KJ Vogelius

Yesterday social media giant Facebook bought the up and coming social photography app Instagram for a staggering $1 billion. I find this both awesome and scary at the same time.

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This is a rolling article. The latest update was April 9.

Since getting my Panasonic GF1 I’ve been convinced that mirrorless cameras are the future for most photography. Advantages such as smaller size, better focus accuracy and compatibility with almost any lens spell big trouble for traditional camera form factors such as the SLR or rangefinder.

The Sony NEX-7

The mirrorless systems have matured quickly. Initial problems such as slow auto focus speed and wonky handling were mostly corrected already by the second generation. But still, some problems remained.

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It still feels slightly surreal, but me and my girlfriend have bought a summer house. We’ve been wanting an out of town retreat for quite some time, but everything we’ve found has been far to expensive, poorly situated or in real bad shape.

But a few weeks ago we found this brilliant little place. We went and had a look over the weekend, decided it was perfect and then bought it on Monday. It’s a tiny, simple house without frills. It has nothing beyond the basics – electricity and a hand pumped well. The house has a conservatory as well as a huge porch. There’s a small guest house as well, which means that friends and family can come visit easily. It doesn’t have any major problems some TLC won’t fix.

A short walk from the ocean

Gräsö

What made us really taken with this little place was its location. It’s situated close to the ocean on one of the larger islands of the northern Stockholm archipelago – Gräsö. Accessible by ferry, the island is populated year round by enough people to sustain a small convenience store, but is also big enough not to feel crowded. It takes us around two and a half to three hours to get door to door from home, close enough for it to still feel reasonable to go there after work on Friday and spend the weekend. It’s also possible to get there by train and bus, a huge plus from both cost and environmental perspectives.

I can’t wait to fix it up and spend time there!

After spending the summer shooting the GF1 almost exclusively, I felt I should probably use my 5D Mk II for a bit. It’s a very nice camera after all, and using it only while traveling seemed like a bit of a waste.

I decided to set myself a challenge. To use the Canon 5D Mk II, with the ZE 35/2, every day for 5 weeks. Then select and upload one picture every day, resulting in a collection of 35 photos.

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A small sneak peak at what I’m currently designing at work. Goes live in January. Will post more when I can.

I haven’t really worn a watch in the last few years, but have been missing it lately. Have been on a lookout for a Dieter Rams Braun watch, but it has proven quite difficult to find one of the nicer models in good condition for a decent price. So I was very happy to find out that part of the collection was getting a reissue of sorts.

The collection is based on the original designs by Dieter Rams and Dieter Lubs from the 1960′s and 70′s with more or less slight modifications. I decided on the model with the telling name – BN0032BKBKG, one of the closest reissues in the collection. It’s a three hand watch with date. Pretty much as simple as it gets – fitting for a Rams design.

Saw the movie Drive a few days ago. It’s engaging story, combined with classy acting, great cinematography, impressive editing and a fantastic soundtrack makes it a truly excellent movie. Highly recommended.

“I never asked for this”. Implanted with cybernetic body modifications after being mortally wounded in a terrorist attack, Adam Jensen is a conflicted protagonist. His life is saved by the modifications, his body improved, but is it a life worth living?

Human Revolution is the long awaited prequel to the fantastic Deus Ex from 2000. Like it’s predecessor, DX:HR combines elements of action, stealth and character progression in a science fiction setting.

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Could it be? A digital Leica facsimile for the everyman? Image quality without compromise in a small, light and well handling package at a reasonable price? The perfect everyday camera?

Compactness, handling and image quality are each others enemies when it comes to camera design. You can’t really have one without compromising the other. In the digital realm it’s been even more evident. You’ve only had the choice of extremes – small, with dubious handling and image quality – or – good handling and image quality in a huge body. A sweet spot between the three haven’t really existed since the analog era.

The GF1 is the first digital camera to arrive at that sweet spot, and does so in a fantastic manner turning it into something of a modern classic.

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Having moved to Stockholm as an adult, never spending much time here before then, I very much appriciate how beautiful the city is. It definitely lives up to it’s nickname – Venice of the North. I doubt I’ll ever tire of the view from Västerbron, Monteliusvägen or Stadsgårdsleden.

These are taken while walking the dog in Liljeholmen and from the bridge to Södermalm – Liljeholmsbron. I’m still super impressed with the high ISO performance of the 5D Mk II. It’s very freeing to be able to shoot handheld in almost complete darkness, especially this time of year when it’s really dark up here.