Well I needed some inspiration.

 My photography isn't normal.   Well let me rephrase that. If you're coming from my website (timmahgraphy.com) it looks quite normal.  Its what people want and how i make what little money i do so i can keep buying gear. I admit i am a gear head. I don't need everything out there but if there is a chance it will make my life a little bit easier in the long term i am all for it.  My personal projects, which never seem to get past the page however are completely off the way and perhaps a little zany. 

For whatever reason I draw my inspiration from song lyrics. Everything tells a story. I guess its because i was introduced to bands like Alice Cooper, King Diamond, Iron Maiden, and those theatrical bands at an early age.  Throw in, to a lesser degree Guns N Roses (remember the Trilogy?) , Slayer, Pearl Jam and even Marilyn Manson.  Yes I am a rocker. I admit it.  Now I listen to some really weird shit like Amigo the Devil, Bridge City Sinners and Harley Poe. Which really push the narratives in their songs.

This is the stuff I get inspired by. My brain goes into interpretation mode and i start seeing these stories play out in my head.

Take for instance the song The Cannibal Within by Amigo the Devil.  one set of lyrics goes

"In a major turn of events
it turns out that I'm depressed
They say i use jokes and joy to avoid the realization
But I can find solutions for that
just turn on the radio and cock it back
I just don't wanna blow my brains out to Hotel California"

So something like this my brain goes into analyzing mode.  What would this look like as a photo? 

well lemme tell ya

I can see someone sitting in a one room apartment, hotel or something along those lines. With an overhead light just sitting at a table with a huge wall calendar with comedy dates on it as if this guy might be a comedian (jokes and joy)

I also see a record player or cd player in the corner with The Eagles greatest hits or the actual Hotel California album sitting against it or on top of it with a weapon in his hand. maybe an ashtray with a lit cigarette for good measure

This would also be completely done in low contrast black and white.  

But this is a small sample how my brain looks for ideas.  And i have this ability to do this with alot of songs where i just break down the visual end of it and try to covert it into a visual form rather than a mental form.  It probably helps (me at least) i was also part of the Mtv generation when they actually played music.

Its a blessing and a curse.

Blessing because i can come up with these ideas. A curse because conceptual art isn't in high demand.

But things are looking good this summer. So who knows. maybe ill get to create some artistic stuff this summer because at the end of the day. thats what fulfils me.

We shall see.

Miserable weather (rant)

 April Showers bring May flowers.....

Yeah lets talk about that.  I have lived in Central NY all my life. As much as i have tried to get out, it turns to be "Hotel California" and I can't ever leave and every attempt has brought me back.  To quote Metallica, "Sad but True".

Doing photography without studio space you have to rely on the weather to work to your advantage. Add the fact that if photography isn't your main source of income (mine accounts for maybe 1/4th if that...thus why it hasn't gone full time) the weather plays a major role into your success. So the extra challenge is, since it isn't full time and I do have a full time the "good" weather also HAS to be on a day off from my full time job.  Which, where I am, is on the weekends... Yes folks I have "banker" hours.  One of the reasons why i took that full time job so i can actually do shoots on the weekends. 

Lately however, the weather has had other plans....

My area currently has had 27 (after this weekend 28) STRAIGHT weekends of either Snow or Rain. Supposedly the extended forecast (and yes i understand the weather changes) has rain for next weekend AND the following weekend... So 30 straight weekends

Where are the May flowers? My motorcycle hasn't even left the garage yet (i had it out by the end of April last year).   

I can deal with miserable weekends but when it starts affecting cash flow it becomes a problem.  I think I just have to accept that Central NY is the new Seattle. Maybe the sunshine will come after i leave the area again lol

Sigma BF:....An Opinion.

 I just want to start this off is this is an opinion piece. NOT a review of the camera itsself. I want to make that clear before I go any further with this.

Now with that said.

Sigma is a company that has been around for a long time.  They make 3rd party lenses for the major camera brands and have a few cameras out themselves. But they are mainly a third party lens company that has worked with brands such as Canon, Nikon, Sony. They may or may not have lenses for Panasonic.

Recently they have released a camera that has everybody talking. The mirrorless Sigma BF.  They say it made the camera for simplicity.

It is a full frame, 25mp camera with 250 gb memory (internal) with a price tag of $2,000

Right off the bat :

Full frame: Great!

25 mp: For most people this is enough unless your doing empire State building size prints (or if you are a heavy cropper)

250 gb internal memory, however, is where it starts to falter right off the bat.   I am NOT a fan of internal memory (on anything). Just like i am not overly a huge fan of cloud media (storage, movies, music, important documents) While they have their purpose i will always want a physical version of some sort. Internal Memory while different i view in the same light. Being that it doesn't have SD/CF cards or anything like that my biggest concern (and should be with anyone) what happens if the camera breaks.  Well, you have internal memory. Most devices with internal memory would at least need the camera to turn on. Well if the camera suddenly goes kaput, you are SOL. At least with a sd/cf card slot the photos and videos would go to the card and you could pull the card out. YES, there is an opportunity for the card to be corrupted. BUT if its a good quality card 8/10 times you won't have to worry about it as much. I don't know what the reasoning was to not include a slot. I assume it was to keep things compact, it was not, however to keep costs down.

As you can tell from the photo ( both photos taken from Sigma.com) It does have a nice slim look to it and like Sigma said themselves they went for the simplistic approach to this. But again, for someone like me, it doesn't look like it would be something comfortable to hold for hours at a time . No reader display either.  It does have picture review on it

As you can tell its very simple and clean even with the button layout.   But it reminds me of the old Cybershot/ Kodak cameras when digital cameras were just coming out into the mainstream. So if anything, professional photographers were not the target audience for this.  Its more/less take a trip to the zoo or beach or prom type camera you would throw in your pocket with the right lens attached,  Aka, a tourist camera. But with that assumption it goes with the next problem.

The price.

The retail price of this camera is just about $2,000.  Now take a trip in my mind set on this before ya'll tear my head off.

for 2k I could get a Canon R6 and a lens and if i wanted to spend another couple hundred more i could get get the R6 Mark 2. Which is considered one of the best hybrid cameras out currently. Its a bit heftier, i could be comfortable holding it for long periods of time and it the SAME MP with MORE features built in. Again i do professional work on occasion so it would make sense but someone getting into photography, wouldn't they want something to grow into?

If professional photographers isn't the aim. it brings me to the casual photographer.  

I personally don't believe casual photographers will want to spend 2 grand on a camera they may pull out a few times a year. I could be wrong but I legit most would agree.  Especially when I can pull out my camera phone and get photos just as easily and a decent phone is around 1k and zooms are getting better all time on the phones.  Is the casual photographer the target audience then?

I have not seen photos from this camera also being i am not an influencer or any sort i probably won't ever have this camera (at this price point) which means i am purely going off assumptions and speculations. It is almost like Sigma fixed a problem that didn't exist. I would definitely be in on it if it was under 1k since i like my tech anyways. i just feel that for what it offers, what its trying to do and with the price that it is, that it doesn't even know what its identity is or who it is trying to appeal to.

What do you guys think?