A Micro Four Thirds Wedding, Olympus E-M1 Mark II and the M.Zuiko ED 12-100mm f4.0 IS PRO

Mazi & Chrissy, Lake Michigan, 9/2/2017

Close friends Mazi and Chrissy were getting married. They’ve admired my photography from a far but never did I expect to have them ask me to photograph their wedding.

I have little experience photographing weddings. Actually, this was my first. My trepidation wasn’t too excessive—I rarely shy away from a challenge, however, weddings are once in a lifetime events, these were my friends, and some money was involved. Either way, I had to make this photo shoot count and really execute.

I also had two choices: what style would I use to shoot these photographs? What gear would I used?

One might be surprised to find out that I didn’t use my digital 35mm Nikon system with pro lenses, however. For days after accepting the honor of photographing my friends’ wedding I was sure that I would use Nikon but the wedding was small and I was going to be going in alone. To many it might be a surprise that I decided against using the giant, yet powerful, Nikon gear and go with a smaller more compact system shooting with Olympus Micro Four Thirds equipment.
I wanted to be stealthy, highly mobile, small and noninvasive, and frankly, I just like shooting with smaller systems. I needed power and speed, and I needed flexibility. Micro Four Thirds systems provide this better than any other digital photography system I’ve encountered.

I was really impressed with the E-M1 Mark II. I thought my E-M5 was quiet but this one wouldn’t even know I was taking a picture. I almost forget that it actually did make any sound at all. This is really one of my favorite parts of mirrorless cameras in general. DSLRs are well known as the standard for professional photography but they tend to be noisy. With a mirror flapping around inside when taking a photo, there is a fair amount of mechanical noise. Especially during a wedding ceremony, I very pleased that there was no chance of my camera interrupting the beautiful moment. 

Being the only person on the photography “crew”, the small size of the EM-1 (and my E-M5) gave me plenty of mobility and never did my shoulder, hand, or any other part of me feel distressed. At one point. I carried two cameras, one with the 12-100mm f4.0 lens, the other with a 45mm f1.8 lens, two batteries, all weighing a kilogram less than just my Nikon D700 with a 24-70mm f2.8 lens.

The M.Zuiko ED 12-100mm f4.0 IS Pro was probably my best decision. It is a real gem of a lens. Not only compact, it is a super zoom ranging from a nicely wide 24mm equivalent (in 35mm terms) to a 200mm reach. It’s razor sharp and renders images quite nicely. Weather sealed, metal barrel, and the focus ring doubles as a clutch to activate/deactivate autofocus, it will be top contender for my next lens purchase for my Olympus. 

At the end of the day, however, photography is about photographs. And photographing a wedding is about capturing the moments uniting two individuals, the delight of their friends and family, and giving a lifetime of enjoyment looking back on memories.

When I made the decision to shoot with my Micro Four Thirds fear, I was concerned. Despite having shot with my Olympus gear for more than five years, so many photographers (and probably some who only claim to be), smear the ability of a non-35mm sensor to be a “real professional” system. It is hard to keep that constant negativity from chipping away from ones confidence. My fears were belayed during this shoot and also by seeing what other professionals using Micro Four Thirds can do. As I always say and truly believe, don’t worrry about your gear. Adrian’s Life Rule #55: Go out and shoot! Shooting with the Olympus E-M1 Mark II, E-M5, and the very pleasing 12-100mm f4.0 Pro lens was a delight and I will look forward to shooting with them again professionally.

But most importantly, join me in congratulating my two friends Mazi and Chrissy on their marriage.

Nuclear Bravado

Mushroom cloud from the bombing of Nagasaki, August 9th 1945, image courtesy of the Library of Congress

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This post is dedicated to those who lost their lives in Hiroshima (August 6th, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9th, 1945); the only instances nuclear weapons have been used against humans.

May we all learn from our history and not let their deaths be in vain. 

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I work in film and TV because I like to tell stories. In fact, before all forms of written communication, the human race used storytelling to convey our history, how to find game for food, and build the moral and ethical future of our species.  

The power of storytelling come from one's ability to related an idea, even foreign, to someone else. It is why we laugh at a comedy, jump at a horror film, and cry when a story touches our deepest emotions.  

My passion for filmmaking is not just for the beauty of great cinematography or impactful characters but together, with the audience, share in a journey. Many stories have been told and while it is said there are only twelve storylines, human ingenuity brings us together time and time again through new ways of these stories.

With the tumult of our current global affairs, Donald Trump beats his chest with "fire and fury" and "locked and loaded" as tension builds with North Korea. This cavalier attitude toward military conflict is not the answer. It is the wrong play.

