DSLR Freaks

PLEASE NOTE: WE MOVED TO OUR NEW HOME!
Find us at www.dslrfreaks.com

And we’re off! The main reason this blog got started is because I find myself wanting to join the hype and blog about something. But rather than keeping an online diary where visitors can read what I had for breakfast I prefer writing about something other people may find interesting.

I’ve been photographing for about 4 years now, and lately I notice a steep increase in DSLR fans around me. For those, and for you, I’d like to share what I think I know, and what I’m up to.

When I’m not working, which is pretty rare, I like to go out with my bag-o-camera-accessories and my beautiful wife to take pictures of .. well, pretty much anything we come accross. Living in Amsterdam should leave us with lots of great photo opportunities, but we find ourselves going to ‘nature-ish’ spots most of the times like the nearby lake and the Amsterdam Forest.

Lately I’ve beginning to pick up an interest in photographing people as well though, so I think we will spend some more time in the busy city-centre soon to see what we can capture there.

My current bag consists of:

Canon EOS 20D. I upgraded to this 3 years ago after my first camera, the 300D Digital Rebel and it’s still my favourite toy.

Lenses

Tamron 90MM Macro.

I use this one, obviously, for all the macro photography I do. The lens is amazingly sharp, and one can get really close to the subject. Even closer if you’re as brave as my wife and not at all afraid of hairy spiders

– REST FOLLOWS

So what’s AV mode.

Here a bunch of text. And then some more.

You see all these bigger companies who only just discovered “The Internet” a few years ago and have created (yet another) department within their crazy office-structure to deal with anything that’s _supposed_ to be “hip and trendy”.

And this in essence alone creates two problems that make for Complication Galore.

For one, they’re big companies.
Any self-respecting big company has an elaborated style-guide in which they are not only both restrained themselves but also restraining the hired agency in developing anything that’s not “5 years ago”. Web 2.something anyone?

Logos are to be used in exactly the dimensions stated. Colors are defined (and restricted) as is the combination of them, to what extend and in what context. Shapes and layouts must conform the way they were defined when they sat together the first time to make the fourty page booklet which defines their “style”.

Webdesigns change. Bigger, bolder, spacier. You have to be able to see webpages without wearing the 2001 nerdy internet-glasses. Not with the trusty styleguide they don’t. If it’s not in the book you will find yourself redesigning the pages until they match something they already got.

Web 2.0 functionality then? Not a chance. Remember, it’s about looks. The budget is blown on YouTube movies (eventually not shown on YouTube as it defies the brand of the company) and Virals (not the usual email ones, because that conflicts with office politics and undermines integrity of the product).

Second (mm, I was sure you have spotted more already) problem you wonder?
Remember that “e-department”? I’m not kidding by the way; that’s the commonly used ‘trendy name’ for them. Anyway, the fact of the matter is they got bugger all to say within the big office. They’re just there to “communicate” with the agency executing “their” project. If you want something “approved” it has to be shown to 8 people in just as many department who are sort of not sure what they’re approving.

(Just like you are unsure of what the hell you’re doing things for by the time you get a reply)

Result being concepts take weeks to be approved before things can actually be built. Just to be adjusted along the way. And of course, afterwards.

How is that for trying to keep up the pretence of being a hip, dynamic, going with it, young, fresh company. Well, I guess with all the constant changes to the original idea “dynamic” still goes.

Only thing a web-agency is left to do is producing the project the best they can conforming the best they can to match the standards. Making sure the whole thing doesn’t get “killed” at the very end. Wait, conforming? Standards? Where is the creativity gone ..

Solutions then? I’m not sure I can come up with anything else but … “don’t”

There’s very few well known brands out there that get “the job done”. But this is by going on a limb and trying ’something new’. And that’s taking a risk.

It either has to be something fun, shocking, relaxing .. and having very little to do with the brand/company itself; or something really useful.

The latter being reserved for the real companies who do know what the public wants on “the net” and actually have the knowhow and flexibility to make that work, big companies are left by the first one.

And yes, either the public receives it as intended (fun, shoc.. etc.) and just get a glimpse of the brand/product because of the URI or the small logo hidden inside. Or they dislike it.

Both are exposure. Both get your name “in the head”. Something being good gets sent through. Generating a viral effect; something bad works just the same, very bad works even better.

At the end of the day, I’ve yet to meet the first person that doesn’t buy a razor because they made a bad website.

And this is my blog. People who know me will call me a traitor, as I’ve been maintaining a passionate aversion against everything that is a “hype” on the net and life in general.

A blog is, amongst way too many things, todays buzzword. Everyone has one. You don’t need to know how a website works. All you have to do is go to <my_favourite_blogtool>.com and click the web 2.0 (there’s another one!) designed download button and you’re halfway there.

It’s part jealousy and part envy that I must share with autodidact developers. We learn the languages of the web to know how things work, why they work, and when they work best.

Nowadays all you need is have a random thought popping up in your head and “blog about it”. Your friends will visit your “website” on their daily browsing routine, leave some comments, and voila: you have yourself your very own community.

And yet here I am, writing a blogpost. Why?  Coz it’s fun!

I can leave my many webprojects aside for a bit …
Not worry about whether that PHP script I wrote is vulnerable to SQL injections.
Not worry whether my CSS class will show correctly in all modern browser.
Not worry whether I’ve optimised that page enough for SEO purposes.

Just ramble on about things that bother me. Things that surprise me. Even things I find fun (there must be a few).

So if you’re up for it, bare with me. And enjoy “Just another Wordpress blog”.