'Point + Shoots' and digital every day carries in 2023

It's 2023. It’s the coldest March in history-ish and i’ve finally got some holiday booked. Having seven whole blissful days in Greece on the horizon compelled me to share an answer to a question I get asked a lot on the creative floor (from all depts). What camera (digital or 35mm) should I buy?

For digital, i will keep it short.
1. Fujifilm X100v (£1000 used -£1350 new) - 35mm equivalent lens with fast lens. Incredible colours and easy to use.
or X100f (6-800£ used). The X100v is finally instock on the link so get it quick!
2. Ricoh GR III (£750 used - £949 new ) - 28mm lens so perfect if you like slightly more context.
These are fixed lens cameras with incredible colours, film simulations and are incredibly easy to use. I own the X100v and it’s my favourite camera of all time.

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Now enter the 35mm point and shoot. 
A fixed lens point and shoot (not one with a zoom ) forces you to simplify. 36 shots. Half press to focus and press to take the shot.
You’re dealing with one way of seeing a scene and your eye actually dials in over time. Anything that says 28mm / 35mm / 38mm on the lens is a good starting point as it gives you a portrait with context.
If you're like me, you'll want the best P&S you can get without A) Feeling duped by elevated hype pricing B) Dare i say something pretty and small. C) Something that feels somewhat durable given the elevated prices, here are my top tips.  
Yashica T4 (£280+) or Yashica T5 (£300) - My number 1 recommend. Amazing lens, sharpness and easy to use.
Contax T2 (£750+) - Built like a brick. Amazing lens, sharpness, great flash and easy to use. Can miss focus.
Olympus MJU 2 (£200+) - Plastic fantastic but insanely sharp and easy to use.
Nikon 28 TI or 35 TI (£700+) - The jewellery of point and shoots. Looks like a watch!
Ricoh GR1 / GR1S or GR1V (£500) - Wider lens for more context. Fast and great but check the condition.
Ricoh R1 (£150+) - Slower lens than the one above but amazing value.
Konica Big Mini (£125 +) - Great value but check the condition.
Konica Hexar AF (£450+) - Incredible lens but check the condition. Slightly bigger than others!
The sad thing is many of these are plastic which makes it hard to justify the price-tag but, if you read the descriptions on Ebay thoroughly and make sure they say ‘film tested’ you should be golden with any of these.  

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Films i recommend to pair with these point and shoot wonders are:
Cinestill 400D $$ - Great tones and good for daylight and in early evening. Keep it going with flash after sun-down.
Kodak Portra 400 / 800 $$$ - Pastel tones and good for daylight in early evening.
Keep it going with flash after sun-down.
Kodak Ultramax $$ - Good for daylight and into early evening. Contrasty and great for sunny days or lifting shady days. Keep it going with flash after sun-down.
Kodak Gold $ Warm tones. Good for daylight or with flash after hours.
Fuji Superia $$ Cooler, grittier tones. Good for daylight or with flash after hours.
Fuji C200 $ Cooler, grittier tones. Good for daylight or with flash after hours.
Cinestill 800T $$ Blueish tones in daylight and comes ALIVE at night. Amazing with flash.

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I like to buy my film from Parallax Coop or Analogue Wonderland. Both have great ranges but I normally have to jump between the two when film sells out.
I highly recommend Take It Easy lab for developing and scanning and personally go for the 14£ a roll TIFF which suits someone who likes to edit. If you just want your photos looking solid for instagram, go for the 9£ medium JPG scan.

Any questions, drop me a message!

Dan

2017

This past year has been my favourite so far. I'm going to write this as one stream of consciousness so that it lands in its purist form. (be kind to my grammar.)

2017 was a lot of things. It was the year I quit my job. The year I signed as a Film Director with one of my favourite production companies. The year I directed a music video for one of my absolute favourite bands. The year I went to the foot of Mount Everest. The year I started a company with two brilliant people. The year I moved in with my love.. and 2017 was a quite frankly was the year i fell in love with photography again.

Starting from the top- On January 1st,  I was facing a huge wall of boredom with my photography and it was due to the rinse and repeat process of shooting a press shoot for a band on my digital SLR, processing and colouring 500 images and sending them on. It had reached a point that I was caring less and less about delivering each image to its full potential and more about getting through the shear quantity of files. 

That's a recipe for disaster and, as with any bad recipe, is not to be repeated. So i dug my heels, I did some soul searching and all roads led to me shaking up my process. I threw myself head first into film photography and created a process for my photography that felt much more hands-on, decisive, pre-meditated and, most importantly, thorough. A year later, over 3/4 of my portfolio is shot on film and i come back from each shoot remembering every image i shot with maybe 100 images to lovingly edit. It has been a pivotal change in how i think, how i emotional connect with each image and how i create. That has been such a special process for me that has completely reincarnated my love for taking photos - photos of my core subject matter - Musicians.

One of the biggest changes is how empowered i feel to be decisive when i shoot on my Pentax 67 and Leica Film cameras. I often get asked when i move on from a setup 'have we got it already, that's amazing' and, on film, I know when i've got it. It just feels so much clearer. Not having a screen to check really focuses my mind to make the point i press the shutter my 'LCD moment' and i honestly love it so much having that absolutely clarity of vision for when i've got the shot.

I have spent the year experimenting with different mediums of film photography from normalising Medium Format to dabbling with Large Format and teaching myself to develop C41, E6 and black and white processes of my professional film in huge quantities at home.

I have home developed over 200 rolls of film this year and unfortunately, this started as a learning exercise that lead into something that became a monetary necessity to facilitate film photography on some quite challenging budgets . I was scared to raise my fees to absorb a pro-lab cost for developing 10 films a shoot. I would exhaustingly develop and scan from 6pm- 3am bi-weekly, sometimes daily at its busiest.

