Nikon D600 Service advisory

Nikon seem to have finally worked out how to address the oil/ dust issues which have plagued the D600 sensor since its release in 2012. Nikon have issued a service advisory (South Africa, and US versions), which will allow for any D600 to be repaired/ serviced free of charge, regardless of warranty status. 

This is really good news for people who own the camera, and probably a smart move on Nikon's part, especially given the number of negative comments I've come across on photography forums, where Nikon owners have been slating the company for their reluctance to honour warranties

Petition against Uganda's Anti-Homosexual bill

How would you feel if your right to love another person was taken a way from you, and punishable by life imprisonment? If you feel everyone should be allowed to love, marry, or help any one they want to, regardless of their gender, or sexual orientation, then head on over to All Out to sign their petition asking for Uganda's leaders to 'kill the bill.' This is a reference to the notorious Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act's previous title, the "Kill the Gays Bill."

And remember; you don't have to be gay to support gay rights!

2Cellos play AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck' like you've never imagined

This video of Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser (2Cellos) covering the classic AC/DC anthem, Thunderstruck, has caused quite the stir on the internet.

For more 'ba-rock' inspired covers, check out the duo's YouTube page. You'll come across several excellent covers including an excellent rendition of Nirvana's 'Smells like teen spirit,' and another AC/DC cover featuring Steve Vai.

25 minutes of new music from Hello Beautiful

Local electronic act Hello Beautiful (Matthieu Auriacombe) has released a 25 minute long mixtape of new material. For now Mix Tape 01 is not available as a download, but comments on Facebook and Soundcloud suggest that it will be in the next couple of days. Mix Tape 01 can be downloaded using the link in the widget below.

-- Updated 12 December 2014 --

Cover art for the new Chevelle album

Yesterday saw the release of the official cover art, and track listing for the standard edition of Chevelle's next record, La Gárgola.

If you head on over to the Get More Chevelle site, you can pre-order an autographed deluxe copy of the album which substitutes the plague doctor, for a portrait of one of the band members, as well as CD and t-shirt bundles.

Personally, I prefer the plague cover, although it would be cool to add all four cover varieties to my CD collection.

You're doing it wrong

Here's a cool cartoon by Liz Climo of a few sea animals wearing anaglyph 3D glasses. 

The Avengers vs More Avengers

Today's Madame & Eve cartoon by Stephen Francis and Rico is one of the best I've seen all year. Not only is it poking fun at South Africa's most prominent politicians, but it also makes light of frustration being caused due to the latest Marvel movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron is being filmed in down town Johannesburg. Several of the streets in the inner CBD have been closed off while Hulk runs amok, causing even worse traffic than normal in the area. Good thing I'm not planning on going near that part of town for quite some time still.

The Jezabels - Psychotherapy (Aaron Harris Remix)

Here's a link to a neat remix of the The Jezabels track Psychotherepy by Aaron Harris of Palms. I'd never heard of The Jezabels before, but I'm glad I found this remix. The rest of the songs over on their Soundcloud aren't too bad either. Definitely worth a listen.

Preferred camera gear of the pros

I came across this story about Hastolomegapixeles recently released infographic across at PetaPixel. The infographic displays which camera manufacturers and bodies are used by World Press Photo award winners.

What I find most interesting is Canon's absolute dominance, with 58%* of the winning shots having been taken with a Canon, most notably the winning photograph by John Stanmeyer, compared to Nikon's mere 28%. Interestingly the top three camera bodies were all manufactured by Canon, with the EOS 5D Mk II proving to still be as popular as it's successor, the EOS 5D Mk III, despite the Mk II being six years old. Canon's flagship professional DSLR, the EOS 1D X took the top spot, while the Nikon equivalent, the D4, took fourth place.

Clearly the pros prefer to use traditional SLR cameras as opposed to their mirrorless, medium format, or compact cameras counterparts. Surprisingly though, 2% are still relying on film [pelicula] cameras to capture their award-winning photographs. While this is a very small percentage, it shows that film still has a place in the world of modern photography other than being abused by hipsters.

--

* This percentage doesn't take into account the 13 'unknown' [sin datos] bodies, or about 23.2% of the data. If these unknowns are included, then the percentages would be: Canon 44.6%, Nikon 21.4%, Leica 5.4%, Sony 3.6%, Mamiya 1.8%. Either way Canon is about twice as popular as Nikon.

Help Luke attend Photography Classes

I've been wanting to enrol in a digital photography course for some time now, but time and financial constraints are holding me back. Ideally I would like to attend the 10 week introductory DSLR I course offered by the Cape Town School of Photography (CTSP). Unfortunately I can't afford to spend 10 weeks in Cape Town, as I need to be in Johannesburg in order to work. 

CTSP however also offers an 'intensive' version of the DSLR I course, which can be completed in only a week. While this is an appealing option, I don't think it's a viable one, as there wouldn't be too much time to complete the various assignments. I like the idea of having as much time as possible to complete the assignments, especially if the weather isn't ideal during the week I take the course. I'd rather be able to wait out the weather for a day or two, or use the time to look for an alternative location/ subject to shoot. 

Thus an even more appealing alternative to the CTSP's intense course is a course run by the New York Institute of Photography (NYIP). The Fundamentals of Digital Photography is entirely web-based, looks to cover the same content as the CTSP courses. Major advantages of the NYIP course is that I'd be able to complete it in my own time, at my own pace, over a much longer period of time than either of the CTSP courses. The disadvantages are that I would only be able to interact with lecturers and classmates over the internet, and that the NYIP course is 12-30% more expensive than the CTSP courses.

