Photograph no 8

Photograph No. 8

The magazine

January 2017

it's season to be joly THE

Contents

04 Editor's note 07 Top 10 10 Instagram top 10 18 Tip 24 How to...?

P H O T O G R A P H

08 29 Travel 34 Interview 39 Review 48 Editor's picks 51 News & Events

Editor's note

08

• I S S U E •

HELLO

DECEMBER Welcome everyone to the 8th issue of Photograph.

December is here and Christmas is coming closer.

So, the topic for this month is about Christmas!

We all love Christmas because it is a celebration with a lot of presents, decorations, snow, beautiful trees, sweets and of course happiness!

Therefore we choose the most ''Christmasty'' articles and we welcome you to our brand new issue!

Would you join us?

Cheers,

John

E D I T O R ' S

N O T E

Top 10

Top 10

Tip

EXPOSUREGUIDE.COM

CHRISTMAS PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS Christmastime (and winter) is the most energetic and exciting time to take photographs for a variety of reasons – the natural elements, the captivating and imaginative decorations (including Christmas lights) and the festive mood that overcomes whole communities. You can photograph during the day, but some of the most evocative images can be found at night.

The brilliance provided by the pure white snow adds some challenges, but there are some benefits too. Let’s take a look at how to get the most effective Christmas photos.

1. Photograph Outdoors

The cold chill of winter brings a certain purity to the air. Even the light usually has a different quality to it. This is all great for your photography. Get out in the brisk air and take photos of the snow-covered homes and lawns in your area. Most neighborhoods have several families that nearly go overboard with their enthusiasm for the season and have decked out their homes with intricate lighting and prop arrangements – these make excellent backdrops for your photos – seek these out. Also shoot at night where the whiteness of the snow elevates the overall light level (sort of like an environmental reflector). You’ll want to use long shutter speeds – below 1/15 (which might require a tripod) – to get some spectacular shots of the lit-up houses and the sky.

2. Christmas Lights & Ornaments

Christmas lights and ornaments are the holiday decorations you’ll find in nearly every Christmastime photograph; they’re a staple, but they’re also a cliché staple. You’ll want to find ways to utilize them in inventive ways – extreme close ups or just having them dominate the frame where the “subjects”, the people, populate the background to give dimension and suggest depth. Don’t be afraid to unplug lights so they might be off directly behind your subject, but turned on in the opposite side of the frame… it’s a way to balance the composition and not add a distracting element. Another interesting and effective technique you can employ when photographing ornaments and Christmas tree lights is the Bokeh technique. With Bokeh, you use the blurred or soft focus part of an image (that’s just outside of the depth of field) as part of the image composition. One way to enhance the effect is to place a piece of black paperboard with a shape cut out of it in front of the lens, and the soft-focus/blurred light halos will take on the shape of what you cut into the paperboard. It’s a neat effect that can add character to your photographs.

3. Express Relationships

Holidays are days that highlight the importance of relationships, with Christmas being the granddaddy of them all. The stress and pressure of the passing year may wear on everyone, yet everyone is glad to relax and spend time with family. As with Thanksgiving, you have a chance to take photographs that define emotional moments for years, if not decades to come. The joy of the “giving season” amplifies your subjects, so they’ll be more expressive when you ask them to pose together. Fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives will all be open to suggestions on how and where to stand to enable you to capture the bonds between them. Try to get them to smile and laugh; and suggest that couples stand beneath mistletoe for a holiday kiss. Only Scrooge or a Grinch would object!

4. Capture the Preparation Stages

Families come together at holidays, but not just for the main event, they come to help decorate… and these are exciting, fun-filled moments, so they’re ripe with photographic opportunity! Trimming the tree is a special moment in creating the atmosphere of Christmas, and most families have a cherished collection of ornaments, lights and stockings – all of which need to be hung on the tree. Try to get people’s faces as they open the ornament boxes. Young children (who might not have remembered the last Christmas) are especially good subjects. When the tinsel goes on, you’re almost done, but there are two more shots to get – the first is when the star (or angel) is placed on the top of the tree; and the last shot is when everything is on the tree and the lights are plugged in for the first time.

