Going Into Creative Isolation: Some Parting Thoughts

I look out on a vast landscape of boundless opportunity.
To take a single step in any direction will cause ripples across the ocean of time with results I can not fathom.
Dare I ask, “Which step should I take?”

This will be the last blog post for a while as I’ll be taking a much needed break to focus on other creative endeavors. I think as artists it’s important to step away so you can assess your current direction and make any necessary and/or desired changes. I’ve been so busy with client work as of late, I haven’t had adequate free time to catch up on things I’ve been putting off. Things that will improve my work, grow my business, and leave me with more free time for whatever opportunities interest me. I’ve decided to be deliberate about a break and have blocked off the time on my calendar for the next few months.

So no more posts till end of summer.

I will update my portfolio periodically as well as post occasionally on Instagram, but this summer, I’ll be mostly off the grid. It’s time to focus on the work.

But before I go, here are some parting thoughts I’d like to share:

Gear Talk

• Panasonic Announces the GH7

  • Panasonic announced the upcoming release of their GH7, micro four thirds camera. From the specs it is a tour de force of video features. Probably the most interesting of it’s features is ARRI LogC3 which gives Panasonic users the ability to record in the ARRI Log profile to better match their footage with cinema cameras such as the ARRI ALEXA Mini. Outside of that it’s usual video related fair. Faster frame rates, 32-bit float audio, ProRes Internal RAW. At $2,197 it’s decently priced for what it offers, but why would anyone buy this? Today, I mean. If you’re already invested in micro four thirds sure. But there’s nothing about this release that will spur new customers to invest when the other manufacturers have a bevy of full-frame options that are similarly priced. It’s an incremental release, not a “WOW take my money!” release. And Panasonic needs that. From the abysmal Panasonic S9 reveal and now this, the company is currently circling the drain.

• Giving Sony Its Flowers

  • I was on a job the other day with a client who had some very spontaneous ideas. They wanted a few different set ups for portraits, but in a small window of time and in various areas around their building. I know Sony gets a lot of praise by its rabid fanboys, but many of them are just hobbyists. For a working professional like myself, I must say it’s been one of the best systems to work with in my entire career. It just handles any situation I throw at it with aplomb. The confidence I have when going into unpredictable situations like the aforementioned job is amazing. I never have a doubt that the tools at my disaposal will be up for the task. And it does it all with an ease and smoothness that makes jobs fun. The combination of size, speed, image quality, and versatility make it probably the best system on the market today for the professional photographer. It just does it all and then some. My A7RV has paid for itself 10x over by now and it’s as fun to use today as it was the first time. Kudos to you Sony, take a bow. Your cameras and entire ecosystem is so good, I highly doubt I’ll ever switch to anything else. It doesn’t get better than this.

Appreciate Your Good Clients

I’ve had an interesting past few months working with clients. At the beginning of the year, I admittedly was a feeling a bit drained. Unappreciated even. Having a difficult client here and there is normal business fair, but for a while there it seemed unrelenting. Recent events have been a breath of fresh air with clients being positive, friendly, eager to collaborate, fun, and just pleasant to be around. And the feedback from them has been heart warming and really motivates me to keep doing what I do. A client said to me yesterday, “Man these are the best photos I’ve ever had of myself. Thank you so much. I mean that. Thank you!” That sort of response is always great to hear. You’re in the service business to serve and anyone who takes pride in their work will appreciate a response like that. You want to feel the work you’re doing is being valued and appreciated while at the same time clients are genuinely happy because they got what they wanted. The standup creative wants to “earn” their money. They don’t feel entitled to it. They want to do a great job for their clients and hope that clients are satisfied. That’s what it’s about. Making clients happy with your service. I’ll take their positive feedback over any random comment about my work on social media any day.

It’s Easier to Destroy than Create

I’ve been thinking of this popular axiom a lot recently. There’s so much apathy surrounding films and the entertainment industry that it can just turn you off to the entire thing. But I would also like to add to the quote.

