#although the band had been around for all of the 70s‚ Phil was still only in his 20s and i think it's that youthful optimism which both

[somethinginrocknroll]

He's not my favorite in a normal sense. His crazy fucking lifestyle and death are. He knew Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and many others too. Here's a mini bio on him:

Ingram Cecil Connor III better known professionally as Gram Parsons. He was a musician and frontman. Parsons worked with The Byrds in 1968, before quitting and joining his own band, The Flying Burrito Brothers from 1969 through 1970. 

Gram was born in Winter Haven, Florida on November 5th, 1945 to Ingram Cecil Connor Parsons II and Avis Snively Connor. Avis returned to her hometown to give birth to her son. She was the daughter of citrus fruit magnate John A. Snively, who held extensive properties in Winter Haven and in Waycross. Gram's father, Ingram Connor II was a famous World War II flying ace, decorated with the Air Medal, who was present at the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1956 when he was only nine-years-old, Gram saw Elvis Presley in concert and fell in love with music. That’s where his love of music came in. Two years later his father who went by “Coon Dog” took his own life two days before Christmas, Gram was only 11/12. Both him and his sister Avis (Jr) were both shattered after their father’s death.

Avis Sr remarried to Robert Parsons and the children took his name and were adopted by him once he married their mother.

Gram Parsons did briefly attend the prestigious Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida. That was before transferring to the public Winter Haven High School. Which he did after failing his junior year. Gram returned to Bolles which had converted from a military to a liberal arts curriculum amid the incipient Vietnam War. 

For a time, the family found a stability of sorts. They were torn apart in early 1965, when Robert had an extramarital affair and Avis' heavy drinking led to her death from cirrhosis on June 5, 1965, the day of Gram's graduation from Bolles.

Barely in his teens, he played in rock and roll cover bands such as the Pacers and the Legends, headlining in clubs owned by his stepfather in the Winter Haven/Polk County area. By the age of 16, he graduated to folk music, and in 1963 he teamed up with his first professional outfit, the Shilohs, in Greenville, South Carolina. 

Gram was heavily influenced by The Kingston Trio and The Journeymen. The band played hootenannies, coffee houses and high school auditoriums. Parsons was still enrolled in prep school, he only performed with the group in select engagements. Forays into New York City (where Parsons briefly lived with a female folk singer in a loft on Houston Street)included a performance at Florida's exhibition in the 1964 New York World's Fair and regular appearances at the Café Rafio on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village in the summer of 1964.

 Although John Phillips who is an acquaintance of Shiloh George Wrigley arranged an exploratory meeting with Albert Grossman, the impresario balked at booking the group for a Christmas engagement at The Bitter End when he discovered that the Shilohs were still high school students. Following a recording session at the radio station of Bob Jones University, the group reached a creative impasse amid the emergence of folk rock and dissolved in the spring of 1965 around the time of Gram’s mother’s passing.

Shockingly despite being poor in school and having bad test grades, Gram went to Harvard University in 1966 with the help of a strong essay he wrote. He only did one semester and that’s where he became more serious about country music. He heard Merle Haggard for the first time.

In 1966, he and other musicians from the Boston folk scene formed a group called the “International Submarine Band”. After briefly residing in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, they relocated to Los Angeles the following year. Following several lineup changes, the band signed to Lee Hazlewood's LHI Records, where they spent late 1967 recording Safe at Home. The album contains one of Parsons' best-known songs, "Luxury Liner", and an early version of "Do You Know How It Feels", which he revised later in his career. Safe at Home would remain unreleased until mid-1968, by which time the International Submarine Band had broken up.

In that same year Gram got the attention of The Byrds’ guitarist Chris Hillman thanks to business manager Larry Spector as a possible replacement member since David Crosby and Micheal Clarke left in late 1967. Parsons had already met Hillman at a bank in 1967. Gram had his only child, Polly, with Nancy Ross the girlfriend of David Crosby.

Gram passed the audition in February 1968. He was at first a jazz pianist but was switched to rhyme guitar and vocals. Gram left the band when asked why Gram responded with,

"Being with The Byrds confused me a little. I couldn't find my place. I didn't have enough say-so. I really wasn't one of The Byrds. I was originally hired because they wanted a keyboard player. But I had experience being a frontman and that came out immediately. And [Roger McGuinn] being a very perceptive fellow saw that it would help the act, and he started sticking me out front."

He was also friends with The Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. And they stayed close to each other until a fall out in the 70s. Before Parsons' departure from The Byrds, he had accompanied the two Rolling Stones to Stonehenge along with McGuinn and Hillman in the English county of Wiltshire.

 Immediately after leaving the band, Parsons stayed at Richards' house and the pair developed a close friendship over the next few years, with Parsons reintroducing the guitarist to country music. According to Stones' confidant and close friend of Parsons, Phil Kaufman, the two would sit around for hours playing obscure country records and trading off on various songs with their guitars.

Returning to Los Angeles in 1969, Parsons sought out Hillman, and the two formed The Flying Burrito Brothers with bassist Chris Ethridge and pedal steel player “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow. They did every genre of music possible from hard rock all the way to country and jazz gospel.  Around this time of The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram started dabbling more and more into drugs.

Then Gram started a solo career in 1970 and toured with Emmylou Harris for a bit ; he may have been romantically involved with her as well. He then accompanied the Rolling Stones on their 1971 U.K. tour in the hope of being signed to the newly formed Rolling Stones Records.

Parsons and Keith Richards had mulled the possibility of recording a duo album. Moving into Villa Nellcôte with the guitarist during the sessions for Exile on Main Street that commenced thereafter, Parsons remained in a consistently incapacitated state and frequently quarreled with his girlfriend, aspiring actress Gretchen Burrell who later become his wife. 

Eventually, Parsons was asked to leave by Anita Pallenberg, Richards' longtime domestic partner. Decades later, Richards suggested in his memoir that Jagger may have been the impetus for Parsons' departure because Richards was spending so much time playing music with Parsons. Rumors have persisted that he appears somewhere on the legendary album, and while Richards concedes that it is very likely he is among the chorus of singers on "Sweet Virginia", this has never been substantiated. Parsons attempted to rekindle his relationship with the band on their 1972 American tour to no avail.

After leaving the Stones' camp, Parsons married Burrell in 1971 at his stepfather's New Orleans estate. Allegedly, the relationship was far from stable, with Burrell cutting a needy and jealous figure while Parsons quashed her burgeoning film career. Many of the singer's closest associates and friends claim that Parsons was preparing to commence divorce proceedings at the time of his death; the couple had already separated by this point.

In the summer of 1973, Parsons' Topanga Canyon home burned to the ground, the result of a stray cigarette. Nearly all of his possessions were destroyed with the exception of a guitar and a prized Jaguar automobile. The fire proved to be the last straw in the relationship between Burrell and Parsons, who moved into a spare room in Kaufman's house. While not recording, he frequently hung out and jammed with members of New Jersey–based country rockers Quacky Duck and His Barnyard Friends and the proto-punk Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers, who were represented by former Byrds manager Eddie Tickner.

Before formally breaking up with Burrell, Parsons already had a woman waiting in the wings. While recording, he saw a photo of a beautiful woman at a friend's home and was instantly smitten. The woman turned out to be Margaret Fisher, a high school sweetheart of the singer from his Waycross, Georgia, days. Like Parsons, Fisher had drifted west and became established in the Bay Area rock scene. A meeting was arranged and the two instantly rekindled their relationship, with Fisher dividing her weeks between Los Angeles and San Francisco at Parsons' expense.

Gram loved to visit Joshua Tree National Park. He would visit it often. Gram would frequently do psychedelic drugs and try to spot UFOs there. He told Phil Kauffman that he wanted his ashes spread there in Joshua National Tree Park since he loved that place and practically lived there when not in LA. 

So he, Dale, Micheal, Phil, Gram's girlfriend Margaret, and Dale's unnamed girlfriend all went to stay at JNTP Inn. Where Gram got morphine from an unknown woman.

He injected himself and OD. Margaret shoved ice cubes up his ass and put him in a cold shower which worked. He was up and talking. Dale was left in charge to watch over Gram and then Gram stopped breathing. Dale tried CPR but failed. Margaret and Dale both watched Gram die. Finally they call a fucking ambulance and he's pronounced dead on arrival.

Now Gram’s stepfather is a POS okay. He wanted Gram buried in Louisiana so he could take Gram's little wealth and the family estate which didn't belong to the stepfather since he wasn't blood.

Phil and Micheal couldn't allow this. Gram wanted to be cremated and his ashes spread. So with a shit ton of booze to make an elephant drunk they take a loaned hearse, because you know everyone has a hearse on loan. They were dressed as cowboys. For as suits were “too itchy” to wear.  The duo take his body back from the airport where he's meant to fly back to Louisiana back to Joshua National Tree Park.

 So the duo crash in JNTP and they pour five gallons of gasoline on Gram and his coffin. Causing a fireball. But cremation and gasoline are different. So instead of having Gram's ashes they had a cooked charred Gram instead. Police were of course called. The duo was fined $750 each and made to do community service.Gram was sadly buried in Louisiana against his wishes but his stepfather didn't get anything.

Gram's wealth and estate were split between his wife, girlfriend, sister, and his daughter. And the family denied the whole illegal cremation happening and won't talk about it.

The end.

Omg that is a really good summary, very sad life tho and how he died but wow

[jafreitag]

Grateful Dead Monthly: Gaelic Park – New York, NY 8/26/71

Fifty years ago today, on Thursday, August 26, 1971, the Grateful Dead played a concert at Gaelic Park in New York City.

Gaelic Park is located at West 240th Street and Broadway, five miles north and east of Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx. In 1926, the Gaelic Athletic Association purchased it to host the Gaelic Games. What are Gaelic Games? I’m a sliver Irish (just learned that a few years ago from a cousin who did some DNA stuff), but I didn’t know about such games until I asked the Google machine. Here you go, from the Wiki:

“Gaelic games (Irish: Cluichí Gaelacha) are sports played in Ireland under the auspices of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Women’s versions of hurling and football are also played: camogie, organised by the Camogie Association of Ireland, and ladies’ Gaelic football, organised by the Ladies’ Gaelic Football Association. While women’s versions are not organised by the GAA (with the exception of handball, where men’s and women’s handball competitions are both organised by the GAA Handball organisation), they are closely associated with it.”

Some to unpack there. What’s Gaelic football? It’s basically rugby. (The rules are probably way different, but this is a music blog, so don’t judge.) And hurling? Rugby with a small ball and sticks that look like sporty pizza paddles. (Again, don’t judge.) Gaelic handball? Racquetball, except you use your hands and you’re outside, not in some bougie health club from the ’80s. Finally, rounders? It’s actually alot like baseball. Pretty cool.

Why were the Dead there? A 9/2/71 piece in the Village Voice by Carman Moore, now archived on the Grateful Dead Sources blog, said that Gotham promoter Howard Stein, a Bill Graham competitor who booked the Dead to play at the Cap Theater in Port Chester, NY and the Academy of Music in NYC, had turned “the drab little Riverdale soccer field … into a summer rock mini-festival.” (Check out the poster above.) Moore’s writing has an early-70s sizzle, and he refers to his colleague, now-legendary rock scribe Robert Christgau. Here’s an excerpt:

“Last week’s Grateful Dead concert up at Gaelic Park was a usual Dead session, meaning that the band-to-fan-to-band electro-chemical process for which rock music is famed was on like high mass at Easter. Although I think I know most of the time what they are doing musically (Christgau will like this notion); I don’t quite understand them electro-chemically. Like the New York Knicks of two seasons ago, they can do excellent things together though they are not a group of deathless superstars. Garcia gets his songs across, but he can’t sing, and Bob Weir’s voice rises to about average…maybe better when he gets to screaming and the music sweeps him along. I still find it difficult to recognize the Dead songs that aren’t ��Truckin'” or “St. Stephen” one from the other. I am not one of their fans, but seem to be one of their admirers. Their music speaks in a special language to their live listeners, and that language has the vocabulary of everybody else, but a convoluted syntax all its own. The note sequences are not completely dependent upon musical factors but are also dictated by how involved the band feels and also upon what kind of heat the audience is giving off. I’m trying to get to some essences of this thing.

The drama of a Dead concert revolves around the fact that wherever the band plays they know that a certain number (several tons) of their partisans will be there and that their crowd knows the Dead potential to excite them, but they also know that the Dead may not get into gear until the crowd begins to apply some heat, and so forth. Both parties also know that the concert will be long enough and informal enough for anything to happen on either side of the footlights, and so audiences improvise (smoke, go to the hot dog stand, kiss and snuggle, cheer, dance, listen like star-struck fools) just like their musician friends on stage (who play light and funny for awhile, retire backstage awhile, stand around, or get lost in a piece and turn on the heavy jets). Like good lovers, the Grateful Dead know the secrets of good foreplay, taking your time, surprising the partner for awhile, and then just reacting for a spell.”

The timing of the show seems odd. The band was on the East Coast in July, but began August back in Cali – LA, SD, Berkeley – before a three-night run at Chicago’s historic Auditorium Theater. Then they trekked back to NYC. Our resident Deaditor ECM explains that aspect: “This show was supposed to be played the day before the Yale Bowl concert on July 30, but some issues with the equipment trucks and/or weather prevented it from happening from the scheduled date. There are a few stories on the web about people who didn’t get the message (no twitter back then!) and dropped some acid only to show up to an empty stadium. Haha!”

Moore said that the show reminded him of “a high school stadium I used to know – low stands, unfulfilled infield grass, mud holes here and there, beer sold at one end in some quantity.” He continued:

“The formal shape of the concert was a general crescendo, light at the beginning and heavy-groovy at the end – not a shooting-star, call-the-law finale, just a heightened physical-emotional climate…the goods delivered as promised…sort of like good preaching in a church known to be a happy place. I did not enjoy their country-westernish opening tunes; maybe they didn’t either, because the pieces were awfully short. But by the three-quarter mark they had involved themselves, the crowd, and me too.

First they got the rhythm engaged and finally, courtesy of Jerry Garcia’s lead and interplays with Lesh and Weir, they went into the soloing and jamming which are the real magic music territory of this band. Much is made of the Dead soloists, but it became clear to me by last Thursday that bassist Phil Lesh plus those two drummers create the atmosphere that makes the Dead thing possible. The drummers were exceptionally understated, but Lesh kept bopping and thrumming away, heavily at all times, until his patterns were consistently getting the other players off. In the middle of “St. Stephen” there was a special coming together: Lesh had found a nice ambiguous but compelling set of licks; Garcia eased into a solo; Weir strummed a cross-time lick over all of it; it built; it quieted; Garcia started to play strange classical kind of lines; the drums dropped out; the audience got quiet; nothing at all could be predicted for a minute or so; then Lesh began to grope his way out with two chords and rhythms which began to regularize; audience began to jump and then to clap; guitars began to straighten out; the band came home to the cheers of the fans. Good music-making. The listener goes home without a little tune to whistle, but he hears music. As if they were finishing off some personal solos based over the last riffs heard, the fans went out of Gaelic Park without a thousand encores and without a lot of fuss on the streets outside.

It’s all very interesting, surprising, and I guess mystifying as before. All I know is that the Dead, or their fans, or the combination of both lure you into planning to return when they’re all assembled and back in town again.”

Apparently, there was some grief about bootlegs at this show. The GD Sources blog has a post that archives a 10/6/71 piece by the excellently-handled Basho Katzenjammer (Basho, the 17th Century Japanese haiku master; Katzenjammer, the German word for hangover) that gripes about an army of 200# “muscle freaks” at the direction of tour manager Sam Cutler liberating a handful of tapes from 100# weakling Johnny Lee. It’s a truly fun read. An excerpt:

“The biggest piece of shit spewing from Cutler’s mouth is about the reasons the Dead have for being so pissed off: they don’t like the quality (remember Garcia’s line in “I Got No Chance of Losin”? He says, “I’m only in it for the gold.” Yeah, music has a way of being more honest than the artist intends it to be at times…) The “quality”? Anyone who has bought a bootleg recently will know and agree that the bootleg stereo album called “Grateful Dead” is one of the best underground products yet. The tape was taken from a concert the group did at Winterland, on the coast a few months back. Yeah, Garcia fucks up a bit on “Casey Jones,” and Pigpen’s ego may have been deflated a bit by his voice coming over poorly on “Good Loving” but that was a concert. You do a concert and you stand by your performance, good or bad. That’s show business.