5. Focus on the Eyes

All pictures of people soar when you focus in on your subject’s eyes, and that’s no different with Christmastime photos. It’s critical to compose the image with as little headroom and dead space on the sides as possible, so the image is more about the faces and the eyes than anything else. The rest of the décor will filter into the image on its own. In the photograph on the right all the eyes are in the same plane, and this is effective for this kind of photo as it shows a subtle unity among the family. You can use a flash with most indoor Christmas photos, but use a detachable flash (or an angled flash) and bounce the light off the ceiling. Remember, the ambient light levels will be raised by the Christmas lights (and possibly candles too), and you don’t want the vibrant colors washed out by the flash.

5. Take Group Portraits

Christmas photos can have dual uses – you take them for the memories/record-keeping and you can use them as your family’s Christmas card. Either way, you want to make sure that you, the photographer, are in some of the important family photos. You’ll want to position everyone by the Christmas tree and have some presents in the composition too. Use a tripod for this group shot, because you’ll want to use the camera’s timer so you can get in the photo too. Your camera’s timer is a nifty little feature that many people don’t use (enough) or even know about. It’s simple to work; you just set your exposure values (shutter, ISO and aperture), compose your frame, set the timer interval (between 3 – 10 seconds), then press the shutter.

How to...?

HOW TO

MAKE A COSTUM BOKEH

Bokeh is a trend in Christmas photography.

Bokeh is from a Japanese word for "blur" or "haze". It is a little bit of photographic trickery that can be lots of fun to do! This article will explain the basics of it. Feel free to improve upon the design or concept!

1 Get the lens that you will be putting the custom bokeh on.

2 Find a font that you like.

Wingdings and Dingbats are good sources. If you don't have anything you like, do a search for them on the Internet.

Alternatively, if you are good at freehand, you can draw or cut it out without any type of assistance.

3 Use the character map to insert the graphic and then size it at about 60.

4 Decide on the way you are going to make your bokeh.

If you have a UV filter, you can use that and put the bokeh into it.

5 Make a template for each lens.

You want them to be the right size to block out as much superfluous light as possible. Some suggestions for creating a circle are: - Use a string and measure half the width of the lens. Using a pen or pencil on one end of the string and stick a pin in the other end of the string, draw a circle. Using this image as an example, imagine a straight pin holding one end of the string, a pen on the other end, and drawing a circle.

- Find a lid of some type that matches the size of your target circle.

6 Put the design in the exact center of the circle that you have cut out.

Your lens will be having to shoot through the cutout, so the closer to exact center that you are at, the better.

Depending on the size of your lens, your finished design/shape will be about 1â „2 to 3â „4 inch (1.3 to 1.9 cm) in size.

The size of the bokeh needs to be smaller than the aperture you are using. For example, If you use 5.6, then the bokeh shape needs to be 8 or less.

TRAVEL

New Taipei City, Taiwan

50 POSTA GE STAMP

TPE

TAIWAN

Now, as regards New Years celebrations the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival is one of Taiwan’s most beloved Chinese New Year events. Staged in New Taipei City’s mountainous Pingxi District, the festival’s main lantern launch site is Shifen Sky Lantern Square.

Beginning on the evening of the first full moon of the Lunar New Year (February 22 in 2016) an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 glowing orange rice paper lanterns are released into the night sky above the square. The lanterns carry festival participants’ handwritten wishes, prayers, and vows for the year ahead, which according to the Chinese lunar calendar is the Year of the Monkey.

In addition to the main festival, the New Taipei City government typically sponsors related events such as carnivals, lantern-making workshops, and lantern blessings.

How to Get Around: Purchase an EasyCard for seamless “touch and go" travel on public transportation (bus, metro, high­speed rail, and trains) around New Taipei City and throughout Taiwan. Add value to the card as you go. To get to Pingxi, take a northbound train from the Taipei Main Station to Ruifang Station. Transfer here to the historic Pingxi Line, a former coal­mining railway turned tourist train, and take it to the Shifen train station. The whole trip takes about two hours one way.

Where to Stay: There are few lodging options in Pingxi, so stay in Taipei. A fun and budget­friendly choice in Ximending, Taipei’s buzzy fashion and culture hub, is the urban­hip Meander Hostel, which attracts an equal mix of Western and Southeast Asian tourists. There are 20 bright, uncluttered rooms (a mix of private doubles and shared dorms), and the multilingual staff regularly organizes group activities, such as visiting a night market or cooking a traditional Taiwanese dish in the communal kitchen.

