Tag: Dan James

Enjoying Art

How do you feel about your favourite art, whether it be music, photography, or any other medium?

Over on 35Hunter, Dan James is always serving up interesting conversations triggered by the questions he asks. I find myself writing longer responses in the comments, and at the end, I realise I have written a short blog post. You can say that Dan's blog posts generate writing prompts for my own.

One of Dan's recent posts was entitled, The Purity Of Enjoying Art Detached From The Artist. Would you please visit the link to read it? Dan put this question at the end.

How do you feel about your favourite art, whether it be music, photography, or any other medium?

Do you also have a keen interest in who created it and want to know all about them? Or are you interested purely in the art alone?

From my dad, I learned the joy of listening to the entire record album. Dad loved his Hi-Fi; sometimes, it seemed more than his kids, and he preferred listening through speakers. His stereo was a Sunday morning alarm clock for us boys.

While we enjoyed the music, Dad and I also enjoyed reading the record liner while discussing some of the technical aspects of the performance, the reproduction quality via his equipment, etc., but mostly appreciating the music and being in awe of the creativity of the musician. This is active listening.

I have Apple’s music streaming service and Spotify and tried Tidal, and I think they’re great for background music at a party, etc. But it doesn’t give me the same feeling. It’s not satisfying. These are things I’ve only come to realise recently.

So I have decent Open Air headphones from Grado, which I use for listening to albums on Apple Music. I’m building out a kit. Schiit Audio makes acclaimed headphone amps and DACs, which I’m considering purchasing.

It’s the same for photography. Instagram is a nice distraction when I’m bored. One of my joys is photo walks with fellow photo geeks chatting about the artist, process and technology. Another is reading blogs like this one where the author puts outs questions that inspire long comment responses.

If we are having a cosy evening with a small group of close friends or family around a fire, we bring out the Highland single malt. Hosting a party for work colleagues? Lowlands blend.

Companion

The ever-thoughtful Dan James has triggered me again (in a good way).

How has your experience been in finding the cameras that work best for you? Has it been more like a continual quest for the ideal camera or finding one that’s good enough for your needs, and making the best of it?Dan James

I’ve never had the money to be a frequent upgrader, but I had the urge to do so. I read too many gear reviewers and was always talking gear. But after I bought my Fuji X-T2 (used), I realised I didn’t care anymore. Some screws have fallen out from the bottom near the tripod mount. The base plate is scratched (I often used a tripod l bracket), and the paint is starting to wear from use. But I enjoy using the camera. Quite often, I fall asleep with the camera next to me on the couch. It’s no longer a camera. It’s a companion.

Style evolution

How has your photography style evolved over the years?

You may have noticed that I have recently posted more black and white images. Two things conspired to inspire this. First was the start of a four-month-long (November, December, January and February) Winter Light in Black and White project by The Photographers Group and the other was a recent post by photographer Dan James who posed the question, "How has your photography style evolved (or, like mine, not!) over the years?"

My wife "found" a box of film negatives and positives she had put away for safekeeping. Among them was a large set of Ilford HP5, Tri-X Pan and T-MAX B&W negatives from my early days (30+ years ago) of photography. It seems that I preferred shooting in B&W, but I don't remember why. Perhaps I thought it was "arty" and cool. I was a moody college student in the mid-'80s, wore only black and was very much into punk music.

My early photography, with a few exceptions, was minimalist and focused on either objects or people. For some reason, when I switched to digital in the late '90s, I rarely shot B&W, and I rarely shot objects. I don't know why.

Drew University, 1988 | Pentax P3 | SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/2 | Kodak T-MAX 400

With digital photography, I was focused on documentary photography; age-related milestones of my children, family day trips, weddings, etc. Then I discovered I enjoyed landscapes and cityscapes and did that for a while.

In 2018 and 2019, health-related challenges kept me from exploring the forests and city alone, so I was limited in what I photographed. In 2019, in between radiation treatments and doctors visits, I started doing more street photography in Philadelphia using adapted vintage 35mm film lenses. Street photography is essentially documentary photography. I was back where I started, and I think it was a good thing.

I made my Philadelphia street photographs in B&W and colour, but the colour images are muted. I used the Classic Chrome film simulation on my Fuji X-T2. In retrospect, I should have captured those in B&W. Now, after eight months of global pandemic lockdown, I can see that I am back to being moody again.

J B Kline New & Vintage, Bridge St, Lambertville, New Jersey | Pentax P3 | Pentax-A SMC 50mm f/2 | ISO 400 | Ilford HP5 Plus 400

I am excited about the Winter Light in Black and White project. I am making photographs in my Fuji X-T2 but earlier this week, I shot half a roll of Rollei RPX 25 on my Minolta X-700. When I am done with that roll I hope to shoot a roll of Rollei RPX 100, Agfa Scala 160 and Tri-X 400.

Submitted for the 100DaysToOffload project.