It’s made of wood, right?

This is one amazing camera – manufactured in 1839 by Alphonse Giroux, Louis D’s brother-in-law (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, JD or Louis D to his friends) – it is in amazing condition and even comes complete with the original manual!!

I’m not going to explain how the first commercially produced camera actually works, and it goes without saying that if you decide you want to buy into one of these you’ll also need to be comfortable handling dangerous chemicals and try not to sniff the toxic fumes that went into making every image!! The articles say nothing about the camera coming with a tripod, so be prepared to cough up for one of them as well – with exposure times anywhere between 3 & 30 minutes, this beasty is not gonna work hand-held!!

For the expected selling price of €500,000-700,000 (Euros), approx $AUD 780k – 1.1 million (yes, million!!), the camera does produce some of the finest images possible, with no noticeable grain even under a magnifying glass!! You need to be fit to own one – the whole kit weighs in at around 50kg!! Oh, and you might want to know that Louis D signed this one himself, so at least you get a famous autograph in the deal as well!!

Oh yeah, this supremely expensive and historically important camera is basically a couple of boxes made of wood – and we worry about whether we have enough tech to get great images in today’s conditions!! I strongly encourage you to read the history behind Daguerreotype’s, it’s fascinating and every photographer should be familiar with it!! Some links below to help you out:

The Auction – WestLicht Photographica Auction
Daguerreotype’s – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype
Louis Daguerre – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Daguerre
The first photograph – Heliography

Interesting bit of side trivia – Louis D also invented the Diorama!!

Freezelight – my new heroes

Freezelight Magic Forest from FREEZELIGHT.RU on Vimeo.

I’ve always been fascinated by long exposure photography, there are some amazing artists out there but I think this team from Russia are onto something special – they combined stop motion, long exposure, fashion models, and a (somewhat hard to follow) simple story!

Watch all 3 videos (including the behind the scenes), it’s definitely worth the time!!

http://vimeo.com/reezelightru

I’ll take 2!

Seriously, I don’t think 570 Megapixels is enough – I’d need at least 2 of these car-sized photographenwonders, and at $US 35 million each, they’re a bargain!!

It has 74 CCDs – if there is something interesting (ie living!) in the universe, surely this bad boy will see it!!

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/01/570-megapixel-camera-is-the-mother-and-father-of-all-cameras/

The 09/10 Wrap Up!!

I’m hoping someone can help me – it would appear I completely misplaced 2009. It was here a minute ago, but seems to have completely disappeared!! For those of you that know me, you’ll know that “insanely busy” is pretty much Business As Usual for me, and not much has changed on that front.

So, how did I track against my 2009 expectations from this post?
– Double shot count to 25000 didn’t happen, I did almost exactly the same number of images as ’08 (a bit over 11000)
– Post more online didn’t happen, deliberately. Instead I decided to stop frantically trying to update a squillion community sites and simply update this site. All the other sites now basically point back here! I count that as a win!
– Get a studio happening has still not happened, but things are moving slowly. I’m currently visiting studios and looking at commercial property leases, all very exciting (and expensive, hence why it is so slow)!
– Outside businesses are definitely on the move, a number of phases are now complete and I expect launch of at least one to happen VERY soon!! W00t, even more exciting!!
– I did quite a bit of assisting, and I am cutting down my activities to work more on my own projects. I’m trying the Bill Gates approach, why assist one photographer when I can run a workshop for 10?
– I’ve tried to catch up with friends more, but I can still work on that!
– I did take an overseas holiday, went to the UK and France for 3 weeks with my partner, it was most excellent. And guess what, I still haven’t processed the images (and the holiday was in October!!)

My 2010 is shaping up to be pretty exciting – it’s a new decade, with new challenges and new aspirations. This is the year of consolidation and completion. I’m cleaning up all my 80% projects and getting them done. Businesses will be launched or killed, projects will be completed or binned, this year is all about being realistic in what I can do with my time (and how I can better use that time for my benefit and those around me!)

Plans for 2010 will include:
– Definitely get a studio done, or partner with an existing one. This is a must!!
– Launch at least one business, they’re like baby birds that I’m scared to throw out of the nest!! Time to teach them to fly by throwing them out into space. Here’s hoping the do fly!!
– At least one overseas trip (which will probably be Vegas mid year). More would be nice, but that will depend on business success!!
– Network more. I used to be out amongst it all the time, but now I find I don’t have the time. In 2010 I plan to change that. If there are events, I want to be there. Shows, count me in. Launches, you’ll find me at the bar talking to someone! I need to rediscover my social self (can you tell I’m shy?)

I hope everyone finds success and happiness in 2010. And I hope to share mine with those around me!!

Mobiles with 14MP sensors, what?

I knew it was bound to happen all too soon, after my last post about the death of the megapixel race. This little article on Gizmodo points out that although the sensors will likely hit mass production in the 2nd quarter of this year, the phones that might house these sensors probably don’t have the grunt to process the data!!

Nice problem to have though, means it will be solved sooner rather than later! And I used to think I’d get 3-4 years out of a DSLR body. At the rate this is going, I’d be lucky to get 6 months… Of course, it’s a stretch to turn up to a pro shoot with just a camera phone, and convince the models you are really serious!! Perception still has a price, even if the technology is shrinking before our eyes!!

A day in the life

James Worrell pulled together a great little video that beautifully summarises the glamour lifestyle of a photographer!! If you think photography is all about fashion shows, parties and limos, think again – most photographers make their living doing the same thing the rest of us do, by working long hard days for little recognition and even less glamour or riches!!

Click here to watch the video – be patient, it takes a few moments to load!

Well done James, it’s a great video – and if you are getting the parties and limos lifestyle, more kudos to you!!

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