by Tim Gander

When Life Gives You Plums…

The past couple of weeks have been blessedly quiet after what has been a somewhat ‘complex’ period.

A mixture of heavy workload, personal development plans and a bereavement (see previous blog) had left me feeling a little bit broken. No major breakdown, just like I’d been rinsed through and needed to refresh and reset.

However, one of the absolute pleasures of the freelance/work-from-home life is the ability to take a break, step into your garden and pick fruit. Or even just to sit in the garden and ponder the great imponderables.

So it was that yesterday, one of the hottest days of the year, I spent a precious few minutes picking plums in the garden. There is something about fruit picking that I find incredibly mindful. Like my other passion, swimming, I can just immerse myself as I check which fruit are ripe, which need more time and which have gone over and need to be composted.

Looking down on a steel colander of freshly-picked Victoria plums. The colander is standing on a steel work surface with kitchen utensils and condiments visible in the background.
1.6kg of plums looks like this
A table-level view of four jars, of different sizes, of plum jam, two of which have handwritten labels stating "Plum Jam 12.8.25." The jars are standing on a steel kitchen work surface with cooking utensils and condiments out of focus in the background.
1kg of plums made 2kg of jam.

And when you’re married to someone who enjoys making jam, I mean it just doesn’t get any better than that, does it? In fact we had more plums than jam sugar, so I made compote too.

So this very brief post is to remind you to take those little moments when you can. Simple pleasures bring great rewards. They’re the times when you can recharge your batteries, let your mind freewheel in the background, and maybe come up with some ideas and solutions to problems you thought intractible.

I still have some way to go before I’m on the other side of all the admin which follows a death, but at least I have the ability to recognise when I need to take a pause, and in turn this is allowing me to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

So whatever fruit life gives you, use it to make something positive. Preferably something you can spread on toast and enjoy with a nice cup of tea.

in My News / Point of View 1 comments
 by Tim Gander

YouTubes and Rabbit Holes

A question often asked of professional photographers, myself included, is “what camera can you recommend?”

Spoiler alert, I don’t know every model of camera available (there are MANY) and I don’t know what your end use will be, but in the spirit of the YouTube generation I suggest you stick around to the end of this article and I’ll attempt to offer some pointers.

Screenshot from YouTube search for camera reviews.
YouTube advice is a-plenty

Going Down The Tube

Speaking of Youtube, it’s become apparent that if you watch video content about all the latest cameras and lenses, the gear (to many people) has become more important than photography itself.

How do I know this? Well because in my quest to update my work cameras, I fell down multiple rabbit holes and watched a lot of waffle about the specifications of this camera verses that camera and a lot of “STOP BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK TO BUY THE LATEST *insert camera make and model here*” -style nonsense.

Luckily for me I only needed to check a few models because I’m now a pretty committed user of Panasonic cameras. For anyone starting from scratch, the choice is bewildering.

Finding genuinely useful information isn’t as easy as you would hope it to be. Often the specifications of various models are reeled off at breakneck speed like they’re comparing the abilities of a range of F1 racing cars. Everything comes down to specs and speed, while very little ‘air time’ is given to the real-world performance or picture quality of any given make or model.

Useful info for me is to know how the image quality holds up under a variety of conditions, but if you do find sample photos taken with a specific camera, they’re usually pretty random and uninformative. There will be a flower, a rusty car, a sunset, a neon sign, some graffiti. There’s certainly never a properly-lit, well-composed portrait, for example, so comparing skin tones or fine hair detail is pretty tricky.

Of course I don’t expect a YouTuber to go out and photograph a set of corporate images for a client website just so I can see how the camera performs in the situations I’m normally covering. That would be unrealistic, but it’d be helpful to see more in the way of portraits and interiors. It would help to know how the autofocus performs in sub-optimal conditions (ie a portrait taken against a bright background). The problem is, YouTube photographers are only photographers on YouTube. Very few take pictures for a living and they have to cater for the single largest group, hobby photographers. And hobby photographers are usually more interested in speed and specifications than photography itself.

Achievement Unlocked

Regardless of these niggles, I have come through the ordeal and updated both of my camera bodies. To be honest, I could have eked out a few more years’ use from my existing gear, but it’s not a bad idea to sell it while it has some residual value and the new versions definitely added one or two really useful benefits for the work I do.

The primary benefit has been the upgrade in autofocus performance. My existing cameras weren’t as bad as YouTube reviewers would have you believe, but I always had to be aware of situations in which it might struggle. The new kit is certainly more reliable and accurate in that regard.

