Stand back people... the world is evolving at an exponential pace, in more ways than one. While the Human species in physical form does not appear to change during our lifetime, technology and the effect it has over how we act is changing us almost day by day... and the most dominant piece of technology would be the smart phone - literally dominating our lives.
So now we sit on the bus or in a cafe, and now even on commercial aircraft and can be constantly connected to the world, and with this lust we can't stop. Every device can capture still photographs of such high quality they will put even the most expensive digital camera to shame on a 'quality to weight' ratio. And then comes the video capability... yes, people still have not quite grasped the concept that TV, video, etc is broadcast in a landscape format, and decide that holding a phone the normal way is the way to video, but I will look past this naivety for now. People of today seem to have an unquenching desire to show the rest of the world what is happening in their life or other's lives around them. And here lies the problem... recently illustrated in a very blunt and topical way in Malmö two weeks ago. A Young boy of nine years old was being held down on the ground by a security guard in Central Station, appearing to cause the boy considerable discomfort. As to the exact reasons surrounding the event, I am not to judge or make claim to vast knowledge of what instigated this. What I can say, without doubt, is that the video footage captured by one of the bystanders on his mobile device was swept up by the Swedish media and broadcast long before any real facts were known. True, the media is there to supply to public with information, and anything that visualises violence or pain is jumped on by the Swedish people within hours, creating vast discussions on social networks and over hot or cold beverages. This action by the media surrounding the event above, was far beyond fair or reasonable, and instantly incited hate and disgust towards the security guard involved... almost beyond doubt, as the video showed. No one seemed to read the article accompanying the video footage, which the witness recording the event declared he did not see how it started, and even made assumptions as to noises he heard prior to pressing record. So the topic went on for another ten days, with more information coming to light, and more witnesses declaring the security guard was not at fault and justified in his actions. But guess what... no video to support these words, so people (even some I chatted on-line to) concluded that the other witness must be mistaken and can't be taken seriously without some sort of visual media backing them up. Seriously!?? The general attitude was, 'if I can't see it, I don't believe it', even if the original video was cut and pasted together to favour the media's bias stance in their first report. So the news went on, and many more articles were written about the subject, and interest was lost after no more video footage could be found... how ironic.
The mobile devices are not all to blame... with the power of Instagram, Flickr, Facebook, and Google+ (whatever that is!?), we are drawn ever more towards educating the world on what we do, eat, and think. Then we head out on our own personal crusade trying to change the world to our way of thinking. Damn... I'm even doing it now through this post :P Trying to draw an illustration in someone's head without the use of visual interface is proving more and more difficult, and maybe I can live in hope that my words are making a difference in this matter. Until I know for sure, I can rest assured that the people sleep at night believing that the camera never lies, and conclusions brought upon by this visual delight must never be wrong. I don't know what is more scary... how easily we are lead by visuals or by the machines allowing them to exist in the first place ;)
Footnote: no pic in this post, as I didn't want to influence you :D
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Saturday, 7 February 2015
16 Things...
There are a few of these things going around the interwebby thing at the moment, so I thought I would jump onboard :)
16 Things you will never hear a Professional Photographer say...
1. Yes, I would be happy to photograph your little event or product for free just to get exposure.
2. Photoshop is so much better than Lightroom
3. You are right... it is the big expensive camera that makes the photos so good
4. Yes, I will give you all the wedding photos in RAW format unedited.
5. Buy an 18-250mm lens... it is all that you will ever need.
6. I managed to get my post processing workflow down to less than 5 minutes per image.
7. An Apple monitor definitely has the best colour.
8. I photograph everything at 1/200sec f5.6 just to be safe.
9. No worries, I will get all the edited photos to you in a few hours.
10. Travelling is easy... I just throw all my camera equipment into my check-in luggage.
11. I wish I could take photographs like that other photographer.
12. Dull, grey days are so boring.
13. Yes, I use Aperture Priority... makes things so easy.
14. I wish all the people would stop moving so I can get them in sharp focus.
15. Yeah, I carry all of this camera gear around just to look Professional.
16. Why won't someone hire me... I think my photos are really good (okay - I admit that we think this, sometimes).
Naturally all this is a little tongue in cheek, as I love my work and would never make a joke about it... apart from today, obviously :P
16 Things you will never hear a Professional Photographer say...
1. Yes, I would be happy to photograph your little event or product for free just to get exposure.
2. Photoshop is so much better than Lightroom
3. You are right... it is the big expensive camera that makes the photos so good
4. Yes, I will give you all the wedding photos in RAW format unedited.
5. Buy an 18-250mm lens... it is all that you will ever need.
6. I managed to get my post processing workflow down to less than 5 minutes per image.
7. An Apple monitor definitely has the best colour.
8. I photograph everything at 1/200sec f5.6 just to be safe.
9. No worries, I will get all the edited photos to you in a few hours.
10. Travelling is easy... I just throw all my camera equipment into my check-in luggage.
11. I wish I could take photographs like that other photographer.
12. Dull, grey days are so boring.
13. Yes, I use Aperture Priority... makes things so easy.
14. I wish all the people would stop moving so I can get them in sharp focus.
15. Yeah, I carry all of this camera gear around just to look Professional.
16. Why won't someone hire me... I think my photos are really good (okay - I admit that we think this, sometimes).
Naturally all this is a little tongue in cheek, as I love my work and would never make a joke about it... apart from today, obviously :P
Friday, 6 February 2015
Democratically speaking
Sitting here in Sweden is interesting... relatively neutrally on the side lines watching another Australian Political Election unfold in unbelievable form. What I am referring to is another 'hung Parliament' - this time on a State level, in the State of Queensland. It is not uncommon for State Elections to play out towards a tie between the two party system - ironically a system put in place to stabilise the Australian Political scene... but now this time proven Westminster style democratic system is failing the people, over and over.
