I was recently reading issue 15 of 125 Magazine and came across the following quote by Albert Watson.

[Americans] seemed to want fasion to be more of the people, more of the mass. Chairman Mao had all the Chinese dressing the same, and from a different base in America they arrived at something not to dissimilar. And you can take it on to looking at the success of companies like The Gap and others, where in the headquarters they make a decision that then rolls out across the country. Someone decides ‘let’s do cargo pants again, we haven’t done it for a couple years….so this year we will put two buttons on every pocket.’ Then they proceed to make 16 million pairs of these … and they go all over the USA and all over the world. All the same but you can choose from six colours. there is a certain sense of Chairman Mao and his style for the masses in the American philosophy around fashion, if arrived at through capitalism rather than communism.

…. The mass-way of approaching fashion in America makes for a very different outcome. Americans would come to the collections, the buyers from the stores etc., would look at the shows and then say something like ‘it is all very well – but I wouldn’t wear it.’

I never realized that it was an American vs European thing. I just thought – “Wow that fashion I see on the catwalk is so weird that no one would ever dress like that.” But I never realized that it came, in part, from living in a country in which everyone wears the same thing.

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Thursday (22 Apr) as I drove into work, I knew the first few hours would be unbearable. My photos were waiting to be picked up from L’Imagerie, but they weren’t open until 1000. So I had to wait until my lunch break to go pick them up. The whole day I didn’t know what to expect. I’d never had medium format film developed and, while I’d had contact sheets with my APS film, it was not a true contact sheet.

My second-favorite Holga photo from that first roll

When I was handed the manila envelopes holding the negatives and contact sheets, I was filled to the top with anticipation of seeing the results. And, when I did, it was great! And, to my joy and surprise, nearly all the photos came out! I knew, given the Holga’s mere offering of two exposure settings (sunny and cloudy) would make it a crapshoot to know whether or not I had done the right thing. But over half of the colour photos came out and more than two thirds of the black and white ones came out.

My favorite photo from my first Holga Roll

So I skipped the gym to go home and scan them so I could share them with the world! Once I figured out how to setup the negative scanner on my Canon Canoscan 8800F, I set it to the highest quality, 9600 DPI, and told it to SCAN! And … it … failed. I didn’t have enough RAM for the resulting 1.2 GB files! I was deflated! The whole point of shooting medium format is to get all that fidelity! Just like the digital medium format cameras I was ending up with huge file sizes, but it wouldn’t scan!

Holgas can create a different atmosphere for the traditional wedding shot

So I decided to go one step lower and get 500 MB files. This took 15 minutes per image. So I was only able to scan the colour roll as that took nearly four hours on its own. But I am very happy with the results of the scans! Also, the scanner was able to have a little more exposure latitude than the contact print, so, after scanning, something like 90% of the colour roll came out OK. It would need some tweaking in Lightroom or Photoshop, but it would probably be workable. That got me really excited for the possibilities to extract some details from some of the overly dark shots in the black and white rolls, although things have just been way too dark there.

Brighton Beach (Holgafied!)

Looking at the scanned negatives, I was able to get a much better view of the photos and the depth of field. As you know, depth of field and focus decrease as a photo is enlarged. That’s why photos with subtle levels of blur can look fine on the digital camera’s on-camera preview, but look horrible on the computer. What I like about the Holga is the way the photos quickly degrade when you leave the depth of field and also out towards the edges. It really brings to focus whatever’s in the center. I also enjoyed the square format and the vignetting. I’m not about to adapt vignetting in all my photos because that can definitely get old quickly, but I definitely love how it complements the other imperfections the Holga introduces to produce a workable whole. I got a newer model which is less likely to have light leaks. Of all the imperfections Holgas have, I was least enthusiastic about dealing with light leaks, so that doesn’t bother me. It might bother you.

Coney Island seen via Holga

So I learned with the Holga that you should use ISO 400 film because of the small apertures involved. Normally, photographers would recommend ISO 200 film for general use and ISO 100 for those times when quality was paramount. With my experience, I’d say that sunny is more or less only for a bright, sunny mid-day photo and any photos in the shade, late morning, or early evening should be taken with the cloudy setting. Any darker than that and you’re going to need flash or some other kind of artificial lighting.

Overall, I’m pretty psyched about seeing the results when I shoot from my Yashica or my Franks Solida III. The only negative was the sticker shock. It’s a little over $1.25 per photo from purchase to development. If I did a film 365 project and took no other film photos, that would be $485 – that’s a mid-level Canon SLR lens. That’s a LOT of money. So I’ll have to be sparse with my film photography, but that’s OK by me. The results with the Holga have also interested me in other low tech photographic techniques such as pinhole photography. I may try some unique ideas with that once I figure out how long I need to expose for. I also think the Holga would have a great aesthetic for street photography and plan to take it with me next time I go to Manhattan.

