6

The principle of Art Deco which is natively

French started off as an artistic movement in

the 1020s on the streets of Paris. While it

drew inspiration from other movements like

Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism,

Modernism, and Futurism, it continued to dis-

tinct itself from them. Although many design

movements have political or philosophical

roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely deco-

rative. Its essential stress laid on functional

artistic design. The primary re-discovery of

ancient architecture in this age led to its re-

vival in the form of Art Deco. Much like the art

and architecture of ancient civilizations, Art

Deco is based on pure geometry. This charac-

teristic is the heart of Art Deco. Art Deco

moved out of his native home in Europe in the

30s to USA, from here it spread to non-

European countries such as China,

Indonesia, New Zealand, and India.

7

A unique combination of factors led to the adaptation of

Art Deco style of Architecture here in Mumbai(then

Bombay). Increase in tourism and travel in the early half

of the 20th had made Bombay a cultural hub for western

artists. Many touring European ballet, opera, theatrical

and musical troops entered the Bombay scene. The up-

per classes and the business community which predomi-

nantly lived in the town side of Bombay readily accepted

western contemporary trends such as Jazz, horse racing

and cinema. The social and cultural ambience in

Bombay was hence very conducive to the incorporation

of Art Deco into what would become quintessentially

Bombay.

Besides tourists, Bombay was also becoming a political

hub in the pre-independence movement at this time. The

Chamber Of Princes was the official body responsible for

negotiations between the Nawabs, princes and mahara-

jas of India and the British government. These Nawabs,

princes and maharajas started building houses here so

as to avoid staying in hotels. Almost all of these houses

were built in the Art Deco style, creating the appropriate

patronage for this style.

The increasing number of graduates in Architecture from

foreign universities brought in the new wave of architec-

ture in a way no one could have thought of and with intel-

lectual ideas flying around Bombay was soon to become

the Paris of India. In November 1937 the first

Architectural Exhibition ever to be held in India which

was organized by the Indian Institute of Architects at

town hall displayed the modern trends in lifestyle all over

the world, and as unsurprising as it would be- Art Deco

was everywhere!

The movements standing testaments were the new of-

fice building in the fort, Bungalows on Malabar and

Cumballa Hill and Juhu, apartment blocks in Marine dri-

ve, Backbay reclamation and most importantly all the

then new cinema halls such as Regal Cinema, Eros

Cinema and Metro Cinema.

The most glamorous symbol of the Art Deco movement

was Cinema. Remember the times when actresses used

to arrive in a limo, walked down a red carpet in a dress

which in today’s standards would be called vintage, wav-

ing out to fans while walking to sun stone clad cream col-

ored building for the premier of a movie which would

generally sound like have a name on the lines of dream

girl? Well that was the 30s in Mumbai in all its blazing

glory and art deco was the architecture and the life style

statement at the heart of it all.

Art Deco in Mumbai

8

Art Deco

A cinematic

experienceThe Regal Cinema was designed by Charles Steven, son of

Fredrick Steven (The man behind CST). For its time Regal was

the ultimate epitome of glamour. It was probably the first Indian

cinema hall with completely air conditioned halls, underground

parking and even a lift. Following this example the Idea of cine-

ma being a luxury set in and cinema halls like Plaza Cinema

(Dadar) Central Cinema(Charni Road), New Empire Theater etc.

followed suit.

Art Deco and Cinema reached a peak with Eros, which was right-

ly termed as the great grandpa of luxury cinema. Designed by

Sohrabji Bedhwar, this building still stands today as a living mark

of the good old 30s.

Like Regal and Eros, Metro was the last word in luxury. The

2,943 square yard plot was formerly occupied by the Air force

and was acquired by Metro Goldwyn Corporation on a lease for

999 with a ground rent of Rs.1 per year! Thomas W lamb, a New

York based Architect laid the plans for the Metro. The complete

interiors were imported from the states. The most sticking feature

of the architecture is large mural paintings on both sides of the

auditorium.

The introduction of Art Deco architecture to the cinema culture is

probably one of the most important landmarks in our cultural his-

tory. The idea of a movie date, the idea of having the red lounge

seats at movie halls today, the idea of 5 star service at a movie,

delivery at seat amongst many other things dates back to the 30s

when the art deco reformation made cinema into more of an ex-

perience and less of a medium for common man.

Art Deco and

cultureArt Deco was a cultural statement. If not for the rest of the world,

at least for Bombay it was and will be.

The luxury which was native to this style was an expression of

the lifestyle and culture then. People wanted change, people

wanted to move away from the Victorian world (The British

Empire as a whole), people wanted to travel, people wanted to

exchange culture. People wanted to look forward to a new inde-

pendent age and Art Deco was just the right style to exhibit this.

The way Robert McGregor would put it

“There was going to be no more poverty, no more ignorance, no

more disease. Art Deco reflected that confidence, vigor and opti-

mism by using symbols of progress, speed and power.”

