WolfsHead

I like bridges - and these are really interesting! :-)

I prefer the first of the monochromes - I think railways stations in the dark are mysterious places and the monochrome expresses this. For this reason, I’m less fond of the version with more people. Also, I like the square aspect - reminiscent of days of shooting 6x6!

I had one of these which I bought on eBay for around £50 about 20 years ago. I never wore it out but even though I probably have enough stuff to fill it, I couldn’t lift it any more - so gave it to a friend and I hope she’ll get another 20 years use out of it before she passes it to a friend. I’m shocked at the current price, though I suppose, given the quality of materials and construction, it’s not all that surprising. Currently, I have the Hadley Pro 2020, the 72 and the larger of the two backpacks, though again, I think the backpack will have to go as it’s now too heavy. If they have a fault, it’s that the very high level of protection they provide makes them bulky for what they will hold.

And I was expecting it to be the Wallace Heaton gag from the ‘30s!

Arguably, C1 and Adobe see themselves at the top of the tree as professional software (in the genuine sense of the word) intended for professionals and others in the creative/graphics industries. As has been pointed out, companies often prefer the predictability of a subscription model. Amateurs can of course use them, but probably shouldn’t expect their business model to be friendly towards them. For many amateurs, appropriate software might be something like Affinity Photo, which is only available for outright purchase, is reasonably priced and has a quite generous approach to upgrades and support (I just wish I could learn to like it!). Amateurs who choose to own and use top grade professional equipment and want to obtain the best from it should be willing to pay the price for professional software - as has also been pointed out, its cost is still negligible compared with the investment in equipment .

I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect free updates for life, but whilst I wouldn’t expect versions with feature updates to be provided free, I do think it’s reasonable to expect updates for newly introduced cameras free of charge for a significant period of time - five years, perhaps?

You make the argument more elegantly than I and your photos illustrate your points perfectly. The first one has a sixties feel to it; out of geeky curiosity, where is it? I first thought that it was the Ashton Canal at Ancoats, but looking more carefully, it isn’t quite right…

If you bought one especially for that purpose, you can be sure that they would refuse to sit in it…

I find most ‘street’ photography dull. I think, though, that it matures over the years as a reminder of how things were. The most uninspired image acquires value and fascination when it documents places or practices that have disappeared. I also find myself wondering whether it really is just a case of “f//8 and be there” I.e would I have obtained the same image if I had been there? I exempt the greats, whom I know to have an eye for composition and (dare I say it) the decisive moment which I lack, but I don’t think the vast majority of street photographs which I see fall into this category.

In the same way, I wonder about some of the great portrait photographers… Was Julia Margaret Cameron an inspired photographic artist or a lucky amateur who happened to have a lot of famous friends in an era when not many portraits were being made?

I changed to C1 ‘perpetual’ licence when Adobe went to a subscription model - I’m one of those people with an irrational dislike of subscriptions, but I’ve come to realise that the need for constant upgrades makes a nonsense of perpetual licences and the subscription model can work out cheaper. I like the software but I don’t like their approach to asset management, their constant changing of terms and conditions and their mean spirited approach to upgrades. I use cameras which output DNG as their RAW format and so upgrading a camera doesn’t render older software obsolete, so I suppose I’ll continue using it for the foreseeable future. I like the NIK plugins and, in my opinion, C1 doesn’t play nicely with them - which may push me back to Photoshop.

There seems little doubt that the company is in trouble but this seems to be largely of their own making. I’m reminded of Douglas Adams’ description of the marketing department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation!

St Hilary’s Church, Erbistock.

Grace Chapel, St. Augustine, Florida.

Pen-y-Bont Fawr, north Wales.

Panorama Walk, Llangollen, north Wales

Is there no competition this week whilst we decide - or have I just failed to see it?

Perhaps there are too many similar “…. Photo of the week” threads or similar running. For a small site, too many possible places to post an image leads to small participation in all of them. Despite a headline participant count of almost 4000, the user data suggests that fewer than 50 can be counted as regular posters.

Quite a good looking camera…

Would it be too pretentious to suggest that it has a bit of a ‘JMW Turner’ feel about it?