A big change for this year will be putting all my professional commissions in 2018 through a pro-lab so i can focus as much time as possible dreaming up further projects and bettering what I can offer. That said, I whole-heartedly recommend to any photographer learning how to develop yourself as it teaches you so much about photography and is a creative exercise in itself. 

One of the coolest things and highlights from spending a year focusing on my craft working film into my everyday offerings has been the support and friends i've made within the amazing community of film photographers as well as the arrival of brand endorsements from Fujifilm and Cinestill Films.

2017 was a very big year in terms of overcoming one of my biggest pre-occupations - giving up the safety of a day job. After 2 years, I left my job at a record label and pursued my Film Directing and Photography full-time.  Since then, I have been throwing everything I have into making the best of the opportunities that come my way and sitting tight through what i call the lay low days where you spend as little as possible and ride it out. So far, freelance has been as exciting as it is anxiety-inducing - a lot of 'ride by the seat of your pants' experiences so far. I'm still here and had three square meals today so WOO. One of the coolest things was the music video I directed on my first day freelancing hit a million views over Christmas. 

Thank you to everyone who put their trust and belief in me to shoot their images and films over the past year and everyone who I have worked alongside crew and production wise so far. I have loved and learnt so much working with all of you and cannot wait to see what's possible with the 342 days remaining in 2018!

All my love, 

Dan

WHAT CAMERA SHOULD YOU BUY?

I literally haven't used my digital SLR cameras in just over a month. Not even once. 

I mean, fuck... my insurance premium each month would be so much more chilled if i didn't have my digital kit.

I wanted to write this post as I get messaged twice a week by friends, at the very least, asking 'SUP.. Dan what do you think I should get.. i have about 400£/600£/£1000' .. and whereas I used to know... the answer is .. i really don't know any more... Everything on offer is pretty good. Everything on offer is actually now pretty expensive too. You're all expecting me to go into a rant about film cameras now and how badass and cheap...aren't you? Well.. 

Let's say you're buying a digital camera in 2017. In 2014, the price of a standard portrait lens, a 50mm 1.8, was £150. It's now £199. A Nikon Pro body was £2370. Now it's £2799.  

First caveat.. the lens is the most important purchase. If you want that background blur.. buy a prime lens with a 1.4/1.8 aperture and you're off. Ignore the kit lenses on offer.. ignore the 18-55's and the 55-200's.. they're terrible. Buy body only and buy a 35mm or a 50mm lens with a fast aperture.

The camera is only as good as the lens. People have said this for years and it will never not be the truth. Good lenses before expensive cameras. 

1. DSLR's

DSLR updates since about 2014 have not really given you much more camera. (and focus on the word camera with the following statements) - It has been little sales moments from the inclusion of WIFI, better movie slow-motion frame-rates, 4k with improving bit-rates, slightly better processors so you can take that extra 10 frames in a 100 shot burst and record clean 4K. This stuff is mostly bullshit if you're trying to just take a good photo. The sales companies make you think you want these features and whack £500 more on the product for it.

Salesman [It has 4k.. crosses arms all smug-like]. ..90% of the improvements they're charging you for now are on the moving image side. 

I've been talking about DSLR's so far which are different to:

2. Mirrorless cameras. Mirrorless cameras are smaller than DSLR's as they have electronic sensors , instead of periscope systems of mirrors, to help you compose the image.  DSLR's have optical viewfinders (That means a viewfinder you look through and can see real life not pixels). Mirrorless cameras replace these mirrors with an electronic sensor that recreate what the mirrors would do. This allows the cameras to be smaller and lighter.

i recommend a mirrorless camera for 95% of people, like the Sony A7S II's A7R ii's / FUJI XT2 or 1/XT20 or 10. You can pretty much adapt any amazing vintage lens onto them so you don't need to blitz 500£ a lens any more. They give you amazing help manual focusing with focus peaking and zebra modes that highlight the point of focus in the viewfinder. They're super light weight and have as many functions as the bigger cameras.

Realistically, if a camera's lighter, you're more likely to take it out, therefore take better shots and likely to enjoy it more. The cameras i've recommended above are actually creeping up over 1-2K new BUT, you should buy used from wex.com / mpb.com / ebay / and facebook groups as you will get SO much more for your money.

3. Why don't I use mirrorless cameras? I love my film cameras. I love the process of film and the feeling like a camera is a tool to craft with. I also love them as they feel like cameras. Most mirrorless cameras feel more like customisable computers, to me, than tools for me to work with. If my last camera purchase is anything to go by (see below).. i'm not the one to be taking advice from. 

Big love xxx

THE CAMERA I HATED FOR 6 YEARS...and then didn't.

For anyone who knows me, they know I love shooting film and LOVE film cameras of all shapes and sizes. I love how they're comparatively inexpensive to what they used to be so I can try some of the best that were ever made and, if i don't like them, I can sell them on and not really lose money. I use my Pentax 67ii as a workhorse for my main bring-home-the-bacon work and that has been my only real constant..other than one camera that has never left my bag.

Let me take you back to 2011. It was coming up to my 21st birthday and I lived in Edinburgh, Scotland. That August, My father and I split a Leica M6 TTL. We researched it together and that's always been something we've done together. We wanted to get a camera that was mechanical that would never need a battery to work so, in theory, it would last and last with the occasional CLA.
That left us with the choice of an MP, the M6 TTL or the M3. 

We headed down to Richard Caplan, a Leica shop in Green Park, and looked through all their Leica cameras and THERE IT WAS...a Leica and Zeiss lens under 1800£.. yes, that's a shit tonne of money and yes I couldn't get close to affording a Leica lens and yes that's how it will always be with handmade Leicas and final yes that was the cheapest one in store.

