Imsticking’s Leica D-Lux 4 Blog

I post it here and it sticks.

Waking Up Chawton Wood

Waking Up Chawton Wood - f/4 at 5.1mm, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/800 sec

If you follow me on Twitter (and actually read my tweets), you'll more than likely know that I've been spending a fair amount of time in the pool lately. Something else I enjoy is mountain biking, although, the fewer the mountains the better, if you ask me. Not a mountain in sight in this photograph. It's no coincidence, believe me. I cycled out to Chawton Wood on Sunday and after about an hour in the saddle decided it was time to take a few quick shots (with my Leica D-Lux 4) of the wood (but more so, it was time for a rest). 

Back when I was in high school, a time when Bryan Adams broke the record for having the longest number one in history, positioned at the top of the charts for 16 weeks straight (kinda impressive), I remember being captivated by the photography in the CD booklet. Reading through the album liner notes all I could find was Bryan's name. I was shocked. A wildly successful musician, and now this. Great. Clearly Bryan hasn't heard about giving others a chance. In fairness, he's probably spent a lot of time shooting while leading his rock 'n roll nomad lifestyle. Something he used to enjoy. Anyway, this blog isn't about Bryan, I think he's successful enough as it is without me helping his cause. Next thing you know, he'll be expecting a free plug once a week. Not happening buddy, not on this blog. Plus, I've bought most of your albums, I think I'm entitled a little space of my own online, don't you. Cool. Wow that Bryan Adams guy really tries to take over eh? Anyway I hate celebrity. Not celebrities, just the whole idea of being famous. I realise it's a tradeoff few get the opportunity to make, but it's a shitty tradeoff if you ask me. 
 

Waking Up Chawton Wood - f/4 at 5.1mm, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/800 sec

So anyway, before I even rode out to the wood yesterday I thought I'd process whatever photographs I took, keeping in mind those images in the CD booklet. So that explains the first image. As for the color version above, I just happen to enjoy looking at it in color too. Not a surprise considering I used to bike out to the wood about 4 times a week several years ago. I forget the year, but it's easy to look up, because I as I recall it was a remarkably good summer, and well, how hard is that to spot in England's weather history?

If you're interested in the processing of the black and white, I used Kodak 400T MAX Pro film in Silver Efex Pro and modified the first Coffee tone preset (I think). Download the preset file at the end of the post for a closer look at the details in Silver Efex Pro.

Before I forget, check out Bryan's really awesome work on his photography site BryanAdamsPhotography.com
 

Click here to download:
ChawtonWoodK400TMAXPro.sep (3 KB)

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Filed under  //   Leica   monochrome   nature   photography  
July 26 2010
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Leica Notting Hill Film Location

RAW conversion with Silver Efex Pro - f/2 at 5.1mm, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/800 sec 

I went to Notting Hill two weekends ago to shoot a number of locations from the movie Notting Hill. The last time I'd been to Notting Hill must have been a good 10 years ago. Needless to say I don't remember which shops were where, so it very much felt like I was discovering it for the first time. 

Leica D-Lux 4 JPEG - f/2 at 5.1mm, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/800 sec

 
I've always been just slightly jealous of the quality of the black and white JPEGs the Leica D-Lux 4 produces along with the RAW files that I save with every shot. I thought that for once, I would try to replicate the black and white JPEG's by processing the RAW files with Capture One 5 PRO and Silver Efex Pro. The first image of each pair is my version processed from the RAW file, and the second, the actual JPEG the Leica D-Lux 4 produced. You'll see that they are in fact different. My version's are a little bit more contrasty and I prefer the darks a little darker.
 
The location in this first photograph is from one of the earliest scenes in the movie where William Thacker (Hugh Grant) accidentally bumps into Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) with is orange juice on the corner of the sidewalk.  And as you can see that boarded up corner shop is now a Coffee Republic. 
 