What to Eat or Drink: At the Raohe Street Tourist Night Market near Shongshan Railway Station, sample a selection of xiao­chi (“small eats”) such as xiao long bao (steamed dumplings), deep­fried and pungent stinky tofu, and a variety of New Year mochi (rice cake) balls including fa guei (rice cakes steamed with baking powder), which symbolizes prosperity.

What to Buy: Sky lanterns and ready­to­assemble sky lantern kits are sold at the vendor stalls set up near Shifen Sky Lantern Square and in shops on Shifen Old Street. To lower the impact on the environment, some store owners offer NT$5 to NT$7 for each recycled sky lantern.

What to Read Before You Go: The English translation of Hsiao Li­Hung’s 1980 award­winning family saga A Thousand Moons on a Thousand Rivers offers insight into the culture, values, and traditions that have shaped Taiwanese society.

Helpful Links: New Taipei City Tourism and Taiwan Tourism

Fun Fact: The Pingxi District’s most famous natural landmark is the Shifen Waterfall, known as “Taiwan’s Niagara Falls.” Measuring 50 feet tall and 100 feet wide, Shifen is the largest curtain­type waterfall in Taiwan. The waterfall is about a 15­minute walk from Shifen Old Street, and it has three observation decks for easy viewing.

Staff Tip: If Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan is performing when you're in town, snap up a ticket.

This contemporary dance troupe often travels internationally, wowing audiences from Washington, D.C., to Sydney, Australia, with their visually stunning, lyrically danced productions. But as of April 2015, the company has a home base at Cloud Gate Theater, an arts complex that overlooks the Tamsui River and the Taiwan Strait. —Amy Alipio, @amytravels, features editor, National Geographic Traveler You'll be jet­lagged anyway when you first arrive, so get up at dawn to watch (and maybe join) the groups of people young and old practicing tai chi in the plaza surrounding Sun Yat­sen Memorial Hall. Afterward, head to one of the many dumpling cafés for a hot and tasty breakfast. —Marilyn Terrell, @Marilyn_Res, chief researcher, National Geographic Traveler

Interview

Steven Taylor

It brings me huge pleasure to introduce you all to the world of Los Angeles-based photographer Steven Taylor, someone whose work I admire and secretly just a tiny bit envious of. Pharrell Williams, Incubus, Snoop Dogg, Bruno Mars, Common, Neyo, the list goes on and on. He specializes in portraiture and has a keen eye for capturing personalities and character in his elegant portfolio. You might have seen many of his photographs, but what else do you know about the man behind the lens? Read on..

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What sparked your interest in photography?

Have you had any formal training or is it just talent and practice?

I have OCD, spend far too much money at restaurants, and I don’t like talking about photography. I became a photographer with the help of Google, friends, and trial and error–no formal training.

What photography genre(s) best classifies your work?

I’ve never thought about this, so I’m not totally sure. I photograph my life and the people that come in and out of it, so I guess portrait s that a photography genre?

Would you give a brief walk through your work flow?

My approach is fairly simple. I try not to over­produce or over­think things, my shoots are relatively short, and I don’t like heavy editing. I’m attracted to images that feel simple and honest. Of course it’s fun to push yourself and try new things, but I always end up drawn to the shot that we didn’t overwork ourselves to get.

What type of cameras do you shoot with?

I know the answer you’re looking for, so I’m going to fight the urge to answer sarcastically…

I’m not a big gear guy. I keep that simple, too. Typically, if it’s digital, I use a Canon 5D. If it’s film, I use a Mamiya 645 or a simple 35mm.

Which is your most-used lens?

Canon 35mm 1.4.

How much time do you spend taking photos versus retouching photos?

If I were to break it down, I’d say 45% of a project is spent sharing drinks, 45% is shooting, and 10% is editing. Obviously this varies, but I think that’s an honest average.

How did you get into photographing celebrities and/or famous musicians?

I’ve always loved shooting musicians. I grew up playing music, so it feels natural for me to capture what I love about that medium. A few years ago I moved to LA to pursue that goal, and it all just sort of happened. It’s Hollywood, so even if you try and fight it, you can’t escape the whole “celebrity” thing for long.

