Michael Willems Daily Photography Blog

Like so many companies now, Canon Canada has an “automated attendant”.

Alas, “Marie” is not a good listener – she does not start listening until she has finished her long list of mainly irrelevant options (they are mainly irrelevant by definition, since you only want one). Also, she cannot understand “Technical Support” when I say it clearly, and she does not know what an “EOS Mark IV” is – the best she can do is “EOS Mark II n”. She has not been told about recent product releases, it seems.

Tip to Canon: if you want to help humans, use humans, not “automated attendants” with an IQ of zero. The actual support people are so good, it seems a shame to put up Marie as a barrier first.

Why am I calling? Because C.Fn I-7, when set to “1″, which uses the active AF point for spot metering, does not in fact seem to do that. Most peculiar and I am sure I am missing something obvious. What? I’ll tell you when I get past Marie.

UPDATE: when you use all 45 focus points, you cannot spot meter to the focus point. You have to reduce the AF points to just 19. That’s pretty useless, and I missed that in my review. Damn!

Word has reached me that Ian Fuller, a.k.a. frequent contributor “bkkphotographer” from Bangkok, has unexpectedly died. His wife confirms this from his email address, as do several friends.

This leaves me profoundly sad, and I wish his family and his other friends strength, and extend my condolences. Ian was a good man, and was just 53. As so often, it is entirely the wrong people who die too young.

I had wondered why he had gone radio silent: I had thought perhaps he was taking a vacation. Alas, the news was much, much sadder than that.

As a news shooter, I get into my car whenever there is a possibly significant accident or fire in the vicinity. But it is good when you fail to get a picture because the fire fails to spread, like just now.

And if the fire brigade manages to put out the chimney fire before it spreads significantly, you can afford to think “hey, that looks kind of festive, the red lights mixed with the Christmas lighting”.

So although that family needs to spend the night elsewhere because of smoke- and water-damage, the home can be fixed.

And since this is a photography blog: 3200 and 1600 ISO at f/2.8 with a 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens. That gave me shutter speeds of around 1/30th second. Which with IS is doable.

A customer (an international teaching hospital in Toronto) called me just now for a last-minute shoot (an award ceremony by the Board of Directors). Unfortunately, with a client on his way, I could not take the job.

So I called every photographer I knew in and around Toronto. Amazingly, none but two answered: most were still asleep. Few of the others called back.

The fact that no photographer was able to take a last-minute job did not surprise me. The fact most were unable to be reached, did. For those of you who want to be photographers, great news: you can get up after 9AM!

Oh and if you were not on my call list it is because I do not have your number.

The shot? It fell through, they decided without a photographer, no ceremony.

As of today, you can see and buy some of my prints (some of the nudes) at the Kodiak Gallery, in Toronto’s historic (and artistic) Distillery district. Ask Gregory Talas, the gallery’s owner, to show you my work.

I must say I highly recommend Gregory as the consummate pro. He is not just a gallery owner: he is a very experienced award-winning photographer and artist himself. And a nice guy.

So a trip to this gallery is worth it not just for my prints, but for three other reasons. One is to chat with Gregory. One is to see the distillery district – you’ll see a lot of artistic things and people, and many photographers. And the final reason is to see Gregory’s own work. For instance, his series of the Jewish ghetto in Vilnius, some of which is now being restored (post Nazi- and post Soviet-era), is outstanding.

Boston Globe’s “Big Picture” does it again. Look at this collection of stunning images of Afghanistan:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/afghanistan_october_2009.html

Stunning. And also sad. Especially, I thought, the “no democracy – we just want Islam” picture – and those are supposed to be students.

And why are they great photographically? I think because they are all a combination of great composition, meaningful subject, and good technique (wide open f/1.4 lenses, available light, and wide angles with a close subject).

BKKphotographer asked:

“Which one living person would you most like to photograph? Which one place or event would you most like to photograph?”

Mmm. I would love to photograph so many people. How do I pick one? Impossible. But I tell you – I would love to shoot Patti Smith. I am reluctant to give the obvious answer of “a celebrity” – but it was her photo by Robert Mapplethorpe on the cover of “Horses”, almost 35 years ago, that awakened my interest in photography. Something that shaped me, in other words.

A place is easier. Again, there are many… but I would love to shoot Afghanistan. I have always thought I would like to be a war journalist: spending time in places like Iraq in the 1980s, when the Iran-Iraq war was on, made me think “the world should see this”. That is another thing that shaped me. So while it’s dangerous, I would do it in a heartbeat.

I’ll come up with others – there will be things that I hit myself over the head withfor forgetting – but these are two off the cuff.

And you?