Saturday 17 December 2011

Being the +1

Tonight the Vienna Design Week crew held a Christmas Party. I went there as Mr Paula's +1.

The party took place in a shop where you can buy vintage design.
The shop's portal dates back to the 1970's
It is flattering, when your partner's business-partners greet you as the +1 with your name. They do know you. Ok, I admit, I must have arrived at the point, where I see them as pop-stars - which they are obviously NOT.

The review-brochures arrived from the print shop.
Everybody is curious and reads the Review-brochure, fresh from the print shop.
... while enjoying a delicious plate of goulash

After all the action during the 10 days of the VDW it was nice to have a chat and spend time together. The truly fabulous photographer who accompanies the VDW every year was somehow excited, because I had a fixed focal length. You could say I made him happy. He also holds workshops and he saw lots of potential by the way I used my camera. Starting with the fix focal length. It seems as if I had earned lots of karma tonight. To paint the picture in 3D: the one photographer who you admire for his skills tells you he likes what he sees and that you moving in the right direction. It was not the easiest thing, to take photos while he was around. I felt like in class. ;-)
During the Design Week it is him and his partners who take all the photos. Today, as a return, I went down on my knees.

Chair design: Roland Rainer 1954. Back then, Rainer bested* Aalto in the competition.

The most fun talks tonight were those about Old fashioned Viennese Marzipan potatoes and other baking challenges including disasters. How we all love baking!Have a beautiful weekend. The storm hit Austria, I hope the crane stays where it is. I don't like any crane nearby my bedroom during stormy nights. No, no, no.

*bested - really? sounds funny. I just looked it up in the dictionary, haven't used this word before.

3 comments:

  1. Guess what? We bought a DSLR and we are in love :). So many great pictures already. There is a lot to learn, but we love technical stuff. I like to read, he likes to tinker and take pictures. Then we discuss. Fun!

    Martin and I are curious what is the size of your fixed focal length lens and why do you like it so much?

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  2. Susan, congratulations! I can see you two playing with the new toy.
    My lens is a 35mm digital lens,
    http://ratherthanfacebook.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-lens-nikon-35mm-f18g-af-s-dx.html

    I guess my answer is another posting, because it's so long. Here it comes:

    I chose it because it can't zoom. The limitation makes me choose the right angle before taking the photo. It is a whole different approach. I guess every beginner should start with a fix focal length.

    The 35mm are my favourite focal length, because the view is very similar to the human eye's view - it covers what you see, not much more, not much less. When you get closer to the object, you see less (around), when you step back, you see the whole horizon.

    The open aperture of 1.8 makes it easier to take photos at low light without a flash, but - one has to be careful - the focus ends very soon behind and in front of the object you focus on when the aperture is 1.8.
    Take the last photo - i like that she, the lady in the back is blurred, because she is moving from laughter and the reason she is laughing is the man in front. You see that he is there, but the photo is about her. Or better about their relationship in that moment.
    Looking at the photo back home, I was not sure, if it would have been better to focus on her and blur the man?
    I noticed blur in the front often looks akward.
    I could avoid all these issues by using a flash and closing the aperture to 11 or more. But right now, just like you, I like to play. You see it in the photo "Closed Community" above. If

    Another reason why I chose the lens is the exact image it produces. Zoom-lenses create wobbly lines where buildings should have straight lines. Not just "collapsing", but wobbly! Everything is in order with this lens.

    The last reason (at least for today, maybe there are more reasons) is the leight weight: 205gr instead of 600gr (zoom). Yes, the body is made of plastic but the important part of the lens where it connects with the camera-body is metal. I have no problem at all with the plastic. By contrary: I would not want a heavy camery hanging on my shoulder.

    If you have any more questions, please ask!

    I started with a pocket camera you would slide open in the early 1980's. A great tool! with "wide" and "tele" and a built in flash. It seems I always loved to take photos. 1988 I started using my fathers reflex-camera he got when he was 18 (made 1959!) and 1989 I got my first reflex-camera. It was my one and only camera (no built in flash, everyhting worked manual) until 2010, when Mr Paula encouraged me to try the digital area. I know most of the photos are way below any kind of excellence and that I could do better. But take the photo with the table above, with the 3 people sitting there - when I saw the photo on the monitor, the photo reminded me of Edward Hopper's nighthawks.
    Frozen moments ... seeing the beauty when looking through the lens.
    I am looking forward to seeing your photos on your blog soon. Will you be able to limit yourself to 1 posting/month with the new camera? ;-)

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  3. Wow. I will share these ideas with Martin and we will see what we think -- we'll definitely get a fixed focal length lens to play with and see if we like it better than the zoom.

    The Hopper reference is perfect, I see what you mean.

    I think I agree about not liking blurring in the foreground.

    As for posting more often, we'll see! Maybe some posts could be short with just a few photos.

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