LIVICK'S RAMBLING DIARY FROM JANUARY 1, 2000 UP UNTIL NOVEMBER 27, 2009, HAS BEEN ARCHIVED.

THIS IS A DIARY THAT SERVES AS MY LITTLE " SOAPBOX " AND ALL ROUND RANT PAGE.

This online diary has not been edited regarding content or style.
It is intended to be open honest and quite revealingly candid.

FEBRUARY 5th, 2012

I have been reading with some keen interest I'll admit, those various articles on the 37.5 MP Leica S2 camera and it's lenses, that have been posted on the Luminous Landscape web site. I noticed something intriguing, at least it was to me, the Leica S2 owners always appear to crop the S2 images to fit into a 35mm style of sizing. Usually making their prints 20x30 inches in size, instead of having the images print out at 24X30 inches like the S2 files would normally end up being. Which means in my mind they are cropping some of the image, and of course scaling them up just slightly, such a small re scaling that it's really of no concern. The native size from the Leica S2 CCD sensor's image is 20x25 inches, which is 6000x7500 pixels.

Now by cropping the S2 image slightly to 20X30 inches you naturally have to get rid of some of those 37.5 mega pixels, and by my reckoning you would have to crop off 4x30 inches from those slightly interpolated mega pixels, after resizing it from 20x25 inch which is it's native size up to the 24x30 resized inches. And then cropping off 4 inches from either the top or bottom or perhaps a little cropped from both. Which means you are discarding roughly 9 Mega Pixels of the original S2 information in doing so, or 4x25 native inches or 1200x7500 Mega Pixels which equals 9.0 Mega Pixels that are being discarded and simply cropped off by the photographer.

The Leica S2 sensors shape is akin to a 4x5 or an 8X10 sheet film format. I always found these formats not really wide enough for my personal liking, preferring instead 35mm or even 5x7 sheet film sizing. Which is why I can definitely sympathize with the Leica S2 owners cropping their images to look more like 35mm image.

Now my real question is this, has anyone bothered to compared Nikon's D3X image when it's being printed out at 20x30 inches full frame and un cropped, to the Leica S2 image being printed at 20X30 inches but cropped. And evenly more importantly I feel is this question, and perhaps it's going to ultimately be the Leica S2 killer, and that's what will the comparison be like between the new Nikon D4X, or the Nikon D800 at 36 Mega Pixels printed at 20X30 inches using the full frame, verses the Leica S2 at 37.5 Mega Pixels but cropped leaving 9 mega pixels missing. Making it only a 28.5 Mega Pixel camera for those wanting to photograph with it, but actually end up with 35mm sizing to show for it?

Now in my mind a fair comparison would be to use Nikon's best quality professional glass when comparing lenses, I for one would be really interested in such a comparison. One thing that Nikon cameras definitely have going for them are the incredible wealth of available lenses and other amazing kit that's already in their vast kit repertoire.

Perhaps that's why higher end Nikon cameras end up being a working photographer's tool as opposed to a collector's camera like the Leica camera line tends to be. Of course the photojournalist's M series of rangefinder Leica's are acknowledged by everybody to be good. however they still lack in a 100% completely accurate viewfinder, many kinds of DSLR zoom lenses and of course those excellent Nikon prime longer lenses and the amazing flash sophistication that's found in the Nikon DSLR line.

And another major issue from my perspective is the actual nature of the S2 imager itself. Leica's S2 is a CCD type of imager and Nikon's D3X is a COMOS style of imager. Not sure what the D4X or D800 sensor will be at this point, most probably they will go with a COMOS sensor, me thinks. I have found the CCD style of imager to be much too contrasty in nature for doing landscape work.

In fact it's almost too contrasty for my personal liking. Because it has meant having dark and brooding hard to resolve shadow areas in my landscape images, where as I find the COMOS sensor seems to give incredibly beautiful shadow details and tends to look much more natural in the end product, which of course is the actual print out. I have used both the CCD type extensively and the COMOS type as well, and for me the COMOS kind of print result wins every time. Perhaps in a controlled fully illuminated studio setting the CCD sensor might be perfectly at home. But out in the field doing landscape photography I find the Comos sensor sings my song.

JANUARY 23rd, 2012

Sure I'll admit it up front that I am a full fledged Nikon camera "snob" at heart. Always have been in a smaller format, however I can tell you that I felt completely betrayed when Nikon announced their diminutive Nikon V1 and J1 mirror less system. Well I only wanted the best in a smaller sized mirror less camera, is that so wrong? And unfortunately Nikon seems to be treating the new small V1 and J1 system somewhat like a toy product. Perhaps not wishing to bleed sales away from their regular lines of full sized DSLR cameras. Now believe me I have tested a lot equipment in the past, and because of that I know that Nikon's internal company philosophy must be one of striving to build great camera systems. And so I believe that they put out the best there is, in a smaller format hard working photographers' camera.

Not a "collectors" nor a camera "aficionados" kind of camera, like the Leica brand has tended more to present itself. Yes it they are overly very well made but it's equipment that's more intended for doctors, dentists and lawyers and the well healed in our society, who can more afford to pony up for such an expensive system. But seldom, if ever, use the camera with any degree of actual difficulty or real trial for the camera or it's integrated system. Now Leica's S2, their 37.5 Mega Pixel system looks to be quite interesting from my perspective, I could see it being used more easily for example, than say a forty mega pixel medium format camera would be, to do creative image making. Too bad that it's so darn expensive, not to worry though, because Nikon will introduce their larger mega pixel offerings soon and no doubt they will be more reasonably priced. Let's hope so at least.

Not anywhere like the overly expensive medium format camera system that one web sight, Luminous Landscape no less, seems to be "favoring". Although Michael is denying any real connection to the Phase One medium format camera and digital back maker, it nevertheless appears to be a rather cozy situation. I wonder how anyone could honestly critique something properly, especially when they appear to have an intimate connection to the Phase One company. Because Michael when the head of the Phase One company brings you the latest camera and backs, then spends a good amount of time with you as a friend and colleague in a remote wilderness area. How can you then be completely objective, open and honest about reviewing their Phase One camera and digital backs? And this is especially the case if you want to continue to test and report on their latest digital backs and camera offerings in the coming years. Post a negative review and they will surely cut you off from the corporate equipment "teat" immediately.

Now has anyone noticed that the people who can afford such expensive cameras are usually those "would be" photographer types, but actually are lawyers, doctors and bureaucrats, of course in their "other" lives? Unfortunately I find that the imagery they make using such expensive cameras, is little more than grade school basic and in fact leaves a lot to be desired, of course that's just for me personally. Because I find it is imagery that's always sitting on the surface and consequently in my mind it lacks what I think of as visual depth, visual insight, and lastly the images being displayed appear to have no visual weight attached to them, at least they don't have from my own perspective.

Perhaps these people have much better imagery in their digital portfolios than they are putting online. You would think for exhibiting online they would put their best imagery out there. But perhaps not. I do know that my web site only has 10% of all the work that I have done over the years currently on display. I am sure it's the same with other people.

I also noticed that Michael Reichmann of Luminous Landscape web site fame, ironically takes much better imagery when he is using the diminutive Sony Nex 7 camera, than he does when using the very expensive medium format Phase One system. I really like Michael's creatively playful Nex 7 imagery a lot, and frankly I always look forward to see what's coming next. But to me, his Phase One imagery that's online at least, is always seeming to lack something compositionally. I honestly believe that smaller lighter faster cameras are far better for doing "free form" creative photographic work. And Michael's Nex 7 imagery is showing us that, I wonder if he is aware of it himself? Perhaps he is. He seems to be enjoying himself using the Sony Nex 7.

Now don't get me wrong, Phase One and the Hasselblad system definitely have their place in photography, but in the more calculating commercial indoor studio experience I would imagine. But for doing free form creative photography, I believe that a smaller camera platform is definitely the way to go. However if an ad agencies art director is constantly peeking over your shoulder then the more analyzing more impressive looking Phase One or Hasselblad sitting on a heavy Gitzo tripod wirelessly "tethered" to a large Mac 30 inch Cinema display is in truth, the only way to go in such a situation.

You can buy into all of the hyperbole on the Luminous Landscape web site regarding Phase One equipment, and of course break the bank to get yourself into the medium format system. But for those doing any fine art photographs, I feel such a move will only hinder one's creative process in the long run. Unless of course you simply wish to do straight forward point and shoot calendar styles of photography, which in truth is not really fine art photography, simply illustrative landscape work. Now I know about the creative hindrance that larger systems can force upon you, because I found working with those more professional grade formats of 8X10, 5X7, and 4x5, including many medium format systems, Hasselblad, Rollie 6X6 and Mamiya RZ6x7 system over the years, actually slowed my creative process down to that of a herniated induced crawl. Well I did really enjoy working with the speedy Rollie 6x6 camera I had, not exactly sure of the model but the number 6000 comes into my mind for some reason, any way I worked with during 1980 and 1981.

Bigger cameras drains one's energies that go into lugging such equipment around, and then there is the ability required to command the actual system itself. I found that such cameras could easily become more of a hindrance and "in control" of the situation more than I actually was. Even though I had tested and prepared myself no end, until I could use all of these larger cameras virtually robotic ally or blind folded. But once on location there is a hyper creative conniption fit factor of sorts, that takes effect, and can easily make one forget about system control. Now with smaller lighter easier to use fully automatic systems, all of one's creative energy can flow directly into the imagery itself. At least that's my 002 cents on it.

Personally I use my 12 Mega Pixel Nikon D700 35mm in full manual mode for doing multi image mural photographing. However I always use it in the P or program mode whenever I decide to take any single images. Because I trust in Nikon's almost always perfect programmability. I of course still adjust the front control wheel to select the right combination of shutter speed and aperture that I feel is right at the image. And I never ever look at images on the back of the camera while photographing in the field, ever. I always have complete confidence in myself that I have the image or images in the bag, and you know, I always do. There is never any doubt about that in my mind. I think it comes from years of shooting with film and never seeing the images until days or weeks and in some cases months later.

Now by relying on the program mode for single image captures, I can concentrate more fully on the subject and absolutely completely ignore the camera, that's in my hands being held up in front of my eye. But with a medium format camera, controlling the larger slightly heavier camera usually means it generally becomes tripod dependent, as the worry begins over integral focus and possible camera shake movement in the image takes over. One worries more about mirror lock up and making sure that no wind is blowing at the moment of exposure, which actually pushes the imaginative creative side of you out of the way, just like a snow plow.

As a consequence I feel that image integrity, that ultimate in visual content can often and generally does suffer because of this. Because one's creative attention is subtly being bled away from the image itself, something that high Mega Pixel medium format systems will always demand of photographers. In a studio setting it's fully controllable, but in the field it's much more challenging and creative blocking.

