Weekend-ing

Mmm... the weekend was just as relaxing and wonderful as I hoped - the sun shone and with little Grannie-blankets keeping our legs warm, we even managed to have brunch outside at one of my favourite Sunday-brunch spots, Pasternak.  The Russian smogasbord kept my tummy happy through a chilly 'Third-Reich' walking tour of Berlin.  It's been a while since I did some proper "touristing" and I was happy to discover a few more monuments and memorials, as well as some great Nazi-era architecture, to add to my list of places to return to to photograph properly. 

oops

I've been gone from here a little longer than I anticipated.  I forgot that I was heading down to Frankfurt for a conference for 3 days and didn't plan any posts.  Plus I've kinda enjoyed the quiet and space that turning off the computer has given me.  I've been doing lots of things - photo-taking, knitting, a bit of crochet but none of it has turned up here, yet.  Some of the things I've been making are gifts.  Remember this picture from back in November?

Well, three of these Mamas have recently had their babies - two boys and a girl and the fourth is not too far behind.  I've been making and creating sweet little things for Lewis, Hugo and little Clementine, as well as starting a few projects for my own July-Bean.  Yup, I've started nesting, stalking baby blogs like they might disappear overnight - my current favourites are here, here, here and here. 

Tonight an old friend from Australia is coming to stay for a long-weekend city break.  He's currently studying in Oxford and having missed him in Australia last time I was out, I haven't seen him for almost 2 years.  Looking forward to spending evenings sitting on the couch hearing about England, future plans and thoughts on how to rid the world of evil.  I expect I shall return to this Internet space of mine next week with lots of stories and perhaps a few finished projects to show.  Until then.

The case for Manual Mode

By now if you've been reading along with this series you should have some understanding of the three basic element of photography - ISO, shutter speed and aperture - have a basic understanding of manual mode and some concept of colour compensation.  Today I'm going to try to convince you as to why manual is in fact easier to use than other semi-automatic modes, especially when you are trying to create specific moods in your photos.  Having said that, it's not always the best mode to use, in certain situations allowing the camera to do some of the thinking will produce the best results.

** The text should read : These photos were shot at the same time on two different days (bad typo - sorry!)

Creating these three different exposures or moods using Shutter Priority or Aperture Priority would be quite bothersome.  On my camera it would be a two-step process that involves me holding down one button while adjusting my shutter speed or aperture with the other and setting the light meter to under-expose or over-expose.  Definitely possible, but a bit of a pain.  In manual all I need to do is adjust my shutter speed up or down so that the light meter in my view finder is showing that the photo will be under or over-exposed.  If that all sounded like gobbeldygook then head back here for a refresher.

Here's another example of when manual mode was much better than aperture priority, shutter priority or automatic.

If you are approaching manual mode for the first time it can seem a little daunting.  Practice is the key and mistakes, especially in photography, almost always teach you something.  Here is how I approach manual mode.  It's not the only way, or necessarily the best way, but it works for me.

Step 1.  White Balance: What conditions are you going to be photographing?  If you are inside or under fluorescent light consider setting your White Balance to Tungsten or Fluorescent.  If you want to enhance a sunset, think about switching to a Sunny White Balance.

Step 2. Select your ISO: Usually you'll be photographing in similar conditions for a while, select or check that your ISO is logical for your current "photo session"

Step 3.  Composition:  Ask yourself what "story" or "message" you want to convey in your photos.  Can you recompose the image to make this message clearer?  Think about Andreas Feiniger's three prinicples of exploration, isolation and organisation

Step 4.  Aperture:  What aperture do you want?  Do you want everything focused or only a small aspect of the photograph?  With P&S cameras switch from landscape (the mountain), to action (a running man) or close-up (usually a flower), with a dSLR consider the aperture that you want

Step 5.  Colour Compensation: What is the main colour of your photograph?  Should you consider over or under exposing to achieve the best colour range in this photo?

