After the enjoyment of a day out with my camera, there is then the pleasure of getting home, making a freshly brewed cuppa and looking through the days images.
I always hope that among the many images that I take,that there is one image that stands out as my favourite from the days shoot.
My candidate for my ‘one frame’ post is one I captured at the seaside village of Torcross in south Devon this weekend and not the quintessential seaside scene of which there were plenty but a candid image of a gentleman enjoying a Sunday morning with his newspaper.
With cloudless blue skies above, the light was quite harsh, creating some dark shadows, the perfect recipe for a monochrome edit, needless to say I was happy with the resulting image.
Tag: Street
It’s all black and white to me….
Since my foray into using smaller digicam style cameras began, I have noticed a distinct change in my mindset in my photography when I am out on my regular walks.
My DSLR style cameras are the serious, well educated older brother, aiming to excel at everything, where as the smaller cameras are the more streetwise younger sibling, a little more fun to be around and a more adventurous nature.
It is the fun nature of these cameras that makes me experiment more with them, just to see what I can get out of their small sensors, subsequently, over the last few months I have found myself taking more monochrome images because I have learned to embrace the grain or noise produced at comparatively low ISO’s .
As most cameras these days have some option for storing custom settings, I have made a monochrome custom setting that shoots in JPEG with an in camera Black and white setting and am really quite pleased with the images produced.
They are far from fine art photographic masterpieces but for me, they capture a mood or a moment that will evoke a memory years down the line, it is after all the moment, not how sharp an image is.
A selection from the last few weeks …..
Out with the Canon S100
I would have been out for my normal early Saturday photo walk today but was looking forward to receiving another bargain ‘older’ camera for my slowly increasing collection, however the postman decided to ignore the polite note I had put on the door asking him (or her) to knock loudly, instead giving me one of those annoying red cards to tell me I wasn’t in!’
With rain forecast for most of the rest of today, I decided to head into town, not something I normally do on a Saturday but I wanted to get out for some fresh air and to stretch the legs.
Deciding on just the S100 and a spare battery, it was good to have just the minimal gear, as it turned out, having the smaller camera was just perfect for what turned out to be a really fun shoot.
Approaching the city centre, it was clear that some sort of event was happening, as a small crowd had gathered, encircling a group of Morris dancers, as they performed.
With no huge camera around my neck, the small S100 went unnoticed as I milled around the gaps in the crowds taking pictures of the colourful costumes and dance routines.
As I made my way around the city, other groups in varying costumes were also performing, this was a great little spontaneous shoot!
As the dancers had come to the end of their shows, I was able to catch groups of them heading to other parts of the city, this is when the predicted rain began to fall, even better for some moody street scenes.
In the space of less than an hour, I had taken a good number of shots, I was pleasantly surprised at just how well the S100 had performed in dull light conditions.
Playing the fisherman with the LX15
My foray into older digital compact cameras began a few weeks ago after the purchase of a box of camera gear, my last few posts with the Canon G11 and Canon S95 were part of this collection but there are two more that have hardly seen the light of day, a more modern Lumix LX15 (LX10 in the USA) and a Lumix GF2.
Today, was the turn of the LX10, a camera with a 1” sensor, much larger in comparison to the aforementioned Canon cameras and a focal range of 24-72mm in full frame terms.
Heading into town later than normal on my Sunday walk meant it would be a little busier, it would be a good chance to get a little more used to the camera’s controls and an indicator as to how I might customize the user programmable function buttons.
There is a school of thought within the street photography genre, that there a two types of photographer, the hunter, who will keep on the move searching for those decisive story telling images, or the fisherman, who will pick their spot and wait for the scene to unfold.
I fell into the ‘hunter’ category today, finding a couple of favourite spots and waiting patiently for a potential image to present itself.
I did not have long to wait, as a young lad decides to play ‘spiderman’ in one of the shopping precincts, mum with increasing degrees of exasperation asking him to get off, as they have things to do!
