The 3rd CP+ Camera & Photo Imaging Show, Japan’s largest camera show, will be held during Feb. 9-12, 2012 in Yokohama, at Pacifico Yokohama, a large convention complex and the same venue as last year’s CP+. Hopefully, it won’t snow on those days.

And also this year Manfrotto School of Xcellence will hold its seminars at CP+ Camera & Photo Imaging Show 2012.

CP+ is the premiere source of photo imaging information from Japan, the epicenter of the camera and photo imaging industries, for consumers and businesses all over the world.

The history of CP+ stretches back more than 50 years, tracing its origins to the first Japan Camera Show. This year marks the third year since the venue moved to Yokohama, an international port city and one of the largest cities in Japan.

CP+ has grown into one of the largest comprehensive camera and imaging shows in Asia. CP+ 2011 drew approximately 50,000 visitors, ranging from business users to casual consumers, and served as the stage for the introduction of 45 World Premier models (products announced to the world for the first time).

Seminars at Manfrotto booth:

Kazuyuki Okajima
February 9, 10, 11, 12

Your choice of equipment is determined by the theme of your pictures

Itaru Hirama
February 9

What photography can do now – Activities after the 3.11 disaster

Naoki Ishikawa
February 11

One single picture – The phantom mountain

Sinya Keita
February 10, 12                 

Photogenic Pure Line – Fashion photo session

The “Tripod Master” Challenge
February 10, 11, 12

The world of one second – compete on your shooting techniques

Learn more:  www.cpplus.jp/en/index.html

CP+ 2012

2012年2月9日～12日　パシフィコ横浜

ビジネスユーザーとコンシューマーを対象に、最新の製品や技術を紹介し、産業と写真映像文化のさらなる発展に貢献する国際的な「総合的カメラ映像ショー」　CP+に、マンフロット株式会社は出展いたします。

マンフロットブース内Manfrotto School of Xcellenceコーナー

セミナー / イベント（予定）

岡嶋 和幸 氏    2 / 9, 10, 11, 12

作品テーマで決まる機材選び 

平間 至 氏        2 / 9

いま、写真にできること

石川 直樹 氏    2 / 11

一枚の写真　－幻の山―

シンヤケイタ 氏                      2 / 10, 12

Photogenic Pure Line – 世界で活躍するファッションモデルとのリアルフォトセッション

目指せ！三脚マスター            2 /10, 11, 12

一秒の世界　－　撮影テクニックを競うゲームに参加しよう

It’s a New Year. What kind of commitments have you made to improve your photography? Maybe you’ve vowed never to precariously balance your expensive Macbook Pro on a card table ever again. Perhaps you made a promise to yourself that you won’t string your tethering cables through your bra strap anymore. Or, maybe you’ve decided to take that techie love affair with your iPad to the professional world and find a way to use it in your photoshoots.  Lucky for you, Tether Tools’ New Year’s resolution is to help you with all of the above!

Tether Tools has launched a promotion on Facebook called Tether Tools Top 20: Start the New Year off Right Facebook Campaign. The promo is designed to engage and educate the photography community about the benefits of shooting tethered and all the great gear that can assist in setting up the Ultimate Tethered Photography Workstation.

Every few days Theter Tools will share a new product on their Facebook page www.Facebook.com/TetherTools (and Twitter and Google+) and they’ll show how it works, what it does and explain the benefits each item offers to the workflow.

At the end of the promotion they’ll be giving away the Ultimate Tethered Photography Workstation to one lucky winner.  And it will include all of the products and tools they’ve featured in the contest.

Contest link: http://www.facebook.com/tethertools?sk=app_206805609346188

• Contest Rules & Information
  • The Tether Tools Top 20: Start the New Year off Right Facebook contest begins Jan. 11, 2012 and ends Feb. 24, 2012. A winner is chosen the week of Feb. 27 based on the quality of his/her answers and the number of times they participated in the contest (maximum one “share” per photo, per person). You must be a fan of Tether Tools on Facebook to win. Tether Tools employees, their family members, and Tether Tools Pros are not eligible to win this contest.

Uwe Statz, infected by the “Panorama virus” since 1998 will teach in the one-hour webinar the technical and practical fundamentals of panoramic photography and also discuss practical tips and tricks. The webinar will show which motives are suitable for panoramas and what equipment is appropriate and necessary. Contagiosity guaranteed!

