Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Freddie Hubbard dead at 70

I'm saddened to read that Freddie Hubbard died this morning of a hearth attack. My favourites include Red Clay and Straight Life, and his contributions to CTI All-Stars: Summer Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl. Very likely not the best of his body of work, but very relaxed and popular.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Updates

It may be of interest to you that Lightroom 2.2 and Picasa 3.1 are available now.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

THE REVOLUTION CONTINUES

THE REVOLUTION CONTINUES - NEW CHINESE ART, The Saatchi Gallery, London

Today we visited the Saatchi Gallery close to Sloane Square and admired THE REVOLUTION CONTINUES: NEW CHINESE ART exhibition. I was bored at the Tate Modern museum, where I thought the exhibitions to be pretentious at best, and although the Saatchi Gallery is a lot smaller, we spent more time there. It was simply a lot more interesting to us.

Note that the admission is free for all exhibitions.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Lensbaby 2.0

lensbaby 2.0 

Now that Lensbaby has announced the new generation of lensbabies at the Photokina, the old models can be found for a bargain. I paid less than £40 for my lensbaby 2.0, including shipping. If you are really interested in the possibilities of this lens, you better wait until they start shipping the new version but if you would just like to have a toy to play with, now is the time.

Monday, October 20, 2008

This Is War! Robert Capa at Work

We went to see the Robert Capa and Gerda Taro exhibition at the Barbican yesterday and were blown away by the powerful images. Quote: If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough. Read up on my trip report on my Aminus3 page.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Adobe Lightroom 2

If you are like me, you have already seen too many black and white photos with just one element, usually red, left in the original colour, so you'll have to excuse me while I try to unearth the different tools made available in Lightroom.

Monday, September 08, 2008

North Sea Jazz Festival - Sun Ra Arkestra

Sun Ra and his Arkestra at the North Sea Jazz Festival - Saturday 17 July 1982.

A Sun Ra concert is something you will remember for the rest of your life: it is a mix between a big-band free-jazz concert, a religious ceremony and a trip to outer space. Long before UFO abduction stories had been heard of, Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount) had become convinced that his roots lay on the planet Saturn which he visited by spaceship and he developed "cosmic" philosophies and lyrical poetry as he preached "awareness" and peace above all in his music.
No need to point out that the concert of Sun Ra and his Arkestra that I visited on the Roof Garden scene at the North Sea Jazz Festival 1982 was quite the spectacle with the space music, poem recitals and space costumes. Click on this youtube link to get an impression what the concert was like.

Camera: Pentax ME, lens: Sigma 70-150mm F3.5, ISO 1600

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Scanned photos - Johnny Griffin Quartet

jazz Johnny Griffin Quartet

I lost some of my most precious negatives and I decided to scan some of the A5 sized photos that I printed at the time. The scanned photos needed quite a lot of restoring and I'm not 100% happy with the results. Have a look for yourself.

Camera: Pentax ME, lens: 150mm F3.9, Film: Kodak 1600 ISO

Monday, August 18, 2008

Boring Street

One of the more interesting Internet initiatives is Boring Street  where everyday street photos from all over this planet prove to be far from boring.

Have a look at my Boring Street profile here.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Flickr.com

kogal girls in Tokyo, Shinjuku

Like almost everybody else at Flickr.com, I was more interested in posting my own photos and getting hits than that I spent time enjoying photos posted by fellow photographers. I couldn't get anybody to look at my photos until I posted the above photo of some kogals and in the few weeks this photo has been up, it has already generated more hits than all of the 199 other photos combined. ^_^;; On webshots.com, on the other hand, I get about 2000 hits a week but then again, this photo has been up there for a couple of years now. I'm not really sure what conclusion to draw. ^_^.
Nowadays I prefer to post at Aminus3.com and enjoy the often to the point feedback.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Troyes

Cathedral in Troyes

Having lived in the UK for a couple of years now, I still find it a bit claustrophobic that you have to reserve ferries, trains or planes to get to and from the "continent" as the Brits call it. The Brits probably don't even think about it, but if I were living in Holland or so and returning from a holiday in the South of France, I would just push through and return home in the evening or early night, or a day early if the weather were bad. But with a ferry reservation to meet, it is a different story. This bring me to Troyes; we had occasionally seen a GB car on the campings south, but the Camping Municipal in Troyes was packed with the English and all returning home. We had stayed in Troyes before and loved the city and on our way back I had picked Troyes because it was a mere four or five hours drive from Calais. Funny that so many had come to the same conclusion ^_^

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains

Just a reminder for your fateful visitors that my photo blog has moved here.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Monday, July 07, 2008

Janwillem van de Wetering dead at 77

Last Friday, Dutch author Janwillem van de Wetering has passed away in Maine USA where he had been living for many years. He is probably best known for his Amsterdam Cops series with Grijpstra and De Gier as police detectives following the trail of murderers, but I liked him best for the three books he wrote about his experiences with Buddhism: The Empty Mirror, A Glimpse of Nothingness and Afterzen.

