Category Archives: Off Street

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The Ricoh GR Has a Sense of Humor

June 17, 2013 streetshooter 2 Comments

Ya know, sometimes I wish the GR had a better sense of humor. Don’t get it wrong now. If I screw up, it’s the first one around to laugh at me but if the camera screws up….it blames it on me. So I said to the GR…(Tanya from here out)..Tanya, lets go find some photos. Well, Tanya is always good with that beings that shes firmly attached to me by a strap.

So we’re walking along, actually I’m walking and she’s along for the ride. I saw this background and I liked the way it looked and in the near distance I saw this woman moving towards us. So I used my thumb, without taking my eyes off the woman and background and pressed to Snap Distance.

I was now ready but the timing had to be perfect….it always has to be perfect and you have to release at that exact second to get what your after……Come’on….that’s why we use Ricoh’s right…..as she approached I saw the photo in my head and then in reality…..CLICK!

We started walking again and came upon Market East. Tanya twitched my hand and I looked right. This girl was just standing there. I mean I stopped, looked for a minute easy and she never moved, not a muscle. By this time Tanya was shaking her IS off to get me to go to work. I walked over and made a photo and actually, it’s Tanya’s shot I was just there along for the ride.

It seemed like color day to me and Tanya knew I was upset that we didn’t make any b&w shots. Well, the commitment to the image is at exposure so yes, we do our conversions on the street at exposure before getting to the computer. This is a harden steadfast rule that I can break at will whenever. It’s the best kind of rule to have.

So I wanted some coffee and Tanya wanted to rest in the pocket. As we walked to the Reading Market, I saw a photo that I thought could be interesting…….CLICK!

Sometimes people look at Tanya and I get kinda jealous. This guy was looking right at her eye. I mean he stared right at her, never seeing me. I don’t know what he was thinking but this being Philly, we made our getaway quickly.

Tanya doesn’t like photos like this. I told her it’s because she’s not Human but just a camera. She smiled, like f/2.8 wide open and said to me….

Listen buster….you think I’m just a camera but when people look at my photos, they think I’m more HUMAN than you are…….

Don’t sweat friends, she’s a lady and has a ladies prerogative to think the way she wants…

See ya’s tomorrow if my Doc lets me out of the Hospital……..

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The Ricoh GR and I have found our way together.

June 16, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

I had to run this again as it went viral at Flickr. She’s had almost 4400 views so far and still climbing. I’m just going to post some photos and I’ll write a better word post tomorrow…..

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The Ricoh Gr is saved by Ray Sachs

June 14, 2013 streetshooter 10 Comments

That’s Ray up above with the Nikon Coolpix A. Nice camera, great guy. To the story…..

As you all know I’ve been struggling with the Gr because there are certain things it doesn’t do. I like the camera but we haven’t bonded to the point that I can say, it’s my camera. I talked with Ray on the phone…(it’s a real analog voice thing) a few times last week for hours and he explained to me how he adapted to the camera.

Here’s my scenario. I get many request to edit work, teach workshops on Street etc, help a shooter out, male and or female etc. It’s nice to be trusted with this. So I really don’t ask anyone about my work because I’m at the point of self realization. I’m not bragging, I’m just living in a very comfortable zone with my lifes work.

So Ray advised me to try Av instead of TAv. Well, I spent years using A Mode with different cameras and I was very famliar with it. I really liked the idea of TAv because it reminded me of M mode on the GRD4. On the GRD4, we can choose…shutter speed, aperture and I used Auto ISO. I trusted the camera to use an ISO up to a limit I could set.

This means I just work with the subject matter and the LIGHT. The camera works ISO to make things right. even if I screw it up.

Well, the Ricoh Pentax engineers decided to screw that up real nice. If your in TAv mode, you can choose the Aperture and the Shutter Speed. You even get to use EV BUT!….the camera sets ISO and you CAN’T set a high limit. Ok, ok…I know…I am the destroyer of PIXELS in a image. It’s my choice to do that, I don’t want the camera making choices I don’t know about and sending the ISO up to 25600.

Ray told me on the phone to try A mode. I sat back, did a shot of single malt that I have hidden from the Russian CZAR Tanya because she doesn’t want me to drink and tells me so as she sips some wine and tells me that I’m too old to drink alcohol!

Out of camera straight using the street settings I use with A mode. I went in and poped the shutter. Amazing how the GR adapts on the spur of the moment.

The Nikon Coolpix A helping Ray do a shot. I didn’t want to touch it and Ray asked me if I wanted to used a card and try it out. I knew it could be trouble.

So if I’m the guy some people call to help with images etc, what about me? I have friends that are all experts in different areas of photography and life. I had planned to shoot on Friday and the weather wouldn’t stop me. Even in bad rain, I could work underground.

Then Ray said he would like to meet on Friday. I jumped at the chance because Ray is #1 on my list of trusted people with the STREET knowledge of cameras.

