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| Drenton
Drenton
[4919546]
[2007-06-10 08:05:51 +0000 UTC]
(New Zealand)
# Statistics
Favourites: 16297; Deviations: 125; Watchers: 230
Watching: 270; Pageviews: 55455; Comments Made: 3854; Friends: 270
# Interests
Tools of the Trade: Canon EOS 400D, 430EX flash, 16-35mm f/2.8 II, Photoshop CS5, Leica M6, 35mm summicron version 2# About me
Current Residence: Auckland, New Zealand# Comments
Comments: 3875
HEY I remember back when I first saw your dA and I only knew you as 'that one person Marina may or may not know', and I was like.. too lazy to watch ya or whatever, and then eventually I knew you slightly better but then thought it would be awkward after being aware you existed for so long.
WHAT I'M SAYING IS I'VE BEEN MEANING TO WATCH YOU FOR AGES. both your accounts, it looks like! suppose uni is keeping you from submitting too much but that's ok. I do hope I get round to dropping some feedback on your older things.
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Part of me doubts that you still frequent here, but keep in touch Jaz
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Amazing gallery!
Though I guess I should apologise for the 'fave and run' style of appreciating your artwork, without bothering to comment. But well... Your photos are simply amazing. And inspiring as well.
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All's good! Graduating in February 2012 - can't waiiiiiit! 
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Hey, have you seen this guy's stuff? He's only been here about a month, but his photos are quite refreshing:
~dannyst
(Tell me if this is annoying yet. 
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Yeah, I saw it a while back when it was making rounds on internet portal sites as something along the lines of "x# beautiful portraits of strangers". Most of the comments on the photos were accusations of fat hating and racism, reading the title as "portraits of beautiful strangers". No one listened when I pointed out the sentence structure meant something different. Ah well. One day I would like to do shots like that though
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That's a great idea! You have the charisma to go up to people and ask them that.
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I want to thank you again for all of the advice.
You'll likely see this eventually, but I saw this and thought it was to your tastes:
[link]
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I miss snow. :c
This is a great photo!
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Hey, Marina pointed me out to your excellent work. I see you like to do spontaneous street photography with strangers as subjects.
I'm pretty shy about walking right up to people I don't know, so I have to ask:
How do you do it? Like the homeless person, how did you ask him if you could take his photo?
And the girl getting off the tram, she was looking right into your camera. Did you feel awkward after you took it?
Have you ever had anyone give you an ugly look after you took their portrait? Has anyone ever walked right up to you and tell you to delete it?
Sorry, so curious. I don't have those kind of balls.
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Well, I went up to the homeless people and asked them if I could take their picture. I gave each of them a couple of dollars after taking their photos, or some food. Only Edmund was shrewd enough to ask for payment, and he was pretty surprised to receive it. Nowadays every time I see them I try check up on them, see how they are.
(Time for a ramble)
With the girl, I was actually pretty stoked about the thousand yard stare to be honest. I had shot a few rolls of film which didn't feed correctly, so they came out blank, and I took a shot similar to that on one of those blank rolls where it was just some guy coming out of the train who didn't notice me. So I felt a tad awkward when I first looked at the shot of the girl, but I'm glad she stared.
I've never had someone ask me to delete a photo of them. Heck, the only time anyone has ever made scene of it was when I was photographing someone else and they happened to be in the background. There was this man, I don't know where he was from, I always assumed Russia, who did street performances using these doll-puppet things. Every time me and my friends saw him we felt that it was something special because we only ever saw him once a year. I took a photo of him doing his thing, and this drunk guy sitting on a bench behind him started yelling at me as I walked off. I wasn't too bothered by it though, I have a fast walk at the best of times and that was back when I listened to music every time I went out shooting.
It's tough getting into it, I know.
