Friday, 31 March 2017
The FBI Just Declassified These Photos of the Pentagon from 9/11
About a week ago, the FBI quietly uploaded a collection of previously-classified photos from the 9/11 aftermath into their online records vault. Unlike many of the photos we’ve already seen, these focus on the wreckage at the Pentagon.
The photos were uploaded into the “9/11 Attacks and Investigation Images” folder in the FBI vault on March 23rd, and include 27 photographs of debris, emergency workers, and even aerial shots of the damage at the Pentagon.
Here are 10 of the images we found most moving—everything from airplane debris to photos of gaping hole in the building, to emergency workers and FBI hard at work:
To see all 27 of the declassified images, click here.
(via Digg)
Image credits: Public domain photographs by the FBI/US Government.
from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2017/03/31/fbi-just-declassified-photos-pentagon-911/
Travel Photography with a 35mm: How a Prime Lens Stole My Heart
From the beginning of my photography career—which is … almost 30 years ago (that can’t be true!)—I’ve been shooting with zoom lenses. Due to the flexibility they offer, I was convinced they make the best choice; as far as I know, thousands of other travel photographers who would say the same.
I personally started with the classic 18-200mm zoom lens, sometimes referred to as “the travel zoom.” But after some time, I moved to a heavier solution, the 24-70mm f/2.8 and the 70-200mm f/2.8, because I wanted faster glass and the option to compose with a thinner depth of field. Then, at some point, I started to travel with 2 bodies (currently Nikon D4s and Nikon D500 or D3s as second body).
By now I’ve traveled to roughly 50 countries in 5 continents and shot literally tens of thousands of photos with these lenses. Sometimes I would add a wide-angle zoom lens or some other prime to my bag, mainly for portrait shooting, but still, there was never a doubt that the 24-70mm and the 70-200m would remain my main lenses.
In 2012, I was leading a photo tour in Bhutan and one of the participating photographers had really bad luck: right in the beginning of the trip he dropped and destroyed his own 24-70mm. We were all full of sympathy for him, imagining what it would be like to travel all the way to Bhutan (in the Himalayas) and destroy our most important lens before we had even shot anything!
Fortunately, he had an additional 35mm prime lens in his bag, which he then used during the entire trip.
Some days later he told me that he was able to develop a different attitude thanks to this experience; that he would see his bad luck now as a great opportunity. He said because he had lost the ability to zoom, he would have to change his approach towards subject and scenery. Because of this, he said, he had captured very different pictures and was actually was developing a totally new style.
When he showed me his pictures, I was stunned.
Since then, I’ve thought about this man’s experience quite often. Back then, I had only one prime lens in my bag (an 85mm f/1.4 that I used for portraits), but I started to equip myself with more primes. Still, I was too anxious to miss a good shot, so the zoom lenses remained my go-tos.
Then last year, I added a 35mm f/1.4 to my bag.
After playing with it a little in Germany, I almost forgot that I had it. When I packed my bags for another photo trip which I would lead in Kerala, south India in January 2017, I held it in my hands again and pondered whether I should carry the lens for the trip. Eventually, I decided to give it a try.
This turned out to be a meaningful decision for me.
In the beginning of the trip, I started using my zoom lenses as usual. But then on the second morning in Cochin we went out with a boat to shoot the sunrise and the legendary Chinese fishnets. On the way, we saw some nomadic fishermen in very small boats who started their business before sunrise.
Everybody was stunned by the beauty of the scenery and started shooting. As there was still very little light available, we used our widest apertures—which for the zoom lenses was f/2.8. But since our boat was also moving, we had to maintain a relatively high shutter speed resulting in very high ISO.
That’s when I remembered my 35mm f/1.4 and quickly changed lenses. I used it at f/1.4 and a shutter of just 1/125; still I needed ISO 6400 to get enough light. Later, it turned out that I was the only one among the group who was able to capture a decent shot of the scene!
Of course, we also later shot the ancient Chinese fishnets which we came for, and here again I was using the 35mm lens.
From that day on I started to use the 35mm frequently, becoming more and more confident with actually using the 35 as my main lens. When we went out shooting a market in Cochin, I realized that the 35mm would also work well for portraits.
By the next occasion, I was using ONLY the 35mm. It was a laundry and I forced myself to keep the 35mm lens on the camera. As my fellow photographer in Bhutan suggested, I started to “zoom with my feet.” I realized that using a zoom lens for so many years had, in a way, made me lazy. I was now getting agile again, moving around a lot more.
On our way to the north of Kerala, we stopped in a primary school where we were allowed to take some pictures. Here I was happy to see the shallow depth of field for my composition to isolate the two girls in the foreground. We also stopped at a Christian church (which you will find quite a lot due to Kerala’s past as a Portuguese Colony) and I was able to convince the priest for portrait in his Church.
