Deep in the Pyrenees, the Cirque of Gavarnie is one of the most stunning place I've ever been to.
The first day we hiked to there, we found torrential rain. Soaked, I gave up on making images that day and decided to go back later that week. Then, I found sunny and clear skies.
This video is the results of those two visits.
Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 150mm f/4
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 1600
Developer: Ilford Ilfotec HC
I made this image on my first day in the Picos de Europa National Park. I didn't get to shoot much film those days because the Bronica would be left behind on my hikes due to its weight. I like how this one turned out, though.
I want to start talking a bit more about the gear I use, both for making images and recording videos. The GoPro Hero 7 is a recent acquisition, but I've already taken it with me on a few outings. This is my review: the good and the bad, and how it fits in my workflow.
The Vall del Madriu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, seemed to be the perfect place for me to spend my last day in Andorra. The landscape didn't dissappoint, it was a beautiful -but hard- hike through the forest.
Photography wise, though, it was a fail. I wasn't able to come up with compelling compositions. I still had a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy the video.
I have a new camera, and I put it to the test during a full day of driving and hiking in the beautiful country of Andorra.
I recorded the whole episode on the GoPro Hero 7 Black, using just the built-in microphone for the audio. The footage has been color graded, though.
There's a full review of this little guy coming soon.
Of course, I'm not affiliated with GoPro in any way. I wish. You can still help me buying it (or anything else, it doesn't have to be the GoPro) through this affiliate Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2J4pVma
I had a few rolls sitting around for a while, with a few shots left in them, so I decided to go out and finish them. This is what it came out of that morning out... and of those rolls.
Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 80mm f/2.8
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 1600
Developer: Ilford Ilfotec HC
I made this image during my recent trip to Portugal. It was a beautiful morning up in the Serra da Estrela, at an elevation of some 2,000 meters (6,500 feet).
You can't see the warm, pink colors of the sky. You can't see the green tones of the tower. But you can tell this is not mid-day light. I love shooting black and white during sunrise.
One the biggest challenges when you are on the road and have a YouTube channel to update is how to upload the videos.
Sometimes, you get lucky: the place we stayed at in Andorra last week had a pretty decent connection so uploading movies and backing stuff up to the cloud wasn't a problem at all.
We didn't get as lucky with this week's AirBnB, though: uploading a new video using this connection would take forever, and there are no cafes around that I know of.
I wish apps like AirBnB or Booking could tell you how fast the WiFi will be on your next stay.
The obvious solution for this problem is to use my phone. I've published videos using the YouTube app before, and while it works just fine, it doesn't let you upload 4k videos. Instead, it will convert them to 1080 and then proceed with the upload.
The best option I've found is to use my computer, tethering from my phone. If I have 4G coverage, of course.
This isn't perfect, though: I "only" have 25GB a month and my average video weighs in at about 3GB. This means I'd be able to upload 7-8 videos a month using my phone exclusively. I usually publish 2-3 a week, or 8-12 a month, making me effectively dependent on things I can't control.
Maintaining a YouTube channel while on the road is not an easy task, but it can be done. You just need a little bit of luck when it comes to your hotel / Airbnb's WiFi, and a phone with a lot of data as a backup.
Last video of my road trip to Asturias. It was a long drive home, but I tried to make the best out of it.
In this week's Artist Interview I got to talk to Nick Mayo, one of the most visible faces in the film photography community. You might know him as Nick Exposed, the title of his YouTube channel.
Nick is not only a brilliant photographer, but he also helps and inspires a whole community of people with his videos and messages.
Read MoreAnother video from my trip to the Picos de Europa. After getting a "pressure loss" warning in the car, I decided to play it safe and do a classic hike in this region: Ruta del Cares.
Because of the tire I didn't have time to do the whole hike, but after tasting the beginning of it, I'm definitely going back there sooner than later to finish it.
Camera and Lens: Sony a6500, 16-70mm f/4 Carl Zeiss
Settings: 16mm, ISO 400, f/8, 1/320sec
I believe a photographer should always have a camera with them, and this image is a very good example of why.
This day, I had to drive to the aiport to drop someone off. On my way back, the fog started to roll in so I decided it could be a good opportunity to make some images.
I quickly went through my saved spots on Google Maps and found this one just off the main road.
I'm glad I brought my camera with me and decided to take a bit longer to get back home. This is one of a few images I made that day.