I walked away with a mint black TTL M6 and a Zeiss 35mm 2.0 .
I put all my summer job money towards it from working on a glorified hot dog stand at Wimbledon Tennis and, very fortunately, the rest was sorted by my Dad and Grandfather for my 21st.  I didn't realise at the time that it was my Dad and Grandad's way of giving me a family heirloom that I could give to my kids one day. I lost my grandfather this year and it is a part of him I keep with me. He loved that Leica and loved talking about it every time we spoke on the phone or when I came home from Scotland.

In 2011, I was just getting into shooting music, taking shots for the The Student Newspaper and The Skinny magazine, in Scotland, shooting everything on a Canon 50D. The Leica M6, i bought, is a 35mm rangefinder film camera. If you've used a rangefinder, it is by no means a quick or easy method of focusing a camera for even the hardiest professional nor necessarily the best format to use in a music photo pit. 
It was definitely not the quickest way for me to cut my cloth and make it into the front pages of NME. Furthermore, no one my age at uni really knew what a Leica was...and that's because, not many students in Edinburgh were shooting film as digital cameras were evolving at such a rate and, was at the time, the most exciting thing happening in photography.

I didn't like taking it my Leica out. Fear brewed hatred and It scared the crap out of me even having it in Edinburgh with me. I would think, what if i'd have been mugged and I'd have to tell my Grandfather it had been stolen.
The red dot in the centre of the camera is like a GPS for thieves. 

Being a student at the time, film was a total luxury spend. 
It was dinner or camera film, made worse by the slump of film sales and made even worse by it being expensive to get developed. In Edinburgh, there was a Fujifilm place on Newington Road that would charge me £8.99 to get 200KB scans on CD and a set of prints (not actually that bad). But 200KB scans is fairly useless even more so now. This thing was never going to get off the ground.

So, spin forward over 5 years of growing as a professional photographer and I find myself meeting up with a friend and us shooting on our Leica's. He's excited about it, and i'm happy that i'm shooting for fun rather than a job - I was commissioned out. Even over a day, my abilities to focus got better, I was also vicariously living through my friend's excitement for the camera and maybe wasn't so harsh on my 6 year mal-loved Leica with its worn-through strap. We were photographing our journey to Mr Cad in Victoria and, something clicked.  I got really used to the rangefinder focusing system which is a perfect system for learning to trust you trust your instincts.
I started to really see value in range focusing for street photography and i noticed how much more fluent i was getting. My biggest mistake was trying to shoot wide open the whole time. The camera loves being set to the higher apertures that facilitate an easier zone focus when the moment strikes. This means, naturally, higher ISO films or pushing iso's, so i rated some TRI-X to Iso 1600 and shot out the roll. 

It became very apparent to me that my trepidation towards using my Leica was not the fault of the camera but the fact i hated the lens i owned. The Lens and the film combination determines your final image so the camera was not ever to blame. The film camera is just the box and ergonomics surrounding the interaction between the lens and film. It was time to get rid of my cold, overly sharp 35mm 2.8 Zeiss (I had downgraded my 2.0 in New York when my bank card hit 0 given me just enough dollars to get through the trip)

Last weekend, after my street photography session, I stomped into The Classic Camera, bought the first camera strap i've ever loved and the traded my Zeiss in for a 28mm Leica Elmarit 2.8 ASPH. On a rangefinder, the lens you use brings up framelines. 35mm ones are mid size, 50 is a smaller square and 90mm is target practice.
The represented square is the area that will be your photo.  
A 28mm is the full width and height of the Rangefinder window on my 0.72 Leica M6 TTL Viewfinder. Immediately, i didn't have to do that extra thought process of making sure my story i wanted was inside the image area of the 35mm lens frame-lines.
When you have the full width, you just zone focus and take the photo.

In only a few days of getting the right lens for me (warmer and more classic) and a strap that's comfortable and I like the look of (i'm so fickle) it has completely changed my enjoyment of my images from my Leica and the camera itslef.
I haven't left the house without it since. 

I've gone from having a paperweight heirloom that emotionally will always have a place in my bag to something that i can put that time in with with fighting it. 
I'm glad i stuck with it, i got to know it, and pushed through with it. It's by far the most complex relationship i've ever had with a camera. 

 If you have a film camera you don't like the photos from, it's probably the lens or the film lens combination you're working with.
If you don't like the ergonomics of the film camera, it's time to get a new camera. 

I don't think there's much that would interest people in this article but the thing to take away is, having an emotional connection and excitement about a camera gets you shooting and more likely to take it out. It's not always the best camera, it might just be the one that feels right, suits your eye, looks good etc.
Once you find that, you're going to take the best photos you ever will.

Dan X 

STYLING OUT - HOW TO SURVIVE AND GROW AS A PHOTOGRAPHER

Now this is a blog about the future of photography or what i call 'Styling Out'

I'm all about stylised photography, stylised colour grades in films, photography and beautiful, decisive lighting to wrap it all up into beautiful final pieces. Stylised is defined as 'depicting something in a mannered and non-realistic style.' Styling your light in interesting, unnatural ways. 

This is where 'Styling Out' comes in.

Meet Mr Joe down the street. He's 24, he's been shooting on a Canon 5D Mk III. You also have a Canon 5D Mk III. You guys are killing it. Oh wait.. you're shooting on the same camera, same lenses.. how the hell is a potential client going to chose between you? Style. It all comes down to your style which, in modern days, is a combination of arguably eight things: Your predetermined plan, your eye, your location, your camera technique, your lighting technique, your make up, your styling, and your post production. Depending on a number of things, some of those will fall away but thank god.. eight things you can do to scupper your competition, eight things you can do to define your photography over the next Mr Joe. 

