Travel buddy

She reads maps to get us to the nearest station
She reads travel book for places to eat
while I'm running around, taking photos
... Think I'll be lost without you, buddy
:X

Analox

40th anniversary of OM system: Heidelberg, Germany

Useful tips for using film camera on travel:

1. Carry two bodies: one loaded with normal film (ISO 100-200), one with fast film (ISO 400-800). Or one with color, one with BnW film.
2. Use sunny-16-rule: "On a sunny day set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to [1/ISO film speed] for a subject in direct sunlight". Meaning for the pic below, I shot at 1/800s, f/16 for Fuji NPZ 800 film.
3. Use hyperfocus: meaning that if I use a 28mm lens at f/11, set the focus at 3m, then everything from 1.5m to infinity will be in focus.

No shutter lag, time to focus, metering, etc... With these rules, it is even faster and easier than shooting by Point-n-Shoot camera, I guess ;)

Anyway, previous post on the series "40th anniversary of the OM system":

• Paris, France
• Leverkusen, Germany
• Köln (Cologne), Germany
• Ladenburg, Germany
• Weinheim, Germany

Our next stop - Heidelberg, Germany

City by the River Neckar

Over the bridge

Beautiful view from the Philosophers' Walk

Analox

Just another note on Street Photography...

"The street is our stage"

Most of us start our photographic journey with bringing our new DLSR to the streets and taking pictures, of the buildings, of the people, or some tiny decorations of the stores. As we develop our skills, some go to landscape photography, or to macro/flowers, or portrait/wedding photography. Some stay still, on the streets.

To me, it is one of the types of photography that appears to be trivial, or even banal to the most audience. It appears to require less effort from the photographer (i.e., no assistants!). And everything just happens on the street, no special props like smoke machine, etc... It is also a type of photography that lacks of a clear (or universally accepted) definition. Should every photo taken in public places is street photograph? Or it has to be a photo of PEOPLE in public. If it's taken in a garden - No? How one is labelled as a street photographer? By carrying his camera every time he goes out. How's about those taken portrait of people on the street? It's hardly one correct definition. But there is one term to be agreed in common in street photography: Impulse- Reaction.

Every year I wrote something related to my thoughts on street photography (2009, 2010, 2011). Probably due to my confused and frustrated mind towards researching for the purpose of doing it. Like it. But what is it for? And the taste keeps changing too. Stuffs that I like two years ago might become boring now. BORING, that's a dangerous word. Getting bored, and less stimulated by the way you used to observe. A photo with blurry background and single interesting subject might not be enough. More complex layers of subjects or colors could be better. It's much more difficult to observe those. Then should we seek for a decisive moment of a formal and "surreal" picture with strong composition and geometry? Or a less "formal", more "real" to reflect our indecisive and instantaneous response. I start to appreciate more work in the HCSP (Hardcore Street Photography) group, some photos I really like, some of those I still don't know "why they are selected ?!". My interest in street photography keeps changing. But one thing I have to remind myself - "be honest with your reaction".

Anyway, I start to create my portfolio for what I think as street photography, in color and in grayscale. Here they are:

In grayscale

and In Color

Appreciated if you could share your thoughts on the topic - or on my present work.

Cheers

Analox