Nhi, captured on candid-Holga-cam

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Thanks!

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After a bit of sleep, I’ve had some time to consider some more of the thoughts Braid has provoked in my mind.  First off, though, I have to mention one other hint Mr Blow drops to point to the possible interpretation of Braid as being about the atomic bomb.  The epilogue mentions walking onto the streets of Manhattan.  And, of course, the US project to develop the atomic bomb was known as The Manhattan Project.

This game has also made me reconsider the need for character death in video games.  It was a very useful mechanic back in the arcade days.  If the player never died, he could monopolize the machine with just a quarter or two.  But these days when you’re on a console on your own, what is the point of penalizing your inability to time a virtual jump by making you restart a level?  Or go back to your last save point – whenever that was.  Especially when, as the author complains in ZeroPunctuation’s review of Tomb Raider, depending on where the camera happens to be pointing then you jump, it may be impossible to gauge how well you will do.  You may retort that there’s little realism in being able to rewind time and what about consequences of mistakes.  But I reply that the ability to turn back time is no more an artificial concept of “lives”.  After all, what analogue does real life have to collecting some item (or number of items) that will bring you back to life when you die?  As I recently read, if you stop and think about most parts of video games for too long they fall apart.  Why should touching a goomba have the same consequences as being hit by a fireball?

And many games have been tackling this for the past ten years or so.  (Although it’s still not very common)  Super Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, and Mario Galaxy, for example, make it pretty darned hard to die.  For the most part, you can get hit around six times before anything dire happens, your life is easy to replenish, and there are 1UPs everywhere.  In Mario Galaxy, for example, the hub world has a few 1UP mushrooms that appear every time you come back.  And so I quickly racked up 99 lives.  And once you get to that kind of cheapness, you start to wonder what’s the point of having lives?  If you get them handed out like oxygen, there’s no longer any peril.  It’s not a commodity and what’s the point of being careful.  At that point, Miyamoto and Co. should have realized that if they’re going to make it so that the only people who fail at Mario Galaxy are those who actively try to fail, they should just do away with lives altogether and come up with a different penalty.  I’ve got an easy one – if your health meter runs to 0 you are returned to the hub world.  You regain your meter and now have to start that level over.  At least that gives a purpose to the meter.

But Braid dispenses with all that crap.  Get rid of the meter, just let the user rewind time.  And you have to go back far enough that you won’t get hit yet again.  Or a new game could keep the meter and then let the gamer decide how far back they want to rewind.  But once you can rewind and get back that last point and keep going – you lose all need for the meter.  And so it all comes to what type of game you are making.  If you want people to explore the world, then just do like Braid.  What do you have to gain by frustrating the user by killing him or her?  If you want people to have to avoid obstacles and so forth, then I guess dying would be a good incentive, but I don’t see why they can’t just make a mistake, realize what they did and then rewind time and try it again.

Even World of Goo does away with the situation I would find myself with in Lemmings where I was one guy short.  By using the time reversal bugs, you can rewind to the point where you think you made the key mistake and try again.  Why force you to have to redo the whole level?  I remember tons of times where I made a mistake in the middle of a long lemmings level and thought, “SONNOVA —!  Now I have to do all these steps AGAIN!”

We’ve had video games for so long now, that it’s about time we had a game based on the deconstruction of video games.  And by pointing out all these little things to us, we realize that it doesn’t have to be this way.  Just because Nintendo saved the video game industry after the Atari/ET debacle, it doesn’t mean we have to remain true to paradigms from the 1980s.

One more thing, although this is amongst the least important of things that can be said about Braid.  Braid’s Steam achievements are earned for achieving things.  I know it’s a crazy concept.  But there are games now that, according to the podcasts I listen to, give achievements for turning on the game, for playing a multiplayer match or picking up a gun that everyone else will pick up.  I think achievements begin to lose their meaning if they are not gained from accomplishing something.  The minimal achievement anyone should get is an achievement for completing a level.  And, frankly, I prefer when games reserve achievements for wacky, unexpected or difficult tasks.  So it’s neat that Portal has an achievement for killing a turret with another or for falling 30,000 feet.  Those cover the wacky and unexpected.  Also acceptable would be an achievement for playing a certain level 1000 times.  Braid gives achievements for completing levels and solving puzzles.  (You don’t need to to both to finish a level, so that’s not redundant)  There are speed runs in the game so I would imagine that they have achievements for that as well.  These are the types of achievements that make it fun on sites like raptr to compare yourself against other players.  And good on Braid for not giving patronizingly dumb achievements.