Here are two photos. Both by me but with different approaches - Both have their place and neither are wrong or 'bad'. This is the most basic way i could show  how we can visually execute the same visual into two different end results. This is what will make photography survive as an art-form. 

Interestingly, a lot of my work is all down to my post-production colour grades and retouch work. This all stemmed from starting as a photographer shooting on a shitty Nikon D70 in the low light, fast moving music pits of London as a 17 year old and fighting my equipment all the way from the shot to the edit. You just couldn't get anything editorial out of those early digital cameras in those situations. It was a total baptism of fire. As a result, i got incredibly good and efficient at retouching and editing my images. My post production was absolutely where my style existed and the initial camera part of photography became a 'get it down on paper' so we can get into the creative edit. That's still my speciality but my in camera work and art direction is as key now which brings up the production value and quality of the overall image.

If you're a photographer, amateur or professional, ask yourself where your photography style exists - break it down into those eight categories and outline your strength -  If you're an in camera creative or a post creative, a style creative or mua creative, a location creative or a lighting creative... or just an all rounder, work out what makes your photography your photography and pile everything you have into that and style it out. No one can touch you and the skies the limit. 

MAKING SHIT, TAKING RISKS & LEARNING THROUGH THE INTERNET

Sorry for the huge delay for a new blog post! I set a mantra for this blog and my YouTube videos that I wouldn't write or make something  for the sake of it and rather, i'd put out things when I had something to say. 

Now we're mostly all politics'd out. My Facebook has spent 8 weeks filled with political posts both left, right and Trump. My spirit to Instagram is at an all time low.  Statistically, I've never posted as little as I do now - not for lack of having stuff to post but, the truth is, i just don't seem to care enough about watching likes roll in and moving onto the next post to wash, rinse and repeat.

OK SO I'M OFFICIALLY 'OLD' and all these social platforms are getting on my gravitationally cowering tits. But one isn't. YouTube. YouTube and the splintering blogs that come with it are centered around people making shit. And (other than discovering it's perfectly OK to start a sentence with and) i think it's because the ideals of YT align with mine, that of 'making shit' and putting it out there even if you get torn to shreds. It's brutal even for the best of the best on YouTube. But at the heart of it, the visual story does the talking not the retrospective instagram post blurb and hashstag festival that follows.  

OK, here's some people coaching from Senor Harris. 'Rather than posting an insta photo, and holding your knees rocking as those LIKES dribble in like a toddler munching their first breakfast, go and make more content.. make loads. Set one story you'd like to tell and be critical towards it, how you want to approach it and then go for it. Plan to make one thing for absolutely no reason this month. Devote some money to it if it needs it. Ask friends questions about how to approach it or what they would do differently. Then go make it real. 

At the heart of creating or 'making shit' is taking risks. Instagram posts and posting doesn't feel like making shit to me any more, nor a risk. it feels like marketing yourself, not being creative. It feels like flavouring bullshit about a visual and hashtagging it in equal measure to a lukewarm audience. My website sits there for people to view as reference to my work.. why do i need to put out a more convoluted portfolio on Instagram for public approval? The only risk here is me watering down my style and look and feel. Here are some of my good week to week risks:

1. When i send off my music videos treatments to my agent, i feel like i've driven into a horrible limbo where i've put myself, my thoughts, and my heart out there to be smashed to pieces.

2. When i make a YouTube video, i feel like i've buckled my head into a guillotine waiting to be ripped in two. Or if i make one and it never goes out and i still feel like a knob for having talked to a camera in an empty room for 5-10 mins. Try it. It's fucking weird and something i don't think i'd get used to. 

3. A) Leaving behind my digital cameras for a shoot and committing to film B) When i put film in my film camera instead of an SD card (in my digital) and tell a band what to do, i feel like i've risked their time over something that i could fuck up the development for. A risk for the reward of work that sits tightly within my style. 

4. Cooking something new every day for the next 42 evenings. 

But the reason i take these risks is they make me feel something. They extinguish any complacency or comfort from the creative i'm undertaking and i feel like i'm learning. I really, at the heart of these things, want to feel fear and the payoff for that fear that flavours the activity and makes it more exciting. 

When aspiration is important. 

I've found searching YouTube to watch reviews, travel vlogs,  personalities and practical real life videos about things i'm sparking interests in a game changer. Some videos on YT are so inspiring they full on kick my ass into trying new things and putting myself out there . Here are some things i've taught myself or been inspired to do and want to do through watching videos on YouTube. 

1. How to develop colour and black and white film

2. How to reduce body fat ratio through diet and exercise

3. Everest Base Camp (how to train for it, what to bring and what to expect (vlogs) ) 

4. Which cameras and lenses suit my working style and which to ignore.

5. Photoshop (i taught myself photoshop and retouching off YouTube)

6. Lightroom, InDesign & Premiere Pro ( These are all part of my day to day working life)

7. Scanning film well

8. How to load film into 16mm cameras and shoot on 16mm cameras. 

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Things I want to learn or do inspired by YouTube in 2017/18

7. Learn to shoot Large Format Photography

8. Go to Bali, Sri Lanka & Patagonia.

9. Buy and learn how to fly a drone. 

10. Improve shooting on 16mm for personal projects. 

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So effectively, some of the most important income earners for me have been self-taught and inspired from learning through YouTuber created content. That sounds strange and it feels weird to have not put more back into YouTube. I will be making more shit for YouTube, when i have something to say. I'm fairly outspoken so expect a prolific wave of creative!

