Long live XPro1… welcome XPro2

It is that time of year when I don’t do anything about my blog/portfolio/self-promotion… As I did for past 400 days. But being the best Fuji X photographer in Bosnia (I’ll explain this later) bring some responsibility to all three of my readers to say something about what I did in past few hundred days.

Let’s start with frustration…
Feeds on my humble  social networking presence are overwhelmed with new Fuji gear, orgasmic reviews and pixel peeping comparisons. And… I like to read them all. To be honest… some of them for several times. And yes… I’m an XPro1 user… there is a new XPro2… and I need one more camera body… aaaaand it would be great to  get my hands on it… aaaaaaaaand no… my incomes are just no match to it…. Too bad, since I believe we would be a great match.

So… I decided to run one more story about how good my current camera is and to cover last year with some shots since I haven’t put even a word on my blog for more then a year. I wrote some initial thoughts on Fuji XPro1 two years ago here.

Confession…

You can call me whatever you like… hobbyist, enthusiast, amateur… Photography is a part of my life for more then a half of it (and I’m 36) so you do the math. Occasionally, I do get some paid jobs or some paid assignments but it is impossible to make a living out of it (I have other job which pays my mortgage, taxes, food, gas, kindergarten, some cigarettes, shoes and clothes from time to time…). Ok, my wife has a job too… ok,…. we have a decent life here but… still… as I said… incomes are insufficient when it comes to gear renewal. Last time I did it, I sold out all of my gear that I had and with  some additional savings I managed to purchase a new camera. Why? Because of the mileage of my previous one, because I wanted something lighter and because I needed something more technologically advanced. So I ended up with Fuji XPro1 and it was love at first sight and it still is.

XPro1 is ok but not on par with industry leaders? 

I was slicing my brains out to find some downsides and to make myself more criticizing about it… but without success. Yes… there are some stuff that DSLR purists will say that are more then a good reason to run away from it… (slow focusing, slow sync speed, precision-less OVF, etc.) but at the end… you just get used to it and start to love all the things that you made together. XPro1 is a great companion in every situation you can imagine yourself. At the time Fuji decided to upgrade their flagship model, you don’t feel cheated as most people do when some new technology comes out. At Fujis, new is good but the old one is still keeping up. This is not a praise to  Japan company (I do believe that they are no different than any other in terms of profitability and moneymaking business). Just want to point out that they did a great job back in 2012. On the other side I do think that models like XM1 or XA1 were unnecessary but hey… I’m not a business expert. I still think XPro1 is on par with most newer models made by competition. I have experience with most of them (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic…) so my subjective opinion is based on usage and not on web reviews.

How I became THE BEST…

Very simple. You would think that I will probably tell you a story of how hard I was working on building my portfolio, shooting endless assignments, shooting days and nights until my finger cramp… and it is the common story of many of my fellow best photographers around the world, but not in my case.

I just bought the camera no one did in my country… so immediately I became the best X photographer in Bosnia (I’m pretty sure that I’m still the best around here or there are just a few best of us). So… being the BEST here, it gives me the right to ask some sample equipment to test it out from Fuji. Just point me at nearest camera store to pick it up. O wait… there is no camera stores around here. Ok… I’ll talk to your representatives in my country and try to convince them. O shit… yes… you don’t have it here.

My point is that Bosnia is not a market that is interesting not only to Fuji but to many other camera companies. But it would be great at least to have one specialized camera store here where one could go and test some equipment or maybe to rent it and at the end, to buy it. So… all of you dontknowwheretoinvestmymoney people, come to Bosnia, open a camera store and in some short time… you will loose everything, but hey… you’ll have a chance to become THE BEST camera store here ever. 😉

Ok… I lost it a bit. This post could easily become a sobbing confession of how hard life is around here… and how we have crappy politics… and how system of value is distorted and blah, blah,blah….

