Marc Staples on LinkedIn: Hi friends and former colleagues. Time for some new inspirations..... I… (2024)

Hi friends and former colleagues. The 1st month of 2024 is already coming to an end, so I thought it would be good to give you all something new to look at and comment. I can remember my exciting days in Lithography, when I and/or my team would have to go through 5 WHY'S and 8D reports to understand why the expensive stepper/scanner would not focus correctly on specific exposed dies. You can all imagine the headaches, actions and efforts taken to check out everything and ensure the tool was functioning again as it should and give everyone the insurance that it would not happen (ever) again......I can say that I am currently very relieved when I find a location or subject, when I set up my camera and on purpose move it or defocus it or do both together, to see what the effect was at the end of the exposure. Most of you will know that this technique has the name ICM (intentional camera movement). Unlike in Lithography where one does not want any intentional movement or blurring, I can sit back and enjoy the results on a sunny or even grey day to see what was achieved and it amazes me everytime. I can use really low light to get longer exposures and the effects are always different.It was taken during a nice day at the Baltic Sea last September using f/6.3, ISO64 and an exposure time of 10s. I sat at the end of this wave breaker holding the camera in my hands and moving it slightly only at the end of the exposure time. I won't disclose though how many times I tried until I got this one shot. I had to use trial and error and no statistical methods, although I'm sure a Statistician would be able to give me a good estimate of when I would get the right exposure and how many tries I would need - I believe.Anyway, hope you all like this one and don't get dizzy from it. Take care and stay safe until the next time.

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Hi friends and former colleagues. The year is coming to an end and I wanted to send you off to a hopefully nice pre Christmas period. Time to step back, take it easy and reflect on what things happened the past several months. From my point of view I can say that I continued to stay busy with my photography all across Europe. From Istanbul in Turkey to the Baltic Seas in Germany and down to the Costa Blanca in Spain. Autumn is a nice season, if it doesn't rain, but I prefer more the Spring and Summer periods, so I am looking forward to what next year will bring. Below a B&W and colour approach of an evening shooting session of a wave breaker at the beach. The photo was taken late this September in Kühlungsborn at the German Baltic Sea. The tempertatures were nice and warm and you could still swim in the sea. I took several exposures in the early morning before sunrise and at sunset and here is one of sunset shots. I loaded up the colour approach additionally, as several mentioned they like colour exposures more than B&W. I used a 16 stop ND filter giving me an exposure time of 216 seconds. The focal length was 68mm and f/11. The tripod used was my sturdy Manfrotto, which in fact I bought back in 1997 in Austin, Texas! I love the tranquility this location sets off and it gives a feeling you are alone at the beach with nobody around you and perhaps alone on this planet......Take care, stay safe and stay tuned for more to come.

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Hi friends and colleagues around the globe. Time for another upload and some time to sit back and review this new photo with a nice cup of tea, coffee or other drink..... When working in Lithography, I was always amazed at the speed of these stages in a scanner racing back and forth from one exposure to the next. And yes, it was always asked whether it could be even quicker. After all, these tools were expensive, very expensive and were quite often (very often) the bottleneck of the fab production. When I was checking out this location and setting up the camera and getting the exposure in place, a lady came up to me and asked me whether she could see what I was exposing. I answered sure, but you will have to wait for 8-9 minutes. She looked at me in amazement and rumbled off muttering that she could get a photo quicker with her mobile. I don't know but somehow whether it was during my Lithography days or now as a hobby photographer, you can never get it right.....Anyway, hope you like this one. It was taken at Moritzburg Castle, near Dresden in Saxony, Germany in March 2023, using f/22 and the lens set to 33mm focal length. I used an ND 4000 grey filter to get as little light as possible going through the lens and thus having to extend the exposure time. The tripod used was from Manfrotto. I'll let y'all guess what camera I used 😎.

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Hi everyone out there. Here is a new photo exposed just recently during a short trip to Lake Constance. I once looked at a YouTube video by a famous Scottish Photographer about composition and he stated that it is important to form the composition by "eliminating the rest and concentrating on the cool". I saw this beautiful red coloured Hisbiscus hanging like a tear drop and thought well this looks cool. I hope you like it and perhaps you will take time from your busy daily work and let it sink in with a cuppa coffee/tea or whatever is allowed between 7am and 7pm working hours.... 😎. Stay tuned for more to come in the next weeks/months.

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Now that I am retired from Lithography but still connected to Linkedin, I thought I would use this platform also to show what I am doing with all my spare time. The tools I use now are certainly much, much cheaper than the ones I used during my professional career 😎. Let's see if my photography finds former hardworking colleagues/friends, who like it and it gives them a little bit of time to reflect how beautiful this earth is and what you can see when looking closer. Hope y'all like it. Take care and stay safe

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