It's taken me a while to aggregate why I've gone off certain social media and yet still love using others. Here are some of my favourite channels, documentaries and blogs which i've found unbelievably amazing or inspiring over the last couple of months. 

Big love
Dan

Eric Kim (He is outspoken and spouts a lot of shit, but also a lot of good stuff) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJOL6q7RhSJbhwTQAaJOwiQ  

http://www.35mmc.com/

http://www.japancamerahunter.com/

Sawyer Hartman - Really great cinematic travel and photography vlogs https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpsHnULJAkwwckxzdmspKDw

Eduardo Paves Goya - Informative, real world photography vlogs

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR-I25_yEl_frEZ26I9ty-w

Oysays - Photography - really creatively put together

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVwBcb_MDEHD7plaPrI_rlQ

Big Head Taco - Photography - so informative and objective - real world reviews

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfB68azfesws3hLpJ-L-8Ag

Erik Conover - Lifestyle and travel vlogs. Amazing drone work 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu8ucb1LRJd1gwwXutYDgTg

Casey Neistat - It's not cliched to enjoy his work.. it's brilliant and informative

https://www.youtube.com/user/caseyneistat

FILM OF THE MONTH SHOOT-OUT - CINESTILL 50 VS FUJI PRO 400H

HMMMMMMMMM you have 40£ to spend on a film for your next job. You want to mix it up a bit. What do you do? DON'T go to Boots or Snappy Snaps.. you'll end up spending 40£ on one 24 exposure box of cheap Kodak film. Seriously, if i had more resources, i'd boycott Snappy Snaps and their killing film pricing. 

Blind rage over. Let's get into where you spend your cheeky film stock money. You're probably used to bombing it on Kodak Portra 400. But just like wearing the same shirt for 7 days straight, people will eventually expect (or hope) that you make a change. TREAT yoself to some stylistic exploration as Kodak Portra is such a popular look, neutral look...get yourself out there, flirt with something else rather than joining the insta-Portra homage (and that's because it's great, and neutral) but i don't grade the same every job and want to fit look and feels to briefs. 

SO like my OMP's (one minute posts), here is a new format called FOTM (Film Of The Month).

This month. it's between Cinestill 50 (left photo) and Fuji Pro 400h (Right Photo).  I don't want these shoot-outs to be too technical...there's loads of stuff out there for that but here's my two cents shooting them in a professional portrait environment and a more chilled out and about environment ..as you'll want both right?

Cinestill 50 is Portra on crack - it has just a little bit more attitude and feels much less neutral..it's saying something. It has a motion picture, zealy, timeless look and i think that comes from a slight tweaked blue in the skies and residual greens that sit in the blacks. Fuck, i got technical. IT'S TRUE THOUGH LOOK ^.  Cinestill 50 is Vision 50D film for any motion picture kids out there and therefore it shouldn't be worlds away from Portra..but kinda just is..and i fudging love it. Hells yeah cinestill 50. It goes green when you underexpose it and i love that. Here's a few examples of it underexposed. 

And here (below) it is exposed slightly over - you can see how the green rapidly reduces and you get a really lovely tone across it. There's lots of room in the shadows to push it and pull it given that it's a fine grain film and that room carries into editing. I actually prefer it  to Cinestill 800T which is much more of a stylised choice for me but also a love. I think Cinestill 50 might be my new 35mm go to. 

Cinestill 50 gets a 10/10 for colours, push and pull ability (i've pushed it to iso 400 happily and would consider pushing it to 800) It only gets a 6/10 for value as it's currently 12-13£ a roll for a 35mm. When it comes out as a 120mm film, it will be the only film i ever use. 

OK onto FUJI PRO 400H - Available for both 35mm and 120mm. Weirdly, i barely shoot this film on 35mm. I think the grain structure bothers me at the 35mm size as it's a sharp and contrasty film. At 120mm / medium format, it's a little more open as a look that you can contrast HARD and it holds it so well. I bloody love this film. 

Here are some examples. I have bashed up the contrast in all of them as it just takes it and looks better (imo) for it. 

As you can see, the colours are bold and punchy, desaturated but strong in the green colours which is trade-mark 400h. It really suits a Nikon digital shooter as a film as it carries the green weighting across - just an opinion. I love the way it has a dryness to the shot and the way it has a slightly paler approach to skin tone than portra. It's for the Tim Burton fans. If you're going for a pastel look, use Portra but if you want a sharp and can-be-made-punchier film, Fuji Pro 400h is the one.

OK, so we've reached decision time and i've talked about Portra like i'm getting over a film break-up...i just won't shut up about her. But that's because it's a golden standard and these films go a different direction. First things first, i'm stoked with the results from both these films. I actually think they will remain as my two main stocks as i really love the cinestill 50 for timeless looks and the Fuji look for punchier, general looks.  

BUT it is a film shoot out and i am blown away by how different Cinestill 50 makes my photography feel and how reliable it is. I may add that i was shooting it happily until 9pm on low shutter speeds and i still got amazing results out of it. It's an all day film despite the 50 iso mark. 

Big love to Cinestill 50.. you are the film of the month

D x

THE CREATIVE 'YES MAN'

I'm going to keep this as positive and broad to all freelance visual work but I do apologise for when I slip into photography specifics. 

The thread goes.. 'i need to have a flow of income off my creative but I also need to build my work, production value, and establish elevated work shoot by shoot.'

This comment boils down to ' i'm getting lots of offers of little shoots which don't allow me to improve and grow whilst also burning me out - when is it right to say no?' 