Enough…

Ok… enough with story without any point. Long story short… XPro1 is still a great piece of gear. Since I’m in a process of thinking about additional camera body – it would be great to have a new XPro2 as a main camera but hey… I would be pretty much satisfied with another XPro1 body too. Good ergonomics, decent AF speed (no missing shots in 99%), decent high ISO output (at my standards, even ISO6400 is usable in some situations), good weight-shoulder ratio, 16MP sensor can give a print output of 70x55cm easily… do anyone need more?

Let me show you some images I did recently…

Motion

I love slow shutter speeds and how you can create surreal images in some simple and common situations and I noticed that when ever I shoot, no matter what, assignment or personal work… I always do a few slow shutter images.

Featured

If you went through my blog archives , you would notice that my work is often based around theatre. Also, I do follow some extreme sport clubs in region so you could find some xsports features… extreme climbing and uphill cycling. I do also a wedding photography from time to time but rarely. I’m an official photographer for Tourist organization of city of Prijedor since this year.

 

Portraits

I do consider myself a portrait photographer so here are some of the most recent I’m still working on for Prijedor city theater. They asked me to do some formal portraits of ensemble and I did it. But somehow, wasn’t very satisfied with it so I proposed a bit different approach. Idea is to show a theater that is not visible to majority of people. Old depots, hidden tunnels over the main hall, wardrobes, workshops, etc. And all of thatin form of a portrait. So… this is the result

If somehow you made it to this part of my blog post, I hope it was pretty much clear how XPro1 is more then a capable camera. Sports, weddings, documentary,off camera flash… you name it. Essentially, it is not up to camera… It depends on your imagination and preparation. Any camera would be as good as this one only…. you are makeing a relationship with any camera you are using and… I just think that XPro1 is more then any other generic model (no matter if a lot of them are technically superior) on a market. All the benefits combined with negative issues are creating a unique experience upon no one can be left indifferent.  Long live XPro1… welcome XPro2!!!

Photography Masters Cup Nominee…

I applied last year to a 5th Photography masters cup with 3 photos and since it was just one of the competitions I applied last year, I forgot about it. To be even worse… I received an email (last November) where I was announced to be a nominee in two categories – Portrait and Silhouette. Why is it bad… – I DIDN’T SEE that mail. November is a period when I’m overwhelmed with emails (GFBL Festival is taking place then) so I overlooked it.

Ok… I didn’t won or anything but to become a nominee in two categories among 11 832 entries… I think it is a thing worth mentioning.

Theese are images that have been nominated:

Links to a web gallery – Color Awards – Portrait and Color Awards – Silhouette

Daylight long exposure

For some time I’m trying to find a way to make some daylight long exposure shots. I know some photographers are using several ND filters attached together but good ND filters are not cheap and it is a little bit hard to get some here where I live. Another problem was what camera to use. Digital is standard today and results are visible right away but overheating a sensor is serious problem (digital sensors are generating heat when taking long exposure shots). Analog is much safer but again, if you make some wrong calculations, whole role of film could be ruined (and it is truly hard to find decent laboratory these days who will develop it the way you want it). And then recently, I was talking about it with my friend Borut and it came to me that I could try to use a welding glass as a truly strong ND filter.

First, I used my GF1 camera to determine the strength of a welding glass (light sensitivity). I calculated it is a 15 stop filter equivalent.

My intention was to use it on a Canon AE1 program camera with 28mm lens and to shoot some cityscapes  – 32 minutes exposures and more – so it would be possible to eliminate all the movement in a scene or to create some abstraction with very crowded places. My test roll was terrible. I realized that all the positions from where I was shooting were “contaminated” with reflections from different shiny objects (car windows, wrist watches on someones hand, sun glasses…). All the shots were overexposed but partially. Something like light stains. I dropped the idea ’cause I need something less complicated.