This effete artistic bullshit doesn’t matter anyway … When you’re out to get all the money you can out of your gigs, like the Dead seem to be (like all the groups seem to be) you might be accused of being a bit piggish; when you use strong-arm shit to insure that you get every last penny that you deserve — by making Amerikan standards — you are a Pig. Jerry Garcia, is that you?

Nobody buys that anti-bootleg shit about the artistic integrity of the artist in saying what goes out. One, you stand by your performance; two, even if you don’t want to, Jerry, somewhat, and say “all your private property is fair game for your brothers (especially when they sell records of concerts that don’t compete with coming releases) and your brother (who’s gonna continue to dig you as we live off your comets we’re gonna keep ripping you off because it is possible. As simple as that.” If you and Cutler and Stein continue your shit, though, we’ll just have to sing the song the same old way, you guys being put in the position of being the same old reactionary establishment that we’re all ripping off. It’s all around. You break your back playing gigs for ten years and suddenly success is staring you in the face. Bread: lots and lots of bread. You turn your back on your poor, ripping ’em off roots and start to tighten up. You’re in the biggest rip-off industry around, but no one cares as long as they’re having fun.

Money. That’s the whole story, isn’t it? If these were other times, in another land under a different set of rules maybe you could justifiably complain about the people who want to give your recorded performances out free because you didn’t screen them and pick out the sections you didn’t like and do them over for the cat, ’cause no one charges for their music, and because the means of production belong to the people, and they can turn out all the good sounds they can, and you have a natural right to screen all releases. But we’re here. Now. You guys are making millions — or soon will be. Money is power, especially as the concept of money is crumbling nation-wide and power freaks like Stein are cornering the market on it. The channels that the green-power the Dead bring in travel aren’t the healthiest for the generations of revolution to come. Stein is one of these hopeful images of a freak with a chance to change things positively gone sour, who uses all his power to consolidate his power; who’ll go to any extremes to insure the natural expansion of that power. Fuck him. Fuck you.”

Speak, Basho! Quaint that the beef about bootlegs back then was sound quality, rather than copyright. Stuff got figured out at some point, I think. Like when Bobby shut down the LMA, lmao.

Ed featured part of this show in the 2016 edition of his epcot 31 Days of Dead project. Here are his listening notes, which are typically spot-on (and better than than the not-quite-on-the-bus commentary from Mr. Moore): 

“Less than three weeks after Pigpen’s definitive performance of Hard To Handle at the Hollywood Palladium (8/6/71), the Grateful Dead play the final date of their summer tour in 1971 at Gaelic Park in the Bronx. It will be Pig’s last show until December and the last time the band will ever perform in their original quintet configuration of Jerry, Phil, Pig, Billy and Bobby. By September, Keith will be rehearsing with the band to assume a full-time role on the keys. Perhaps anticipating his absence, Pigpen leads the band through 6 of his songs including the rarely-played Empty Pages and the last Hard To Handle. It is also one of the last performances of Saint Stephen, until the band revived it in 1976 with a major facelift, never to be played the same way again. When you consider these historical milestones along with the departure of Mickey Hart and the closings of the legendary Fillmore East and West earlier in the year it makes you realize that this concert carried a little more weight than anyone could have ever foreseen at the time. It truly was the end of a chapter in the life of the Grateful Dead. As you listen to each song you can’t help but feel a certain degree of nostalgia.

For me, the hidden gem of the show is the outstanding version of Uncle Johns Band. Jerry’s first guitar solo is an absolute joy to hear. His notes sing with irresistible melody and happy sunshine which perfectly capture the nostalgia of those carefree early years. If you listen closely you can hear Pigpen playing the wood claves.”

Speaking of Pig, this show features the second and final performance of Empty Pages. The NYS Music blog, which has a nice write-up of this show, describes it as a McKernan original that “pairs his traditional crooning style with a slow blues jam that’s nicely peppered with fiery guitar licks from Garcia. It’s a true rarity and a shame that the band wouldn’t be able to further develop this one.”

I feel like this was a try-hard post. It might be tl;dr, idk. Here’s the true goodness…

Transport to the Charlie Miller remaster of the soundboard recording HERE.

More soon.

JF

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[icarusaturn]

Learn about me!

1. Your name?

Maria Lawson

2. Nationality?

American

3. Age?

16

4. Birthday?

November 12, 2003

5. Zodiac sign?

Scorpio

6. Gender?

Female

7. Sexuality?

Bisexual

8. Your looks ( add a picture or describe them)

9. What do you/did you study?

I’m still in high school, but I’d like to study something either about language, music, or helping people/animals

10. What’s your current job like/what do you have?

I work during the summer at a Dairy Queen, a lot of my friends work there so it’s usually pretty fun

11. Your birth order?

Second, third if you count my sister

12. How many siblings do you have?

2, one brother and over half sister

13. Do you have good relations with your family?

Mostly yes

14. How many friends do you have?

Many but only around 5 close friends

15. Your relationship status?

Single

16. What do you look for in an SO?

Honest, kind, loves animals and kids, up to adventure, loves music, loves nerdy things, open to trying new things, good sense of humor, respects boundaries & privacy, not pushy

17. Do you have a crush?

No

18. When did you have your first kiss?

8th grade

19. Do you prefer a serious/meaningful relationship or casual dating/one night stands?

I won’t mind either a serious relationship or casual dating

20. What are your deal breakers?

No common sense, being an asshole, pushy, no respect, derogatory towards others, no self respect, being overwhelming and or annoying, hates animals/is rude to animals, can’t be independent, lazy

21. How was your day?

Good!

22. Favorite food and drink?

My favorite food is probably chicken or bacon cheeseburgers for meat, otherwise I love any sort of fruit. My favorite drink besides water (lol) is lemonade

23. What position do you sleep in?

Usually I sleep on my stomach or my side

24. What was your last dream about?

One of my friends’ sister was working at a Barnes and Nobel

25. Your fears?

Being betrayed, being lied to, everyone secretly hating me, being left alone, being forgotten

26. Your dream?

I want to be successful and happy with a good place to live and good friends

27. Your goals?

The same as my dream

28. Any pets?

Yeah, one cat named Sabrina

29. What are your hobbies?

Art, theater, band, choir, speech

30. Any cool places in your area?

I live in a small town, so there’s many unique things about it

31. What was your last awkward situation?

I was in the car at the local grocery store and someone I didn’t like parked next to me

32. What is your last regret?

My last relationship

33. Language(s) you can speak?

Only English, although I’m trying to learn sign language

34. Do you believe in astrological stuff? (Zodiac, tarot, etc. )

It’s very interesting so yes, I’d also like to learn more about it

35. Have any quirks?

I have synesthesia, the type where I can hear colors

36. Your pet peeves

Lazy people, people touching my stuff without permission, when someone keeps trying to talk to me while I’m listening to music, annoying loud people, obnoxious rude people, people who blurt things while someone else is trying to speak, people who think they’re better than everyone else, liars

37. Ideal vacation

Anywhere where whoever I’m with and I can do what we please whenever we please

38. Any scars?

A few from childhood and some more recent ones from self harm. I’m in a safer space and state of mind now, so there’s no need to worry

39. What does your last text message say?

I just signed up, did it work?

40. Last 5 things from your search history?

Marvel characters

Color block hoodie teddy fresh

Griz and Norm frozen

Everything I wanted lyrics

Kirishima shirt

41. What’s your device background?

42. What do you daydream about?

Movie/show scenes, memories, possible future outcomes, music

43. Describe your dream home

A house in the city with a bay window, an atrium, a claw foot bathtub, and a modern vintage look/feel, clean with nerdy decor

44. What’s your religion/thoughts on religion

I don’t have a religion because I don’t know much about it, but either way I don’t want to attend any holy services, because I’d like to prioritize other things. I do believe that everyone has their own rights to what they believe in, to me it’s like saying people should be able to eat, it’s common sense

45. You Personality type?

Campaigner personality ENFP - T

You can read about it on 16 personalities

46. Most dangerous thing you’ve done

When I was around 12 I flew with my brother alone on a plane

47. Are you happy with your current life?

For the most part yes

48. Some things you’ve tried in your life?

I’ve tried competitive dance, baking, hiking, and woodworking to name a few

49. What does your wardrobe consist of?

The usual stuff, t shirts, hoodies, jackets, sweaters, casual & fancy clothes, dresses, lots of shoes, jeans and leggings

50. Favorite color to wear

Yellow or blue

51. How would you describe your style?

Trendy nerd

52. Are you happy with your current looks?

Yeah mostly

53. If you could change/add something to your appearance - impossible or not - what would it be?

I want freckles lol

54. Any tattoos or piercings?

I have 4 lobe piercings, 2 on each side, and my left ear helix so 5 in total. I’m planning on getting many small tattoos and my septum pierced. Nothing drastic, all simple and small

55. Do you get complimented often?

Yes, almost every day with my hair and a lot with outfits

56. Favorite aesthetics?

Nature, vintage, character inspired

57. A popular trend that you dislike

There were these weird wavy eyebrows, not a fan 😂

58. Songs you’re currently obsessed with?

All of the Frozen 2 soundtrack, For The First Time in Forever and Let It Go from Frozen, Are You Bored Yet by Wallows, Amerika by Young the Giant, Maniac by Conan Gray, Come Around by Papa Roach, Same Damn Life by Seether, and Soarin by Bazzi

59. Song you wouldn’t normally admit you like?

I like mostly everything, so I would admit to liking mostly any song someone brings up

60. Favorite genre?

Pop or show tunes/ movie tunes

61. Favorite song/band/ genre?

My favorite song right now is a tie between Show Yourself and Into The Unknown from Frozen 2 or Are You Bored Yet by Wallows

62. Hated popular songs/artists?

6ix9ine, lil pump, artists like them

63. Put your music on shuffle & list first 5 songs

Prom Queen by Molly Kate Kestner

I’m Born to Run by American Authors

Holding on to You by Twenty One Pilots

Trip Switch by Nothing but Thieves

Swimming Pool Summer by Capital Cities

64. Can you sing/play any instruments?

I sing Soprano 1 and play Flute

65. Do you like karaoke?

Yeah!

66. Own any albums?

No vinyls or cassettes or DVD’s, it’s all on my Spotify lol

67. Do you listen to the radio? What stations?

I only listen to Spotify

68. Favorite movie/series?

My favorite movies are Frozen, Frozen 2, The Lion King, or any marvel movie past iron man lol

My favorite series are My Hero Academia, Voltron and friends

69. Favorite genre movies/ books/ etc.

Action, comedy, and fantasy

70. Your fictional crushes?

None lol

71. Which fictional character is you?

A mix of Elsa and Anna and Bakugou and Kirishima

72. Are you a shipper? List your otps if so

I don’t ship many things but I love Tododeku and Kiribaku

73. Favorite Greek god?

Apollo, Athena is my favorite goddess

74. A legend from where you live that you like?

There’s no legends where I live, but I like state legends like the legend of Paul Bunyan

75. Do you like art? What’s your favorite work or artist?

I like more modern artists, like ones on tumblr lol. These are a few artists I really like

@elentori-art @tecochet @cherriielle

76. Can you share your other social media?

I have Instagram, Twitter and the like but my Pinterest is maria_1820

77. Favorite youtubers

Colleen Ballinger, Joey Graceffa, Trainer Tips, David Dobrik, Molly Burke, Shane Dawson

78. Favorite platform

Everything but Facebook lol

79. How much time do you spend in the internet?

All of the time 😂

80. What video games have you played? Which ones your favorite?

I’ve played the sims and Mario kart and I like the sims more lol

81. Your favorite books?

We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson and the My Hero Academia series

82. Do you play board/card games?

Not really

83. Have you ever been to a night marathon in cinema?

Nope

84. Favorite holiday?

Christmas

85. Are you into dramas?

Medical/police/firefighter dramas lol

86. Would you use death note if you had one?

I’d like to say no but I probably would

87. What changes would you make in the world no matter how impossible, if you had the power to?

I would have everyone have a good house and money

88. (There wasn’t a question here so I made one up)What was your first word?

Besides mama, my first word was eat

89. If you turned into a paranormal being, what would it be?

A Phoenix

90. What would you want to happen to you after your death?

I’d want my body donated to science

91. If you had to change your name what would you pick?

I like my name so I wouldn’t change it

92. Who would you switch lives with for a week?

Maybe a guy to see what it’s like

93. Pick an emoji to be your tattoo

🪐

94. Write 3 things about yourself + only one of them must be true

I love acrylic nails

I’ve never been on a train

I met Dan and Phil

95. Cold or hot?

Cold because I could put on a sweater

96. Be a hero or be a villain?

Hero

97. Sing everything you want to say or rhyme?

Sing everything because I sometimes find rhyming annoying

98. Shape shifting or controlling time?

Shape shifting

99. Be immortal or be immune to everything aside from natural death?

Immune to everything but natural death

100. Book or movie?

Both

[trevorbailey61]

Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters

Civic Hall, Wolverhampton

Monday 20th November 2017

It is a dull and drizzly Monday evening and in Cardiff Deep Purple are about to take to the stage at the 7,500 capacity Motorpoint Arena as part of what we are told will be their farewell tour. With Jon Lord sadly passing away in 2012 and Richie Blackmore seemingly content to spend the rest of his days playing madrigals, this current incarnation of the band is as close as it is possible to get to the classic early 70s line-up and they even managed to get themselves into a studio to record a some new songs. Few, however, even amongst their most die-hard fans will want to hear them, instead they go for “Smoke on the Water”, “Speed King”, “Black Night”, the heavy rock based prog that became their signature. Despite forming earlier, sounding different and working their way through multiple line-ups, Deep Purple never seemed to escape from the shadow of the behemoth that was Led Zeppelin. Both had songs that helped to define their genre and era but Led Zeppelin’s were more memorable, both had the riffs but Page’s were the ones that were more instantly recognisable, both had charismatic singers but Plant’s bare chested image was always the more striking, both were bigger in America than in their homeland but Led Zeppelin were immense. Even now as the Purps take their last celebratory victory procession, the response is; yes, filling these arenas is impressive but just think what Zep would do.

That they don’t is down to Robert Plant. The journey that he has taken since the demise of Led Zeppelin is one of the most curious but ultimately most inspiring of any of the 70s rock legends and even as he approaches his 70th birthday there is little to indicate that his exploration is anywhere nearing its end. What that makes this all the more remarkable is that even during the final days of Zeppelin, Plant seemed to have lost his instincts, his feel for the music, his judgement, even his dress sense. I missed out on the opportunity to see Zeppelin during their reign, I was far to young to catch them in their early days and by the time my concert going had started, they were mostly absent as they preferred instead the huge money spinning American tours to those at home. I could have seen them at Knebworth but chose a family holiday instead, a decision I have long since regretted but Plant has always maintained that those concerts should have been cancelled due to how poorly prepared they were. Maybe then the thought of how good it could have been is better than the memories of how it actually was. With Page a junkie and Bonham drinking himself to his early death, the onus was on Plant to put together their final album, “In Through the Out Door”, which, smothered in synths as it was, gave an indiction of the direction in which he would be heading as a solo artist. This was the era of massive albums, the final throw before music became digitalised, and with the technology available to produce a bright clean pop sound many 70s veterans found a way to make the biggest selling album of their career. Bowie had “Let’s Dance”, Springsteen “Born in the USA”, Phil Collins “No Jacket Required” but despite respectable sales, particularly for the single “Big Log”, Plant never threatened to eclipse his former band.