The development of Art Deco rapidly replaced Bombay’s Image

from a Victorian to a modern and cosmopolitan city. This archi-

tectural style created a cohesive image of the city, combining its

physicality and its style. While the Victorian era which stood for

power drew to an end, Art deco symbolized a shift towards a

modern Bombay and a modern India with contemporary aspira-

tions. This period renewed Bombay as a city by opening itself up

to the trend of Art Deco and truly keeping Bombay connected

with the world and being the world’s gateway to India.

10

If, like me, you’ve been following coverage of the 2010

Consumer Electronics Show, you will have noticed that the big

trend this year was 3D TV’s. All of the major flat panel manufac-

turers were in Las Vegas showing off HDTV’s capable of display-

ing content in 3D. This fact, coupled with the runaway success of

James Cameron’s 3D film “Avatar,” has brought the third dimen-

sion back into the limelight. With so much buzz around 3D, you

might be wondering whether this is the future of cinema. Don’t

believe the hype. Here are the top five reasons why 3D has no

future:

There isn’t enough content

It is true that in an effort to lure people back into theaters, the stu-

dios have been pushing 3D hard lately. Unfortunately, it’s not as

simple to produce a 3D live action film as it is a 3D animation. To

achieve 3D in animation, one instructs a computer to render a

second channel of video slightly offset from the first.This is not

significantly more onerous than creating an ordinary 2D CG ani-

mation. For live action films, however, 3D requires special cam-

eras that are heavy and inconvenient to use. The practical up-

shot of this is that most of the 3D films being produced today are

animated. This, of course, has implications for watching 3D films

both in the theater and at home. If 3D continues to fail in winning

over live action filmmakers, there simply won’t be much to look

at.

The upfront cost of 3D hardware is toosteep

The reintroduction of 3D into mainstream movies has seen a

modest degree of success over the past few years. Theaters

have been able to charge more for tickets to 3D screenings,

which has helped them in offsetting the exorbitant cost of up-

grading their projection hardware. But 3D still accounts for a

mere fraction of overall ticket sales. This is because even with

higher ticket prices, exhibitors cannot afford to make all of their

screens 3D-ready. The cost of upgrading is also a problem in the

home theater market, where HDTV’s have finally made their way

into a majority of American homes. The vast majority of these

households have only recently bought in. Is it really reasonable

to expect people who just shelled out serious money for their

new flat screens to go out and buy another $3000 TV? The val-

ue-add, especially considering the endemic lack of 3D content, is

just not enough to justify the purchase. Even if the consumer in

question did have the money, they would be wiser to spend it on

upgrading their sound system, before going to 3D.

The quality of the experience is inconsistent and problematic

I then went and suffered through all 172 minutes of it again in

RealD. The IMAX 3D experience was not great. First, the glass-

es were recycled and although I was seeing the film on opening

day, they seemed somewhat warped. Even after I had changed

glasses, the 3D illusion was broken every time I moved my head.

It was exhausting to have to hold one position for close to three

hours, but it was either that, or stare at a blurry image. I walked

out of the IMAX 3D screening with a crick in my neck. The RealD

screening did provide a better overall 3D experience. The illusion

was not broken by head movements and so I was able to watch it

in a more comfortable position. Unfortunately, when I left the

RealD screening, I had a headache that lasted for an hour and a

half (more on this special 3D headache later).

The Top Five Reasons Why3D Has No Future

11

The glasses are a literal barrier to entry

While there have been many advances in 3D technology

over the years, one thing that has not changed is the need

for glasses. Depending on the particular type of 3D technolo-

gy, these glasses work in slightly different ways, but the re-

liance on them to send offset images to the brain is still a

mainstay of any 3D viewing experience. This is also true of

the latest 3D HDTV’s which, we learned at CES, will ship

with battery-powered 3D glasses. This is an annoyance at

the theater, but can you imagine having to put on a pair of

glasses to watch TV in your living room? And what do you do

if you wear reading glasses? How about when friends come

over to watch the Super Bowl, or theOscars? The glasses

make a hard sell even harder.

Filmmakers, James Cameron included,do not really understand 3D

Film, like photography and perspective painting, is already a

three dimensional medium. Monocular cues like linear per-

spective, occlusion, and shadow, to name but a few, all pro-

vide the same sense of depth perception in a film, photo-

graph, or painting as they do in real life. It is true that binocu-

lar cues add dimension to the other depth cues (when look-

ing at objects up to 100 feet away), but it is a subtle effect

and not the only way we see depth in the world or in film.

While many filmmakers have an intuitive understanding of

the principles of human perception, it’s not something that

they study formally. Most get by in 2D, because there are es-

tablished filmmaking conventions that they conform to which

happen to play well with human perception. Unfortunately,

3D hasn’t been around long enough for such conventions to

develop. 3D filmmakers end up using 2D film techniques that

induce depth cues which are then contradicted by some of

the 3D binocular cues that are layered over everything.

When your brain is presented with such conflicting depth in-

formation, it will choose one version over the other, but when

such conflicts happen many times over the course of a few

hours, you end up with a perception headache.