Then, I tried again with GF1 camera with a intention to make one long exposure and then to leave a camera to cool down. I intended to make 32 minutes exposure but very soon I find out that GF1 camera has a safety feature to limit the length of a exposure to 256 seconds.   I couldn’t find any info about the camera feature but I would like to believe it is it. 🙂 (Let me know if you know anything about it).

So, 256 sec exposure became my new obsession. It is long enough to eliminate or wipe out the movement out of frame but short enough to have time to make some corrections if needed without a “moment” lost. Next month I’ll be traveling to Vienna, Prague, Bratislava and Budapest and it will be a good opportunity to make interesting series (I hope).

Of course, welding glass is green so I was thinking black&white but once I saw a green result I felt in love with it. It has some apocalyptic note that gives it additional drama.

Look for yourself:

A Gym

Just a few meters away from my apartment, ticket office of city stadium. Nothing much. Three small windows, a few steel bars and dirty concrete wall. It wouldn’t be unusual, if it’s purpose  is just selling tickets. No!!! A guy named Petar, started to practice his muscles and his body some ten years ago. Location was great – in the city center but isolated from the city rush, cheap – nobody asked for monthly fee, and finally – tough enough to outstand the weight of a human body. Petar started something that outgrow far from personal practice. People started coming around and in few years – community was formed. Musicians, high school students,  workers, sportsmen, physical enthusiasts… everybody was working out at “a gym”. Even young kids are practicing in secret while steel bars are “free”.

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P.S. For those people who are interested in technical part of this – all images made with Panasonic Lumix GF1 camera – JPGs straight from camera.

Great expectations

Novak Đoković – Roger Federer, Roland Garros 2011, 1-3

Novak’s career is followed by whole world recently but specially in Serbia and Serbian part of Bosnia. He became national pride and a release valve for all the lost battles. His matches are watched at home as well as at city squares and bars. Men, women, youngsters, old people – everybody was watching with excitement for new dash in a row.

He lost a match against Roger, but for the first time, nation didn’t judged him because of that (Serbian nation has a short memory and easily can forget about a great success just because a moment of weakness). Somehow, all the nation felt released from all the pressure that was hovering above.

Here is a glimpse at the night when Novak failed to became world’s no.1 (for now).

 

Some commercial work

It was a while since I wrote or post something on my blog. The main reason was that I was contacted by one of the major mobile operators in BiH and asked for a proposition portfolio and for new ideas that they could use on their web site (mobile section, standard telephony, television on demand and internet section). They gave me a month to do it and I completed a small portfolio of 20 images that I sent them few weeks ago. I made some standard commercial shots that are usual for mobile operators as well as some more bold, provoking and humorous images.

Unfortunately, nobody from the company didn’t contacted me since. I tried to get some informations about it but without success.

I would like to thank to my friends and my awesome wife who helped me a lot organizing and executing these shots (with no budget at all). Many thanks to Goran, Tijana, Đurđa, Nikola, Tanja, Lala and Dragana.

Images are cut in a format needed for mobile operator’s web site.

P.S. Sorry for the big watermark.

An interview and scenes from exhibition opening

Scenes from exhibition opening in August 2010 and interview for the Art Scene program of Center for creative industry.

No more visas for BiH!!!

I read about it a couple hours ago. From December the 15th, citizens of BiH and Albania will travel without visas for countries in EU.
What does it mean?
No more complicated documents and forms for embassies!
No more humiliation in cues in front of the embassies!
No more traveling to embassy for several times just to confirm you brought all the documents!
No more uncertainty will my visa be granted or not!
No more paying for visa!
No more ISOLATION!!!
Ok, custom officers have a permit not to let me in EU, but that is nothing comparing to all things I mentioned above.
Probably, most of the people (at least in BiH) don’t have money to travel around but only the sensation that one is free to go where ever you imagine (almost) is good enough for suffered souls.
It brings more opportunities, to see and to be seen, to learn and many, many more.
Few days ago, pigeons stayed on my window longer then usual. (Usually, they just crap on my window and go). Somehow, they were unafraid and intrigued of what is going on in my apartment as well as I was intrigued why don’t they fly away as usual when I’m standing below (I have roof windows). So… my natural reaction was to grab a camera and to shoot. It lasts for several minutes but pigeons were posing like they were aware of me taking some photos.
It has some symbolic meaning to me while I was expecting this decision about visas. It’s a cliche and I’m maybe too euphoric about it but now… free as a bird… (ok, not yet… but from 15th of December) 🙂