Ironically, it may have been a brief reunion with Page that finally convinced Plant how misguided this had been. Together they had taken early Zeppelin away from being the purely heavy rock act that most of their pale imitators were by introducing at first the acoustic feel of English folk music and later African rhythms, Indian instrumentation and melodies and a host of other sounds that would later be referred to as World Music. This reunion led to “No Quarter”, an album that included a number of rearranged Zeppelin songs which would have convinced him of two things; firstly how shallow and undemanding much of his recent music had been and secondly that he could rework Zeppelin songs in a way that would still hold his interest. Thus began his restless musical exploration, taking in the North African sounds that he had explored with Page as well as journeys into the remotest backwaters of American folk. The sounds he created were often quieter, more delicate and intricate than the bombast of Zeppelin and required him to find new voices to tell their stories; the bravado and swagger would soon be a thing of the past, replaced by something more subtle and nuanced. He collaborated with people who would challenge him, Alison Krauss, Patty Griffin, producers T Bone Burnett and Buddy Miller and a host of crack American session players, even briefly relocating to Austin in the process. His musical quest, however, is built on a strong sense of place and returning home allowed him to reconnect with the band he first worked before his American sojourn. The Sensational Space Shifters have developed into a formidable outfit, allowing him to realise the songs that have come from such a disparate range of sources. While over 7000 filed into an arena in Cardiff, less than half that number made their way through the oppressive security at the Civic Hall and most, I am sure, wouldn’t have been too put out had he not included a single Zeppelin song; we understand what he is doing and we are here just as much for the new songs as the old ones.

There were, of course, some Zeppelin songs but these were mostly played without the deconstruction and reshaping that he has applied on previous tours. A gentle acoustic strumming accompanied “That’s The Way”, still magical, and “Gallows Pole” as on the album although the latter did gain a harder edge towards the end. “Whole Lotta Love”, as so often his final song, had its usual swagger which tonight was enhanced by the violin of Seth Lakeman who, as well as his support slot, had added some wonderful textures throughout the set.  The first encore “What Is and What Should Never Be” built from its quiet and delicate verses to release the power of its chorus. The exception was “Misty Mountain Hop”, so different from the recorded version it it was only the words that gave it away. Plant added some context about how is was an attempt to recapture the collective spirit as the ideals of the Woodstock generation were fading but its reworking lacked the insight he has previously shown when he turns to his back catalogue. The best of the Zeppelin songs, however, was the wonderfully lyrical interpretation of “Babe I’m Going to Leave You” illuminated by Skin Tyson’s expressive acoustic guitar and Plant for once releasing the full power of his voice.

The last time I saw Plant was just after the release of his previous album, “Lullaby …. and the Ceaseless Roar”, a highly personal album made shortly after he returned from his exile in Texas. His sense of displacement is captured in the song, “Turn It Up”; “I'm lost inside America; I’m turning inside out; I’m turning into someone else” neatly expressing his disconnection from his surroundings. Appearing early, its stuttering rhythm gives a sense of someone struggling outside of their familiar surroundings. From this album he also includes “Rainbow”, a wonderful hymn to the rugged highlands of North Wales that inspired his excursion into traditional folk in his Zeppelin days, and his reworking of “Little Maggie”, illuminated as ever by Justin Adams’ exquisite finger picking. Where previously the disorientating drone of Juldeh Camara’s ritti had helped to create the mood of the songs, that is now done by Lakeman’s violin. In tone, his most recent album, “Carry Fire” shares many similarities with its predecessor suggesting his return home has also seen some tempering of his musical wanderlust. Whilst there may be a consistency in the sound, however, “Carry Fire” feels a lot less personal, being more settled has allowed him to observe the world around him and you get the feeling that he is not too impressed with what he sees. Opener “New World” sounds like a rebuke of the “Immigrant Song”, rather than heroic warriors, the destructive will of the settlers overwhelms the land, “The great white father’s word is law”. The theme of immigration also informs the title track, its wonderfully inventive arrangement and thoughtful lyrics providing a compelling highlight. Here he takes the perspective of the pressures that cause people to leave their homeland in search of a better, or more likely, safer life and their lack of comprehension of the hostility shown to them. It is rare for Plant to be this overtly political but the sincerity and emotion conveyed makes it incredibly moving. Similarly with  “Bones of Saints”, performed as the middle of three encores, which covers how arms from Britain and other western nations are used in the atrocities carried out around the world, in particular at this moment in Yemen. It is a theme that Plant doesn’t shirk from in his introduction, overcoming his tendency to ramble to make his point clearly and directly. “The May Queen” is the lightest of the songs from “Carry Fire”, a repetitive, hypnotic trance whose folk origins are enhanced by Lakeman’s fiery violin. He also includes “All the Kings Horses” from “The Mighty Rearranger”, the first album to feature the musicians who were to become the Sensational Space Shifters, and a beautifully tender “Please Read the Letter” from his collaboration with Alison Krauss.

A dull, drizzly evening and in Wolverhampton the the audience are filing out through the limited number of exits that seem to be open. Filled to its capacity, the hall had been crowded leading to some tetchiness as people struggled to gain a view. The heat from all these bodies made it obsessively hot which, despite its recent refurbishment, the Civic’s air conditioning failed to moderate. Added to that a near septuagenarian rock star had decided that we really wanted to hear his new stuff. There were so many reasons, then, why it should have gone wrong but it didn’t and what we saw was a truly inspiring performance from an artist who is still at the very top of his game. One striking thing was just how quiet and receptive the audience were, the response to each song was as enthusiastic as Plant’s reputation requires but during the songs people were there to listen, quite something in a venue that is usually notable for the volume of its background chatter. The post gig euphoria is not the best time to make comparisons with previous shows but having had chance to reflect since, I have found few reasons to doubt my initial reaction as to this being one of the best shows I have seen him do. The template for how rock stars gracefully age is still in the process of being written but there are few who manage to do it whilst still remaining important and relevant. Plant’s travels, both physical and musical, may now be a little more limited in their scope but his music remains both intriguing and important.

[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCY AND LIBERACE

S2;E16 ~ January 5, 1970

Directed by Jack Baker ~ Written by Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs

Synopsis

For a high school initiation, Craig goes on a scavenger hunt to retrieve one of Liberace's candelabras. Liberace loans it to him but Lucy thinks he stole it so she recruits Harry to sneak into the star's mansion and return it.  

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter), Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Carter)

Guest Cast

Liberace (Himself) was born Władziu Valentino Liberace in 1919.  A piano prodigy, he was the son of working-class immigrants, and enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures, and endorsements. At the height of his fame, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Liberace was the highest-paid entertainer in the world, with established residencies in Las Vegas, and an international touring schedule. 

Liberace (known informally as ‘Lee’) embraced a lifestyle of flamboyant excess both on and off stage, acquiring the sobriquet "Mr. Showmanship." Prior to this episode, his only appearance with Lucille Ball was the musical film Best Foot Forward (1943). He died at age 67 after a battle with HIV/AIDS.

Ben Wrigley (Williams, Liberace's Butler) was a British actor who appeared in My Fair Lady (1964) and Bednobs and Broomsticks (1971). He previously appeared as a ticket agent in “Lucy Flies to London” (TLS S5;E6).  This is the first of his three episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Paul Winchell (Carlo, Liberace's Tailor) previously played himself in“Lucy and Paul Winchell” (TLS S5;E4). He was born Paul Wilchinsky in 1922. Coming into the public eye in 1948, he became one of the most famous ventriloquists since Edgar Bergen. He hosted the enormously popular children’s television show “Winchell-Mahoney Time” (1964-68) in which he shared the spotlight with Jerry Mahoney, one of his most popular characters. He played Doc Putnam in “Main Street U.S.A.” (TLS S5;17) and “Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (TLS S5;E18). This is the second of his two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”  He died in 2005.

Winchell uses an Italian accent for this character.  

This is the first episode of the new year and the new decade.  

The 1970s will see the end of “Here's Lucy” in 1974, as well as Lucille Ball's return to the silver screen in Mame that same year.  In 1971, Lucie Arnaz will wed Phil Vandervort and Desi Arnaz Jr. made his big screen debut in Red Sky at Morning.  At the end of the decade, Lucie Arnaz made her Broadway debut in They're Playing Our Song (1979).

The date this episode was first aired (January 5, 1970) ABC premiered a new daytime drama called All My Children. Philip Amelio, who played Lucy’s grandson on “Life With Lucy”, appeared on the sudser in 1988. It ceased production in 2013. 

Liberace brought $50,000 worth of his spectacular wardrobe to the set, and Lucille Ball hired a round-the-clock security guard to ensure its safety. The tuxedo jacket that lights up in the dark made its debut on this show; Liberace will use it in his act for the rest of his life.

In the 2013 HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra, an aging Liberace (Michael Douglas) compares his domestic life with partner Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) to an old sitcom. Scott protests: “Why am I the Lucy?”  Douglas' father Kirk made a wordless cameo appearance on a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show.”

Professor Harkens gave Craig the African mask.

Lucy recalls her initiation into ‘The Swingers’ in high school.  The double entendre of 'swinging' is quickly cleared up by Lucy saying she was in a trapeze club!  For her initiation, she had to get an autographed photo of Rudy Vallee. Rudy Vallee was a singer popular in the 1920s and '30s who made a guest appearance on the first episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1957.  He will guest star as himself during season 3 of “Here's Lucy.”  

Kim guesses that Craig may have to retrieve an item from Engelbert Humperdinck. Lucy replies “What's an Engelbert Dumperhinck?”  Engelbert Humperdinck is an English pop singer acclaimed as one of the finest middle-of-the-road balladeers around. In 1969 he released two albums and had three hit singles. That same year he was the first guest on “The Liberace Show”. 

In Liberace's mansion, he enters and sits at a glass-lid Baldwin grand piano and plays Chopin's “Military Polonaise” (Opus 40, #1) composed in 1838.  

When Liberace tries on the light-up jacket, he says “This'll really turn them on in Pasadena!”  He could be referring to his senior citizen female fans. There was a popular song at the time titled “Little Old Lady From Pasadena.” Later in the episode we learn that the candelabra loaned to Craig was a gift from a Senior Citizen group. 

In a retrospectively ironic line, Liberace says about his many candelabras: “I've got closets full of them.” Although Liberace was flamboyant, his sexual orientation was never discussed publicly (he was ‘in the closet’) until later in his life.  When 17 year-old Craig and Liberace are alone (and Craig's shirt is unbuttoned to the navel) it is difficult not to think of Liberace's romance with 18 year-old Scott Thorson (inset), who later sued the entertainer in America's first same-sex palimony case.

At home, Craig gets a phone call from Bill. This is probably a nod to Desi Arnaz Jr.'s friend and band mate Billy Hinsche.  

Answering the front door, Kim says “It's probably Craig with his arms loaded down with that something he had to get from a big star.” Lucy replies: “Maybe he's got his arms full of Jackie Gleason.”  This is a quick joke about comedy star Jackie Gleason's weight.  Gleason did a cameo as Ralph Kramden in the second episode of “Here's Lucy” (above). 

Harry is reminded that in college he underwent initiation into the fraternity Delta Delta Tau. The joke comes when he gives says their initials – DDT. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is a chemical used as an insecticide. In the late 1960s and early ‘70s DDT was frequently in the news regarding its harmful effects on humans, wildlife, and the environment.  DDT was eventually banned.  

The candelabra is inscribed “To Liberace. From his Senior Citizen Fan Club in Pismo Beach.” Along with Cucagmonga, Pismo Beach was often used as a punch-line for jokes about California. It was mentioned in “Lucy Goes on Strike” (S1;E16). Pismo Beach is one of the locations Lucy and Ethel want to visit before returning to New York in “Lucy Gets Into Pictures” (ILL S4;E18).

On their way to return the candelabra to Liberace, Harry holds it forth and says “Lead, kindly light.”  “Lead, Kindly Light” is a hymn with words written in 1833 by John Henry Newman as a poem titled "The Pillar of Cloud."

Sneaking into Liberace's mansion through the back door, Harry's shoes squeak! Lucy says “You'd sure be a goofball on 'Mission: Impossible.’”  The Desilu TV spy show “Mission: Impossible” has been a source of humor for “Here's Lucy,” which even did a whole episode parodying the show: “Lucy's Impossible Mission” (S1;E6, above).  

Harry and Lucy sing while Liberace plays "By the Light of the Silvery Moon,” a song written in 1909 by Gus Edwards and Edward Madden. Lucy says she and Harry first performed the number at the Kiwanis Capers.

When Lucy suggests that Liberace use the whole family on his TV special, Liberace remarks “You're about 83 short of the King Family.” The King Family was a family musical group that had great success on records and television in the 1960s. They had a TV show on ABC that ran until 1969.  

As the big finale, everyone sings and dances to "I'll Be Seeing You," a song written by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal in 1938. It was inserted into the Broadway musical Right This Way, which closed after just  fifteen performances.

Lucy and Lee shared the covers of many periodicals of the 1950s. Both had top-rated television programs and were instantly identifiable figures and names. Nearly 20 years later, both are still considered show business royalty. 

Offscreen, Lucy and Desi socialize with Liberace during the height of their fame. 

At the start of the episode, Craig enters wearing an African mask.  The moment is similar to when Ricky Ricardo researched African masks for his Voodoo act during “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). The scene also begins the 1953 episode. Ricky Ricardo also briefly wore an African mask in “Cuban Pals” (ILL S1;E28) before singing “Similau.”  

Liberace tells Craig not to worry about returning the candelabra as he has a lot of them. Craig replies: “If Los Angeles ever had a black out – you could light the whole city.” This echoes when Liberace was first mentioned by Lucy Ricardo in “The Diner” (ILL S3;E25) in 1954.  

LUCY RICARDO: (about Ricky’s bad mood): “Everything went wrong down at the club last night. Right in the middle of his big number, the lights went out all over the whole neighborhood. Everybody got up and, and left and went into the nightclub across the street.” ETHEL MERTZ: “How’d they manage without electricity?” LUCY RICARDO: “Liberace was playing there.  He does his show by candlelight.” 

“Lucy’s Club Dance” (S3;E25) included the February 26, 1954 issue of TV Guide with Liberace (and a candelabra) on the cover. It was one of many used as set dressing for a corner news stand.  

In “Lucy’s Show-Biz Swan Song” (ILL S2;E12) Lucy and Ethel sing “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” and wangles her way into performing with a barbershop quartet.

In “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) Lucy Carmichael and Vivian Bagley sing “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” and wangles her way into performing with a barbershop quartet.

Craig's collectibles are no doubt supplied by prop master Kenneth Westcott from the Desilu props supply.  It is likely that all of the items were used in some television program, but the one most recognizable is the female ship's figurehead. It was last seen in the background of the Sunset Strip beatnik hangout in “Viv Visits Lucy” (TLS S5;E15).  

In “Lucy and the Countess Have a Horse Guest” (TLS S4;E6), Lucy Carmichael tells the Countess (aka her old chum Rosie) that since moving to Hollywood she has met Lassie’s hairdresser, the man who used to dry off Lloyd Bridges, and Liberace’s dentist. Liberace was well known for his continual smile.  

In “Lucy Dates Dean Martin” (TLS S4;E21) Lucy Carmichael admires (and later wears) a sequined top once worn by Audrey Hepburn. Dean Martin says “The last time I saw anything that fancy was on Liberace.”  In “Lucy and Liberace” Harry admires and tries on Liberace’s red sequined jacket. 

Math Fail!  Liberace says that the Carters are 83 short of the King Family. There were 39 members of the King family, ranging in age from 7 months to 79 years, who appeared on their television show.  Liberace is exaggerating by 48 Kings!

Where the (Marble) Floor Ends! In the living room scene the camera pulls back to far and reveals the soundstage cement floor.  When this happens in Liberace's mansion, the tape spike marks are clearly visible for centering of the dance numbers and camera positions.

Sitcom Logic Alert! The ending of the episode ditches all pretense of reality and turns into a musical performance for the studio audience, including Liberace waving to the audience as he exits – stage right!  It is jarring and a sign that – once again - “Here's Lucy” is unsure of its identity.  

“Lucy and Liberace” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5

Let's face it – even playing himself Liberace is a pretty mediocre actor, so this episode could never be more than a showcase for his talent and opulent wardrobe on which is hung a paper thin plot. The worst thing about the episode is the complete demolishing of the fourth wall during the final number. Shameless, really.  

[scifiphan]

92 Things About Me

tysm @sleepwalkerphan  for tagging me in this! it’s 2am and I’m procrastinating the heck out of writing so this is perfect lmao.

also I’ll put most of the things below the cut so keep reading if ya wanna know 92 fun facts about me

edit: this took me almost an hour to do and towards the end, I basically confess my entire life so have fun reading that lmao. like i seriously have a realisation about how idk what i’m doing with my life hahahaha

THE LAST..

