Wishing all the readers a great great new year and all the best for the years to come! Happy New Year 2014!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Happy New Year 2014!
Wishing all the readers a great great new year and all the best for the years to come! Happy New Year 2014!
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Rebranding Ted Guu Photo - 4 years in the making
It's been quite a journey since I've started 'everythingsphoto', almost 4 years ago. My photographic passion and a little bit of G.A.S had propelled me to write all sorts of reviews on digital gear. Not long after, companies have been pumping out new cameras almost every minute rendering me out of steam after long nights of writing and blogging. Since then, I've decided to cut down my site (canonupdate.blogspot.com - now Ted Guu Photo), reviewing and updating just on Canon gear, the one I'm most familiar with. Few months after waiting for new Canon gear to come out, Fuji came back unexpectedly with the X100, which had caught me right away to start a new site - fujixupdate.blogspot.com . Within days of searching the web and talking to film camera enthusiasts, film photography struck me and had changed the blog to what it is now - Ted Guu Photo.
As I've always been in love with photography, cameras and traveling, I'd transformed my old site into what it is today - Ted Guu Photo. For me, this blog is one important way to showcase my photographs during my travels and to share my love of vintage and classic cameras to the photographic loving community. With time not being on my side recently, the site became quite quiet so I decided to move on to build a new portfolio site on tumblr - tedguuphoto.tumblr.com. As things have changed over there on tumblr, so does this blog. So, with me back on track, continuing to write camera reviews as usual, I've made some design changes to the old Ted Guu Photo.
The new logo, inspired by the handwriting of my father, provokes a sense of fluidity which the old logo lacks. I feel that photography needs to flow, like art and anything else does. It cannot be constrained within a border, or in the case of the old logo, a circle. Below are some samples of the newly rebranded logo, typeface and themes for the new Ted Guu Photo. Enjoy!
The new logo, inspired by the handwriting of my father, provokes a sense of fluidity which the old logo lacks. I feel that photography needs to flow, like art and anything else does. It cannot be constrained within a border, or in the case of the old logo, a circle. Below are some samples of the newly rebranded logo, typeface and themes for the new Ted Guu Photo. Enjoy!
Friday, July 12, 2013
Zhangjiajie - A road to China Pt. 2
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| © tedguuphoto 2013 all rights reserved |
The second and last leg of my trip started at the foothills of Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a mountainous, once untouched piece of land where the famous movie 'Avatar' took inspiration for it's Hallelujah mountains. It was truly a breathtaking place. Standing atop the mountains, taking in the views is just amazing. The quartzite sandstone pillars, some at over 800m in height spread across the panoramic scenery with most covered in lush greenery. Between these stone pillars lie gorges of streams and clear flowing waterfalls, and together with the stone peaks, the Wulingyuan mountains became one of the most noted travel destinations in all of China.
From the heavenly Wulingyuan mountains, I came back down to planet earth to see some of the most amazing caves I have seen in my entire life; the Huanglong Dong caves. Colorfully lit with neon colors, this cave surely will impress anyone who enters. The Huanglong Dong caves, literally translated into 'the Yellow Dragon' caves was once a mystified palace of the Dragon King in ancient Chinese folklore. Today, it is one of the most impressive display of stalagmites and limestone pillars, lit in a myriad of colored neons (the photo gallery shot inside the caves will be featured in a separate series; 'Lights of China').
Although the caves impressed me, what impresses me more is the people who live their lives within these tourist attractions. It is amazing to see the wonder, the joy within them to share their beloved culture to us, the people of the world. One good example of this is at the Daxiagu National Park when I had a great chance to be in the accompany of a wonderful tour guide lady who loves to sing traditional Chinese songs. This last photo captures that precise moment when she expresses her love of her own culture to us tourists to be part of her Chinese experience. Just scroll down and have a look and you'll know what I mean.
Five days had gone by and it was my last day at the small town of Zhangjiajie. Staying there for almost a week, I must confess that Zhangjiajie is not like any old town in China. It's totally different from what you've seen, from what you've heard. Unlike many typical Chinese towns, Zhangjiajie is steeped in cultural and natural heritage. Today, a town like this is becoming rare in the People's Republic and so to catch a glimpse of this town or any other town like Zhangjiajie is a rare opportunity, and yes you guys should definitely make a visit.
(Click to view full-sized images)
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From the heavenly Wulingyuan mountains, I came back down to planet earth to see some of the most amazing caves I have seen in my entire life; the Huanglong Dong caves. Colorfully lit with neon colors, this cave surely will impress anyone who enters. The Huanglong Dong caves, literally translated into 'the Yellow Dragon' caves was once a mystified palace of the Dragon King in ancient Chinese folklore. Today, it is one of the most impressive display of stalagmites and limestone pillars, lit in a myriad of colored neons (the photo gallery shot inside the caves will be featured in a separate series; 'Lights of China').