“It’s easier to destroy than create. And easier still to critique.”

Don’t get me wrong, I believe critique is good. Healthy even. Especially when it comes to creative work. However, I didn’t sign up to become a critic. You know, the person sitting on the sidelines watching the players and making judgements. “I would have done it this way.” “If it were me….” I’m not interested in that. I’m actually in the arena not on the sidelines. And if you want to see better work out there, the best thing you can do is create it.

With that in mind, I want to spend more of my free time creating, hence my need for my upcoming retreat of sorts. My focus now is more on making things, more experimenting, more study, more shooting, less blah blah blah as one of my mentors used to say.

That’s all for now.

Au revoir.

Mini Musings: May 29, 2024

“I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.”
- Ayrton Senna

Just a collection of topics I found interesting over the past few days and quick thoughts on them.

• Panasonic continues to embarrass themselves. After the abysmal announcement of the Panasonic S9, Panasonic’s been caught using stock photos in their S9 product images. Not only were the images not originals, but they were taken with a Nikon camera. Just fire the whole marketing department.

• Gerald Undone put out a video about reviews needing to change. As I mentioned in my Fall of Panasonic post, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these camera companies are greasing the palms of influencers in order to secure a favorable review. I actually know that to be the case. This problem isn’t just affecting the camera industry. You see it in entertainment, gaming, beauty, fashion, and tech as well. While Gerald makes some great points in the video, he’s a fence sitter. He voices his opinions, but never strongly. It’s all “safe”, PG-13 fair. He’s not going to really say what needs to be said. That his peers lack integrity and have sold their soul to their corporate overlords in exchange for access, money, and trips to cool events. They’re just in it for clicks, views, likes, and commissions. They don’t care about the consumers they push products on that they’ve barely tested or would never purchase. They don’t care that they’re lying through their teeth about the functions of a product or that they’re omitting talking about notable flaws in the product. They just want the gravy train to keep rolling. I think it’s very disingenuous and very irresponsible. I expect more influencers to weigh in on the topic as a way of showing how much they care. Don’t fall for it. It will just be fake posturing to seem concerned as they go right back to doing the same thing they’ve always done. Shilling for companies.

The year of the “Flopbuster” continues.

• Furiosa flopped. Still haven’t seen it and I’m not really interested. Entertainment news outlets are all up in arms about Furiosa flopping over the Memorial Day Weekend. They seem to be genuinely surprised. I’m not. The film didn’t look interesting whenever I would see the trailer. Greenscreen everywhere, over-the-top action sequences for no reason. It comes off as very try hard and desperate to be edgy. And the billboards marketing the film have the tagline “By Mastermind George Miller”. Ugh. Not to mention Mad Max: Fury Road was 9 years ago, so it’s a little late to be doing a prequel to a film many people have never seen or have forgotten about. I’m sure it’s good, but you’re asking for an audience to care about yet another prequel/sequel/remake of something that’s already been done. And Mad Max’s not even in it. I think this year may be one of the worst for the box office. Expect a slew of movie theaters to close their doors, because the outlook for the rest of the year is abysmal.

Ayrton Senna exhibition in Italy? Hell yeah I’m there.

• Ayrton Senna exhibition in Turin. I mentioned previously I plan to travel more this year, but I didn’t have Italy on my list. Not because I don’t like Italy, I just didn’t have a reason that inspired me. Today, however, I discovered The Mauto is holding an exhibition for my favorite race car driver of all-time, Ayrton Senna. Here I was thinking I would have to go to Brazil to see some of the exhibits in his honor, but this looks amazing. They’ll have all of his cars, racing suits, helmets, along with rare photographs, memorabilia and more. I see Netflix is doing a live-action movie on him, which looks like…Netflix (not a compliment). The 2010 documentary is still one of the best features on, in my opinion, the greatest driver in F1 history. Can’t wait to see his McLaren MP4/4 in person.

Senna (2010). Full documentary.
Give it a watch. Still makes me tear up every time I see it. Senna Forever.

