Absolutely thrilled to receive the good news from Los Angeles that three of my pictures have been judged into the winner’s circle with honourable mentions and that two other images have been nominated, in the 15th International Color Awards, from close to 6800 entered images.
Many thanks to all the judges (The Armory Show, New York; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; The Art Channel, London; V&A Museum, London; Koller Auctions, Zurich; Preus Museum, Norway; Publicis Groupe, Warsaw; Fila, New York; Chung | Namont Gallery, San Francisco; Kolle Rebbe, Hamburg; Tilton Gallery, New York; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee; Cornette de Saint Cyr Auctions, Brussels; Podbielski Contemporary, Milan and RedKite NFT, London) and many congratulations to the other winners.
As some would have seen, I’ve started to branch out into creative still life photography, specialising in fountain pen and stationery. It was a thrill to see one of these pictures receive an honourable mention.
Here are the five chosen images. All photographs were made using Lumix cameras, using Leica DG, Olympus and Voigtlander lenses. The images were shot in raw, processed on an Apple Mac Pro with Eizo CG monitors and processed using Adobe LightRoom Classic and finished in Exposure Software’s X7.
Three Honourable Mentions at the 16th Annual Black & White Spider Awards
Very happy to share that several of my monochrome images have had awards success at the BW Spider Awards. During the online Gala Ceremony, attended by by over 11,000, I was thrilled to receive three honourable mentions and also discover that five other images had also been nominated.
Honourable Mentions
Photojournalism – A Vigil By Smartphone Lights. Fundraising and Candlelight Vigil. Following miltary action by Azerbaijan with the backing of Turkey from the 27th of September, against the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and Armenia, a war has ensued in the region. Armenian communities in the diaspora gather to raise funds with the defence effort and humanatarian crisis in Artsakh and Armenia. Members of the Armenian community in the UK gather for a candle lit vigil (using smartphone lights as a result of health and safety rules) and fund raising event for the Armenia Fund (Himnadram) with the support of the Armenian Apostolic Church in London. St. Yeghiche Armenian Church, South Kensington, London, UK. October 10, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian.
Shot on a Lumix S1 and a Sigma 85mm f1.4 DG DN Art lens.
Americana – Classic Corvettes. The Classic Car Drive In Weekend (a new style of socially distanced, COVID-compliant classic car show for buyers, collectors and petrol-heads as well as movie-goers). Bicester Heritage, Buckingham Road, Bicester, Oxfordshire, UK. September 18, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
Shot on a Lumix S1R and Sigma 85mm f1.4 DG DN Art lens.
People – A chorister is dressed in traditional Armenian choir outfit, with a more modern face visor as protection following guidelines. Churches Allowed To Open After Easing Of UK COVID 19 Lockdown. The Apostolic Orthodox Armenian Church is one of the most ancient Christian institutions. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion. Having live streamed services during the pandemic lockdown, St Yeghiche Church opened its doors for public worship on Sunday 5th July 2020. Kensington, London, UK. July 05, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
Shot on a Lumix S1 and S Pro 70-200mm f2.8.
Nominations
Architecture – Concord Road, Industrial Estate, Park Royal, London, UK. December 15, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
Shot on a Lumix LX100M2.
People – Brighton beach, as on of the hottest days of the year comes to an end. As the COVID 19 lockdown has been relaxed, thousands of beachgoers flocked to Brighton as temperatures hit 30C (lower than the maximum temperature in South East England, which topped 36C). Authorities in Brighton have taken action to reduce the crowds at their beaches, on one of the hottest days of the year, with fears that social distancing will not be possible. Brighton, UK. August 07, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
Shot on a Lumix G9 and Leica DG 50-200mm.
Portrait – Professional Dancer Faye Stoeser. The Millennium Bridge, Bankside, London, UK. September 15, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
Shot on a Leica SL2 and Sigma 85mm f1.4 DG DN Art.