The first two books describe his pilgrimage to Kyoto, Japan, where he spent some months in a Buddhist monastery and his stint at the Moon Springs Hermitage in Maine under the American Zen master he met back in Japan. In the last book all his experiences and disappointments have resulted in a very unique and honest view of Buddhism where he still carries a lot of respect for at least some of the masters he met but has done away with the rituals and still abides by the truths of the teachings.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Long Exposure

For some amazing long exposure photos, have a look at the work of Alexey Titarenko.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Scanned photos and Exif data

I don't know about you, but I use Exif data extensively to evaluate my own photos and learn from other people's photos. I scan my negatives via a Nikon Coolscan V ED and the drawback has been that the resulting files do not contain any Exif data. The TWAIN driver for the scanner nor Photoshop allow me to add more than just the Author information whereas my Pentax MZ-S stores exposure mode, metering method, shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation on the negative outside the actual photo area and I would love to add that information to the images.

There are a lot of GUI tools around like Microsoft Pro Photo Tools and GeoSetter that allows you to manipulate some of the Exif data, but for some reason, none of these tools allow you to change or add any basic information like maker, model and exposure data. I guess the programmers always expected this to be set already by the DSLR or digital compact and of no value to add this. :-(

The only tool I have found capable of adding or changing the basic Exif data is Phil Harvey's ExifTool, a very powerful tool which is a Perl script using a command line interface. Using this tool I have been able to add a lot of Exif data to my scanned photos and in combination with ExifTool GUI, I have the environment for which I have been looking.

Monday, June 16, 2008

There Will Come Soft Rains

Field-flowers

I'll be slowly phasing out the daily photo in this blog as I have moved over to Aminus3.com which really is the best free photo blog environment around. I would therefore invite you to update your bookmarks and follow me there: http://hoshisato.aminus3.com/.
I'll continue to use this blog for travel, technical subjects and miscellaneous.

The title of my photoblog comes from the poem by Sara Teasdale which was used in a fabulous short-story by Ray Bradbury.

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pool singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

©1920, Sara Teasdale.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Water lilies

Water lilie closeup

Close-up of a water lily in the pond in the Waterperry Gardens. A very nice place to visit and I'll be posting some more photos that I took in the days to come. Yesterday's photo was also taken there.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Summer skies

Poppies in a field with summer sky

Finally some better weather.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Friday, June 13, 2008

Looking out

London Soho

Somewhere in Soho, London.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD HP5+

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Water lilies

Water lilies in a pond on the golf course in Denham. What to do if your golf ball ends up on top of one of the leaves? Would you play it?

Camera: Pentax *ist DS

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Churchyard, Denham

Same rosebush as yesterday's photo, just a 180° turn with a small cottage in the background. I used HDRI on this photo to keep the details of the flower.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 20mm 1:1.8 EX DG Aspherical

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Churchyard, Denham

Rose in the churchyard of the parish church dedicated to St Mary, Denham.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 20mm 1:1.8 EX DG Aspherical

Monday, June 09, 2008

Denham Village, Buckinghamshire

Denham Village, Buckinghamshire

Lovely houses in Denham. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means "homestead in a valley". It was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Deneham. The light was just coming in from the right angle to avoid flatting all detail in the bricks.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Sunday, June 08, 2008

View from Albert Bridge, London

Moored boats and mooring positions as seen from the Albert Bridge.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Nara Park

A tea and soba place in the depths of Nara Park close to Kasuga Taisha shrine.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Friday, June 06, 2008

Wabash Ave

Overview of Wabash Avenue, Chicago.

Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 28-300mm - 1:3.5-6.3 + ILFORD FP4+

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Houses of Japan (8)

Shokudo- type restaurant in Tawarayama Onsen. One of these, often family run, restaurants in the countryside that also do home delivery. If you have watched the Maison Ikkoku anime, it is the type of place operated by Godai's parents.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm - 1:3.5-5.6 DC

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Houses of Japan (7)

Ramen shop in Takayama. I have no idea what the construction on the roof is all about. It is more something you would expect on the coast instead of in the middle of Japan.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Houses of Japan (6)

A house in Gero Onsen.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Monday, June 02, 2008

Houses of Japan (5)

Soba restaurant in Takayama, Japan

A soba restaurant near Takayama JR station. We had lunch here and it was pretty good. Inside, on the walk to the restroom, they had the prettiest little garden, maybe not larger than 2m².

Note the statue of the tanuki, a sure sign that the place is a noodle restaurant.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Comedy Festival

Last night at the Comedy Festival in Amsterdam, standup comedian Theo Maassen destroyed the brand-new €15.000 camera of freelance photographer Ilvy Nijokiktjien who had been hired by the organization of the festival to document the performance. Maassen didn't like to be photographed apparently even though Nijokiktjien was just sitting in a seat amongst the public and was not using flash-photography nor walking around, and was hired by the organization as mentioned above. Nijokiktjien has filed a complaint at the police office. I can only hope that charges are going to be pressed but the damage is done: if you don't like somebody taking photos, just smash the camera! The reaction of the public who had cheered Maasen on and who still were hostile with Nijokiktjien after the incident made that very clear.

Mister Theo Maassen seems to be pretty full of himself. *disgusted*

June 3 update: Ilvy Nijokiktjien has retracted the complained filed with the police after Maassen and the Comedy Festival organization offered to refund the camera. It boiled down to the fact that Maasen hadn't given permission to the organization for photos to be taken while the organization had failed to communicate this to the photographer they had hired.
For me this sounds like a very feeble excuse: Maassen could have easily asked Nijokiktjien to refrain from photographing or asked her to leave, but he chose to get her up in front of everybody, humiliate her and destroy her camera. An overreaction of somebody with an inflated sense of self?

Houses of Japan (4)

Hotel in Gifu City, just right next to the JR station. The whole area is being rebuild and this is just the one old building standing there. Sort of reminds me of the Dolphin Hotel in Haruki Murakami's book A Wild Sheep Chase.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Houses of Japan (3)

Houses of Japan series

A souvenir (omiyage) shop in Takayama.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Friday, May 30, 2008

Houses of Japan (2)

Houses of Japan, series

This residential house was taken in Gifu. It is tiny and you would really have to crouch to get into the door.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Houses of Japan (1)

house in Japan

When you think of houses in Japan, don't you think of glossy architecture and tiny apartments? There are plenty of those around, of course, but in the countryside and big cities alike, there are still a lot of old houses for the photographer to discover. Today I'll be starting a series of the old, quaint and other interesting buildings that I have photographed during my visits to Japan.

The building above is a pawnshop in Takayama. One of those places you'll be sure to bump your head when entering as the door reaches less than 1.80m (6ft).

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Icebergs in glacial lagoon at Jökulsárlón

 Icebergs in glacial lagoon at Jokulsarlon

I'm still intrigued by the black sand and white skies. Lots of seals would swim up into the lagoon as the mixture of fresh and seawater caused a lot of fish to feed there.

Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 28-300mm - 1:3.5-6.3 + ILFORD FP4+

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Parliament building

The Parliament building on the Danube taken from the Castle Hill area.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO + ILFORD FP4+

Monday, May 26, 2008

Széchenyi Chain Bridge and Basilica at night

Széchenyi Chain Bridge and Basilica at night

Night shot from Castle Hill over the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and the basilica. Taken from my tripod with an exposure of 15 seconds for an f/20 and an ISO value of 200. The difficulty was that the bridge was much brighter lit than the basilica and the rest of the town.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest

Larger than its twin in Marlow, England, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge is much more imposing because of location and decorations.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Sloping street

View from the hotel. Isn't this what you would expect a street in Eastern Europe to look like? Empty, except for a single bus and lined with blocks and blocks of drab apartment buildings? The truth is that you'll have a hard time finding a location like that and the way the Hungarians keep building and reconstructing, soon none of the 1950 apartment buildings will be left.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO

Friday, May 23, 2008

St. Stephen (István) Cathedral

Tourists on the square in front of the Basilica.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Don't spook the horse

3 horses lined up

Three horses showing different levels of interest in this photographer. I used HDRI to keep some of the detail in the sky for this poorly exposed photo.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm - 1:3.5-5.6 DC

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Framed Basilica

I'm lousy at framing! ^_^;;

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Talking stones, Paris November 2005

Exhibition at the Palais Royal, Paris, next to the Louvre

An exhibition of "talking stones" at the Palais Royal in Paris, just outside the Louvre Museum. There were several stones and they would strike up conversations amongst themselves. Very cleverly done with the projection on the stones which really gave believable facial expressions.