Although the caves impressed me, what impresses me more is the people who live their lives within these tourist attractions. It is amazing to see the wonder, the joy within them to share their beloved culture to us, the people of the world. One good example of this is at the Daxiagu National Park when I had a great chance to be in the accompany of a wonderful tour guide lady who loves to sing traditional Chinese songs. This last photo captures that precise moment when she expresses her love of her own culture to us tourists to be part of her Chinese experience. Just scroll down and have a look and you'll know what I mean.
Five days had gone by and it was my last day at the small town of Zhangjiajie. Staying there for almost a week, I must confess that Zhangjiajie is not like any old town in China. It's totally different from what you've seen, from what you've heard. Unlike many typical Chinese towns, Zhangjiajie is steeped in cultural and natural heritage. Today, a town like this is becoming rare in the People's Republic and so to catch a glimpse of this town or any other town like Zhangjiajie is a rare opportunity, and yes you guys should definitely make a visit.
(Click to view full-sized images)
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Friday, July 5, 2013
News update #3
UPDATE
Hello people! I'll pretty soon be leaving to China for a month to capture some great shots on the streets of Beijing! So if there are some problems in uploading my posts then apologies in advance - it's probably gonna be the 'Great Firewall of China' that'll keep me away from blogging for a while, but that's ok! I'll try my best to keep them posts pumping weekly, so stay tuned and keep your eyes open!
Oh! Almost forgot, by the start of August I will be releasing the two-part Peking series soon with some travel info and of course, some stunning photos for you readers of the site to enjoy!
Happy reading and don't forget to 'Go out and take some photos™!'
- Best wishes, Ted Guu Photo 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Bronica S
Bronica S for Supreme?
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| CC Image courtesy of InvernoDreaming on Flickr |
1950's - 60's were the golden years of Bronica. The founder of the company, Mr. Zenzaburo Yoshino had been the owner of a camera shop for years. And with his time staying, and admiring all the camera he owned, he was not quite satisfied. His dream was to build a camera of his own, but not any old camera, he wanted to build the best camera he could possibly build, and build he did. In 1959, Mr. Yoshino released to the world the Bronica D. A camera that was build upon the improvements of the Hasselblad cameras, particularly the 1000f model.
The company moved on to release the Bronica S in 1961, bearing similar features to it's earlier counterparts; the D and the Z. The S, like the D is a 6x6 120 focal plane SLR that is able to shoot same images from the same glass. That said, the S do possess some improvements and differences to the D and the Z models, which from some perspective may consider it as a great deal, whilst some may consider it as a bad thing.
Well, lets start off here with the improvements upon the earlier D's and the Z's. First, the Bronica S has the ability to do mirror lockup via the mirror lockup button below the shutter release - that's a good thing. Second, the S also adds another cable release port at the bottom of the camera making the total number of cable release ports on the camera body to two (the other on the usual shutter release button). Last but not least, the S surprisingly won't let you waste a shot with the dark slide in it. The S will automatically pop out the dark slide half way to remind you to pull it out before taking your photo - quite neat ain't it?
The company moved on to release the Bronica S in 1961, bearing similar features to it's earlier counterparts; the D and the Z. The S, like the D is a 6x6 120 focal plane SLR that is able to shoot same images from the same glass. That said, the S do possess some improvements and differences to the D and the Z models, which from some perspective may consider it as a great deal, whilst some may consider it as a bad thing.
Well, lets start off here with the improvements upon the earlier D's and the Z's. First, the Bronica S has the ability to do mirror lockup via the mirror lockup button below the shutter release - that's a good thing. Second, the S also adds another cable release port at the bottom of the camera making the total number of cable release ports on the camera body to two (the other on the usual shutter release button). Last but not least, the S surprisingly won't let you waste a shot with the dark slide in it. The S will automatically pop out the dark slide half way to remind you to pull it out before taking your photo - quite neat ain't it?
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Konica Hexar AF
Distinctively the best Point & Shoot for street photography.
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| CC Image courtesy of wintoid on Flickr |
With autofocus abilities and A/P exposure modes, the Hexar AF offers fast operation on the streets, much faster than the old, traditional rangefinders. In real world use, the AF is quick enough to snap people at walking pace, but locking the AF at a certain distance and snap away like you would with old manual focus lenses is much more practical than you would with the Hexar's laggy AF.
Speaking of lenses, the Hexar AF sports a superb 35/2 Hexar lens which was reputed to be an exact copy of the non-ASPH. Leica 35/2 Summicron. This 7 element in 6 group lens produces image quality on par to that of the Leica but drops in terms of bokeh performance as it seems to lack the dreamy Leica character that makes the images stand out. The Hexar lens will go up to f/22 with the closest focusing distance of 0.6 meters; not great, but good enough for street photography.
