Are You Shooting More or Less in the Lockdown?

[Ed Rooney]

And those are such lovely nature images you are shooting, capturing—snapping, getting, recording, and so on. 

[Ed Rooney]

Nothing much is going well in Liverpool or anywhere else, Sally. 

 

I came upon a dead Herring Gull today. No sign of how it died. I hope it was not starvation or a fight over food. I like these birds. They are unpopular in the UK because of their aggressiveness  Still, I like them, although I wish they would go out to sea and find a herring instead of waiting for someone to drop a chip.

 

 

[John Morrison]

5 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

I came upon a dead Herring Gull today. No sign of how it died. I hope it was not starvation or a fight over food. I like these birds. They are unpopular in the UK because of their aggressiveness  Still, I like them, although I wish they would go out to sea and find a herring instead of waiting for someone to drop a chip.

 

 

 

Hmmm... My neighbours have a dove-cot, and about a dozen snow-white pigeons... except that they've been dying off recently with some respiratory disease.

 

The air itself is trying to kill us...

[Phil Robinson]

Less and different. I'm stuck in Kent and  haven't been to London since the start of the new era, so doing no news (apart from 1 almost news image yesterday) and lots of garden birds - I know for a fact I am not alone in that!

For ages I have been meaning to do more video and I am finally doing that now - mostly mad woodpigeons. I've never done enough video to have an idea of whether it is really worthwhile so this could be useful.

I am doing more really boring studio stuff. It's what I usually resort to when the weather has been bad for a LONG time, but it does sell.

I've also written a couple of piano duets - not expecting to make a fortune from that though.

So I am shooting, snapping, photographing, recording, making and doing anything I can really.

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by Phil Robinson

[wiskerke]

8 hours ago, sb photos said:

 

I can only remember one piece of photo kit from the 1960's with a similarity to weapon shooting, the Zenit Photosniper with the Tair 300mm lens, see http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Zenit_Photosniper

 

Ah the Fotosnaipr!

Ha my Novoflex 600mm looks a lot like a bazooka. 😁

youtube

on sonyrumours (with a french accent)

(I have both versions with a 400 and a 600mm plus a shoulder rest, a bit like the Sniper. Which makes it look even worse.)

 

We have the same terminology here. Both the English shoot or photo shoot as well as een foto or een plaatje schieten (shooting an image).

Because very few people here have guns there's no real connotation of firing a gun.

Personally I do not use shooting in connection with photography, but when I'm about with one of my super long selfie sticks, I use fishing for images a lot.

(Still waiting for a German tourist to wish me Petri Heil! The traditional German fisherman's greeting: Hail Saint Peter. To which I can then answer Petri Dank! )

 

wim

[Ed Rooney]

Wim, do you own both a Sony RX100/6 and V? I remember we were both getting them at the same, when I was in Montreal. 

 

Edo

[John Mitchell]

19 hours ago, The Blinking Eye said:

 

I love that. I can see the parallels, like patience, precision, observation and knowing when to shoot.

 

Also, a lot of camera technology was developed by the US military for war recording purposes in the early 20th century. So the history of camera machinery and war are inextricably linked.

 

Steve F made some interesting points above. Both my parents were British, and I spent my early childhood in the British West Indies and in England. It was not until we moved to Canada and I fell under the spell of American culture -- cowboy programs on TV, comic books, movies, etc. -- that I started playing with toy guns and became somewhat obsessed with them as many boys of my generation did. I also became fascinated by the American military for some reason. Thankfully, all that disappeared later on, but I can see how someone brought up in the UK or another country where guns are not such a big part of the culture would not necessarily connect "shooting" with a camera to shooting with a gun.

Edited May 16, 2020 by John Mitchell

[wiskerke]

4 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Wim, do you own both a Sony RX100/6 and V? I remember we were both getting them at the same, when I was in Montreal. 

 

Edo

 

Yes.

 

wim

[Ed Rooney]

Dunk a Shane.

 

[The Blinking Eye]

4 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Steve F made some interesting points above. Both my parents were British, and I spent my early childhood in the British West Indies and in England. It was not until we moved to Canada and I fell under the spell of American culture -- cowboy programs on TV, comic books, movies, etc. -- that I started playing with toy guns and became somewhat obsessed with them as many boys of my generation did. I also became fascinated by the American military for some reason. Thankfully, all that disappeared later on, but I can see how someone brought up in the UK or another country where guns are not such a big part of the culture would not necessarily connect "shooting" with a camera to shooting with a gun.