To be fair, I am not currently in fear of a nuclear conflict with North Korea. Frankly, should anything escalate to military conflict, the United States and its allies could easily wipe North Korea off the face of the Earth. But even the notion of a nuclear weapon being used today (or ever) is one that strikes both fear and sadness in me. Fear because these weapons don't kill a few hundred or thousand but millions. Fear because nuclear weapons impact not only ground zero but the lives or everyone and everything on the planet. And sadness, sadness because our world is so precious but we so carelessly destroy it and ourselves.

I have always had a fascination with the Cold War. It is truly a magnificent story worthy of Shakespearean recognition. However, in my time exploring the Cold War, the understanding of nuclear reality sunk deep in my mind. Even a "limited" nuclear skirmish could devastate the planet. And while the story of the Cold War is long since over, the number of times that we humans came within moments of nuclear annihilation was too frequent and far too close.

Few who I have spoken with know of these incidents. As we hear in History class about the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962, nearly at the same moment was the U-2 Spy Plane Incident when a U.S. pilot's confusion during the Northern Lights set in and passed over Soviet Airspace. Maultsby, the pilot, successfully navigated his plane, having run out of fuel, back out of Soviet Airspace minutes before two Soviet fighters would have downed his plane, starting what could have been a significant escalation during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Further is the Able Archer Incident when the Soviet Union mistook Nato war-games for actual preparation for war. Or the 1979 NORAD computer malfunction which erroneously indicated that the Russians had launched an attack on the United States.

In 1983, it is by sheer bravery and integrity that one Russian Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov ignored procedure when Russian tactical systems misinterpreted clouds over the United States for a launch of nuclear weapons. It is only by his grace that you and I are hear to have this pleasant exchange. The human race was literally moments away from extinction and turning our precious planet into a radioactive cinder.

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

— Robert Oppenheimer, from the Bhagavad-Gita

How quickly one can see a minor incident escalating into international conflict, or dare I say nuclear war; World War III. It would be the conflict to end all conflicts.

The dinosaurs never had knowledge that their world was to come to an end, that it was the terminating point of their reign on Earth. But we humans are incredible creatures. We have landed men on the moon, vaccinated many diseases out of existence, put robots on Mars, been the first to break the sound barrier, master the atom, and propel the Voyager 1 probe outside of our Solar system. But how insanely sad would it be for our own hand to be the termination of our species. With overpopulation, limited resources concerning water, food and land, and climate change being denied by so many, must we also face nuclear annihilation? 

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

— Albert Einstein

There is a general order in evolutionary theory: a species can survive one catastrophe but when facing two, it likely spells doom. Should we find ourselves facing radiation, climate change, food chain collapse, and perhaps other obstacles, all of which we have the ability and resources to avoid, how might our species that brought art, philosophy, medicine, and science to the Earth fair? How would you feel if our last and final testament of humans was not curing cancer, eliminating poverty, or exploring space but finding ourselves extinct because of our own petty differences; arguing over lands, water, and archaic tribal god-figures? When, one day, an extraterrestrial stumbles upon Earth only to find that we, ourselves, came to extinction because of our own stupidity? And that aliens says, "However incredibly stupid were these humans? They destroyed themselves? Saving themselves was as plain as the nose on their faces."

Cinematic history is filled with philosophy. Films exploring the past, present, future, civil rights, inequities, and human strife. While such pioneers as Gene Roddenberry's [creator of Star Trek] share a bright future of humanity where we have put aside our differences and strive to better ourselves, sometimes we must look at the terror of what we are or could become; search ourselves and look in the mirror asking, "what should we be?" In that light, I encourage you, actually, I plead with you to view at least one of these films below about the horrors of nuclear weapons.

I have only been able to find some as "bootlegs" on Youtube; such important films forgotten with age. They are of limited quality but they share some thoughts you've may not considered.

I know some of my friends and colleagues support Donald Trump no matter what his transgressions may be, but I implore you to watch these films with an open mind and contemplate their stories.

As a favorite female character in a film once said, "Because if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too."

Films —

The Day After (1983)

Threads (1984)

Testament (1983)

Earth — Shot on iPhone, courtesy of Apple

T-Minus 1255 Days — Adobe Announces End-of-Life for Flash

iPhone never had flash and Steve Jobs let the world know why is wasn’t going to get it, ever. 

“Adobe has announced it will stop distributing and updating Flash Player at the end of 2020 and is encouraging web developers to migrate any existing Flash content to open standards. ”

— WebKit.org

Read the whole article on Webkit.org.