The second photograph is of the rather famous front door to William's flat. The door is no longer blue. It's actually black, and it made my day when, while looking for decent angles for a good shot, the door opened and out came some guy on the phone! I felt like the two of us were re in-acting the paparazzi scene that occurred the morning after. One big difference. I would never ever become a pap. It think it's despicable stalking people as they try to live their personal lives. I actually had to hold my breath as this guy crossed the street and walked directly towards me. I thought, "Oh God". He got about 2 meters from me, turn towards the flat, bobbed his head from side to side, and smiled at me as he continued on his way. Phew! 
 

RAW conversion with Silver Efex Pro - f/4 at 9.3mm, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/400 sec 

 

Leica D-Lux 4 JPEG - f/4 at 9.3mm, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/400 sec

 

I've included the Silver Efex Pro presets below for both of the processed RAW versions I created. If you're curious, I've processed them with Ilford PAN F Plus 50 film.  

If you'd like to go on a DIY tour of the movie's film locations, the resource I used and the best I found while doing some hunting on the web was on the site movie-locations.com. I did take photographs of four other locations in and around Notting Hill and my post those soon too. The only reason I hesitate is because they aren't the most remarkable subjects to photograph, hence not the most remarkable photographs. I know, these aren't either.
 
I am still using Exif Everywhere for Mac. It lives in my Dock and I just drag and drop an image onto it to get the EXIF info. It's a brilliant little application. 
 

Click here to download:
NottingHillRepBWF+50.sep (3 KB)

Click here to download:
ThackerPANF+50BW.sep (3 KB)

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Filed under  //   Film   Leica   London   monochrome   Notting Hill   photography  
July 24 2010
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Gumball Raccoon and the Kodachrome Tribute

Gumball Raccoon Kodachrome - 12.8mm at f/2.8, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/2000 sec

 
The Associated Press carried a story last week about Kodachrome film. A film that has been produced by Eastman Kodak since 1935. That's a 74 year run up until roughly June 22nd 2009 when Kodak announced that they would stop producing the film. Kodachrome became first commercially successful color film in the world. It's a real shame that sales had declined to the point where producing it became a liability for the company.  
 
Back to the original story and that is one of photojournalist Steve McCurry, who I greatly regret not seeing talk at the National Portrait Gallery about a month ago. Steve was a photojournalist for National Geographic for 30 years, and has been shooting with Kodachrome film for 35 years. What a 'job'! And if you're wondering exactly how many frames with Kodachrome he's shot, you'll probably be shocked to know he has more than 800,000 images in his lab. WOW. A big chunk of one million images. No surprise then that Steve was the man given the last few rolls of Kodachrome film, and last week Monday he developed 36 slides in Parsons, Kansas. Why Parsons, Kansas? Well Dwayne's Photo Service in Parsons is the last place on earth you could have your Kodachrome film developed. If you had any, that was. They will stop developing Kodachrome film on the 10th December 2010, so you better get in fast. 
 
So what's on that last roll of film, and what's going to happen to the prints? Well National Geographic decided to (what else but) document the journey of that last roll right down to it being processed. Steve began shooting with it in New York, and then travelled to India and then back to New York shooting iconic filmmaking personalities along the way. This journey with the film took Steve 2 months  The last three frames, he shot in Parsons. I hope the very last one was in Dwayne's Photo Service.
 
If National Geographic do indeed publish the story of the last roll of Kodachrome, it'll more than likely be a spread in a Spring 2011 issue, but will only consist of 4 - 6 images off the roll. If you want to see the entire roll, you'll have to visit the George Eastman House, the International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester New York, where Kodak are based.
 
Kodak have decided to celebrate the films history with an online gallery of iconic images shot with the film. If you'd like to see them, head over to Kodak's Kodachrome Tribute. If you are a indeed a Kodachrome shooter, you are going to have to look towards other Kodak color films such as KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME E100G or EKTAR 100. 
 
Gumball Raccoon Tri-X - 12.8mm at f/2.8, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/2000 sec

I took this shot last weekend Saturday after quite a long and hot shoot in Notting Hill, London, where I'd decided to go and shoot as many of the "Notting Hill" movie's film locations as I could. The top image has been 'shopped with a Kodachrome film type in Photo Tools Pro. It's also been cross processed to bring out the blues and greens. The image above was processed from the top effected image and I used Silver Efex Pro to apply a Kodak Tri-X film and a very light blue toner thereafter. You can download the SFX preset at the end of this blog post.
 