 

I dunno. It never occurred to me to connect shooting a camera with a shooting gun until I went to graduate school and read all the theory about it. Guns are not in my consciousness on a regular basis. I have never touched one and rarely ever see one in person. But I'm a girl who was raised on the teachings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., despite having also been a child of American culture and all its glorification of violence.

[Michael Ventura]

1 minute ago, The Blinking Eye said:

 

Yeah, I have to disagree about this "totally different mindset". There are indeed a bunch of gun nuts in the USA and I suppose they think about guns a lot. They are as foreign to me as they are to you, so painting with such broad brush strokes as North America vs. the UK is a bit silly, from my perspective.

I agree with you for the most part but I definitely do not use the word shoot in a situation where it could be misunderstood.  I once did a portrait shoot of Hillary Clinton and when I arrived, I was smart enough not to say, “I am here to shoot Hillary Clinton”.  

[The Blinking Eye]

4 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

I agree with you for the most part but I definitely do not use the word shoot in a situation where it could be misunderstood.  I once did a portrait shoot of Hillary Clinton and when I arrived, I was smart enough not to say, “I am here to shoot Hillary Clinton”.  

 

Was she particularly photogenic? When I shot photos of Elizabeth Warren at a rally, I was kind of blown away how photogenic she was. She looked perfect in every picture and was not even posing. I had not really thought about her as having star power, but understood that quality much better after photographing her.

[Harry Harrison]

2 hours ago, Sally R said:

But I do find it interesting thinking about how going out and taking photos might have similarities to what it is like hunting and gathering,

It's nice the way this discussion has ranged beyond any perceived criticism of the  term 'shooting' with respect to photography. I don't use the term much myself but I don't mind others using it, though I certainly wouldn't go anywhere near The Pope or Hillary Clinton with a Zenit Photosniper, even if it was still in its custom suitcase. I think your analogy with hunting and gathering is the link really, there's a rather good French photography magazine called 'Chasseur d'Images', hunting for images of course, and we all do that. Similarly I don't do fishing but after a particularly fruitless day out photographing I comfort myself with the thought that a fisherman can sit by the river all day and not catch anything, and that's not seen as a wasted day either.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[Ed Rooney]

28 minutes ago, Sally R said:

 

Ah yes that is true Ed. 'Going well' are probably not the right words. Possibly 'going ok' or 'surviving' are better.

 

We have aggressive gulls too called Silver Gulls. They sound very similar. I too have hoped they will go and catch their own food for a change, and wondered if they might learn to do this while people have been in lockdown. People are starting to emerge now as some restrictions have been lifted. There was something on the news the other night about whale watching businesses being in trouble because of the virus and a lack of international travellers which is likely to persist for sometime. That is really bad news for those businesses, but I also wonder if the whales are like "thank goodness those humans aren't coming and staring at us everyday!", while the gulls are thinking "where are our food providers!".

 

Then again, whales sometimes seem to enjoy the interaction. There was also a story on the news about a grouper in an aquarium getting depressed, moping and not eating because he was missing daily human interactions with no visitors coming anymore https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-12/sad-fish-missing-human-interaction-at-aquariums/12235054. I've read about human-grouper interactions and connections before, including in a book by Albert Falco who spent years on Jacques Cousteau's boat, and in a book called Blueback by novelist Tim Winton. They seem to be quite emotional fish who bond with people.

 

Dolphins and whales have really complex interaction with humans. Other fish? Maybe. Read Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, his best book, I think. 

[Phil Robinson]

I came to view this discussion expecting it to be about "Are You Shooting More or Less in the Lockdown?" rather than semantics. 
Might I suggest that getting worked up about the language used is a bit like those who take more interest in equipment than actually taking / making / shooting / forging / snapping / creating photos of things?

[Phil Crean]

To answer the original question....Shooting more...

From the first day of the lockdown I felt it was important to document what was happening.

Restricted by the State of Emergency laws I could only shoot at home, out the window, off the balcony and on occasional trips to the shops I took my camera but couldn't 

stop anywhere for more than a minute or two without risking a heavy fine from the boys in blue, but I made some photos that record my experience of that time.

Since 23rd April I got authorisation from the Adeje council to go out and photograph in the municipality which has been an eerie experience, walking through deserted touristic areas felt like being in a sci fi movie where everyone has vanished!  

Anyway I believe I've captured some unique moments and scenes which will form part of an archive of a very strange time.

This last week the de-escalation of restrictions has begun and I'm continuing to go out a couple of times each week to document the progress.

So I've shot about 6000 images and about 800 images have gone on Alamy since 15th March when the lockdown began.

 

Phil

 

 

 

[ReeRay]

The real change for me is the "way" I'm shooting. Previously I was all for 28mm-35mm focal length and getting in amongst people and street markets, events etc. 