All for now.

The Fall of Panasonic: A Rant of Sorts

Oh I remember how me and Grandma-ma(who looks supsiciously like Frances McDormand) would hike across the old country back in the day. And we’d stop periodically due to her crippling back pain. I’d say, “Grandma-ma, why does thou back hurtheth so?” And she would reply to me, a young thing of 5-years old, “Tis because I use the Lumix and it weighteth a ton.”

Tick tock mf’er.

Just as I mentioned, literally 2 days ago in another post, Panasonic’s days are numbered. Japanaese outlet Asahi interviewed President Yuki Kusumi, who candidly revealed that “the situation is critial as we are not meeting expectations.” Kusumi also announced plans to take drastic measures to eliminate “challenging businesses” with poor growth potential by fiscal 2026.

While Kusumi cited home appliances, televisions, etc. as examples of “challenging” business, it’s obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes that the camera business is one such “challenging” business for them.

I’m calling it now, they will exit the camera market in a couple of years and will likely sell their technology to another brand. It could be like when Olympus exited the market and sold their camera division to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), back in 2020, to become the brand now known as OM Digital.

If I were a competitor, I would buy up Panasonic’s tech immediately. Sony or Canon would be a great fit as Nikon recently acquired RED Camera last year. My pick would be Sony as they could benefit from Panasonic’s IBIS tech which is considered by many to be the best on the market. Heck, even Panasonic’s color science in a Sony body would be a dream come true. And unlike Panasonic, Sony already has a plethora of small, powerful cameras that Panasonic couldn’t be bothered to make (A7C II, FX3, ZV-E1).

C’mon Sony, get on it!

Man it sure would be nice if someone would make a full-frame version of the Panasonic GX8. Now that Panasonic is full-frame, surely they will right?!

Sony: “Hold my beer.”

Where did it all go wrong?

Photo © Richard Wong

Big ass cameras, big ass lenses. Last generation Autofocus.
Panasonic: “Why aren’t people buying our cameras?!”

Not gonna lie, the S1R and S PRO lenses are a sexy combination.

As someone who purchased both the S1 and S1R on their launch, a person super excited about the prospect that Panasonic was going full-frame, a person who invested $10K+ into their L-Mount system, and shot well over 100,000 images, I think I’m one of the most qualified to offer a breakdown on why Panasonic failed.

1. The launch. Panasonic announced their cameras in September 2018. They launched in March/April 2019. The cameras were loaded with features, but the three biggest caveats were size, weight, and autofocus. In a market of smaller, more portable mirrorless cameras, Panasonic essentially launched two DSLR’s in terms of size and weight. The autofocus while competent didn’t blow anyone away compared to the phase detect autofocus of its competition.

2. The initial lens lineup. Initially Panasonic had several lenses available on launch. Some run of the mill standard lenses and their top of the line S PRO lenses certified by Leica. All of the S PRO lenses are stellar. Some of the best optics in the industry. But the lenses were huge, heavy, and expensive. Sensing a trend here?

3. Lack of software support. I chronicled my tethering woes using Panasonic for years. There’s no native software that supports tethering of Lumix cameras. You have to use their pitiful Lumix tether program in combination with Capture One/Lightroom or whatever you use. This prevents you from easily applying adjustments to subsequent captures during long sessions. And if Lumix Tether crashes, you could be still shooting and not even realize that none of your images are even transferring to the computer. This should have been a day one priority for Panasonic if they wanted their cameras to appeal to professional photographers. Partner with Capture One and Adobe and have full tethering support for their L-Mount cameras. Even Leica would eventually do it in 2021 with their SL-2 which is essentially the same camera as the S1R. No reason for Panasonic to not do this.