My Summer 2017 reasons to politely say NO : 

1. The brief is unoriginal and there is no conversation room to improve it.

2. The brief doesn't allow you to improve. 

3. A commission ignores your style, look and feel. 

4. The overall budget is 0 and it has overheads unaccounted for. 

5. You're booked in heavily and a 0 budget shoot would cost you paid work. 

6. You don't like the creative direction  / music etc. 

7. The budget causes a breakdown of production value, production or makes you feel uncomfortable that you have what you need to guarantee quality of your work. 

8. Expectation of free/cheap work #thisiswhatidoforaliving. 

9. They are a person/act you'd like to work with in the future but doesn't have the right budget presently. 

10. YOU LOVE WHAT THEY DO but they don't have the right production budget yet. 

Some of many reasons to say YES

1. GREAT ideas 

2. Great team on board despite low budget that raises production value

3. Willingness to muck in and make something creative and exciting. 

4. Collaboration 

5. YOU LOVE WHAT THEY DO and they have the right budget to make something happen. 

6. They are willing to workshop shoot with you where you have creative freedom 

This is all a bit of a thought bubble but i've had to say no to a lot of work recently as i felt uncomfortable with the terms of shooting for one of those 10 reasons. 

Dan xxx

MEDICATING ANXIETY (GOODBYE IDEAS)

So this is a fairly putting-myself-out-there blog post but i'm guessing that a lot of you have at some point felt anxiety, depression and have been affected by your mental well-being so this may relate. Over the past 6 weeks, i really felt my thoughts and the way I was feeling being out of my control so i decided to talk to my closest folks and get support. By out of control, i mean that the way i responded to anything and everything was a worst case scenario mental twist (often/always unfit of the situation) even if it was something incredibly simple. And i knew, with time to breakdown each thought, that i could dig myself out of it, but you often don't have the time to when your work and everyday is surrounded by others who want instant feedback.. or simply expect a response immediately - something that isn't particularly easy to get right as someone with anxiety.  Every thought would take reassurance and a period of digging myself out which gets exhausting. Welcome to my anxiety.

So what's next. Given the options, I chose to medicate (Propranolol 80grams to be exact) and the initial difference was black and white. I felt like i'd come up for air and fairly immediately my abilities to get through days and situations was just insane. As time has gone however, i noticed that although my ability to get through a day and my 'get it done' work was back to being prolific, i had a nonchalant confidence with my time spent worrying at a null. My creativity, however, was gone and lost for dead. That's because these pills don't let you feel. That's feel good or happy but they don't let you feel bad or anxious. They are an emotional holiday and emotion is what makes me good as a creative. All my work is about human relate-ability and narrative surrounding that. So these pills capped that- neither feeling up or down, you're just there.. robotically there.. functional, able to do things but your capacity to feel for the better is as capped as your ability to feel for the worse. It's a strange place to be but you're fairly unbothered by it. 

It's my second day off the medication.. fingers crossed! 
 

OPPOSITES ATTRACT - OML 1 (One minute lessons)

Today, i'm going to get into the opposites of photography. They don't attract at all.. that was a cheeky turn of words used to pull you in with something familiar. After that, this is all pure honesty.. pure reality and stuff i've happily (or unhappily) happened upon.

Shadows and highlights... ANALOGUE VS DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Now this is a real fucker for anyone trying to switch between the two. 

With digital, if you're going to get the exposure of the photo wrong (or want to retain information to save later) it's better to under-expose (not let in enough light) as the shadows preserve loads of detail. If you over-expose and let in too much light, the highlights are blown out forever never to be saved. Sadface. Therefore it's better to shoot under to later save a sky. This means you can get away with faster shutter speeds in low light and save it later. 

With FILM however, you need to do the opposite. Firstly, take a light meter reading exposing for the shadows (which means you'll naturally be over-exposing (letting in too much light for the mids and the highlights) and then overexpose a little more (+1 stop for portra and fuji 400h) - Highlights can be pulled back LOADS whereas if you don't let in enough light, the shadows retain very little if no information at all and will just get hella grainy and destroyed! Film has a lot of latitude to save an image that is overexposed if you get your exposure wrong so really it's so forgiving. 

NERD OUT OVER 

i lied. This is a photography blog. It's only just begun. sozzle xx

DIGITAL - I shot this way under-exposed and pulled up the shadow and retouched in contrast where i needed it. By under-exposing, i could retain all the beautiful colours i wanted and get the background that significantly brighter exposed properly and retouch the forground after to balance out the two elements. 

FILM - Here i metered for the bottom left corner on the burgundy sheet and it gave me a reading of 1/100 and F5.6 on my FUJI 400H. I then shot it at F4 to over-expose the frame and after i brought down the blacks and exposure in post to give me loads of beautiful contrast and a nice amount of grain but not too much or too little. 

PLS LIKE

The blog post lands roughly 120 views. The typical engagement on this post is 6-20 engagements. That's a fairly solid relationship between stats. Typically you'll 'engage' 10% of your audience on an average post. I really used to care how many likes my posts would get and know all that really matters is that i enjoyed making the work and the people i met through it. 

OK boring stuff over. Let's talk about social numbers and what it can mean for the creative industry. Last night, a good friend of mine told me about him losing a video commission. He lost it, not off his creative work, but off his social numbers or lack-thereof. I get it, marketeers want to minimise their risk and guarantee their views, likes and engagement. BUT i also don't get it. As someone who has been on both sides of commissioning art, that is a risky approach and shouldn't be something aspiring artists have to deal with.
SCENARIO  Let me set up a situation that we all know. Person A loses the job based off social numbers. Hypothetical Person B who wins job makes terrible but passable creative with a HUGE AUDIENCE. Now, let me create a hypothetical situation and pretend that that piece of work created was Kendall's Pepsi ad. Simply, we can see the negative outcome of valuing guaranteed outreach above all else without thoroughly acid testing the commission to get the best idea, director and casting for the commissioned creative.  Why do you want to have a big ass audience to push out your polished turd of a campaign. That just means a lot of people are going to see your terrible work, Mr Marketeer. Work comes first. IDEAS come before. Great brief before that.  I can't stress this model enough to newbies coming through. Don't aspire to have big numbers, aspire to make kick ass work and, if the bigger numbers are a result of the kick ass work.. it's a nice to have. Man, this is a vanilla Mr World 'World Peace' post. 