Who would you like to work with the most?

Honestly, right now my focus is on a few personal projects rather than potential subjects.

What has been your biggest hurdle when setting up and working on a shoot?

Not connecting with a person I’m working with, which will always be my answer. I have the hardest time on a shoot when I can’t find common ground with my subject.

Besides your camera, what is a must-have at each of your sessions?

Water. I typically talk a lot, so my mouth gets dry without it.

If you could have anyone in the world to take your portrait, who would it be?

I really love Hedi Slimane. His photos are iconic and beautiful. I choose him. Are you planning a birthday surprise or something?

Haha.. no. Anyway, tell us what’s the most rewarding thing about what you do?

Honestly, it’s being happy. When I look back at what I wanted for my life as a kid, I’m blown away that I have it. I can’t give all the credit to what I do professionally, but I’m definitely the type of person who would have a hard time in an area that didn’t make me this happy.

It is very challenging to establish yourself in such competitive industry. What advice do you have for individuals interested in pursuing a career in photography?

I’ve said this a few times before, but I really do believe it: I think it comes down to relentlessness or luck, and the most successful artists have a bit of both. Obviously it takes a lot of work to learn and stay consistent in your craft, but in regards to your career, I don’t believe in back­up plans. Just go for it.

What are some of your upcoming projects that we should be on the lookout for?

I think I’d be jumping the gun if I were to extensively share some of them, but I am working on a few project ideas right now. Some are mindless and fun. Others are more thought­out and produced. I keep my blog and site updated fairly regularly, so someone could check back there if interested… or hopefully here once the projects are complete.

Anything you’d like to add? Thanks yous?

For sure. Big thanks to Tom Ford for helping me smell fantastic and MarchLab watches for keeping me on time.

Review

Nikon 1 J5 (one of the best cameras for 2016)

While Nikon's DSLRs tend to get the most attention, its 1-series mirrorless cameras have become more and more capable since their introduction in 2011.

Nikon has divided its 1-series models into three segments, covering entry level (S-series), midrange (J-series), and high-end (V-series). The company's latest midrange offering is the Nikon 1 J5, which sports a more upscale, classic look than its predecessor (the J4). There are more exciting changes than just appearance, as you'll see in the following slides.

Advantages & Disadvantages Cons 4K recording only at 15fps Slow shot to shot speed No viewfinder

Pros Touch sensitive screen Tilting screen Inbuilt Wi­Fi and NFC

Design The most obvious change to the J5 is its appearance, which is less boxy than its predecessor and more in line with the Panasonic GM­series cameras. The J5 has an actual grip which, if the faux leather has some 'stick' to it, will make the camera easier to hold.

Like all Nikon 1­series cameras, the J5 uses a 1"­type sensor and CX­mount lenses, of which there are now thirteen. The crop factor on the 1­series cameras is 2.7x. Those who want to use Nikon F­mount lenses can do so via the FT1 adapter.

The J5 will be available in several configurations. In the US you can get the body with a 10­30mm (27­81mm equiv.) F3.5­5.6 VR power zoom lens for $499. Adding in the 30­100mm (81­270mm equiv.) F3.8­5.6 VR telephoto brings the price to $749. If you want one lens to handle it all, there's also a bundle with the 10­100mm (27­270mm equiv.) priced at $1049. Available colors include silver/black, silver/white, and all black.

Sensor

Aside from the design, one of the other significant changes on the Nikon 1 J5 is its sensor. The J5's 1"-type sensor has 20.8MP, up from 18.4MP on the J4. In addition to more pixels, this new sensor lacks an anti-aliasing (OLPF) filter, which improves resolution at the expense of some moirĂŠ. The image processing engine has also been updated from Expeed 4A to 5A, which Nikon says supports the higher resolution sensor, 4K video, and fast continuous shooting, while improving image quality.

The J5 continues Nikon's tradition of offering Hybrid Autofocus on its 1-series cameras, which combine traditional contrast detection with on-sensor phase detection. The J5 has 171 CD and 105 PD points, with the latter mostly over the center of the frame. In theory this combination will allow the J5 to track subjects very well as they move across the frame.

Something else visible here is the J5's pop-up flash, which has a guide number of 5m at ISO 100. As you can see, there's no hot shoe on the camera.

