Category Archives: Black & White

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 22 … Street … Auto ISO … On Seeing

September 23, 2015 streetshooter 31 Comments

So I be explaining to Linda about the ZEN of Photography but really the Zen of Street. This does not apply to everyone and I am just explaining how I do things and how right it is. Photography is about light. This means that LIGHT is the main thing shooters need to be able to respond to and more importantly, understand. The way we feel and interpret light is what makes each of us different with the same tools and same things.

Back in the last Century I used mostly Leica M cameras and didn’t use a Light Meter too often. I just looked and felt the light and then set my exposure. I had many light meters but I prided myself on feeling my exposure. Some of my friends would test me when we were out shooting and ask me what the exposure was. I would quickly call back my interpretation of the exposure. 90% of the time i was within 1/2 stop.

This ability is ever so important now in the digital world. It’s very easy to get consumed by the ease and convenience of digi-cams. Even the lowest priced offers things that high end film cameras didn’t back then. The point is that feeling the light and making the exposure the way you experience it is a birth right to all shooters. The Auto-ISO feature supports this in a way that is more then anyone could think back in the day.

I was asked by some friends here to explain more about M Mode and I will with the next post. But for now, back to Linda and her quest. It seems her brothers filled her head with as much shit as anyone could and she was almost consumed by it all. She insisted she wanted to make photos the way she wanted to and not by the guidelines her brothers instilled in her.

So I realized the her creativity and more were encapsulated in a shell that I would have to find a way to crack open so she could emerge into her own being.

It seems that we all at one time or another suffer the same symptoms as Linda. Just meandering thru the world in a way that we feel lost or disconnected from the well-being of ourselves. We lose our individuality, our self worth and even out independent personality. We become a number and are forced to accept that as it is placed upon us. For photographers this is especially life threatening. We have the ability to record what is in front of us and that should keep us awake. The luxury of vision is share with other photographers and we see their work and that adds to the comfort and discomfort of our world.

In time we come up with a starting point for the definition of ourselves and seek to find it thru our work. It keeps us humble, sometimes and rattles our cage when we get to cocky and think what we do is all important. We continue on a life long journey of finding the self and we record and make photos along the way.

For me this process is one I hold Holy because in the end, I want my photos to survive me and to give a glimpse of what the world looked like thru my mind, heart and eye while I was here. Will those photos speak truth. No, it will be the truth as I have presented it to be from my reactions to and from my love of life and death. They will just be photos from another fucked up shooter that made his life’s work to entertain others. I think that’s a damn fine way to end it all.

I work as if the end is coming….but not yet my friends, not yet.

Black & White, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 17 … Fuji X100s … Ideal Street Camera

September 5, 2015 streetshooter 11 Comments

It’s hot on the camera shelf and Andre’ the Fuji X100s was beside himself. Andre’ called to me, oh yes, yes, he called to me and it wasn’t a pretty picture either. He said, Yo’ shooter. if you don’t get me outside and working, I’m gonna have a breakdown and my firmware is gonna go kaput, my lens is going to go off center…etc. Well, I’m not one to argue with a camera that threatens me and with the expensive self-inflicted repairs either. So……I did as I was told and took Andre’ out for a walk, actually more of a hike then a walk.

The temperature is like 93F and humid. Andre’ is dangling around my nech cause it’s too damn hot to have him on a wrist strap. Besides, I can just wrap the neck strap around my wrist and that’s that. So lately I’m tuned into “Icons” and they seem to be haunting me a lot. I’m walking under an overpass and I’m looking at this wall. Seem to me that there are nice tones in there and it’s kinda emotional and looks like a state of depression all over the wall. I raise Andre’ to see what it looks like in a frame and then I feel someone walking behind me… I frame and then all the sudden this woman walks right into my frame and……CLICK!

Well, here in Philadelphia there is a long going debate as to the race of Jesus. See, Philadelphians are the brothers and sisters of love and all that good stuff. They just wanna know and see who they be loving. I’ve seen this vehicle a few times around the city but couldn’t see a photo of it. Then I see it today and I know that I need someone in the left side cause that’s what I feel. On the Fuji X100s I use the AEL/AFL to just do AFL, Focus Lock. Yeah, yeah, youse all know that and do that too. I lock focus and use the screen to frame. Then all the sudden this guy walks not just exactly when I want him to be but he looks ate Jesus and ….CLICK.