And most people will recommend that you shoot with an expensive rangefinder system. Heck, I recommend it too (Never owned a rangefinder myself though but I did use one at once for a portrait of a photojournalist). But any camera is sufficient. I pretty much only shoot with a 400d and a 16-35mm these days, and let me tell you, that really isn't a stealthy combo. I used to shoot film on a little generic SLR (Pentax k1000 clone) and a shitty little 50mm, and I usually felt a little more comfortable doing street with that. To be honest, any camera can do the trick quite well. My personal favourite street photographers are Severin Koller and Chris Weeks . Read Week's ebook, Street Photography for the Purist . Then ignore what he says about film and leica cameras being the only thing to shoot with. Why? Watch his documentary, Documenting The Human Condition and smile softly knowing that the subject didn't notice the giant 5D mark 2 cameras being used to film the darn thing
As for technique, just make yourself shoot. Use a wide lens so you don't HAVE to point it directly at the subject, force yourself to get a shot, even if you are too late. Just get into shooting publicly. Watch how they operate in the video. It's usually not that subtle. Just shoot with confidence, because in most countries, you are allowed to do street shooting. Shoot, pretend it's your job. Just do whatever you can to get into that mental space where you know that street is a-okay.
TL;DR
Click the links brah
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Whoa, thank you for your thought-out reply. You know, I almost didn't ask if anyone asked you to delete a picture you'd taken of them, because it came to mind that you might not typically shoot digitally. Now I know.
I'd like to invest in a DSLR. I'm not positive which to get. There seems to be a Canon/Nikon battle amongst photographers. Hmmm.
Do you have a preference of digital or traditional?
You seem to have a way with words and people. Do you think you would like to take your love for photography a step further and go into filming? Journalism, traveling documentary...?
(If we keep this up, you can start putting these questions into a FAQ lol...)
Thank you for the links, I especially liked Week's "Human condition".
Your words (especially the last bit) Is really inspiring, you know.
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To be honest, if I could get my head around film costs, I'd be fine shooting film for the majority of my work. But the way I came to learn finance, I learned to always seek the item which had the lower cost to run. When I have disposable income I may work towards getting a film load-out, but that'd be detrimental to me at the moment, what with my saving for the next 5D model, which by the time I'll have enough to pay for, will be the un-announced mark 3
But film has the lovely feel to it. The dynamic range makes me jizz in my pants. And I never had the chance to use the film that everyone praises. I was using the technically superior but aesthetically inferior t-max instead of tri-x, and Fujifilm's point and shoot Superia 800 film. Velvia 100 with a wide aperture, now that's something I wanna try.
Don't buy into the Canikon wars. Each brand is just as good as each other. Nikon didn't have such a good start in the digital game, so Canon got a little sloppy. Unfortunately for them, Nikon got their act together real good, and that means Canon's gotta pull finger and work on doing their best instead of just pumping pixels into their sensors. The reason I picked Canon was because I was introduced to photography through the movie War Photographer, which follows James Nachtwey (Who was my initial inspiration for photography and someone I think you should check out. If you watch the movie, have subtitles, the majority of the interviewees are German), who's a Canon man, and at the time, the only cameras I could afford were the Nikon D40 or D40x, and the EOS 350D or 400D. I picked the 400D because it was the freshest Canon, and unlike the crippled Nikon entry bodies, it had full functionality with the entire EF and EF-S range of lenses.
Go for whichever brand feels best in your hand ergonomically, and that produces the tones you like, that's in your price range. I recommend going into a store and trying out the cameras personally before making a pick, something which I didn't get to do (I'd have probably gone for the Nikon if I had held both though, not a fan of the grip on my 400D). Both brands produce top notch lenses (Although I think Canon may have the slight edge with their primes and weather sealing), and at the end of the day that's really what counts because bodies come and go, but a lens you buy now will still work in 20 years time (if they haven't changed the lens mount). Until you have a few top notch lenses (The poor man pays twice), I wouldn't really bother getting a high end camera. For Canon that'd be the 60D, or whatever Nikon's equivalent is. Most of your cash should be going into the lenses until you've got the kit you feel that you'll need. If you think there's even the slightest chance you'll want to get a fullframe camera, do not waste any money on a digital only lens.