1. Drink : Water #stayhydrated 2. Phone call : mum 3. Text Message : a gif of phil being scared in bed (even my irl friends are trash) 4. Song You Listened To : currently listening to Taro - alt-J 5. Time You Cried : On sunday I cried over a renovation reality tv show (??? yeah idk either, bro) the apartments just looked so nice and the team I liked got kicked off the show.

HAVE YOU EVER..

6. Dated Someone Twice : nope 7. Been Cheated On : nope 8. Kissed Someone And Regretted It : YES (smh @ me) 9. Lost Someone Special : thankfully no 10. Been Depressed : i honestly don’t know. i think I have but am so freaking stubborn at admitting I have had depressive episodes in the past 11. Got Drunk And Thrown Up : YES OH MY GOODNESS I HAVE HAD SO MANY BAD TIMES. DON’T DRINK WINE AND THEN A MILKSHAKE AND THEN DANCE ON A BEACH. YOU WILL ONLY END UP THROWING UP IN A GARBAGE BIN OUTSIDE A KEBAB STORE (it wasn’t even after midnight, that’s the most embarrassing thing) 

LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS :

12. Green 13. Pink 14. Turquoise

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU..

15. Made New Friends : yes!! so many new and amazing friends 16. Fallen Out Of Love : nope. 17. Laughed Until You Cried : laughing until I cry is me every time 18. Found Out Someone Was Talking About You : yes (you would think that adults would stop teen behaviours lol) 19. Met Someone Who Changed You : yes, the last year included so much change. 20. Found Out Who Your True Friends Are : Yes. Just gonna put it out there: traveling for an extensive period of time overseas really shows who your true friends are and who are the snakes. 21. Kissed Someone On Your Facebook List : hahahaha yes (too mant rip) 22.How Many Of Your Facebook Friends Do You Know In Real Life :  probably almost all of them (so like 550) only a few on there are my internet friends 23. Do You Have Any Pets : nope and I probs wont get another pet for a long long time 24. Do You Want To Change Your Name : NO!!!!!!! Teddii is a blessing although I would change my last name (it��s two surnames joined together and it makes life difficult because it’s so long) 25. What Did You Do For Your Last Birthday : went out for dinner at a mexican place, won a few dollars on the pokies and then went out clubbing (also i got a fine rip me) 26. What Time Did You Wake Up This Morning: 11am OOPS (i slept in and missed uni) 27. What Were You Doing At Midnight Last Night : probably making a gif 28. Name Something You Cannot Wait For : FINISHING UNI AND MOVING TO THE UK (hopefully to do my masters in global terrorism at the uni of london but if not i really wanna get a 1 year working visa and just do some hospitality work before I start a career) 29. When Was The Last Time You Saw Your Mother : like 4 hours ago when we were watching tv 30. What Is One Thing You Could Change About Your Life : I wish I had a UK passport, it would make life a lot easier for me if I had dual citizenship instead of a boring Australian passport 31. What Are You Listening To Right Now : alt-J, a live performance of Taro  32. Have You Ever Talked To A Person Named Tom : I know so many Tom’s it’s ridiculous 33. Something That Is Getting On Your Nerves : PEOPLE!!! WHO!! THINK!! THAT!! IF YOUR DEGREE!! ISN’T STEM!! THEN IT ISN’T!! HARD!!!! (i’m looking @ every friend who does a stem degree and always laughs at how my degree must be so easy because it doesn’t include math)

34. Most Visited Websites : tumblr, youtube, my uni’s website, facebook 35. Elementary : v great time, got bullied heaps but still had fun 36. High School : problematic fave. honestly my time at high school can fill a 500 page essay. being right next to a beach and river was actually gr8, the endless issues weren’t so good. 37. College/University : it has been a wild ride. I swapped degrees so I still have around 2 years left but uni has been my fave so far 38. Hair Colour : PINK!!!! (naturally ginger) 39. Long or Short Hair : long 40. Do You Have A Crush On Someone : nope (which is a shocker) 41. What Do You Like About Yourself : I like my individuality and independance 42. Piercings : 2x lobes, 1x helix, 1x nose. (i’m thinkng about getting my conch in a few weeks) 43. Blood Type : O+ 44. Nickname : ted, teddii bear, sideshow bob, cotton candy 45. Relationship Status : hella single 46. Zodiac Sign : Cancer (aka my birthday is soon hell yeah) 47. Pronouns : she/her. 48. Favourite Tv Show : STAR TREK: VOYAGER WILL ALWAYS BE MY FAVOURITE 49. Tattoos : crescent moon on my right wrist (i sorta don’t like how it turned out but after a year I have grown to appreciate the meaning) 50. Right Or Left Hand : Left handed (aka another reason why Dan is my spirit animal)

FIRST..

51. Surgery : i got a bunch of teeth removed when I was like 4/5�� 52. Word : baba or ma  53. Sport : soccer  54. Vacation : i actually can’t remember my first vacation. probs Sydney tbh idk I went a lot of places when I was young 55. Pair Of Trainers : probably something Adidas tbh

WHAT ARE YOU..

56. Eating : nothing 57. Drinking : water 58. Reading : nothing at the moment besides uni textbooks 59. I’m About To : I should say sleep but I’ll probably just watch youtube 60. Listening To : Breezeblocks by alt-J (can you see a recurring theme with my music questions?) 61. Waiting For : GoT SEASON 7 AKA MY BIRTHDAY (honestly feel so blessed to grow older and watch new GoT on the same day) 62. Craving For : MONEYYYYYYY. ya girl is unemployed thanks to the bad habit of planning last minute overseas holidays 63. Do you wanna get married : eventually but at the same time it doesn’t worry me 64. Going To Do When You Get Older : ????? ?????? ????? you would think I would have an idea but tbh idk. I’m studying International Relations and I want to do a postgrad in global terrorism. But career wise I have no bloody idea. I would like to work in the UN or UNESCO or for the Australian Government in an embassy. but at the same time I also want to be a travel photographer and just ignore my degree (idk adult life is hard)

YOUR TYPE..

65. Hugs or Kisses : HUGS 66. Lips or Eyes : eyes! <3333 67. Short or Tall : tall guys!!! but short girls are my weakness!! 68. Young or Old : HA haHA HA old 69. Nice Arms Or Nice Stomach : slight preference for nice arms because tummys are cute no matter what 70. Sensitive or Loud : I am both of those things so, por que no las dos? 71. Hook Up or Relationship : relationship (although I can’t relate because i am eternally single) 72. Troublemaker or Hesitant : I prefer when people are upfront instead of hiding stuff from me so I guess that means troublemaker?

HAVE YOU EVER..

73. Kissed A Stranger : yes 74. Drank Hard Liquor : yes (love me some vodka) 75. Lost Eye glasses or contact lenses : not yet thankfully 76. Turned Someone Down : YES! (there is nothing wrong with turning people down.) 77. Sex On First Date : no 78. Broken Someone’s Heart : yes and I still feel bad 79. Had Your Heart Broken : yep 80. Been Arrested : yes (kind of, long story) 81. Cried When Someone Died : yes. although I tend to go more numb instead of crying. idk it’s weird because I cry about everything but death kinda makes me become numb 82. Fallen For A Friend : yes (oops)

DO YOU BELIEVE IN..

83. In Yourself : yes although I need to believe in myself a lot more 84. Miracles : yes 85. Love At First Sight : yes and no. I believe it exists but I feel like a lot of people believe that they are experiencing love at first sight when in reality it is infatuation/lust. 86. Santa Claus : this question conflicts me because the logical side of me says no but the optimistic child side of me refuses to accept the truth 87. Kiss On The First Date : yeah 88. Angels : nah, not for me

OTHER..

89. Current best friend’s name : do i have a best friend? not really. again, it’s a weird time for me when it comes to friends. 90. Eye Colour : um blue with green and grey mixed in (it’s so hard to describe but yeah, those three) 91. Favourite singer/Band : Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, al-J (i love them all a lot.) 92. Favourite Movie : Avatar. yes the blue alien one. It’s lame but I fell in love with the na’vi culture and it kinda helped get me obsessed with scifi.

And that’s a wrap!

If anyone actually read all that I hope you enjoyed my (very) late night confessions. Idk who to tag so if you see this and want to do it feel free to do so! Also, come hit up my inbox/messages if you wanna be my friend after reading this, I wanna make some friends on this hellsite

[thisaintascenereviews]

Album Review by Bradley Christensen The Cure – Seventeen Seconds Record Label: Elektra Release Date: June 1 1980

After the trilogy of Genesis reviews (well, reviews that were about Genesis and both of its frontmen, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel), it’s time to move onto something different, so what do I have next to cover? What’s the total opposite of bright, catchy, and accessible pop / rock music to come out of the 80s? Yeah, yeah, I know Peter Gabriel’s So wasn’t exactly the most accessible album, either, but it was energetic. If you’re somehow psychic, and your answer is “very brooding, dark, morose, and slow-moving gothic rock / alternative rock,” you’re right, because for the next couple of reviews, I want to talk about The Cure. This British band is one that I’ve talked about before, specifically when I did 90s Month two years ago, around this very same time. I covered their 1992 LP, The Wish, because it featured one of their biggest tracks, and the only song of theirs that I knew. If you remember my review of that album, I really liked it. I thought it was a very unique album that mixed the dark and morose sound of gothic rock, but also brought a pop sensibility to it, making it more accessible to the “mainstream,” or at least for people like myself, that don’t usually listen to that kind of music. I haven’t listened to this band since, but when I was thinking about bands and artists to listen to for this month, The Cure came up in my mind. They started in the late 70s, but didn’t release their proper first albums until the early 80s. I decided to listen to some of those albums, and I managed to find a couple at FYE from the early 80s, those being 1981’s Faith, and 1980’s Seventeen Seconds. I’ll be talking about the latter first, because it’s the one that I like the least, to be completely frank. That’s not to say that I dislike this record, but if I didn’t, I could easily make the most obvious joke – “This record should have been only seventeen seconds!” No, this record is good, but my problem with it, and it’s the only one that I really have, is that it’s not the kind of album that I can listen to all the time.

“Wait a minute, Bradley,” I can hear you telling me right now, “How does that work? You like this album, but you don’t want to listen to it all that much? What does that mean?” Well, it’s kind of complicated, because this LP has a sound that doesn’t beg multiple listens from me. At least The Wish had a pop sensibility that made things more accessible and catchier, but Seventeen Seconds is an album that I need to be in the right mood to listen to. This album is dark, morose, slow-moving, experimental, and a very atmospheric experience. It’s not the most lighthearted, brightly colored, or energetic album, and I don’t tend to listen to music in this vein. It’s depressing, exhausting, and slow-moving behind belief. Everything is done well, and frontman Robert Smith sounds great, and the lyrics are very interesting and well-written, but it’s not the kind of stuff that I can just put on casually. I need to be in the right state of mind for that. I never thought I’d end saying that in a review, because I haven’t encountered a lot of music like that. Most albums I review, I can play whenever and wherever. They have a very general and accessible feel to them, and I can be in any mood or any place, and I’d be able to listen to them just fine, but this album is a different beast entirely, because it has a mood that I can’t always get into. How could I, though? I don’t listen to sad music all the time. Hell, one of my favorite albums of 2016, Staten’s Saint, was like this, too, and it’s the only album that I can think of that has this problem. I loved that album, but I couldn’t listen to it a lot, because it was just so depressing. I had to be in the right mood to listen to it, and despite loving it, I couldn’t listen to it all that much without becoming exhausted from it. I feel the same way here. I’m not bored, and this album isn’t terrible or generic, but it’s just so morose, depressing, and exhausting, it’s hard for me to listen to.

That makes it very tricky to recommend this, kind of how tricky it was to recommend So by Peter Gabriel; that album was very artsy, surreal, and experimental, and I wouldn’t recommend it to people that don’t listen to more experimental / off-kilter music, although I really liked that album. I thought it was pretty good, but it’s not for everyone. I can say the same for this album, too – as much as I like it, I wouldn’t recommend to just anyone. I mean, I wouldn’t recommend this to my mom, who listens to country and pop music, because it’s such a morose, dark, and sad album, so she wouldn’t like it at all. It’s not heavy, brutal, or anything like that, but it’s just not a very accessible or easily digestible kind of music. People who enjoy this kind of stuff, or want to listen to more sad, depressing, and darker music will definitely enjoy this, too, but I don’t know, I can’t just listen to this at the drop of a hat. It’s not catchy, immediate, or energetic, and that’s what I look for most. I look for stuff that will catch my attention, as well as keep it, but that’s unfair to say, because this keeps my attention. It’s just that it’s a very exhausting album, but there is one really good thing about this album that I really appreciate. Before I even listened to it, I noticed it was around 35 minutes long. That’s awesome, because at least this LP is very short. It’s short, quick, and to the point, but even that doesn’t mask how exhausting this LP is. This album feels like it’s about an hour, despite only being 35 minutes, but at least it’s not literally an hour, so I guess that works to its advantage, but it’s not a big advantage. The Cure is an influential band, regardless of how I feel about them, and while I prefer their more pop-influenced material, it’s hard to deny that their early work is still good. This is basically what “emo” was before it was a thing, and for that, I have to commend this band. With that said, I can’t see myself listening to this LP that much, but I’m honored to have it in my collection.

[happymetalgeek]

STAGE 2

The Idol Dead

There’s nothing I admire more than seeing a upcoming group like event openers The Idol Dead tearing through a set like its Wembley stadium. Judging by the amount of people in attendance on this the smaller of the 2 stages this 5 piece have already gathered a healthy fan base with their energetic stage moves. “Clear lines” is a fine example of their punky attitude and is a major head rip roarer of a track and its over way too soon. With plenty of banter between artist and audience its the perfect curtain raiser to the weekend. With touches of The Cult, Motley Crue even the New York Dolls you couldn’t fail to raise a smile or be entertained.

Psychobabylon

The sleazemeter goes up a notch or two with the arrival of Psychobabylon with vocals reminiscent of Vince Neil. Pounding drums and some very tasty guitar work thrown in for good measure all add up to a promising prospect. Man mountain vocalist “Rusty D” is where the eyes and ears are at with a set of pipes finer than a church organ. He’s not afraid to peel off a couple of death growls when the group down tune their playing especially on the rampaging “Angels” which the group announce they may never have played this track live before, seriously this begs the question why? Because to my ears this is far and away the stand out moment from the set. “Love and War” sways, growls and grunts with a typical LA Guns vibe a moment when fists were firmly in the air Transmission Vamps “Baby I Don’t Care” is covered brilliantly and with a bit of spicing up it went down well and the crowd reaction proved this to be a good choice of cover.

Speed Stroke

Staying on the 2nd stage next up was Speed Stroke decked out in tight jeans, bandanas all topped up with masses of swirling hair and stage moves a plenty with dirty filthy sleazy riffs sums up why so many people have gathered around the stage. Sometimes frantic sometimes less frantic nothing was going to stop “Speed Stroke” not even a broken bass drum pedal 3 songs in. When the group really hit top gear is when they find their AC/DC groove. With heavy heart I had to cut the set short as I had to dash over to the main stage but with barely 3 minutes left to achieve this I had to say goodbye to a bunch of guys who are a breath of fresh air and although the weekend has just started with 19 acts to follow I may well have witnessed the band of the weekend.

  Coyote Mad Seeds

While many bands from all over the UK and further afield had rolled up to Sheffield to fill the air with rock and roll, Sheffield was not going to take this lying down, and to prove that point were three local lads taking the stage as Coyote Mad Seeds. And, boy did these guys show that Sheffield had what it takes to prove that Rock Ain’t Dead.  Even with an overlap with the Main stage, they held their own as quite a few punters thoroughly enjoyed a good, solid rock show as Joe, Chris and Rik fully earned the title of “Full Force Balls Out Rock ‘n’ Roll from Sheffield”. Pumping out good solid rock anthems like “Luck is For Losers” they energised a very receptive audience, endeared themselves as they ribbed each other and audience members before Joe came out onto the floor, ripping some solid riffs as he was provided some amber liquid refreshments. This was an entertaining fully engaged performance that left everyone feeling they had seen a rock show very worthy of being on the HRH stage.

  Honourable Mention – Senton Bombs

Four unabashed rockers took the stage to let everyone know what the Senton Bombs were about and produced a great set that brought more punk energy to rock and roll. While it would have been great to see the full set, there is no physical way to be in two places at the one time. Only a few brief moments allowed me to get a glimpse into what these guys were about. It was loud and it was good! More than enough to give this reviewer a stabbing pang of guilt more time could not be given to hear the full set.

