BLURRED (BOUNDARIES 5)

Pixel peepers strike me. In their neverending quest for the best resolving lens/sensor match, they obsessively compare MTF diagrams and test charts, as if photography was all about a forensic reproduction of reality as we know it. Or a dull imitation of the Hyperrealist painting. They forget that the aim of photography is the act of generating an image through which author's visual statement will be put in touch with viewer's visual perception. For this purpose, photographers need smaller and lighter lenses, instead of bigger, heavier and more expensive ones. They need unobtrusive equipment, in-camera software corrections, and more extended zooms to avoid the hassle of carrying and changing primes. Shortly, they need more user-friendly cameras instead of worrying and massive imaging weapons.
Fortunately there are authors who are free and creative enough to brake the rules and push forward the boundaries of photography. Suddenly, a blurred picture is not a technophile's scandal but a revelation of the world we live in. British photographer Chris Friel does a great job with his hand-held long-exposure images. A visit to his website is an educational and inspiring experience. Enjoy.

Comments

[Mark Taber]

Thanks so much for exposing me to Mr. Friel's work (art!). For me, it is "clearer," illustrates, instructs, edifies more than 100 razor-sharp mediocrities.

[Ed]

Personally I think you and mr. Friel make a point and a big one as well. It's not about 2400 lines resolution, it's not about image noise up to 6400 iso, it's not about image quality, it's all about picture quality, and that is not produced by a camera but by a photographer. It comes from within, it's generated by the subject that passes through the brain and heart of a photographer and gets expressed via the lens, the camera, the computer and uses all of the limitations of the system as challenges to create that picture that takes you breath away or makes you stop and wonder. By the way Gianni I am reusing my old Nikon glass on the GF1 now via a Novoflex adapter, great fun!

Greetings, Ed

[Gianni Galassi]

Ed, I'm happy you are having fun. Unfortunately I sold all my Nikon equipment -including lenses- a couple of years ago. I used to own non-AI glasses from the fifties, which I would be curious to test on my GF1 now, although the few tests I made by mounting past-generation-design optics on digital bodies (Epson R-D1, Leica M8, Panasonic G1 and GF1) left me quite disappointed so far. No doubt such odd couples deliver interesting results under an aesthetic point of view, but even for a non-technophile user as I am there are flaws that are uncompatible with my image style: lateral chromatic aberration, geometric distortion, vignetting. Not to mention the cost of a properly built adapter, and the resulting bulk. Yet I'm sure I would follow your path, if those old Nikon lenses were still in my cabinet. Because photography is all about having fun.