Uwe Statz reports from the field:

• Notes on partial panoramas, 360 ° cylindrical panoramas & ball panorama
• Using Panoramas
• What you need to take panoramas / Equipment
• Camera settings
• Use of programs
• Scene Selection

Biography:

Uwe Statz, a photographer with claim upon perfection and creative experimentation, has spent over 10 years with panoramic photography and is now recognized as a specialist in this field. Called “Panorama Pope” in some media, he is known from many publications in professional journals and reports on panorama photography, which have been broadcasted internationally on TV. In addition to his daily work, Uwe Statz hosts workshops on the use of flash units, panoramic- and macro-photography as well as photographic techniques, which are of importance in this genre (for well-known companies like Manfrotto, Nikon and the Sigma Photo School).

Uwe Statz has done several unusual motifs in the area of panoramic photography, such as interior shots of refrigerators or team portraits realized. His macro images deal with the smallest things of the human environment and its isolated presentation. “With the macro photography, we learn about the environment with different eyes.  Depending on the perspective a house fly can look like a true monster.” Statz has worked for many years with the possibilities of lighting via dedicated flash. The single light setting has become an integral part of his work. Whether on the forest ground or in tree crowns, Uwe Statz does not shy away from complex designs to position his flashes.

More infos under www.panoramafotografie-statz.de and www.statz-fotografie.de

REGISTER HERE TO THE WEBINAR

Einführung in die Panoramafotografie mit Uwe Statz

Uwe Statz, seit 1998 vom „Panoramavirus“ befallen, vermittelt in dem einstündigen Webinar anschaulich und praxisnah die technischen und praktischen Grundlagen der Panoramafotografie und erläutert auch praktische Tricks und Kniffe. Er zeigt welche Motive sich für Panoramen eignen und welche Ausrüstung sinnvoll und notwendig ist.
Vorsicht: Es herrscht – vom Referenten durchaus gewollte – Ansteckungsgefahr!

Uwe Statz berichtet aus der Praxis:

• Erläuterungen zu Teilpanoramen, 360°Zylinder- u. Kugelpanoramen
• Verwendung von Panoramen
• Was braucht man um Panoramen aufzunehmen/Equipment
• Kameraeinstellungen
• Verwendung von Programmen
• Motivwahl

Zur Person:

Uwe Statz, ein Fotograf mit Perfektionsanspruch und kreativer Experimentierfreude, beschäftigt sich seit über 10 Jahren mit der Panoramafotografie und gilt mittlerweile als anerkannter Spezialist auf diesem Gebiet. In einigen Medien bereit als “Panoramapapst” bezeichnet,  kennt man ihn aus vielen Veröffentlichungen in Fachzeitschriften und Berichten zur Panoramafotografie, die bereits international im TV ausgestrahlt  wurden.

Neben seiner täglichen Arbeit leitet Uwe Statz Workshops u.a. zum Einsatz von Systemblitzen, zu Panorama-u. Makrofotografie und den fotografischen Techniken, die in diesem Genre von Bedeutung sind (u.a. für die Unternehmen Manfrotto, Nikon-School und Sigma-Foto).

Auch für die Panoramafotografie ungewöhnliche Bildmotive wie Innenaufnahmen von Kühlschränken oder Mannschaftsportraits realisiert Uwe Statz. Seine Makrobilder befassen sich mit den kleinsten Dingen des menschlichen Umfeldes und deren isolierter Darstellung. “Durch die Makrofotografie lernen wir die Umwelt mit anderen Augen zu sehen. Da kann schon mal eine Stubenfliege zum wahren Monster werden.“ Statz arbeitet seit vielen Jahren bei seinen Aufnahmen mit den Möglichkeiten der Ausleuchtung per Systemblitz. Die punktuelle Lichtsetzung ist dabei zum festen Bestandteil seiner Arbeiten geworden. Ob am Waldboden oder in Baumkronen, Uwe Statz scheut auch nicht vor aufwendigen Konstruktionen, um seine Blitze zu positionieren.