Why did he take this photo?
 
Blogging inspiration comes from a video recording of a U2 gig I was at in Jo'burg, South Africa in 1997, the song "Gone ♫".
 

Click here to download:
Gumball Tri-X Bluetone.sep (3 KB)

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Filed under  //   kodachrome   Leica   London   monochrome   photography   street  
July 18 2010
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OpenCamp and the US Army Golden Knights

Some of you may have noticed the monochrome OpenCa.mp badge that went up in the righthand side bar of this blog a month or so ago. OpenCa.mp is a spin off of the popular WordCamp conference, for users of the popular WordPress blogging platform, that has been spreading around the world over the last few years. There's even a WordCamp here in the UK starting tomorrow up in Manchester! Where OpenCa.mp distinguishes itself from WordCamp is that it's more than just a conference for WordPress platform users. It's conference for Drupel, Joomla and .NET users too! OpenCa.mp is going to have a ton of great speakers on more media centric topics like audio podcasting, video podcasting and blogging for photographers. OpenCa.mp is going to be held in Dallas Texas from August 28th through Augst 30th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel which is in the greater Dallas Fort Worth area. You can find more information about OpenCa.mp at the official website www.OpenCa.mp or register right now. You can also follow OpenCa.mp on twitter at @ocdfw.

 
A big announcement yesterday was the appearance, and I assume the eventual dissapearance, of the US Army's "Golden Knights" Parachute Team. Honestly, I'd never heard of them until yesterday, but then I'm a Brit so it's forgiveble I assume. The Golden Knights are going to kick off OpenCa.mp by jumping out of an airplane at 13,500 feet. For a lucky few attendees and speakers of OpenCa.mp they'll get to experience this first hand by being strapped, securely let's hope (I jest! For their creed includes the line "safety is my way of life", so clearly they are top notch. Still looking for the small print about jump at your own risk lucky participant. Usually jumpers aren't so concerned about their own safety and their idea of a risk is usually something like landing on anything that will inevitably break their fall and cushion the impact. It's all very complicated. I met somebody once, who actually did end up landing on a discarded couch in an alley way. He was not very happy about it. Not very happy about a lot of things I think, but asal, I digress), to one of the Golden Knight's tandem team jumpers. I'd always associated the word jumper with a very thin ledge on a very tall building. Silly me. 
 
If you want to find out more about the US Army Golden Knights you can check them out on their newly launched official website ArmyGK.com. It turns out that some of the Golden Knights had already signed up to attend OpenCa.mp and I'm sure their tickets were withheld until they agreed to bring the tandem team along and perform some firework enabled display of some sort that will leave camera man Dave running for cover upon landing. It would be awesome to get to jump out of a plane with them, my Leica D-Lux 4 compact digital camera super glued, gaffer taped and padlocked to the front of my jumpsuit. It would be interesting to see how the camera performed under those conditions. I wonder if it's ever been done? Hrmm...
 
Some of those already down to jump with the tandem team are Cali Lewis and Trey Ratcliff. Cali will have a video camera on her helmet to record the jump. 
 
More about the US Army Golden Knights.
 
They are the US Army's official aerial demonstration team, forming in Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1959. So they've got lots of experience! It was only 2 years later that they took on the nickname "The Golden Knights". The Knights have a number of different teams, the tandem team is just one of 4 separate teams. They have a Black, Gold and Competition team also. They travel the United States performing demonstrations at special events like airshows and also sporting events like baseball and major league football. The tandem team make it possible for people with no parachuting training to skydive and they've jumped with Chuck Norris, The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Tiger Woods and George H.W. Bush. 
The Competition team specialize in freefall formation, style and accuracy and canopy piloting. I'm not 100% sure what canopy piloting is, but it sounds impressive. I wonder if they get to stack up on each other's canopies? I think that's very cool.