 

Not anymore I ain't. Social distancing is the call of the day now. 

 

It's been an 85mm and stood off and I figure it may be quite some time before I return to my previous modus operandi. 

[Bill Allsopp]

On 14/05/2020 at 09:19, Thyrsis said:

 

Back in the commercial photography days we had a large coved studio. When the whole room was painted white it made you feel quite strange because you couldn’t tell where the floor ended and the wall started! Very disorientating! 

Repainting my 1 metre cove was bad enough especially the second coat, just could not tell where the back was.

[Thyrsis]

1 hour ago, Bill Allsopp said:

Repainting my 1 metre cove was bad enough especially the second coat, just could not tell where the back was.

 

By the time we left the studio and had to smash down the cove the layer of paint was at least 1 cm thick, it had been painted different colours so many times!! 

On a completely different note, we had some amazing parties in there. Each Christmas all our clients, staff and friends would hope to be on the invite list! 

[John Mitchell]

9 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Dolphins and whales have really complex interaction with humans. Other fish? Maybe. Read Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, his best book, I think. 

 

An Australian scientist has done some interesting research on fish. They are probably a lot smarter than we assume.

 

I'm not a Hemingway fan, but I did like The Old Man and the Sea.

Edited May 17, 2020 by John Mitchell

[John Mitchell]

3 hours ago, Phil Crean said:

To answer the original question....Shooting more...

From the first day of the lockdown I felt it was important to document what was happening.

Restricted by the State of Emergency laws I could only shoot at home, out the window, off the balcony and on occasional trips to the shops I took my camera but couldn't 

stop anywhere for more than a minute or two without risking a heavy fine from the boys in blue, but I made some photos that record my experience of that time.

Since 23rd April I got authorisation from the Adeje council to go out and photograph in the municipality which has been an eerie experience, walking through deserted touristic areas felt like being in a sci fi movie where everyone has vanished!  

Anyway I believe I've captured some unique moments and scenes which will form part of an archive of a very strange time.

This last week the de-escalation of restrictions has begun and I'm continuing to go out a couple of times each week to document the progress.

So I've shot about 6000 images and about 800 images have gone on Alamy since 15th March when the lockdown began.

 

Phil

 

 

 

 

Wow. You've done a really thorough job of covering the situation where you live. The restrictions in Vancouver are minimal in comparison. A state of emergency was never declared here. Hopefully things continue to improve in the Canary Islands.

 

Strange times indeed...

 

 

[Thyrsis]

4 hours ago, Phil Crean said:

To answer the original question....Shooting more...

From the first day of the lockdown I felt it was important to document what was happening.

Restricted by the State of Emergency laws I could only shoot at home, out the window, off the balcony and on occasional trips to the shops I took my camera but couldn't 

stop anywhere for more than a minute or two without risking a heavy fine from the boys in blue, but I made some photos that record my experience of that time.

Since 23rd April I got authorisation from the Adeje council to go out and photograph in the municipality which has been an eerie experience, walking through deserted touristic areas felt like being in a sci fi movie where everyone has vanished!  

Anyway I believe I've captured some unique moments and scenes which will form part of an archive of a very strange time.

This last week the de-escalation of restrictions has begun and I'm continuing to go out a couple of times each week to document the progress.

So I've shot about 6000 images and about 800 images have gone on Alamy since 15th March when the lockdown began.

 

Phil

 

 

 

 

As our trip to Tenerife in April was cancelled I would like to see your images! Still waiting for a refund from Ryanair.......

[John Mitchell]

23 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

I saw it on our news and in the newspaper. More than once...a follow up story.

 

I'd say that it's good to hear that news does trickle south. However, given how horrific the event was, you wouldn't have been missing anything. There's enough bad news out there already.

[meanderingemu]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Wow. You've done a really thorough job of covering the situation where you live. The restrictions in Vancouver are minimal in comparison. A state of emergency was never declared here. Hopefully things continue to improve in the Canary Islands.

 

Strange times indeed...

 

 

 

It's been interesting to see the various handling. Montreal is still in state of emergency, but we never had a true lock-down.  People still were free to go about unquestioned, just not do anything other than walk around.  Nice weather today, interesting seeing people playing in park in small family trying to all keep distances.....  We get lifting of No Go on some individual activity on wednesday- but still no stores- it will be interesting to see how that goes...  

[meanderingemu]

20 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

 Yes, we never get weather reports about Canada unless something very extreme happens.  

 

so sunny day in Vancouver between December and February are announced? 🙂

to be honest being currently in Quebec, they barely mention weather outside the province....