This has led me to set-up an online, crowd fundraising project via Go Fund Me in an attempt to raise the $399 needed for me to enrol in the NYIP's Fundamentals of Digital Photography course. While I'm not expecting to attain the full amount required, every little bit would help me get a little closer to enrolling.

I'd really appreciate it if you could simply share my Go Fund Me page, but if you're feeling extra generous towards a stranger, a small donation to my 'Photography Class Fund' would be even better.

Thanks for reading :)

Gravy 002 compilation album

A few months ago the Gravy 001 compilation was released as a free download. The Gravy Crew has since expanded in order to showcase some new talent, and as a result Gravy 002 was born.

Gravy 002 features many of the artists from the first collection, but with the addition of some upcoming talent in the form of GrimeHouse, The Watermark High, and Maramza. 

While a few favourites like Dank are missing from this compilation, I'm fairly certain that they'll be sharing a few more tracks on future incarnations in the Gravy series.

Chevelle - Take out the gunman

Chevelle have released the first track of their next studio album, La Gárgola. The single, Take out the gunman, is available digitally via iTunes and Amazon.

I listened to part of Take out the gunman while it was streaming through the Chevelle Fanhub, and wasn't particularly blown away, but I haven't written it off entirely yet either. I really do need to give it a proper listen, but I'll probably wait until the full album is available to do so.

In the meantime, according to the Fanhub header, we can expect some La Gárgola pre-release love tomorrow.

Stream ††† new EP

That's right children, the new ††† EP was released two days ago, and you can stream the entire thing over at Pitchfork. The self-titled EP contains a full album's worth of tracks, as it includes the 10 tracks previously released on the EPs † and ††, as well as five new tracks.

Red Hot Chili Mimes

During Sunday night's Super Bowl XLVIII half time show, the Red Hot Chili Peppers joined Bruno Mars on stage to perform their song Give it away. Afterwards, many who had watched the performance, including Vernon Reid (Living Colour), took to various social networks stating that Flea and Josh Klinghoffer's guitars were not plugged in.

That guitar is plugged into NOTHING

— Vernon Reid (@vurnt22) February 3, 2014

Given that there is not a lot of time to set up the stage for the half time show, let alone do a comprehensive sound check, it is not surprising that the musicians were miming along to pre-recorded instrumental tracks. That, and the fact that 'Nipplegate,' involving Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, had taken place almost exactly ten years prior to this years performance. I'm guessing the producers now play it ultra safe, and don't want any more controversies, whether that be poor sound, or incidents of indecent exposure.

Me, I'm not doing anything (Source)

As a result to have been called out by the media, Flea has felt the urge to write an open letter regarding the mimed performance;

Dear everybody,

When we were asked by the NFL and Bruno to play our song Give It Away at the Super Bowl, it was made clear to us that the vocals would be live, but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded. I understand the NFL's stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the t.v. viewers. There was not any room for argument on this, the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers stance on any sort of miming has been that we will absolutely not do it. The last time we did it (or tried to) was in the late 80's, we were thrown off of 'The Top Of the Pops' television program in the U.K. during rehearsals because we refused to mime properly, I played bass with my shoe, John played guitar atop Anthony's shoulders, and we basically had a wrestling match onstage, making a mockery of the idea that it was a real live performance.

We mimed on one or two weird MTV shows before that and it always was a drag. We take our music playing seriously, it is a sacred thing for us, and anyone who has ever seen us in concert (like the night before the Super Bowl at the Barclays Center), knows that we play from our heart, we improvise spontaneously, take musical risks, and sweat blood at every show. We have been on the road for 31 years doing it.

So, when this Super Bowl gig concept came up, there was a lot of confusion amongst us as whether or not we should do it, but we eventually decided, it was a surreal-like, once in a life time crazy thing to do and we would just have fun and do it. We had given this a lot of thought before agreeing to do it, and besides many a long conversation amongst ourselves, I spoke with many musician friends for whom I have the utmost respect, and they all said they would do it if asked, that it was a wild trippy thing to do, what the hell. Plus, we the RHCP all love football too and that played a big part in our decision. We decided that, with Anthony singing live, that we could still bring the spirit and freedom of what we do into the performance, and of course we played every note in the recording specially for the gig. I met and spoke with Bruno, who was a beautiful dude, a real talented musician, and we worked out something that seemed like it would be fun.

We recorded a track for the day, just banged one out from our hearts that was very like in spirit to the versions we have been playing live the last few years with our beloved Josh on guitar.

For the actual performance, Josh, Chad, and I were playing along with the pre recorded track so there was no need to plug in our guitars, so we did not. Could we have plugged them in and avoided bumming people out who have expressed disappointment that the instrumental track was pre recorded? Of course easily we could have and this would be a non-issue. We thought it better to not pretend. It seemed like the realest thing to do in the circumstance. It was like making a music video in front of a gazillion people, except with live vocals, and only one chance to rock it. Our only thought was to bring the spirit of who we are to the people.

I am grateful to the NFL for having us. And I am grateful to Bruno, who is a super talented young man for inviting us to be a part of his gig. I would do it all the same way again.

We, as a band, aspire to grow as musicians and songwriters, and to continue to play our guts out live onstage for anyone who wants to get their brains blown out.

Sincerely,

Flea

This negative exposure could have been avoided by plugging some cables into the guitars, and then simply not turning the amplifiers on. I guess Flea is feeling a little bad, as only those who are guilty tend to fee the need to explain themselves.