colloquial speech, i sometimes have to slow down my reading speed, cause i have to think about the sense of all the abbreviations and hidden jokes.
So in english language things you must treat me like a 6 years old child. I hope, that i can grow up a little, in the next years.
;-)
If i nevertheless make some mistakes, i was glad, if you would correct me. It is not always very easy, to write in another language than the mother tongue. F.e. i wrote in many of my posts "watch this shot in big" - a Flickr-contact told me, that american and english countrymen would have used "VIEW this shot in big"... So i hope, that i will not forget this hint and i try to avoid similiar mistakes. ;-)
The same with reading. I understand the sense of many comments, but if some people make remarks in colloquial speech, i sometimes have to slow down my reading speed, cause i have to think about the sense of all the abbreviations and hidden jokes.
So in english language things you must treat me like a 6 years old child. I hope, that i can grow up a little, in the next years.
;-)
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