I’ve been going through one of my Kraftwerk appreciation phases of late and watching a few videos on Youtube.

One of them was an interview with Karl Bartos, where he actually said that if you like a style and sound, you should copy it – at first exactly or as closely as possible, then after a while your style will move away from “copying” and evolve into your own style.

First off, I was a bit surprised that anyone from Kraftwerk would say that – they were reasonably original – and secondly I saw the parallel with photography. the old cliche we live by is that noting is completely original, we’re all influenced somehow etc. but is copying very closely wise?

Well I never subscribed to that point of view, the reason being that you end up with a shot that is very very similar to one that has already been taken. The one you copied. I still think that copying to get a useable end product isn’t a good way to go, but as a learning tool Karl may well have a point.

Like may things that seem pointless, such as going for an LRPS, it’s not the end result that counts so much as what you learn on the way. My mate Mac did his LRPS and I was slightly amused by it all – he has lots of qualifications so it was very “him” to do it. But when I was at his place, he showed me his “panel”, a set of shots that were judged, and I saw the effort he’d been to to print, mount and arrange the shots – sort of changed my mind a bit, though I’m not going to start putting together my own panel very soon.

I’ve purposely strayed away from copying, I very rarely look at other people’s photography , preferring to annoy people on photography forms, but I may start taking a look at other work and seeing if I can think how to re-create the shot. May just learn something, or find some glaring holes in my skillset on the way!

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Gear. We lust after it. Camera manufacturers know that, and they play on that “must upgrade” mentality/desire. I know I am guilty of it, my recent post on the new offering from Panasonic is a case in point. It is the carrot that they always tempt us with and a bloody juicy carrot it is too.

I was browsing a web forum dedicated to photography and there was a comment regarding the new purchase that someone had made. They’d upgraded from a Nikon D40 to a D200, quite a jump and to a very capable camera, a good learning step. However, a comment from someone made me think, this person was looking forward to what they’d produce with this camera, almost as if they would suddenly improve. I know what they meant, a better more capable camera gets in the way less, so you can perform better, however, as a photographer it is not the camera that is important and often we are not better with a new camera as it means a change to how we work,  so what did this person mean and why, to an extent, were they right?

Well, I remember a review of a new camera in the early(ish) days of the DSLR revolution* and the reviewer made a reference to receiving the boxed camera, which he came back to at the end of the review. The best part about new gear, they said is “opening the box”. The joy you have at getting  the camera out and using it. Yes, we can never recapture that, but the reviewer made a great point. Put your main camera away in its box, use another for a while. Your backup camera if you have one (and it is different to your main camera), if not break out the old film cameras (or spend a little to get one). Once you have done thatfor a while go back and get your main camera out, you will be surprised at how you feel with it in your hands.

The difference it will make will be quite surprising. If it is a camera which you have not used in a while, you will be amazed at how comfy it feels and what memories it brings back… yes it will have its flaws, perhaps be slower but with it comes some good memories and that lovely sense of nostalgia. If it is a new ( but old) camera then with it comes a period of discovery, tinged with expectation. What does this key into? Well it taps into that “love” that we have for making pictures.  That sense of joy and fun, either from an old friend or finding  anew one. Reusing an old camera reminds us why we liked it in the first place and re-invigorates our desire to make pictures. On top of this you feel refreshed when you go back to your main camera. It becomes new again and a welcome return.

This re-invigorsation for your love of taking and making pictures will always show in your images. Technicality aside, if you are loving the process, in tune with yourself and the subject then there will always be the making of a good picture in there somewhere. That desire and joy will shine through, so go pack up your main camera for a while, pick up a different one and go shoot.  Once you have finished open the box, and revel in the return of your main camera, as if it was new. If you are lucky you will enjoy both aspects of this challenge, at the very least you will enjoy getting your main camera back and so will have a renewed interest/appreciation of it, at best you get enjoyment out of both aspects. What’s to lose? Box it up and have fun, embrace the love and joy of picture taking.

*I wish i could remember who the reviewer was and which camera it was, if you know drop a line in the comments.

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Panasonic are announcing a new Micro 4/3 camera. On paper it looks to be a clear Olympus EP-1 beater, an optional Live view finder that works with different lenses. The 20mm Pancake lens is an f1.7 instead of 2.8, lets hope they dont’f fluff the Manual Focus like Olympus did. Though the “MF Assist” sounds like it is similar*, but the AF+MF option could be like the USM on canon lenses, let the AF get you close and you tweak it.

I like the variable image ratios, 3:2, 4:3, 16:9 and 1:1 such as on the Panasonic LX3, I’m glad they kept this. I must admit I am quite excited about this, and I’m hoping it is what I wanted the EP-1 to be! Come on Panasonic, don’t let me down.  This is one camera that I defintely want to try out, hmm now to get Panasonic to lend me one for a while!

Oh and as Leica have an announcement coming on the 09/09/09 I should think they will be launching a version of this camera then… probably for an extra £999!

*EDIT:

Manual focus is performed using the focus ring on the lens. If you’ve activated the MF assist function the image will be magnified to 5x or 10x as soon as you turn the focus ring. It’s surprisingly usable.

This is from the DPREVIEW preview, and so looks as though you can operate the MF without the “assist” automatically kicking in, thank you Panasonic! (though my bank balance may not thank you).

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