Step 6.  Adjust the shutter speed:  Adjust the shutter speed based on your decision about colour compensation and the atmosphere in your photo - dark and gloomy or bright and ethereal?

Step 7.  Assess your shutter speed:  Will you get camera shake at this shutter speed?  Do you need to adjust the ISO and/or aperture to get a crisp image?

It may seem like a lot, but a lot of these steps need only be done once or twice, especially if the light conditions stay the same and you'll only need to make small changes to your shutter speed.

Andreas Feiniger (1906 - 1999)

I mentioned Andreas Feiniger in my post on Friday and since then have been quietly stalking him on the Internet.  Born in Paris, to US-German parents he immigrated to New York just prior to World War II where he became a photographer for Life magazine.  Feiniger became famous for his depictions of New York and, particularly, Manhattan in the 40s and 50s - you can definitely feel the raw 'busy-ness' of what was still clearly an important Port City in all of his photographs.   It is perhaps ironic then that the picture of his I like the most is the last.  It couldn't be further away from the smog and chaos of an industrial port, but the open sky and the long straight road really appeal to me. 

like love letters falling from the sky

- Flowers left on the table on Monday night - because we said we weren't celebrating, and then he did
- This restaurant
- A first kick
- Blankets searched for in the middle of the night
- Merengue
- Conversations about Focaccia and McDonalds to an Italian "from the south"
- The promise of guests in Spring
- Spaghetti with Muscles
- New clothes (that fit!)
- Blue skies
- and a successful experimentation with home felting

Just a few of the things that made my week great.

What's making you smile this week?

Bunker Hill

On the weekend I went for a walk in Friedrichshain Volkspark looking for the first signs of Spring.  Think we are still a few weeks away yet; no buds on the trees or little bits of green poking their way through the soil.  

Part of my walk took me up Bunker Hill, one of several bunkers built by the Nazis during WW2. The bunker is more-or-less indistructable so it's been covered over and turned into a jogging path.  From the bottom it looks like a pretty normal 'hill', it's only when you reach the top that there are a few hints of it's former life.  Here amongst the rubble I managed to find  the colour that I'd been looking for - my little bit of "Spring" - beautiful green Lychen and Moss growing over the concrete. I am sure there is something poetic to be said about nature slowly erroding  and absorbing a fairly ugly bit for human history, but right now I can't think of the words.  Although it struck me at the time that this was what was happening and that this, indeed, was good.

Berlinale

Berlinale, Berlin's International Film Festival is on this week.  This is Berlin's answer to Canne, Venice or Sundance with a little less a lot less glamour, as is befitting a city rugged up against the February chill.  That's not to say that Berliners don't take their festival going seriously.  It is not unusual to hear of people dedicating a week of their holidays to 'festival going', seeing as many as 14 films in one week. 

Matthias and I have settled for a more moderate film-lovers tour this year - we're seeing four films over the next 10 days.  On Friday we kicked off with Offside, a film that won the Silver Bear at Berlinale in 2006.  It's back on the program as a protest against the imprisonment of director Jafar Panahi by the Iranian government.  Offside is a wonderful movie - a comedy about five girls trying to get entry into a football stadium to watch a game (women are banned from attending football games in Iran). I loved it despite the Farsi and German subtitles making understanding slightly challenging. I'm hoping that the other three movies are just as good - on the cards is an Argentina film about a wine critique who looses his sense of taste, a Japanese film about Sushi and Riddley Scott's new film "Life in a Day".  Here are two teaser's from Life in a Day - since I've seen these this morning I'm even more excited about seeing the film on Saturday.

And a few more photos from Friday night.  Not surprisingly, Offside generated a bit of a media frenzy.  Check out all the big lenses!  Lots of elbowing and jostling for prime photo-take positions.  Below left is what all the photo-taking frenzy was about - as I said before, Berlinale isn't quite as glamourous as Venice or Sundance - but this odd collection of people wearing green neckbands are the cast and crew of Offside. The green is another symbol of resistance against the Iranian regime.