MAIN STAGE

Midnite City

Over on the main stage was Midnite City and they have amassed enough interest to pack out the floor before them with a healthy sprinkle of support on the balcony. Not just a fine sleaze band but also respected for their melodic rock leanings. New single “Give Me Love” from their yet unreleased 2nd album goes down well and vocalist “Rob Wyldes” enthusiasm is evident as he dances and swings his arse all over the stage on this Bon Jovi sounding track. Personally watching “Midnite City” is the closest thing to heaven for me with Def Leppard licks, Danger Danger looks and Trixter moves, it sounds good and believe me it works perfectly. “Summer Of Our Lives” has always been a fan favourite and it comes over twice as good live than the studio version. The hour passes in a flash leaving a very contented hall behind them.

Last Great Dreamers

Standing centre stage with guitar slung low and a tasty look bowler hat on his head is the one and only Mark Valentine singer guitarist and all round entertainer, the band in question is The Last Great Dreamers a band with a chequered if long career who are receiving high praise indeed from wherever they perform. With a range of styles from 70s glam to green day infused riffs and The Wildhearts choruses the end result is lots of Dad dancing from the audience and people being grateful that miserable grunge has died a death. HRH have a radio station and “Sunshine” got to number 1 in the charts so lots of ‘thank you’ from Mr Valentine for the DJs that promoted the song. The track itself comes blasting out the speakers like a sonic boom and a small but friendly mosh pit coalesces in front of the stage. Special mention must go to Tigertailz bassist Berty Burton who was doing double shift this weekend but his duck walking antics on the stage even caught the attention of the miserable looking security guy and shock horror!! he smiled.

Wildheart

Imagine being placed in a time machine and transported back to 1984 (wouldn’t that be nice?) well Wildheart offer that opportunity for just the price of a concert ticket. Hailing from Belgium with a singer called Farty you would be fooled into thinking this is a million miles from the crazy Sunset Strip but be fooled no longer because this band is seriously the real deal. Talk about well thought out crafted songs with spine tingling riffs and elements of Dokken, Van Halen and Ratt you will get the picture. The confidence of these guys and the set is as tight as a drum. With the clock ticking down we get treated to Whitesnake’s Still Of The Night and a victorious full stop to a cracking live performance’

  Jetboy

The moment for me has arrived after waiting for 35 years to witness Jetboy another band on my ever shrinking bucket list is now well and truly ticked off. The group have never played these shores before and main man “Mickey Finn” is just buzzing in his Union Jack Rolling Stones T shirt and is visibly stunned to be in the UK. “Rock n Roller” gives the opportunity for the harmonica to appear and in comes the boogie woogie with enough electricity to supply a City the size of Sheffield. Not content with resting up its head first into the slide guitar of “Bullfrog Pond” and its insane grooves. With Jet Boy they have been given the opportunity to record a new album and we are treated to a preview of first single “Born To Fly” and if this is anything to go on then this album could be a monster. This is as good as a comeback track your likely to hear for a very long time. The bass heavy thunderous riff of “Heavy Chevy” offers a slight departure in the Jetboy style and just proves they aren’t a one trick pony. With Mickey Finn falling to his knees and shaking his head like he’s possessed. New track “Beating The Odds” produces a deafening roar from the speakers and serious riffage of the highest order. This isn’t sleaze this is pure unashamed METAL. No Jetboy gig can be wrapped up without “Feel The Shake” a mish mash of grinding hips and Angus Young inspired guitar work made this historic “I was there” moment all the better. Mickey Finn has won 2 awards this weekend one for best Mohican and the other award is the happiest man in Sheffield.

L.A. Guns

Attendance was roughly 3400 and most seemed to be here for L.A. Guns so with no further hanging around “Diary Of A Madman” acted as the intro music before “Devil Made Me Do It” hits us straight between the eyes, from the very start guitarist Tracii Guns is on fire ripping the living daylights out of his 6 strings this man is admired around the world for his ability and you can understand why. Drummer “Shane Fitzgibbon” is a powerhouse and this is evident on “Electric Gypsy” anything less than accomplished musicians would never be backing Phil Lewis. Fourth song in, and out comes the Jimmy Page inspired bow and under a lone spotlight Tracii Guns cuts a Zeppelin flavoured solo before merging with the moody “Over The Edge” If ever a title of a song reflects the speed of the song then its the ball crunching “Speed” which has to be most filthiest song played on this the first day. With the set progressing before my very eyes I am well aware that I’m just watching Tracii and paying no attention to anything else, the man is from another universe!! The song that has stood the test of time better than most is “Ballad Of Jayne” this is LA Guns career highlight whether they like it or not. Watching Phil Lewis is spine tingling as he just croons his way through to the end and it’s a pleasure to be a witness.

“Rip And Tear” draws day One to a fitting conclusion with the punters spilling out on the street and with those with any stamina left to enjoy the rock disco while the curtain falls on a manic but highly enjoyable day.

Review by Steve Bruty

Originally posted on Metal Planet Music

GIG REVIEW: @HRHSleaze Day 1 Delivers The Rock With @laguns, @jetboyrocks In Sheffield with @TheIdolDead ‏@Psychobabylon1 @thesentonbombs @LGDreamers @CoyoteMadSeeds #wildheart @SpeedStroke @centralpresspr @bluhorshu STAGE 2 The Idol Dead There’s nothing I admire more than seeing a upcoming group like event openers…

[rtawngs20815]

Throwback Thursday: Entering the DSLR world with the Canon EOS 10D

A few months ago I wrote a short article about the Canon EOS D30. The D30 was a groundbreaking camera in its day, being the first 'affordable' DSLR and the first to feature a large-format CMOS sensor. Yes, its autofocus system was woeful, and the LCD display on the back was about as useful as making a sketch from memory, but back in 2000, everybody wanted one.

I was definitely curious about the D30, but given that in 2000 I was a first-year undergraduate student, such an expensive camera was far beyond my reach. It would be another couple of years before I saved up enough money to buy my first DSLR, and the camera I eventually settled on was the successor to the successor of the EOS D30 - the counterintuitively named Canon EOS 10D1.

The break with Canon's previous naming convention was appropriate, though. The 10D was a substantially new camera compared to the models that preceded it, and it replaced the D60 with an almost indecent haste (the D60 had been on the market for little more than a year before the 10D came along). Compared to the plastic-bodied D30/D60 it was better built, featured a far superior rear LCD (with a usable magnification feature) offered a more rounded styling, closer in spirit to the EOS-1D series, and was much quicker in operation.

The 10D was a thoroughly modern camera in 2003, and remained on the market for some time. Canon took the basic form factor of the D60 and modernized every aspect of that model's performance and styling.

The 10D's DIGIC processor drove a blisteringly fast (ahem...) continuous shooting rate of 3 fps, operation was snappier, including reduced shutter-lag, and the 10D's 7-point autofocus system was a huge improvement over the 3-point system in the D30 and D60, which seemed prehistoric even back then. Although the 10D's 6MP CMOS sensor was based on the one previously used in the D60, Canon had refined the manufacturing process in the meantime. Consequently it offered slightly better resolution than its predecessor, superior noise performance and a wider ISO span, topping out at a grainy but usable ISO 3200.

Remarkably, despite all of these improvements, the 10D was also $500 cheaper than the D60.

Although it definitely wasn't in the same ballpark as the EOS-1D in terms of speed or construction, the 10D beat the pants off Canon's then-current pro sports model in terms of image quality. Significantly, the core specification of the 10D was close enough to the EOS 30 / Elan 7 that film holdouts didn't have to feel too badly short-changed by the costly jump into digital.

With the EOS 10D's accessory grip attached, it was almost possible to believe that I was shooting with an EOS-1D. Almost...

So, to recap - the 10D offered a very usable sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200, 3 fps continuous shooting, 7-point AF system, magnesium-alloy body shell and a substantial price reduction. In 2003, it all added up to a hugely desirable camera.2

Canon EOS 10D Sample images (2004-5)

Because it was so popular, the 10D was pretty scarce for several months after its introduction. After saving up my wages for an entire summer (a story told in more detail here), I ended up purchasing mine from a 'big box' high-street retailer, because it was out of stock everywhere else – something I later came to regret.

I decided to pull the trigger on a 10D for several reasons. In a rare attack of foresight, I determined that this digital thing probably wasn't a fad, and with ambitions to become a photographer of some kind, it seemed sensible to dive in as soon as possible. And while previous DSLRs had felt like too much of a compromise, the 10D seemed to meet my most important criteria.

As a budding theatre and live music photographer, I was hitting the limits of what I could do with film, both technically and practically. Technically speaking, high ISO film exposed in marginal light and processed at your average high-street pharmacy simply doesn't look very good - especially if you're talking about high-speed color emulsions. From a practical standpoint, development and printing turnaround times were a problem if I wanted to get images to people quickly. And forget about serious commercial work – by 2003, the magazines and websites I was interested in working for were increasingly insisting on digital file delivery.

A typical monochrome conversion of a shot taken in the Assembly Rooms Theatre. The 10D's highest ISO settings were grainy, but perfectly usable - especially when converted into black and white.

The first quasi 'commercial' work I ever did was head-shots and performance images for Durham University's student theatre. Student productions rotated every few weeks, and every production wanted some prints to display outside the theatre. I can't remember the first production that I shot digitally (was it Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker'?)3 but compared to film, it was vastly easier. Ironically, I was a sort of caretaker for the theatre at the time, since I lived in a small flat above the lobby. Being able to shoot a dress-rehearsal in the theatre, then head upstairs to make my edit and print the images - sometimes all in the same evening - was a revelation. I can't remember how much I charged for my services, but I made enough over a couple of years to buy a couple of new lenses.

And for a while it seemed like it was lenses that were the problem. Initially I had two lenses for my 10D. A 50mm F1.8 (of course), and a 24-70mm F2.8L. Later I added a 70-200mm F2.8L and a 17-40mm F4L (all purchased used). The 10D worked perfectly with all of them, except the 24-70mm. For whatever reason, camera and lens did not get on at all. Chronic back-focusing was apparent even through the 10D's viewfinder, and this was before the days of AF micro-adjustment. The 24-70mm was simply unusable on my 10D, but it focused perfectly on other DSLRs that I borrowed from friends, or rented in an increasingly desperate attempt to figure out what was going on.

A live shot from one of my first proper commissions - a major awards show tour that came through Newcastle in 2005 - not far from where I lived at the time. It looks like I benefited a bit from someone else's flash, in this shot. Thank you - whoever you were.

The retailer I bought my 10D from wasn't particularly interested in helping, so I sent it back to Canon at least four times during the first year I owned it, shooting on film during the long intervals when it was away for service. Every time it came back as 'up to specification,' but the back-focusing problem remained. Finally, after a lot of back and forth, I send the 10D in with the troublesome 24-70mm, and was rewarded with a 'fixed' camera, complete – funnily enough – with a new serial number. Knowing what I know now, I should have sent the camera and lens back together in the first place.

Even this frustrating experience wasn't enough to dull my excitement at owning and using the 10D. It really was a fantastic camera at the time, and it helped me gain a footing in the not-at-all-lucrative world of performance photography. My first magazine commissions were shot with the 10D. I learned about the benefits of shooting Raw with the 10D (albeit rather belatedly). The first camera I ever had confiscated at a music venue4 was the 10D. It was my main camera for a couple of very formative years, before being relegated as a second body beside to the truly magnificent EOS-1D Mark II (which I'm hoping to write about at a later date).

The 10D couldn't do everything (it choked up when shooting several Raw files in a sequence, and in low light its off-center AF points were little more than decorative), but it opened up a completely new world for me.

One of my favorite bands of the mid-2000s was 'Hope of the States'. I probably photographed them more than any other band, for a while. This shot is from another awards show in London in 2005. Despite the off-center composition, most likely I used the central AF point for this image, since the 10D's off-center points didn't work very well at all in low light.

And it's a world I'm still living in. Without the 10D, there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have become a music photographer, and if I hadn't become a music photographer, I probably wouldn't have ended up as a photography journalist. Whether or not that's a good thing is something I'm happy to leave to the commenters to decide.

Did you own a 10D? Let us know.

Read Phil Askey's review of the EOS 10D (2003)

Canon EOS 10D Review Samples (2003)

1 A note on Canon's confusing naming convention. The 'D30' because it was a digital camera with 3 million pixels. The D60 because it was basically a D30 with a new 6 million pixel sensor. And the switch to 10D because - I assume - Canon and Nikon's lawyers had a little chat.

2 In fact, just about the only people who weren't singing Canon's praises at the time were recent D60 owners.

3 The Assembly Rooms - it's still there, and this being student theatre, there's every chance that they're currently staging a production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', too.

4 It was all just one big misunderstanding. Specifically around two people's definitions of the word 'permission'. 

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2nffBAn

[stormdoors78476]

Throwback Thursday: Entering the DSLR world with the Canon EOS 10D

A few months ago I wrote a short article about the Canon EOS D30. The D30 was a groundbreaking camera in its day, being the first 'affordable' DSLR and the first to feature a large-format CMOS sensor. Yes, its autofocus system was woeful, and the LCD display on the back was about as useful as making a sketch from memory, but back in 2000, everybody wanted one.

I was definitely curious about the D30, but given that in 2000 I was a first-year undergraduate student, such an expensive camera was far beyond my reach. It would be another couple of years before I saved up enough money to buy my first DSLR, and the camera I eventually settled on was the successor to the successor of the EOS D30 - the counterintuitively named Canon EOS 10D1.

The break with Canon's previous naming convention was appropriate, though. The 10D was a substantially new camera compared to the models that preceded it, and it replaced the D60 with an almost indecent haste (the D60 had been on the market for little more than a year before the 10D came along). Compared to the plastic-bodied D30/D60 it was better built, featured a far superior rear LCD (with a usable magnification feature) offered a more rounded styling, closer in spirit to the EOS-1D series, and was much quicker in operation.

The 10D was a thoroughly modern camera in 2003, and remained on the market for some time. Canon took the basic form factor of the D60 and modernized every aspect of that model's performance and styling.

The 10D's DIGIC processor drove a blisteringly fast (ahem...) continuous shooting rate of 3 fps, operation was snappier, including reduced shutter-lag, and the 10D's 7-point autofocus system was a huge improvement over the 3-point system in the D30 and D60, which seemed prehistoric even back then. Although the 10D's 6MP CMOS sensor was based on the one previously used in the D60, Canon had refined the manufacturing process in the meantime. Consequently it offered slightly better resolution than its predecessor, superior noise performance and a wider ISO span, topping out at a grainy but usable ISO 3200.

Remarkably, despite all of these improvements, the 10D was also $500 cheaper than the D60.

Although it definitely wasn't in the same ballpark as the EOS-1D in terms of speed or construction, the 10D beat the pants off Canon's then-current pro sports model in terms of image quality. Significantly, the core specification of the 10D was close enough to the EOS 30 / Elan 7 that film holdouts didn't have to feel too badly short-changed by the costly jump into digital.

With the EOS 10D's accessory grip attached, it was almost possible to believe that I was shooting with an EOS-1D. Almost...

So, to recap - the 10D offered a very usable sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200, 3 fps continuous shooting, 7-point AF system, magnesium-alloy body shell and a substantial price reduction. In 2003, it all added up to a hugely desirable camera.2

Canon EOS 10D Sample images (2004-5)

Because it was so popular, the 10D was pretty scarce for several months after its introduction. After saving up my wages for an entire summer (a story told in more detail here), I ended up purchasing mine from a 'big box' high-street retailer, because it was out of stock everywhere else – something I later came to regret.

I decided to pull the trigger on a 10D for several reasons. In a rare attack of foresight, I determined that this digital thing probably wasn't a fad, and with ambitions to become a photographer of some kind, it seemed sensible to dive in as soon as possible. And while previous DSLRs had felt like too much of a compromise, the 10D seemed to meet my most important criteria.

As a budding theatre and live music photographer, I was hitting the limits of what I could do with film, both technically and practically. Technically speaking, high ISO film exposed in marginal light and processed at your average high-street pharmacy simply doesn't look very good - especially if you're talking about high-speed color emulsions. From a practical standpoint, development and printing turnaround times were a problem if I wanted to get images to people quickly. And forget about serious commercial work – by 2003, the magazines and websites I was interested in working for were increasingly insisting on digital file delivery.