4. Too slow to change. A common gripe Panasonic’s naysayers had was its contrast detect autofocus system not being up to snuff for professional work. While I disagree with that sentiment to a point, it’s understandable when Sony and Canon have phase detect autofocus that feels like futuristic sci-fi tech in its ability to track and hold on to a moving subject. So Panasonic decides to silence all the critics with the release of the Panasonic S5. A smaller, more practical full-frame L-Mount camera. Like a mini Panasonic S1! Everyone was excited for it. They would finally conquer the size and weight issue! Only to be let down by the fact Panasonic still was using contrast detect autofocus. The company were almost defiant about it! This turned a lot of people off and during a time which could have seen Panasonic take shares of the market, other companies were responding with stellar products. Sony released the FX3, Fuji released the XH2-S, Canon released the R6 Mark II, and Nikon released their Z9 as well as update for their previous camera models. Why would you buy the S5 unless you were already in the L-Mount? By the time they finally released the S5 II, it was too little too late. People had already moved on to other companies that were responding to customer demand, not turning their noses up at them. And fast forward to today, instead of an announcement for the S1HII, a camera people actually want, Panasonic says fuck you to all its customers and announces the S9. An insulting camera that is dead on arrival. I just can’t with this company. Ugh.

5. The name. Lumix is not an attractive name. Panasonic is. Lose the Lumix name and just go with Panasonic. The Panasonic S1R sounds better than the Panasonic Lumix S1R. What the heck is a Lumix anyway? It made sense in the early days of digital cameras with their point and shoot lineup. But I think Panasonic should have embraced its own name, its lineage and emblazon it boldly on their products. It should say Panasonic on the front of the camera, not Lumix. I would have people ask me all the time what is a Lumix? No one knows what a Lumix is outside of photographers, but people are familiar with the name Panasonic. Change it dammit.

6. No ambition. I understand Panasonic isn’t a behemoth like Sony or Canon, but even Fujifilm, a smaller company, understands the importance of disruptive products. Panasonic came into the full-frame market red hot then just fizzled out. Where is a full-frame version of the Panasonic GX8? A rangefinder style, full-frame camera with flippy screen? Oh yeah, Sony makes that (A7CII and A7CR). Where is Panasonic’s top end video camera that’s small and shoots 4K 120fps? Oh yeah, Sony makes that(FX3, ZV-E1) along with Fujifilm(XH2-S). Additionally, they released no new S PRO lenses, no on-camera flash system, no improved software support with third-party companies, zilch. Just updated video centric features. They haven’t even attempted to make a set of small, portable prime lenses. They released a set of primes that catered well to the video market, but they’re all relatively big. No tiny lenses like Sony’s 50mm f/2.5G. Where are those compact lenses? Sigma makes some but for the most part many of them are long so they don’t quite fit the bill.

7. Fanboys and Shills. Like many industries today, photography has been infected by fanboys and shills. The fanboys are a bunch of weasels, all men, who sit around 24/7 jacking off over camera brands. They pop up in comment sections just to chat shit about why another company’s camera sucks when compared to another. How “insert camera brand” is bad and that “insert camera brand” is way better. They’re not photographers. Not filmmakers. No real portfolio to speak of. Shitty photos they post on their insignificant Instagram pages. Dregs of society. No different that the weasels that simp for women on the internet in a vain attempt to get attention and acknowlegement. The woman on the internet isn’t going to fuck you. And the camera companies don’t give a shit about you. So while you have a damn aneurysm arguing with people about why this brand is better than that one, the camera companies are doing whatever is in their best interest. Fanboys of said brands are not just trolls in comment sections mind you. They’re YouTubers, reviewers, etc. as well. These types fall into the shill category. You can see their bias whenever they review a brand they personally don’t like. I’ve seen Panasonic get unfairly criticized for its shortcomings, but Leica has the same faults and they ignore it. The industry never wanted Panasonic to be a main player. They were always met with disdain and skepticism. Whereas Canon, Sony, Nikon, and Fujifilm all get constant praise for their releases even with obvious flaws (ex. Canon R5 overheating). I wouldn’t be surprised they’re greasing the palms of many of these reviewers to skew the results in their favor. But whatever, Panasonic didn’t do itself any favors by being so damn stubborn to adjust and not promoting their brand consistently and well enough.