My fear and worry is when that numbers game floats over into us film-makers and photographers and it becomes a broadly accepted T&C to winning a job 1) on top of having a great book 2) having won the competitive pitch. I mean, give me a shit tonne of hoops and i will jump through them like it's the Olympic final but we already do jump through an Olympic number of hoops to survive as creatives so DEAR SOCIAL NUMBERS, off you fuck. 

I don't feel like this is as fully fledged a post as usual but man, i hate this 'like' culture. 

Pls like x 

CREATIVE ROADBLOCKS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

I have written out this paragraph four times. That's the difference between my usual creative fluidity and my present state of ambivalence in the form of a motherflippin' creative roadblock. I've been fighting with anxiety and my mental health recently and a lot of it due to the changing shape of the field i work in. I'm sorry, clients, but this is my formal retirement from free shots and no fee shoots. 

PROBLEM // ROADBLOCK

OVERSHOOTING.
I don't mean taking too many photos. I mean taking on too many shoots. I've been shooting a lot in 2017 but the projects haven't always kept me inspired. Unfortunately, only a handful of the projects (and fallen through projects) have really felt like stepping up to the next level.. something that has felt like it was something to pull off rather than a sure thing.
 I MISS taking risks, stepping up and put my neck out there.  OPINION CAVEAT I - Shooting safe with your creative is the slow death of your creative. I'm addressing this right now as much as i can as i have hit my ambivalence stage. I've shot too much and the same thing too much. 
--
I LOVE YOU FELLOW FILM SHOOTERS **BUT** OPINION CAVEAT II - Shooting on film is not THE creative process. It's what's in front of the lens and how you choose in the moment to or plan to express it. For the pros - C'mon guys.. although sometimes we can, we shouldn't get through a meeting by saying.. "we'll shoot it on film" ..dust our hands off..drop the mic and bail. That isn't the mood board done and the creative signed off. Film is a just a medium with which you lay creative and obviously not the only medium available.

BUDGETS ARE A ROADBLOCK PROBLEM
When i get complacent like right now, (and after i've written a blog about it), i often fall on the same issue. I'm not taking enough of a fee photoshoot by shoot to get wholly invested in each and, as a result, i'm overshooting (to gather lots of the little fees to make a bigger pot) on jobs i'm not wholly invested in. Lots of little fee jobs just destroys you and runs you down. Take one bigger job and pick and choose the good ideas baby shoots as and when. SO here comes the time to say no. The most powerful letters out there.

Here is the standard problem for upcoming and established music/portrait photographers- 
 
OPINION CAVEAT III -  You can't give the Ritz to someone paying for a Travelodge as, after a while, a) they expect the Ritz for no money and b) when they actually have the right budget, they want to feel a real 'step up' and mentally for them that's normally a step up from you. Nope no.. off you fuck. I've seen it happen to many times to friends and have experienced it enough myself.

So no, under-evaluated budget shoots, you won't get endless pre-production for your £250-500. No freebies or ritz treatments anymore until the budgets are correct. Let this be a lesson to the newbies. Don't fuck your future selves over. 

Now, my refreshed plan is the same as my music videos. IDEAS FIRST. Whilst in pitch and pre-production process, i'm vowing to ignore the budget as an aspect all together and work on the ideas first until it hits point of production when we cost up. I LOVE A MEETING. That means we're ideating and coming up with something elevated, pre-meditated and i get to use my brain.  
If we can't make it happen this time budget wise, we hopefully can one day as their project grows and it'll be amazing for it. I'm not burning out over the walk around shoots any more. OPINION CAVEAT IV Budgets install realism and realism encourages safety and lack of dreaming. SO when you next plan a shoot, ignore the fucking budget as it will eventually fully fuck your creativity. Do what you want, they got you on board as they want you for you and your style. OK I FEEL BETTER ALREADY.

The best thing in the world is when a band and a management are so excited by an idea and route that the budget is a secondary aspect. So here's to sticking to my guns and you sticking to yours in 2017 from here on in. I really hope this has helped some of you hitting similar road blocks. 

BIG LOVE 

5 REASONS TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY A LEICA

Ok.. you're hooked. You are absolutely hooked on photography. You scan for reviews of cameras like a frenzied calorie counter spies his next diet - the only problem is you want everything. You have, as one of my favourite photography writers Eric Kim said, 'GAS' or Gear Acquisition Syndrome'. Now GAS doesn't sound like the most pleasant thing to have. It's cool,  i'm here for you. 

Here are some easy steps to beat G.A.S

1.  Hide your wallet
2. Hide your money
3. Hide your money with your partner
4. DO NOT hide your partner. 
5. Every time you get G.A.S shoot a new subject matter with your existing equipment.
6. Set your ebay and paypal passwords to something completely non memorable
7. Buy a Leica 
8. [silence] 

Before point 7 happens read the following. It might save you a few thousand $$$$

So my first opinion of this piece comes down to the holiest of holy G.A.S moments every photographer will fight - Whether or whether not you get yourself a LEICA. It's the quintessential Chanel handbag of cameras, the Kobe beef of food. It's THE bougee choice but you deserve it right? Right...Wrong. Now the following is going to be like an immigration test where if you answer anything NO you're deported back to the land of no-Leicas. I'll do explanations after. Not knowing the answer counts as a no. Here we go!