A typical monochrome conversion of a shot taken in the Assembly Rooms Theatre. The 10D's highest ISO settings were grainy, but perfectly usable - especially when converted into black and white.

The first quasi 'commercial' work I ever did was head-shots and performance images for Durham University's student theatre. Student productions rotated every few weeks, and every production wanted some prints to display outside the theatre. I can't remember the first production that I shot digitally (was it Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker'?)3 but compared to film, it was vastly easier. Ironically, I was a sort of caretaker for the theatre at the time, since I lived in a small flat above the lobby. Being able to shoot a dress-rehearsal in the theatre, then head upstairs to make my edit and print the images - sometimes all in the same evening - was a revelation. I can't remember how much I charged for my services, but I made enough over a couple of years to buy a couple of new lenses.

And for a while it seemed like it was lenses that were the problem. Initially I had two lenses for my 10D. A 50mm F1.8 (of course), and a 24-70mm F2.8L. Later I added a 70-200mm F2.8L and a 17-40mm F4L (all purchased used). The 10D worked perfectly with all of them, except the 24-70mm. For whatever reason, camera and lens did not get on at all. Chronic back-focusing was apparent even through the 10D's viewfinder, and this was before the days of AF micro-adjustment. The 24-70mm was simply unusable on my 10D, but it focused perfectly on other DSLRs that I borrowed from friends, or rented in an increasingly desperate attempt to figure out what was going on.

A live shot from one of my first proper commissions - a major awards show tour that came through Newcastle in 2005 - not far from where I lived at the time. It looks like I benefited a bit from someone else's flash, in this shot. Thank you - whoever you were.

The retailer I bought my 10D from wasn't particularly interested in helping, so I sent it back to Canon at least four times during the first year I owned it, shooting on film during the long intervals when it was away for service. Every time it came back as 'up to specification,' but the back-focusing problem remained. Finally, after a lot of back and forth, I send the 10D in with the troublesome 24-70mm, and was rewarded with a 'fixed' camera, complete – funnily enough – with a new serial number. Knowing what I know now, I should have sent the camera and lens back together in the first place.

Even this frustrating experience wasn't enough to dull my excitement at owning and using the 10D. It really was a fantastic camera at the time, and it helped me gain a footing in the not-at-all-lucrative world of performance photography. My first magazine commissions were shot with the 10D. I learned about the benefits of shooting Raw with the 10D (albeit rather belatedly). The first camera I ever had confiscated at a music venue4 was the 10D. It was my main camera for a couple of very formative years, before being relegated as a second body beside to the truly magnificent EOS-1D Mark II (which I'm hoping to write about at a later date).

The 10D couldn't do everything (it choked up when shooting several Raw files in a sequence, and in low light its off-center AF points were little more than decorative), but it opened up a completely new world for me.

One of my favorite bands of the mid-2000s was 'Hope of the States'. I probably photographed them more than any other band, for a while. This shot is from another awards show in London in 2005. Despite the off-center composition, most likely I used the central AF point for this image, since the 10D's off-center points didn't work very well at all in low light.

And it's a world I'm still living in. Without the 10D, there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have become a music photographer, and if I hadn't become a music photographer, I probably wouldn't have ended up as a photography journalist. Whether or not that's a good thing is something I'm happy to leave to the commenters to decide.

Did you own a 10D? Let us know.

Read Phil Askey's review of the EOS 10D (2003)

Canon EOS 10D Review Samples (2003)

1 A note on Canon's confusing naming convention. The 'D30' because it was a digital camera with 3 million pixels. The D60 because it was basically a D30 with a new 6 million pixel sensor. And the switch to 10D because - I assume - Canon and Nikon's lawyers had a little chat.

2 In fact, just about the only people who weren't singing Canon's praises at the time were recent D60 owners.

3 The Assembly Rooms - it's still there, and this being student theatre, there's every chance that they're currently staging a production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', too.

4 It was all just one big misunderstanding. Specifically around two people's definitions of the word 'permission'. 

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2nffBAn

[rtscrndr53704]

Throwback Thursday: Entering the DSLR world with the Canon EOS 10D

A few months ago I wrote a short article about the Canon EOS D30. The D30 was a groundbreaking camera in its day, being the first 'affordable' DSLR and the first to feature a large-format CMOS sensor. Yes, its autofocus system was woeful, and the LCD display on the back was about as useful as making a sketch from memory, but back in 2000, everybody wanted one.

I was definitely curious about the D30, but given that in 2000 I was a first-year undergraduate student, such an expensive camera was far beyond my reach. It would be another couple of years before I saved up enough money to buy my first DSLR, and the camera I eventually settled on was the successor to the successor of the EOS D30 - the counterintuitively named Canon EOS 10D1.

The break with Canon's previous naming convention was appropriate, though. The 10D was a substantially new camera compared to the models that preceded it, and it replaced the D60 with an almost indecent haste (the D60 had been on the market for little more than a year before the 10D came along). Compared to the plastic-bodied D30/D60 it was better built, featured a far superior rear LCD (with a usable magnification feature) offered a more rounded styling, closer in spirit to the EOS-1D series, and was much quicker in operation.

The 10D was a thoroughly modern camera in 2003, and remained on the market for some time. Canon took the basic form factor of the D60 and modernized every aspect of that model's performance and styling.

The 10D's DIGIC processor drove a blisteringly fast (ahem...) continuous shooting rate of 3 fps, operation was snappier, including reduced shutter-lag, and the 10D's 7-point autofocus system was a huge improvement over the 3-point system in the D30 and D60, which seemed prehistoric even back then. Although the 10D's 6MP CMOS sensor was based on the one previously used in the D60, Canon had refined the manufacturing process in the meantime. Consequently it offered slightly better resolution than its predecessor, superior noise performance and a wider ISO span, topping out at a grainy but usable ISO 3200.

Remarkably, despite all of these improvements, the 10D was also $500 cheaper than the D60.

Although it definitely wasn't in the same ballpark as the EOS-1D in terms of speed or construction, the 10D beat the pants off Canon's then-current pro sports model in terms of image quality. Significantly, the core specification of the 10D was close enough to the EOS 30 / Elan 7 that film holdouts didn't have to feel too badly short-changed by the costly jump into digital.

With the EOS 10D's accessory grip attached, it was almost possible to believe that I was shooting with an EOS-1D. Almost...

So, to recap - the 10D offered a very usable sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200, 3 fps continuous shooting, 7-point AF system, magnesium-alloy body shell and a substantial price reduction. In 2003, it all added up to a hugely desirable camera.2

Canon EOS 10D Sample images (2004-5)

Because it was so popular, the 10D was pretty scarce for several months after its introduction. After saving up my wages for an entire summer (a story told in more detail here), I ended up purchasing mine from a 'big box' high-street retailer, because it was out of stock everywhere else – something I later came to regret.

I decided to pull the trigger on a 10D for several reasons. In a rare attack of foresight, I determined that this digital thing probably wasn't a fad, and with ambitions to become a photographer of some kind, it seemed sensible to dive in as soon as possible. And while previous DSLRs had felt like too much of a compromise, the 10D seemed to meet my most important criteria.

As a budding theatre and live music photographer, I was hitting the limits of what I could do with film, both technically and practically. Technically speaking, high ISO film exposed in marginal light and processed at your average high-street pharmacy simply doesn't look very good - especially if you're talking about high-speed color emulsions. From a practical standpoint, development and printing turnaround times were a problem if I wanted to get images to people quickly. And forget about serious commercial work – by 2003, the magazines and websites I was interested in working for were increasingly insisting on digital file delivery.

A typical monochrome conversion of a shot taken in the Assembly Rooms Theatre. The 10D's highest ISO settings were grainy, but perfectly usable - especially when converted into black and white.

The first quasi 'commercial' work I ever did was head-shots and performance images for Durham University's student theatre. Student productions rotated every few weeks, and every production wanted some prints to display outside the theatre. I can't remember the first production that I shot digitally (was it Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker'?)3 but compared to film, it was vastly easier. Ironically, I was a sort of caretaker for the theatre at the time, since I lived in a small flat above the lobby. Being able to shoot a dress-rehearsal in the theatre, then head upstairs to make my edit and print the images - sometimes all in the same evening - was a revelation. I can't remember how much I charged for my services, but I made enough over a couple of years to buy a couple of new lenses.

And for a while it seemed like it was lenses that were the problem. Initially I had two lenses for my 10D. A 50mm F1.8 (of course), and a 24-70mm F2.8L. Later I added a 70-200mm F2.8L and a 17-40mm F4L (all purchased used). The 10D worked perfectly with all of them, except the 24-70mm. For whatever reason, camera and lens did not get on at all. Chronic back-focusing was apparent even through the 10D's viewfinder, and this was before the days of AF micro-adjustment. The 24-70mm was simply unusable on my 10D, but it focused perfectly on other DSLRs that I borrowed from friends, or rented in an increasingly desperate attempt to figure out what was going on.

A live shot from one of my first proper commissions - a major awards show tour that came through Newcastle in 2005 - not far from where I lived at the time. It looks like I benefited a bit from someone else's flash, in this shot. Thank you - whoever you were.

The retailer I bought my 10D from wasn't particularly interested in helping, so I sent it back to Canon at least four times during the first year I owned it, shooting on film during the long intervals when it was away for service. Every time it came back as 'up to specification,' but the back-focusing problem remained. Finally, after a lot of back and forth, I send the 10D in with the troublesome 24-70mm, and was rewarded with a 'fixed' camera, complete – funnily enough – with a new serial number. Knowing what I know now, I should have sent the camera and lens back together in the first place.

Even this frustrating experience wasn't enough to dull my excitement at owning and using the 10D. It really was a fantastic camera at the time, and it helped me gain a footing in the not-at-all-lucrative world of performance photography. My first magazine commissions were shot with the 10D. I learned about the benefits of shooting Raw with the 10D (albeit rather belatedly). The first camera I ever had confiscated at a music venue4 was the 10D. It was my main camera for a couple of very formative years, before being relegated as a second body beside to the truly magnificent EOS-1D Mark II (which I'm hoping to write about at a later date).

The 10D couldn't do everything (it choked up when shooting several Raw files in a sequence, and in low light its off-center AF points were little more than decorative), but it opened up a completely new world for me.

One of my favorite bands of the mid-2000s was 'Hope of the States'. I probably photographed them more than any other band, for a while. This shot is from another awards show in London in 2005. Despite the off-center composition, most likely I used the central AF point for this image, since the 10D's off-center points didn't work very well at all in low light.

And it's a world I'm still living in. Without the 10D, there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have become a music photographer, and if I hadn't become a music photographer, I probably wouldn't have ended up as a photography journalist. Whether or not that's a good thing is something I'm happy to leave to the commenters to decide.

Did you own a 10D? Let us know.

Read Phil Askey's review of the EOS 10D (2003)

Canon EOS 10D Review Samples (2003)

1 A note on Canon's confusing naming convention. The 'D30' because it was a digital camera with 3 million pixels. The D60 because it was basically a D30 with a new 6 million pixel sensor. And the switch to 10D because - I assume - Canon and Nikon's lawyers had a little chat.

2 In fact, just about the only people who weren't singing Canon's praises at the time were recent D60 owners.

3 The Assembly Rooms - it's still there, and this being student theatre, there's every chance that they're currently staging a production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', too.

4 It was all just one big misunderstanding. Specifically around two people's definitions of the word 'permission'. 

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2nffBAn

[grgedoors02142]

Throwback Thursday: Entering the DSLR world with the Canon EOS 10D

A few months ago I wrote a short article about the Canon EOS D30. The D30 was a groundbreaking camera in its day, being the first 'affordable' DSLR and the first to feature a large-format CMOS sensor. Yes, its autofocus system was woeful, and the LCD display on the back was about as useful as making a sketch from memory, but back in 2000, everybody wanted one.

I was definitely curious about the D30, but given that in 2000 I was a first-year undergraduate student, such an expensive camera was far beyond my reach. It would be another couple of years before I saved up enough money to buy my first DSLR, and the camera I eventually settled on was the successor to the successor of the EOS D30 - the counterintuitively named Canon EOS 10D1.

The break with Canon's previous naming convention was appropriate, though. The 10D was a substantially new camera compared to the models that preceded it, and it replaced the D60 with an almost indecent haste (the D60 had been on the market for little more than a year before the 10D came along). Compared to the plastic-bodied D30/D60 it was better built, featured a far superior rear LCD (with a usable magnification feature) offered a more rounded styling, closer in spirit to the EOS-1D series, and was much quicker in operation.

The 10D was a thoroughly modern camera in 2003, and remained on the market for some time. Canon took the basic form factor of the D60 and modernized every aspect of that model's performance and styling.

The 10D's DIGIC processor drove a blisteringly fast (ahem...) continuous shooting rate of 3 fps, operation was snappier, including reduced shutter-lag, and the 10D's 7-point autofocus system was a huge improvement over the 3-point system in the D30 and D60, which seemed prehistoric even back then. Although the 10D's 6MP CMOS sensor was based on the one previously used in the D60, Canon had refined the manufacturing process in the meantime. Consequently it offered slightly better resolution than its predecessor, superior noise performance and a wider ISO span, topping out at a grainy but usable ISO 3200.

Remarkably, despite all of these improvements, the 10D was also $500 cheaper than the D60.

Although it definitely wasn't in the same ballpark as the EOS-1D in terms of speed or construction, the 10D beat the pants off Canon's then-current pro sports model in terms of image quality. Significantly, the core specification of the 10D was close enough to the EOS 30 / Elan 7 that film holdouts didn't have to feel too badly short-changed by the costly jump into digital.

With the EOS 10D's accessory grip attached, it was almost possible to believe that I was shooting with an EOS-1D. Almost...

So, to recap - the 10D offered a very usable sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200, 3 fps continuous shooting, 7-point AF system, magnesium-alloy body shell and a substantial price reduction. In 2003, it all added up to a hugely desirable camera.2

Canon EOS 10D Sample images (2004-5)

Because it was so popular, the 10D was pretty scarce for several months after its introduction. After saving up my wages for an entire summer (a story told in more detail here), I ended up purchasing mine from a 'big box' high-street retailer, because it was out of stock everywhere else – something I later came to regret.

I decided to pull the trigger on a 10D for several reasons. In a rare attack of foresight, I determined that this digital thing probably wasn't a fad, and with ambitions to become a photographer of some kind, it seemed sensible to dive in as soon as possible. And while previous DSLRs had felt like too much of a compromise, the 10D seemed to meet my most important criteria.

As a budding theatre and live music photographer, I was hitting the limits of what I could do with film, both technically and practically. Technically speaking, high ISO film exposed in marginal light and processed at your average high-street pharmacy simply doesn't look very good - especially if you're talking about high-speed color emulsions. From a practical standpoint, development and printing turnaround times were a problem if I wanted to get images to people quickly. And forget about serious commercial work – by 2003, the magazines and websites I was interested in working for were increasingly insisting on digital file delivery.

A typical monochrome conversion of a shot taken in the Assembly Rooms Theatre. The 10D's highest ISO settings were grainy, but perfectly usable - especially when converted into black and white.

The first quasi 'commercial' work I ever did was head-shots and performance images for Durham University's student theatre. Student productions rotated every few weeks, and every production wanted some prints to display outside the theatre. I can't remember the first production that I shot digitally (was it Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker'?)3 but compared to film, it was vastly easier. Ironically, I was a sort of caretaker for the theatre at the time, since I lived in a small flat above the lobby. Being able to shoot a dress-rehearsal in the theatre, then head upstairs to make my edit and print the images - sometimes all in the same evening - was a revelation. I can't remember how much I charged for my services, but I made enough over a couple of years to buy a couple of new lenses.

And for a while it seemed like it was lenses that were the problem. Initially I had two lenses for my 10D. A 50mm F1.8 (of course), and a 24-70mm F2.8L. Later I added a 70-200mm F2.8L and a 17-40mm F4L (all purchased used). The 10D worked perfectly with all of them, except the 24-70mm. For whatever reason, camera and lens did not get on at all. Chronic back-focusing was apparent even through the 10D's viewfinder, and this was before the days of AF micro-adjustment. The 24-70mm was simply unusable on my 10D, but it focused perfectly on other DSLRs that I borrowed from friends, or rented in an increasingly desperate attempt to figure out what was going on.

