The Mute Herald

One photo a day (2012 is a leap year apparently). It seems many budding and professional photographers embark on such projects, for creative or self-improvement purposes. And now I’m starting mine, for both. The rules are simple: shoot and upload a pic a day. The idea is not to have masterpieces, but to get you thinking about the elements of good photography on a regular basis. Clocking up the hours this way never hurts. You can shoot with any type of camera: DSLR, point and click, or even camera phone.

I had never done something like this, so I went ahead and started 19 days early.  You know, to warm up.  These are some of my post worthy shots:

The full album with daily updates will be maintained on Google plus.

It will not be easy. There will be some days when you Just Don’t Want To Pick Up A Camera. Wish me luck.

No it’s not Economics-101. It’s about personal finances. And photography.

I have spent enough on my new hobby to declare a temporary halt on further accessory purchases. It’s time to assess the current situation, see whether it’s a passing thing or something that will eventually pass. The output itself seems to be on the right track, judging from the praise I receive from my wife (may sound obligatory, but in fact isn’t), as well as the lack of negative criticism from peers (even when pushed).

That doesn’t stop me from wishing I could spend. All major (and not-so-) expenses are evaluated against the opportunity cost in terms of photography accessories. For example:

• If I hadn’t run up a bill of 3 speeding tickets, I could have bought a brand new decent focal length macro lens
• If I hadn’t been caught by another mobile camera just today, I could have gone for that 2nd hand one being advertised online
• Brand new sofa, or brand new Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM?
• Pay my utility bills, or get a new camera bag?
• Settle my credit card dues, or get a fish-eye lens to try something new?

You get the point.

Can't have a post about photography without a photo

It’s official, I have taken up the hobby of photography.  Which seems to go rather nicely with the title of this blog, if I may say so myself.  I say official because the money spoke, this is my new baby:

Canon EOS 550D

I had already bought a couple of books on the subject, which (as a side note) appear fantastic on the kindle app for ipad. This is not to say that my shots will dramatically improve overnight, I’m realistic enough to know that.

It just means that, among other things, there will be yet more cat & kitten pictures, just of a better quality.

I recently came across an advertisement in the local papers calling for applications to the Abu Dhabi Through Your Eyes 2010 photography competition.  The first thing that sprang to mind was an article that appeared earlier this year in The National:

ABU DHABI // An amateur photographer who said he was aiming for the perfect snap for a photography competition was jailed, relieved of his passport and yesterday fined Dh1,000 (US$270) for taking prohibited pictures on Khalifa Bridge. MA, 30, a Pakistani living in Sharjah, said he was taking pictures of the sunset for the “Abu Dhabi Through Your Eyes” contest, but he was accused of photographing Mina Zayed, which includes military facilities and docked warships.

In the age of Google Earth / Maps, where the lay of the land is visible to all and sundry, it is puzzling to see such outdated security principles still being upheld.  What additional detail could the photographer have captured that is not visible in more detail in this map?:

My guess is that the authorities might be worried that the current occupancy of the base, rather than some architectural detail, would be monitored.  But anybody wanting to do that would be perfectly capable using his bare eyes and report back to his spy masters without attracting any notice.

Would the Office of Brand Abu Dhabi put up notices delineating what is ok to capture on film and what is not?  Or, knowing how they do things in Abu Dhabi, they could take it high-tech: (geek warning) they could take the concept of alternate reality layers (as already found in Android smartphones) and install them in gps enabled cameras so that when your viewfinder rolls over forbidden real estate, the camera will automatically not allow you to snap the picture.

Of course this incident happened in February, so it is not news, and things might have actually changed since then as no other such reports have been heard since (to the best of my limited knowledge).  But any would be competitor had better do his / her homework and find out which areas are camera shy.