QUESTION 1. Do you like focusing rangefinders? Yes or No

QUESTION 2: Do you have time to focus in your preferred subject matter? Yes or No

QUESTION 3: Do you shoot stopped down? Yes or No

QUESTION 4: Do you have the money for a lens? Yes or No

QUESTION 5: WIll you be un-phased shooting it in public despite it's cost? Yes or No

Ok - you're still here.. your G.A.S is strong. Well done. Question 1 is important.. rangefinder focusing is very different to focusing on an slr..it can be awkward and slow for a lot of people an it plain doesn't suit some folks. Question 2.. it takes me about 10 to 15 seconds to nail focus on a Leica if i'm being precise rather than zone focusing - do you have that time in your field? If you are a street kid.. iso 1600 it and F8 it and go on with your bad self.. everything is in focus you hero of your own world. Question 3. This refers to film Leicas more commonly which is what most people can afford - Shooting wide open is not really what the film Leicas were made for.. it's a brutal process. Digital Leicas.. get your wide open on.. this is a different story. I personally feel that film Leicas were made to be shot stopped down. Question 4. I really think it's important to have enough money for a Leica lens if you're going to invest in Leica film bodies. After all, its really the lenses that make the image here and the camera is for ergonomics and the tool that facilitates. I think the zeiss glass is maybe too sharp at times and a little digital with its render and the voigtlanders are great but the prices have really creeped up - do yourself a favour and buy used Leica glass. Question 5. Don't buy one of these guys if you're not going to shoot it (unless you're a collector...you do you mr collector person.. you're great, i love your work.)

Ok, you've got this far. The next thing is, if you still want a Leica, go to a store that stocks them and try it out for yourself. It's a huge commitment buying into an M system so try before you buy. Leica supported shops are normally looked after by passionate, independent camera stores and you'll learn loads about them. I love going to Aperture UK and http://www.richardcaplan.co.uk/

Whereas you'll get good prices on camera bodies most places, I buy and will buy my used Leica glass in Japan as there's just so much of it in mint condition and at a solid price

For first time Leica kids, I thoroughly recommend shooting on the Leica M3 if you don't mind not having a meter or the Leica M6 TTL as they are amazing value at under 1K and will last you a lifetime. Make sure you do your research on which frame-lines each camera can bring up and whether it matches with the lenses you want to buy. 

Any questions on Leicas, do drop me a message.. i love my M6 TTL and i shoot it every week but i didn't always love it and it took a very long time to get to grips with it. If you're willing to put in the time, you're golden and everything will click. It's not an instant results camera but that's the challenge and the beauty of a Leica

D xx

STOP WASTING MONEY ON FILM

If you're going to shoot film in 2017, you're going to have to be smart. Smarter than the wise-guys who call you out for doing so 20 years after the birth of digital, 10 years after the birth of the SD card, smart enough not to bankrupt yourself over your aesthetic of choice, your choice to slow down. That's what it is right? As well as the way it feels, it's the pre-meditation of slowing down, it's all of these things that 2017 intrinsically isn't. Film photography serves as a direct contrast with the modern world and modern worldly efficiency driven technologies and yet, as we know, that's why it works for so many of us. So here I am on your side. But i'm here on your side asking you to get smart about your film. Challenge yourself to save money with it. Set yourself things to learn about extra parts of the process and maybe even reduce the costs of doing it. I went for it in 2017 ( and these are all things i've learnt since the turn of the year)

• I bulk load motion picture film
• i home develop C41 colour and B/W processes
• I have a dedicated 35mm Pakon and 120mm Epson V550 scanning set up and everything that, once you've paid your set up costs, slims down the cost of the shooting film process.. and this is what i mean by stop wasting money on film. 6-12£ a roll and then 10-15£ a dev and scan for 36 shots is killer. This year, I hit a wall where it wasn't feasible to shoot on film when i wanted and needed to for client jobs in the music world. I took a stance that i would need to re-evaluate my equipment, sell a few things and make my workflow work for modern day film-shooting so i could avoid those 15£ dev and scans. I sold my 70-200mm Nikon and bought a pakon scanner and all the things i needed to make it work. Now there are plenty of shoots where i buy stock (normally Fuji pro 400h ) but even then i shop around as thoroughly as I can. I average out 5 rolls a shoot. That's 35£ in film stock and would be around 60£ in dev and scan elsewhere. If my shoot fee is 350£ not including transport and food, that's clearly not that feasible. I said to myself i need to stop wasting money on this as there are ways in to make it a viable option when it will always be my preferred option to shoot analogue.

Set yourself a challenge to reduce your film costs. If you're a portra 400 kid, try and find a 'b team' stock for your more everyday shooting like kodak colour plus. If you are spending all your money on developing, shoot six films and to spend 95£ on a starter developing kit and chemicals and learn from there. 

https://parallaxphotographic.coop/shop/paterson-film-processing-kit/https://parallaxphotographic.coop/shop/tetenal-colortec-c-41-developing-kit-1l/

My cheat sheet for saving money on film photography is the following (ranging up in difficulty and comes with fun level commentary):

1. Have a premium stock and a b grade stock (level of fun.. low)
2. scan yourself (level of fun really low on a flatbed for 35mm. Level of fun on a Pakon hella high)
3. develop yourself ( if you like cooking, you'll like developing) 
4. scan and develop yourself (get your cook on then get patient)
5. buy cassettes, a bulk loader and some bulk film (actually so mindless i can roll 20 rolls whilst watching all the geordie shore i can handle)
6. do it all and shoot film for basically under 1£ a roll all in! (you are officially rich!)

Big love and thanks for reading blog post one!

Dan xx