So I knew that as a gentleman I would have to be using the suggestions Ray prompted me to use. I spent a few hours Thursday practicing the Av mode on the GR. I was ready. If Ray looked at my camera, sheeeeet…he’d see it set on Av mode. I had no intention of ever using that on the GR. Then all the sudden, after the 2nd shot of Single Malt on Thursday……something hit me in the head.

I figured it was the scotch but it was the camera. Eureka! I have seen the light. Now I just had to really test it on the street.

So the moral of the story, the moral of the song…is that one should never be where one does not belong….

I thank Ray from the bottom of my heart for guiding me to the light. My GR thanks him more than that because it was going to eBay this evening. It’s great to be a photographer and it’s great to have a few cameras that do what you want them to do with you. It’s a blessing to have friends. It’s a blessed gift to have friends that can shed light on something that is so important to you and grant you the freedom to continue your work.

So the GR ain’t going anywhere but out with me…Now if I could just get my nice Luigi’s strap to work on it…….hmmmmm

Have a great weekend my friends and make photos. Later………

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The Ricoh Gr is like Josey Wales…….

June 13, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

Well, rain, rain, rain. I can’t get to the street until tomorrow and I’ll be there regardless of weather. So I said to myself….Self…you gotta work this here camera and find yer images with it. Tis a good thing sometimes to be trapped in a familiar place with a not so unfamiliar camera.

I know that i try very hard never to get complacent with my surroundings. The garden is the exact place to feel refreshed. I was just testing the Snap Focus Distances at different apertures so that I have a similar understanding as I have with my GRD4.

Of course, there exist a different dof due to the sensor size in the cameras.

At any rate….I looked at the grill that doesn’t work anymore because my friend wanted to fix it even tho it wasn’t broken so now it is and it’s a fine plant holder kinda thing taking up space and reminding me of how pissed I get when I can’t grill a friggin steak that I can’t eat because Tanya says it’s bad for me……

So that fond memory of forgotten memories that I don’t want to remember prompted the above photo. I like the photo but can do without those memories.

The GR is a fine camera. There are a few things with it that I don’t like and I’m sure that Ricoh will not fix those few things in a firmware update. I have learned to accept all things that pass by and thru my life as if it were a part of me for a few seconds. There’s things living inside my body that I don’t like and I have to accept that so I can deal with the Ricoh GR.

Tomorrow I’ll be working the streets. Well, making photos, the young girls will be making money….Yeah…young boys too…this is Philly.

I’ll definitely make a post about the camera and images. I’ll try to be more serious but to be honest, I really won’t be able to do that. There are a few things I need to work out and tomorrow is the Day of Reckoning. Until then, no doubt I’ll be talking to our flowers. I get sad when they show up and grace our lives with their presence… and then die and preserve life for the next generation.

I only hope that next season Tanya and I will be here to greet them…..

….all things are created equal and a like….those veins give me life just like the stems give the plants and flowers life……

The GR will give my images life…………..There is strength in your words Josey Wales………

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The GR as a Street Camera and Not Just Any Street…..

June 12, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

So I get my cup of Kona ready and of course I have to hide the Bokum because Tanya thinks I don’t need caffeine because I’m getting older and that stuff is for Olivier cause he’s younger and can control the energy.

I walk out to the garden to sip the first cup of Kona and then sneak the second cup because I can. As I’m standing there I can see a mass of critters looking at me.

The rabbits are on the left with the squirrels. The Groundhog is center stage. He’s the biggest but the meekest also……then all the birds in the world converge on my garden and I then realized….this is a shared garden. There’s slugs crawling around, worms digging holes, ants that take care of the Peony’s and some other things…like eat leftovers and such…..

The said to me….Yo’ dude…like this is a shared space and we let you use it to garden stuff in it. We have rights and….I then cut the speech off and said….Look….if this is a shared garden, why are Tanya and I doing all the hard labor and paying for everything?

The groundhog was the spokesman and said…we let you eat everything we don’t want…we never criticize where you put things so…….

We want to negotiate a contract. We want the garden to be as important to you as the street is. THIS IS OUR STREET and you don’t pay enuff attention to it.

I tried to negotiate a clause to ban the mosquitoes but no go…..something about they keep me in check…..

Here’s a few from Garden Street…….

It takes all kinds of critters to make a world….even a street….

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The Ricoh GR as a Street Camera

June 11, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

The GR allows me to almost vanish or at least blend into the environment that I’m working in. That really means that I don’t have to argue with the camera and look stupid. This is also a device to use when you get caught making a photo….more about that later.

I am really finding the groove with the GR. It’s easy if you don’t resist the energy on the street and just work with the camera and not practice. I am having issues with the DOF but it’s not something I can’t adjust to and teach the camera because I am right and the Ricoh engineers have their head up that place where the sun don’t shine.

Here’s an example…….