There are many other factors that influence our perception of

3D, including the focal length of the lens, the composition of

the shot, and the movement of the camera, but modern film-

makers don’t seem to be aware of the effects of these impor-

tant factors on the perception of their films. This is why

watching a 3D movie doesn’t really feel like being there, it

just feels like its own, somewhat annoying, thing.

The push for 3D comes from a confluence of the old desire to

create a more immersive cinema experience and the con-

temporary need to get people excited about going to the

movies again. Unfortunately, the current 3D technology fails

to deliver on the former and so it is destined to fail at the lat-

ter. A much more fruitful approach would be to adapt

Douglas Trumball’s Showscan technology. What Trumbull

demonstrated was that by shooting and projecting film at

higher frame rates, he could create a much more immersive

and realistic experience than what we get with a traditional

24 frames per second projection. His system, which involved

70 mm film shot and projected at 60 frames per second was

dismissed as impractical and excessively expensive. In the

digital age, this objection is no longer relevant. It is already

possible to design reasonably priced digital cinema cameras

and projectors that shoot and project at high resolutions and

fast frame rates. This, it seems to me, is the next logical step

in the evolution of cinema. Not the gimmick that we now call

3D.

14

Decisions, decisions! Up until recently I, like many other illustra-

tors, had been using Photoshop as my main illustration tool.

However I abandoned it and picked up my watercolour brushes.

What!? Why? Well, back in 1995, when I first started out as an il-

lustrator, Photoshop was the new weapon of choice for a ‘fresh-

out-of-college’ illustrator like me. I was bowled over by the effects I

could achieve (mainly invert, curve and blur at the time).

Photoshop had only one level of undo (control z) and no layers.

The only way to go back in your design was to save different ver-

sions of your work as you progressed, but hard drives were the

size of knicker draws at the time, not the great vacuous caverns

that are available today. So you’d usually just plough on forward,

hoping your computer didn’t crash, until you’d finished. Whatever

command you instructed the software to do, you had to be pretty

sure that was what you wanted, because one more commands

down the line and you couldn’t undo it! You had to be brave!

Photoshop is now a much more powerful piece of software. You

can effectively go back in time and re-edit everything in your de-

sign. Now this is fantastic. But. Well for me, I started to notice in my

own work that my use of colour was like everybody else’s – flat. I’d

try a load of different colours out until I decided on the one I wanted

(hue/saturation, brightness/contrast… etc). If something wasn’t

working I’d move the layers around, try a few effects, scan some-

thing else in… etc. I realized I wasn’t making my mind up and mak-

ing a decision about what I wanted. Having too much choice was

making my working methods vague.

I wanted to shore things up. I had some experience of using water-

colour. I used to paint bowls of fruit at the kitchen table when I was

a lad. I knew that when the colour went onto the paper it was diffi-

cult to get off, as it stains like claret on white carpet! If you painted

over it you’d run the risk of everything turning to sludge brown.

Because of its permanence, your drawing had to be spot on even

before you started. Now this is the polar opposite of Photoshop.

After being sure your drawing is spot on, you have to be one hun-

dred percent committed to the colours you’re going to be using.

You have to make a decision and stick to it. If it goes wrong you

have to start again.

The decision-making in the production of an illustration is one cru-

cial part of the process. I also believe that limiting the options I

have forces me to make better decisions throughout the creative

process. When you have a number seven brush loaded with

Cadmium Red you have to be sure that where you’re putting it is

where you want it because once it’s on it’s not coming off. This kind

of decision becomes even more loaded the closer to finishing the

illustration you get. But you’ve got to make it.

Photo Stop!

Revolution not

Evolution There is a high possibility that you are a soft-

ware addict. Daniel Mackie talks about return-

ing to traditional art had made him a better

designer.

16

The Classical Comeback-Liquid Comics

Virgin/Liquid comics belong to one of the new schools of Graphic story

telling. Moving away from the stereotypical comic super heroes, they brought

in a new wave of digital art to re-interpret age-old stories that have dominated

the Indian market. Their latest release Ramayan 3392 A.D, written by

ShamikDasgupta and artwork by Abhishek Singh, has amazing quality in both

the production and the story. Technological themes, often culminating in the

same situations, replace the spiritual themes of the ancient texts. This reflects

the classical Indian belief that the history of the universe repeats in cycles,

eventually causing history to repeat itself in similar, yet alien ways.

The company has many other titles as well in production. Sadhus, Devi,

Snake woman are available in the Indian market.We had the pleasure to chat

with one of the founders of this company Mr. Sharad Devrajan.

How did you start this venture?

My partners Gotham Chopra, Suresh

Seetharaman and myself originally founded this

company (which was then called VIRGIN

COMICS) in 2005 with the Virgin Group includ-

ing author Deepak Chopra and filmmaker

Shekhar Kapur. In 2009, the founding manage-

ment team was able to work with Virgin to com-

plete a management buy-out and renamed the

Company to Liquid Comics.

From what we have been told, Liquid has

quiet a star-studded backing in terms of con-

tributors. Can you tell us something about

them?