GitarFest Banja Luka 2010 poster

Like last year, again I did a promo poster for upcoming GitarFest Banja Luka 2010 – international festival of classical guitar. This is version that goes to designer who will put rest of the informations on it. You will be able to see final result in a few days on GF website.

Portfolio + Blog page – question

I have plans to renew my portfolio page and also my blog page and I believe it would be nice to put it all together in one page.

WordPress is good platform and I was looking for some solutions around the web and couldn’t find something that will completely satisfied me.

Do you have some suggestions or some links to share.

I would like to keep a full screen presentation  of portfolio pages and also wide blog pages with side bar.

I looked at stuff Graph Paper Press has to offer and it looks nice.

Do you have similar experiences you could share?

Ok… price is significant factor but not crucial.

Feel free to give comments on this issue.

P.S. What do you think about new Fuji camera.

Bosnia General Elections or…

All the mambo-jumbos in pre-electoral campaign around Bosnian general elections  are in peak and it unfolds in the same manner as it unfolds some 4, 8, 12 or 15 years ago. Same people, same speeches, same demagogy as always. It doesn’t matter from whose mouth it coming from – political center, left or right direction… it is the same crap that bring this f…ing country in the position without solution for future.

Bad TV promotion, speeches without firm solution… hey ASS HOLES, I know what is wrong with this society, I don’t need you to recite about it whole day long. In this bunch of mediocre, there is no single person who will even try to explain or to give a plan for this suffering country.

And what about a campaign itself. Cities are literally buried in lousy political posters filled with empty phrases and claptrap and of course with bad lit – pig  face portraits. Will you ever realize that people are sick of you – don’t remind them. Will all the political activists and sympathizers and politicians themselves clean all the mess they created with this pre-electoral circus?

Filthy political mouths are full of fairy tales of how they will – if elected of course – give an opportunity for young forces to build this country as modern as it can be. Hey – no one can build a gold out of shit.

So here are some personal proposals for all political subjects in BiH:

1. If you want to speak about education you need to be educated yourself first – at least – hire someone to teach you some literacy, grammar and language rules – and please close all these private colleges you opened so you can produce uneducated – 7 words title – professionals.

2. If you want to speak about economy and industry – PLEASE DO NOT!!! Why? You destroyed everything this country has. I believe that BiH is only country in modern world where food industry is considered non-profitable and unsustainable.

3. If you plan to argue with your political opponents on TV – try to point to some arguments and facts and don’t curse and don’t try to humiliate your opponent.

4. PLEASE – don’t speak about how voting is important and how this elections will be crucial in lives of each of us. This elections will be crucial in lives of each of you – so at least admit it.

5. And at the end – my vote will go for YACGTTPWSINS (You All Can Go To The Place Where Sun Is Not Shining)

Will this post change something? Of course not! And that is our sad truth!

So… here is a small collection of  innovative poster places around the city:

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LETU ŠTUKE live in PD

Last night, summer stage, city of Prijedor. In my humble opinion the best BiH band in a long time. Inspirational music, poetic but intuitive lyrics, eclectic voice of lead vocal… no matter if you doesn’t understand our language, you should listen.
I just went to a concert with my GF1 camera and took some pictures out of crowd.
Thanks guys, hopefully, we will meet again!!!
LETU ŠTUKE

Their new video for single “Brojevi računa” from incoming new album

And one from their last album “Proteini i ugljikohidrati”