A Thinking Street Photography Site
What is the next step on the journey?
Where should one go?
What is your work building up to?
Is it all in vain?
Am I willing to own my mess and work with it?
Perhaps there’s a need to sit down in the midst of things and regroup.
Illumination can only emerge where there is darkness.
You’ll find your own way.
Look for the good stuff.
And wait until it all becomes meaningful.
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Kodak BW400CN
I was at Central with about an hour to kill before a lunch meeting.
Coincidentally, of course, I had my Canon 600D with a 40mm / f 2.8 STM lens.
I really like the above, with its three partitions.
I thought I’d try my hand at street photography from a distance.
Street photography with an urban landscape component.
I walked up and down the Central Escalators for a bit.
I feel I have more time to think about the background.
The background is the foreground.
Another urban landscape-ish skyline shot.
Lots of people are hard at work in the sun.
That’s a really big camera.
Working hard.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Canon 600D
Lens: Canon 40mm F 2.8 STM
I’ve been thinking a bit about the tools we use.
A street camera is a machine for seeing.
Frankly, any camera will do. But I prefer film cameras.
For me, it’s a Leica M6 most of the time, because I need the meter once in a while.
At other times, it’s a Contax TVS II, a Canon 600D (yes, a digital camera) with legacy lenses, or an Olympus XA 2, just to switch around a bit, to refresh my vision.
I’m not adverse to using digital. But film cameras do last a long time.
Like my (2001 model) Toyota Corolla, which in Hong Kong, seems to be a mechanic’s favourite car.
It’s forgettable, reliable and replacement parts are easy to find.
I’ve been reading about self-drive cars and their amazing electronics.
But I wonder how long the electronics would last.
Do we have to replace them the way we replace our tablets/smartphones/laptops?
I’m suspicious of planned (compelled) obsolescence.
Would a digital camera last more than 3-5 years?
That’s the question I ask whenever I experience that rush of gear envy.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Some days, it seems like things just won’t come together.
You’re feeling blocked.
The framing is off.
You look up.
You look back at people.
You look up again.
You try again.
What else can one do, but try to fail better.
And then you get the feeling that things are coming together finally.
And you find something that makes sense, finally.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
So basically, I have 2 idiot-proof approaches.
Approach 1, step 1: Set the camera to f/16 and 1/125s on a bright (or even slightly overcast) day, depending on your film ISO.
Approach 1, step 2: adjust my 35mm lens such that the DOF scale allows for a distance of between 1.2m to infinity to be in focus.
Approach 1, step 3: walk around and allow serendipity to do its work.
Approach 2, step 1: focus on a brick wall.
Approach 2, step 2: fumble with camera.
Approach 2, step 3: allow serendipity to do its work.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
All that labour.
Those goods on display.
Yummy stuff.
Sometimes we don’t see all the work that goes into work.
We negotiate a life.
And a city emerges.
It’s bigger than us.
The labour of thinking.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Today, we look at the act of pushing.
All that work, all day, must mean something.
This is us.
We sort things out.
We go from place to place.
From place to place it must mean something.
The pull of desire.
All that pushing…
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Inspiration – that sudden realization.
Some find it in trees.
Others find it in rocks.
Many find it in the interaction between the built and natural environment.
There’s a biblical angle to inspiration, akin to revelation.
What is the street asking of me these days?
What is my street?
Is it an impersonal grid?
Is there a personality emerging?
Where is the street these days?
These are all reflections of our selves.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
We’re all looking for something.
There’s a gap in our lives.
If only that gap could be filled, we’ll be happy.
We all want something.
Anything.
A friend.
A thing.
To whet an appetite.
After that, the world would make more sense.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Stand at a corner and look confused.
Fumble with my camera long enough and someone will walk past.
I’ll look a bit lost and confused and frown at my camera.
I wasn’t holding the camera to my eye.
Another favourite activity: aim at the window.
And let people get in my way.
I’ve come to appreciate photographs that look like they were taken accidentally.
Street photography is an art that requires artlessness.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
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