Liquid collaborates with leading talent from

around the world to craft original stories and

character properties to be further leveraged into

other media. The creators include John Woo,

Guy Ritchie, Nicolas Cage, John Moore,

Shekhar Kapur, Deepak Chopra, Dave Stewart,

Jonathan Mostow, Grant Morrison, Marcus

Nispel, Stan Lee, Ed Burns, Duran Duran,

Hrithik Roshan and more.

Unlike most graphic novel series, Liquid

takes its characters from Mythology rather

than creating them. Any particular insight

that led to this decision?

Liquid has created one of the world’s largest

comic book libraries of characters and stories

tied to the myth and lore of India and is ideally

positioned to capitalize on the growing demand

for youth entertainment with 550 million people

under the age of 25 by Year 2015. Similar to the

multi-billion dollar success of Japanese anime

and Manga comics, Liquid intends to market its

groundbreaking mythic content to audiences

worldwide, leading the transition of India from

an “outsourcer” to “a source” of dynamic cre-

ations and creators

What were your plans initially? What is your vi-

sion regarding the future of Indian comics?

Similar to the phenomenon we have seen with

Japanese anime and Manga, which have influ-

enced every aspect of popular culture and me-

dia today, our mission is to spark a creative re-

naissance in India. The next JK Rowling or Stan

Lee is sitting in a village somewhere in India and

our job is to find them, support them with the

right resources and training and then give them

a pedestal to share their unique ideas and vision

with the world.

Our hope is to create a haven for the country’s

most innovative creators and launch a new

wave of characters from India that simultane-

ously appeal to audiences from Boston to

Beijing to Bangalore. It’s about reversing the

funnel and taking our great characters, stories

and creators to the world. Already our artists

such as Mukesh Singh and Jeevan Kang have

worked on books with some of the world’s lead-

ing creators and have built fans around the

world who marvel at the work they do. The best

is yet to come.

17

18

Western super heroes vs. Indian super heroes. If you had to

pick, which one would you?

The western superhero was really defined in the 60's by Stan

Lee and his creative partners and largely a result of the cold war

ethos and fear of the atomic age - many of the heroes of that era

that still thrive (Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil

etc) get their powers from mutations or unknown radiation that

played on the fears of that time. In the same way Indian creators

must tap into their cultures and prevailing contemporary issues,

hopes, dreams and fears to serve as the source of inspiration for

their characters.

Can you tell us a little about trends in the Indian graphic

novel reading market?

As the Indian market begins its evolution and begins to define it-

self, it may find parallels in markets like France and Japan,

where Superheroes are not necessarily the defining ethos and

many other genres successfully thrive. At Liquid we believe, just

as western comics were defined by "Man versus Science" and

Japanese comics were defined by "Man versus Nature" (seen in

Akira, etc where the industrial age unchecked leaves mans place

with nature disrupted and leads to post apocalyptic wastelands

or technological monstrosities), Indian comics/heroes can find

rich storytelling in the concepts of "Man versus Mythology" how

modern heroes interact and deal with the mythic undertones that

have defined Indian theology and philosophy for decades. We

think stories like the Matrix deal with Maya the illusion in a very

contemporary fashion - and India’s young creators should find

ways to tap into the great mythic heritage of the country to tell

contemporary and fresh stories that can speak to audiences

worldwide (such as the mythic undertones of Star Wars, Matrix,

Harry Potter and most recently, Avatar).

What does the future look like for Liquid?

We do have a number of film and television projects in develop-

ment, such as the Warner Bros. film adaptation of Gamekeeper

with director Guy Ritchie; Virulents with director John Moore;

Voodoo Child with Nicolas Cage; Ramayan 3392AD with

Mandalay Pictures; The Leaves with Summit Entertainment; The

Sadhu with Hollywood Gang; The Stranded with the Syfy

Channel; Beyond with Deepak Chopra and First Family with

Fremantle Media Enterprises.

19

Creating Classics-Valmiki Comics

Just when I was thinking that apart from Raj comics in India there could be no one here creating some-thing as spectacular as what Liquid comics were doing, I got the first copy of “Sixth” by Vimanika. Assoon as I turned to the first page, I understood this was a force to reckon with. Brilliant art and a goodstoryline, exploring the life of Karna reincarnated in the present world. Their other series Moksha isabout Lord Hanuman after Ram's life has ended, as he is immortal. Karan Vir is a writer, editor, publish-er, and conceptual director of Vimanika Comics, he has conducted years of research in terms of Indianmythology.

Tell us about your history, how did you get into comics/

graphic novels and how did you start this venture?