I am make full use of the upwardly tilting screen, the camera has no viewfinder but this works to my advantage, with the camera not blatantly to my face to take the image, the lower perspective adding a little more to the image to my mind.
Since shooting with these compact cameras, I have begun to appreciate how unobtrusive they are, as well as their obvious difference in weight to my bigger gear.
In the past I have been guilty of what I call ‘sensor snobbery’, falling into the trap of ‘needing’ full frame gear for my photography needs while not giving these versatile pocket rockets a second glance.
Full frame of course, has its place but I am not a professional photographer with demanding clients and tight deadlines, photography for me, is my release from my full time work and as long as I have some sort of a camera in my hand to record images from my weekend outings, I will always have fun in doing so.
Something newer
My last couple of blog posts have centred around a couple of older Canon cameras I recently acquired in a job lot of camera gear, today’s post will be about one of the other cameras from the same box and something a little newer, a Panasonic LX10.
This camera is around six years old, a digital compact design with a one inch sensor.
With a day of rain showers forecast, I decided to make the most of the break between the next cloudburst and take a quick stroll around the city and riverside for my now regular Sunday amble.
Much of my walk was spent getting used to the LX10, customising function buttons to my most used settings, while seeing just what this little camera was capable of.
For my landscape images it did well but where it shone was in my walk back through the city centre, where I took some candid shots as the world passed me by.
Nobody blinked an eyelid at the bloke on the bench with a point and shoot camera, seemingly looking at images with the camera’s tilt screen.
50mm fifty days #12
My usual Friday outing was rudely interrupted by Storm Eunice gatecrashing her way into what would have been day twelve of my 50mm challenge, the advice to stay put was heeded as the wind brought a maelstrom of destruction across the South west of the UK.
Saturday’s forecast was for a brief respite before the next weather system was set to bring even more of the same, a small window in which to stretch my legs and go in search of some local photo opportunities.
Just after nine thirty AM on a Saturday morning and the city centre is not as busy as it may be, I think the out of town D.I.Y centres may have more custom today, replacement fences and such for the necessary repairs after Eunice’s unwelcome visit.
The first half hour of my walk offers a little sunshine, which is soon enveloped in a blanket of moody grey, and the first rain shower of many throughout today.
Of the few shots I take, the last few will almost certainly be perfect candidates for my monochrome collection, with the light fading, for a couple of frames I manage a second and a half exposure to blur the movement of the few shoppers that have ventured out, unwitting protagonists in my abstract scene of the high street, the rest capture another Saturday morning in my home city.
My process.
It is fair to say that I look forward to my weekend outings with my camera, the process begins around the middle of my working week, looking for my next destination, according to whatever the weather may bring.
Without a shadow of doubt, the best part of photography is being out in the great outdoors, camera in hand, capturing whatever the landscape has to offer and even if do not take as many images as I had hoped, I have still had a good walk.
There are a good few photographers I have watched on various social media outlets, who say that they prefer to wait a few days, weeks or even months before even looking at that day’s shoot but I look forward to seeing my day’s endeavors on the computer monitor at the earliest opportunity.
With a fresh cup of tea made, I browse through the images, and flag the images I am keen to edit, these being the favourite of the day, the ones that I am keenest to share online.
On a Sunday, I will often go through the images a second time, flagging and posting once more, while sub consciously picking out images for the next stage of my process, which is this blog.
By mid week, I browse through my images once more, these are what I term as the ‘also ran’ images, yet they can sometimes be the hidden gems.
It was this mid week browse that made me look more closely at four images I had taken around the local Xmas market and High street, edited in monochrome for that documentary feel.
More often than not, I will ask for photos, I enjoy the interaction, yet I also like to take those candid shots of an every day scene around my home town.
I will post the four images below for your perusal, and finish this blog entry here, as I have a few ideas for this weekends outing!
Rainy day photography
As another weekend approaches, I am keen to become more familiar with my recently acquired ‘new but old’ camera set up, a canon 5d Mk II, so with a few errands to do in town this morning, I take the 5d with a 50mm lens for a brief spell of ‘street’.
