Canon EOS 6D DSLR Camera with 24-105mm f/4.0L IS USM AF Lens

22 Saturday Mar 2014

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I have owned or used the full series of Canon 5D DSLRs (Mark I through Mark III). I have also owned or used all of the Canon 1D DSLRs (Mark I through Mark IV).

A little less than a year ago, I got rid of my 5D Mark III and bought the 6D (with the 24-105mm f/4.0L IS lens which I had owned in the past). The first thing I shot with it were these two series: Saturday at Lake George, New York (June 2013) and 2013 Elvis Festival, Lake George, NY).

I was pretty knocked out by the results. The 24-105mm f/4.0L IS in conjunction with the 6D gives really sharp results. I did notice a slight delay in its autofocus performance, but the focus was still able to lock in–even on moving targets–in most cases.

The silent shutter setting has really come in handy for both street photography and paid event photography where I need to be very quiet (e.g., at poetry readings).

The image quality, even at high ISOs, is as good as the more expensive 5D Mark III.

In short, I would recommend the 6D to anyone looking for a full frame Canon DSLR if you’re not shooting anything as fast-moving as most sporting events or car racing. It’s excellent for photographing outdoors or relatively slow-moving (or non-moving) subjects indoors–e.g., a couple moving down a relatively dark church aisle.

I think I paid $2400 for the 6D DSLR + 24-105mm f/4.0L IS lens kit, but you can get it at B&H right now for a mere $2000; that’s a good deal.

The Body Only 6D is $1900, but I think buying the kit and selling the lens if you don’t need or want it is a significantly better deal.

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New York Edited: Twelve Stories from the City (Book Review)

23 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by mgm in All, Book Reviews

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book, city, new york, photography, photos, review, street

New York Edited: Twelve Stories from the City is a book containing the work of 12 different photographers from the International Center of Photography’s class of 2011, and edited by the photo editors’ class 2011/2012 at Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie, Berlin.

This combination of having twelve contributing photographers edited by twelve different editors has yielded a strong photographic work.

Many of the photos are black & white street-type shots. But there’s some nice color and portrait work as well. Most of the images are quite dramatic and poignant.

Not only is the selection of images very good, but the way they’ve been sequenced and layed out on the pages is very well done.

The photographers are: Guilia Bianchi, Mike Fernandez, Kirsty Griffin, Romina Hendlin, Mads Holm, Orly Kaufman, Monica Kapoor, Marily Konstantinopoulou, Pepe Rubio Larrauri, Evi Lemberger, Asmita Parelkar, and Benjamin Petit.

The photo editors are: Anna Bianchi, Doreen Blaffert, Carmen Brunner, Suzanne Coleman, Christine Gundelach, Josephine Kaatz, Antonia Kausch, Susanne Lindner, Thomas Ludwig, Ingmar Nehls, Carla Rosorius, and Frauke Schnoor.

You can see a full preview of the book by clicking the book cover image below!

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Book Review: Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills

19 Monday Mar 2012

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art, book, cindy, moma, photography, review, sherman

I recently saw the Cindy Sherman Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. (By the way, I highly recommend seeing it if you haven’t.)

One phase of her work presented in the exhibit was her black & white “film stills”. Sherman started these in 1977 when she was twenty-three and completed the series in 1980.

I liked this phase enough that I actually purchased the book published by MOMA containing the entire series.

The book begins with an essay by Sherman about the making of this series. She talks about how it was probably influenced by her extensive exposure to television as a child. Her time working for the experimental filmmaker Paul Sharits at the State College at Buffalo was also an influence.

She gives some history of her studio work environment, both in Buffalo and later in New York City. She got a part-time job at Artists Space, which helped to pay her rent and also kept her in touch with contemporary art and the gallery scene.

She gives more history and then gets into the details of how many of the individual images were made. I found it all quite interesting because it gives you a good idea what was going through her head when she made this series.

I would like to point out three things she mentions that I found particularly interesting…

She had various people helping her take these photos (including her father), and they were not experienced photographers. Sherman says she made sure they framed the shots with lots of room around her so she could crop it the way she wanted afterward…and some were cropped extensively!
Her negatives were technically quite bad and required a lot of dodging and burning, much to her printers’ chagrin.
She admits that she’s gotten “a little sick of these pictures” because [I presume] she’s looked them over so much, she’d rather not have to keep looking at them!

I really enjoyed this book and the inside view it gives of Sherman’s thoughts, intentions, methods, and environment. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys fine art photography or aspires to create fine art photographs, even if you are not interested in the genre of “self-portraits” that her work primarily falls into.

It’s a seemingly honest and informative book about what goes on in the mind and life of a hugely successful art photographer. And if you enjoy black & white photos, they’re great to look at, regardless of whether the negatives suck…:-).

You can purchase this book at the MOMA bookstore.

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Review of Stephan Würth’s “Ghost Town” Project/Book

08 Thursday Dec 2011

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book, fashion, fine art, nude, photography, review, stephan, wurth

Stephan Wurth's Ghost Town

(1/14/2014) Note: apparently, the photos we linked to are no longer available. We’ll see if we can re-link to them somehow.

“An abandoned western gold rush town sets the stage for a photographic fantasy of three beautiful young women.” Ghost Town is the result of Stephan Würth’s lifelong fascination with the American West. — Clic bookstore & gallery

(Note: this review is based on the 21 photos from the book that *were* displayed at Stephan Würth’s website.)

It would appear that Stephan’s main body of work is in fashion photography; all of the photographs included in his “portfolios” section at his website are fashion-related at the time this review is being written.

Stephan Wurth Ghost Town

Though some of the book’s photos remind me of Playboy-esque soft porn, there’s sufficient artistry in his treatment of the subject matter to bring it back into a primarily art-oriented enterprise–though with a fairly obvious sexual fantasy targeted undercurrent.

Stephan Wurth's Ghost Town

I am sure we could endlessly debate whether these photos are “art” or soft porn. I am OK with leaving this an open question.

Stephan Wurth's Ghost Town

What I wonder about more than the art versus porn question is what Würth’s conceptual and visual goals were with this project? For example, take a look at the following two photos from the book:

Stepan Wurth's Ghost Town

Stephan Wurth's Ghost Town

These two photos–and there are more of this sort–seem to be here simply to remind us that we’re in a western ghost town, people; forget those naked women for a moment!

There are a number of purely artsy “detail”-type shots (e.g., a table outside on the plains with a framed photograph of a man that seems to date from early cowboy days) whose purpose seems primarily decorative.

Then, there are these very fashion-oriented photos. For example:

Stephan Wurth's Ghost Town

Stephan Wuth's Ghost Town

There are also some photos of the women that seem very posed and isolated from the ghost town context (e.g., there’s one of a totally nude woman seated on a chair with a plain canvas backdrop…fairly disconnected from her surroundings).

What it comes down to is this: he seems to be going in 3 or 4 different directions at once with these photos, which I think ends up diluting their overall effect.

Don’t get me wrong…I think he’s got some nice photographs in this book. The problem is they seem loosely put together without a clear visual or conceptual direction. Sure they’re all black & white photos–and maybe they all took place in a single ghost town location–but I don’t think that ensures the sort of continuity the human mind yearns for in a singular book-based project.

Does this review mean you shouldn’t purchase the book? Not necessarily. It’s just what I think; you can make up your own mind.

You can see more of Stephan Würth’s Ghost Town project and book at his website. It’s available for purchase at Clic Bookstore & Gallery and other booksellers.

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