Another feature which I’m going to find very useful is rather niche; I can now back up images directly from my cameras onto a portable hard drive. This negates lugging a laptop around if I just want to keep files secure while I’m on the go. If there is one thing I’m a bit paranoid about it’s that camera cards can become corrupt, or physically broken, lost or stolen.

I’ve gone with two versions of the same model; one is high-resolution for when that’s useful (pictures to be used for large displays) and the other is standard resolution and a bit more nimble in terms of moving files around.

“What’s Your Recommendation, Tim?!”

Ok, those aren’t necessarily features you’ll be looking for when choosing a camera, so what should you be looking for? Like anything, that depends on many factors. Mainly that will be budget and usage.

My main advice would be to check out the used market. Secondhand camera prices are incredibly reasonable for what you can get. The same goes for lenses, and I often hunt out used options where possible. As long as a lens has been looked after, there’s no need to shell out for a new one.

Most cameras manufactured in the past 10 or more years will do everything you need and more, so think about size and weight as much as about budget. A camera that is too heavy to cary long distances will end up left at home.

Think Format First

In this regard, think about the camera format – full-frame cameras are larger and heavier than those of a smaller format such as APSC or Micro 4/3rds (sometimes labelled M4/3 or MFT). In fact I have a Panasonic MFT format camera which is great for traveling with and lots of MFT cameras and lenses are available new and used. Look for Panasonic and Olympus for this format.

For general purpose, family snaps or travel, maybe an APSC camera will suit you; Canon and Fuji tend to lead in this field. The cameras will be marginally larger than with MFT format gear, but pixel-level quality will be a small step up too.

If sports action or wildlife are your thing, be prepared to carry a beast of a kit bag around because you’ll need longer telephoto lenses and a camera body that can keep up with the pace. You might also need a camera that has a level of weather-sealing. Canon, Nikon and Sony all have excellent models to choose from, and some of the discontinued professional bodies are incredible bargains now.

Say Hello To Woundwort For Me

The bad news is that having homed in on a lens/camera combo that you think might suit you, you’re bound to end up researching it on YouTube, and only rabbit holes and despair live there. Just don’t forget to click Like and subscribe!

 

in Advice / photographer / photography / Point of View 0 comments
 by Tim Gander

25 Years of Digital (almost)

A few days ago I ventured into our attic where I came across the storage cases for my early digital work; 340 CDs and DVDs dating from November 2000.

It didn’t immediately register that this means I’ve been shooting digitally for almost 25 years! I reckon I only shot film for about the first 10 years of my career, which is another sobering thought on multiple levels.

The Time Had Finally Come

But seeing those cases of CDs for the umpteenth *damn* time, I finally decided to bring them down and start transferring them to a hard drive. The discs won’t last forever, especially being alternately boiled and frozen in the attic. Eventually the hard drive too will die and my archive will be landfill.

Brief side-note; apart from properly (expensively) stored negatives, transparencies or prints, no photographic format is immune from decay over time. I’m convinced that no amount of care can preserve digital images indefinitely, and analogue formats will always be more robust. But that’s a separate discussion.

Old Tech to the Rescue

Anyway, back to the plot. I’ve rigged up an older MacBook Pro with the DVD reader/writer I used to use, and connected a spare external hard drive. It’ll be my archiving station until the project is done.

Your job now is to rejoice as I share some of those early digital images. Don’t worry, you won’t have to suffer this until the 50th anniversary, when I’ll be in my early 80s. I doubt my nurse will let me near a computer by then.

Enjoy!

PY Gerbeau (left) and the then deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at a press conference staged on the roof of the Millennium Dome in London.
P-Y Gerbeau (left) was credited with rescuing the Millennium Dome project...
DJs Fatboy Slim (left) and his then wife Zoe Ball are wrapped up for winter as they walk away from Brighton pier. Zoe is pushing a pram while Mr Slim is carrying a small dog inside his jacket.
An exclusive of the couple for News of the World
Princess Margaret leaves King George VII hospital aided by a nurse.
An early "scoop" with my first digital SLR, the Canon D30.
Actress Martine McCutcheon signs a copy of her book in Harrods, London
A barely-in-focus photo of Martine McCutcheon

Notes on the photos:

Millennium Dome press conference 30th December 2000 – P-Y Gerbeau was credited with rescuing the flailing Millennium Dome project and appeared for a press conference on the roof of the structure alongside Deputy PM John Prescott, who couldn’t have been more miserable if he’d tried.

