Add Venture #1

Sat Feb 13th, 2021

You gotta start somewhere, right? This newsletter is just that. Me starting in a new direction.

At the heart of Add Venture is image making. Intentional image making, photographic or film-oriented. Making photos and movies takes us places. Geographically, it can take us to our very doorstep or as far from home as we can go. Mentally, it challenges our status quo day after day. New techniques, new ideas, new gear, new places. Things we haven't done before.  Taking chances. Venturing.

This newsletter is about living adventures and telling them visually.

Taking small steps out of our normal path, guided by others who have been there before.  This is why Add Venture links to recent articles and videos created by other travelers and explorers, all chosen with a specific idea in mind and intended to provide a little nudge to make us consider ideas we might not have otherwise. Controled risk-taking is one of the greatest sources of satisfaction and happiness there is. So this is what we're doing here : adding venture to get the most out of life.

As with all worthwhile endeavours, the best time to start is always yesterday. But our best work is always done tomorrow. This page was created today, smack in between the two. It's much better than nothing and a little less good than it can become. Let me know what you think, what you would change, what topics interest you the most, and it will only get better and better with time.

Live exciting and prosper ;)
Pascal

Adventure, in a time of global pandemic, can take place within. The challenges and benefits of learning new skills, for instance, are well documented, and we'll return to these in future episodes. For today, here's a link to Boris Buschardt's extraordinary transition from photography to filmmaking, if you haven't already read it. But, with the hope of vaccination and a potential, gradual, return to a normal life in sight, I asked myself what single most important leasure piece of gear I'd want to take with me for that return to the wilderness. And there's no contest. No, it's not a camera. It's binoculars! You need some too, and here's an concise guide from a birding expert.

There are teachers who help you create a slightly less good version of their work for a day or two. And there are those who leave you with new ideas and points of view that can guide you for years to come. Alec Soth is one example of the latter. If you've not been able to attend one of his masterclasses, here is a summary of three important takeaways. And another important idea for photographers and filmmakers comes from Thomas Heaton: get out there!

Those who've not used film, or simply consider it a hispter toy, can watch the Makina 670 video below. Not only is this an exceptionally good camera optically, it uses what I consider to be the most beautiful format: 6x7. And, in expert hands of Jason Kummerfeldt, an afternoon at the beach can soon turn into a exhibition. 

Speaking of retro: Aperture fans never got over Apple's dumping of the software. Well, now it's back. More or less.

Finally, because modern gear can be superb as well, here are two reviews that couldn't be more different, yet are both at the very top of the quality charts. The products under scrutiny are both "out there", pointless for 98% of the photographic population, and utterly brilliant for the other 2%