On another occasion, we stopped at a shadow puppet theater and I was allowed to shoot behind the scenes. Again I was very happy with my choice of the 35mm as there was relatively little light and the puppet players were moving much faster than you would have expected. So I shot with f/2.2 at 1/200 and ISO 2500, and was able to capture the atmosphere of the scene.
The next day we went to a martial arts school where kids learned the tradition of Kalarippayat. That is a century-old martial art form specifically found in Kerala.
Before the start of a training or fight, it is part of the ritual to do a small prayer, which I captured with one of the smallest boys in the school. Again I was using the 35mm, this time with f/1.4 at 1/80 and ISO 2000. A little later the actual training started, and I captured one girl in full-flight attacking her master—of course, with the 35mm at f/2.2 and 1/250, ISO 3200 and a fill-in flash.
Eventually, we arrived at our major destination in the north of Kerala where we were supposed to photograph the Theyyam festival.
During this festival a human person personifies a God. By certain rituals which include particular dressing, masking and getting into a trance they actually become this Hindu God for a small period of time. And because these protagonists are Gods for a specific time, they can do incredible things such as running through big fires without getting hurt. It’s an otherworldly scene.
After their performance, the believers will also tell them their wishes, thank them for being gracious in the past, and/or seek advice in the matters of their lives. In one photo you can see the kids screaming at one of the Gods. I shot it with the 35mm at f/1.8 and 1/400 at ISO 100.
Some of these performances happened at night, so it was particularly difficult to capture the Hindu God and I was very happy I had my 35mm. First, I managed to get some good shots of him playing with the fire with f/1.4 and 1/320 at ISO 2200, and later when he was running through the fire with f/2.5 and 1/320 at ISO 100.
In the morning, some of the ritual drummers got very sleepy as they had played all night long, so I took a shot of them with f/1.8 at 1/100 and ISO 800. The friendly people of Kerala also invited us to join their lunch and I was impressed of the open air kitchen and the chefs doing their work for the crowds.
Again, I captured it with my 35mm. The vertical shot is with f/3.2 at 1/100 and ISO 3200 and the horizontal shot with f/2.8 at 1/200 and ISO 3200.
During the trip I really started to appreciate the incredible speed that was possible with this prime lens, and the particular feel, quality and sharpness of the pictures. I would have never thought this before, but while I was still on the road, I realized that the 35mm literally became my preferred lens.
I would start every morning with it, and even if I sometimes had changed lenses again over the day, I usually ended my day with the 35mm as well. After the trip I checked on the meta data in Lightroom and found the proof: the majority of my best pictures were shot with the 35mm.
Now it is certain that this lens will stay in my bag. We’ll have to wait and see … but maybe one day I will even be brave enough to leave my zooms lenses at home.
About the author: Thorge Berger is a talented travel photographer and personal development trainer, coach and consultant. To see more of his work, visit his website. This post was also published here.
from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2017/03/31/travel-photography-35mm-prime-lens-stole-heart/
Canon Working on ‘New Lens Tech,’ Will Let You Shoot ‘New Type of Photo’
Here’s a juicy research & development tidbit straight from the executives at Canon. In an interview with Focus Numerique at the Utsunomiya L lens factory in Japan, Canon said they’re working on a “new lens technology.”
We don’t get much more than that, but here’s the full sentence, translated from French:
Without being permitted to tell you more, we are developing a new technology that will bring real added value and will allow to take a new type of photo.
We could speculate all day about what this “new lens technology” might be. Maybe it has to do with this patent for a lens with a mount on both ends, or maybe a radical redesign of the optical image stabilization system. Whatever it is, Canon’s officially piqued our interest… now it’s their job not to mess it up and disappoint us with something less-than-innovative.
(via Canon Rumors)
from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2017/03/31/canon-working-new-lens-tech-will-let-shoot-new-type-photo/
An Interview with with Ming Thein, the New Chief of Strategy for Hasselblad
The biggest photography announcement of the week came from Hasselblad. In a move that is being praised by most of the photo community, the storied camera company appointed photographer Ming Thein as its new Chief of Strategy, leaving us all to wonder “what happens now?” PetaPixel sat down with Ming to find out.
PetaPixel: First of all, congratulations on the new position! This is a big deal. Can you tell us how this came about?
Ming Thein: Thank you. A case of right place, right time—I visited HQ in January this year as a quick stop on one of my work trips, had some very positive discussions, and they realized my experience could be useful beyond just brand representation as an ambassador. One thing lead to the next, and next thing I know I’m being given a set of keys and an email address…
You’re a very talented photographer and blogger, but how has your professional background and education prepared you for this position?