Type of camera only really matters if you have a type of shooting in mind. A dSLR will be a jack of all trades. Quite capable of just about everything, but only really having the definitive edge in sports and macro. A rangefinder will be best for street, and can be adequate for most things, but will be shit for macro and situations that need a telephoto. Medium format is incredible for portraiture, and large format dominates with landscapes.
Large format solely exists as film, medium format being affordable if film, but pretty costly if digital. Rangefinders are cheaper as film, with a Leica M6 being available for 500-1500 bucks. A Contax G2 (One of three autofocus rangefinders) can be had between 300-1000 bucks. If you're inclined towards digital rangefinders, a Leica M8 can be had for between 2000-3500 bucks (Which is pretty good considering how much they were at the initial release date). Just be warned, Leica lenses are pretty costly, but ALL Leica gear, from their oldest models to the M9, will be serviceable for life. Not under warranty, but they'll have the parts to fix it.
I'm not knocking SLR cameras mind you. They can take anything thrown at them, they work for everything and are excellent for landscape, portraiture, street, just about anything.
I'd love to do journalistic photography, I actually aim to do that for a living one day. Hopefully I pick the right university that'll help me get into that *knock on wood*. I probably wouldn't want to stay in New Zealand for that though. I know most people say that nothing ever happens where they live, but I think this is actually very true here.
As for shooting vidya, I'm actually in pre-production for a documentary right now, which is aimed at my age group and that has a message along the lines of never giving up hope. So far we've managed to secure interviews with a pretty well known (World famous in New Zealand 
I'll be honest with you, I'm pretty flattered you've asked me questions.
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I feel so since I can't mirror your words of advice with a huge wall of text. But, know that I'm keeping your name-dropping and tips in a note document for future reference.
I just don't want you to be offended and think "Geez, all I said and this jerk just says 'thanks'".
That last bit, about the project you're getting into... Very impressive. It sees to only be in its initial stages yet it sounds so exciting.
I'm especially interested in how the interviews with the refugees and hospice go. About the latter... I can't imagine how it feels knowing you're going to die. Basically... waiting for it.
Wait, you have that much knowledge on cameras and you're not even in uni yet? Are you completely self-taught?
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Oh, don't worry, I wouldn't expect a wall of text back. If that happened, we'd escalate and be writing a thesis on how to get into street photography. Most the stuff I've learned, if not all, comes from either experimenting or from reading online. My photography course has only really just allowed me to get recognition for it. But, I'm hoping that university will teach me a thing or two about studio lighting.
Places you can learn from are:
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link] (Even if they do sometimes sound as if they are stuck in the 80's)
[link] (Fantastic channel, mostly humorous)
[link] (Be warned, they can either be really helpful or really soul-crushing in their critique. Also you may start spouting off phrases and memes from there too)
[link] (Take him with a grain of salt. Or a bag of it)
As for name dropping, may as well add another to the list while I have the chance
Ah, but the terminally ill people are the people I'm most nervous about interviewing. Being so young also adds to the delicacy of the situation, I feel.
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amazing gallery
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Hows it goin, always a pleasure to find new artists in new zealand
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Excellent just browsing around DA at all hours
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[: sʞuɐɥʇ - - 
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[link] This jacket, from where did you obtain it?
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It's just a courdory jacket I got a few years ago from H&M back in Finland. I got an Ace of Spades patch from CyberShop, Finland's answer to Hot Topic, and stitched it onto the shoulder
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XD I thought I was the only guy who shopped at H&M! Thanks for the info. next time I go to H&M I'll look for jackets.
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How are you? We still must hang out sometime, and you must take to some sort of abandoned house somewhere. Keen to go photographing somewhere cool.
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