The Black Team is a team of 10. I know, I know, there are only 9 team members in the photo above. I guess someone had to take the photo. He's obviously the one with the best camera. Interestingly their motto is "Blue Skies, Black Death". Again, nothing to do with jumping to their early demise. They take their name from World War II where filling the skies with American paratroopers who planned to do a lot of killing of German troops upon landing. 
Fancy becoming a Golden Knight? Well you'd need to be a US Army soldier, and love it. Skydiving and travelling are part of the requirements, not hard to imagine why! You'd also need a clean millitary and civilian record. And then there's the 100 free-fall jumps. If you want to find out more about joining or are just interested to know what it takes to be selected as a Golden Knight, check out the details on the www.armygoldenknights.com website.

 
Further Info
They also have some downloads available on their website. Things like their Support Manual, an Assessment & Selection packet and the very useful request form for anyone who'd like them to perform at an event. I don't think they do birthday's and weddings however, so you may wanna keep that in mind.
 
Follow them online!
Facebook   Twitter   flickr   YouTube

 

 

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Filed under  //   awesome   conference   Dallas   Golden Knights   OpenCamp  
July 16 2010
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Incident At The Window

Incident At The Window - 5.1mm at f/2.2, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/250 sec

 
This first photograph was shot on the same day I took a series of shop window photographs and blogged about earlier in a post titled "In a West End Town". The title of this blog post is taken from the title of the story pasted at the bottom of the door. I have a close up of it I may process and publish for you to read. 
 
I love shooting with a really low ISO. You can get some really great results with the Leica D-Lux 4. You have to keep the shutter open a bit longer, but that only allows the sensor to drink up all that wonderful light, without generating (any/much) noise. Something else I keep getting consistently good results with is adding a lot of structure to Ilford film in Silver Efex Pro. I like the tones that film generates. The tonal range seems a bit narrower than with something like Kodak Tri-X. I could be wrong of course. I'm just going by what I see with my eyes, at this stage. 
 
That pretty much sums up how I processed this photograph above. I've applied a very dark Sepia tone to it. Preset 18 with the saturation backed off down to around 35. Check out the preset file at the end of this post for the details. One thing I didn't apply or experiment with were color filters. 
 

The Darkest Line - 5.1mm at f/2, ISO 400, Shutter speed 1/200sec

 I thought I'd publish the black and white version of The District Line image I posted a few days ago. I ran this through Silver Efex Pro and spent most of my time concentrating on the light in the shadows. I thought it would be better to bring out some of the sides of the train hoping it would give more depth to the image. The area I'm attracted to most in this photograph is the foreground with the two young women waiting for the train to pull into the station. The way the light touches the crumpled jeans looks really cool to me.

 
I've kept the post processing really simple for this photograph. It's Kodak Tri-X film and no toning of any sort. Help yourself to the Silver Efex Pro preset file below.
 

Click here to download:
IncedentfordXP2Super400Sepia.sep (3 KB)
 

Click here to download:
Tri-X Train.sep (3 KB)

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Filed under  //   Leica   London   monochrome   photography   street   transport  
July 8 2010
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Take Me To The Moon

Take Me To The Moon - 5.1mm at f/2, ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/40 sec

 
[NOTE: If you're simply looking for my write up on these photographs, scroll down to below the last photograph, the rest is a rant]
 
It's been a while since I posted new photographs: almost a week I think. Things have gotten busy for me lately with a personal trainer making sure I actually train and prepare food like a normal person. This has been really good for me. It also requires a lot of sleep. I've been using Posterous as my blogging platform for six months now and when I started this blog, it was simply to see if I had it in me to blog. Am I a blogger? That's the question I was looking to answer. I started out blogging about Apple. Predictable, I know. But photography soon took over as I thought it would be interesting to document my experiences with my new Leica D-Lux 4 compact digital camera. It was never about getting out and photographing enough to give myself an excuse to run out and buy a big DSLR. When I discovered how close the D-Lux 4's manual controls were to those on offer from a big Canon or Nikon body, I thought it would be cool to do the exact opposite of what most people do who get hooked on photography. Don't run out and buy a big body that shoots 7 frames a second and kit it out with a range of lens, some of which you could use to take great photos of the moon's surface, see how far I can push forward with what I have. If I have Photographer stamped on my heart, it doesn't really matter what's in my hands. That's my philosophy.    
 