I stood about 4 1’2′ from this planter. I shot at f/4.5, 5.6, 8.0, 11 The idea is that each stop will give a very close focus at the similar distance of 4 1/2′.

The difference in f/stops should show some sharpening at the close distance and more importantly….it should show more focus at the rear part of the DOF. I used 2 meters and kept that as the focus distance. Photos Straight OOC.

So we can see that Streetshooters Law of street physical optical anti-engineering is true in the practical sense.

I see that at f/11, we start to see that diffraction thing everyone talks about. F/8 seems to be ideal at 2 meters and so it should be. The reason I did this is because if I can leave the camera at 2 meters and just change the f/stops to get the dof desired or as many call it….Zone Focus…see, ya did learn something….so did I.

The GR is a great camera and I have adapted to it’s way of working and it has done the same with me.

I did find 1 serious problem and I went to my Shrink at the VA Hospital. I said Doc, I’m seeing colors doc. I’m seeing these colors in my photos and on the street and we….it ain’t pretty doc….

Doc asked me if I was doing that stuff from the 60’s……..hmmmmmmmm

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The Ricoh GR, an Elegant Street Camera …. Part 2

June 10, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

ISO 25600

I can’t even count that high let alone shoot that high. But it’s fun trying.

I’m pretty much at ease with the GR. I am having some thoughts about the Zone Focusing. I have used that method since my very first photos with my Dad’s cameras. The GR doesn’t get along to well with DOF Master computations. So I’ll try again tomorrow on the street. The HORROR…I have to go out and work again…tsk tsk, whatever shall I do…..?

The camera feels natural and my images are familiar to me with the exception of DOF. That in itself may lead to a new way of seeing the familiar.

I’ve been asked to write a review for the GR and I’d be glad to do so but only after I feel that the camera is mine. That means that we can work together without intrusion from each other.

The GR is a classy camera. Unfortunately this one ends up with a guy that ain’t gotz no class……

Tomorrow I’m on the street and will post some findings on the Zone Focus/Hyperfocal Distance issues….

Later….don

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The Ricoh GR …. an Elegant Street Camera

June 9, 2013 streetshooter 2 Comments

Elegance! The one word that describes the camera and the experience of using it. Elegance!

I was out yesterday for a few hours on a practice run with the Nex 6. I say practice because I am just trying to see how the camera and I work together. I had my NewsWear Fanny Pack on. This is an elegant way to wear and use a camera bag. I put a Billingham double insert in side with velcro and it’s the best camera bag out there. Anyway, the GR was in one of the pockets.

The Nex 6 is a nice camera. I’m using the Sigma 19 & 30 and I gotta say, this is a very good combination. So as I was getting the communication link established with the Nex, I kept feeling the camera bag bumping against my waist.

The GR is getting impatient. Beings the woman that she is, (Gr is named Tanya after my wife)….she’s very impatient and wants to get out of the bag and see the light because that stupid Nex thing of a camera has taken up the day and now it’s time to work with a real elegant camera so open the damn bag and LET ME OUT. ….NOW!

Well, it’s hard to resist and pointless also…so the Nex went to the bag and Tanya was set free. She was right.

I have the neck strap on because Ricoh makes great cameras but the stupid engineers use that asinine way to attach a strap to the camera so it’s impossible to switch from neck to wrist with any real elegance at all and your forced to use one or the other and every time you take the time to switch you realize in 5 minutes it was a wrong decision and that leaves you in Ricoh Strap Limbo…and that my friends ain’t a pretty picture.

So a couple of my friends on Flickr invented this place to make photos. It’s called…”Inter-Alios”. Now I’m not the smartest shooter on the street but dang it….I do know my way around Philly. I’ve done all that an Inter-Alios shooter is supposed to do and I haven’t found that place yet.

What I did find was myself with the very capable, very Elegant Ricoh GR.

Friends, I hope you find yourself in a similar situation with the GR. I know it’s hard to get and you may get impatient. Trust me, it’s worth the wait and it’s even worth the work but that’s another story and that I’ll tell soon.

It’s Sunday morning here in Philly. I’m told it’s the same in many places but I don’t believe that. I think everybody should have their own favorite place and time and the GR will help you live in it.

That place is the Here and Now…..

Go in Peace but go with a camera in your hand….don

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The Ricoh GR and the Nex 6 work well together.

June 6, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

I just love testing 2 cameras at the same time…..NOT! The GR is an amazing camera that fulfills all that one expects from it and more. The same is true true of the Nex6. Both are very intuitive and I was amazed at how easy the Nex works. I had a Nex 5 when it came out and Ray Sachs and I wrestled with them but figured out the way to make them work. No such issue with the Nex 6. Roger forget to send me the manual so I went solo and it all works in the end.

The GR needs no such thoughts…well, if you ever used a GRD#…you’ll feel right at home.

I never opened the manual……