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  #1  
Old 22nd September 2020, 03:38 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Default Sky Arts - Master of Photography

Tonight on Sky Arts there is from 7-8pm the above programme. All I can gather is that it is hosted by Elizabeth Rossellini called the beauty of Rome from Rome and its objective is to try by a life changing competition to find Europe's best photographer.

Yes my BS bell was ringing as well as I read the blurb but who knows

Sorry for the short notice but until yesterday my reception on terrestrial Freeview wasn't good enough to receive Sky Arts and then suddenly on a re-tune it appeared and I discovered in on the TV guide

I will eventually have to contact John Logie to see what he can do

So that's Sky Arts which is Freeview channel 11, Freesat 147, Sky122 Virgin 123 and HD156 or BT 348 and HD 363

Mike
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Old 22nd September 2020, 04:07 PM
Terry S Terry S is online now
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Thanks for that Mike, I must have overlooked it earlier, when I browsed the TV listings for today.

I think that it's quite a recent 'free' channel, so hasn't been about very long and probably wasn't even listed the last time you did a re-tune.

Oh, and I have BT TV and the channel comes up as channel 11 and not 348 as you mention...? I'll try that number and see what pops up.

Terry S
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Old 22nd September 2020, 04:46 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry S View Post
Thanks for that Mike, I must have overlooked it earlier, when I browsed the TV listings for today.

I think that it's quite a recent 'free' channel, so hasn't been about very long and probably wasn't even listed the last time you did a re-tune.

Oh, and I have BT TV and the channel comes up as channel 11 and not 348 as you mention...? I'll try that number and see what pops up.

Terry S
Yes Terry I was quoting from my copy of the Radio Times. I don't have any of the subscription broadcasters
so can't explain this.

Let's hope the programme doesn't deliver a lot less than it promises

It's a case of "Wait and See" as Mr Asquith used to say

Mike
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Old 22nd September 2020, 09:52 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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I have watched this programme and now unusually for such a programme have a million things to say and questions to ask but I'll hold it until a few others have had a chance to see it

I hope a few do watch it otherwise it'll be a 2 way conversation only between Terry and me

Mike
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Old 23rd September 2020, 10:03 AM
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I stopped watching this half way the through the second series as it was all far too digital for me. I think they did one week using film but then scanned the negatives. I think this is the fourth series or maybe third. Not fo me I’m, afraid.
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Old 23rd September 2020, 11:36 AM
Terry S Terry S is online now
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I stopped watching this half way the through the second series as it was all far too digital for me. I think this is the fourth series or maybe third. Not fo me I’m, afraid.
Yes, I remember it being advertised heavily about a year or so ago (?), when it was being shown on Sky and you had to pay to see it. I don't have Sky.

I think it is probably just a repeat of the programmes, but this time on the free Sky Arts channel, if you can watch it or record it, as I've tried recording about 4 or 5 programmes on the channel over the last week, and none of them recorded. Everything else recorded fine.

'Far too digital.' That's what I remember a lot of people saying, when it was first broadcast, but as it's repeated on Friday at 2pm, when I'll be home, I will try recording it again but also watch it live - if the channel will let me - and report back.

Terry S
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Old 23rd September 2020, 11:55 AM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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For those who haven't seen the programme last night it looks as if the contestants are a mixture of amateurs and pros. The amateurs have other jobs and photography is not their job or not their main job and what looks to be jobbing pros who make their living from it

All are relatively young, none as far as I can see are at all well known.One of them will receive at the end a prize of 150,000 euros

Each week their work is judged by a team of judges who eliminate one the group each week. It is in that sense a variation on the one too many passengers in the balloon to get over Mont Blanc so one has to be throw out type of competition. Each week they are set assignments in a major European city. This week it was Rome, next week it is Berlin. It wasn't clear to me if the judges remain the same but surely then answer has to be Yes for fairness