A live shot from one of my first proper commissions - a major awards show tour that came through Newcastle in 2005 - not far from where I lived at the time. It looks like I benefited a bit from someone else's flash, in this shot. Thank you - whoever you were.

The retailer I bought my 10D from wasn't particularly interested in helping, so I sent it back to Canon at least four times during the first year I owned it, shooting on film during the long intervals when it was away for service. Every time it came back as 'up to specification,' but the back-focusing problem remained. Finally, after a lot of back and forth, I send the 10D in with the troublesome 24-70mm, and was rewarded with a 'fixed' camera, complete – funnily enough – with a new serial number. Knowing what I know now, I should have sent the camera and lens back together in the first place.

Even this frustrating experience wasn't enough to dull my excitement at owning and using the 10D. It really was a fantastic camera at the time, and it helped me gain a footing in the not-at-all-lucrative world of performance photography. My first magazine commissions were shot with the 10D. I learned about the benefits of shooting Raw with the 10D (albeit rather belatedly). The first camera I ever had confiscated at a music venue4 was the 10D. It was my main camera for a couple of very formative years, before being relegated as a second body beside to the truly magnificent EOS-1D Mark II (which I'm hoping to write about at a later date).

The 10D couldn't do everything (it choked up when shooting several Raw files in a sequence, and in low light its off-center AF points were little more than decorative), but it opened up a completely new world for me.

One of my favorite bands of the mid-2000s was 'Hope of the States'. I probably photographed them more than any other band, for a while. This shot is from another awards show in London in 2005. Despite the off-center composition, most likely I used the central AF point for this image, since the 10D's off-center points didn't work very well at all in low light.

And it's a world I'm still living in. Without the 10D, there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have become a music photographer, and if I hadn't become a music photographer, I probably wouldn't have ended up as a photography journalist. Whether or not that's a good thing is something I'm happy to leave to the commenters to decide.

Did you own a 10D? Let us know.

Read Phil Askey's review of the EOS 10D (2003)

Canon EOS 10D Review Samples (2003)

1 A note on Canon's confusing naming convention. The 'D30' because it was a digital camera with 3 million pixels. The D60 because it was basically a D30 with a new 6 million pixel sensor. And the switch to 10D because - I assume - Canon and Nikon's lawyers had a little chat.

2 In fact, just about the only people who weren't singing Canon's praises at the time were recent D60 owners.

3 The Assembly Rooms - it's still there, and this being student theatre, there's every chance that they're currently staging a production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', too.

4 It was all just one big misunderstanding. Specifically around two people's definitions of the word 'permission'. 

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2nffBAn

[pat78701]

Throwback Thursday: Entering the DSLR world with the Canon EOS 10D

A few months ago I wrote a short article about the Canon EOS D30. The D30 was a groundbreaking camera in its day, being the first 'affordable' DSLR and the first to feature a large-format CMOS sensor. Yes, its autofocus system was woeful, and the LCD display on the back was about as useful as making a sketch from memory, but back in 2000, everybody wanted one.

I was definitely curious about the D30, but given that in 2000 I was a first-year undergraduate student, such an expensive camera was far beyond my reach. It would be another couple of years before I saved up enough money to buy my first DSLR, and the camera I eventually settled on was the successor to the successor of the EOS D30 - the counterintuitively named Canon EOS 10D1.

The break with Canon's previous naming convention was appropriate, though. The 10D was a substantially new camera compared to the models that preceded it, and it replaced the D60 with an almost indecent haste (the D60 had been on the market for little more than a year before the 10D came along). Compared to the plastic-bodied D30/D60 it was better built, featured a far superior rear LCD (with a usable magnification feature) offered a more rounded styling, closer in spirit to the EOS-1D series, and was much quicker in operation.

The 10D was a thoroughly modern camera in 2003, and remained on the market for some time. Canon took the basic form factor of the D60 and modernized every aspect of that model's performance and styling.

The 10D's DIGIC processor drove a blisteringly fast (ahem...) continuous shooting rate of 3 fps, operation was snappier, including reduced shutter-lag, and the 10D's 7-point autofocus system was a huge improvement over the 3-point system in the D30 and D60, which seemed prehistoric even back then. Although the 10D's 6MP CMOS sensor was based on the one previously used in the D60, Canon had refined the manufacturing process in the meantime. Consequently it offered slightly better resolution than its predecessor, superior noise performance and a wider ISO span, topping out at a grainy but usable ISO 3200.

Remarkably, despite all of these improvements, the 10D was also $500 cheaper than the D60.

Although it definitely wasn't in the same ballpark as the EOS-1D in terms of speed or construction, the 10D beat the pants off Canon's then-current pro sports model in terms of image quality. Significantly, the core specification of the 10D was close enough to the EOS 30 / Elan 7 that film holdouts didn't have to feel too badly short-changed by the costly jump into digital.

With the EOS 10D's accessory grip attached, it was almost possible to believe that I was shooting with an EOS-1D. Almost...

So, to recap - the 10D offered a very usable sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200, 3 fps continuous shooting, 7-point AF system, magnesium-alloy body shell and a substantial price reduction. In 2003, it all added up to a hugely desirable camera.2

Canon EOS 10D Sample images (2004-5)

Because it was so popular, the 10D was pretty scarce for several months after its introduction. After saving up my wages for an entire summer (a story told in more detail here), I ended up purchasing mine from a 'big box' high-street retailer, because it was out of stock everywhere else – something I later came to regret.

I decided to pull the trigger on a 10D for several reasons. In a rare attack of foresight, I determined that this digital thing probably wasn't a fad, and with ambitions to become a photographer of some kind, it seemed sensible to dive in as soon as possible. And while previous DSLRs had felt like too much of a compromise, the 10D seemed to meet my most important criteria.

As a budding theatre and live music photographer, I was hitting the limits of what I could do with film, both technically and practically. Technically speaking, high ISO film exposed in marginal light and processed at your average high-street pharmacy simply doesn't look very good - especially if you're talking about high-speed color emulsions. From a practical standpoint, development and printing turnaround times were a problem if I wanted to get images to people quickly. And forget about serious commercial work – by 2003, the magazines and websites I was interested in working for were increasingly insisting on digital file delivery.

A typical monochrome conversion of a shot taken in the Assembly Rooms Theatre. The 10D's highest ISO settings were grainy, but perfectly usable - especially when converted into black and white.

The first quasi 'commercial' work I ever did was head-shots and performance images for Durham University's student theatre. Student productions rotated every few weeks, and every production wanted some prints to display outside the theatre. I can't remember the first production that I shot digitally (was it Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker'?)3 but compared to film, it was vastly easier. Ironically, I was a sort of caretaker for the theatre at the time, since I lived in a small flat above the lobby. Being able to shoot a dress-rehearsal in the theatre, then head upstairs to make my edit and print the images - sometimes all in the same evening - was a revelation. I can't remember how much I charged for my services, but I made enough over a couple of years to buy a couple of new lenses.

And for a while it seemed like it was lenses that were the problem. Initially I had two lenses for my 10D. A 50mm F1.8 (of course), and a 24-70mm F2.8L. Later I added a 70-200mm F2.8L and a 17-40mm F4L (all purchased used). The 10D worked perfectly with all of them, except the 24-70mm. For whatever reason, camera and lens did not get on at all. Chronic back-focusing was apparent even through the 10D's viewfinder, and this was before the days of AF micro-adjustment. The 24-70mm was simply unusable on my 10D, but it focused perfectly on other DSLRs that I borrowed from friends, or rented in an increasingly desperate attempt to figure out what was going on.

A live shot from one of my first proper commissions - a major awards show tour that came through Newcastle in 2005 - not far from where I lived at the time. It looks like I benefited a bit from someone else's flash, in this shot. Thank you - whoever you were.

The retailer I bought my 10D from wasn't particularly interested in helping, so I sent it back to Canon at least four times during the first year I owned it, shooting on film during the long intervals when it was away for service. Every time it came back as 'up to specification,' but the back-focusing problem remained. Finally, after a lot of back and forth, I send the 10D in with the troublesome 24-70mm, and was rewarded with a 'fixed' camera, complete – funnily enough – with a new serial number. Knowing what I know now, I should have sent the camera and lens back together in the first place.

Even this frustrating experience wasn't enough to dull my excitement at owning and using the 10D. It really was a fantastic camera at the time, and it helped me gain a footing in the not-at-all-lucrative world of performance photography. My first magazine commissions were shot with the 10D. I learned about the benefits of shooting Raw with the 10D (albeit rather belatedly). The first camera I ever had confiscated at a music venue4 was the 10D. It was my main camera for a couple of very formative years, before being relegated as a second body beside to the truly magnificent EOS-1D Mark II (which I'm hoping to write about at a later date).

The 10D couldn't do everything (it choked up when shooting several Raw files in a sequence, and in low light its off-center AF points were little more than decorative), but it opened up a completely new world for me.

One of my favorite bands of the mid-2000s was 'Hope of the States'. I probably photographed them more than any other band, for a while. This shot is from another awards show in London in 2005. Despite the off-center composition, most likely I used the central AF point for this image, since the 10D's off-center points didn't work very well at all in low light.

And it's a world I'm still living in. Without the 10D, there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have become a music photographer, and if I hadn't become a music photographer, I probably wouldn't have ended up as a photography journalist. Whether or not that's a good thing is something I'm happy to leave to the commenters to decide.

Did you own a 10D? Let us know.

Read Phil Askey's review of the EOS 10D (2003)

Canon EOS 10D Review Samples (2003)

1 A note on Canon's confusing naming convention. The 'D30' because it was a digital camera with 3 million pixels. The D60 because it was basically a D30 with a new 6 million pixel sensor. And the switch to 10D because - I assume - Canon and Nikon's lawyers had a little chat.

2 In fact, just about the only people who weren't singing Canon's praises at the time were recent D60 owners.

3 The Assembly Rooms - it's still there, and this being student theatre, there's every chance that they're currently staging a production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', too.

4 It was all just one big misunderstanding. Specifically around two people's definitions of the word 'permission'. 

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2nffBAn

[porchenclose10019]

Throwback Thursday: Entering the DSLR world with the Canon EOS 10D

A few months ago I wrote a short article about the Canon EOS D30. The D30 was a groundbreaking camera in its day, being the first 'affordable' DSLR and the first to feature a large-format CMOS sensor. Yes, its autofocus system was woeful, and the LCD display on the back was about as useful as making a sketch from memory, but back in 2000, everybody wanted one.

I was definitely curious about the D30, but given that in 2000 I was a first-year undergraduate student, such an expensive camera was far beyond my reach. It would be another couple of years before I saved up enough money to buy my first DSLR, and the camera I eventually settled on was the successor to the successor of the EOS D30 - the counterintuitively named Canon EOS 10D1.

The break with Canon's previous naming convention was appropriate, though. The 10D was a substantially new camera compared to the models that preceded it, and it replaced the D60 with an almost indecent haste (the D60 had been on the market for little more than a year before the 10D came along). Compared to the plastic-bodied D30/D60 it was better built, featured a far superior rear LCD (with a usable magnification feature) offered a more rounded styling, closer in spirit to the EOS-1D series, and was much quicker in operation.

The 10D was a thoroughly modern camera in 2003, and remained on the market for some time. Canon took the basic form factor of the D60 and modernized every aspect of that model's performance and styling.

The 10D's DIGIC processor drove a blisteringly fast (ahem...) continuous shooting rate of 3 fps, operation was snappier, including reduced shutter-lag, and the 10D's 7-point autofocus system was a huge improvement over the 3-point system in the D30 and D60, which seemed prehistoric even back then. Although the 10D's 6MP CMOS sensor was based on the one previously used in the D60, Canon had refined the manufacturing process in the meantime. Consequently it offered slightly better resolution than its predecessor, superior noise performance and a wider ISO span, topping out at a grainy but usable ISO 3200.

Remarkably, despite all of these improvements, the 10D was also $500 cheaper than the D60.

Although it definitely wasn't in the same ballpark as the EOS-1D in terms of speed or construction, the 10D beat the pants off Canon's then-current pro sports model in terms of image quality. Significantly, the core specification of the 10D was close enough to the EOS 30 / Elan 7 that film holdouts didn't have to feel too badly short-changed by the costly jump into digital.

With the EOS 10D's accessory grip attached, it was almost possible to believe that I was shooting with an EOS-1D. Almost...

So, to recap - the 10D offered a very usable sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200, 3 fps continuous shooting, 7-point AF system, magnesium-alloy body shell and a substantial price reduction. In 2003, it all added up to a hugely desirable camera.2

Canon EOS 10D Sample images (2004-5)

Because it was so popular, the 10D was pretty scarce for several months after its introduction. After saving up my wages for an entire summer (a story told in more detail here), I ended up purchasing mine from a 'big box' high-street retailer, because it was out of stock everywhere else – something I later came to regret.

I decided to pull the trigger on a 10D for several reasons. In a rare attack of foresight, I determined that this digital thing probably wasn't a fad, and with ambitions to become a photographer of some kind, it seemed sensible to dive in as soon as possible. And while previous DSLRs had felt like too much of a compromise, the 10D seemed to meet my most important criteria.

As a budding theatre and live music photographer, I was hitting the limits of what I could do with film, both technically and practically. Technically speaking, high ISO film exposed in marginal light and processed at your average high-street pharmacy simply doesn't look very good - especially if you're talking about high-speed color emulsions. From a practical standpoint, development and printing turnaround times were a problem if I wanted to get images to people quickly. And forget about serious commercial work – by 2003, the magazines and websites I was interested in working for were increasingly insisting on digital file delivery.

A typical monochrome conversion of a shot taken in the Assembly Rooms Theatre. The 10D's highest ISO settings were grainy, but perfectly usable - especially when converted into black and white.

The first quasi 'commercial' work I ever did was head-shots and performance images for Durham University's student theatre. Student productions rotated every few weeks, and every production wanted some prints to display outside the theatre. I can't remember the first production that I shot digitally (was it Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker'?)3 but compared to film, it was vastly easier. Ironically, I was a sort of caretaker for the theatre at the time, since I lived in a small flat above the lobby. Being able to shoot a dress-rehearsal in the theatre, then head upstairs to make my edit and print the images - sometimes all in the same evening - was a revelation. I can't remember how much I charged for my services, but I made enough over a couple of years to buy a couple of new lenses.

And for a while it seemed like it was lenses that were the problem. Initially I had two lenses for my 10D. A 50mm F1.8 (of course), and a 24-70mm F2.8L. Later I added a 70-200mm F2.8L and a 17-40mm F4L (all purchased used). The 10D worked perfectly with all of them, except the 24-70mm. For whatever reason, camera and lens did not get on at all. Chronic back-focusing was apparent even through the 10D's viewfinder, and this was before the days of AF micro-adjustment. The 24-70mm was simply unusable on my 10D, but it focused perfectly on other DSLRs that I borrowed from friends, or rented in an increasingly desperate attempt to figure out what was going on.

A live shot from one of my first proper commissions - a major awards show tour that came through Newcastle in 2005 - not far from where I lived at the time. It looks like I benefited a bit from someone else's flash, in this shot. Thank you - whoever you were.

The retailer I bought my 10D from wasn't particularly interested in helping, so I sent it back to Canon at least four times during the first year I owned it, shooting on film during the long intervals when it was away for service. Every time it came back as 'up to specification,' but the back-focusing problem remained. Finally, after a lot of back and forth, I send the 10D in with the troublesome 24-70mm, and was rewarded with a 'fixed' camera, complete – funnily enough – with a new serial number. Knowing what I know now, I should have sent the camera and lens back together in the first place.

Even this frustrating experience wasn't enough to dull my excitement at owning and using the 10D. It really was a fantastic camera at the time, and it helped me gain a footing in the not-at-all-lucrative world of performance photography. My first magazine commissions were shot with the 10D. I learned about the benefits of shooting Raw with the 10D (albeit rather belatedly). The first camera I ever had confiscated at a music venue4 was the 10D. It was my main camera for a couple of very formative years, before being relegated as a second body beside to the truly magnificent EOS-1D Mark II (which I'm hoping to write about at a later date).