I personally have decided to opt for less image resolution and less image smoothness in my digitally based work, and in return, I look for more creative image making freedom, and of course there is much less equipment "drag" on my body in the end. Yes I'll admit that it is a knowing trade off, because you have to decide if the medium format system's image resolution and it's inherent image smoothness is actually worth loosing some creative integrity over. Not to mention the astronomical prices that are involved at this point in time.

I am reminded of someone who willingly purchases a hundred thousand dollar Audi SUV, just to go grocery shopping twice a month. Not sure exactly why that thought floated to the surface, but it did. Of course this is me speaking up freely with no business related shackles confining me, as a long time creative fine art photographer, who has been there and done that.

JANUARY 11th, 2012,

Seemed like a nice winter day yesterday, sunny and almost warm no less. So I decided to top up my Nikon D700 battery and went out looking for some new mural images to photograph. I managed to fill the 8 GIG CF card with eight mural's worth of new images, and that was that. But I did notice one crucial thing that I hadn't ever noticed before. I found the camera too darn heavy to continuously hand hold long term. Bare in mind that I take about fifty to sixty spaced out images at a given time of a particular mural subject, in order to eventually make up the large scale 60X96 inch images.

This time I found myself actually beginning to actually verbally cu's and swear at the sheer dead weight of camera with the 180mm lens attached. And with the separate AA battery unit attached underneath, just for balance, without any of the AA batteries being loaded. It must weigh in at roughly five pounds, which seems awfully heavy to me these days. And perhaps it's unnecessary anymore, given the mirror less camera craze that's currently sweeping the commercial camera markets.

I am seriously considering the potential move to a mirror less camera body to do my mural work. Sure I still intend to purchase one of Nikon's 36MP D 800 bodies, that is when ever they become available. But that's just to do single image capture, photographing one image at a time. Mainly to do 27x40 inch image print outs using my 44 inch Epson printer. Just as a personal fun time hobby, really, no kidding.

But to continue to do multiple image capture, sans tripod, I think that I am going to switch to a smaller lighter mirror less camera system. But alas it probably might not be one of Nikon's under mega pixeled mirror less models. I will most probably opt for Sony's Alpha 77, of course I have to hold it first and see if it agrees with me, or more importantly if I can agree with it, once it's in hand. And that might present a problem, if so, I will then carefully consider Sony's NEX 7 camera system.

But hold out a little while longer to see if Sony makes those necessary changes that Michael Reichmann of Luminous Landscape, says really require upgrading in the Nex 7. And one more thing, could I even find a lens that I want or even like amongst Sony's rather meager collection of lenses. Do they even have a 180MM or a 200MM prime lens available?

I will also still check out Nikon's mirror less 10MP V1 camera as well, just in case, just in case, it might possibly do the job for me. After all, I am only using their 12 MP D700 body at the moment. And when you combine 40 to 50 10 MP files together in Photoshop's layers you do end up with quite a sizeable file size. No doubt, absolutely not with the D700s incredibly beautiful image quality. That's for sure! And that just might be the problem with Nikon's tiny mirror less offering. The ultimate lack of image fidelity.

I see that Fujifilm has announced yet another newly arriving upscale rangefinder camera. I'll be up front with you, I personally have had numerous problems with Fuji products. To be honest with you, I never truly liked any of their punchy over saturated transparency films colour characteristics, when I tried them in the past. I know the commercial boys did like them, but I for one did not. And I did at one time purchase one of their roll film cameras, which is going back a while ago now, but I never really liked it.

There were always nagging, really shouldn't be there, problems. I remember purchasing one of their 6X9CM roll film cameras, which I only had to return after a few days and a few tests. Because it would loosely wind the film onto the take up spool, so loose in fact, that the films ended up with bad light leaks along the edges. The sharpness of the images also left a little something to be desired, from my point of view. I know, I know, you are going to tell me to get with it and that times have changed, but here's the thing, a companies internal management philosophies seldom ever do change.

And I am willing to bet that Fuji's new rangefinder camera will exhibit some modern day, nagging little faults, as well. You see a philosophy of operational aptitude courses like antifreeze that substitutes for real honest blood, in most large companies. And I have found that things never really change, decade after decade. By the way, some years ago I did try out one of their digital cameras, and to be sure, I did not take to how it lacked the little things that I was familiar with using Nikon products. Although some of my photographically inclined friends do like and use Fuji cameras, go figure I say!

I now think that I am going to have to purchase some five pound velcro strap on weights, to see if I can try and strengthen the muscles in my arms and particularly in my shoulders. Oh that's right, I just remembered that have a torn muscle in left shoulder, torn last March and "healed" over, so I honestly forgot about that. No real strength anymore in my left shoulder and my arm for lifting things.

I didn't remember that I am in a long cue waiting just to have a surgeon look over those MIR scans, that I had done of it in the beginning of December 2011. This surely explains that heavy Nikon syndrome that I suffered from the other day. Darn it, I was really looking forward to purchasing another system. Nothing like the excitement of purchasing new camera equipment, is there?

JANUARY 7th, 2012

Well it didn't take long to hear about Nikon's 16.2 MP D4 body being announced this week. In retrospect I believe that this camera is designed for a specific targeted audience. Photo journalists in particular and perhaps some sports rapid shooters as well.

It makes perfect sense when it's being viewed from that perspective. I have seen pictures of the 36 MP D800 body, which leaves me asking this cheeky question for Nikon, exactly what is the D4X going to be, if it's even going to be at all?

If it's only going to be a 36 MP D4X body, that in my mind does not make much business sense. I sense photographers will more that flock to the D800 body, especially with it being that much cheaper. So we have to wait just a little longer to see what Nikon has up it's selves. I am sure that we will all be surprised.

I must tell you that I have been having some "crazy" almost, at least in my mind, "heretical" thoughts about cameras. I have been quietly asking myself this question, why couldn't I work with a carefully chosen "amateur" grade camera? Something that has from 16 MP and possibly even up to a 25 MP body.

With the body only costing around the one thousand dollars mark, or so. And I would carefully choose a "do it all" zoom lens. The whole rig would cost no more than a couple of thousand dollars, perhaps less. I mean, is this asking too much? Why can't this idea work?

The only cameras in the 25MP range that are around a thousand dollars just for the body, give or take, might be the Sony Alpha A65 and of course the Sony NEX 7 which is $1200 just for it's body. However if I drop the Mega Pixel criteria down to 16 MP, then there are a lot more camera bodies available from which to choose.

In that case I would most probably opt for a Nikon body. But which one, perhaps the 16.2 MP D7000 which is about $1150 give or take. And I might even consider the 16.2 MP D5100 that's $770 for just the body.

This flight of possible thriftiness is all because I have been wondering about something that I said forty five years ago. I said that I could do great imagery even with a cheap toy camera body and a glass Coke bottle bottom for the lens. I said that because it was the person taking and making the images and not the camera equipment that makes great photographic imagery. And I still believe that!

So in my mind lately, I have been asking myself this question, why don't I live up to what I said so long ago. And start trying to do great imagery but using an absolute minimum of photographic equipment. One carefully chosen camera body and one excellent zoom lens. And try to keep the price to around $1500 and up to $1800 dollars, not including any of the 13% additional taxes.

I might in a more daring move, even try working with a much less expensive outfit, just for the fun of actually doing it. Something along the lines one of those 30 or 36X Super Zoom cameras I am aware of. Like the Nikon Coolpix P500, around $400 dollars or possibly the FujiFilm Finepix HS20EXR at $500 dollars. And try and limit myself to about six hundred dollars for everything, including the 13% taxes all in. Would be a fun self asignment, I don't see why not try, just for the heck of doing it.

After all as we all know you can travel in style and comfort inside an expensive $60K Audi, or you can make use of a $10K carefully chosen used automobile. Both would be capable of getting you to where you want to go. I should imagine the same thing applies with cameras. Can't really see why not, because I have made and sold quite stunning 22x28 inch images that were taken using my wife's Nikon P6000 13.5 MP camera that's really meant for only doing family snapshots.

I'll keep on turning it over, leaning on the idea until just the right camera body and lens combination magically surfaces in my mind, or not. It's a pet project to quietly contemplate, especially on cold blustery winter nights. With a video image of a hard wood log fire crackling away, burning reddish orange, suggesting the imagined sense of comfort and warmth, emanating from my large screen television.

At least there is no dusty fire ash to contemplate and procrastinate cleaning up. Because my wife has said point blank, no matter how warm and cozy a wood fire is, she's not going to be the one to clean up afterwards.

JANUARY 1st, 2012

So we begin another year, I wonder what it will bring? More weather related problems no doubt, and a worsening in the European Debt crisis. I also believe that we have not seen the end of the recent "Occupy" movement. I think that it might have entered into a gestational refining period. Just my take on it.

On a more personal front, I have been wondering exactly when Nikon will announce the release of their 36MP D800 camera. And I have been wondering if it is the replacement for Nikon's incredible D700 camera body, will Nikon actually bring out a 36 MP D4 camera body? Or not bother, and if they do bring out a D4 body would Nikon possibly then introduce a 48MP D4X body? Sure I am just blue skying here to be sure.

With the world now in a major slump economically, how many photographers would be willing or even could fork out around $9 or 10K for a 48MP D4X body. Honestly even though I would like to have such a camera, frankly I am not sure that I would even allow myself pay that much for one. Especially if a 36MP D800 body was available for around $2500 to $3000, give or take.

I realize there has been a seismic shift of sorts now occurring in photographic equipment. I think that smaller lighter equipment has created a decent foot hold for itself. And in a few years time large heavier DSLR cameras and their heavy bulky lenses are probably going to fall by the way side. Just like the dinosaurs of old once did.

This is just a hunch that I have, seeing how the marketplace is currently being restructured. Sony it seems has seen the light in this regard, opting to concentrate on smaller more consumer oriented cameras. Designing it's camera lines to take full advantage of lower priced volume sales. I think the Micro Four Third movement will only grow stronger as time passes with larger heavy DSLR's fading into history.

Who wants to lug around heavy hernia inducing equipment especially if ultra light weight bodies and lenses can essentially accomplish the same job. As I have no doubt they will be able to do, in just a few years time. That's my 002 cents on the subject.

DECEMBER 18th, 2011

After reading Michael Reichmann's "Luminous Landscape" conclusions on the Sony Nex 7 camera. I have decided to wait on purchasing this diminutive camera, perhaps even until early 2013. My reasoning is this, I would like to give Sony the time that's required to address some of the problems that Michael has found existed in the Nex 7 menu protocols.

I have no Leica lenses what so ever, so I am not itching to use them with a 25 MP sensor. I really enjoy Nikon's D700 "My Menu" system and just how easy it is to operate, I quickly refer to it constantly while photographing. I only hope that Sony might implement such a personalized menu system in the Nex 7 camera. Perhaps in the next version of this camera, to be called the Nex 7N and due out in 2013 no doubt.

