Sorry. That's too big.

I recently visited the Gauguin exhibition at the Beyeler Foundation just outside of Basel with an art loving friend.

Beyeler Foundation

As it was my first time at a major exhibition, I decided to take a serious camera with me and not rely on snaps from my capable mobile phone because I wanted to have some of the resulting images printed out in postcard size as a memento for my friend and thought that I would probably need to crop or zoom in if there were too many people there.

I chose my EOS 5d MKII together with the 24 - 105 zoom and a Speedlite 430 EXII.

Not acceptable

It was a beautiful day when we arrived and the waiting queue of people was not that long. The exhibition has been extensively advertised as a "blockbuster" type of event and has tried to capture public attention by its use of high-tech guides and even bringing in Hollywood star Keanu Reeves to open it!


After a short wait of only about five or six minutes, we reached the cloakroom and left our jackets there.

"You'll have to leave your camera behind." One of the attendants told me.
"Why?" I asked.
"That's the rule here" was his response

Reluctantly I handed over the camera and made my way through the next checkpoint.

The art gallery makes fantastic use of natural and artificial illumination. Lovely shadowless light that you normally experience on a cloudy but bright day. I looked around to take it all in and realised that THERE WERE LOADS OF PEOPLE TAKING PICTURES!

There were mobile phone cameras, bridge cameras, compacts, video cameras and even Tablet devices merrily snapping away.

I decided to join them and reached inside my coat pocket for my mobile phone only to discover that I had left in in my car. The car of course was too far away for me to go back to and I didn't fancy waiting amongst the people waiting at the entrance, which was growing longer by the minute, to get back in.

I really wanted to take some pictures for my friend so I approached one of the employees. We had a conversation something like this:

"Excuse me. I see that there are lots of people taking pictures here. Is that allowed?"

"Yes" he replied "But if there is a sign next to the painting forbidding it, then obviously we ask that it not be photographed"

"I tried to bring my camera in but they wouldn't let me". I said.

"Is it a big camera? Was his response?

"It is large in size. Yes"

"Then that is not allowed"

"But some of the people in here have cameras with perhaps better resolution than mine" I argued

"Big cameras are not allowed" was his reply.

"How about if I make it smaller?" I asked.

"That would be permissible" Said the guard.

"Great. Thanks", I replied. An idea forming in my head.

I made my way through the swelling throng of visitors back to the cloakroom and retrieved my camera from the attendant. To make my camera "acceptable", I simply removed the battery grip and the Speedlite.

Acceptable for exhibitions

As I mentioned previously, the lighting inside the Beyeler art gallery is ideal for photography. I took a spot meter reading of the palm of my hand and used the resulting reading, 1/50th @5.6 with ISO 800 for all the shots taken in the place. Such was the lighting consistency that I didn't need to change anything.

 

"Polynesian woman with children" (1901)

 Riders on the beach (II) (1902)

 

 Visitors inspecting Gaugin's largest piece of work.

"Where do we come from? What  are we? Where are we going?" (1897/98)

So if you are thinking of attending the Gauguin exhibition in Basel please be assured that you can take pictures but only with a compact, tablet device, video camera or mobile phone. if you want to use your (D)SLR, then try and make it as small as possible.

You can read more about the exhibition here.

P.S. As I have mentioned before on this blog, I am a bit of a philistine when it comes to art. 

As ever. Thanks for reading.

Progress photography

Before and after. Seven months passed

One of the services I offer to construction companies is that of progress photography.

Whether the images are needed for the design team, the architects, the insurance companies or simply as a record of what is happening on site, progress photography can be invaluable and is something I enjoy doing.

From November 2009 until May 2010 I documented the building work going on at a large supermarket project in Basel. 

My brief was simply to cover as much as the work as possible from as many different angles.

I was lucky enough the be working with a team who knew exactly what they wanted. I took a walk around the building site and we discussed the various viewpoints needed. These viewpoints were then transferred onto a technical drawing of the site.

Thirteen shooting positions

I had the idea to do a time-lapse of the project but this unfortunately not doable. Instead I resolved to use the same focal length for every position on the same camera body at the same height on my Benbo tripod. I also made notes reminding me of where exactly the camera was aiming. Before each shoot, which at the beginning took place every three weeks, I would print out the pictures from the last shoot to help me visually to place the camera.

Although I had thirteen viewpoints, I eventually settled for ten or so towards the end of the project. This was for two reasons. Firstly, new obstacles such as counters or walls would appear where there was previously nothing and secondly some of the viewpoints overlapped and didn't offer anything new.

Images were always mailed to the clients after every shoot together with a Powerpoint presentation. At the end of the project another Powerpoint was made showing all the progress made from the beginning to the end.

For myself, I made a couple of small movies from the still images to show to future clients. Here's the first.

.. and here's the second



Feel free to leave some comments and thanks for reading. 

Extasia 2012 - Switzerland shows its naughty side

It's that time of year again. The annual Extasia erotic fair (Erotikmesse) was held in Basel at the end of November.

The event is held inside the ice 

hockey arena in Basel

This time I was taking pictures for a website that must (at the moment) remain nameless. 

I photographed the same event last year. 

