Hey everyone.

Finally hit the 3k+ mark. Milestone for me.

Almost two years of browsing and posting.

Also won a 35mm rangefinder of the Net for 50 dhs. The ap. dial is not working, but hopefully I'll be getting it fixed soon. Thats what I love about mechanical cameras, no digital or electronic parts to be changed. Repair is simple and easy. Can be done at home, but better at the hands of a pro cause they have better warranty than you do.

Also got back the medium format roll I shot with my TLR. The negatives look promising. That was my first time using medium format, and little did I know that the same roll can shoot different sizes, and that depends on the camera support, not the film it self. A lot of overlapping involved in it. I can get about two or three images of it, just waiting for the photography professor to come back and check if we have medium format support on the enlargers in university so I can hit the darkroom. Been so long. I got a wiff of the chemicals last week and nostalgia hit me. I miss the dark room. And I will finally be able to tell if the exposure is accurate or not. The TLR is so old-school it doesn't have a light metre. Some of the shots were done by me guessing the exposure (which worked on some) and by developing an exposure system using the Nikon light metre. (For those who don't know, focal length, film ISO, and lens type has effect on exposure. The Sigma is a twin-dial tele-photo, with 7 lens elements; the TLR is a single twin-convex lens, so you have to compensate when working with a light metre from a TTL camera.)

For more info please let me know, it's not that complicated as long as you are using good lenses (i.e. either all plastic lenses or all glass lenses and not mixing plastic with glass. Plastic absorbs more light than glass, causing internal reflection, which in turn causes less light to reach the light metre, giving you a reading that will over-expose a shot on a glass lens if you were using the same readings.)

University is back, and hectic as hell. I'm repeating some courses from last year, and by god they have changed. So much to do, I haven't been able to keep my dA status up to date. I have over 900 deviations to check out. Thanks for all the comments and faves from everyone.

I recieved the shock of my life the other day. I was sitting with my fellow seniors and they asked me about my antique cameras.

THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT SLR MEANS. THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT TLR MEANS. THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT RANGEFINDER MEANS.

I almost got a heart attack. These are all senior students, most of them who are doing photography as a concentration. All they know is how to shoot in digital and strip saturation in PS. Fucking posers. No more soul can be found in photography anymore.

[link] It's a photography forum for the UAE! Yes I am surprised, and a bit pleased. That is until I looked at the forum. All digital users. Whatever happened to the passion of film for cryin' out loud? Everyone wants everything quick and fast. No one enjoys the process anymore.

Hopefully should be working with ~Ubenta on a portrait of ~Yaranak. Going to try a vingette technique which I have never done before. In the darkroom, with an enlarger, without Photoshop. Yes, I am going old-school.

I mean, I consider myself an artist. I trully do. I finally can call myself one. Call me arrogant. I don't give a fuck. You can go screw yourself. Where's the fun in just shooting digital and clicking a few buttons and then posting it? Not to mention the clarity issue that just about rapes every digital photograph there is. I mean, I get a camera, I use it EXACTLY the way I use a film camera, and I get the most HORRIBLE clarity on the face of the planet. Question that pops up is, should I use Photoshop to improve my shots? Does taht make me a better photographer? It's not taking the picture.

Erwin Puts once said "image-making has a very different connotation from picture-taking".

I remember in the darkroom I would just get the exposure right and shoot a picture. Then I would go develope the film and make the print. No fancy effects. Just get the contrast right. How? Get pure white and pure black in the same shot. If applicable. If you have middle gray in your picture, it means that you don't have any dark in your image. Then again, the 18% gray question comes up and that is where the photographer should be in control of exposure.

For those who don't know the 18% gray concept, basically all light metres give you a reading of "right" exposure. All this means is that the light metre will give you a reading where pure white will be shot at 18% gray, as in 18% of the opacity of black. This is also part of the zone system which Ansel Adams. He set down a zoning system which works with exposure, where each darkness has a zone. Zone ten is pure white, while zone zero is pure black. Zone V is middle gray, which is also 18% gray, or 18% reflectance. This is the master of black and white photography, as controlling the zoning system gives you the most versatile tool to shooting in black and white. This is also why when shooting colour and then stripping saturation you do not get the same tonal qualities as shooting directly in black and white.

For those who are wondering, I do not know how the zone system works for colour as I have never used it before, and never shot colour film in the purpose of keeping it colour.

Project work is running real slow. Today I am giving up the Nikon D70s and the 70-300mm Sigma to its rightful owner. Now I can't spy on people anymore. And just when Surfers of Dubai needed a photographer over the weekend. Too bad I can't go. Going to have to improvise. Maybe borrow a camera and a lens of a friend.

No camera came from Syria. The Zenit I was promised is in piece after an accident in the house hold. I may be able to scrape just enough money after paying a few people to get an SLR. Maybe even a Pentax Asahi (for those who don't know what the Asahi is, go look it up. It is one of the most useful cameras for people with low budgets as they give great quality for their price.)

Also, new Apple ads are out for the iPod. What will they do next? Yes I am a Mac whore. Fek you I don't care what you think. Mac just fecking rules. The commercials, the designs, the colours, the concepts. Out of this world. Go to [link] and check them out.

Till next time, hope this leaves you all safe.