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I *love* this photo because it expresses in a photo a lot about being a child.

This sign just rocks!

Got to meet legendary Civ designer Sid Meier!

Garter went pretty high - made for lots of fun

This photo is just wonderful.

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Boat Framed Between Palm Trees

That night I was bored so I set up my tripod on my balcony and shot some night scenes.

Night shots of the intersection below my balcony

Empty pool in the hotel next door

The following day work ended around lunchtime and my flight didn’t take off right away, so I went for a drive. First I got some photos of some surfers and wind surfers.

Surfers

Wind Surfers

Then I found a lighthouse I had been looking for on my last trip. Although, I’m glad I didn’t find it last time because I ended up doing a great hike with my wife.

Lighthouse that can be seen from the top of Diamond Head

Then I went to a section of the bottom of Diamond Head where a bunch of buses with Japanese tourists kept dropping by and having the passengers take some photos and then get back on the bus.

Japanese Fashion

A smoke and a laugh

Once again overcoming my fear of speaking to strangers in order to photograph them, I found out these two are married and biking all around Oahu.

Biking Together on Oahu

Over all, I walked more than 9.1 miles while in Hawaii. Probably closer to 12 or so. My average speed was 3.6 miles per hour and those 9 miles were over 2 hours 32 minutes.

On the way back I was envious of this small child who had no problems with leg room. My lack of leg room kept me from being able to fall asleep.

For kids, all seats are extra legroom seats

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Trying to do a candid shot, you can sometimes get spotted

In yesterday’s post I mentioned how I overcame my shyness and it led to a good picture. That doesn’t mean I stopped taking candid photos. I wonder what she thought when she saw the camera pointed her way. Afterwards I shot some photos of the guy with a million balloons who happened to be passing by in the photo above. Did she think I was aiming for him? Because that was my intention – for her to think that. Although, I did want a photo of him too. I ended up taking about four and this was the best one.

Getting ready to fly away like in Pixar's "Up"

I think passed by this guy who I featured yesterday. He was setting up. It was great to get a photo of him setting up because it’s such a rare moment in the street performer’s day.

Getting ready for work

Then again, I spoke with this guy and was able to get him to pose with his funny sign. I’ve seen similar signs before on the net, but not in person. I guess it’s the best way to deal with his situation in a light manner.

Dealing with poverty with humour

Just like the shot with the ska metal guy getting ready for work, I was happy with this shot because I thought it was really neat to see a street worker in a moment away from his entertainment and hawking.

What they do when no one's around

Just one of many beautiful sunset photos I took in Hawaii

As I mentioned before, I was going to get a good sunset photo in Hawaii and I was able to here. Click on that photo to see other sunset photos I took because if I included them here, the post would be way too long. Let’s just say it was fruitful – I was able to fill up an entire 1 GB memory card with photos from the sunset.

I also walked all the out to this part at the base of Diamond Head. There were tons of people there playing all kinds of sports and even doing yoga.

Diamond Head in the Park

Yoga in front of Diamond Head

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Newspaper Guy Reading the Newspaper, but ready to take photos with tourists

This guy was just a block over from newspaper guy. He was also ready to take photos with tourists

I think everyone has seen a street performer painted in metal and dressed in clothes with a metallic-looking surface. I’ve seen them in Miami, Vegas, and Fort Lauderdale. But only in Honolulu have I seen three of them on the same street only a block from each other. At first when I saw the guy in the newspaper clothing I thought that was pretty creative. But then I saw the metallic guy just a block over. And after that I saw the guy in the “ska” checker board suit. Definitely some points are due for them not all looking the same. But are there really that many people who want a photo with a metallic man that they will take three such photos?

This guy was just a block over from the other metal guy. He was blaring a stereo, but was also ready for photogrphs.

The weirdest thing about Waikiki that I didn’t capture on camera this time or my last time there is the sheer number of people on the sidewalk handing out ads to entire people to all sorts of things from seedy women to gun parlours. It was definitely worse than walking through Ho Plaza on Cornell’s Campus. But not by much. Most of the time people leave me alone when I’m walking alone. I think it’s partially because I have headphones on to listen to podcasts as I walk around. It may also partially be because when I’m quickly weaving my way through the crowds, I don’t exactly look inviting. That didn’t stop one guy from standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME in an attempt to get punched in the face hand me an ad. I paused for a step and the walked right around him. People tend to interrupt me a lot more when I’m with my wife. Perhaps because we walk at a slower pace or maybe I seem more easy-going when I’m with her. I’m not sure.