Screen & Connectivity No self-respecting consumer-targeted camera would be caught without selfie functions in 2015, and the J5 is onboard. The 3" display can flip upward 180 degrees and the Self-Portrait mode lets you tap the screen to take a photo, and then clean the blemishes right off of your skin.

Over on that new grip is the contact point for NFC-compatible devices. You can use this to pair smartphones that support NFC to the camera with simply a tap.

The LCD can also articulate downward to roughly 90 degrees, so you can take photos over crowds in front of you. The 'pulled back' position shown above is great for shooting on a tripod.

As with the J4 before it, the J5's 3", 1.04 million dot LCD is touch-enabled, which allows for the usual functions such as touch focus/shutter, menu navigation, and smartphone-like image playback.

Ports on this side of the camera include micro-HDMI and USB. What you won't see in any of these slides is the microSD slot, which sits next to the battery on the bottom of the J5.

Control Dial A feature that pushes the J5 closer toward the amateur crowd is a second control dial, which is wrapped around the movie record button (the dial around the four-way controller being the first). This will allow you to adjust exposure without having to press any buttons first.

The mode dial has changed for the better in a big way. On the J4 and earlier, you had to enter 'Creative mode' if you wanted to use the P/A/S/M modes.

Nikon has kindly put the P/A/S/M modes right on the mode dial, which saves a lot of menu diving.

The little movie camera spot on the mode dial brings up the subject of video.

The J5 can record at 1080/60p and 720/60p, and also offers 4K support, though at a piddling 15 fps. There are several high-speed modes as well, with frame rates ranging from 120 fps at 1280 x 720 to 1200 fps at 400 x 144.

Control Dial on the back As one would expect, the LCD can sit in a more 'traditional' position like you see here. As with the front grip, the J5 now has a real raised thumb rest, with a faux leather finish.

Here you can also see the four-way controller, which has the main dial wrapped around it. Pressing up on the controller opens the 'feature menu', which is context sensitive. If this menu is anything like on previous models, it will provide a simpler, real-world view of manual setting adjustment.

All in all From the looks of things, it appears that the Nikon 1 J5 is making a slight turn toward the more advanced crowd. It hasn't lost its numerous pointand-shoot features or special effects (now with selfie power!) but the addition of a second control dial and (finally) P/A/S/M spots on the mode dial are a step in the right direction. It's not an enthusiast camera by any means (there's no hot shoe or EVF support, to name two things) - that's what the Nikon 1 V3 is for.

The 1-series cameras have been a bit overlooked as, on paper, they have really impressive specs. The Hybrid Autofocus system continues to be stateof-the-art, and the J5's ability to shoot continuously at 20 fps with full-time AF is stunning. The sensor on its predecessor (the J4) did not perform well, and we hope that there's been a change for the better.

With a starting price of just $499 with a 10-30mm (27-81mm equivalent) lens, the J5 is sounds like a real bargain. The price does go up rather quickly, though, with the camera plus 10-100mm (27-270mm equiv.) lens bundle costing an additional $550. With Micro Four Thirds and APS-C mirrorless cameras not priced much higher, we're curious to see how well the Nikon 1 J5 holds up against some tough competition.

EDITOR'S PICKS

MUST HAVE OF THE MONTH 1. Impossible Project I-1 (£229) About a thousand years ago in tech terms, Polaroid cameras were all the rage. You snapped your picture and a few seconds later out popped a print.

The Impossible Project aims to rekindle those glory days, and the I-1 is its most powerful tool do so yet.

It looks great and will do everything an old-school Polaroid would - but the added ingredient here is app control, which lets you tweak exposure settings to a degree unheard of in the old days.

2. Pixelstick (£329) Given that it costs as much as some cameras, you’ll have to really love someone to buy them this.

Assuming that a) you do and b) you’re feeling flush, Pixelstick is the perfect gift.

Don’t be deceived by the name: this is no selfieshooting bit of tat. Rather, it’s a light-painting tool capable of conjuring up the most incredible of images.

It’s remarkably easy to use: just stick an SD card into the Pixelstick’s lightweight body and its 200 RGB LEDs will display the image of your choice. Then wave it around while your camera is set to long-exposure mode and prepare to be wowed. days.