 

Surfacing  - 5.1mm at f/2, ISO 400, Shutter speed 1/25 sec

 
These last few weeks I've been thinking more and more about why I take photographs, and why I'm driven to blog about them. A Counselling Psychologist once told me, "Everything we do, we do for a reason". Even if the reason isn't immediately obvious to us, and falls towards the bottom of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, there is still a reason. I suppose I've been trying to discover this reason. Lately I've been feeling like I've outgrown my D-Lux 4. It does a great job, but it's still quite limited when compared to a Leica M9 rangefinder or Canon 5D Mk II. You can only really go above an ISO of 400 if you want that grainy look, and shooting in low light and expecting a nice sharp image, isn't going to happen. I suppose I am getting frustrated when I look at some of the great photographs others are taking with more versatile gear, and thinking "I could take that!". 
 
 

Tunnel of Love - 5.1mm at f/2, ISO 400, Shutter speed 1/50 sec

 
Something else that's cut into the amount of time I've spent on photography lately, and this is ironic, is looking more closely at moving this blog over to the WordPress platform. A new design, a new name, properly planned for expansion in the future with support for multiple blogs, a wiki, a community and other ideas still floating about. Then there's the fact that actually writing code in my spare time, is probably the absolute last thing I want to do with what little time I have to myself. My strong interest in composition in photography (it's far stronger than any other aspect of photography, the gear, the history, the endless amount of tweets on Twitter who's links I could only hope to ever consume all of) has taken me into areas of design that could be applied to other 'things' that are designed. For example, I can apply what I've learnt about gestalt principles of perception used in photographic composition to design my new blog. I find that prospect cool, but I don't find the actual act of opening hypertext files even remotely interesting. Just how will this new blog ever get created then? Coding it is so unappealing, I may actually pay someone to do it. But probably not, because that would cut into my gear acquisition. How many photographers do you know that have bought Capture One 5 PRO to use with a compact digital, for god's sake? 
 
I think more photographers should dedicate more time, and effort to creating content online. Even if it amounts to nothing more than a journal of your activities as a photographer. If you already have an internet connection, you can do it for free. Loads of blogging services out there. It's far more about creating and thinking and seeing where it takes you, than anything else. If you're happy where you are, you may gain nothing from the experience.
 
 

The District Line - 5.1mm at f/2, ISO 400, Shutter speed 1/200 sec 

 
OK time to actually talk about the photographs I've published today. I like the first one the most. It's new, and I tell myself it has a hint of the Fibonacci sequence about it, even if it's not strictly a spiral. I like to try and apply the numerical sequence to the distances on the edges of the frame where lines in the composition intersect them. I also like the colors, and how the composition is peppered with red. The curved roof, the overhead lighting, the perception of depth, all contribute to it's appeal to me. 
 
This second photograph is the original color image I took some months back and blogged about in the post titled Surfacing (a post with nothing but black and white JPEG's I'd taken during a day on the south bank of the Thames). I like it in color too. I processed this a few weeks ago, but I remember putting it through a Kodachrome process, to get that awesome red. I think I've been a little color starved lately. I can't remember the last time I actually cross-processed and image. The third photograph has been cross-processed. I think you can actually still see some noise in the white of the advertising boards. The final image is a bit of a surprise include for me, because I've had a cool black and white version of it sitting on my laptop for weeks. Unpublished, and still it sits there. 

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Filed under  //   Leica   London   photography   transport   underground  
July 6 2010
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The "Leica for AICR" Initiative Starts Today!

 

As my life marches on, seemingly blissfully unaware of my feelings for it's pace (I'm old enough to be disgruntled), in recent years I've become somewhat shocked at the number of friends and family struck down by cancer. I won't lie, it was actually starting to alarm me early last year. It just seemed like so many people I knew were being diagnosed with cancer, or dying from it. It almost hit home hard a few years ago, but turned out to be a something non life-threatening, thankfully. I'm leaving "hit home" open to ambiguity (because this is not Facebook). 