He didn’t know I made the photo. See, I have my Shooter’s invisible streetshooter cloaking device on and no one can see me. Then a man behind me says to me, yo, that ain’t no Jesus I ever saw. Hmmm, I thought. He says, Jesus was white and we all know that right? I said, well, I think that THE LORD doesn’t need to be any color and neither does JESUS. He says your crazy man, JESUS is white and don’t like no…I never used the words to describe race that he did. I said, what if your wrong? He says you are fucking crazy and don’t believe that JESUS is American. I said, yo dude, see the POPE coming here in a few weeks? He says yeah, so whad da fugg about it?

Some people are about as sensitive to life as the bricks we walk on every day. Nuff said……

I’m uhhhhh, hmmmm,… ummm, kinda a CNN freak. No I don’t watch TV that much but when I do it’s usually CNN or BBC. What does happen is that the news pollutes my mind and vision I suppose. Ya know, it’s just a crazy thought but I just might be and I’m not sure but I think I am and could be almost maybe…. effected by the world and life. This phenomenon could actually be a daily occurrence. I know it’s hard to believe but there have been good shrinks in me poor brain and head and they kinda see what I see except for the empty space in me head.

The empty spaces in me poor brain are for temporary shit. I took Andre’ the Fuji X100s out for a photo walk and the photo up top is an example of how Anderson’s shit makes it into my photos. So I wonder how the world effects what I make photos of. Back in the early 1970’s my best friend and brother Paul, made a statement that I’d share with you.

He said, “Most people look at the World through Rose colored glasses, I look at a Rose through World colored glasses”. I never forgot those words or the meaning they invoke in me. I know this statement applies to me and to all without actually realizing it but I think that before I die, I’d like just one time, one itty bitty time to see the world through Rose colored glasses. I don’t even need a camera cause the experience would be to precious to capture.

Be blessed on your journey my friends and good light to all……

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Street

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 16

September 1, 2015 streetshooter 8 Comments

It’s September 1st here in Philadelphia. I hear tell it’s also September 1st in other places of the world but I don’t believe it. Humbug I tell ya. Actually it’s a Pen EP-5 day with the 25mm 1.8 lens that thinks it’s a 50mm. So I worked Independence Historic Park for a while and I gotta say, it’s empty. I mean the other day it’s packed and then someone turned the Visitor Flowing Device down and today not even 50 people. I’m kinda sad to see the place like this. I guess it’s a sure shot of the forthcoming winter season.

I think most people kinda slow down and stay warm in the winter. Well, I like to step up the pace in the Fall and Winter. I mean I like to get out there and work. Of course it’s easy to say that as it’s in the low 90’s today and the rest of the week.

I am considering taking 2 cameras out to work but that means a camera bag of some sorts. Yuch, I hate being bogged down with bags.

Well, it’s almost tomorrow and I’m off to lala land. Have a blessed day and good light to all….

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 12 “On The Turning Away”

August 13, 2015 streetshooter 20 Comments

It is that every now and then I feel detached from my work, well, maybe from life itself. See, if I get detached from life, I always had my work to keep me in touch with things. Kinda like a life line. The scary thing for me is not being detached from life but when I start to detach from my work. It’s my thread to existence. It’s what I do in reality and it’s for life. So if I let myself detach, poof!

So in these times of the image wasteland I struggle to even find meaning in what I’m doing. I guess I push myself to the street and endeavor to persevere my journey. I walk around in a general feeling of apathy and I lose interest quickly. …and during all this self generated pity and lackadaisical attitude, I still go work. I still push myself to seek my next image. Am I a hero, fuck no I’m just an aware shooter that knows in time, things may pass.

When I was young I knew things would pass but now as a seasoned human, I don’t take the passing for granted anymore. I want it to pass but now know only I can make it do so. That or a great camera store… nah, I got all I need.

So maybe it’s nothing that will pass by itself this image wasteland I am traveling thru. Maybe it’s the Turning Away that is happening. The problem is to recognize where the Turning Away is happening.

Maybe it’s me doing the turning away from my work and efforts and just maybe I am complacent with my region I choose to work, or maybe it’s the vision of the lens, or maybe emotionally I am drained and weak and not up to the task, or maybe a million other things I may be Turning Away from.