I will go ahead with purchasing Nikon's D800 36MP camera body, that is when it eventually becomes available sometime in 2012. Because the truth is I do have a burning desire to finally own and make use of one of these high MP digital cameras.

So the pressure to purchase a Sony's Nex 7 camera and lenses, has more or less been relieved, especially in my case. When word of the 36 MP Nikon D 800 that's waiting in the off stage wings, was received more than happily by my desire to actually own it.

DECEMBER 15th, 2011

I was reading Michael Reichmann's Luminous Landscapes post about the Leica M 9 sensor verses Sony's Nex 7 sensor in side by side comparison testing. I can say that I am not all that surprised by his findings. Back in 1987 I took an expensive Leica R5 reflex camera to India, I too had bought into all of the incredible hyperbole about Leica cameras being the best. My results however, in a word, were rather disastrous. All of my negative film images which I had processed in India exhibited obvious out of focus problems. Not sure of the problem, and under too much pressure as every day counts when you are a broad. So I ended up borrowing a lowly mechanical Pentax K1000 from someone in India at the time, to help me do all of my incidental photographing. I was capturing images using a Linhof 5X7 sheet film camera, and the Leica SLR camera was intended to be used for what I call my "grab" shooting. Basically documenting my other 5X7 sheet film photographing. Turned out the focusing screen had come loose in air travel over to India, just enough to actually cause the problems I was having.

Now you might think that I would have learned from that bad Leica experience wouldn't you? But once again in 1994 I again fell under the spell being cast by the Leica mystique. It's hard not too, as the Leica name is subtly lauded so much by other photographers, and especially in the camera shops with the "holy grail" of much too expensive Leica cameras and lenses having the stature of high end automobiles. And of course they are always being Lionized in photo magazines. I was going to use a 35 mm film camera system as my main camera that time round, on yet another of my many trips to India. So I diligently set about to test out Leica, Nikon and Canon cameras and their lens systems, Oh and the Contax system with it's Zeiss lenses caught my eye as well. So my testing began in earnest a full six to eight months before the trip was to actually occur. I remember the testing quite well, and all of the incredible time and trouble that it entailed.

I can remember quite clearly arranging to meet with the Canadian Leica rep at the Toronto airport. There we both met another American Leica rep, who had flown up from Boston with a 400MM Leica lens sitting on his lap. They gave me the lens, well the American rep seemed somewhat reluctant to even let it go at the time, I must admit. But we agreed that I had one day in which to try it out. I used an R7 perhaps, or maybe it was an R8, I can't remember the exact Leica SLR model number now, but be assured it was the latest one that was available in the Summer of 1994.

I took that very expensive 400mm Leica lens and went directly to a friends Toronto photo studio. Volker Sedding who has since rather unfortunately past on. What I wanted to do was use the telephoto lens at close range, perhaps with an extension tube attached, to allow for very close focusing, but have it done from a reasonable distance away. It was the beginning of my using 35mm to do large mural work. We used a very heavy solid metal Gitzo tripod and a super heavy Manfrotto leveling head, and an electronic cable release that had a mirror lock up function as well, all the tricks that we knew of to get incredibly sharp images.

Every thing looked perfectly fine and tack sharp inside the camera's viewfinder, both Volker and I checked out the focus very carefully indeed. We had just about fifty years of combined photographic experience under our belts at that time. I took three rolls of 25 ISO Kodachrome film of nothing but lens test charts from slightly differing distances. And then I returned the 400mm lens and the Leica camera body to a local Toronto camera store, for eventual same day pick up by those same reps.

Imagine my complete surprise when the Kodachrome 25 ISO film came back from Kodak who had processed it, with every frame on them completely and totally out of focus, I was, to say the least, absolutely dumb founded as to how this could possibly be? Sharp in the camera but completely out of focus on film. But with time ticking down on me, I simply moved on to testing Canon bodies and lenses, and surprisingly even they could not do what I wanted to do. The films exhibited strong vignetting from the extenders I was using.

When I next met up with the Leica rep and told him the story of the out of focus film strips, he said that it was all my fault, and that I simply did not know what I was doing as a photographer. There is none so blind as he who will not see, I thought. That's the last time the Leica aura was going to get to me, I adopted a vow of "do it again and I'll personally kill you myself" especially when it comes to Leica.

Now I know what you are thinking, that the M series of rangefinder cameras and lenses are a totally different set of circumstances. Perhaps they are, but what I have found in my life is this, threads of operational, production and conceptual standards run their course throughout entire companies. And time it seems does not change this observation. I am not saying that Leica cameras are not incredibly well built, because in fact they are. What I am saying is this, few people ever take the actual time to do full on, side by side comparison testing between Leica cameras and other credible systems. Everybody just accepts that Leica cameras are the best cameras available.... Period. But my experience with them tells me a different story.

It's when you actually do testing that the truth comes to light. Now with Leica, any one of their camera lines is pretty much as well built as the other lines. So the SLR line of cameras will not fall that far away from the rangefinder M line ones, and vice versa. It is easy to become blinded by Leica's incredible expense and untested legend.

Only Nikon lenses and their extension tubes were able to manage the job I had in mind quite well. And as for Contax, it was incredibly terrible at basic fill flash exposures. They, the importer that is, simply did not believe it when I told them of this problem. So we arranged a meet and I went to Toronto once again, Brampton as I remember it. We put a roll of Ektachrome slide film through the camera in the bright sunshine right on their front lawn, using a dedicated Contax flash unit. One that supposedly could do fill flash.

The rep took me to the Brampton mall and there he bought me lunch. He was overly confident of the test results as we waited for the film to be processed, using a one hour film processing lab. Once we saw it, he never said another word, other than "you may return the entire Contax kit that you have just purchased". They naturally had been giving me a lot of trouble for wanting to return it to them. The film was atrocious with grossly over and dark under exposures everywhere.

The bottom line is this, Nikon is the working professionals 35mm camera system, every pro that I have known used Nikon as their 35mm camera. Leica is meant more for wealthy amateurs, lawyers, dentists and doctors who can buy into that Leica mystique, and more importantly have the money to do it. Professionals will not spent the kind of money required on purchasing Leica equipment, especially when a much cheaper and more versatile and more extensive camera system is available. Leica people will take a few pictures of their children on weekends and their holidays and always blame themselves if and when the images turn out to be problematic.

Canon of course is the sports shooters speedy dream camera system. And as for Contax, well as we all know the don't exist any more, and I know why. If they couldn't figure out how to do basic automatic fill flash, how were they ever going to master the much more complex and demanding digital age? They simply couldn't. You see threads of incompetence runs through companies, but by the same token, threads of brilliance does run through others.

DECEMBER 12th, 2011

I am all excited about Nikon's new D800 camera, a 36 MP camera body that's hopefully coming out sometime this Spring, can hardly wait for it. I was going to purchase a Sony Nex 7 camera just because of the 24MP sensor it has, but it's a smaller APS-C sized sensor with 24 crammed in Mega Pixels. Better I think to have 36 Mega Pixels that are "breathing" and spread out in a full frame 35 mm body. That's my take on it, so the wait is on, better than having nothing to wait for.... am I right! To me anticipation of things to come is half the fun of living!! And waiting for camera equipment, what else could be better to a photographer?

I have been busy visiting a number of photo equipment review web sites, just to get myself up to speed on things as of late. I never surf the web on a regular basis, unless of course I am interested in purchasing an item. For example a camera body or possibly a new lens, just to see what the scuttlebutt on it is. What amazes me is the level of photographic imagery that I see being displayed on those sites.

Michael Reichmann's site Luminous Landscape is a pleasure to visit and to read his well considered articles and product reviews, simply a great site in my opinion. Michael's images come from the old Leica school of street "point and shoot" style of photography, and I see that he is indeed a big Leica fan. This kind of rangefinder camera does suit Michael's urban style of photography, wandering the streets of foreign cities searching for interesting images. I am sure he is enjoying the Sony Nex 7, with its new style of viewfinder and some of those overly expensive Leica lenses attached to it.

Another site I visited, directly hiving off a link on Michael's Luminous Landscape site, was Steve Huff's camera and lens review site. It's the first time I have ever visited this site. Steve must have some of the absolute worst photographic images that I have ever seen on any site. He too is a big Leica fan, but the truth is, this level of camera is simply lost on him, that's my opinion. Because he doesn't have the visual skill level of image making needed to make good use of such a camera. Just my 002 cents on it Steve!

At least not from seeing the imagery he has currently available being displayed on his site. I have made my way through many of his images, and to be truthful, I was shocked that someone would even put such images online, especially as test examples for others to see. His excuse, as I read online was this. He couldn't shoot great images all the time, but frankly Michael Reichmann seems to do and so do I, that is whenever I decide to take single images, hardly ever these days to be truth full. My wife gets royally pissed at me for wasting my time photographing single images, and that's the honest truth!

There are no excuses for the shoddiness and lack of care which I see in Steve's online test images. It just goes to show you that even very good equipment will not help you take good images. Those come from within the photographer and definitely not from the equipment you are using. Hum mm I should pay more attention myself, to what I have just said!!!

A good photographer will take great images even using a cheap throw away disposable camera. But a bad photographer will still take terrible images, even with very expensive high end equipment. It's not the equipment that makes the image, it's the person using the equipment that takes and makes great imagery.

Another web site that I have been greatly enjoying lately is Imaging Resource's, I have been using their Comparometer, it's very interesting placing images taken by different cameras in direct side by side comparison. I see that the Nikon D700 which I am currently using, has excellent image quality, especially when it's being compared to most other cameras in the good selection that's available. Unfortunately no Leica cameras are available there for comparison purposes. Perhaps it's a good thing as they just might be outshone by equipment costing considerably less.

I do hope the new 36MP Nikon D800 has that same incredible image quality as the D700 does. I wonder if Nikon is even going to bring out their D4 series of cameras, especially with the world economy being what it is? Not many people can afford to spend $10,000 with taxes in, for a Nikon D4X camera body. The D800 will hopefully come in at around $2500, at least that's my hope. I might even go to $3,000 with taxes in, but that's it. To me $3,000 is more than sufficient these days for a camera body.

I was interested in the Sigma SD1 camera body, mainly because of the image quality if supposedly offered, but at the price they are charging for it, simply ruled it out. It also meant acquiring Sigma's propriety lenses. And then there is no guarantee that the SD1 would be improved upon. Where as with Nikon you know they will keep on improving the Nikon line.

To be honest with you, I was never a big fan, or even just a fan of Leica rangefinder cameras....ever. I just never bought into their overpriced mystique. And the image framing abilities were no where near enough accurate for my compositional liking. And the lens selection that's available is much too limited and much to pricey. Besides I was never much a fan of street photography in the first place. In my mind it stemmed from a photojournalist type of "point and click" photography. It is too simple, much too common, and virtually every Tom, Dick and Harry with a camera could do it, except of course for Steve Huff he seems to be completely inept at it.