I was sort of reminded of them when I was in Chicago last January where they had these talking walls in the Millennium Park.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm - 1:3.5-5.6 DC

Monday, May 19, 2008

Inside Fisherman's Bastion

Passage in Budapest

Even more stairs when you get to Fisherman's Bastion. The Bastion takes its unusual name from the guild of fishermen which was responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages. The Bastion itself was erected between 1895 and 1902.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Daffodil

A photo I took while getting familiar with my MZ-S. I like the delicacy of this shot and the depth-of-field works well, IMO.

Note that I have opened a new photoblog at Aminus3 that I will use to showcase my better photos, I would appreciate it if you could check it our or subscribe to it. The title of the blog, There Will Come Soft Rains, comes from a short 12-line poem by Sara Teasdale written in 1920.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Evening walk

Lonely bench along the stairs around Castle Hill Budapest

Coming back from taking the night shots from the top of Castle Hill, I couldn't resist taking this shot now that I had my tripod with me. If you have been hanging around this blog since last year, you might remember that I did a course for Zoom-In and I used "benches" as my assignment.

The reason I like this shot is the unreal feeling it captured that was created by the light used.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 24-70mm 1:2.8 EX DG MACRO

Friday, May 16, 2008

Rooftops

Rooftops have always fascinated me but they are so difficult to capture in a single photo. This is not a great photo, but it captures a little of the image I had at the time. The trick is to make the difference between the cropped view of a photo and the depth-of-field work in your advantage and capture the essence, and if you can do that consistently, you have reached grand-master level, IMO. Visualize, visualize and visualize... ^_^;;

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fisherman's Bastion at night

Night shot of Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest

A 20 seconds exposure of the Fisherman's Bastion, the oft-photographed terrace in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style with a part of the Matthias Church visible all the way to the left and the Hilton hotel behind that church.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Statues

Sandblasting man at Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest

A statue being sandblasted at the Fisherman's Bastion, the sand and the grime splattered back on the person almost turns him into a living statue.

Talking of living statues, I was happily surprised that there were none around; I didn't see a single one during my stay there. In London or Paris when you get close to a tourist attraction you can find them in any form and shape. The musicians in the restaurants are everywhere, though, and we didn't escape 'An der schönen blauen Donau' of course ^_^;;

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Stairs (2)

Romantic photo of stairs at Castle Hill Budapest

Around Castle Hill you are never far away from an aerobic workout and it was a pity that Wii Fit had not been released at the time of our trip. ^_^

Reminiscent of Montmartre in Paris, the footpath from the hotel to the top of Castle Hill was beautiful but, like in Paris, I failed to record that quality of the steps on photo. The yellow filter which gives the foliage the almost transparent quality really helps this shot.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Monday, May 12, 2008

The Stairs (1)

There is a funicular to get to the top of the hill at Castle Hill, Budapest, but it is much more fun to walk up to it. The day we arrived, however, we went up and over the hill so many times exploring the town that we were completely exhausted and luckily we found a place selling Weißbier and goulash soup which might not be the recommended combination, but it did taste so very good!  ^_^;;

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Sunday, May 11, 2008

St. Stephen (István)

Saint Stephen I, the first King of Hungary with a halo of the sun. I used HDR techniques to keep the details of the statue without blowing out the sky.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO / HDRI

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Churches on the Danube

View over Budapest

Taken from Castle Hill with the three completely different church towers lining up in an interesting way.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO

Friday, May 09, 2008

View from the Castle

Photo of the danube and budapest

View from Castle Hill over the Danube, Chain Bridge and the Basilica, Budapest.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Living in Budapest

Houses in Budapest, view from Caslte Hill

View from Castle Hill over Buda. This area feels more cosy than the very business-like Pest side of town.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO + ILFORD FP4+

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

The Passage (2)

backlit tunnel in Budapest

This is the same passage as in this photo, but taken from the other side and at another time of day such that the other side is backlit once again. The over exposure of the backlit parts nicely covers up the streams of tourists passing by in the background. :-)

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO+ ILFORD FP4+