Portrait – A portrait of Jim Connor (former picture editor, The Herald, Glasgow) enjoying a pint of Guiness at The Long Hall pub in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. January 17, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
Shot on a Sigma fp and Leica 35mm APO Summicron SL.
Portrait – Yoshie At Quant. A portrait of fine art photographer Yoshie Nishikawa at the Mary Quant exhibition. Victoria and Albert Museum. London, UK. February 07, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
Shot on a Sigma fp and Leica 35mm APO Summicron SL.
All the images were shot in raw and processed on an Apple Mac Pro (2013 model) in Adobe’s Lightroom. The monochrome work was then finished in Exposure Software’s X6. To maintain absolute and precise control during processing, calibrated Eizo CG monitors were used.
The OWC Aura Pro X2 1.0TB NVMe SSD Upgrade for the Mac Pro 6,1 (Late 2013)
The Mac Pro (Model identifier: MacPro6,1, late 2013) is a frustrating machine in some professional environments. On the one hand, it’s a genius piece of design, with a radically revolutionary cooling system which works wonders, very quietly, in a form factor which is truly unique.
On the other hand though, it’s an extremely limited machine that allows for extremely little internal expansion; something which frustrates many professional users, myself included. Around five years ago though, I had to take the jump and reluctantly got a middle specced machine. My two previous Mac Pro machines had been the affectionately known as the cheese grater chassis. Hugely expandable, with four internal hard drive bays, several expansion slots and dual optical bays that many, including myself, converted to housing SSDs. However with the need for more video and larger raw files, the time came and I got my Mac Pro (3.5GHz 6-core Intel Xeon).
I these expandability terms though, the 2013 Mac Pro though, is extremely limited. One of the big problems is single internal hard drive; in this case, a blisteringly fast NVMe SSD, which is tiny in physical size, and unless you have sizeable funds, is also small in capacity when bought from Apple.
I made do with the built in 256Gb SSD for around 4 years. Moving my Desktop and Document files to my iCloud kept things manageable, but I could only ever have around 22Gb of free space, which would occasionally fill up with cache files (no idea from where, as everything configurable was always assigned to an external SSD attached via Thunderbolt 2 for scratch disk purposes) and constant system messages telling me to clean up my Macintosh HD. Super frustrating, a time waster when on deadline and impossible to do as there was nothing to throw away or configure differently.
I’ve been a huge fan of OWC, having used their various SSDs, RAM and external drive boxes for probably over a decade. In fact, this very machine’s RAM was upgraded as soon as I bought it from the standard 16Gb, using the 64.0GB OWC Memory Upgrade Kit.
In the end, my frustrations pushed me to looking into upgrading my Mac Pro 6,1’s internal, Macintosh HD, SSD. After a few days of thought, I realised the sweet spot, both for usability and financially, would be opting for the 1Tb size. I also decided to go for the kit, which includes an external case called the Envoy, to house the Apple 256Gb SSD and use as an external drive. So I headed to OWC’s European shop and ordered the Aura Pro X2 SSD for Mac Pro 2013 1TB Kit. The other capacities available are 240Gb, 480Gb and 2.0Tb.
As with everything from OWC, all the specialist tools you need are supplied, along with superb instructions on their website. Upgrading the SSD is very straightforward and most should be able to do it. One crucial thing to check is that you’re running macOS High Sierra 10.13 or later. This is an absolute must, as with High Sierra onwards, the firmware of the Mac Pro 6,1 is updated automatically, which will allow for support of the OWC SSD.
Although I have a Time Machine backup that runs constantly, for extra safety, I formatted a Samsung T5 SSD and made a fresh Time Machine backup onto this (you can have multiple Time Machine drives). I also got another external drive and using Carbon Copy Cloner, cloned my Macintosh HD. Always better to be safe!