Sorry Michael absolutely no offence at all intended. I just seem to want more from my photographic imagery, than to spot something, point and click. That approach to image making, seems much too easy for me to accept. Even though, to be perfectly honest with you, I still like doing it myself. Just don't tell my wife that I actually said that.

NOVEMBER 24nd, 2011

Have decided to start using this larger type face, mainly because it's much easier to read. I am thinking about camera equipment these days, I would like to purchase a 25 or larger MP camera body. Well the truth is I would really like to purchase Pentax's 645D 40 MP medium format camera body. But there are some problems that I can see with it from my personal perspective. For one thing it's just too darn large to be lugging around all day, and the body alone is $10,000 plus $1,300 in those requisite government taxes. There are only two Pentax digital lenses that are available for it at this time that I know of, and in my mind they are just too expensive, especially when they are added on top of the price of the body. So in my mind Pentax's 645D is unfortunately really out of the question for me personally.

Now I also really do not wish to shell out nine thousand dollars, taxes in, for the 24 MP Nikon D3X body. No matter how good everyone says it is. However that being said I might just be tempted, in fact I am drooling over this thought, if Nikon were to come out with a 38MP D4X body for that same price. This is something that I just might spring for, the temptation of owning a 38MP Nikon body would be too great for me to ignore. I have been working using large 40x60 inch panels to construct murals, and I believe that a 38 MP camera would allow me to resize the native size of it's images up to that large scale.

In the meantime, as I wait, I am pondering the issue and possibly just possibly reconsidering my intentions in this regard. I am now thinking about possibly obtaining Sony's diminutive NEX 7 which is a 24.3 MP micro sized camera. By no means, I'll freely admit, in Nikon's D3X league, I'll grant you that. But here is the thing, the Nex 7 is about 80% less in price than the D3X. So I am asking myself this question, would a Nikon D3X image that's printed out to say 27x40 inches, actually be 80% better looking? And my answer is, yes perhaps it might be better, but somehow I really don't think up to 80% worth better. I would equip the NEX 7 with these three lenses, their 16mm, the 24mm and the 50mm, all prime lenses. And because of a 1.5X crop factor, they would be like having a 24mm, 36mm and a 75mm on a 35 mm camera.

I do hope the Nex 7 turns out to be more reliable than the Lumix GF 1 camera was for me. I loved the feel and diminutive scale of the Lumix GF 1, if only it had worked consistently for me time after time, whenever I pressed the shutter button. I also did not like the bluish tone inherent in the images. Adding a whack of yellow to off set the blue did not fix the problem, the blue seemed to be imbedded somehow into the image. At least that's how it was for me, and my experience with it.

For now I will keep my Nikon D700 and possibly upgrade it, to it's soon to be released replacement camera, that is, whenever that should be released, who knows? It is about due for replacement, but so is the D3 and D3X as well. If Nikon should happen to come out with the D4X say this coming Spring 2012, I would quickly forget about the Sony Nex 7 and the D4X is what I would go with. I would still gather together a range of the best Nikon prime lenses, the 24mm, 35mm, 85mm, 105mm micro, the 180mm (which I already have) and a 300mm to use with it. These lenses I would consider as "treats", something that I would slowly purchase every now and then, just to complete the collection.

If I should get tired of waiting for Nikon to make it's D4X move, and I do end up going with the Sony Nex 7. I would basically be using it as my carry around coat pocket camera, mainly to photograph landscape details, whenever I run across any interesting items. Which I frequently do, because that's half the fun of photography, finding something you just have to photograph, no matter what.

Sorry I was just getting started, but unfortunately I see the time has rushed by and I must head off to my physiotherapy session this morning. Can't wait to get into the 80 degree warm salt water pool and do my geriatric style work out. With all those other balding and gray haired seniors. I really don't look my age, but somehow I seem to fit right in.

SEPTEMBER 26th, 2011

It's been just over two months since I last posted, time does fly by. It was a long hot Summer, in fact it seemed almost tropical at times. I as always, just busied myself working, especially on the "Impulse" series of images. To date there are close to seventy five images that have been completed up to the 60X96 inch scale. With close to one hundred more that are in Nikon's Nef format in a line up, just waiting to be processed to full scale. I know it seems like over kill but that's how I have always worked. What's on display on my web site represents only ten percent of all the work I have done over the years. It's actually hard for me not to put more of it online, just being honest. But on the a vice of many people who complained that less is more, I have scaled back what was online. However just so you know, my thinking is this, if you have it why not show it.

Besides the work I have had other things on my plate as well, those concern taking water physiotherapy for constant lower back pain. And then there is the pain that the physio is causing me. I was involved in three rather serious automobile accidents in the late 1960s and early1970s, of course none were my fault.

One was even a drunk driver rear ending us at a stop light, and another, was somebody foolishly shifting into the curb side lane and gunning it, and recklessly running a yellow light after the two other lanes of traffic had stopped. With a whole car load of people on their way to midnight Christmas mass no less, this just as I was in the middle of turning left, naively believing that all of the traffic would stop. And the third was somebody in Toronto literally stopping on a dime without even indicating their intention to do so, to make a left hand turn turn, and of course I unfortunately ran into the back of them, and then somebody going full speed ran into the back of me. My car became an accordion, so technically that was considered my fault, but I beg to differ.

It was those incidents that resulted in some damage to my spinal column, something that has been felt and ached for a long time, with right side lower back pain, but it was only discovered forty years on when an MRI showed a number of problems including the bulging discs that have been causing my serious lower back pain problems. Especially so at night when I am trying to sleep. I wont bore you with any of the long drawn out details, only to say, it's been quite trying at times. With heavy pain killers having to be used especially at night. Even sitting in front of the computer for any length of times has become challenging. Such is modern life.

I wanted to tell you that also took the 24 to 120mm Nikkor Nano coated zoom lens back to the shop and returned it. I am going back to only using prime lenses as I always have done in the past. I was not that pleased with this zoom lens, and in particular I found that the vibration reduction system did not do what I thought it might when I purchased the lens in the first place. This was Nikon's first Vibration Reduction system, and not the Vibration Reduction II, just to be sure. Because the truth is I ended up with hundreds of blurry images as I photographed these "Impulse" murals. Presently I am working with a Nikkor 180 MM lens and no Vibration Reduction system. Photographing everything at 3200 or 6400 Iso just to keep my shutter speed the highest possible, and the F stop up to a decent number like F16 or F19. I find that it's difficult to tell the difference between using Iso 200 or Iso 3200 on the Nikon D 700 camera. I am quite pleased with the D700 body, in fact I am immensely pleased with it.

With the 24 to 120 mm zoom lens, I was always using 200 or at times 400 Iso and hoping the vibration reduction system would help me, especially if I photographed things at a 90ith or 125th of a second, but it didn't seem to help in that specific regard. Perhaps because of my method of photographing the murals, shooting 60 or 80 images in a rapid fashion going from one to the next with out really stopping, and hand holding everything. By using a lower Iso, was basically the old film days still influencing me that the lowest film speed was the best one to use for maximum image resolution. But with digital imaging I am still learning that things have drastically changed in that regard. I had to learn that, which I have now done.

So I am in the process of putting together this Nikon kit, a 24mm, 35mm, 85mm, 105mm, the 180mm which I now have, and finally a 300mm. Nikon's higher end models, so it might take me some time to bring this all together. But in my mind that's half the fun of photography, isn't it, all of the plethora of equipment. Truth is am not really sure about that any more, but will most probably end up doing it anyway's. Eventually I'll do it, even if they have to bury me with the last of the lens acquisitions. Just joking about that of course, but you already knew that, didn't you?

JULY 11th, 2011

Have been busy working on the "Impulse" series of images, so far to date, (let me go count) well it seems that I have just over sixty 60X90 with many up to 96 inch wide images completed. Some obviously are better than others, but overall most I would say are in the "go with" league.

I have been working with a Nikon D700 body and a 24 to 120 mm F4 Nano Crystal coated Nikon zoom lens to capture this series of images. However although I consider this to be an excellent lens, I have however been contemplating getting myself an even longer range lens for future photographing. I mean an "all in one" travel lens with even more of a telephoto reach.

With that in mind I have been thinking about a suitable zoom lens, one that might possibly cover from 100mm to up to including 400mm. There is however nothing in Nikon's present line up with such a wide ranging zoom range. Yes I do know about the 80 to 400 4.5 - 5.6 D ED IF lens, but I am looking for more of a professionally rated lens. They do have a 70 to 200mm F2.8 lens that seems to be excellent from all the reviews I have read about it. Although it's definitely in the running, in my opinion it's just not long enough for my current photographing needs. Nikon does however make a professional 200 to 400 mm zoom lens which I would love to work with, sadly it's quite heavy in my estimation, coming in at 7.35 pounds and also quite professionally expensive, at around $8000 CDN with taxes in. Much too much for me to even consider it... but that being said, maybe one day, who knows, I'll start buying lottery tickets.

Canon I see actually have a EF100 to 400mm F4.5 to 5.6L IS USM lens, not a professional level lens and that would mean switching camera makers, and to be honest with you, I have been a Nikon fan and user since the early 1960s. In fact owning one of the original Nikon F cameras. At one time in the mid 1990s I did flirt with switching sides, but a hands on trial soon ended that, Nikon it seemed to be more professional in it's approach, in that the Canon home office which I did visit here in my country, appeared to handle so many things in Canon's vast line up of items and not just it's cameras, but that's just my 002 cent worth of opinion.

It possible that things may have certainly changed over the years, or knowing how things are, become worse. I know a lot of sports "shooters" the point and keep pressing the button crowd, seem to go with Canon, perhaps because Canon's are very fast in operation and super light, plastic no doubt being used a lot in their camera and lens construction. However their cameras, for me personally, did not have the flexibility and could not do what I needed to do at the time. And to be honest, Canon's staff was not all that helpful in seeing to my needs, where as Nikon's counter staff had endless patience and their cameras and accessories could easily handle all of my needs. And Nikon did have a dedicated office that only dealt with their own cameras and lenses, so that sealed the deal in my mind.

Now heresy of heresies, I have noticed that the third party lens maker Sigma, no less, has a 120 to 300mm F2.8 EX, DG, OS, APO, HSM lens. I see they have just revised and tweaked this particular lens, which is the upgraded version that I would opt for. Something I just might consider using, but I would like to at least have a look at it, just to see if I thought it's weight factor, 6.5 pounds, might possibly fatigue me while out trekking, Ha the truth is, these days I am jerkily stumbling through brush and wood lands.