Well to start with I was never really into a lot of Graphic novels

and comics; I used to read Amar chira katha, Dc & Marvel comics

at the most. But I was deeply moved by the stories of our past,

and used to hear them from my brother every night as bedtime

stories. Sometimes LOTR also was narrated to us at a stretch,

for days, an hour every night. So I thought if the U.S could pre-

sent such a myth that never was history so well, then I think peo-

ple like me can present our myth that was really our history very

well. Initially I wanted to make movies, but because of lack of

funds I couldn’t. So I thought - Why not do it in comics? It’s faster,

less money is required and Virgin comics was going to launch in

India, so they too were a part of my inspiration to start Vimanika

because I thought if they staying there (the founders, I mean)

they could connect with our stories here, then I am an Indian

staying in India and I think I should value our stories and do my

best to portray them and yes, not to forget my sister form the U.S

who is now the Director of P.R and Marketing in the U.S for

Vimanika. She encouraged me to go for it all the time.

What were your initial plans and future vision regarding

Indian comics?

We wanted to make them cinematic with top quality artwork from

the best artists in India, which we did and still are doing, and

that’s why we won an award for the Best comics in India - 2009

from CNBC TV 18 and Animation Xpress – The Golden Cursor

Award.

Tell us about the people working along with you.

Well, we have Sudhir and Amit, artists of great potential and they

are ace pencillers, Colorists, of course from the best animation

studios and not to forget Mr.Suresh Deegwal, who is an award-

winning artist himself. Deepam chatterjee is our writer who is a

researcher, author and one of the 137 Scholars in India who real-

ly know about Mahabharata.

What are the challenges that you faced in this venture as

you started?

20

We have had distribution challenges, display challenges in book

stores, a lot of book stores did not believe we would really sell,

same with the distributers but in time our fans and subscribers

had them convinced. We also had problems with funds, but

thank god I had my parents who supported us with that. Also, it’s

a great challenge to find the correct artists and writers because

there are a lot of writers in India but very few comic writers, and I

mean published comic writers not just wannabe comic writers.

What made you decide the final look and feel of the comics,

how do you decide the level of maturity in the comics and

what would appeal to the readers?

It is many things and not just one. From the originality in the

script to the basic anatomy in the art to the narration of the story,

if all this is good than the maturity level is there. It should not be a

spinoff or a rip off of something that is present in many types of

collateral in the entertainment industry of India.

So can we expect games, memorabilia, movies based on

your comics? Tell us your plans regarding the same.

Yes for sure!

We are on Mobiles now so you will be able to download us in

India on all phones and services. For Web comics and Games

we are in talk with many organizations and will keep you updat-

ed. Also, Legend of Karna “The Sixth” – the first signature title of

our comics is in the making as a cartoon series for TV. We are

also in talk with a lot of production houses for movies as well. T-

shirts, toys and other merchandise will be on their way too sub-

sequently.

What can the readers expect in the future. can you give us a

sneak peak?

Yes. We are launching a special limited edition of our most await-

ed 4th title “I am Kalki”

22

25

Camera Owner To

Music PhotographerThe Camera

This one really depends on your budget, but the

best thing that I would recommend is to go to your

local camera store and see what feels best in your

hands, it’s the next section that really matters. If

you’re planning on using your camera for mainly

concerts, I would advise buying the body on its own

and investing in your own lens as the kit lens is use-

less in most venues.

Lens

So, now you have your camera you’ll want to invest

in some glass! For concerts, you generally need to

shoot as wide open as your lens goes so getting a

lens that shoots at a minimum of 2.8 is almost es-

sential.

Check out the Tamron/Sigma range, both manufac-

tures offer midrange lenses (17/18-50mm) so again,

check out your camera store for which you prefer.

For slightly extra reach, there is also the 24-70 lens.

This is generally for full frame users, but I preferred

it to the 17-50mm on a cropped camera as it meant

you could really get in close to the performer at the

70mm end of the lens. If you’re looking to spend

more money, both Canon and Nikon have incredible

midrange lenses that really are worth the extra

money.

At this point, you probably won’t need a 70-200mm

too often, but you’ll need it if you’re ever shooting in

an arena/festival.

Here’s the lens that will get you out of sticky situa-

tions pretty regularly, the nifty fifty! It’s cheap and

cheerful, I think it retails at around £80 at the mo-

ment. The 50mm 1.8 shoots at a pretty wide aper-

ture so it picks up plenty of light. (If you’re looking to

spend more money, the 1.4 is amazing)

Flash

Whilst flash is generally not allowed at gigs, when

you’re starting out I would recommend having it as

an option, you can decide once you’re at the venue

if you’re going to need it or not. Most small venues

don’t really mind if you shoot with flash, so clear it

with the band first and it will generally be ok. Try and

avoid shooting the full performance using flash

though, it’s fine for a few songs, but you have to re-

member that the audience has paid to see the band

and it distracts them.

26

Settings

So, now you have your equipment, what to do with it? About 85%

of concerts are pretty dark, so you need to set up your equipment

at quite a high iso. This depends on your equipment but I would

generally start at iso 800 and then work my way from there. As

previously mentioned, you need to shoot at a wide aperture, so

set your lens to shoot as wide as it can go (usually 2.8) and you

need to freeze your performer, so I wouldn’t start any lower than

1/125.