3. HP Sprocket (£100) You know how you’ve taken 6329 photos on your iPhone this year and uploaded 5731 of them to Instagram? Well, your dad, mum, gran, granddad, Aunt Mabel and your six-year-old niece aren’t on Instagram, so they’ve not seen most of them. And some are actually quite good.

So, take this little phone-sized printer, connect it via Bluetooth and print some off for them - it takes ZINK instant paper. Oh, and they’re sticky-backed, so Mabel can put one on her fridge.

MUST HAVE OF THE MONTH 4. Olloclip Core Lens Set (€120) Apple might have stuck its best ever camera on the iPhone 7, but sometimes you need to get physical to get funky. With three lenses for your new Apple baby, this versatile set will take iSnappers from new age novices to pro kit photogs in less time than it takes to snap a selfie.

Olloclip knows a thing or two about Apple add-ons and this nifty kit is one of its best to date. Comprising four parts, including an on-phone mount for quick swapping, the lenses offer fish-eye, super-wide and macro capacities - covering just about every eventuality. It's compatible with both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, too.

5. Vixen Polarie Star Tracker (£300) Since the dawn of time, humans have looked up to the night sky and wondered at the stars above them.

“What if,” our earliest ancestors surely thought, “we could one day buy a compact and easy-to-use portable mount which would rotate in time with the Earth, thus enabling us to point a DSLR and lens at the sky and take photographs of the stars and galaxies without star trails?” Well, now we can. Isn’t progress wonderful?

6. Goo.ey cases (from £6) Allowing you to turn any smooth, glossy surface such as glass or a mirror into a solid – if temporary – mount for your phone or tablet, goo.ey’s skins stick fast thanks to a polyurethane epoxy coating. But they’re smart enough not to stick inside your pockets or anything like that.

Anyway, they make a nice, quick alternative to a tripod (as long as there’s a smooth, glossy surface nearby) and come in useful in lots of other ways too.

Available for most Apple iOS and Samsung Galaxy devices, the new art range is worth a look if you fancy something even more unique.

News & Events

News Nikon Kicks Off 100 Year Anniversary with Unnecessarily Epic Video On July 25th, 2017, Nikon will celebrate its centennial anniversary—100 years of Nikon. And in case you didn’t know that, they’ve released an almost comically epic video announcing this fact and tracing some of Nikon’s highlights throughout history.

The video is only one part of the Nikon 100th anniversary experience, which has its own website.

“Since its founding in 1917, Nikon has harnessed the power of lenses to contribute to the advancement of imaging culture and sciences […] creating breakthrough technologies and products in the process,” reads the website. “Filled with appreciation for the previous 100 years, we move forward to the next 100 where our role will be in creating new values for a brighter future.”

For Nikon nerds, the video and website are a great jaunt into the company’s history and reminder that Nikon is about a lot more than cameras. As the statement above implies, at its heart, Nikon is all about glass —whether it’s inside a microscope, industrial product, or a Nikkor lens attached to the newest Nikon DSLR. Check out the video or visit Nikon’s 100th anniversary website for a dose of Nikon history…or if you want to hear the most epic movie guy voice ever recorded.

The D3-U is the World’s First Physical Camera for Virtual Worlds Virtual reality cameras just got real. Literally. The D3-U is the world’s first physical “camera” device that’s designed to take photos in virtual worlds.

The HTC VIVE virtual reality headset recently added a new accessory called the VIVE Tracker. It’s a small device you can attach to real-world objects to bring them into virtual reality games.

In conjunction with the VIVE Tracker being announced at CES 2017, the design studio dotdotdash announced the D3-U, which it describes as, “an advanced image capture device that features a holographic viewfinder, physical controls at the user’s fingertips, and a lightweight, balanced body beautifully finished in matte black.”

Wearing the VIVE virtual reality headset, users can hold and use their D3-U camera like they would a real-world camera. To show off the D3-U’s capabilities, dotdotdash created a VR experience called Exoplanet. Players are given a photo assignment of shooting a mysterious life form called Arche on the extrasolar planet Kepler 22-b. Virtual photographers can capture images of Arche using full-spectrum, X-Ray, subatomic, and thermal camera filters.What’s neat is that the virtual photos captured in-game are then printed out as physical prints, allowing the photographer to hold their work (similar to what the game “Firewatch” does).