Sunset in Waikiki

On my way back from the ramen house where I had dinner, I saw this sunset. I quickened my pace to get back to my room and grab my Canon camera. This photo doesn’t do any justice at all to the beauty of the sunset that day. So I vowed to capture the sunset the next day (Hawaii-time) and that’s just what I did.

And you’ll get to see it in a future post!

Uncle Bob's Ukelele

Uncle Bob’s Ukeleles was a shop there in my hotel. The next day Hawaii time (but same day EST) I took the following shot out of my balcony.

The view from my balcony

Speaking of the balcony, there were scores of birds constantly flying between the balconies to get scraps of what people had left behind. I took this little shot because it looked to me as though the red birds were in a gang and they were telling the brown bird he had better scram.

A couple of goodfeathers

Kid jumping off the wall

Kids loved to jump off this wall. There was a constant stream of them climbing up to the wall and then jumping off. Of course, it was also fun to photograph the waves crashing against the wall.

Waves Crashing against the wall

Giant Shave Ice Treats

I met the above folks when I saw them with the giant shaved ice treats. I wanted to try and sneak a photo of them, but they came over and started talking to me. So I got over my shyness and asked if I could take a photo of them. It became my favourite photo of the day, so I was quite glad to have asked them.

It was the Canon-sponsored Travel Photography workshop I attended that got me into photographing other photographers. I like that it gives an insight into what other photographers find interesting to photograph.

Photographing the photographer.

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Danielle with her bike

There were a few things we were excited about being able to do once we had a house – do laundry without sharing the machines, get away from noisy wall/ceiling neighbors, BBQ in our yard, and own bicycles.  Being extremely clean, we were unable to own bikes at the apartment because we had nowhere to store them.  Last Sunday we finally got around to buying some bikes.  After getting them home to tune them up and get the tires filled with air, we contemplated where we should go for our first ride.  Mind you, this would be our first bike ride in at least 3-4 years.  Insanely, I suggested the BWI airport loop trail.  My main reason:  I knew where it was and we had run on it before.  We had never run more than 2.5 miles of the trail, but we had been there and were familiar with it.  So we set off on the trail.  We didn’t know it yet, but it looked like this:

About halfway through the trail (according to my GPS we had made about a half of a loop) we asked someone if we were going the right way.  In the course of affirming that we were, they told us the total trail was 11 miles.  I checked my GPS and we had gone a little over 5 miles so we decided to just keep going.

Me and my new bike

I was happy to discover a park near the airport where the planes come in really close for landing.  I mentioned to Danielle that it would be a perfect place to take airplane photos.  Then we went around the bend and there were three guys with lenses somewhere between 200 and 500mm taking airplane photos.  I’m definitely going to have to do that one day.

Danielle coming up one of the toughest parts of the trail.

There were a few times where we grew a bit uncertain about whether we had been lied to about the 11 miles.  The only thing that kept us going was the GPS and seeing that we were closing the loop.  Of course, there was a bit of a problem there.  I had taken the GPS for geotagging my photos.  So I had it set to save a point every second.  This overflowed the internal buffer and the unit can’t use the memory card (as far as I’ve been able to figure out) so we were stuck with 270 degrees of a circle which started to worry me because we weren’t completing the circle.  In other words as we made progress forward, the end was being erased – like the computer/cell phone game Snake.

I almost forgot about the “bird incident”.  Danielle and I were somewhere around 85 – 90% done with the trail and she was riding in front of me (as we did for nearly the whole ride).  All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I see a bird in the shadows and the bird crashes into my from behind.  (This is hilarious because a bird flew in front of Danielle going perpendicular and I had made a joke about her being so fast, she would crash into a bird)  But then, as I kept pedaling forward, the bird hit my head a second time!  I yelled, “Danielle, a bird is trying to land on my head!”  After that, the bird left me alone.  Of course, it doesn’t make sense that a bird would actually try to land on my head.  I just had a khaki cap on.  Also, birds are dumb, but not dumb enough to try and land on a moving “tree”.  So we must have biked too close to her nest or something.  Why didn’t she attack Danielle?  Perhaps Danielle was gone too quickly?  I don’t know.  Has anyone else ever had something like this happen to them while they were bike riding?

At the end I checked my GPS stats and wrote the following.  We went 10.6 miles.  It took us 1 hr and 30 minutes.  Subtract about 5 – 10 minutes for photos and times when we had to decide which way to go.  My max speed (it was in my pocket) was 18.1 MPH (I later saw a sign that the trail’s speed limit is 15 MPH – oops!).  Our average speed was 8.1 MPH.

The 10.6 mile loop

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