What if it wasn’t totally me at all? I mean life is not just a 2 way street, it’s also a shared street. So what if I am punishing myself because I feel I am at fault completely but, maybe, just maybe life is playing a role in this dance thru the image wasteland with me. What if life is smarter then me, imagine that, and trying to mentor me to take things to the next level and because it’s the next level, I have no conscious awareness of it because I ain’t there yet so maybe that’s why I feel lost cause I am actually lost cause I am entering a new region unaware to me.

Well. I’m gonna take Walker the Olympus Pen-5 out again with the trusty 25mm 1.8. This is not my preferred focal length but in these times of uncertainty, I need to unload as many preconceptions as I can. ufff not easy.

I’ll be back in a day or so and I would appreciate some comments to share… thanks all…..

shooter and his mind…out……………………………………………………………………………

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 5 … Dreamcatcher

June 18, 2015 streetshooter 12 Comments

There are reasons for each of us to make photos. Now I now that there are more then one reason and when we work we may have a few in our mind. This is normal behaviour and I am proud to say I suffer this photographic discovery illness. I learned along time ago that if you wear your heart on your sleeve, you have to be able to live with the bumps and bruises that will happen to it. For certain shooters, the heart on the sleeve is the only place to have it so that one stays in touch with your inner self and be conscious of how life is effecting you in the here and now.

Maybe I sound like some kind of metaphysical spiritual Zen practicing fool. Yeah, probably am but life has showed me that it will outlive me and I will not survive my death. So I choose to search for the reason to live and a reason to die. For me, besides loved ones, it’s making photos. The difficult thing is to accept your place in the universe. I had a friend Bill back in 1971. He was a photographer and he said to me one day, “Don, I don’t know anyone that takes photography as serious as you.” I thought that was such a nice thing to say because it meant that he saw me and my heart and my love of what I was doing was obvious. I was proud to be considered a serious shooter. We would go to NYC for the day or Philly Center City and Bill would call me, “Your the Man on the Street Donald Springer.”

I was only home from Nam for like 6 months and I was a bundle of C4 waiting to explode. Bill mentored me in many aspects of photography that I wasn’t aware of. He introduced me to Krause, Winogrand, Ding McNulty and many more people that I didn’t know I loved and respected. He took me to Minor White and all these experiences made me feel like I wanted to not only diffuse the C4 but unload it from the baggage I would carry for my life. We were friends for like 18 or so months and then one day Bill told me that he was moving to California with his sister Terry. I was completely heart broken. I didn’t know how my photography would survive. I was really depressed. One day I got a card in the mail with a picture of the rear of a Volkswagen Beetle going over a hill and the sunrise in front of it. That was the last time I heard from Bill.

I realized some time later that what I feared losing was inside me and I must be strong to make my photos and get them out there and never let anything take away the value the image has for me. I also learned that we as humans let alone shooters share an experience of photography and part of the responsibility is to support others regardless of whether we like or dislike their work.

So, I am in a kinda dead/alive period. I don’t mean depressed cause I ain’t and I know the difference cause my Dr at the VA is a good shrink and I feel comfy with him. But photographically, I am looking for a connection to something I can’t reach. I hope youse like music, I do.

I feel like Native American Flute or Gregorian Chant. Thats what my feelings sound like. So now I have to find those sounds in my photos. Sometimes I do and sometimes I might get close but no cigar. Fine, I stopped smoking 3 years ago so I doin need any cigar anyways.

I think photos make a reality that I would prefer to live in. I mean it’s just satisfying to me because my photos bring me pleasure that’s hard to get any other way. I see things that maybe exist or not or even on different planes.

The minister above with his Holly Family book in a spirit way, well kinda freaked me out but I made it anyways because I’m a shooter and a shooter with a camera in hand, on the street, ain’t noting better in life.

So I guess right before I die, I’ll make sure I have many photos of me that will live on and my ancestors will know that looking at them, they are my preferred way of life, in more than one way.

Bear with me as I weed thru these emotions and thoughts. It’s hard for me to take life light and even harder for me to not LOVE and LIVE photography with all that I am or ever will be.

shooter out …………………………………………………………………………………………..