Zoe and Fat Boy Slim 29th December 2000 – I’d been sent to assist a News of the World reporter tasked with finding celebrities and asking them general knowledge questions to see how bright they were. While the reporter got his s**t together having had a bit too much fun in his hotel room the night before, I toddled off and got a fun spread of pictures of Zoe Ball and Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) walking on Brighton Pier. When the reporter finally turned up and asked Zoe and Mr Slim to answer some questions, he was told to eff off and that was that. My images made a double page spread in NotW and Heat Magazine.

Princess Margaret leaving King George VII Hospital 20th January 2001 – I was sent along by News of the World to catch a photo of Princess Margaret leaving hospital. I knew two other NotW staffers were already there, but I also knew they were using film cameras. By shooting digital, I was able to file from the scene and my shots made the paper just because they arrived at the desk first.

Martine McCutcheon book signing at Harrods 25th November 2000 – My first digital SLR, a Canon D30, was pretty dreadful in low-light conditions. The autofocus just couldn’t keep up, so my shots from this press call are soft to say the least. I include this image to air my shame.

in Archive / photography / Point of View 0 comments
 by Tim Gander

Worst. Tourist. Ever.

I just can’t do it. Send me on a nice break, and I’m constantly looking for the gritty photo, or at least something with a bit of a story to it.

At the end of January my wife and I took the Eurostar to Paris to visit friends who live just outside the city. It was nothing more than a long weekend, so we packed extremely light which meant I wasn’t especially interested in taking a film camera, lenses and film. Besides, I’ve fallen a little bit in love with my Lumix GX9…

mmmmcheese

What we couldn’t resist during our trip, apart from the astonishingly good cheeses and cakes, was a visit to the newly-restored Notre Dame Cathedral. I can honestly say, it is well worth getting there if you can, but be prepared; prepared for crowds, queues and smartphones in every view.

The last time we visited Notre Dame was in 2014, and although there would have been tourists taking photos then, it wasn’t an impression which was stamped on my memory. This time around it felt like the smartphone-wielding had gone a bit OTT.

Rear view of a female tourist in an orange knitted hat raising her iPhone to take a photo of a holy mass underway in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, with one of the beautifully restored circular stained glass windows visible out of focus beyond.

Tourist captures Holy Mass on her iPhone in Notre Dame Cathedral

I’m not a religious person, but if I visit someone’s holy place, I hope I tread carefully and with consideration of where I am. At Notre Dame there were people poking their phones through railings, taking pictures in places with ‘No Photography” signs right next to their elbows. Maybe this is nothing new, maybe I should mind my own beeswax.

Maybe it seemed worse because it was incredibly busy – perhaps unsurprising as it’s only been open a few weeks, but when a Holy Mass got underway, there were people filming the service with phones on selfie sticks, small gimbal cameras and the like. Is this normal? Maybe it is.

While I wasn’t there to pass judgement (as I seem to have done, whether I like it or not), and not there to gather a story, rather than poke my camera into every nook and cranny of the cathedral I focussed on the visitors around me and tried to get a sense of what it was like to be there, more than what the space looks like*.

The result you see here is the best of a handful of photos I took during the visit to Notre Dame. In a single image I’ve tried to bring together the iPhone experience so many people have of places now with how such use can feel a little insensitive. At the same time, I wanted to make it fairly obvious where the image was taken to give it context.

A Dame Good Photo?

I’m not sure how successful I was in this. Perhaps if I’d had more time I might have managed to capture a sea of phones-type shot, but filling the background with a single spectacular rose window would have been impossible, and here I feel it helps add impact to the image. And on the tourist’s phone you can clearly see she’s lining up for a photo or video of the Mass, rather than an architectural aspect of the space. If I’d got multiple phones in-shot, you wouldn’t see what was on any single one of them, and this would have diluted the impact further.

Either way, however successful/impactful/useful it is, the shot scratched my itch to make a different kind of image that day, so I’ll settle for that.

Having had this semi rant, maybe I’m the worst tourist ever. While other people go to places and do their thing, I feel compelled to document them doing their thing rather than going to a place and minding my own business. And doesn’t that make me slightly hypocritical?! Or perhaps it’s healthy to take a step back from the crowd and show what society looks like, rather than copy what everyone else sees. It’s certainly a minefield, and one I’ll probably spend the rest of my life picking my way through.

For the camera nerds, here are the image specs:

Camera – Lumix GX9

Lens – Olympus 45mm f/1.8

Exposure – 650iso, 50th sec @ f/1.8

*It is incredible. The restoration has been done with astonishing care and attention to detail. There is far more lighting than was evident in the pre-fire cathedral, but this means you can now see all the beautiful carving, all the way up to the beautiful vaulted roof. Just go, you’ll love it.

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