As with anything computer related, switch everything off and never touch any part of any circuitry. The static charges that we can build up can fry circuitry, so take your time, be careful and don’t touch anything that’s a circuit or a connector. Once the outer case is remove, you simply unscrew the one retaining screw for the Apple SSD and slide it upwards and out. You need to carefully attach a small heatsink onto the OWC SSD to allow it to cool properly. Whenever attaching a heatsink, its always paramount to make sure you don’t touch the surface of the chip, to ensure it’s clean of any grease or debris. This allows the heatsink to adhere fully and properly, aiding in removing heat to maximum efficiency. Then install the OWC SSD card (firmly yet gently, making sure it’s seated completely in the socket on the motherboard), secure it with the supplied retaining screw, put the outer case back on, lock, attach your cables and you’re almost ready.
I opted to use the Time Machine backup on the Samsung T5 to restore my Mac onto the new OWC SSD. On power up, I held down the Cmd-Opt-R keys until a startup screen appeared. Then formatted the drive using Disk Utilities to APFS. Once done, I chose the Restore From Time Machine Backup option. Chose the Samsung T5 as a Restore Source, then chose the new OWC SSD as the destination, which I had named Macintosh HD in Disk Utility on the previous step and clicked on Restore. There are full instructions for formatting the OWC Auro Pro X2 SSD and the various ways of installing or restoring your data on the OWC website. With every step, you have a helping hand. Just make sure you make a couple of backups as I did, as a safety and peace of mind measure.
I went off to get some dinner, but I think in under an hour the “new” Mac was up and running. As always after a restore, you may need to log back into a few things, but apart from this, everything was running smoothly and perfectly.
I’ve been using my Mac Pro with my new 1Tb OWC Auro Pro X2 SSD for thee days now. I haven’t switched off the machine and it’s been purring along, speedily and without any errors or space issues. With the mightily impressive new Mac Pro (2019 model, MacPro7,1) being so ridiculously expensive and priced well out of the single creative professional’s budget, many of us will be looking at upgrading our current machines to get more out of them. Apple Macs have in my decades of experience, shown that they work well for many years; much longer than one would expect a computer to work. However with more demands from us with bigger raw files, heavier bit rates and ever larger video pixel sizes, our machines need the occasional boost.
Even with the upgradeably challenged form factor of the affectionately called Dustbin Mac Pro, changing simple things like the SSD and upgrading the RAM to 64Gb (128Gb is possible, but from my research for most workflows won’t bring much if any improvements over 64Gb – your needs may vary though, so do your research), can bring a new lease of life and usability. Plus, it comes with a five year warranty. Its a no-brainer!
Thrilled to start the new year with some wonderful news! I’m extremely happy to share that the photograph “Love Your Job” has won the Life At Work category of the British Life Photography Awards 2018.
Many congratulations to all the winners; there are some truly beautiful photographs selected by the judges. The winning and commended images will be exhibited in a travelling exhibition, which I hope many of you will be able to see. A book of the selected images from 2018 will also be published (but is not yet listed, so keep an eye out on the website).
Mall Galleries, London 18th to 23rd February 2019
Banbury Museum, Banbury 16th March to 12th May 2019
The Garden Rooms at Tennants, Leyburn, North Yorkshire 20th July to 3rd September 2019
Redbrick building, Glastonbury, Somerset, 14th September to 13th October 2019
The post processing of the images were done on my Apple Mac Pro using Eizo CG monitors, using Adobe Lightroom (and finished in either Alienskin Exposure or Nik Collection Silver Efex Pro plugins).
The warmest room by far in most homes is the home office, mainly because that’s where the computer and the hard drives live. Any creative will generate loads of data (pictures, video or audio) which means loads of hard drives for storage and backup. Even though some external hard drives have fans to keep things cool, once these pile up, pockets of hot air form and have an effect on both the active (fan) and passive (heatsink) cooling of hard drives. Excess heat can result in hard drive failure and on computers erratic behaviour at best or failure of internal components at worst.
