Cameron Davidson

Don’t you hate it when a blog or site settles into occasionally updating with new imagery or text…..well, add me to the list.

I’ve been busy with a several projects. Shooting video from the air on an Arnie Mount,(the four KS-8 monster) aerial still shoots plus now I am in the midst of a travel project. Next week I direct an aerial video plus a very cool and fun people campaign.

The Chesapeake Book is done and slowly grinding its way through production before delivery to the printer.

Have a couple of very cool online projects about to hit and will post links once they are ready for viewing.

A redo on the site is in order including new design and logo/font. One thing at a time. I am going to change the focus of the blog and hopefully all of you will enjoy it.

Advertising Photographers of America (the trade organization that I belong to and also was a founding member of the DC chapter) has changed their name to ——– American Photographic Artists.

Ok.

ASMP changed theirs a while ago from magazine photographers to media photographers.

I always thought of APA as a mostly Ad Shooter organization.

A friend sent this list to me.

HOW TO WORK BETTER

1. Do one task at a time

2. Know the problem

3. Learn to listen

4. Learn to ask questions

5. Distinquish sense from nonsense

6. Accept change as inevitable

7. Admit mistakes

8 Say it simple

9 Be calm

10. Smile

Cam’s rules

Show respect to to others.

Give the benefit of doubt.

If someone is disrespectful to you, cut them out of your life. They will do it again when you turn your back.

Trust your instincts about clients and friends.

Jon’s Rules (a former editor of mine who passed away a few years ago.)

Always surround yourself with good people, who are more talented than you. You will rise and that is how are judged.

Milton Glasers Ten Things I have learned (this page is worth bookmarking!)

READ THE COMPLETE ESSAY HERE

1. YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.

2. IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.

3. SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.

4. PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT

5. LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE

6. STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED

7. HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN

8. DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY

9. ON AGING (delightful paragraph)

10. TELL THE TRUTH.
(The rabbit joke is relevant because it occurred to me that looking for a cabbage in a butcher’s shop might be like looking for ethics in the design field…..)

iView/Expression Media is back in the game.

Phase One has purchased Expression Media from Microsoft.

I wonder if they will incorporate it into Capture One and become a solid competitor to Aperture and Lightroom? Capture One is the raw converter of choice for many photographers. (It has been mine for years)

Click here to read the Phase One Press Release.

For a few weeks, Capture One users can obtain a free copy of Expression Media. Got to the Phase One site, sign in and follow the instructions. It requires your Capture One product key.

Most likely the Phase One server will get overloaded today. I just downloaded my copy which brings me up to date from my very old version 2.6 of iView.

Not just Capture One, but if you own iView you get Expression Media free as well:

http://www.phaseone.com/en/Software/Expression-Media-2/Special-offer.aspx

Customers who own iView Media or iView MediaPro may download Expression Media 2 for FREE until June 30 2010.

Featured on several Macintosh related sites. This is pretty funny!

Rob is the former photo editor for Mens Journal and Outside – he is best known for “A Photo Editor” blog which he originally wrote without attribution to himself because he was still employed by the good folks at Mens Journal.

Rob also has a little company called ” A Photo Folio” that hosts photographers websites. Like mine. And a couple of friends – Troy House and Jeremy Goldberg.

Rob has a little promotion rolling right now about iPad and how A Photo Folio has an iPad version of their web sites.

Which is actually a very good thing. Being that his sites are flash and all. Since Mr. Jobs has declared that flash is unworthy of the iPhone and iPad.

Anyway – check out the designs of A Photo Folio at: http://www.aphotofolio.com.

Blog post by respected Canadian Art Buyer Heather Morton and comments by her readers.

Click here.

Yesterday morning, I returned from Palm Springs where I was invited to meet with several Japanese camera executives. There is yet another medium format camera to be launched. The Brontax! Taking the best optics of the Zeiss Contax and rugged reliability of the classic Bronica medium-format camera, the Brontax DFI will launch this summer with seven new AF lenses plus the ability to use classic Bronica and Zeiss Contax mount lenses. The camera features a dual lens mount plus the ability via adapters to use Hassy V and FE mount glass. The new Brontax digital back is a direct competitor to The Leica S2 in terms of resolution. It is a 39 MP back that will use industry standard raw converters. Writing a DNG file, the camera joins Leica in support of the Adobe open raw standard.

I had a chance to shoot with the camera and it felt good. The viewfinder is bright and crisp. Camera feel was similar to the Contax 645 with a larger viewfinder than the Contax plus an ingenious vertical shutter that sync’s with strobes at 1/400th and slower. Focus was reasonably quick for medium format and included seven points across the frame. Using a CMOS chip, it shoots HD video which should be really amazing with the Hassy 100m F/2 FE lens. (I expect the prices on this lens to hit the roof and go beyond absurd)

The executives and marketing gurus were a bit coy about release dates, but the hints I got were by Photokina. I expect that the press releases and a few images from the camera will be available by the end of the photo festival this week.

A couple of friends were also in the meeting and commented how much they enjoyed the camera. One buddy is a well known celebrity shooter and he just photographed an actress who left a TV show before the end of her contract and showed me a few frames. The images were as good as any medium-format system that I’ve seen so far.

What impressed me about the camera was how the engineers took the many failings of medium-format systems and addressed them. Multi-focus viewfinder, reasonably quick autofocus, high-shutter speed sync, decent viewfinder plus the ability to use legacy lenses.

There were no NDA’s that needed to be signed.(Not sure why?) A test camera is being shipped to me later this week and I plan to shoot two aerial projects in the Midwest later this month. (alongside my trusty Nikon D3s/D3x combo)

I am pretty excited about this new camera. I’ve owned and used Bronica, Hassy V and H cameras, Mamiya 645 and continue to use my Rolleiflex TLR for film projects. I have to say this is the first medium-format camera that feels right. The ergonomic design is perfect, the viewfinder rocks and the capture rate is pretty decent for medium format, 1.2 seconds between captures and a buffer of thirty-seven frames. It requires the faster Sandisk or Lexar CF cards and the tethering is via a Firewire 800 or USB connection.

Thats it for now. I’ll write more as soon as the camera arrives and I’ve had a chance to shoot a few frames.

http://aerofilm.blogspot.com/2010/02/sandpit-short-film-by-aero-director-sam.html

Read the story about how he did the shooting and post. Well worth it. Time lapse with a Nikon D3 and two lenses. Tilt/Shift effect added in post. Over 30K in frames shot.

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

This evening I uploaded two new galleries to my portfolio site – Port au Prince Aerials and Rural Medical. The aerial images of destruction in Port Au Prince will be available through Corbis within the next few days.

National Cemetery

Cité Soleil

Tent City in the middle of Port au Prince

The Presidential Palace

Destroyed Homes in Port au Prince