Another Fairy Tail Christmas – Un Noël de compte de fées

Another Fairy Tail Christmas – Un Noël de compte de fées.

Stephane Gabart has posted some excellent photos from his Christmas dinner. I point them out in particular because of his masterful use of depth-of-field and excellent bokeh….not to mention some of the mouth-watering content. I love the cheese shot! As my friend and world-renown photographer, Philip Lim, says when he sees a photo he loves, “I would have been proud to have taken a shot like that”.

iPhone 5 as camera replacement

Thanks to Mr. Dario for finding this excellent article by a professional photographer on using the iPhone 5 as a substitute for his beloved DSLR while on his second honeymoon in Vietnam. My own experience (if not the quality of my photographs) has been similar, especially during my recent trip to les iles de la Madeleine where I only used my Fuji X-Pro1 one day out of the seven.

I do find these photos pretty overcorrected in his post-processing workflow, but that’s a matter of personal taste. Otherwise, all his photos in the article are outstanding.

I’m really going to give the iPhone 5 a serious whirl, photographically.

Leica Freedom Train

Thanks to Mr. Italo for the find of this video regarding the Leitz family’s use of their company (Leica) to help thousands of Jews escape the Nazis by sending them to America as “employees” assigned to their New York office.

New York, here I come…maybe.

For the last 3-4 years, Messrs Italo and Dario have been trying to get me to NYC for the massive, annual New York Camera Show. Each year, just before departure, I have either gotten sick with a massive cold/flu, or work demands have made it impossible to leave Montreal.

I have once again committed to go down this year in a couple of weeks. My friends have been scouting the food landscape in my absence and I know that they have amassed a gut-breaking list of awesome places for the finest from porchetta to VPN pizza. Frankly, this scares me. The three of us love to “live big”, both metaphorically and literally, although Mr. Dario, being retired, maintains a buff physique through incessant cycling and other activities.

On the other hand, New York does have a vast assortment of Big-and-Tall (read Fat) stores, so at least I’ll be able to build an appropriate post-apocalyptic wardrobe.

Header change – Man Alone

I really like this image, even in its cropped form. I received a lot of compliments from photographers I respect, but above all, I just really, really like it. It was a pure “decisive moment” experience, uncalculated, spontaneous, an immediate inner connection before the shutter was ever pushed. It all happened in a millisecond, captured faultlessly by the Fuji X-Pro1. Definitely not an image one could have captured on an iPhone; too fleeting for its meandering shutter.

The old header was already three years old and I think, had run its course.

 

Home again

Just back from the ship. It was a fun trip. Desperately in need of a good sleep in my own bed; haven’t slept more than 4 hours a night with two of us cramped on a 40 inch wide bed. Thought I’d share a few of the first images from my first Photoshop cleanup session. Now off to the grocery store for basic provisions.

Man alone

Under the pier

Sailing

Up the Saguenay

Spellbound

New images from les iles – All taken on iPhone 4!

Steerage my way

On the ship -1st image

Taken with the iPad. You may hate it. I love it.

Zorba the Greek – a true film masterpiece

I’m not sure what makes a film a “masterpiece”. I’m sure film scholars have well-established criteria for such a designation, but being neither a scholar of film nor a critic, I can only go by intuition and gut feel.

Zorba the Greek is a true film masterpiece. Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, it won 3. It is no mystery that of the three, two were for cinematography and art direction. This film is like 10,000 Cartier-Bresson B&W stills stitched together; each and every frame could have been a single photograph to gawk at for hours in a photo gallery.

Zorba the Greek is a film about the pure lust for life, without measure or weight. Just watching it once takes a burden off your shoulders. Here’s the final scene when all of Alan Bates’ and Anthony Quinn’s plans for the lignite mine have collapsed. Intellectual bookworm Alan Bates, finally asks Zorba to teach him to dance.

If you’ve never seen it, it’s an absolute must. If you haven’t seen it in a long time, it’s time to see it again. Available on Netfilx and the iTunes store. It may just change you.