Weitere Infos unter www.panoramafotografie-statz.de und  www.statz-fotografie.de

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now here

REGISTER HERE TO THE WEBINAR - *** The webinar is in German language

This is Mirko Sotgiu telling us about his travel with his Gitzo tripod: “When I was preparing my journey to create a report about Iceland, I found myself in the classic dilemma of the photographer: the weight of equipment, if this equipment will be enough strong and what I will actually need during this king of journey.

The tripod is one of the bulkiest and heaviest elements of your luggage, and I can assure you that sometimes even 200gr can make a difference of a few hundred euros in the cost of the flight.

Obviously a serious tripod, big and good enough to be really suitable for a photographic expedition cannot be too small or light. Just think that, in a country like Iceland, the strong wind could shake terribly your tripod if it is too light compared to friction with the air. Furthermore, there are a lot of very different subjects, from landscape to small plants that survive in the lava deserts, which need, to be photographed, a tripod that can support your camera in a suitable manner in a variety of situations.

Summing up the characteristics of the tripod that I have to choose, in my particular case, it must hold up a Nikon D700 with many different lenses, from wide-angle lenses up to the most challenging 105mm f/2.8 macro and 300mm f2.8. This last one, with the Flashes and the whole system, gets to weigh more than 8kg.

So, I needed a tripod + head system, capable of supporting more than 8kg, and that can be lowered up to be close to the ground as well as that can be positioned freely among rocks or holes.

Last but not least, it had to be easy to close and to handle, even working on the fine sand of the lava desert, amid the ice and the cold of Iceland.

My choice was the tripod Gitzo Series 2 Carbon explorer 3s G-lock, very versatile, with maximum and minimum height suitable for images that I wanted to shoot and able to be packed in your checked baggage without weighing too much.

The tripod has responded very well during a session of macros amid the lavas of Hverfjall, but that was just the beginning, because by going to the centre of the island both the wind and the dust rose considerably.

Water and lava create a very fine mud, but despite this, I managed to clean the tripod just with a cloth, and even if some traces remained on the tripod, I could close and reopen it without any problems.

On the glaciers, it was not always easy to place the tripod. The moraines are very steep, but they are also the place where a lush native vegetation grows. The leg angles of the tripod can be fixed at any angle from 0° to 90°, and the centre column tilts and rotates freely to any position, so I was able to shoot freely, focusing just on the subjects, despite the uncomfortable positions often on difficult, steep or crumbly soil” – Mirko Sotgiu.

Click here to see all the photos

Enrico Bossan, photographer and editor and head of Photography Department of Fabrica and Director of Colors Magazine, proposes the First Edition of a Master Class designed to develop photographic creativity.

This course is founded on the idea that photography means expressing a personal vision about the world. To be able to represent the reality that lies in front of the lens, it is necessary to focus this “intellectual” vision. The MastercClass is designed to provide fundamental guidelines to help you identify your own vision, express it within a photographic project and promote it to a wider audience. Thanks to the long experience as a developer of talents, Mr. Bossan is able to offer a custom path to enhance creativity and the photographic language of each participant.

Method
The Master Class sessions will consist of both group and individual work. Starting form theoretical teaching, while in group the work is thought to provoke in depth discussion among participants. During individual work, participants will develop their project with the tutoring of Enrico Bossan.

Target
The Master Class is aimed to people who love photography and dedicate time to it either for leisure or as a profession.

Program and Dates

Session I – ” The project idea” (March 31 – April 1 / 9.30am to 5.30pm)
To illustrate the concept of a photographic project, the method and πits implementation stages, the first session offers an overview of works by contemporary photographers. Each participant’s potential skills, will be evaluated in order to put him/her in a position to better develop their project idea.

Session II – “Analysis of the first results” (12 to 13 May / 9.30am to 5.30pm)
In the second session, participants are invited to present their project idea. By receiving comments and suggestions from Bossan and the rest of group, they will benefit advices to control weaknesses and strengths of their idea. Based on needs that have arisen in the first session, further teaching on photography language and styles will follow.

Session III – “Critical Reading Project ” (September 22 to 23 / 9.30am to 5.30pm)
In the final session each individual photography project developed will be reviewed and shared with the group, for an overall assessment of coherence by Enrico Bossan. Finally, participant will acknowledge several options available to promote their photographic work in a professional manner. All work will be presented in the blog of the MasterClass.