It’s frustrating to report on Panasonic’s demise like this, but I share this as a word of warning to anyone thinking of investing in the system. Don’t. Full stop.

I spent 5 years giving them a chance, but they just never got it together. They never seemed responsive to the wants of their customers and continued to shoot themselves in the foot. Defiantly so. We shouldn’t support companies like that.

Who knows, maybe they’ll throw a hail mary right at the end and turn things around? A camera that will sell out in droves and everyone will be clamoring for one. And sending me emails saying how I ain’t shit, I was wrong, and I was foolish to think Panasonic would fall off. And I smell like cheese.

I hate to tell you, but this ain’t the movies kid. There will be no come back.

For nostalgia sake, I may buy a pristine S1R and a couple of S lenses at rock bottom prices to put in my personal museum. A reminder of what could have been.

Panasonic, I bid you adieu.

Recent Work (Portrait Photography)

A collection of recent portrait images. I say recent, but one of these was taken way back during the Dark Ages of 2020. I also share these to show that no matter what camera a photographer uses, their style is their style. It doesn’t matter if I’m shooting full-frame or medium format, the overall look is the same. The image may be sharper, the ratio different, but it still looks like my work. It’s one of the reasons I don’t have loyalty to a particular brand. I can use any camera and create images in my own style. The camera is just a conduit which allows me to do that with either a greater or lesser degree of difficulty.

Johanna

Johanna is both a brilliant model and a genius of an artist. A supremely talented painter and photographer, there’s really nothing she can’t do. Be amazed and check out her work here: http://www.johannastickland.com. Incredible right? I told you, she’s a genius. It’s actually quite intimidating photographing someone so talented as you’re trying to live up to(in your own mind) their high standards. Imagine photographing a celebrity like, say, Robert De Niro. He’s seen it all, worked with some of the best artists in the world(I mean actual legends of the craft). And here you come with your little mirrorless camera and clunky lighting set up to shoot a legend. Hoping he’s impressed by your work.

After fumbling with your gear, you take the picture and he just goes, “Hmph.”

Then he gets up, smiles, shakes your hand and says. “Ay, this is nice! I love it. Thank you!” After you gasp for air and pick your heart up off the floor you realize people actually like your work. Or at the very least they don’t think it’s trash only suitable for mockery and presenting as evidence of a wasted existence.

I say all that to say, you have to believe in your own work. Your style. Your aesthetic preferences. Other people’s opinion’s be damned. But if they like your work, they’ll sit for you. If the immensely talented Johanna will sit for me, I must be alright?! Right? Right?!

This was one of the first photos I’d taken after the release of the GFX 50S II. It’s a great camera.

Katya

Katya is a model I work with quite a bit in 2023. Always professional, always on time, always coming to the shoot with interesting ideas and creative input. I wanted to try a series of white background images, á la Richard Avedon, for this shoot. One thing I immediately learned is such a simple setup requires an interesting subject, either through expression or styling. It’s very easy to produce a boring image on a white background, but Katya in her infinite wisdom knew what to do. I think the shape of the hair and her tranquil expression really make the image sing.

This was taken on the Panasonic S1R. Probably one of the last images I took with that camera.

Beatrice

From the Dark Ages of 2020, this image of Beatrice was taken on the GFX 50R, Fujifilm’s rangefinder style medium format body, and the GF 45-100mm lens. For portrait work, it’s the better of the zoom lenses when compared to the GF 32-64 in my opinion due to its more useful range. I’ve shot with Beatrice several times over the years and she’s become sort of a muse for me. Fun to work with, always thinking of unique expressions and poses, and her face! She could just sit still and do nothing and I’m sure I’d get an awesome portrait of her. A true one of one.