I wasn’t always a photographer. In a previous life, I served as senior management for multinational companies in various sectors, headed M&A and private equity teams and had a stint at The Boston Consulting Group; nearly ten years in all. So, beyond the photography—I also have some experience at making the numbers work.
Actually, the label of blogger is the one I have the most trouble with—writing is something I did both with the aim of education and also better understanding why we shoot and how we see. It has never been my primary objective (or even profession; that implies making a living out of it)—it was always photography and image-making first, and still is. But there’s no question that interacting with the audience—something like 100,000 comments in the last five years—has allowed me to build a relationship with the photographic community that reaches quite far.
Do you think other photo companies will follow suit and also appoint photographers in their corporate ranks?
I’m sure the other companies must already have some employees with some level of photographic experience; surely it would be strange if you made a product but didn’t really have anybody who used it in its intended function before releasing it?
Hasselblad went through a few rough years, followed by something of a renaissance. What will be your first order of business as the Chief of Strategy?
To thoroughly investigate and understand the answer to your next question: you can’t make positive changes in direction without knowing exactly where you are now.
What are Hasselblad’s greatest strengths? Weaknesses?
Pending further investigation for the reasons explained in my previous answer—it’s a company with a rich history and focus on making the best—this is important because it defines corporate culture, and that’s the hardest thing to change. It’s a very warm, personal company—in a way that you can put a face to who does what and you can’t with a larger organization. I felt as a customer the team were my friends—this experience is something I would love to extend to even more people.
The core product is solid, and I believe still overall the best quality-focused solution—this is why I personally switched systems last year—which means there’s a good platform to build on. The greatest weakness is probably also the greatest strength: there’s so much more we can still do. And this is true across everything—product-wise, service-wise, pricing-wise.
What kind of impact do you think you can have on those weaknesses (and the company’s direction in general) in your new position?
My role is to provide an alternative point of view biased from the standpoint of the customer and their experience; it’s also to balances wishes and desires with commercial/engineering reality. And, to ask what else can we do? What would a photographer want to have on the wish list?
Moreover: what if we stretched the imagination a bit? Photographic capabilities have evolved, but cameras fundamentally haven’t, meaning it isn’t as easy to deploy all of that potential as it could be.
Former company CEO Perry Oosting said, “we want to attract new customers.” What does Hasselblad have to do in order to become accessible to a broader audience?
One main thing, I think: dispel the myth that medium format equals difficult and inaccessible. Part of it is education, part of it is engineering and design, part of it is product positioning and concept. The X1D was a great start, and has made a clear impact on the industry: it’s the perfect time to take it further.
Are you still going to try out and comment on other camera brands? Are you worried at all about conflicts of interest here?
No, and I said as much on my site announcement: as you rightly point out, it would be a huge conflict of interest. In any case, I’ve reviewed very little equipment over the last year and focused more on the philosophy of how we see and how we shoot. I don’t think it makes sense to review something you don’t use, and buying gear to review is a very poor business proposition.
A clear example of this: I made a huge commitment at the start of last year—before any affiliation with the company—to switch primary system to Hasselblad on the basis of that system fitting my requirements best. If you understand what your creative objectives are, it’s easy to make choices even if they are unconventional, be it me with the H6D-100c for documentary work or Gian Paul Lozza with the X1D for winter action. Sometimes such choices are required to enable something creatively different.
One has to be careful with reviews: every photographer has very different objectives, and bench tests aren’t really representative of actual conditions. The best benchmark for whether a review is applicable to you or not is whether the reviewer is making the kind of images you want to make—otherwise the application is simply too different.
To that end, any thoughts on Fuji’s new mirrorless medium format offering, the GFX 50s?
Competition is good! It keeps us challenged, and opens up the market because more people are now looking at medium format. Each camera has its strengths and weaknesses—there is never a one-size-fits-all. I’ve always encouraged physically handling and shooting with a camera where possible before committing—spec sheets don’t say everything, and the haptics are just as important as the feature sets, if not more so.
Something that’s technically great, but not so comfortable or logical in operation, might not inspire any deep feelings, but a camera that feels great will be something you want to handle and shoot with, and more images will eventually mean better images.
Okay, you know we have to ask. Can you give us any hints at what’s coming up from Hasselblad? No specifics necessarily, just… a hint or two at the direction of the company?
Continued development of the X and H systems, of course, products beyond that… well, you’ll have to wait and see. But I can safely say they’ll be 100% in-house and unique to us. MT
A huge thanks to Ming for taking the time to answer a few questions for us (and for allaying any fears that Hasselblad might start making re-brands again). To follow along with his personal and professional work, be sure to visit and bookmark his website, and give him a follow on Facebook.
from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2017/03/31/interview-ming-thein-new-chief-strategy-hasselblad/