If you’re shooting a performer that is going to be jumping around

a lot, you’ll need a much faster shutter to freeze them, generally

1/250 and above, to achieve this you may need to up your iso to

get enough light in.

Where to start shooting?

So now you have your equipment and know how to set it up, you

need somewhere to take photos. At the beginning, unfortunately,

you can’t just walk into an arena and demand to take photos of

Metallica! The best place to find out about local gigs is get your-

self onto local forums and MySpace and message local bands

playing in your area and ask them if they could set you up with a

photo pass in return for a few web size photos for their MySpace

account. Most won’t have a problem with that and will be fine. Go

to the door of the venue and you’ll be on the guestlist.

Red lights

Most jobs have their bad points, this is mine. I get asked all the

time how to deal with red lights, unfortunately there is very little

that you can do about it sometimes. The easy way out is to

switch the image to black and white, red lighting usually comes

out quite nice in b/w.

The hard way? I generally deal with them by upping my iso fur-

ther than I really need to expose for the lights correctly, obtaining

a faster shutter and this will usually minimize the burning effect

that can often occur under harsh red lighting. Then in post, turn

down the saturation on the image and then adjust the white bal-

ance accordingly so it still looks natural.

Focusing

This is another question that im asked quite often, personally I

use one shot as servo simply doesn’t work a lot of the time at

gigs. One shot will grab the focus of the artist, and then lock it un-

til you press the shutter. Why not to use servo? Servo will be con-

tinually looking for any adjustments in your focus, so if an artist

does something like point at your lens, the camera will skip to fo-

cus for the hand generally and you’ll miss your shot. Also, if a

performer is standing still and then jumps, it will re-adjust the fo-

cus and you’ll miss the jump where as it would have been better

to keep the same focus point.

When to use servo?

If you’re shooting a metal gig where the performer is headbang-

ing it will be a total nightmare to keep focus.

The exception to this rule is The Prodigy, always servo for them!

How to focus in dives? Focusing in really dark venues is always

tough, sometimes you just have to look for a little bit of contrast

on the singers face and then grab focus. If the artist is standing at

the mic though, a trick to use sometimes is to focus on the mic,

and then manually focus from there to nail the focus.

Without a doubt the best way is to have your own website, this

way you can control how the images are displayed and who can

access them. Other ways are to get onto Flickr, MySpace or even

create a Facebook group. The one that is probably going to work

best though (alongside your own website) is to get onto local fo-

rums and after a gig post one photo (don’t post them all or they

won’t bother to go to your website) and a link to the rest of your

shots. This will get your name around and hopefully the right

people will look at it.

27

After a four-year wait, Sony has returned to the enthusiast/semi-

pro end of the DSLR market. Having made little impact in that

market with the A700 that very closely resembled the conven-

tional DSLRs made by Canon and Nikon, Sony has spent the in-

tervening time developing something a bit different. The A77

builds on the company's 'translucent mirror' technology, and

uses an electronic rather than optical viewfinder. The final result

is a product that may look traditional, but is able to promise the

unconventional.

Spec-wise the A77 is impressive: it features a new 24MP APS-C

CMOS sensor, 12fps full-resolution shooting and the highest res-

olution EVF we've ever encountered (a 2.4M dot OLED finder). It

also uses a new 19-point AF sensor, 11 points of which are

cross-type (sensitive to detail in both the vertical and horizontal

axis). Clever use of the main sensor's live view allows the A77 to

track objects as they move across the frame, enabling the cam-

era to have a better understanding of which AF point it should be

using at any given time.

Last year's SLT-A55 gave some clues about how Sony hoped to

bring its electronics know-how to bear in a high-end camera. Its

fixed, semi-transparent mirror design meant Sony could do away

with a conventional optical viewfinder and use an electronic dis-

play. It also meant that the phase-detection autofocus that gives

DSLRs much of their immediacy could be used all the time. The

result was a camera that could shoot at an impressive 10fps,

could focus quickly in video mode and offered full-time live view

with consistent DSLR-like behaviour in a way that no camera had

really managed before.

Unsurprisingly the A77 takes all these capabilities a lot further

than the consumer-level A55 - it combines the latest processor

with an electronic first curtain shutter to offer the level of respon-

siveness the more demanding enthusiast/semi-pro users will ex-

pect. The A77's massively improved viewfinder is also key to en-

suring the A77 can hold its own against the very stiff competition

it faces from the likes of Canon's 7D. (You don't have to read par-

ticularly far between the lines to conclude it was this feature Sony

wanted to perfect before launching an SLT into this market.)

And, as with the A55 and a handful of other recent Sony cam-

eras, the A77 offers in-camera GPS. It can be a really useful fea-

ture for organising and retreiving images, as allowing tagged im-

ages to be geo-located on sites such as Flickr. As with all GPS

settings, it can take a while to locate enough satellites, or strug-

gle to find them at all in built-up areas. Then, of course, there's a

battery penalty to be paid.