I would be using the lens and camera always hand held and not on sitting on a tripod. The older I become the less I want to lug around a heavy Gitzo tripod and head. Unfortunately this lens is not generally a stocked item, perhaps it is in bigger cities, not sure, but unfortunately it's not where I live, and it is a special order lens. That being said, I am going to ask my dealer if it's at all possible to arrange for it to be sent to them for me to have a look at, and possibly run an image quality trial.

I would not consider purchasing such an item, especially with it being a third party lens, because of the expense involved. The new manufacturers suggested list price is $4700, of course dealers will sell for much less. So until I feel it's heft and quality of finish in my hands and take a few test images, at the very least, I will not be purchasing it sight unseen.

MAY 31st, 2011

I have been working on a new series of images that's called "Impulse", It's this Summer's project, I did a lot of photographing this Spring and it will take most of the Summer to finally process and assemble the images to make up each of these 60X96 inch images. They are made up of many images all combined together in Photoshop's layers. I will keep working on them and will update the imagery when I come across images that I deem to be better than what's currently online.

I have just posted my progress so far, here is a direct link to it.... IMPULSE

MAY 19th, 2011

I have been working away quite intently processing the latest imagery that I have captured using my Nikon D700 camera, then turning these many imaged scenes into approximately 60X80 varying up to 96 inch wide images. They are intended for printing out on a 64 inch wide carriage printer, which honestly I have yet to purchase. So far the count is thirty five completed images that are now sitting in my proverbial latest image stock pile, however the truth is not all of them are "tens". With several hundred more works that have been photographed and are just waiting to be processed into finished imagery.

I thought I would post one of them to show you what I am doing, by trying to metaphorically flush out the face of our biosphere "God", or more realistically that primal impulse of life that exists eternally in our life supportive landscape. This one is made up of eight original images that were combined together in Photoshop's layers then reversed and the two half's have been brought together to reveal what I believe, in my mind at least, is a poetically quixotic "face" of "God".

To me it's a sign of where we humans come from and actually where we belong. Our fast paced cities and our civilization have moved with blinding speed right past the real "God", which in my opinion is the biosphere, and that's why we are on the road to self destruction. Sadly praying to all of our citified Gods in grand ornately finished churches, austere mosques and synagogues will not help us survive the biosphere's impending collapse.

I will also add this, I have not played around with this image in any way other than combining the original images in layers, flattening this combination and then reversing that combination and then combining the two half's together.

So in the end this image ends up being comprised of many 12X18 inch Nikon D700 images, half forward and half in reverse. On my 30 inch monitor the quality seen full scale is rather stunning, my final file size is a whopping 1.45 Gigs, and of course that's rather sadly been reduced and Jpg'd way, way down to just 1.50mb for this online posting. The final scale of this image is 60X96 inches or 152x244 cm at 300 dpi printing resolution.

This is a link to the page where the image is.. Primal Impulse

MAY 16th, 2011

How quickly a month just flies by, especially so when you are busy working on a project. I have been out and about gathering images for another series. My subject matter has been mostly winter bush, dying or dead trees and trees and bush with Spring growth on them. I am photographing them in many sections using my Nikon D700, usually taking fifty to sixty images of each which I carefully and painstakingly piece together back at the studio to create a whole image usually 60x80 inches or152.5X203 centimeters in scale.

Then I cut that image in half and create a fractal image out of each side, trying to see if I can find the "face" of "God" hiding in the image. Not the white haired human imagined "God" that everyone usually thinks of, but more the face of nature that lays hidden in the depths of our present reality. Surprisingly I seem to find the face of truth in almost every image I take these days, I must be getting good at doing it. These are intensely detailed images and not really that suitable for web publication. They do however come alive in glorious detail at the large scale of 60 X 80 or 90 inches as they are intended to.

I am enlarging each of the many Nikon images that make up these latest images to 18X27 inches or 46X69 cm so that's only a 200% enlargement of the Nikon D700s native size. This of course means the quality of the final large image is quite incredible. I will try posting a few of them when I find ones I feel confident will take to being greatly reduced in image size, as well as greatly reduced in file size and still look reasonably detailed when posted online. Most of my current file sizes are around 1.3 Gigabytes in size, that's for a 60X90 inch print at 300 dpi.

I am now seriously considering purchasing a 64 inch printer and do intend to acquire one in the near future. My Epson 9800 which is 44 inch printer is still running perfectly well, but it will ultimately be sold off to make room for the larger 64 inch printer. No sense in having the expense of keeping two printers running, not just to print my personal prints.

Have also been" flirting" with the idea of purchasing a 64 inch wide solvent ink printer, Epson makes one that has quite a prohibitive cost attached to it, about 20K plus 13% taxes. Truth is however, I am not sure that the final results from such a printer, although very long term stable from an artistic point of view, would be aesthetically pleasing in the artistic sense. The only canvas currently listed by Epson is a high gloss stock which truthfully would tend to put me off purchasing one.

These types of printers are more the work horses of commercial industry and designed more to do vehicle wraps and churn out commercial outdoor advertisements. This does not mean they can't be used to create fine art. Well, got to run as I am off to photograph some local trees that are now in Spring bloom. I'll turn over some blooms because you just never know where you will find the face of truth staring back at you.

APRIL 12th, 2011

I have been going back through carefully looking at all of my Lumix GF 1 imagery, I had the Lumix GF1 camera system for about a month and took roughly 350 images with the diminutive camera, which I personally liked. I processed, "developed" in Lumix's Silkypix talk, about 200 of these images, the ones that after a closer inspection, I deemed to be worthy of spending my time working on. What struck me as I brought up each of the "developed" into tiffs Lumix images onto my 30 inch screen, was just how inherently blue they appeared in direct comparison with any and all of Nikon's NX 2 processed D700 imagery.

Nikon's image processing is amazingly clean and beautifully rendered by the NX2 program, where as the GF1 image detail appears "crude" looking or less that the best (not really sure crude is the right word) and they are bluish in tone in direct side by side comparing. It wasn't until I had that direct comparison between the two sets of imagery that the extent of the difference became so plainly obvious. I can't figure out how I thought the Lumix imagery was so well rendered during the time I was working with the micro 4/3 GF 1 camera. To be honest I am simply amazed at the difference I am seeing in virtually identical images taken by both cameras. So I am considering simply dumping all of the Lumix GF 1 imagery that I captured while I worked with that system.

I have also decided that the Nikon D700 imagery can only be confidently resized up to 24x36 inches or 61x92 cm. Anything much larger, say beyond 26.6X40 inches and I find the details begin to suffer from what I think of as image "fuzziness" or "break down". So about a 250% and up to, in some cases, a 280% enlargement of the Nikon D700 native size of 9.44x14.19 inches is fully acceptable. I have printed out a number of 420% 40x60 inch or 102x153 cm prints, but the results in my type of heavily detailed landscape imagery were plainly disappointing for me at that largish scale, to say the least. You could I suppose obtain good 40X60 inch D700 results if your subject matter was not so incredibly detailed like mine is. That's in essence what's killing my desires for a decent 40X60 inch print out, all the intense landscape detail.

I am now considering, after familiarizing myself with the D700, possibly photographing a new series that would end up being 8.8x13.3 ft on the wall and consist of 16 26.6x40 inch D700 images. I am mulling things over and deciding just how I would proceed. I would like the series to bring forth the concept of an intimate "connection" to what we think of as "God". Whom I view as the organic as well as the inorganic elements that all have come together to make up this planet's fragile biosphere. Yes I view trees, rocks, water, land and the sky even the air I breath to be the primal essence of what can only be thought of as the true "God".

I honestly feel that the ancient civilized myths that we collectively have turned into our modern day religions, regarding our human ideas surrounding the notion of "God", are exactly that, merely fallacies and myths. Created in a time when human understanding was quite limited, it is still today no doubt, but at least we now know that the earth travels through space around the sun, and thunder is not God protesting our human frailties and inadequacies.

I also took note yesterday that scientists are saying that 40% of the Ozone layer in our northern hemisphere has now vanished, simply disappeared this Winter, that's the layer that protects all of us from all the harmful solar radiation. This explains why I can get quite sun burnt these days, even in March and April if I am out photographing for several hours in bright sunshine. I can only imagine that a hundred years, just ten decades into the future, the Ozone layer which protects all of us might be completely destroyed by our human activities. Realizing that many things are happening at a much faster rate than we all seem to imagine, it's conceivable this might possibly occur in the next fifty years. However I suppose only time will concede that reality. It really should be an cautionary blinking red light warning to us, but one, no doubt, that we will ignorantly overlook, or in our profound blindness simply not see, or we will collectively quite blatantly ignore the threatening reality of it.

MARCH 31st, 2011

Recently I have been photographing new images using Nikon's 12MP D700 camera and their 24 to120mm Nano Crystal coated zoom lens, I have also been working with and getting up to speed learning all about Nikon's Capture NX2 program. The more I become familiar with the NX2 program, the more I like it. The quality of image results I am getting are in deed quite stunning, I am very pleased with this outfit to say the least.

I did, just out of personal interest, compare Nikon's D700 12MP results to that of the 4/3 Micro Lumix GF1 12MP results, but to be truthful, there is no comparison. Nikon's results are so much superior, however let us bare in mind that Nikon's 24 to 120MM Nano coated zoom lens is five times the cost of the Lumix 40 to 200 mm Zoom lens. And the Nikon D700 body is four times the cost of a Lumix GF1 body.

I photographed the same trees and bush with both cameras and was rather shocked at the disparity in the image results. There was a bluish cast imbedded into many of the GF1 images which couldn't be removed, no matter how much I tried to do so at the time. But without Nikon's results to compare them with, the bluishness in the GF1 results appeared "acceptable", it was only when I began taking the same kind of images and processing them with the NX2 program that the Lumix GF1 results showed themselves as being rather covertly blue in nature.

I have now "enlarged" AKA resized and printed out the D700 images up to 40X60 inches in scale and some of them look quite good at that magnification, some images however, especially where there is quite intense detail for example, the 12MP image does fall right apart, but on many of the nicely illuminated imagery, ones especially without too much image detail being involved, the 40X60 inch results are in fact "reasonable" and therefore deemed to be just barely "acceptable" to me.

The best D700 12MP image sizing appears to be when it's resized to no larger than 24X36 inches or 26.6X40 at the largest. This being said I am still going to try and obtain a 25MP Nikon D3X body or more truthfully an even higher MP D4X just as soon as it's available and when I am able. I might just keep this D700 body as a decent "back up" camera, just who am I kidding?

I have however been enjoying getting out in the fresh air and working, it is like being reborn, so there is it appears, still some life left in this old dog! Here is one of the Nikon D700 images. I captured it on the day after a recent mid March 2011 snowfall, quite close by my studio, it was under very heavily clouded conditions. It turned out to be a great day of photographing yielding about 80 no less, decent images just like this one, even though the outing almost "did me in".

