The Crushed Metal of Your Little Flying Machine
Tri-X Film - 12.8mm at f/4, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/1000 sec
I thought I'd share a few more photographs of the busker I watched play in Trafalgar Square a month or so ago. His look reminded me a lot of Morten Harket from A-ha. You can read my previous post entitled "I'm a Collector" on the circumstances surrounding my being in London that day. Those images where processed using Ilford film in Silver Efex Pro 1. I spent some time processing the 3 images in this blog post, again, with Ilford film. For some reason they just didn't look right. Even with a yellow filter applied (hoping to boost skin tone), the background was just far too light compared to the subject, and it completely threw the eye off into an area of the photos that was not meant to be the main focus of the composition.
There can be real value in trashing something that just doesn't work and beginning again with a fresh eye or approach. That's exactly what I did with these 3 images. I've never really taken to using Kodak Tri-X film in Silver Efex Pro. It's quite a popular film choice with Leica shooters and even those shooting with digital Leica's like the new Leica M9-P, using Silver Efex Pro. You don't really need a £5000 camera body coupled with a £2500 lens to shoot cool photos, although sadly, you won't get that unmistakable look, but you will get pretty close with a Leica D-Lux 4, which these were shot with. So these images were processed with Kodak Tri-X 400TX Pro film in the Silver Efex Pro preset that can be downloaded at the end of this post. There's a hint of Selenium in them too.
Tri-X Film - 9.3mm at f/4, ISO 80, Shutter speed 1/1000 sec
I don't recall the song this busker was playing when I took the photos, although I do know I'd never heard it before. Nevertheless, he could quite easily strum along to Bruce Springsteen's "You'll Be Coming Down". The track features Clarence Clemons on Sax, who sadly passed away recently due to complications from a stroke. The "Big Man" will be missed.