But despite all this technological wizardry, the A77 is actually a

remarkably conventional-feeling camera. It may have a plastic

top-plate, rather than the A700's tank-like magnesium-alloy con-

struction, and use SD rather than CF cards, but in pretty much

every other respect it looks and behaves like a logical progres-

sion of the series. Overall, despite the fact that it embraces a

rather different set of technologies, it feels and behaves much

like a conventional semi-pro DSLR.

Sony SLT-A77 key specifications:

24MP CMOS Sensor

12fps continuous shooting with autofocus

1080p60 movies with autofocus

2.4M dot OLED viewfinder

1/8000th maximum shutter speed, shutter rated for 150,000 ac-

tuations

ISO 100 - 16,000 (25,600 with multi-image combination.

Expands down to ISO 50)

Auto ISO with customisable lower and upper limits

Optional, profile-based correction of vignetting, chromatic aber-

rations and geometric distortion

Pull-out three-hinge tilt/swivel 920k dot LCD screen

Built-in GPS

Top panel LCD

Stereo microphone and external mic socket

AF Micro Adjust

Dust shake sensor cleaning

Gear’d: Sony SLT-A77

29

Art is a great status symbol in modern society and because of

that it can be quite intimidating to the casual viewer. For many

the first impulse is to blow it off, to see it as a worthless play-

thing for the rich and boring. This is too bad, not only because

art can be a great source of pleasure in our lives, but because

even a passing acquaintance with art can enrich and deepen

our understanding of the world around us.

Fortunately, developing a casual understand-

ing of art is not all that difficult. It is true that

some people devote their entire lives to study-

ing the minutest details of an artists’ work, but

there’s no need to become an expert to have a

meaningful relationship with art. All it takes is a

moderate attention to detail, a little bit of pa-

tience, and a willingness to reflect on your own

feelings.

Here, I’ll show you a quick way to approach

and appreciate a painting, although the ideas

here can be applied to works in other mediums

(sculpture, drawing, even architecture and

fashion) quite easily. There’s no shortcut to un-

derstanding I can give; great art rewards the

hundredth viewing as much as he first, and you

can spend a lifetime pondering the decisions

an artist made in one painting. Instead, I’ll try to

give you a process to follow that will help you

get the most out of a painting the first time you

see it.

While I’m on the subject, a word about “great

art”. Andy Warhol said that if you want to tell a

good painting from a bad one, first look at a

thousand paintings. There are no hard and fast

rules about what makes a piece great,

mediocre, or bad; remember, Van Gogh’s work

was once considered amateurish and forget-

table. There are, of course, standards that mat-

ter within the professional art world, but you

don’t owe the professionals anything, so don’t

worry too much about what they think qualifies

as “great”.

Take a Look

Art should appeal to you first through your

senses. That doesn’t mean a painting has to be

beautiful to be good, but it must grab your eye

in some way. Give a work a moment to do its

thing — some works are intriguing in subtle

ways. A work might grab your attention through

its subject matter, it’s use of color, an interest-

ing juxtaposition of objects, it’s realistic appear-

ance, a visual joke, or any number of other fac-

tors.Once you’ve gotten an overall look at the

painting, ask yourself “what’s this a picture of?”

That is, what is the subject of the painting? The

subject might be a landscape, a person or

group of people, a scene from a story, a build-

ing or city scene, an animal, a still life (a collec-

tion of everyday items like a bowl of fruit, a pile

of books, or a set of tools), a fantasy scene,

and so on. Some paintings won’t have a sub-

ject — much of the work of the 20th century is

abstract, playing with form and color and even

the quality of the paint rather than representing

reality.

The painting above, by the Dutch artist

Breughel, represents the Tower of Babel.

Scenes from the Bible or from classical mythol-

ogy are popular in older work; since the end of

the 19th century, scenes of everyday life have

become more common. If you know the story,

you’re one step ahead of the game, but it’s pos-

sible to enjoy the work without knowing the sto-

ry it illustrates.

30

What’s That All

About?

Look for symbols. A symbol, very simply, is

something that means something else. The

Tower of Babel is a well-known symbol in

Western society, representing both the dan-

gers of pride and the disruption of human unity.

Often a painting will include very clear symbols

— skulls, for instance, were often included in

portraits of the wealthy to remind them that

their wealth was only worldly and, in the grand

scheme of things, ultimately meaningless. But

just as often the symbolism is unique, the

artist’s own individual statement. Don’t get

caught in the trap of trying to figure out “what

the artist meant”; focus instead on what the

work says to you.

How do they do that?

The next consideration is style, which is essen-

tially the mark of the artist’s individual creativity

on the canvas. Some artists follow well-estab-

lished styles — many Renaissance portraits

look almost exactly alike to the casual viewer,

for instance — while others go out of their way

to be different and challenging. Some artists

create closely detailed, finely controlled works,

others slap paint around almost haphazardly

creating a wild, ecstatic effect.