Participation slots and Costs

The course allows you to attend either just the first session or the entire MasterClass (3 sessions).

• MasterClass: 490 € – 10% discount for students

• First session: 200 € – 10% discount for students and under 25.

A scholarship is offered to a participant 25 year old or younger, after submitting a photography project idea that will be considered valuable. 10% discount for those registering before January 31 with prepayment.

Location
The MasterClass sessions will be held at the Enrico Bossan studio: Via Pellizzo, 39 – PADUA, Italy

Enrollment
For information and registration please send an email to: bossanmasterclass2012@gmail.com

The MasterClass is open to a maximum of 10 participants. Registration will close on February 28.

www.enricobossan.com
www.enricobossan.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/groups/Ebmasterclass

This new issue of Urbanautica for Manfrotto School of Xcellence is taken from the special interview with Peter Brown. Peter Brown has photographed the open landscape and small towns of the Great Plains for the past twenty-five years.  He is the author of “Seasons of Light”, “On the Plains” and the recently published “West of Last Chance”, a collaboration with the novelist Kent Haruf which won the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize.  His work has been collected by The Menil Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, MoMA New York, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art among others.

«For a set of reasons I don’t fully understand, I’ve always been drawn to high, wide and open American spaces.  Out of simple curiosity I went to a therapist once to get at the root of this (I’d been photographing the High Plains for a decade or so at the time) and the man told me not to worry about it, to be thankful for the passion. Just follow your interest, he said. And there’s a nice line from Rumi: “Don’t analyze enthusiasms.”

«The draw is both cultural and geographical.  And the combination has always felt right.  It’s felt right as a place to be: there’s a sensuality to the air and the dry heat that’s wonderful; there’s a drama to the weather and a seductiveness to the light and color that I can’t get enough of.  And it feels right as a way of expressing what I want to say about the America I live in, and my general attitudes toward life. Everything I need artistically is on the Plains, and so I continue return. My friend Kent Haruf wrote in our collaborative book West of Last Chance: “You have to know how to look at this country.  You have to slow down.  It’s not pretty, but it’s beautiful.” So I go, both to replenish myself and to give voice to the feelings that the space evokes».

«I began creative life as a writer and I’ve continued to write as well as to photograph.  And I have friends who are writers – and I think the connection between writing and photography (particularly fiction for me) can be strong.  Walker Evans, at the end of his life talked of a “lyric documentary,” a style that bridges subject matter with a photographer’s psyche.  And I like that.  My work is not just about place in a New Topographical way, it’s also about feeling and interpretation. In my first book, Seasons of Light (a book composed primarily of interiors) I wrote with each image.  And  I “read” each image and wrote about the photographs in a variety of ways.  The point I was trying to make was that photographs are multi-faceted things and can end up having wildly different meanings depending on the mind engaging them, even a single mind at different times».

www.urbanautica.com

www.petertbrown.com

]]> http://manfrottoschoolofxcellence.com/2012/02/01/urbanautica-a-special-interview-with-peter-brown/feed/ 0 http://manfrottoschoolofxcellence.com/2012/02/01/luca-abete-onephotooneday/ http://manfrottoschoolofxcellence.com/2012/02/01/luca-abete-onephotooneday/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:30:56 +0000 Manfrotto http://manfrottoschoolofxcellence.com/?p=9380

OnePHOTOoneDAY is an idea of Luca Abete that from 1 December 2010, decided to “stop” a fragment of his day every day take a picture and posting it, then, on the social networking world of photography Flickr.com.

An exciting challenge to the sound of clicks that thrives on ever new contexts, punctuality, perseverance and a mad love for the image. A snapshot of a day to tell a moment of joy, of wonder, a moment of his life as a reporter or personal, to surprise and reflection, and irony convey social messages.

While it is accurate and clear two distinct photographic techniques, or self-portrait and the photo-daily, in each of the “Pictures Pledge” does not emerge in any way wish to express a product in line with the “manual of good photographer “. Simply extending an arm towards himself, and aiming the camera, a photo essay was created capable of returning, day after day, photo after photo, the life of one of the most beloved of TG satirical Striscia la Notizia – Canale 5 Mediaset.

