Category Random Photography Stuff

“May you live in interesting times”

Dan Marchant 0 Comments Random Photography Stuff
Key To A New Chapter

I think it is safe to say that most of the worlds population have spent the first half of 2020 “living in interesting times” (as the old curse/proverb goes).

For me those interesting times have taken the form of Hong Kong’s anti-extradition protests, the covid-19 pandemic, a 6000 mile move to a new country, quarantine and a family illness…. which all adds up to my excuse as to why I haven’t progressed further with my current photography projects.

As we are now in Canada my “Neon Hong Kong” project will have to wait until I can get back there for a visit; which means focusing on other projects. Hopefully the key to our new home will also open up some new projects for the year ahead.

Site update – “Modern Life” project

Dan Marchant 0 Comments Random Photography Stuff

“Modern Life” is another of my Street Photography based personal projects that I have recently added to the site. The theme, as the name suggests, is modern urban life. Urbanisation and technology have increased the pressures and pace of modern life and this project attempts t0 capture the resulting feeling of loneliness and separation that can occur in the middle of a crowded city.

People rush past each other without ever pausing to connect. Shift working neighbours living within feet of each other hardly meet, while technology that could connect us, just as often separates us; distracting us during the little free time we have with the lure of it’s bright coloured screen.

https://danmarchant.com/portfolio/modern-life/

Rugby double header

Dan Marchant 0 Comments Canon EOS 5DIII, Random Photography Stuff, Rugby, Sport
rugby at stanley ho sports ground

Time for some fun from the lower leagues with a double header at Sandy Bay (Stanley Ho Sports Ground) the home of University RFC. Game one features a National League 4 clash between URFC vs CPM Gai Wu J with URFC winning 41-10.

Game two of the day was a KPMG Women’s National League 2 game between University Unicorns vs Comvita City Ladies. (awaiting score).

Texas bill aimed at limiting photography of the Police scrapped

Dan Marchant 0 Comments Legal, News, Random Photography Stuff

Good to see that Representative Jason Villalba of Texas has withdrawn the proposed law to limit the rights of people to photograph the police. Although I must say that the death threats it is alleged he received as a result of proposing the law are wholly unacceptable.

http://petapixel.com/2015/04/12/texas-bill-limiting-the-photography-of-cops-dropped-after-loud-public-outcry/

Lazy Journalist says something controversial about art… yawn.

Dan Marchant 0 Comments News, Random Photography Stuff

So Michael Jones, an art critic writing for the Guardian has said that Photography isn’t as worthy an art form as painting and doesn’t belong on a gallery wall.I was going to type up a long response but Michael Dooney has beaten me to it and said everything I wanted to say, which is just that Jones is lazy.

https://medium.com/@michaeldooney_/the-guardians-art-critic-jonathan-jones-is-a-lazy-journalist-5b1c6dba8639

Yes there is lots of bad photography that isn’t art (but thinks it is) but I don’t believe that good photographers set out to emulate painting any more than good TV producers set out to emulate cinema. Does watching TV give you the same depth of experience as cinema viewing. Maybe not in the sense of scale and awe that cinema can attain but TV is every bit as powerful when focused on what it does well. Great TV drama is every bit as important as great cinema and great photographs are every bit as important as great paintings.

Picking examples of bad photography and claiming they prove that Photography isn’t worthy as an art form doesn’t prove Jonathan Jones’ argument, it just proves he is a lazy journalist.

 

Sigma sells lenses with art included

Dan Marchant 0 Comments Random Photography Stuff

It seems the new Sigma Art lenses are well named as they come with art included. A fellow photographer and I were out looking at lenses and tried out the 35mm and 50mm Art lenses.

Not only are they fine lenses but, if you look at the images below you will see that the lens itself includes a piece of art. The lens coating produces a beautiful coloured display captured in these images.

The black and white portrait was shot using the 50mm Sigma Art Lens, while the shots of the 35mm Art lens were shot with the Canon 24-70 2.8 which is also a very fine lens.

danmarchant.com in black and white

Dan Marchant 0 Comments Black & White Photography, Random Photography Stuff

I am currently enjoying looking at the world in black & white. I have been developing something of a passion for black & white images over the last few years and this has been boosted by a couple of recent exhibitions here in Hong Kong. The Sundaram Tragore gallery recently hosted a stunning selection of images by Sebastião Salgado, while the AO Vertical Art Space hosted an exhibition of old and new works by Chinese photographer Ho Fan.

As a result of this I have decided to spend the next few months focusing on my black & white images. I have updated this site with a new b&w theme and am currently adding galleries of my b&w images. My colour images will doubtless return at some point but for the moment I will only be showcasing my b&w work.

The first three galleries are now up, namely…

Update: Since this post was written I have updated my site for a second time, with a new theme and an updated selection of images. The galleries that were listed here have now been deleted. What hasn’t changed though is my passion for Black and White…. in fact it has increased. Almost all the work I shoot for myself is Black and White. Landscapes, Architecture, and Street Photography. I do shoot some colour, mainly Food Photography and Sports, but in the main my passion is Black and White. As a result I now have an updated set of portfolio shots…

Update 2: The site continues to evolve as I do. It now includes my portfolio (top shots) in Street, Sports and Architecture as well as a selection of my photo projects.