The Konica Hexar AF has been dubbed 'the quietest camera on the planet'. This is by no surprise as it's 'silent mode' works brilliantly in reducing the motor noise when advancing the film. The leaf shutter on the Hexar is also notably quite, even more so than the discreet mode on the modern digital Leicas' which requires you to walk away from the subject to release that rather noisy re-cocking sound after you've pressed the shutter. Apparently though, the silent mode was disabled by the factory on the silver models which is a shame, but re-enabling it could be done through some rather complicated programming steps.
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Monday, June 17, 2013
Zhangjiajie - A road to China Pt. I
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| © tedguuphoto 2013 all rights reserved |
Today, people come to except China's unbeatable power. This sovereign nation, driven by the government's vision to revolutionize a once poor communist country into a rich and powerful nation triggers it's people's desire to build and improve upon this prosperous country. From the east coast to the mountainous west, China's development had reached into every corner of the nation, seemingly filling up the gaps of land with airports and cities. Now, it's very own history, 5,000 years of it along with it's nature and other nuisances to it's development projects had been seemingly disappearing, day by day, to pave way for the 'New China'. So, it is not difficult to imagine China as one big factory with no room for history and nature to survive. But here, a small town of Zhangjiajie, room was still available for nature and history to flourish in harmony, for the tourists and the population of China itself to escape from the bustling cities into a new, untold corner of the nation of China.
After I had landed in the city of Changsha, my first destination was Fenghuang Village. Built in the Qing Dynasty, it was one of the oldest living village in China, yet rarely do we see the remnants of the old lifestyle of the Miao people. This, apparently is caused the 'Miao diaspora' which led to it's people to spread across the lowlands of southern China. Despite there being tons of pubs and restaurants colorfully lit by the neon lights dominating the once beautiful poetic scenery, we can still catch a small glimpse of the culture that had long lived with the Miao people since the village was first erected 400 years ago. Along the Tuo River, we can still see local people using it as their laundry, hitting and smashing their clothes along the banks of the river. Boats, like the ones used back then is still operational for tourist to see the deeper end of the village where the poet Shen Congwen had resided and crafted his famed poetry, making his hometown village well known to the greater public.
It was quite a shame I had to leave Fenghuang village behind. There, I had found a spot so peaceful you could literally hear nothing but the rustling leaves of willow trees. The weather was cool and the view was extraordinary. That spot where I sat was well away from those Chinese tourists and that infamous, uninviting smell of smelly tofu; it was a very serene place, a place indeed worthy of a visit.
Well, I've heard many things about Mt. Tianmenshan both good and bad, so I decided to see it for myself. The pain I've went through queueing and hiking up to the mountains had paid off with one of the nicest views I've ever seen in my life. And yes, Zhangjiajie is one places in China you've got to see.
(Click to view full-sized images)
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After I had landed in the city of Changsha, my first destination was Fenghuang Village. Built in the Qing Dynasty, it was one of the oldest living village in China, yet rarely do we see the remnants of the old lifestyle of the Miao people. This, apparently is caused the 'Miao diaspora' which led to it's people to spread across the lowlands of southern China. Despite there being tons of pubs and restaurants colorfully lit by the neon lights dominating the once beautiful poetic scenery, we can still catch a small glimpse of the culture that had long lived with the Miao people since the village was first erected 400 years ago. Along the Tuo River, we can still see local people using it as their laundry, hitting and smashing their clothes along the banks of the river. Boats, like the ones used back then is still operational for tourist to see the deeper end of the village where the poet Shen Congwen had resided and crafted his famed poetry, making his hometown village well known to the greater public.
It was quite a shame I had to leave Fenghuang village behind. There, I had found a spot so peaceful you could literally hear nothing but the rustling leaves of willow trees. The weather was cool and the view was extraordinary. That spot where I sat was well away from those Chinese tourists and that infamous, uninviting smell of smelly tofu; it was a very serene place, a place indeed worthy of a visit.
Well, I've heard many things about Mt. Tianmenshan both good and bad, so I decided to see it for myself. The pain I've went through queueing and hiking up to the mountains had paid off with one of the nicest views I've ever seen in my life. And yes, Zhangjiajie is one places in China you've got to see.
(Click to view full-sized images)
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Friday, June 14, 2013
5 digital cameras for street photography: 2013
Street photography is all about getting the right shot at the right moment, decisively capturing that exact action before it disappears. Street photography is quick. It happens as it goes, and yes, we street photographers needed the right tool for job. But what precisely is the right tool? Well, today, compact system cameras and even point-and-shoot cameras have been rapidly improving over the years with it's quality up to the standards of those professional DSLRs. Some CSCs apparently have been dubbed by photo enthusiasts and prosumers alike as one of the best choices for street photography, so much so in fact that they are infatuated by it's sheer quality that is delivered from a small package. Now speaking of street photog's first choice in gear, the Leica M is without doubt the number one on that list. But in this post, I will be talking in a more general opinionated situation where money wouldn't be of a problem in purchasing one of these 5 cameras for street photography:
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