With rain showers forecast for most of the day, I shall find a few of my favourite spots around the city and familiarize myself with the camera setup.
There are said to be two types of street photographer, the hunter and the fisherman, the hunter is always on the move, looking for that moment that will tell the story, the fisherman however, will find a spot and wait for the scene to unfold, this is my approach today, as the work goers and Black Friday shopper’s pace will be a little quicker in order to get out of the rain.
My first shots are not fantastic as it is a learning curve getting used to an unfamiliar system but it takes little time before I am happier with the images, most of which I have in mind to be edited in black and white to depict the grey and dreary mood of the morning.
With about 30 or so images taken, the clock has worked its way to nine AM, it is time to tick the boxes of the days ‘to do’ list so that I can leave tomorrow free for a longer day of photography.
Images taken with the Canon 50mm 1.8 STM
A city wakes
Just over half way into 2020, yet it seems this year has already outstayed its welcome, a year to remember for all the wrong reasons.
Cities have been reduced to ghost towns, devoid of the usual hustle and bustle of the lifestyle we take so much for granted.
I am not a ‘crowds’ person but even for me, this extended and enforced silence has been an uncomfortable one, only the passing buses and open supermarkets offering a semblance of normality during these strange days.
After this week’s opening of non essential shops, small seeds of optimism have been sown, there is a feeling of cautious hope, as the city I call home slowly wakes from an unwelcome slumber.
Of course, ‘normal’ will not happen for some time to come, as bright yellow 2m signs on the pavements remind us,to keep our distance, as well as attempts to make either side of the street one way for pedestrians which have thus far failed miserably as the public go about their business.
During lockdown, I had felt disinclined to document the silent streets, a feeling that taking a camera around seemed somehow indulgent but today I wanted to capture the first Saturday after the easing of lockdown measures, to capture the essence of the shackles being lifted from months of constraint.
While the streets were not overly busy, there was a buzz, as shop doors were once again open to welcome us in.
Taxi ranks were full for the first time in weeks and I even had a complete stranger stand in front of my camera, wanting his picture taken, which I was of course happy to do.
No trip to town is complete without a walk to the quay and riverside, how pleasant again to see a number of businesses open once more to satisfy the need for a drink and snack to eat while enjoying views of the Exe.
Taxi ranks are full as folk attempt to return to a limited normality.
Today was not the sunniest of days as we begin a slow and careful transition but frankly, I do not think any one of us cared, it was good to be out.
Focusing on 50
I have not set myself any long term photographic projects for this year but over the last few weeks I have been giving myself a mixture of small challenges on my days out.
One of my recent ideas, was to turn off the EVF of my X100F and compose all photos in the optical viewfinder and expose with the camera’s meter reading, not allowing myself the option to view the images on the screen once I had taken them, until I got back home.
At first, it was hard to resist the temptation to ‘chimp’ but as the day went on, it became second nature.
Today, as I began to pack my camera bag, I decided on a one camera, one lens day, the camera, my Fuji XE2, the lens, a recently acquired Fuji 35mm f2 (52mm equivalent in full frame terms).
An early browse of train timetables and a decision was made to head to Plymouth for some street photography for a few hours.
Arriving in Plymouth just before 10am, the skies were a characterless grey wash of bland nothingness, at least my chosen focal length would allow for tighter crops in my subjects today.
I would normally head straight towards Plymouth Hoe, grab a few shots of the Sir Francis Drake statue and Smeaton’s tower, this morning I would head for the main shopping areas first, then work my way towards the Hoe and Barbican area.
Conscious of the fact that my last visit to Plymouth was not that long ago, I plan a route to avoid my normally well trodden path, attempting to find more varied shots, something different for the archive, while making mental notes for potential shots on brighter days in the future.
Once again, I find a level of satisfaction in using just one lens, at no point today have I wished for a wider focal length, instead, really enjoying working the image with what I have.
I break my normal routine of finding a cafe for a cup of tea and to browse my days work, I will wait until I am on the train back home, there are just a few shots I want to try and get on the way to the train station….
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