The only difference between this year and last year, apart from some of the acts of course was the fact that I was able to "field test" my new 24 - 105 lens.

I attended on the Friday opening night which, in my opinion is best for photography as it's less well attended meaning more space to move around and photograph.

On my EOS 5d MKII I mounted the flash and the 17 - 40. This lens is ideal for close up action and when you can't move amongst a throng of photographers*. On my 7d I mounted a Speedlite and the 24 - 105 which, due to the crop factor gave the equivalent of a 38 - 168.

I was really impressed with the autofocus speed of this lens. It focussed quick and silently. The image stabilisation also worked like a charm for the few occasions when I wanted to shoot without flash.

Here are a few impressions of the acts from the evening. I've kept them sfw (safe for work).

   

Get knotted. Japanese rope tying

This is German pornstar Lena Nitro who later 

produced a flag from seemingly nowhere.

 

 Marcello Bravo and his real life

 partner Hally Thomas

 The Annex fashion show team

 Hally Thomas with her solo act

For these images showing  two of the pole dancers from the FKK club in Basel, I switched the Speedlites off. The image on the left was taken with ISO 400 at an exposure of 1/400sec @f9 on my EOS 5d MKII. The image on the right is a happy accident. I used 1/2 sec @f4 on the 7d. I  personally like the blurring.

I saw this table on the way out full of flyers. Anyone want to buy a swingerclub?

Thanks for reading.


* what exactly is the collective noun for a group of photographers? Answers in the comments please.

Out of the comfort zone.

For the last ten years I was doing 90% of my photographic work in the studio.

Using slow reversal film at 64 ISO , I worked with a medium format camera locked down on a FOBA studio tripod which wouldn't budge one millimetre even if you rugby tackled it.

 Foba studio stand

The finished results were intended for brochures, adverts and the internet etc.

I think that the fastest film I had used during that time was rated at ISO 200.

This had to change when I took some pictures at a seminar. The event was held in a former church which had very high ceilings so therefore no bounce flash. Also I didn't want to distract the speakers and the audience with my strobes.

I knew that my Eos 7d and my EOS 5d MKII have good low light capabilities so I decided to shoot at 800 ISO. Not very high, you might think but remember that my previous high ISO exploits were in the UK, over twenty years ago, when I was shooting football in Winter with my camera set at 1600 ISO before half-time and 3200 in the second half. The results which were used in the newspaper were undoubtedly grainy. 

Thoughts like this were in the back of my mind when I decided to shoot at a measly 800 ISO for the seminar.

The four lenses that I used were the EF 17 - 40, EF 28-135 IS,  EF 24mm f2.8 and the EF 50mm f1.4

I started off by photographing every speaker from beside the stage with my 50mm lens. 

Luckily, the first speaker was wearing an outfit that was nearly 18% grey. I spot metered off the jacket and used that reading on the subsequent images of speakers in the same place.

 EOS 7d. EF 50mm f1.4. 1/50sec @ f4. 800 ISO

The crop factor when using the 50mm lens on the 7d meant that it was in effect an 80mm lens

 EOS 5d MKII. EF 28-135 IS 

1/6 sec@ f5.6. 800 ISO

 EOS 5d MKII. EF 24mm f2.8.

1/12 sec@ f4. 800 ISO

For these two shots I waited until the speaker was stationary and not moving his arms etc because the speed was very low. The camera was supported on a G-clamp resting on a table.
 

 EOS 5d MKII. EF 24mm f2.8.

1/13sec@f5. 800 ISO

 EOS 5d MKII. EF 24mm f2.8.

1/15sec@f4.5. 800 ISO

 EOS 5d MKII. EF 24mm f2.8.

1/40sec@f3.2. 800 ISO

Then it was back to the office to convert the RAW data. My standard method is just to correct the white balance, sharpen the final JPG and correct any lens aberrations . These are all done in Canon's own DPP software.

Before and after of the DPP window

All in all a quick easy job that was done without flash. Maybe next time I'll be brave enough to set the speed a little bit higher  :o)


Thanks for reading.

Extasia 2011. Switzerland gets naughty.

I’ve already mentioned and written about the annual Streetparade but there is one other event which also attracts visitors from afar and that’s the Extasia.

Extasia is Switzerland’s answer to the Venus erotic fair in Germany although on a smaller scale.

The event used to be held in Zürich but moved a few years ago to Basel next to the football stadium near where I work.

The event is always covered in the press in the week’s preceding. This year’s coverage centred on the fact that a religious group would be holding a prayer vigil outside the hall. This no doubt generated free publicity.

I turned up shortly after opening time and bagged myself a position beside the main stage. Looking around me I saw lots of expensive DSLR’s and of course the ubiquitous camera-phones everywhere. 

      

Hands up if you own a camera-phone 

I had the EOS 5d MKII with a 17 – 40 zoom for anything that might happen right next to me and an EOS 7d with a 28 – 135 zoom to handle the performances that happened a bit further away. Both cameras had flashes fitted.

One 8Gb card gone already 

Here are some of my photographic impressions from the night. Of course there was lots of nudity but I’m only putting the tamer stuff here.

 

Thanks for reading.