 
While I'm sure most of you have donated to a worthy medical cause in the past, I've decided to help promote Leica Camera's latest charity drive in support of the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR), which was launched publicly today. They have a number of initiatives on the go, that give you an opportunity to contribute and show your support. 
 
Firstly, one that will cost you nothing, is to start following them on Twitter. If you don't have a Twitter account, get one. Then simply follow @Leica_Camera. It's. one. click. Leica are donating €0.50 for every new follower of @Leica_Camera. When they reach 10,000 followers on Friday July 9th, they'll donate an additional €1,000 to AICR! If you already follow @Leica_Camera on Twitter, like me, simply tweet the following to help spread the word. 

“Help AICR by following @Leica_Camera! Every follower = €.50 donation. 10K followers in 1 week = extra €1,000 donation! #Leica4AICR”.

Next, if getting someone else to donate €0.50 leaves you feeling a little empty inside, then why not buy a copy of "The Leica User Forum Charity Book 2010" which features 143 photographs taken by 101 different Leica photographers, members of the International Leica User Forum. Proceeds from you buying the book go to the UK-based AICR. So far they've raised €9,000 from sales of the book alone. Even if you don't know anyone affected by cancer, donating could contribute to a cure that may one day save your own life. We all have bills to pay, and I seldom give out money to people collecting on street corners because it's just a faff, but I try to donate every other month to one cause or another, even if it's just £20. I think it's a good habit to get into. 

If you're a photographer, or hey, even if you're not, join the Leica Facebook Group, and show your support by entering their Facebook photo contest, by dedicating a photo to the "Leica for AICR" initiative on Leica's Wall on Facebook for a chance to get your photograph featured as the Leica profile picture on Facebook! Each week during July there'll be a different theme for competition entries to try and win at. So there's at least one week for everyone! 

Here's how to enter:

1. Place the ‘Leica for AICR’ badge below onto a photo to match the week’s theme. I'm sure you saw the example at the top of this post.

2. Upload the photo with the badge to the Leica’s Wall on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LeicaCamera).

3. Write the theme and ‘Leica for AICR’ as the text to accompany the picture on the Wall post. For example, ‘People submission for Leica for AICR’.

(To place the ‘Leica for AICR’ badge on a photo, copy the badge below. Open the photograph you’d like to submit in a photo editing program like Photoshop, Preview or Paint. Paste the badge somewhere on the photo. Save the image to your desktop and then upload it to Leica’s Wall on Facebook.)

Themes: Upload your themed picture during these dates:

People Wednesday, June 30- Sunday, July 4
Nature and Wildlife Monday, July 5 – Sunday, July 11
Landscape Monday, July 12 – Sunday, July 18
Architecture Monday, July 19 – Sunday, July 25
Sport and Leisure Monday, July 26 – Saturday, July 31

Fans can enter as many photos as they’d like. The deadline to enter each week is on Sunday at midnight PT. Winning photographs featured on Leica’s profile picture on Facebook will be selected by Leica employees. The winners will be announced on the Monday following that’s week’s submission deadline. 

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Filed under  //   cancer   charity   competition   Leica   photography  
June 30 2010
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Where The Bright Lights and The Big City Meet

Zumm Zumm - 5.1mm at f/2, ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/60 sec

Ever since returning from a brief trip to New York in the spring of  2000, I've always likened London to a massive, sprawled out village rather than a big city.  I still think of it this way today. I'm not sure these photographs do a good job of capturing this village feel, but I suppose I could do a lot worse, such as venturing into The City. Regardless, these shots were captured the weekend before last in Soho and Piccadilly Circus around 6pm. 

Visually, in the Western world at least, we are trained, through reading, to look at a scene from left to right. In the photograph above, the direction in which the cyclist on the left is looking further persuades us to move our eyes to the right, where we discover yet another rickshaw and a cyclist who is looking directly at us. A person looking directly at the camera, is the strongest attachment that can form between viewer and subject. I'm not sure attachment is the right word, but I'm sure you get the gist. 

This photograph of the rickshaws was shot from the hip. No looking at the electronic viewfinder, no composing, just feel it and shoot. What a rush. 

