The last cat photo was of Bo. Today is Luke’s turn in front of the lens. Today’s photos were taken with the Olympus Pen F and the Panasonic Leica 1.4/25mm wide open. Both JPEG photos are straight out of the camera with no additional post processing.

Having been taken with a lens wide open and not touched once exposed in any way, I’m certain that some will come through and turn their noses up at them, tsk-tsking over a lack of sharpness or proper exposure or color balance, or whatever. I chose to use them as they are because I no longer have any shits to give about what is and isn’t proper in digital photography.

When I speak of critics, I’m speaking of the hipster photographers, those same hipsters who are all into film (again) because of film’s analog “character”, meaning they have embraced film’s flaws, flaws they would never accept in digital. Although, to be honest, and quoting Mark Beebe, film has an exposure latitude (not to be confused with dynamic range) that gives it a nice analog quality when not abused. Unfortunately, whether digital or analog, too many abuse the original quality of either analog or digital in order to get that “look” that they think will set them apart from the crowd. I’m now at the point in my life where the photo is what it is.

A photo is a means to tell a story by itself, or to be part of a larger story. Tweaks to produce a look need to be dumped over the transom. If you want a look, learn to achieve it in camera. It’s the tweaking mindset that’s responsible for the ever increasing cost of camera equipment, as camera makers attempt to satisfy what they think their customers want. As a customer, I’ve been happy with the Olympus cameras ever since the original E-M5 was released. It’s the tweaking mindset that keeps asking for more out of the gear, rather than more out of themselves.

Luke of course is chill about the whole thing. He would much prefer that I leave him alone in his chair. He’s a shy soul, as is his brother.