WHAT’S NEW – MIKE’S JULY 2018 UPDATE

In the spirit of Chris’ last post, I wanted to echo the acknowledgment that updates have been a little sparse of late on Photo Basecamp. However, this is not due to lack of content or activity. Both Chris and I have been busily traveling, taking photos and writing, all whilst trying to balance the family and work lives we have outside of photography.

I find this balance interesting. As a kid, I loved that only thing I had to do was get up, play, draw, and ride my bike over to Chris’ house. There was so much time – and it was spent filling it with creativity and fun. I miss this ability to just head over to a friends house unannounced, now there seems to be so much planning involved. Its something I have been trying to recapture more of late. With the sudden loss of my Father I have spent the last few months taking stock of whats really important to me. What I love doing, and with who, and even though I have all the normal adult responsibilities, I’m trying to make sure that they don’t take over and keep more time to just show up unannounced.

Whilst traveling, something my Mum would often say to my Dad was; all you do is look through a camera! But I think us photographers understand this as a positive. For me, photography, both when at home or traveling makes me much more aware and curious of my surroundings. I notice details I would have never seen, I get up earlier, stay out later and research my location much deeper that I would have just wandering though. The camera really helps me to look for something unique, it gives me even more reason beyond just the enjoyment of travel to see and experience new places.

Since moving to LA six years ago, I have used the camera as an excuse to be a tourist in my own home town and to travel much more than I have ever before. The following describes some of the events and updates I have partaken in recently, and have many more planned this year to write about in greater detail in the coming months.

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

I have already written about two of the three parts of the trip I took over Christmas where we visited Salzburg and Hallstatt, the final leg concluded with a week in Vienna. A city so rich with history and schnitzel and an incredible vintage camera store. I look forward to finalizing this article featuring its many magnificent churches, Christmas markets, architecture, museums and people.

MALIBU, CALIFORNIA

After six years of living in LA I finally visited Malibu and its amazing beaches. This will be an in-depth article of a number of fantastic photography locations only an hour outside of the city that rival some of the best beaches in the world. It’s also the first time I really played with longer exposures on the Leica M and different filters.

LEICA 90mm SUMMICRON f/2.0 REVIEW

Some of the most popular articles on Photo Basecamp are the reviews of Leica lenses. Because of this, I have a number of new articles coming that feature some of the most coveted and legendary lenses from this magical German manufacturer. I have not been a prime telephoto lens fan in the past, but I had heard so much about and seen such great images taken with the 90mm Summicron, I decided to finally see if it could seduce me.

THE LEGENDARY LEICA 50mm f/1.0 NOCTILUX REVIEW

When researching the Leica M I constantly came across images made with a lens that seemed to make the world into a magical place of painted bokeh. The Noctilux. There is of course the current feat of engineering, the Noctilux f/0.95, but as I already have a number of modern and very technically perfect Leica lenses, I wanted to see what something with a little more vintage flare could bring to my photography. This has been a review a long time in the making, as I wanted to really try and do this lens justice, and felt I really needed to spend some serious time, and with almost a year of nonstop use, I feel I am ready to write some thoughts about this unique lens.

LEICA Q REVIEW

This is an article that has come about in a way that was not how I intended. My Dad was a long time Fuji and Canon photographer. It’s because of him I have this passion. But he had always wanted a Leica. Last year, I decided to buy him one as a surprise gift, something of a thank you for everything he has done for me. After carrying this camera for the better part of a year and I had asked him to write a review for Photo Basecamp. Sadly, he very recently passed away and didn’t quite get to finish it. Now this camera has returned to me, it will be a mixture of photos and thoughts from both of us about this great addition to the Leica camera lineup.

LONE PINE, CALIFORNIA

Around two and a half hours outside of Los Angeles, Lone Pine is a small town famous for the huge number of western movies filmed in front of the imposing Mt Whitney backdrop. I had travelled through before on the way to Mammoth Mountain, but not fully explored the location properly. After spending a number of days there, it has quickly become one of my favorite places for photography.

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

My wife and I spent 10 days earlier this year in Amsterdam and a number of surrounding towns. It has been a city high on my bucket list for some time, and it really exceeded my expectations as such a beautifully photogenic city full of history, culture, windmills and great cheese!

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

Death Valley is a huge national park within a few hours of Los Angeles that is home to a number of amazing locations for landscape photography. I took a trip up there alone to just focus on photos and really explore the area including the amazing sand dunes and salt flats.

This, along with many more planned trips including Germany, Venice, London, Huntington Gardens, a Ferrari exhibition, more reviews, scanning medium format film, printing photo tutorials and much more is all to come.