Disnella

A recent image of the beautiful Disnella. I added a little bit of a warm tone to the image to give it a different feel than a normal black-and-white. This image has a very album cover vibe to me. This was our first time working together and while Disnella was awesome to shoot with, I wasn’t pleased with the GFX 100 II files. They looked a bit too sharp and too clinical to my eyes. I would describe the Fujifilm 100 megapixel images as looking more “crunchy” than their 50 megapixel counterpart which has a more “smooth” tonality to the overall image. I recently shot with her again with the 50S II and absolutely love the files from that session. I’ll share those soon.

Charlie

Charlie is an actor I did headshots for almost a year ago and I knew during that session I wanted to do some portraits of her whenever our schedules would permit. She graciously agreed to come in for portraits and I have to admit her images are some of my favorite photos I’ve ever done. While it probably helps that she’s a performer, she’s such a natural in front of the camera. I typically try not to overshoot, but I ended up shooting way more than normal because she kept giving me options. Curse her! I kid. At the end of this session, we did a series of melancholic images and I ended up with one of my favorite photos of all-time. Can’t wait to share it.

Hope you enjoyed this post and my musings on the images. More to come!

The Panasonic S9: What Were They Thinking?

Even the marketing images for this camera are cringe.

For years I shot with Panasonic’s L-Mount cameras and chronicled my experiences with them here on the blog(now archived). After banging my head against the wall dealing with all the quirks of the system(weight, autofocus, support, etc.) I switched to Sony and never looked back.

Sure there were times I missed the output of the Panasonic S1R(a camera way ahead of its time) compared to what I achieved with my Sony cameras, but the Sony’s were not only similar in terms of quality(better in some instances), the shooting experience was much more enjoyable. Like Apple’s old slogan, “It just works!” is something I would attribute to Sony’s system as well as Canon and Nikon.

Before I exited the L-Mount for good, I cited the lack of support and ambition on Panasonic’s part to really make a dent in the market. It’s like they just stopped caring. The S cameras were originally launched in 2020 and since then, Panasonic hasn’t realeased any additional S PRO lenses. No 85mm S PRO, no 135mm S PRO, no updates to their wonderful 24-70 and 70-200’s. Compared to a company like Sigma who just released version II of their 24-70 Art Lens within a 3 year timeframe, Panasonic is just sitting around letting the industry pass it by. Sigma is single-handedly keeping the L-Mount afloat.

There’s just no hunger or ambition from the brand. They released the S5II last year and as much as people were holding their breath for a true successor to the S1/S1R/S1H, today they announced the Panasonic S9. A pathetic camera that never should have made if off the concept floor. This is the type of product that destroys a brand in terms of both sales and its image with customers. A very apathetic, tone deaf release that serves utterly no one.

$1500. Electronic shutter only so good luck taking photos with this thing. No headphone jack. No hot shoe! And a recording time limit of 15 minutes. Who is this camera even for?

WhoIsMatt points out many of the shortcomings of this puzzling release from Panasonic.

At $1500, you definitely should spend a little more and buy the Sony ZV-E1. Similarly small but way more functional. 4K 120fps, a hot shoe, built in microphone, headphone jack, ability to use LUTS. And Sony makes a plethora of amazing lenses that are small to keep the entire kit compact. It’s my go to travel camera for video. I love it.

Or if you insist on L-Mount, you could get the Sigma FP or S5II and get a much better price to performance ratio. The size savings alone are not worth it if the camera is severely crippled in several other areas.

Camera Conspiracies sums up the stupidity of this release like no other could.

What should be disappointing to L-Mount users is that Panasonic probably spent hundred of thousands, probably millions on R&D, marketing, etc. All of which could and should have gone to an update of one of the other cameras in their lineup like the S1H. A camera fans of the L-Mount have actually been clamoring for. But the company continues to ignore the needs of its base and slowly put out uninspired products while the competition is on it’s third or fourth iteration of whatever amazing product they’re releasing. You think the new S1H will even matter when Sony releases an update to the FX3? It’ll be too late.

This sort of release just feels like the death kneel for the brand. They will never get a solid grasp in the market and with micro-four thirds essentially dead, Panasonic will likely come up with a couple more releases that are too little too late and fade into obscurity.

It’s over guys.