After spending the night in a shelter at the base of Pico Urriellu, it's finally time to head back to the comfort of the hotel. I made some images on my way down.
Camera and Lens: Sony a6500, Sony 70-200mm f/4
Settings: 90mm, ISO 400, f/8, 1/1250sec
On my way back from Pico Urriellu, I had the chance to photograph a few houses near the mostly abandoned town of Pandebano.
This one was the best composition I could find, using a long telephoto lens to make the mountain in the background stand out. It was an impressive sight and I wanted an image that did it justice.
Camera and Lens: Sony a6500, 16-70mm f/4 Carl Zeiss
Settings: 70mm, ISO 100, f/8, 1/500sec
A beatiful misty morning looking at the boats coming back to port.
TGIF! Also, the first Artist Interview of October is here.
Martina Kettner is a film photographer from Austria. I'm a big fan of her work as a whole, but particularly the images she creates with her Holga. Let's learn more about her and her photography!
All images in this post were made by Martina Kettner.
Read MoreThis is one of my favorite images from my recent trip to Portugal.
I made this image in Monsanto, on my way down from the castle, well after the Sun had set.
I bracketed 3 shots to be able to capture the big dynamic range this scene had. The difference between the street light and the dark parts of the photograph was too big to capture with just one exposure.
It's been a long summer here in NW Spain. It feels like we've had nothing but sunny and clear skies for the last two months. I'm more than ready for some fall weather but hey, if life gives you sun and blue skies, you play with star trails.
This is what I wanted to show you in this video. If you've never shot the night sky, then this can be good to get you started. I talk about the gear you will need, and the software.
Hope you enjoy it!
The Image of the Month for October is now available: Moonrise over Mt Hood.
Watch the video where I made this image: "Moonrise".
What a beautiful evening at the Mt Hood National Forest this was! I had only recently started shooting with my Bronica SQ-Ai when I found out about the full Moon rising behind the always stunning Mt Hood.
I spent almost three hours there, sitting in silence, first enjoying the sunset and then waiting until it was dark and the Moon high in the sky.
This image is the result of those three hours there, trying to capture what I saw. The interaction between the mountain and the Moon, the calmness of the moment, the beauty of it, the fragility of nature and the insignificance of humans.
A new image will be released every month and offered at a reduced price during that time. After 30 days, it will be sold at full price. They will never be on sale at any time in the future, the rate during the first month will be the lowest, ever.
You can find more information about how I create my images and all the details about pricing on The Art and Craft behind my prints.
These past weeks have been pretty exciting. There are plenty of new cameras coming out soon, and even if you have no plans to get any of them (like me), I'm sure we can still agree that new camera gear is always interesting.
Most camera companies are giving their new cameras incremental updates. Yes, Canon, Nikon and Panasonic just announced their first full-frame mirrorless cameras, but they are -at best- just small improvements over what we already have now.
Even Fujifilm and its new medium format cameras are about polishing and making stuff that was already here, a bit better.
I wanted to mention one company who has gone a slightly different way, though: Zeiss and its first full-frame camera, the ZX1.
What's different about this camera has little to do with the hardware and everything to do with the software. The ZX1 looks like someone took an Android phone and attached a full-frame sensor to it. This makes me wonder about the booting up times.
Built-in Lightroom, smartphone-like features like the gallery and sharing capabilities, built-in battery (ouch) and ZERO SD card slots (it comes with a whopping 512GB of internal storage). The experience of using this camera will be very different from using other cameras we are more used to.
Most of the software features in this camera look a little gimmicky: who's going to edit images in the camera? Keep in mind: that will use battery, that you can't change since it's built-in.
This is why the title of this post has a "sort of" at the end.
I look at the ZX1 as a hint of what the future might bring, though. Computational photography is going to play a big role in the near future as modern phones have been showing us for years, but we are yet to see it making its way into "real" cameras.
If the iPhone XS can do what it can do with that tiny sensor and lens, just imagine what a full frame camera could do in the future.
Seeing Lightroom in a camera also reminds me of the attempt made by Sony to bring apps to their cameras. Now abandoned, it was a brilliant idea that got a poor implementation. I'd love to see apps making a come back into cameras - that'd open a whole new world of innovation.
Anyway, just my two cents on the Zeiss ZX1 and the future of photography.