The 10D couldn't do everything (it choked up when shooting several Raw files in a sequence, and in low light its off-center AF points were little more than decorative), but it opened up a completely new world for me.

One of my favorite bands of the mid-2000s was 'Hope of the States'. I probably photographed them more than any other band, for a while. This shot is from another awards show in London in 2005. Despite the off-center composition, most likely I used the central AF point for this image, since the 10D's off-center points didn't work very well at all in low light.

And it's a world I'm still living in. Without the 10D, there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have become a music photographer, and if I hadn't become a music photographer, I probably wouldn't have ended up as a photography journalist. Whether or not that's a good thing is something I'm happy to leave to the commenters to decide.

Did you own a 10D? Let us know.

Read Phil Askey's review of the EOS 10D (2003)

Canon EOS 10D Review Samples (2003)

1 A note on Canon's confusing naming convention. The 'D30' because it was a digital camera with 3 million pixels. The D60 because it was basically a D30 with a new 6 million pixel sensor. And the switch to 10D because - I assume - Canon and Nikon's lawyers had a little chat.

2 In fact, just about the only people who weren't singing Canon's praises at the time were recent D60 owners.

3 The Assembly Rooms - it's still there, and this being student theatre, there's every chance that they're currently staging a production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', too.

4 It was all just one big misunderstanding. Specifically around two people's definitions of the word 'permission'. 

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2nffBAn

[exfrenchdorsl4p0a1]

Throwback Thursday: Entering the DSLR world with the Canon EOS 10D

A few months ago I wrote a short article about the Canon EOS D30. The D30 was a groundbreaking camera in its day, being the first 'affordable' DSLR and the first to feature a large-format CMOS sensor. Yes, its autofocus system was woeful, and the LCD display on the back was about as useful as making a sketch from memory, but back in 2000, everybody wanted one.

I was definitely curious about the D30, but given that in 2000 I was a first-year undergraduate student, such an expensive camera was far beyond my reach. It would be another couple of years before I saved up enough money to buy my first DSLR, and the camera I eventually settled on was the successor to the successor of the EOS D30 - the counterintuitively named Canon EOS 10D1.

The break with Canon's previous naming convention was appropriate, though. The 10D was a substantially new camera compared to the models that preceded it, and it replaced the D60 with an almost indecent haste (the D60 had been on the market for little more than a year before the 10D came along). Compared to the plastic-bodied D30/D60 it was better built, featured a far superior rear LCD (with a usable magnification feature) offered a more rounded styling, closer in spirit to the EOS-1D series, and was much quicker in operation.

The 10D was a thoroughly modern camera in 2003, and remained on the market for some time. Canon took the basic form factor of the D60 and modernized every aspect of that model's performance and styling.

The 10D's DIGIC processor drove a blisteringly fast (ahem...) continuous shooting rate of 3 fps, operation was snappier, including reduced shutter-lag, and the 10D's 7-point autofocus system was a huge improvement over the 3-point system in the D30 and D60, which seemed prehistoric even back then. Although the 10D's 6MP CMOS sensor was based on the one previously used in the D60, Canon had refined the manufacturing process in the meantime. Consequently it offered slightly better resolution than its predecessor, superior noise performance and a wider ISO span, topping out at a grainy but usable ISO 3200.

Remarkably, despite all of these improvements, the 10D was also $500 cheaper than the D60.

Although it definitely wasn't in the same ballpark as the EOS-1D in terms of speed or construction, the 10D beat the pants off Canon's then-current pro sports model in terms of image quality. Significantly, the core specification of the 10D was close enough to the EOS 30 / Elan 7 that film holdouts didn't have to feel too badly short-changed by the costly jump into digital.

With the EOS 10D's accessory grip attached, it was almost possible to believe that I was shooting with an EOS-1D. Almost...

So, to recap - the 10D offered a very usable sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200, 3 fps continuous shooting, 7-point AF system, magnesium-alloy body shell and a substantial price reduction. In 2003, it all added up to a hugely desirable camera.2

Canon EOS 10D Sample images (2004-5)

Because it was so popular, the 10D was pretty scarce for several months after its introduction. After saving up my wages for an entire summer (a story told in more detail here), I ended up purchasing mine from a 'big box' high-street retailer, because it was out of stock everywhere else – something I later came to regret.

I decided to pull the trigger on a 10D for several reasons. In a rare attack of foresight, I determined that this digital thing probably wasn't a fad, and with ambitions to become a photographer of some kind, it seemed sensible to dive in as soon as possible. And while previous DSLRs had felt like too much of a compromise, the 10D seemed to meet my most important criteria.

As a budding theatre and live music photographer, I was hitting the limits of what I could do with film, both technically and practically. Technically speaking, high ISO film exposed in marginal light and processed at your average high-street pharmacy simply doesn't look very good - especially if you're talking about high-speed color emulsions. From a practical standpoint, development and printing turnaround times were a problem if I wanted to get images to people quickly. And forget about serious commercial work – by 2003, the magazines and websites I was interested in working for were increasingly insisting on digital file delivery.

A typical monochrome conversion of a shot taken in the Assembly Rooms Theatre. The 10D's highest ISO settings were grainy, but perfectly usable - especially when converted into black and white.

The first quasi 'commercial' work I ever did was head-shots and performance images for Durham University's student theatre. Student productions rotated every few weeks, and every production wanted some prints to display outside the theatre. I can't remember the first production that I shot digitally (was it Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker'?)3 but compared to film, it was vastly easier. Ironically, I was a sort of caretaker for the theatre at the time, since I lived in a small flat above the lobby. Being able to shoot a dress-rehearsal in the theatre, then head upstairs to make my edit and print the images - sometimes all in the same evening - was a revelation. I can't remember how much I charged for my services, but I made enough over a couple of years to buy a couple of new lenses.

And for a while it seemed like it was lenses that were the problem. Initially I had two lenses for my 10D. A 50mm F1.8 (of course), and a 24-70mm F2.8L. Later I added a 70-200mm F2.8L and a 17-40mm F4L (all purchased used). The 10D worked perfectly with all of them, except the 24-70mm. For whatever reason, camera and lens did not get on at all. Chronic back-focusing was apparent even through the 10D's viewfinder, and this was before the days of AF micro-adjustment. The 24-70mm was simply unusable on my 10D, but it focused perfectly on other DSLRs that I borrowed from friends, or rented in an increasingly desperate attempt to figure out what was going on.

A live shot from one of my first proper commissions - a major awards show tour that came through Newcastle in 2005 - not far from where I lived at the time. It looks like I benefited a bit from someone else's flash, in this shot. Thank you - whoever you were.

The retailer I bought my 10D from wasn't particularly interested in helping, so I sent it back to Canon at least four times during the first year I owned it, shooting on film during the long intervals when it was away for service. Every time it came back as 'up to specification,' but the back-focusing problem remained. Finally, after a lot of back and forth, I send the 10D in with the troublesome 24-70mm, and was rewarded with a 'fixed' camera, complete – funnily enough – with a new serial number. Knowing what I know now, I should have sent the camera and lens back together in the first place.

Even this frustrating experience wasn't enough to dull my excitement at owning and using the 10D. It really was a fantastic camera at the time, and it helped me gain a footing in the not-at-all-lucrative world of performance photography. My first magazine commissions were shot with the 10D. I learned about the benefits of shooting Raw with the 10D (albeit rather belatedly). The first camera I ever had confiscated at a music venue4 was the 10D. It was my main camera for a couple of very formative years, before being relegated as a second body beside to the truly magnificent EOS-1D Mark II (which I'm hoping to write about at a later date).

The 10D couldn't do everything (it choked up when shooting several Raw files in a sequence, and in low light its off-center AF points were little more than decorative), but it opened up a completely new world for me.

One of my favorite bands of the mid-2000s was 'Hope of the States'. I probably photographed them more than any other band, for a while. This shot is from another awards show in London in 2005. Despite the off-center composition, most likely I used the central AF point for this image, since the 10D's off-center points didn't work very well at all in low light.

And it's a world I'm still living in. Without the 10D, there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have become a music photographer, and if I hadn't become a music photographer, I probably wouldn't have ended up as a photography journalist. Whether or not that's a good thing is something I'm happy to leave to the commenters to decide.

Did you own a 10D? Let us know.

Read Phil Askey's review of the EOS 10D (2003)

Canon EOS 10D Review Samples (2003)

1 A note on Canon's confusing naming convention. The 'D30' because it was a digital camera with 3 million pixels. The D60 because it was basically a D30 with a new 6 million pixel sensor. And the switch to 10D because - I assume - Canon and Nikon's lawyers had a little chat.

2 In fact, just about the only people who weren't singing Canon's praises at the time were recent D60 owners.

3 The Assembly Rooms - it's still there, and this being student theatre, there's every chance that they're currently staging a production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', too.

4 It was all just one big misunderstanding. Specifically around two people's definitions of the word 'permission'. 

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2nffBAn

[chpatdoorsl3z0a1]

Throwback Thursday: Entering the DSLR world with the Canon EOS 10D

A few months ago I wrote a short article about the Canon EOS D30. The D30 was a groundbreaking camera in its day, being the first 'affordable' DSLR and the first to feature a large-format CMOS sensor. Yes, its autofocus system was woeful, and the LCD display on the back was about as useful as making a sketch from memory, but back in 2000, everybody wanted one.

I was definitely curious about the D30, but given that in 2000 I was a first-year undergraduate student, such an expensive camera was far beyond my reach. It would be another couple of years before I saved up enough money to buy my first DSLR, and the camera I eventually settled on was the successor to the successor of the EOS D30 - the counterintuitively named Canon EOS 10D1.

The break with Canon's previous naming convention was appropriate, though. The 10D was a substantially new camera compared to the models that preceded it, and it replaced the D60 with an almost indecent haste (the D60 had been on the market for little more than a year before the 10D came along). Compared to the plastic-bodied D30/D60 it was better built, featured a far superior rear LCD (with a usable magnification feature) offered a more rounded styling, closer in spirit to the EOS-1D series, and was much quicker in operation.

The 10D was a thoroughly modern camera in 2003, and remained on the market for some time. Canon took the basic form factor of the D60 and modernized every aspect of that model's performance and styling.

The 10D's DIGIC processor drove a blisteringly fast (ahem...) continuous shooting rate of 3 fps, operation was snappier, including reduced shutter-lag, and the 10D's 7-point autofocus system was a huge improvement over the 3-point system in the D30 and D60, which seemed prehistoric even back then. Although the 10D's 6MP CMOS sensor was based on the one previously used in the D60, Canon had refined the manufacturing process in the meantime. Consequently it offered slightly better resolution than its predecessor, superior noise performance and a wider ISO span, topping out at a grainy but usable ISO 3200.

Remarkably, despite all of these improvements, the 10D was also $500 cheaper than the D60.

Although it definitely wasn't in the same ballpark as the EOS-1D in terms of speed or construction, the 10D beat the pants off Canon's then-current pro sports model in terms of image quality. Significantly, the core specification of the 10D was close enough to the EOS 30 / Elan 7 that film holdouts didn't have to feel too badly short-changed by the costly jump into digital.

With the EOS 10D's accessory grip attached, it was almost possible to believe that I was shooting with an EOS-1D. Almost...

So, to recap - the 10D offered a very usable sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200, 3 fps continuous shooting, 7-point AF system, magnesium-alloy body shell and a substantial price reduction. In 2003, it all added up to a hugely desirable camera.2

Canon EOS 10D Sample images (2004-5)

Because it was so popular, the 10D was pretty scarce for several months after its introduction. After saving up my wages for an entire summer (a story told in more detail here), I ended up purchasing mine from a 'big box' high-street retailer, because it was out of stock everywhere else – something I later came to regret.

I decided to pull the trigger on a 10D for several reasons. In a rare attack of foresight, I determined that this digital thing probably wasn't a fad, and with ambitions to become a photographer of some kind, it seemed sensible to dive in as soon as possible. And while previous DSLRs had felt like too much of a compromise, the 10D seemed to meet my most important criteria.

As a budding theatre and live music photographer, I was hitting the limits of what I could do with film, both technically and practically. Technically speaking, high ISO film exposed in marginal light and processed at your average high-street pharmacy simply doesn't look very good - especially if you're talking about high-speed color emulsions. From a practical standpoint, development and printing turnaround times were a problem if I wanted to get images to people quickly. And forget about serious commercial work – by 2003, the magazines and websites I was interested in working for were increasingly insisting on digital file delivery.

A typical monochrome conversion of a shot taken in the Assembly Rooms Theatre. The 10D's highest ISO settings were grainy, but perfectly usable - especially when converted into black and white.

The first quasi 'commercial' work I ever did was head-shots and performance images for Durham University's student theatre. Student productions rotated every few weeks, and every production wanted some prints to display outside the theatre. I can't remember the first production that I shot digitally (was it Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker'?)3 but compared to film, it was vastly easier. Ironically, I was a sort of caretaker for the theatre at the time, since I lived in a small flat above the lobby. Being able to shoot a dress-rehearsal in the theatre, then head upstairs to make my edit and print the images - sometimes all in the same evening - was a revelation. I can't remember how much I charged for my services, but I made enough over a couple of years to buy a couple of new lenses.

And for a while it seemed like it was lenses that were the problem. Initially I had two lenses for my 10D. A 50mm F1.8 (of course), and a 24-70mm F2.8L. Later I added a 70-200mm F2.8L and a 17-40mm F4L (all purchased used). The 10D worked perfectly with all of them, except the 24-70mm. For whatever reason, camera and lens did not get on at all. Chronic back-focusing was apparent even through the 10D's viewfinder, and this was before the days of AF micro-adjustment. The 24-70mm was simply unusable on my 10D, but it focused perfectly on other DSLRs that I borrowed from friends, or rented in an increasingly desperate attempt to figure out what was going on.

A live shot from one of my first proper commissions - a major awards show tour that came through Newcastle in 2005 - not far from where I lived at the time. It looks like I benefited a bit from someone else's flash, in this shot. Thank you - whoever you were.

The retailer I bought my 10D from wasn't particularly interested in helping, so I sent it back to Canon at least four times during the first year I owned it, shooting on film during the long intervals when it was away for service. Every time it came back as 'up to specification,' but the back-focusing problem remained. Finally, after a lot of back and forth, I send the 10D in with the troublesome 24-70mm, and was rewarded with a 'fixed' camera, complete – funnily enough – with a new serial number. Knowing what I know now, I should have sent the camera and lens back together in the first place.

Even this frustrating experience wasn't enough to dull my excitement at owning and using the 10D. It really was a fantastic camera at the time, and it helped me gain a footing in the not-at-all-lucrative world of performance photography. My first magazine commissions were shot with the 10D. I learned about the benefits of shooting Raw with the 10D (albeit rather belatedly). The first camera I ever had confiscated at a music venue4 was the 10D. It was my main camera for a couple of very formative years, before being relegated as a second body beside to the truly magnificent EOS-1D Mark II (which I'm hoping to write about at a later date).

The 10D couldn't do everything (it choked up when shooting several Raw files in a sequence, and in low light its off-center AF points were little more than decorative), but it opened up a completely new world for me.

One of my favorite bands of the mid-2000s was 'Hope of the States'. I probably photographed them more than any other band, for a while. This shot is from another awards show in London in 2005. Despite the off-center composition, most likely I used the central AF point for this image, since the 10D's off-center points didn't work very well at all in low light.

And it's a world I'm still living in. Without the 10D, there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have become a music photographer, and if I hadn't become a music photographer, I probably wouldn't have ended up as a photography journalist. Whether or not that's a good thing is something I'm happy to leave to the commenters to decide.

Did you own a 10D? Let us know.

Read Phil Askey's review of the EOS 10D (2003)

Canon EOS 10D Review Samples (2003)

1 A note on Canon's confusing naming convention. The 'D30' because it was a digital camera with 3 million pixels. The D60 because it was basically a D30 with a new 6 million pixel sensor. And the switch to 10D because - I assume - Canon and Nikon's lawyers had a little chat.

2 In fact, just about the only people who weren't singing Canon's praises at the time were recent D60 owners.

3 The Assembly Rooms - it's still there, and this being student theatre, there's every chance that they're currently staging a production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker', too.

4 It was all just one big misunderstanding. Specifically around two people's definitions of the word 'permission'. 

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2nffBAn