Dear Friends,
I have just checked the archives, cleaned the cat hair out of the
keyboard, and am prepared to start annoying people.
I spent my weekend at a Medieval Fayre in a town that grows mud for
export. The physics of a long wool garment and capillary action ensured
that
I was able to bring a good deal of that mud home. But I also brought home
the memory of some truly appalling camera work.
Not mine, I hasten to add. I learned a long time ago to hang onto an
Enfield or a Graflex with both hands and my arms held firmly into my body.
I
learned to use the power of opposing muscle groups to steady myself - I
still use this in my profession but use smaller holds and rests.
I applauded the Canon people for the use of rubber forehead pads on
some of their high-end Super 8 cameras - and I remember that Eumig did the
same. They obviously recognised that the frontal bone of the forehead was
the place to push against to steady a movie camera.
I do the same with the three points hold - eyepiece of the
Hasselblad prism, flash bracket, and focus ring. I get away with 1/60 even
in the Medieval battles, though the sword strokes are distorted. But look
at
the others using P/S digitals and camcorders....
The vast majority had their cameras out at arm's length like Leica
O's but with a sort of 3 finger grip. The camcorders used one hand and
used
the other to continuously tilt screens. Tripods were non-existent. I can
only speculate as to the results, particularly as combat photography does
not permit time lag. Perhaps it's be a kindness to realise that most of
the
exposures made will be wiped or forgotten.
Moral of this posting? Brace, hold your breath - a max of 4 seconds,
squeeze the shutter release, don't jerk it, and don't wear long wool robes
in Balingup!
Uncle Dick
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.12.9/975 - Release Date: 26/08/2007
9:34 PM
=============================================================================================================
To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your
account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you
subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.12.4/969 - Release Date: 2007/08/23
04:04 PM