The Big Swing - 21.8mm at f/2, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/400sec

The first 2 photographs have been processed with Ilford film in Silver Efex Pro and the bottom photograph was processed with Kodak Tri-X film. I've applied a copper tone to all 3 photographs, a toner I don't use very often, but quite like the way these turned out using Preset 10. Check out the Silver Efex Pro preset at the end of this post. I like the tonal gradation in the seat in this photograph below. It makes the image, if you ask me. Maybe it's the fact that I shot them all with a Leica D-Lux 4.

Drive By - 12.1mm at f/2, ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/400 sec

Blogging inspiration courtesy of U2 - Desire ♫

 

Click here to download:
Breakford XP2S400 Copper.sep (4 KB)

Click here to download:
RickshawByTriX400TXProCopper.sep (4 KB)

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Filed under  //   Leica   London   monochrome   photography  
June 28 2010
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No Purchase

Calling Home - 5.1mm at f/2, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/320 sec

 
I had to dash to the Apple Store after work today. No purchase this time, simply returning something I didn't need. Was it a 30" Cinema Display? Hardly! You could never have too many of those. Apple have a 14 day return policy on all item purchased, just as long as you don't actually unwrap those items. I quite like the new Mac Mini that was released a few weeks back. A great little machine to sit under the 50" HD TV. I splashed out on a £14 HDMI cable this week (apart from the new iPhone 4), and I think a Mac Mini sitting under the TV with all my music and HD movies would be pretty cool. Then I could finally make good use of the EyeTV Hybrid I've had for about a year and not been able to setup permanently, and use my old iPhone 3G as a universal remote.
 
Presented in the order in which they were shot (with my Leica D-Lux 4), around Oxford Circus there's not a huge amount to say about them. So I'll keep this short because I'm off to Wimbledon tomorrow morning, and if I don't wimp out, I'll be setting my alarm for 4am.
 

 Repairing London - 12.8mm at f/2.8, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/40 sec

 

Would you like it in a bag? - 11.1mm at f/2.8, ISO 400, Shutter speed 1/60 sec 

 

Miles Away - 5.1mm at f/2, ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/30 sec 

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Filed under  //   Leica   London   monochrome   photography   street  
June 25 2010
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Crystal's Room

Crystal's Room - 5.1mm at f/2, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/250s

 

I found myself walking through Leicester Square early on Saturday evening. It wasn't exactly by choice, especially as it was really busy. Somehow I managed to catch a lull in the throng, so my own photography is calling me a liar, but that's OK. There was a free concert, a West End Live gig, on in the actual square which is to the left of this photograph. The fact that it was free might give you a clue as to my impressions of the talent. Before all of this I went to the Saatchi Gallery, again not exactly my first choice. I'd gone down to Sloane Square because I know there are a few other galleries on Kings Road that regularly exhibit really great photographer's work. Turned out they were quite dull from their description in the latest BLACK+WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY magazine, so I think next weekend may just be a double-header: Wimbledon on Saturday and a most excellent (honestly I'm not a fan of Bill and Ted) photography exhibit on Sunday.
 
A world away from the free live music was this young woman. Clearly setting her own agenda and while I'm not sure anyone can really claim to have a style that is uniquely their's in 2010, I'm still impressed by her lack of attention to what's in the fashion magazines that a lot of women seem to follow as if they simply couldn't dress themselves without them. That still fascinates me. That part of the human psyche that drives people to want to conform and feel accepted by wearing what everyone else has allowed themselves to be told to wear by fashion "experts". 
 
Anyway, enough of that rant. I used to have my hair long and buzzed on a number 2 around the sides and back, but not quite this extreme.  
 
I really do love this split tone I've applied to this photograph using Silver Efex Pro. It's at the bottom of this post, as usual for those who want to play around with Kodak FP4 Plus 125 film, or the split toner preset 3 that you see applied to this image. Just bear in mind that I've put it through a green filter, so you may want to neutralise that before you get started. Shot with my D-Lux 4, what else? For now anyway! 
 

Click here to download:
CrystalK-FP4+125GreenSplit.sep (3 KB)

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Filed under  //   Leica   London   monochrome   photography   street  
June 21 2010
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