Syv Ritch's rants about the business of photography and the state of the industry
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 3. February 2012 - 6:10
A vacuum cleaner is something that uses a fan to push air out to create some vacuum to suck up dust and dirt. So what's that got to do with Lightroom? You see, Lightroom is a software that runs on a computer.
Most computers have many fans, my workstation has five fans. Four of the fans pull air out and the fifth fan push air in.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 20. January 2012 - 6:20
By now, you must have heard that Kodak has filed for bankruptcy. All the noise from the web is that Kodak is a bankrupt company because, although they invented many of the digital technology, they were not nimble enough… Those are mostly people that repeat what everybody else copied from the web. The problem is that these people don't have a “long enough” memory. Kodak's problems started long, long before the digital area.
What The Duck has this great cartoon about “Kodak's death”
Here are the 3 main events that caused “Kodak's death”:
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 21. December 2011 - 6:00
It's almost the end of the year, 2011. Most websites will do two posts:
- The year in review
- Forecast for the next year
I'll save you time and money, but first the important part:
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
The year in review: don't you already know it? Didn't you live through it? In anyway in the big scheme of things, a lot happened, especially natural catastrophes that we still live with the consequences even today (I'm talking about photography):
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 24. November 2011 - 6:28
A few weeks ago, Adobe announced that from now on, the upgrades will be only from the previous version of Photoshop and/or the Creative Suite. If people are a couple of version behind, that's too bad, you will have to do a buy a full version or get lost or…
Scott Kelby, of NPPA fame, wrote an open letter to Adobe to complaint about the upgrade policy.
I think that most people are missing the point.
- The prices vary a lot depending on the country and the markets.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 17. November 2011 - 6:39
Notice that her lens hood is reversed click on image for gallery
I've never understood why people carry a lens hood mounted on their lens reversed like this woman. What's the point? The lens hood does 2 things:
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 15. November 2011 - 8:07
One of the standard advice to a blogger do a “Top 10 List”. I've never like either doing or reading top 10 lists.
I always find these lists as superficial. It's usually a title followed by one or two sentences that do not explain anything.
When was the last time that a top 10 lists gave you the information that you needed? I can't remember one occurrence.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 17. October 2011 - 6:03
I was up the valley among a whole group of photographers. It was a group of Chinese tourists from China. Most of them had huge monsters, mostly Canons 500L f/4, a couple with 600mm f/4. This guy had a Gitzo tripod with a Wemberly II head that cost more than his Canon 50D. He uses a Canon 500L f/4 with “more in the mini-bus.”
Photographer with Canon 50D, Gitzo tripod, Wemberly gimball head and Canon 500mm f/4 lens click on image for gallery
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 11. October 2011 - 5:44
As most of you know by now, Steve Jobs dies last week. I'd like to extend my condolences to his family (I would be extremely surprised if the read my lowly blog).
I want to rant, not about Steve Jobs himself, I've never met him. I don't even use Apple products. But about the blogosphere that went “gaga” after his death with:
- Why aren't you more like Steve Jobs?
- How to live like Steve Jobs
- Present like Steve Jobs
- Think like Steve Jobs
- Get things done like Steve Jobs
- Manage like Steve Jobs
and hundreds of other blog posts.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 6. October 2011 - 5:18
… With talent in a diverse range of photographic genres and solid technical skill in both production and post-production, I'm flexible enough to tackle almost any assignment thrown my way…
I'm currently focused on…
— Anonymous Photographer
Some people think of themselves as God's gift to the world. This remind me of this garage that according to the sign “specialized” in:
- cars
- trucks
- domestics: Chrysler, Ford and GM
- imports: Japanese and German
I drive a Mazda.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 29. September 2011 - 6:04
Dallas Cowboys Merchandising is seeking an experienced photographer with web/print graphic design skills who is enthusiastic, hard-working and dedicated. Primary focus will be to perform photography, web and print related graphical tasks to include but not be limited to (i) high volume digital photography; (ii) image cropping; (iii) web promo creation (secondary); (iv) print collateral creation (secondary); and (v) ecommerce related CSS skills (secondary). Ability to work across multiple projects, contributes in a team atmosphere, solve problems independently and meet rigid deadlines within our quality standards. Positive attitude is essential.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 18. September 2011 - 17:44
Arno Rafael Minkkinen, a Finish photographer, just like me, changes of specialty every so often. If we were kids, people would say that we have ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder and need to take Ritalin (methylphenidate.) Regularly, he took the bus from the Helsinki central bus station. Eventually he noticed that many buses took the same route at the beginning but at time and distance went on, there were less other buses.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 31. August 2011 - 6:07
The Sony NEX-5n is one of the new mirrorless cameras from Sony. I was able to play with it for about 15 minutes! Yeap, that's ¼ of an hour. I'm not allowed to show the photos, “he” kept the sd card. I wasn't really allowed to try it, but some Starbucks, some “slick” talking and I spend 15 minutes with it.
The camera is nice, the focus is fast, almost as fast as a regular dSLR. It's not as fast as a Canon 7D but it's still darn fast. It feels lot faster than a Canon T3i or a Nikon 3100. The images on the back of camera looked very good, but it was JPEGs.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 30. August 2011 - 7:18
I regularly read Seth Godin's blog. Seth Godin is a very much publicized writer about marketing, “entreprening” in the Internet age. He recently wrote a blog post on the warning signs of defending the status quo.
We have Canon and Nikon, the 2 largest entrenched camera manufacturers, against the “upstart” Sony.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 18. August 2011 - 5:28
Last week, a “big” business marketing website had the following:
DIY Search Engine Optimization
With keywords and links… What a bunch of crock! In 2010, it would have been correct, 2011 onward is another story.
I wrote, in May 2011, that Google is Changing its Search Results by focusing on “high-quality” websites.
Submitted by Syv Ritch on 13. August 2011 - 20:03
Photograph of Photographer with no Apparent Aesthetic Value! click on image for gallery