Now I have some questions. They appeared to have been provided with a range of cameras which they chose just before the assignment but I couldn't work out if this was equipment Sky Arts provided. I got the impression it wasn't theirs otherwise why show them going to shelves to chose it. So it raises the question of why have them use what may unfamiliar equipment on an assignment. If on the other hand it was their own and just was sitting on the shelves as a resting place then why make anything of them appearing to chose it? There was no attempt to cover why each had chosen a particular camera which might have been interesting

All the cameras were digital. OK. but what was the point of showing the audience what they had taken in both colour and black and white? There was constant switching on the TV screen for no apparent purpose

Some eventually chose to exhibit their chosen photo in b&w but little attention seemed be paid to the reasons One of the judges even chose to ask: Why did you chose to shoot in b&w when what the photographer chose was to shoot in colour as none of the cameras as far as I could see was the monochrome digital which I think only Leica has brought out? So colour was all there was at the shooting stage in

Did anyone notice that when preparing what was the equivalent of their contact sheet it was done in such a fashion that made the digital shots look like negatives on a film contact sheet even to the extent of placing the words "safety" and HP5 on what was resembling the edge of a film strip?What for goodness sake was that all about?

By that stage I was following the path of the programme's producers down the path of madness they had taken

Finally they showed the ISO, aperture and shutter speed used in each of the contestants chosen picture and I could not for the life of me reconcile the ISO, shutter speed and aperture with the light conditions

Had it been a film camera the settings suggested to me over exposure and that was what the resulting pictures suggested to me anyway in most cases

Overall the judges said that while they had eliminated the worst contestant they were not that impressed by any of their pictures and there I did agree with them

Finally could anyone work out what one of the judges, the Italian one I think, meant by lack of precision in one picture? Was this meant to suggest a kind of fuzziness which I thought was there caused by what looks like vast overexposure and possible slight out of focus look.

Mind you if the cameras were all new to them this isn't surprising.

On balance the biggest head spinning thing for me was what appeared to be the blatant attempt to show a digital contact sheet whatever that is as if it was a film contact sheet down to the use of the word HP5 on the edge markings

I won't bother with any more of this programme. That last sentence may be redundant in terms of needing to express my future intentions

Mike
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Old 23rd September 2020, 12:51 PM
Terry S Terry S is online now
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Mike, your overall opinions do seem to mirror what I've read about the series, first time around.

I presume that the 'negatives' on the 'contact sheet' were mostly in colour or a combination of colour and b/w? and if so,like you say, why edge it with HP5 info?

From what I read yesterday, I think, the cameras and lenses were lent to the production by Leica and as you say, the majority of the contestants are probably totally new to these models, which wouldn't have helped at all, but maybe the producers thought that this would put them all on an even-ish keel?

I will do my best to watch at least the first episode, but I don't expect too much reading yours and Bill's points.

Terry S
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Old 23rd September 2020, 02:20 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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As far as I could make out Terry, some of the cameras were SLRs with very big zooms so unless Leica has taken to move into the digital SLR market then there were not all Leica's

I had expected it to be digital and once I realised the format of the competition I knew it had to be digital as it was picture taking in the morning and show in the afternoon on screens for all to see.

Too much of it was about the judges "telling" as opposed to them asking incisive questions of the photographers from which the people at which the programme was presumably aimed at, namely those interested in photography, could have learnt something

It just seemed gimmicky to have the contestants use cameras that were not theirs and unless there were several models of each type of camera it wasn't explained what would have happened if say 4 contestants wanted 3 available SLRs

The other blatant gimmick was the stupid attempt to replicate film contact sheets from a memory chip

It may have been a decision made out of sheer stupidity by the programme makers but it smacked of "fake" to me which puts any programme in a bad light for me.

The more I say the more I may be putting you off watching but despite what I have said I'd appreciate your views so do watch it

It is possible that I my interpretation of what I saw was at least partially wrong either in fact or in my impression of it

Thanks

Mike
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Old 23rd September 2020, 04:30 PM
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I agree with Mike. The use of false contact sheets in colour with HP5 all over them really annoyed me. I won’t watch any of it again.
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