ULTRAsomething photography

Glam Cams

Egor — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:57:04 +0000

In this article, I struggle with the idea that my rugged, he-man camera of choice isn't peddled in a depot, market or shop — but in a boutique! And I attend the opening of the first Leica Boutique in Canada in an effort to get to the bottom of it all. | Read the article.

A Derelict Memory Lane

Egor — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:50:31 +0000

"Memory Lane," as I define it, is "a long strip of acetate with a silver halide coating." I consider my film cameras to be miniature time capsules — my past self records a person, scene or event that it thinks my future self will find interesting. This article discusses one such trip down Memory Lane, and how it isn't quite the way I remembered it... | Read the article.

Rodinal Jones

Egor — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 03:47:09 +0000

Chemical dependency is defined as an addiction to a mood-altering chemical. If denied access to the chemical, the dependent person is unable to function properly, and lives only for the chemical and the relief it brings. I never thought it would happen to me — but that was before I discovered the magical developing powers of Rodinal. | Read the article.

Resurrection: AE-1

Egor — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:57:26 +0000

At this very moment, there are likely thousands of Canon AE-1's languishing in boxes, drawers and cabinets all around the world. Pity. Because this is as wonderful a camera today as it was when it was first released in 1976. This is the story of my Dad's AE-1, and its resurrection from a 30 year stint in the bottom of a box. | Read the article.

Gear Guano Canal

Egor — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:22:51 +0000

There is no such thing as technical perfection. There is no perfect camera. There is no perfect lens, flash, film or Photoshop plugin. There is only the perfect image — and people have been taking them for well over a hundred years with some amazingly imperfect gear. So why do we, as photographers, spend so much of our time wading about in the gear guano canal? | Read the article.

Shooting Through the Wormhole

Egor — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:02:12 +0000

For the last several years, various mid-20th century sources have exerted a profound influence on my own photography: golden age photojournalists of the 1930s and 1940s; post-war photo essays from the 1950s; and John Szarkowski’s New Documentarian leanings of the 1960s. I wasn’t always this anachronistic. Rather, I used to be even more so, and once drew inspiration from the pictorialists, surrealists and Czech avant-garde. Lately, I seem to be backsliding into my old, early-20th century "pictsurrealist" habits, and my tool of choice is the humble pinhole. Shooting through a pinhole is like shooting through a wormhole. It’s a shortcut through time. This article talks about the aesthetics and mechanics of looking through this wormhole, and illustrates what might be looking back. | Read the article.

The January Effect

Egor — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:32:29 +0000

In this article, I struggle to find the perfect New Year's resolution — you know, something fairly trite and not too onerous. Along the journey, I discuss the often negative effect other people's resolutions have on me, and wax nostalgic over the one and only shining example of positive effect — a phenomena I once dubbed, "The January Effect." | Read the article.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Egor — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:48:55 +0000

I make no money writing these articles for ULTRAsomething. So I moonlight by writing the f/Egor column for Leica Camera — a gig that pays me... umm... actually it pays absolutely nothing. Obviously I haven't completely grasped the meaning of "moonlighting," but I do understand the meaning of "respect." And so should anyone else who photographs on the streets. | Read the article.

Black & White Colors

Egor — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:00:06 +0000

"Hey, I know! Why don't I take a nice black and white photo of the colorful fall foliage?" Really, I have thoughts like this. And it's not like life isn't already stressful enough without my masochistic need to invent photographic assignments that I can't possibly hope to satisfy. Why do I do this? Well, surprisingly it has something to do with underwear modeling... | Read the article.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Egor — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:05:36 +0000

It's been over 40 years since The Carpenters scored a #2 hit by complaining about rainy days and Mondays getting them down. Too bad the Pentax K-5 wasn't around then... | Read the article.

The Leica 21mm Super-Elmar-M

Egor — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:40:00 +0000

When Leica lent me their new Super-Elmar-M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH lens, I gave a figurative shrug. I already owned an excellent copy of an old 21mm f/2.8 Elmarit pre-ASPH, which I absolutely love. So it would be highly unlikely that Leica's new 21mm would actually inspire a case of gear lust… but gear lust I have. The Leica 21mm Super-Elmar-M is one of the most stunning lenses I've yet mounted on any camera. This article discusses the reasons why I feel this way. | Read the article.

Wag the Blog

Egor — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:58:44 +0000

Once every three months I slip away from all the limelight, tinsel and glamor of the blogging world, and I take a good long look at ULTRAsomething. I ask myself a great number of questions about what this site is and what it should be. It's a quarterly rite of passage that rarely yields any useful answers. The reason, of course, is that I'm asking the wrong person. Instead of asking myself these questions, I should be asking you, my readers... | Read the article.

Riffing in the Key of Ricoh

Egor — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:35:00 +0000

With the release of the GXR Mount A12 module for M-series rangefinder lenses, the Ricoh GXR camera system has not only come of age, but found its way into my camera bag. This article discusses why the GXR has replaced Micro Four Thirds as the digital backup to my Leica M9, and what Ricoh can do to make it even better. | Read the article.

The Geometry of Night

Egor — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:38:54 +0000

The requirements for photographing at night versus day are as different as... well... as night and day. This article proposes that night photography is best approached not as a challenge of light, but as a challenge of subject. | Read the article.

Going for a Spin

Egor — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 01:57:55 +0000

Earlier this year, in an attempt to maximize context in my photos, I purchased a swing lens Widelux F7. Its 120 degree horizontal field of view provides me with far more context than I've yet been able to use effectively. Sane people would be perfectly satisfied to stop here. So what would insane people do? Purchase a Lomography Spinner 360, of course. | Read all about it in this article.

Bartlett’s Rejects

Egor — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:21:30 +0000

Without a doubt, this is my most quotable article to date. Perhaps that's because it's nothing more than an assemblage of my own personal photography quotes? Whether you have a term paper to write for photography class; are looking to impress a hot hipster with a lomography fetish; or are simply suffering from attention deficit disorder, this is the article for you. | Read the article.

Market Speak

Egor — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 21:58:33 +0000

What is the market value of a photograph? For how long should someone view a photograph? What does the public want from photography? Why do men have nipples? This article, ULTRAsomething's latest philosophical musing, provides no answers. | Read the article.

Lobotomy, Please!

Egor — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:49:50 +0000

Self-doubt is a bottomless quagmire from which escape is difficult. We are who we are. If we’re lucky enough to have a vision and to feel passionately about it, then we owe it to ourselves to persevere. Slavishly adapting my style to match current trends would likely bring me more admirers, but then they wouldn’t be my admirers — they would be the style’s admirers. I’d rather have detractors. When we try to be something we’re not, we’re destined for mediocrity. When we’re true to ourselves, we give ourselves a chance to transcend it. | Read the article.

Hockey Gods

Egor — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:56:37 +0000

In its forty years of existence, the Vancouver Canucks hockey team has never won the Stanley Cup. Some of this city's more pagan residents blame this on vengeful Hockey Gods. There might just be some merit to this belief... | Read the article.

Fauxtographs

Egor — Tue, 24 May 2011 06:02:21 +0000

Every so often I see a trend develop that sort of rubs me the wrong way. That's when I invoke my "Blogger's Right to Curmudgeonly Commentary" and type out a post like this one. What bee is in my proverbial bonnet this time? Photographers who choose web publication as the ultimate display format for their photographs... and, yes, that used to include me. | Read the article.