Back in 2010, Australian Federal Politics experienced its first Hung Parliament since near the dawn of the two party system in Australia, and therefore no one really knew what to do about it. Sitting there scratching their heads for two weeks while the honest Australian voter wondered where and how their votes would count. The logical outcome should have been another election, but no... while the prospective Governments lay in the balance, they seeked support from the Independents. Independents who had won their electorate's support because the voters didn't want either of the two major parties in power in their area. Makes perfect sense without argument or dispute. Instead the two major Parties entered into negotiation, almost holding them to ransom with ideas that the whole Country's ruling lay in their hands. Talk about pressure. Bulling and bribery comes to mind, forcing the Independents to side with a major party - basically their enemy.
Now it is happening again... with the Queensland State leadership balancing on some final vote counts and the Independents giving support to one or the other major Party. So I ask... is that really Democracy? We are given the right to vote... actually forced to vote in Australia, with (I hope) decisions made on passion and support for the cause each Party believes in. And then all that effort and power the people express is watered down to people we don't really know or believe in. The irony is that we are sold the Westminster Democratic system as the golden voice of the people, and then the people all sit there watching the dog fight play out without making a sound!!?? All of a sudden the voting public are muted and just accept that this is the way it is going to be, like pawns - are the people really that powerless? The further evidence of massive Democratic failure is due to lack of education of the system to the people (maybe the Politician's want it that way?). People make a first preference vote, and then second preferences and so on. Easy... um, no. In both the 2010 Federal Election and the current vote standing of the 2015 QLD Election, total 1st pref votes show that the LNP are favoured by the people, yet ALP is going to take power... how is that Democracy? It is basically saying, "yes, we hear you, but you are not going to get what you want"... and then the ALP steps into power claiming they have a clear victory - what a joke!
All this said, a redesign of the Political system would be a massive feat, and one which unfortunately would not happen in the near future - the Gov'ts have trouble running the Country as they are, let alone putting more energy into changing a system which, lets face it, may have pushed them into power in the first place. Yet with Hung Parliaments seeming to be a more common affair, it is telling us that the voters are either annoyed with both major Parties and can't decide, or they just have no clue and don't really care. Democratically speaking, the People's voice should be heard... and that is never going to be the case if we don't care enough to make a stand against decisions being made for us rather than with us... but then again, isn't that what Politics is all about?
Back in 2010, Australian Federal Politics experienced its first Hung Parliament since near the dawn of the two party system in Australia, and therefore no one really knew what to do about it. Sitting there scratching their heads for two weeks while the honest Australian voter wondered where and how their votes would count. The logical outcome should have been another election, but no... while the prospective Governments lay in the balance, they seeked support from the Independents. Independents who had won their electorate's support because the voters didn't want either of the two major parties in power in their area. Makes perfect sense without argument or dispute. Instead the two major Parties entered into negotiation, almost holding them to ransom with ideas that the whole Country's ruling lay in their hands. Talk about pressure. Bulling and bribery comes to mind, forcing the Independents to side with a major party - basically their enemy.
Now it is happening again... with the Queensland State leadership balancing on some final vote counts and the Independents giving support to one or the other major Party. So I ask... is that really Democracy? We are given the right to vote... actually forced to vote in Australia, with (I hope) decisions made on passion and support for the cause each Party believes in. And then all that effort and power the people express is watered down to people we don't really know or believe in. The irony is that we are sold the Westminster Democratic system as the golden voice of the people, and then the people all sit there watching the dog fight play out without making a sound!!?? All of a sudden the voting public are muted and just accept that this is the way it is going to be, like pawns - are the people really that powerless? The further evidence of massive Democratic failure is due to lack of education of the system to the people (maybe the Politician's want it that way?). People make a first preference vote, and then second preferences and so on. Easy... um, no. In both the 2010 Federal Election and the current vote standing of the 2015 QLD Election, total 1st pref votes show that the LNP are favoured by the people, yet ALP is going to take power... how is that Democracy? It is basically saying, "yes, we hear you, but you are not going to get what you want"... and then the ALP steps into power claiming they have a clear victory - what a joke!
All this said, a redesign of the Political system would be a massive feat, and one which unfortunately would not happen in the near future - the Gov'ts have trouble running the Country as they are, let alone putting more energy into changing a system which, lets face it, may have pushed them into power in the first place. Yet with Hung Parliaments seeming to be a more common affair, it is telling us that the voters are either annoyed with both major Parties and can't decide, or they just have no clue and don't really care. Democratically speaking, the People's voice should be heard... and that is never going to be the case if we don't care enough to make a stand against decisions being made for us rather than with us... but then again, isn't that what Politics is all about?
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