I walked for several miles through a flood plain secluded bush strewn riverside area. The problem was returning those several miles back to the studio, dragging myself, shuffling in pain back to the safety and comforting oven like Pillsbury Dough Boy "wood stove" warmth of the studio.

My feet were frozen through and through as I had stepped in lots of deceptive snow that was hiding thin ice covered deep muddy water puddles. I had also been launching myself into knee high snow, searching for just the right "photographic" angle, when some of the innocent snow suddenly found itself deep inside my ankle high hiking boots. Comforted there by my body heat and warmth it decided to dissolve back into it's natural state, water. When I finally took them off, my socks were sopping wet and my boots were just as equally soaked.

Now the truth is, I was completely drained tired and exhausted, but oh so content!

MARCH 18th, 2011

Early this morning, I say early because it was 3:30AM here when I was booting up the CPU and Epson 9800 printer and then printing out some Nikon D700 images. The quality of the images are of course excellent, as to be expected from Nikon. The image I choose to test with was incredibly demanding for a digital camera to reproduce. A dense tangle of a mid winter bush, nothing could be tougher for a digital camera to try and resolve.

I printed out sizes 20X30, 21.7X32, 24X36 and 26.6X40 inches. The resolution is passable on the larger 26.6X40 but I fear that a 24MP sensor is needed to do such complicated a scene complete poetic justice. Digital sensors are in their element when they are resolving broader areas of imagery, where there are fewer details and undemanding elements, but even the best 12 or 16 MP cameras struggle to fully resolve intense tangled bush detail.

I'll most probably get myself a 24 MP Nikon D3x body at some point in time, when they either, fall in price as a new D4x model is released, or I will pick one up from the used market in a few years time. In the mean time I have the robust feeling of a 12.1MP D700 to work with. I have been making my individual mural sections up to 40X60 inches, mostly because I have been scanning my older transparencies and negative and taking portions of them up to that scale. A nice size to work with, not too small, and not too big, just right.

I just might have to reduce my mural panel size down from 40x60 inches to 24x36 inches, especially if I wish to work with some of the new D700 imagery, that I am sure to be capturing in the coming months ahead, but I can do that.

I do have one other option that I wish to test out and it's this. I intend to print a chosen image 26.6x40 inches, then cut it up into sixteen pieces each 6.6x10 inches, then scan these sections enlarging each piece up to 40x60 inches. I'll give it a try and see how it holds up, remember to view a large 13.5x20 foot mural you tend to stand back twelve to fifteen feet. It's generally not something that you view a foot or two away from, like you would a 16X20 inch print.

MARCH 17th, 2011

Not that anybody really cares about this, but a few days ago I returned my Lumix GF1 camera outfit to the dealer. It failed me for a second time as I was out taking images. The same problem happened, in between taking images when I turn the camera off and on, after only thirteen images taken, it came on completely out of focus and pressing the shutter button did absolutely nothing. So at that point I lost confidence in the Lumix system, because if you are just a mile from the studio in a brush and wooded area that's one thing, but if you were say in another country, or another province or state trying to work and dependent on extremely reliable equipment, what then?

My dealer was excellent and very responsible about this, I told him that I decide to try the Sony's 24.6 MP cameras, the Alpha DSLR- A900 or their newer DSLR-A850 model, however my dealer told me this "in all confidence I can not sell you either of these cameras". He informed me of some insider scuttlebutt regarding Sony cameras, and that, in a nut shell, was the end of my earnest desire to work with a 24MP camera, for now at least. I never even considered Canon's 21.5MP EOS 5D MARK II, not sure why and the dealer never suggested it as well especially when I was lamenting not being able to afford a 24 MP body.

I did hear a story about somebody having a mirror fall off one and it becoming scratched by the back of a lens, while they were on an outing in a wilderness park. That alone would be enough to be off putting for me. So essentially I am back with Nikon, truthfully cameras that have never once let me down in close to 50 years of on and off working with them. I purchased my first basic Nikon F in the early 1960s.

I really wanted to purchase a D3x, Nikon's 24MP body, however it proved just too expensive for my wallet at this moment in time, so I now have the D700 FX full frame body instead, fitted with a 24 to 120mm Nano coated zoom lens attached. I went out yesterday and spent several hours working with it, and from my perspective, it is simply a dependable dream to work with. This morning I tried to open images in Capture NX 2 which I did, but there I found a little stumbling block, as I do not know this present form of Capture. It is going to be a learning curve that I will under take in the days ahead, luckily there is a detailed book that I can refer too in my no doubt digital frustration.

What I did was simply save some of the raw files as tiffs and then open them in Photoshop, however I would like to ultimately do all of the processing in Capture NX 2 as it is geared by the folks at Nikon to extracting the best out of the Nikon Electronic Format (NEF) files. Now bare in mind that I have used Capture 2 extensively in the past in combination with various versions of Photoshop over the years.

The first results coming from this Nikon D700 and 24 to 120mm Nano Coated zoom lens look quite fantastic, and so far I am rather pleased, giddy like a kid with a new toy, with how things have turned out. I ran a test with my 60mm Micro Nikkor and the 24x120mm Nano coated Zoom lens. I borrowed some of my wife's jewelry to do this test, and the zoom lens was, believe it or not, so much better. I actually couldn't believe it, I mean the Micro Nikkor 60mm was blown away by this Nano coated Zoom lens, my jaw dropped right down to the floor.

MARCH 9th , 2011

I was out a few days ago taking images with my new Lumix GF 1 camera, I had ventured into a wooded area with defined and snow plowed hiking paths. It was only my fourth outing with the GF 1 so far. I had taken approximately 300 images give or take in total with the camera, I know this for a fact as the image counter told me this. I was happily working away when the camera suddenly and with out warning stopped working.

It turned on and off but it came on very out of focus and pressing the shutter button half or all the way did absolutely nothing, zip. My first thought was the battery which had just been topped up might be low on juice. But the battery indication said the battery was full up, so what was happening? I turned it on and off a number of times but the same thing was happening, nothing.

So I changed the lens, I had the 20mm lens, like a 40mm in 35mm world, on when this trouble started. When I put my 45 to 200mm zoom lens on the problem was resolved. I tried to go back to my 20mm lens but the problem returned. So I carried on shooting quite miffed at having to use such a long zoom lens to capture close up tree bark anomalies.

Back home in the studio the problem was exactly the same when I put the 20mm lens on, so I resolved to take the camera back to where I purchased it in the morning. In the morning I tested things again and the problem was the same, however this time thinking that I should re box everything, so I removed my tiny electronic view finder and amazingly much to my surprise the problem resolved itself.

The viewfinder was extremely tightly fitted, in fact it was an effort to remove it. So there is no play or the slightest give in how it connects to the camera. I put the view finder back onto the GF 1 body and everything was fine, I could not get the camera to malfunction again. So I cancelled returning the camera back to where I purchased it.

I am not sure exactly what happened but it looks like the electronic viewfinder might have played apart in it. If it ever happens again I will be sure to unplug the viewfinder in the field to see if that resolves the problem on the spot.

It was, to say the least, just a little unsettling, because the camera is brand new with so little use. I began to be afraid that I had made a big mistake and yes I even began lamenting my decision to go this route. I am beginning to love this little 4/3 micro camera system and I am hoping that it is just one of those flukes.

With the new 100 to 300 mm lens would be like having a 200 to 600 mm on a regular 35mm camera. And you can easily hold it in your hand and shoot. I have tested it with my 45 to 200mm which is like a 90 to 400mm on a regular 35mm. I can hand hold it and get very sharp results as long as I keep the shutter speed to above 400 of a second and have the vibration reduction on the lens turned on.

I just got tired of lugging around a big heavy 20 pound Gitzo tripod and heavy tripod head and a heavy 15 pound long lens and sand bags to dampen vibration. With the 4/3 micro system you could hand hold the equivalent of a 600mm 35mm lens and get excellent results, as long as you set the camera for "S" shutter and choose 400 or 500 of a second speed and have the vibration reduction flipped on. I also suggest raising your ISO to 400 like I do, or even 800 when you do this. It allows your lens to close down a little for greater depth of field.

You see I have been planning to purchase the 45mm prime micro lens which is $1200 CDN plus 13% taxes and several other lenses in the system, like the newly announced 100 to 300 zoom for example. I am even eyeing the new DMC-GH2 16MP body as part of an overall 4/3 micro system, however now I think that I am going to wait until I am quite sure that everything is completely reliable.

Only time and of course more use will tell the tale, you can be sure that I will post it here if I should encounter any more problems.

FEBRUARY 23rd , 2011

I was out photographing early this morning because there was a hoar frost occurring overnight, I managed to capture a number of interesting images this is one of them. I used my Lumix GF 1 with the 20mm lens which is like a 40mm lens on a regular 35mm camera. Now the truth is I really like this diminutive, fit in my coat pocket, camera. The results from it are quite stunning.

I have managed to solve those initial irritating problems that I encountered on my first outing with it and this time everything went smoothly for me. One of the problems happened with the diopter adjustment on the little electronic viewfinder, it rotates and doesn't appear to have a locking position on it. Pulling the camera in and out of my coat pocket would tend to accidentally rotate the setting, thus making the image look very much out of focus, even though the camera was clearly signaling that it was indeed in focus. An annoying little problem, however some electrical tape carefully placed over the diopter dial solved that problem. Here is one of the images, I have already resized it up to 24X36 inches and the print out from my Epson 9800 printer at 300dpi, looks, in a word, quite wonderful.

FEBRUARY 21st , 2011

I recently purchased a new camera outfit, something I thought long and hard about. I considered purchasing the expensive Nikon D3X and also the inexpensive Nikon D7000 I also looked at the Sony 25MP camera bodies, but going Sony meant considerable cash layout for lenses or possibly taking a big hit by selling off my Nikon lenses, and that more or less defeated the point of my current ambitions. I thought about the weight factor as well and was looking for a camera system that gave good enough quality results with a minimal amount of carrying weight, minimal size and I was also looking for something that did not leave a gaping hole in my savings account. I ended up with a very nice outfit for $1700 CDN with Taxes all in.

I have been a steadfast Nikon owner since the early 1960s, consequently I own quite a few Nikon lenses. So I am still a little surprised at what I ended up purchasing. Some shock and some sadness I suppose. I went to a 4/3 micro system. I now own a Lumix GF1 with their 20MM lens and their 45 to 200MM zoom lens including their electronic viewfinder a spare battery and a media card capable to storing 1280 raw files.

The body of the camera is quite small, almost tiny by my past personal standard of 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 sheet film cameras and of course a host of medium format roll film cameras. It nicely fits into my coat pocket with the 20mm lens and electronic prism attached. That 20mm is like a 40mm on a regular 35mm camera. The 45 to 200mm would be like a 90 to 400mm on a 35mm. I do also intend to purchase the 14 to 42mm zoom lens as well. That's like a 28 to 84 mm on a 35mm camera.

