June 2005 Archives

Iceland beckons again in the coming weeks. I don't know if this should be in the photography section or somewhere else, as photography is not by any means the main point of the journey. I am absolutely captivated by Iceland, the nature, the culture and the people, and have been trying to teach myself some Icelandic when I really should be learning German.

It is maybe significant that when I was in high school, maybe 15 or 16, and we had to produce a multimedia presentation (quite something in itself, for 1976-ish), I picked the mythic Ultima Thule of Pytheas of Massilia as my subject. It was quite something, all teenage significant intonations set to Pink Floyd's Echoes. I remember that my classmate's judgements were mixed. Some liked it, some were not so happy with the decadant anglophile rock music. Funny how things come back to you.

Anyway, Iceland 2005 should be a less frantic experience than 2004. We're going to spend time in Skaftafell National Park, drop by Jokulsarlon, and head across the Highlands to Myvatn by way of Askja. Maybe head back by way of Kerlingjafoll.

Sure, I have packed cameras, the usual E-1 and Xpan combination, but the laptop will stay at home, in favour of a new Epson P2000 for backups. But if I was given the choice between not going and no photography, the cameras would stay at home.

I guess some nice photos might emerge, but for now I don't really mind...

[Posted from the scene with hblogger 2.0]

Some time ago I wrote a brief but complimentary entry about Andy Rouse. I'm beginning to wonder if he isn't actually being a bit of a pillock, to be honest. He's now heavily involved in Pixmantec's mega-hyped RawShooter, intially as a endorser, he uses nothing else (in which case I can understand if his sales are dropping off), but now apparently as a core member of the company - from Pixmantec's latest mailing: "Many of you will know Andy Rouse by his reputation as a wildlife photographer but few will know that before this career path he was a software marketer. This, coupled with his knowledge of RAW workflow and his digital profile in the press, has led to him working for Pixmantec as our Marketing Director."

Ok, but why do I think this makes him a pillock ? First because he is seriously undermining any claim he may have to impartiality, and since he does a fair amount of product reviewing, this matters. Amateur phtographers presumeably are supposed to feel comfortable that a product endorsed by Andy Rouse is a good one, rather than one in which he has a financial stake. Second, because he's associating himself with a product which is still unproven, relying on Rent-A-Quotes from fellow hacks like Martin Evening (author of the most over-rated Photoshop book ever, IMHO), is a shameless rip off of another product (CaptureOne) which Andy used to endorse...er, no, sorry, still does endorse ("C1 is my product of choice" -- at least get your ducks in a row, Andy), and which is so firmly entrenched in the Microsoft camp that their newsletter states:

"Be aware that links in Pixmantec NEWS may only function when using Microsoft Internet Explorer." (why ? so the embedded campaigns.com spyware can run properly ?)

A startup tech company like Pixmantec, even when it has another company (PhaseOne) to do their R&D for them, needs totally dedicated top-flight marketing (I know this from very painful recent experience). I cannot see how a pro wildlife photographer can supply this. And why does Andy Rouse matter ? Because he is arguably one of the very best wildlife photographers working today (personally I'd put him in the top 3, and joining one of his workshops is a recurring daydream), not because he used to be one of the UK's army of mindless corporate IT suits. Although his recent writings on Nature Photography Network indicate that his creativity is alive and well, I'd seriously examine my priorities if I was him.

Have I actually used RawShooter ? Nope. I'm a Mac user, and it doesn't run on Macs. I upgraded to Microsoft VirtualPC 7 expressly to try it, and it didn't work. Why not ? Dunno, CaptureOne works fine under VPC7 emulation, so I cannot see any good reason, save poor design, why RawShooter couldn't.

I'd get out and do some photography if I were you, Andy.