Tag: nokton

Life Follows Function

Posted on by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

Here’s a mishmash of images of Singapore, significant to myself.

IMG_20141208_0001 640

Though the underlying theme here is about how we try to snatch something beautiful out of what is essentially functional.

IMG_20141208_0002 640

Form follows function in much of Singapore.

IMG_20141208_0004 640

Life, too, follows function: poetry is a luxury we cannot afford.

IMG_20141208_0005 640

There is one way only. The rest is barred.

IMG_20141208_0006 640

If you live with it long enough, it becomes beautiful.

IMG_20141208_0010 640

Draw the curtains.

IMG_20141208_0011 640

Poetry delayed is poetry denied.

IMG_20141208_0024 640

We are at the zoo.

IMG_20141208_0032 640

The helpful tram driver and a passenger.

IMG_20141208_0033 640

After the animal show – poetry is found after the event.

IMG_20141208_0026 640

Reflections in the MRT.

IMG_20141208_0028 640

The tree is obedient, bent in the wind.

IMG_20141208_0029 640

Perhaps something is poetry after all…

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Camera: Leica M6

Lens: Voigtlander 35mm f 1.4 Nokton SC

Film: Ilford XP2

 

 

Occupy Central: A Monochrome Meditation

Posted on by eddietay in Monochrome

All images were taken with one camera, one lens, on the same roll of film and on the same day.

 

This is a visual meditation on Occupy Central.

Once upon a time, Occupy Central was an idea. It was an event that was yet to come.

It then became an event.

It will be an event that is always already present, even if it ends today or at some point in the future.

 

At Admiralty.

IMG_20141121_0001 640

IMG_20141121_0002 640

IMG_20141121_0004 640

IMG_20141121_0005 640

IMG_20141121_0006 640

IMG_20141121_0010 640

IMG_20141121_0011 640

IMG_20141121_0012 640

IMG_20141121_0014 640

IMG_20141121_0018 640

IMG_20141121_0019 640

IMG_20141121_0020 640

IMG_20141121_0021 640

IMG_20141121_0022 640

 

At Mong Kok.

IMG_20141121_0023 640

IMG_20141121_0024 640

IMG_20141121_0025 640

IMG_20141121_0026 640

IMG_20141121_0028 640

IMG_20141121_0033 640

IMG_20141121_0034 640

IMG_20141121_0035 640

IMG_20141121_0036 640

IMG_20141121_0037 640

IMG_20141121_0038 640

 

At Causeway Bay.

IMG_20141121_0015 640

IMG_20141121_0029 640

IMG_20141121_0030 640

IMG_20141121_0031 640

IMG_20141121_0032 640

 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Camera: Leica M6

Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f 1.4 SC

Film: Ilford XP2 400

 

 

 

Street Photography with my Leica M6

Posted on by eddietay in Monochrome

Street photography is to some extent about the art of making do.

I tend to think that street photographers are in the same category as street musicians, street performers and street hawkers.

There is technique but it’s the kind of technique shaped by being immersed in a specific environment, rather than one accrued by looking at charts, manuals, and pixels on computer screens.

I am in many ways reassured by David Gibson’s comments in his book The Street Photographer’s Manual, in which he says: “My technique is to get technique out of the way so that I can take pictures” (pg. 36).

He talks about respected street photographers who use the P mode (and cracked a photographer’s joke about “P” being the professional mode).

IMG_20140903_0001 640

This is the view from my office window – what I like about it is the contrast between nature (the hill) and the man-made (the air-conditioning whatchamacallit box-thing sticking out).

IMG_20140903_0004 640

I pay attention to composition, once I get the thing with the aperture/shutter speed and focus out of the way.

IMG_20140903_0005 640

So, buying a new lens for my Leica M6 provokes a crucial question about technique: what could a 35mm lens do that my 50mm Summicron couldn’t?

IMG_20140903_0006 640

If you have a 50mm lens, take 2 steps back and you have a 35mm lens… that’s street wisdom.

But a 50mm lens gives me that reach, as when I’m trying to capture part of a building, as in above.

IMG_20140903_0011 640

Or when I’m taking a picture like the one above. (Could you guess where I was?)

All photos above are taken with my 50mm Summicron Type II lens.

The rest below are with my newly acquired used Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 Nokton Classic SC, which I think of as a budget (relatively speaking in Leica land) “old-school” lens for Leica film shooters.

All images from this post are from the same roll of film: Fuji Neopan 400CN.

IMG_20140903_0014 640

Was it money well spent?

Well … I couldn’t have taken the above shot otherwise, unless I take 2 steps back, which would have placed me in the path of traffic at Nathan Road at Tsim Sha Tsui during rush hour.

IMG_20140903_0015 640

I would have captured a smaller portion of the building above.

IMG_20140903_0016 640

Ditto.

IMG_20140903_0030 640

Ditto.

IMG_20140903_0019 640

Ditto at Shamshuipo.

There’s a hard-edged feel to the above that I like.

IMG_20140903_0021 640

I was trying to capture both people and buildings. The light wasn’t so good that day.

IMG_20140903_0037 640

This was on another day, with better light.

IMG_20140903_0035 640

Hmm… this brings me back to 1960s newsprint…

IMG_20140903_0031 640

Somehow the composition looks complete.

IMG_20140903_0032 640

The f 1.4 aperture means I could do some indoors street photography…

IMG_20140903_0034 640

Can you guess how the above was done?

Hint: it’s not double-exposure, and I don’t use Photoshop.

So anyway, I hope I’ve convinced you (and myself) why that 35mm Voigtlander lens was necessary.

Now that I have 2 lenses, what’s missing of course is another Leica body.

Perhaps a Leica M4 body might be a good backup/variant for the M6… which means I could do a double Leica combo on the streets…

Thanks for reading, and check out my Saatchi Art page!