A powered USB hub and a pair of USB fans cool down my hard drives. July 18, 2015. Photo: Edmond Terakoian
Server rooms in offices have specific air-conditioning installed to keep the storage arrays cool, but alas most of us won’t be in a position to do that. Next best thing is to move the hot air away from the drives and also to cool the air falling upon and into them.
A powered USB hub and a pair of USB fans cool down my hard drives. July 18, 2015. Photo: Edmond Terakoian
A very simple and cheap solution is to install a powered USB hub and plug in some USB fans. These will cool down the air and also move the air around. Simple, cheap, easy and effective.
A USB fan cools down the air before it get’s sucked into my MacPro. July 18, 2015. Photo: Edmond Terakoian
Another use for the simple USB fan is to have it cool down the air that’s sucked into your computer by it’s own internal cooling fan. By cooling the air outside the computer, the computer’s internal cooling system has a more effective job of keeping the CPU, GPU and internal hard drives cool. Incidentally, having a fan blow cooler air towards the air intake on your laptop will have the same effect (on Apple MacBooks it’s the hinge between the screen and keyboard. On PCs it’s sometimes the same place and sometimes on one of the sides).
Naturally, on hot days, the same technology can be used to cool you down too!
Good places to source this equipment will be Scan, Amazon or Dabs.
Sadly, Apple announced on June 27th, 2014 that it was no longer going to develop Aperture. It is indeed a sad announcement and one that was upsetting in many ways. Aperture has been my platform of choice for over seven years, for all my image processing, organising and archiving. Even my video and audio work go through Aperture. The news even resulted in a sleepless night; I must have woken up five times and every time I awoke, I was thinking about how my workflow is going to cope with the loss of my favourite software.
“With the introduction of the new Photos app and iCloud Photo Library, enabling you to safely store all of your photos in iCloud and access them from anywhere, there will be no new development of Aperture,” Apple said. “When Photos for OS X ships next year, users will be able to migrate their existing Aperture libraries to Photos for OS X.”
The Future For Aperture Users
The good news is that there’s no need to panic and take immediate action. When Yosemite, the next version of Apple’s OS X is released this coming autumn, I’ve been told that Aperture will be updated to work with it. Also, as the raw updates are OS based, all new raw updates will work within Aperture. What this means is that after launch, Aperture will carry on functioning fully for a 12-18 month period. So no need to panic and take drastic action. The new Photos App is set to release early 2015.
Apple’s new Photos App for OS X Yosemite. Photo: Apple
Apple and Adobe are working together to come up with a way to help Aperture users who wish to move over to Lightroom, the logical choice, to migrate their libraries of images over. However, the biggest problem and one which seems insolvable (at least for now) is that Aperture adjustments won’t translate into Lightroom adjustments. Hopefully all metadata, library structure, versions of files and naturally all the raws will come across ok.
Another upgrade path for those Aperture users who aren’t professional or advanced enthusiasts, is Apple’s own forthcoming Photos App. Certainly the first version of the App seems to be very much consumer. However as Apple updated and upgraded FCP X, maybe Apple will do the same with Photos and it will on later releases have Aperture’s functionality? This is pure speculation and hope on my part.
Personally, my course of action is going to be waiting to see what and how the migration tool(s) will work. I have an Aperture archive of well over half a million images, spanning decades of work, so any decision I make cannot be done lightly and without research. Apart from migrating my libraries of work, I also have to update all of my onsite and offsite backups to work with whatever my new system will be. It’s highly likely to be Lightroom, but it does all depend on how things pan out. It’s worth keeping hold of your Aperture libraries for now, just to see how the Photos App develops; who knows, perhaps future versions will be of professional spec?
I’ll also be writing to Apple to explain why I think dropping Aperture is a bad idea and hope they may reconsider; I would urge others to do so too. You can feedback via this LINK.
Lastly, please share this article to help Aperture users from realising there’s no need to panic and there is time to plan a perfect strategy for each user’s needs.
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