The spirit of the project is synthesized by the same Luca Abete in his thought:

“If are wrong, decentralized, poorly-exposed or bust do not blame me.
I’m not a photographer.
I love just taking pictures.
Because time flees and somehow I want to try to stop him.
Because the memories after a while ‘is watered down and I do not want to lose them.
Because I want to talk and tell me.
Why do so many things to say and I want to tell you even so …”.

The new site.

Onephotooneday.it created with the aim to synthesize, in a rational and functional form, the photographic project of correspondent for Striscia la Notizia, going to support the photo gallery on Flickr already. All photos, updated daily, are arranged in a grid, in chronological order, to form a “wall” of “pictures in a pledge” which grow to a simple mouseover. These small pieces are accompanied by a brief photo caption of the author.

The site is optimized for different media (smart phones and tablet) and OS (Android, OSX, Windows), was produced by LAB Production and created by the webmaster Attilio Urciuolo.

The Partners

Started just for fun, over time, the photos in the photo, OnePhotoOneDay has managed to fascinate the curious and passionate about photography, involving also the experts who have already given to the role of Luca national spokesperson of the movement, increasingly large and considered by producers, “No Photography”.

Today, the picture quality is guaranteed by the partnership with a leading brand in the world of photography as Nikon, who enthusiastically put the top of its production in the hands of Luke which never abandons his Nikon J1, a jewel of digital photography.

Another companion of “clicks”, among the first to believe in the goodness of the idea, is the Manfrotto brand, media and supplier of technical equipment necessary to help Luca to make his shots daily.

The army of supporters from the institutional side includes the FIAF (Italian Federation of Photographic Associations) and the technical part, the young and dynamic company FlyNetAdv creative, advertising manager of the project.

Contacts

For more information about the project OnePhotoOneDay and Luca Abete:

Press Office Luca Abete

info@onephotooneday.it
contatti@lucaabete.it
www.lucaabete.it
www.onephotooneday.it

Visit the Fan Page!

“]

HUNT [Kenya, Masai Mara N.R. Canon EOS 5D Mark II - Canon EF 100-400mm f/4,5-5,6L IS USM - 1/8 sec a f/29 - +2/3EV - ISO 200 - 400mm

Manfrotto School of Xcellence congrats with Stefano Pesarelli for his photo “Hunt” which has participated to the National Geographic Photo Contest 2011 by winning an honorable mention.

More than 20,000 photographs were submitted to the contest from over 130 countries, with professional and amateur photographers across the globe participating

“I personally believe that, beyond the formal representation of reality, mediated by the technical instruments necessary to fix an image in time, photography is made of insights. The shot is the last act of image capturing and in many ways the easiest part of the whole process.

I was on safari within the Masai Mara National Reserve, in Kenya, when I met a family of three cheetahs slowly moving from a territory to another. I decided to follow them knowing that, probably, it would not lead to anything, but light was good and this was already a good reason to continue.

All of a sudden, in the distance, an adult male impala was ruminating in the grazing afternoon sun.

Then I realized that something might happen, so in an instant I left the cheetahs and I approached the impala to get to the hot spot of the scene with the best light conditions and perfect backgrounds. 

My aim was to focus on the crucial instant of hunting.

I had two possibilities: photographing the hunt with very short shutter times or deciding for a panning effect. The second choice seemed difficult to me, but should be taken into consideration, so I closed all the diaphragm, I checked exposure and the shutter speed of 1/8 sec. seemed more than enough to follow the fastest mammal’s run.

Waiting, what for a nature photographer is the crucial part for an excellent shot, had begun.

I just had the time to think that a panning effect would probably allow me to have an evocative image and a rigorous conceptual structure when in an instant the cheetah launched to hunt, I lifted the camera and started taking photographs. 

It was all very fast, just a few seconds and the impala succumbed in the cheetah’s claws.

It was all over, was no use continuing to take photographs at the plain final. I had the shot in the display of the camera, I was very excited.

This panning effect, even in its imperfection, with the chromatic harmony of the background, with all the needless information eliminated and the luck of having the big cat’s lifted tail in symmetry with the impala horns, brings the observer inside the hunting without distractions” – Stefano Pesarelli.

Photo Location: Kenya, Masai Mara National Reserve

Click here to have more info