It may not seem as obvious as the subject and

symbolism, but style can also convey meaning

to a viewer. For example, Jackson Pollock’s fa-

mous drip paintings convey the motion and

freedom of the artist in the act of creation, de-

spite being completely abstract. Vermeer’s

Milkmaid, on the other hand, is notable for it’s

incredibly fine detail and careful application of

thin glazes of oil paints (which doesn’t come

across in a photograph, alas) which create a

luminous quality, imparting a kind of nobility

and even divinity to the simple act of a servant

pouring milk.Some artists create closely de-

tailed, finely controlled works, others slap paint

around almost haphazardly creating a wild, ec-

static effect.

My Kid Could Do

That!

A large part of the appeal of art is emotional —

some artists go out of their way to inspire

strong reactions ranging from awe and lust to

anger and disgust. It’s easy to dismiss work

that upsets our notion of what art could be, and

any visitor to a gallery of modern art is likely to

overhear at least one person complaining that

“any three-year old with a box of crayons could

do that!”

Knowing that an artist may be deliberately

evoking an emotional response, it pays to take

a moment and question our immediate reac-

tions. If a work makes you angry, ask yourself

why. What is it about the work that upsets you?

What purpose might the artist have in upsetting

you? Likewise, if your feelings are positive,

why are they positive? What about the painting

makes you happy? And so on — take the time

to examine your own emotions in the presence

of the painting.

This is by no means a complete introduction to

art, let alone a complete course, but it should

help get you started in appreciating art. The

more you know, the better the experience will

become, but you don’t need to know much to

get at least something out of a painting. Keep

in mind these 4 concepts (I’m trying not to call

them the “Four Esses”) — subject, symbolism,

style, and self-examination — and pay a visit to

your local art museum or gallery and see if you

don’t find something worth your time.

32

33

In talks with

Mario GarciaAn email conversation with Mario Garcia, one of the world’s

most renowned newspaper designers.

There’s a lot of buzz and speculation about

“the future of Journalism”. In your opinion,

what are the most important tasks and chal-

lenges going to be in the next few years?

There is a future of journalism, no doubt. But it will

be a journalism radically changed from what we

are accustomed to. Storytelling will be at the cen-

ter of it, but the stories will adapt to the platforms

in which they appear. Print will not be king, but will

play a role. I think that one cannot separate a dis-

cussion of the future of journalism from business

models that will make journalism affordable by the

companies that produce it. I believe there will be

dramatic changes in the business models. Good

journalism is expensive to produce, so we will

have to adapt, and make radical shifts to accom-

modate it.

Many people seem surprised how popular it is

to read the news or even whole books on mo-

bile phones. What’s your reaction?

I am not surprised at all, because I am 62 and I am

inseparable from my iPhone and sometimes I

read parts of the Sunday New York Times on the

phone, and I like it – although for me, nothing

takes the place of the printed copy in my hand, but

I adapt and I read where I can. That is the way the

world moves. One cannot stop this.

Probably an intentional switch between your

iPhone and the printed issue of the New York

Times could be part of the storytelling concept

…

Yes, could be. But when I read the Times in my

iPhone, is when I am in some remote place in the

world where I have no access to the printed ver-

sion.

If a picture is worth a 1000 words, an info-

graphic or interactive data visualization is

worth … ?

Infographics are not as strong as photos, since

they have to be studied, which takes a few sec-

onds more. Photos and videos do convey the

meaning of the story on the spot.

What do you think about the data visualization

and visual storytelling work by the New York

Times? Do you think other publications are

going to step into their shoes?

Indeed, this is the way to go, but the New york

Times has a large, well trained staff of people who

can do these things. For the rest, this is a goal, but

quite a distant one at the moment.

In modern journalism, the writing of an article

does not end with its publication. The subse-

quent conversation and discussion is a vital

part of it, but current design solution do not

have much to offer. What are your ideas and

suggetions for improvement?

This is already happening in digital media; interac-

tivity is a top priority for users who wish to interact

with editors and with other readers; it is more diffi-

cult to do this in print, but major titles around the

world are developing blog summaries and read-

ers’ pages in print to bring in this need of the user

to interact. Every newspaper should have, at least

once a week, a blog summary page, what the top

topics are, and what the readers are contributing

through online, from photos to stories, to com-

ments.

Many people seem surprised how popular it is

to read the news or even whole books on mo-

bile phones. What’s your reaction?

I am not surprised at all, because I am 62 and I am

inseparable from my iPhone and sometimes I

read parts of the Sunday New York Times on the

phone, and I like it – although for me, nothing

takes the place of the printed copy in my hand, but

I adapt and I read where I can. That is the way the

world moves. One cannot stop this.

The technological bandwidth is between

added graphical codes within the content or

even more advanced: image recognition.

What’s your take on digitally augmented pa-

per?

To think that we may be reading a story about food

– tapas, for example – and really smell what the

writers talk about (or taste the wine)? I know that

mobile phones are driving a lot of this technology

(look at the iPhone) and I am perplexed and

amazed (like a child) by it all. Remember, I am 62

years old. Now about newspapers, and putting

stories within the palm of our hand, and making all

the other senses come alive, not just vision – if

this is the future, I want to live another 40 years to

enjoy it.