I have used it on one outing so far, including some test shots around the studio trying to familiarize myself with it, and I have quickly learned a few things about it. With it being quite small, in holding it, if you are not careful, there is a tendency to accidentally press on the WB button. So while you think you are using the cloudy 6000K setting, if you are not paying careful attention it can accidentally become set to the fluorescent or daylight settings or whatever. In my mind you should be able to place a lock on this WB feature in future models.

I also had trouble with the Program shift settings as well, you push the rotating command dial in and then rotate it while pushing it in to use the program shift mode, but that's also how you set the EV mode as well, to set the exposure either several stops lighter or darker as you might choose. So while you think you are using the program shift mode to get a better combination of F stop and shutter speed combination you can accidentally set the exposure bias 2 or 3 stops darker or lighter. In my case it was darker so in the Silkypix image processing I was able to rescue them because there is a three stop lattitude.

Luckily in the field I recognized the problem after several dark looking images and quickly shifted to using the Aperture priority mode letting the camera pick a suitable shutter speed. And that solved that little problem, perhaps being more familiar with the program shift and the EV setting mode I just might get a handle on it, but there is no easy fix for the WB button problem, you just have to pay attention to the WB setting and check it before each critical shot. Unless you use the auto WB mode which honestly I never do because I find it's judgment is not always the correct choice. This is the case in every digital camera I have ever used.

Now about Lumix's image quality, frankly it's quite amazing from this diminutive camera. I am using their Silkypix program to "develop" the raw image, it is quite a sophisticated image processing program. Then I save it as a tiff and open the image in Photo shop to finish off the image processing. The Silkypix program does not have any way to "spot" or take out minor blemishes like the cloning tool lets you do in Photoshop. Also there is no way to lasso a portion of the image to either lighten or darken or change the colour etc. etc. So while Silkypix is an amazing program in itself, in the end, it falls short in my eyes. Because every image I have ever taken requires "spotting" and "fussing" let's call it tweaking, and a program like Photoshop easily allows you to do all of that. No image is ever taken and looks absolutely perfect right out of the camera, thus the need to shoot Raw images with all of the controls that are available.

The Silkypix program allows you to enlarge the image up to 250 percent, that's to roughly 22x33 inches, however in Photoshop I take them the last little bit up to 24x36 inches and then print them out on my wide carriage 44 inch Epson printer. The Silkypix program was not set up to allow printing using an Epson wide carriage roll film printer like the one that I have, it appeard as if it is only able to deal with small scale printers the ones with an individual a sheet feeding system. Perhaps it's possible to upgrade this feature online, I haven't checked. The results however are quite stunning and that's what I was looking for, a small camera with a large sensor that can deliver stunning image results and the Lumix GF 1 can and does do all that. I did not break the bank and it does not break my back or wear me out lugging heavy expensive equipment around.

Now here is the real kicker, there is an inexpensive attachment, $70 CDN that will let me use my Nikon lenses on the GF1 body. Of course only in Manual or Aperture priority mode and focusing has of course to be done manually. So my long lenses can still be useful, and who knows I live in hopes that Nikon will see the writing on the wall regarding very expensive heavy clunky hernia producing bodies and lenses and eventually bring out a high quality large sensor "inexpensive" 4/3 micro camera system, something that would also with an attachment take all of their past lenses.

If that was the case I would be the first one in line to purchase one. After all my first love was a Nikon F camera, and even now I still love my diminutive Nikon P 6000, if only it had a larger sensor in it with some decent interchangeable glass lenses. So the bottom line is this, what I am looking for from Nikon, is a camera about the size of the P 6000 or a little larger perhaps like the Lumix GF1 but with a large sensor and some decent interchangeable glass lenses. Personally and this is only my 002 cents on it, I believe the writing is on the wall for regular sized 35mm cameras. They are from an era that required cameras to hold a film canister, to me the way of the future is in micro 4/3 type systems where an entire camera with an extensive lens system can all be housed in a small over the shoulder camera bag that's not back breaking or indeed wallet draining.

January 4th , 2011

And so a new year begins, ho hum, we worked at revamping the web site over the holidays, other than simply adding things, the last time we revamped it was in 2005. It is time consuming, actually took up most of our holidays, because this time we had updated programs to learn about, which as we all know is quite vexing and very time consuming.

So what exactly will this new year bring? Last year had it's moments from earthquakes to major flooding and all those incredible wildfires. Personally I can't see things improving, but perhaps that is just the pessimist residing within me. However I like to think it is the realist in me.

When we revamped the web site I added a new gallery called Origin, here is a direct link to it for anybody interested.... Origin

December 8th , 2010

I have been working away the last few months, so much so that I completely filled up a terra byte hard drive with numerous 40x60 inch scans. I have been going back through my 6x7 4x5 and 8x10 negatives and transparencies searching for suitable images to do a new series of murals. I am finally (over coming) not really, some nagging health problems, nothing life threatening just very energy robbing issues.

We have just had an astounding amount of snow fall the last few days, for sure it's the most snow falling in a 48 hour period that I can ever remember. We received a Winters worth of snow all at once, I heard a radio announcer say nobody could predict this amount of snow. I thought to myself the reality is it's going to get so much worse in the decades ahead. As events are greatly intensified under global warming.

The general public has virtually no idea of what's in store, as the biosphere twists and turns and comes apart under the stress of all the carbon we are injecting into an eons long finely tuned system. So snow, rain, wind, hurricane, tornados will all increase in intensity as the decades pass.

So the truth is, we ain' t seen nothing yet, as that old saying predicts.

September 12th , 2010

The Summer is drawing to a close, it was the hottest Summer that I can remember. Three months of hot humid weather, by the end of it, last week, I'd had enough. Hopefully September will see the return of a more normal climate. There were lots of stories on the news of rain deluge flooding, especially so in Pakistan, but in other areas as well, and incredible wild fires breaking out in Russia, Europe and also here in North America.

It really wouldn't surprise me if our scientists report sometime around the end of September or early in October, that ice melt in the Arctic has achieved a record rate. I heard mention on the news that wasps of all things, had been sighted for the first time on Baffin island, that's just incredible, because it's high up in the Arctic.

Wild animals and insects living in the Northern hemisphere are slowly moving northwards. It is an unseen mass migration towards new areas, places where they might possibly survive the coming hot dry epoch. Unfortunately however the animals are moving too slowly, the climate is changing much faster than they can move to keep up with it.

I saw a number of wild birds this summer that I just couldn't identify, I saw a kind of large "Macaw" and some that looked like budgies or perhaps parakeets, with yellow and green feathers. They were definitely not American goldfinches. Last winter we had a green and yellow headed tropical bird coming to our feeders on a daily basis. It suddenly disappeared in February, probably a victim of our cold snowy weather. I am not sure if the birds we saw were escapees from local households or careless pet stores or whether they had made their way here by a fluke of circumstances. Possibly caught up in a tropical storm's fury or taken on a ride by hurricane winds and simply deposited here.

I eagerly watched the World Cup play out in June, soccer is the only sport that I can bare to watch. I will admit that it can sometimes be a tad boring to watch, especially if the teams play defensive minded games. I particularly like how the Spanish and most South American teams play their game, with great skill and passing precision.

I played team soccer as a teenager and my love of the game has always stayed with me. I find football just too brutal for my taste and hockey played on much too small a rink has also been brutalized by the owners commercially realized profit seeking agendas, they are catering to the goonish aspect that's in the crowd of spectators.

Commercialism in sports or business for that matter, has a mindset that is simply unable to see itself as being tacky and insincere. It's the same in Hollywood movies, a form of insincere commercialize always seems to show through, to end up damaging and cheapen many major productions. It's usually in the little things, those things that the director is completely ignorant of, or naively confidently feels nobody is ever going to notice, like continuity. Or we all say to ourselves nobody would ever do that in real life, but amazingly high paid actors often do outrageous and crazy things, completely out of the reality of the situation they are portraying.

Now golf is much too boring for me to watch, tennis actually leaves me indifferent and completely uninterested. Basketball seems rather pointless to me and it too is being played on a court that's much too small for the size and speed of the present day players. Like hockey the players have nothing to challenge or exhaust themselves on, other than purposefully hurting each other, because the rink or court they are playing on is simply too small to make the game interesting.

Let's hope that the weather this Fall turns out to be a little better than this past Summer's was.

June 27th , 2010

Yesterday I went to my local library and renewed a book, not just any book however. It's James Hansen's first book, "Storms of my grandchildren" published by Bloomsbury. He is the NASA scientist who first brought global warming to the world's attention, by testifying before the American congress in the early 1980s.

The book reveals in great detail how during the most recent Bush Whitehouse, everything was being done to muzzle and distort the latest findings of American climate scientists, to stop them from revealing to the American public certain damming truths about global warming. This book is James Hansen finally telling you the truth about global warming, and reveals what the Republicans in the Bush and Chaney Whitehouse did to prevents the truth from coming out.

Hansen tells you about the incredibly dire situation we are in, as he recounts just how virtually impossible it is to get democratic governments, that are heavily lobbied by coal and oil companies, to instigate decent honorable actions to prevent eventual planetary wide extinction's that are bound to occur.

The reality is, if things don't radically change in how we are living our lives, and soon, then it's the end of everything that we know. I urge you to go to your local library and request this book, "Storms of my grandchildren", by James Hansen. And please don't be put off by the "scientific" nature of the first few chapters, as a scientist it's in his nature too always talk shop, he can't help it. However he very kindly tells you when to skip ahead as things become more scientific in nature and a tad trying to a lay person. Unless of course you happen to be a scientist or scientifically centered yourself. I am not and I was able to make my way through it.

Keep in mind that James Hansen is not a journalist or a hot shot commercial author looking to make a buck on the hot topic of global warming. But the real thing, a caring scientist who knows the global warming facts inside out, and he tells you everything, honestly and candidly. If we allow big coal and oil companies to have their way, by trying to take every last drop of oil or coal out of the ground for the public to burn, then all life on this planet will become extinct in the centuries ahead.

Runaway greenhouse warming is going to be forced into commencing, this planet our earth will proceed inevitably onto the same path as Venus, our sister planet. As we know, the surface temperature there is incredibly hot and it's shrouded in a deadly gas, carbon dioxide. That's the path that we are presently on, if our human perspective on life and how we view this planet, doesn't quickly change it's course.

Those destructive thunder lightening rain wind and tornado events that we are now experiencing, are going to be increasingly ratcheted up, becoming much worse. The devastation they are now causing in scattered parts of the country and around the world, will become more wide spread and extremely catastrophic in nature, in the decades ahead.