This Photographer Couple Travels Full-Time: They’re Voluntarily Homeless Naomi and Elia Locardi live many a photographer’s dream. They are location independent (read: voluntarily homeless). In other words, they travel full-time, leading photo tours and workshops around the globe and living in “the world” instead of any particular city or even country.

In the latest Episode of SmugMug Films, Elia and Naomi invite you into their world where you can see the pros and cons of this unusual life they lead and join them at some truly incredible photography locations in Japan and Italy.

If you’re at all enamored by the idea of traveling, prepare to have your wanderlust turned up to 11.

To SmugMug’s credit, this video is not just one big dose of travel porn.

Elia and Naomi don’t shy away from talking about the challenges of the nomadic lifestyle—not having a home to come back to is rife with challenges that most of us never have to deal with.

To SmugMug’s credit, this video is not just one big dose of travel porn. Elia and Naomi don’t shy away from talking about the challenges of the nomadic lifestyle—not having a home to come back to is rife with challenges that most of us never have to deal with.

In the end, their choice to live this way is just that: their choice. It’s the right lifestyle for this couple at this point in their lives, and each challenge comes with its requisite upside.

Check out the video up top to meet Elia and Naomi and get a peek at their unusual, wanderlust-inducing life. And then, if you want to see more, visit Elia’s website or follow him and Naomi on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

A Look at StreetPan 400, A New Film with an Old Soul StreetPan is the 400 speed, panchromatic brain-child of Bellamy Hunt of Japan Camera Hunter fame.

As the story goes, reeling from the discontinuation of Neopan 400 in 2014, Bellamy began investigating what it would take to bring a film to market that captured some of the distinct characteristics he most liked about Neopan 400.

And here it is.

If you have been a film shooter in recent years you will be no stranger to the sudden and seemingly regular discontinuations of your favorite film stocks.

StreetPan 400, while not a new emulsion, is a modernized version of an out of production AGFA surveillance film that has been brought back to life (and back into production) Despite much cawing to the contrary, StreetPan 400 is not old stock or a “re-spooled” film. It is completely fresh, and to most of us, something we have never tried before. (anyone working in the surveillance industry in the 90s?)

So? What does all of this mean? Well, it means we get a high contrast, tight grained, fine detailed, pushable and scanner-friendly new black and white film to shoot. whilst still remaining a versatile film, Despite not technically being a completely new product, we think what JCH has done here shows a step in the right direction for the analog industry.

StreetPan offers something distinct from the competition rather than being just a niche or gimmick product like some other smaller run films seem to be.

This leads me to performance. StreetPan 400 could absolutely be your workhorse film. We really love the tonality, especially on overcast days.

It’s moody. It’s moderately grained but has a tight and finely controlled structure. It has miles of contrast not to mention good fine detail.

Are there cheaper black and white films? Sure. But given the distinct look and characteristics of this film, the fact that it supports a company deeply passionate about analog photography and also potentially supports the concept reintroducing further stocks that have been discontinued, we think the premium is worth it.

You aren’t getting a gimmick. You aren’t getting old film. It’s versatile, it’s fresh and it’s the real deal.

Events

Paris, France

21.01 07.03

CIRCULATIONS January 21, 2017 to March 5, 2017 CENTQUATRE 5 rue Curial Paris, France - 75019 The Circulation(s) festival is the most original and ambitious project in contemporary photography.

It is dedicated to the European photographic diversity and it aims to discover new talents.

Since its creation in 2011, more than 225 artists have been exposed and the festival welcomed about 175 000 visitors. Both a springboard for young photographers and a laboratory of contemporary creativity, the festival occupies a specific place in the French and international photographic field, attracting a constantly growing audience. It is the only photographic festival in Paris!

San Francisco - CA 94123

27 29

PHOTO SAN FRANCISCO January 27, 2017 to January 29, 2017 Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center San Francisco - CA 94123 Photo San Francisco will collaborate with leading international galleries to offer a highly curated exhibition of vintage and contemporary work by the most exciting emerging and established artists from East and West. Join us for inaugural edition of Photo San Francisco at Fort Mason Festival Pavilion, 27 - 29 January 2017

One last thing ...

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