Mission Accomplished - My Professional Reputation Is Restored

I´m very thankful for my friend who made me conscious about the debate about one of my documentary photos in a closed forum which he is a member of. His action made it possible for me to take immediate action, write a text and upload the original unedited photo in my blog. 

My professional reputation is very important for me because I work as a reporter and photojournalist every now and then. It´s very important for me that my readers can trust that I don't manipulate my photos or articles to make them more interesting. But high regions are never without storms and therefor it´s good to always be prepared for the coming storms. A good way to be prepared is to always play with open cards. And remeber that everything that we do in the dark will always come to light.

The picture that I wrote about in my blog yesterday is back were it belong. The mission is accomplished and most important my professional reputation is restored. I stood against the storm this time and I hope that I will stand firm against the coming storms of life by the Grace of God. Please let me say one last thing - Don´t believe in rumors! Please ask me first if you are suspicious about any of my photos or articles.

Text and Photo: © Mikael Good, All Rights Reserved

I don't manipulate my photos it's just the sensor that is broken

There are rumors on the net that the picture above that I sent to the Leica Oskar Barnack Award is manipulated. The rumors isn´t true. Please check with me first before you start to spread a rumour, cause there's always a explanation. As you can see in the lower right corner of the original photo below it´s the protective glass in my Leica M8 that is broken. And I had to use the clone stamp in Photoshop to get rid of the signs of the broken glass in the picture. I have to admit that i´m a really bad photoshopper and manipulation is definitely not my cup of tea. I only use the clone stamp every now and then to get rid of dust and scratches in digital och analogue photos and to get rid of the signs of the broken protective glass in my M8.

 

It would be much easier for me to to fix the camera but that will cost me nearly 6000 kronor and that´s money that I can´t afford to spend on a camera repair right now. It seems that I have to live with the broken protective glass... I could also solve the problem with the broken protective glass by cropping the images from my Leica M8 to 4/3-format. The picture below shows a 4/3-crop of the photo. If you still happen to be suspicious of some of my photos that I've taken with my Leica M8, then you are more than welcome to email me so that I can take a screenshot of the original RAW-file and send it to you.



Text and photo: © Mikael Good, All Rights Reserved.

Concert Photography With a Leica M

Some experts and self proclaimed knowers say that you can´t use a digitala Leica M8 at the low light conditions in a concert. I choose not to listen to them.

I set the ASA to 640 the aperture to 2,8 and the shutter speed dial to 1/60 and start capturing the flying moments with the aid of the excellent rangefinder which gives me the extra control that I need. Back in the good old days I used to use a SLR and a Tri-X 400 film set to 800 ASA with a 35mm or a 85mm lens. Today I prefer to shoot concerts with a rangefinder and a 50mm lens.

As you can see the Leica M8 is still a really good camera for concerts. My EOS 5D Mark II is a much better choice for concert photography especially in poor light conditions. But I prefer to work with my slightly obsolete Leica rangefinder cause it´s a joy to use it and I really enjoy the picture quality that it delivers. Some people might call me a hipster, but a hipster for me is someone who buys a camera to show of with. The best cameras to show of with is a professional Canon or Nikon. Ordinary people often knows that brands and if you use a big fat Canikon with a huge lens then you must be a professional photographer. For most people Leica is just some old nearly useless crap from eastern Europe. One guy even asked me if Leica was made in DDR (German Democratic Republic).



I took 20 pictures at the concert and then I sat down and enjoyed the show. The most important thing to do when you shoot concerts is to take time to enjoy the show. The artist in the pictures is Jimmy Needham who gave an excellent acoustic concert at Kungsporten in Husqvarna. Jimmy's music and his deep and very self-revealing lyrics called for reflection. He was accompanied on the stage by his guitar, harmonica and the very talented drummer Will Hunt. If you never heard  of Jimmy Needham before then please click on the following link and listen to one of his best tunes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6smGew7dGto



Leica M8 is a amazing camera to shoot with. But it does have it's limitations. Used in the right conditions, the good old Leica M8 performs like a champion.Hovever there are no perfect digital camera for every situation. Eventually I really hope that I will find a perfect camera. Until then I will stick with my Leica M8 and it´s backup the hipster fanboy Canon Eos 5D Mark II :)

Text and Photo: © Mikael Good, All Rights Reserved.

Les Grands Moments - Höjdpunkterna

Den uppmärksamme läsaren har säkert redan sett att jag har ändrat rubriken i min blogg till Måla med ljus - Les Grands Moments. Vilket är franska och betyder höjdpunkterna. Det finns en djupare tanke bakom namnbytet men jag tänker varken gå in på eller avslöja den tanken just nu. Med tiden kommer den dock att klargöras. Tanken är i vart fall att bloggen inom kort helt kommer att byta namn till Les Grands Moments precis som min andra blogg på blogspot: The True Revolution Starts At Home

Bilden som illustrerar dagens inlägg tog jag under en resa i östra Lettland i december 2005. Grabben på bilden och jag blev riktigt goda vänner och han stod länge på verandan och vinkade till mig när det var dags för mig att åka vidare.

Text och foto: © Mikael Good. All Rights Reserved.

Breaking news: En död person har hittats vid Vapenvallen i Huskvarna

Jag har många gånger varit mycket kritisk till hur kollegor har valt att exponera döda kroppar i media och idag var det upp till bevis om jag själv kunde leva upp till mina höga ideal eller om jag skulle lockas av prasslande sedelbuntar.

På väg från skolan till dagis passerade jag två polisbilar och en bil från kriminaltekniska. Inne i en skogsdunge höll två kriminaltekniker och fyra poliser på att utreda en brottsplats. Liket av en människa som antingen tagit sitt liv eller bragts om livet låg exponerad under en vit presenning. Jag halade instinktivt upp Leican, men av respekt för eventuella anhöriga valde jag givetvis att inte ta några bilder. När jag var på behörigt avstånd tog jag ett par översiktsbilder där brottsplatsen inte syns.

Det var inte några andra personer från media närvarande. Hade jag valt att gå närmare brottsplatsen så skulle det antagligen ha funnits en möjlighet för mig att göra en hacka på bilderna. Men jag är och kommer inte att bli någon gamfotograf och därför avstod jag från att ta de bilderna.



I det här skogspartiet i närheten av Vapenvallen vid Huskvarnaån hittades liket av en människa av några barn som var på väg hem från skolan. Jag hoppas att barnen omgående får all den hjälp och det stöd som de behöver för att bearbeta sina trauman.

Text och foto: © Mikael Good