If you do happen partake in summer time reading, please try and read this book, to bring yourself up to speed on the topic. Once you do, you will never look at things in quite the same way. Your outlook on life might be changed by what you encounter in this book. I am sure that most of us would want to try and prevent future catastrophic storm damage, from affecting our children, and their children, our grandchildren. Who will in the end, be the ones to bare the brunt of our present day careless commercial actions.

May 23rd , 2010

If it isn't one thing it's another, or so the old saying goes. I am struggling these days adjusting to crippling lower back problems, with nerve pain that's been increasing in intensity lately. My back has always pained me, no doubt from receiving jolts playing that main culprit of internal injuries, football, during my teenage years. I also played soccer in a junior league as well. I appear to have two bulging discs, and something seen on the MRI they are calling spinal stenosis. Which I have been told is quite a common problem, especially as one ages and the spine tends to compress due to the effects of gravity. It is never the less, quite painful and debilitating to deal with, and virtually drains away all of one's energy. I am booked to visit one of the best spine surgeons in these parts, (at least that's what I have been told) in mid September, to see if anything can be done about the nagging problem, hopefully there will be, my fingers are crossed.

In the mean time I am finding a modicum of reasonable relief using a drug called Lyrica. It is helping me sleep through the night, well, seven hours of it, and keeps the pain reasonably, but not quite under control during the day. If I do nothing but lay stretched out in a Lazy boy chair all day, I can have a none pain day. However if I am the least bit active, the truth is, the pain begins gnawing away at me. I can only sit in my computer chair for about an hour, before it gets just too uncomfortable to continue. And I walk usually assisted with a cane.

Between the constant and nagging prostrate problems, even though my PSA reading was excellent according to my doctor, and the lower back problems that are getting worse with time passing. I can't imagine what it is going to be like to be in ones seventies eighties or nineties. Perhaps people are lucky and get handed good bodies, so they feel reasonably okay at that age. I had one specialist, the urinary tract, prostate specialist, look over my MRI report and tell me that I rather unluckily seem to already have the body of a ninety year old. So perhaps that's my problem, although I am no where near ninety years in age, my body is actually feeling like it is ninety years old these days.

I am not sure about my mind however, it seems to me that it appears to have gone into a kind of future reality "funk". No doubt probably caused by being on Lyrica for the past six months, as memory loss and mood swings are listed as side effects, along with thoughts of suicide no less. It seems that I am just not interested in photography or art or even music anymore. They just do not seem to matter anymore, in the grander scheme of things. At one time of day nothing else mattered to me, so I ate slept and breathed photography constantly, none stop, for fifty years. When I wasn't out and about in the world taking pictures. I was up and working in the "dark room" at seven every morning, and usually I quit dead tired by five. And that was my routine every day since the very early nineteen sixties.

However right now, the truth is, none of it seems to matter to me anymore. Perhaps that's because I have come to fully realize something, a epic truth has dawned on me. And that truth is this, civilization as we have known it, is going to come to an end in about half a dozen more decades give or take, it might take up to ten decades, or around one hundred more years. The vast bulk of us are going to be killed off by biosphere parameter revisions that are beginning to form and take shape, even now. It is quite clear to me that we modern humans absolutely are not able to change our ways. As a result we are simply going to be killed off by those profound changes that we, in our carelessness, are causing to occur in this planet's life supporting systems.

Everything in our human world, it appears to me, seems to be carrying on as if nothing is wrong. All of the many warning signs, those signals that are warning us about the impending collapse of our planetary life support. Are simply being ignored, by those who we elect, to hold onto the reigns of societal power for a period of four to five years at a time. So our collective societal thinking only tends to look ahead in those very limiting five year election cycle jumps. Few politicians are thinking properly about the long term.

But the reality is this, our coal mine canary died and rotted many years ago, and few in societal power, including our industry moguls it seems, has even noticed this fact. Even if they have noticed, they are simply ignoring or perhaps skillfully maneuvering their way around the issue, trying their best not to bring the slightest attention to the life ending problem we all face. Or they are down playing the issue by cheekily advertising the fact that they have become a "green" company. One has to ask, how could any oil or coal company ever become green? And yet I have seen the advertisements that claim so.

So the bottom line of how I see it, is this; it's basically over for human civilization. The future is going to be made up of a lot of human and wildlife suffering, we are headed at break neck speed, into a world of constant death and endless adaptation. Those who are fortunate enough to live through it all, are going to have to quickly adapt to a new, much harsher, less life supporting world in the near future.

It's crystal clear and intuitively correct in my mind. I can see those many warning signs and the canary laying there, moldering, still in it's tiny cage. Possibly I am simply deluding myself about the eventual very ugly reality that's going to be playing out. However in the back of my mind there is something that's telling me, that I have intuitively deduced everything quite correctly.

If you have been balanced correctly, by that I mean you have been born with equal parts of emotional intellectual and intuitive awareness. Then your built in senses always warn you instinctively when something is drastically wrong. No doubt many in the population never listen too, nor pay the slightest attention, to their core intuitive warning indicators. The reality is, collectively it's much easier to simply ignore one's senses that are warning you that something is wrong.

Ten to twelve percent of the population here in Canada are aware of the dire problems we face. I know this because that's how many people when questioned, stated they intended to vote for the Green party. But this means that eighty eight to ninety percent of the population are still, unaware of the critical global warming situation we are facing. With a huge percentage of the Canadian population still opting to vote for an unaware very ignorant Conservative party. A political party that believes global warming s really nothing more than a communist plot that's been created to rob Western countries of their wealth.

Please don't laugh, this fact is on the public record, that's exactly how the Conservative leader, our present Prime Minister, no less, actually thinks about things. So you see, there is little to no hope for saving the biosphere, it's basically over for human civilization. North America rather sadly in it's industrially driven politically harming ideology, tends to think just like this.

With Conservative style thinking quite paramount here in Canada, and Liberal style thinking now just temporarily in vogue in America. It's not surprising that both of these political parties are sharing a bed with the modern industrial reality, that we human's have quite ignorantly created. As a result nothing is going to stop the biosphere from reacting to our gross human interference. By changing itself from a life supportive environment, into a more threatening and deadly reality for all organic planetary life to endure.

March 4th , 2010

I am about to return Dianne Dumanoski's great book "The End Of The Long Summer" to my local library. I have renewed it so many times that it is embarrassing. I have managed to reread it three times, literally back to back.

It is THE most important book that I personally have ever read, which probably if truth be revealed is more a reflection of my quite limited reading list. Books on global warming only, I guess because it is the only thing that really matters to me anymore.

Of all the books that I have read centering on the subject of global warming, it is head and shoulders above the rest. Not because it points out those actual physical failings that are going to be happening in our biosphere as most of the current books on global warming do. It is much more subtle in tone and intonation than that.

More it points out and highlights civilizations own failure to grasp and understand the obvious. That we humans are simply an integral part of this greater cosmic biosphere, we absolutely do not and have never ever stood above it, as much of our current philosophical and religious thinking quite blindly dares to indicate.

I have been rather captivated by this book, essentially because it points out quite eloquently everything that I sense about living my life here on this planet. There is somebody else out there who actually believes just like I do. Ms Dumanoski's great effort through incredible research and in carefully formulating the overall thesis of this timely book cannot be over estimated.

On a personal note, this book is tacit vindication regarding my own highly arrogant thoughts, regarding the incredibly dire situation, that we now find ourselves collectively in.

January 21st, 2010

I have been reading, actually for the second time no less, one of the best books that I have discovered, quite by accident, on the subject of understanding the nature of Global Warming. It's called "The End Of The Long Summer" By Dianne Dumanoski, published by Crown Publishers New York, It's also available as an eBook according to the cover jacket.

Ms. Dumanoski obligingly connects all the relevant dots for you and describes the problem we face in much researched and quite intricate detail, that's clearly written in a journalistic like prose, so that everything about the Global Warming phenomena makes perfect sense, once you have read the book.

Of the two dozen books on the subject of Global Warming that I have read so far, this one in particular stands out as being light years above the rest, particularly in it's overall scope and depth of knowledge. In my mind it should be made mandatory reading in every high school, and in every political organization, absolutely no exceptions, but that's just my opinion.

It's truly a more important book in my mind than those fairy tale stories of the bible, again this is just my opinion. Because it's not just human centric in it's implied conception. It's truly striving to be an Earth centric informational offering in it's intention. It attempts to look behind the evolutionary veil and seeks to understand the nature of the overarching circle of life, this reality that's actually our real "God", in my opinion.

If we are ever going to survive as an organic planetary collective, and quite frankly that's looking extremely doubtful right now. It's probably 98 to 2 against us surviving, this is my honest 002 cents on it. We need to become ever more Earth centric in our religiously based conception, and in our commercial industrial actions as well as our personal daily thinking. If you wish to fully understand the dire threat of mass extinction that we are all under, you really should read this book, because it's all spelled out very clearly.

I actually picked mine up at my local library literally by the sheer fluke of "meant to be" happenstance, and I am truly having rather naughty bad boy thoughts of never returning it. Just kidding of course, however I do intend to renew it and read it carefully and slowly for a third time, because it's so jam packed with information from a research fanatic, "said with great admiration". Ms. Dumanoski methodically connects all the dots on the subject of Global Warming.

North Americans in general have a rather large problem, their complete failure to connect the dots on so many incredibly important things. Except of course for doing business, shopping or making money, they excel incredibly well at those things, much to the detriment of everything else, especially the biosphere that supports us.

This Global Warming catastrophe that's now clearly occurring, is one where all the red flashing dots are simply being ignored by most North Americans, because frankly, it's quite convenient for us to do so. And that failure to connect the dots and realize the eventual consequences is quite prevalent here in North American society, and the truth is, it's going to cost us all of our lives, as this century unfolds. Don't believe it, just wait a few more decades and you will see for yourself.

Here is one very brave incredibly researched book that peers knowingly behind the veil, right into the very construct and nature of "God", our planet, as it nicely sums everything up for you. It does that by describing for you what the real circle of life should be, a complete sentient awareness and a reverence for this fragile reality that bore us.

And does it thoroughly and quite clearly, you just have to read it to understand all of the many problematic dots that are involved in our present life threatening crisis. It will also bring you fully up to speed on exactly why we are most probably going to have to live through a biosphere breakdown, followed by civilizations own cascading collapse during the dozen decades ahead.

We all see the chaos involved in getting aid to the Haitians due to the recent earthquake in their country. However I can't help wondering what's going to happen when a dozen large cities face serious trouble all at the same time, due to the various effects from climate change? Or when one half of the North American continent lacks sufficient water to sustain life in the coming decades? Or when the monsoons fail to arrive for the second year on the Indian subcontinent, and their life sustaining rivers have all dried up because the mountain glaciers have simply evaporated away? And close to billion people have virtually no potable water or even water their crops? Etc. Etc. Etc.