My Philosophy and Gear

 

"No Deposit"

 

Please visit the Entropic Remnants website or have a look at the Entropic Remnants blog! Thanks!

 

My Identity as a Photographer

 

I'm an artist. I'm not a "pro photographer" who makes a living off of photography and sadly my art won't support me so like many of you, I have a day job. I do this because I love it.

 

I attracted more attention over time and have hung my prints in various spaces now and that is very gratifying. Thanks everyone who has become interested in my work -- this flickr site of mine now has over 4.5 million views and I am simply amazed by that! My blog readership was growing but I've neglected it so long I suspect nobody reads it generally. Still, there's some of my best writing (such as it is, lol) over there.

 

A Note to my Many Contacts

 

I am overwhelmed by all of you who made me a contact. I can't possibly get to all your photostreams and keep up! It makes me crazy thinking about it.

 

But if you have a pic you'd really like seen by me, please let me know? Thanks and sorry I can't keep up.

 

"Take Your Shoes off and Sit a Spell"

 

The Philosophy of Entropic Remnants Photography

 

Photography is capturing something - a story, a feeling, a mood - in two dimensional color, tone, and shape.

 

Entropy is the tendency of the ordered universe to slide towards disorder. Large things break into smaller pieces which ultimately break down into even smaller units.

 

But everything is still here. Nothing is missing. Everything passes, everything remains...

 

I seek whenever possible to get close to subjects because true intimacy isn't achieved by distant observation either in relationships or photography.

 

"The Silent Scream"

 

Most (though certainly not all) of my photography focuses primarily on smaller areas - basic units which make up the bigger picture. In all my work I seek to capture the feeling of a moment - a moment which has passed, but always will be.

 

I hope you enjoy the images here and find them in some way unique.

 

"Proprietary Information"

 

Other Stuff

 

Have a look at my documentary on the worlds largest flying hot air balloon "Patriot". Be sure to watch it in full HD!

 

Flying Patriot - A Film by Entropic Remnants

 

For more information and how to contact me, please see the Entropic Remnants website.

 

Self Portrait: "I'm Pretty"

 

How I Have Gone Mad

 

How many system changes? Why?

 

Forgetting decades of film photography, I started with Nikon APS-C systems (like the Nikon D200) around 2009 and progressed through other experiments (Sony NEX) to the micro four thirds system with gear by Panasonic and Olympus. Finally, I settled on Fuji and shot mainly Fuji for 6 or 7 years.

 

But age and infirmity had me sell al my pro Fuji gear (and the other stuff as well) and get back into micro four thirds again for the lower weight to save my back. Since then, my back has made a miraculous recovery (praise God) but I'm sticking with micro four thirds. I had some PEN series cameras, but I've sold most of them and gone for the OM-D series and even the new OMDS OM-5. For bodies I have:

 

* Two OM System (OMDS) OM-5 in silver (computational photography powerhouse)

* Olympus E-PL10 (always in my car with a few lenses)

* Olympus E-M5 (given to one of my grandsons now to learn photography with)

 

The OM-5 cameras are weather sealed and I've bought some weather sealed lenses to go along with them:

 

* Panasonic/Leica 8-18mm f/2.8-4 (great ultrawide zoom)

* Panasonic 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 (being loaned to my grandson)

* Olympus 12-100mm PRO f/4 IS (amazing lens)

* Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro (so sharp)

 

And so I have these lenses as well:

 

* Olympus 12mm f/2 prime

* Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 (very small but sharp zoom)

* Olympus 17mm f/1.8 prime

* Olympus 25mm f/1.8 prime

* Olympus 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R zoom (on loan to grandson)

* Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 prime

* TTArtisans 50mm f/0.95 manual focus prime

* Olympus 75mm f/1.8 prime

 

"Solo Singer"

 

A Final Word About Megapixels and Sharpness

 

Henri Cartier-Bresson once responded to criticism of the blurriness of some of his street photography by saying something like, "sharpness is a bourgeoise concept". That may be a bit extreme but there is truth in it.

 

I have printed and sold 24x36 inch photo prints taken with a 10 megapixel camera. Viewing distance matters, as does proper scaling and pixel interpolation to smooth out pixilation. So I'm not concerned about pixel count for the prints I might make. 16 megapixels is more than enough and the OMDS OM-5 is 20 megapixels.

 

Going even further: absolute pixel level sharpness is also almost a non-issue. Some of the modern "consumer grade" zoom lenses are as good as what we used to call pro lenses years ago. In addition, products like DXO Deep Prime, Topaz Denoise AI, Topaz Gigapixel AI, and Topaz Sharpen AI can coax out results that are quite surprising. The Topaz products do require some time to master though as the "automatic" modes sometimes overcook things. Still, I'm less concerned about high-ISO and marginal sharpness than I have ever been.

 

Your mileage may vary, as they say. But my experience is that it is more and more possible using "computational" photography in post to transcend the limits of cameras and lenses when it comes to making a striking and presentable image.

 

Check out my blog: the entropic remanants experience (long overdue for an update -- old articles but some are still relevant or hopefully interesting)