Black & White, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Streetshooter

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 2

June 9, 2015 streetshooter 4 Comments

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The place is where the cultured elite citizens of the region come to enjoy mostly Classical Music. It’s the Academy of Music. So maybe this guy isn’t really homeless. Perhaps he is a token patron of the arts. See, maybe the good people that frequent this place have him laying around so that all can see how the wealthy cultured people take care of the people of the city. He’s doing his job and doing a good job at that. They gave him a place on the nice hard concrete and even a bed of news papers. Oh, how lucky he is. I know you think I’m being sarcastic and maybe even making a joke. I’m not. Did you ever see a down on his luck homeless man with clean white socks. Of course not silly.

I’m walking on Market street and I see this girl and she’s very pretty. I looked at her and she had this hair like I never saw before. She looked dead at me with that Philly, I don’t give a shit Mr, I’m the shit and you ain’t look. So I was about to walk away and she turned away from me and then her hair came alive. I moved in close with Andre’ the Fuji X100s and click. She must have known I couldn’t resist because she turned and smiled at me. I looked her dead in the eyes and said, I thank you Princess. That brought an even bigger sweeter smile.

Ya know we all search for pieces of our identity out there and for some reason, I felt a connection with her. No, not cause she was pretty, it was I think because we saw each other as humans and race and age didn’t mean anything at that moment. There are many things to discover on the streets but the most beautiful is Humanity and what’s left of it.

What I love when out making photos is the pure joy of being in life. I’ll be honest. I don’t care about what anybody thinks and I don’t think about anybody when I’m working. What I do think about is what’s going on in the world. I have an implant from CNN and BBC. CNN is on the left lobe and BBC is on the right lobe. So while I am walking, I can do a Samantha thing with my nose and change stations. The thing is that I hear many people teach about the street as if it’s a shooting gallery. I mean, go out armed with you camera and take photos. I almost do that too, no exception except the Make vs the Take. The important thing for me is to be in life and not on the outside of it, taking photos. So I see life as a reference point when making photos. It always is but we are talking photography. Making photos gets me into all kinds of moods and places and doing things. When I feel disorientated, I come back to life and start over.

That’s why my cameras are my friends and not my tools. When I’m working, my camera is an integral part of what I am doing and a part of me. Just having it with me puts me in a place that all things are together and all things are possible. I don’t get that feeling ever from anyone or anything.

Minor White taught about Pre-Visualization. The idea is to SEE the photo in your head just before exposure. So, back in the day, there were no digital cameras. We went out to make photos and then went to the darkroom and made the Negs and Prints. Now with the advent of Digital photography, Pre-Visualization is all the more easy and important. The above photo ws seen in my head before exposure. So I see the frame and get it with the camera… but before exposure, I see the image being born in LR. Once I see that in my head, it’s time to check frame and release. That most likely takes a second or so. There’s something very satisfying about pre-Visualization. The idea of seeing the image before exposure and then at the finished stage, it’s exciting.

A friend of mine decades ago said that it’s not Pre-Visualization but Preconceptions. I disagreed then and I still do.

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Philly Street Shots

May 13, 2015 streetshooter 8 Comments

It’s been said that I make strange photos. To me they aren’t as strange as they may be to you. I think the jury is out on this.

I’m walking around the streets that I am very familiar with and then something attracts me and I see something that triggers my thoughts and feelings. If this doesn’t happen, I don’t make the photo. I guess that’s why I have always been a light shooter. That means that I don’t make many photos in a day. I’m trying to SEE my photo and not just look for it. The upper right of this frame is a poster on the glass and I’ve been looking at it for 3 days. Today, I was walking to the Veterans fair at Municipal Services Plaza and I stopped dead in my tracks. I said, hey shooter, that poster is a block down the street, lets you and I go check it out and see if we can make it today. Well, I thought, who the hell are you anyway but it was a good idea. Si as I walked and got close to the poster all the sudden this woman sits down and I was shaking and then I saw this gy leaning against the wall and I was really getting excited. The woman was looking to the left for the bus and I raised the camera. I framed tight and then as if all things would be right in the universe, she turns to me and stares at my lens….click!

I have passed thru the center of City Hall countless times thru my life. I love the light under there and it always brings the feelings of going to the light or the hereafter. There’s just something about the light that grabs me. I like the photo. It’s not a real winner but it represents how and what I felt at the moment of exposure. For that reason, for me it works.

I’m going to be starting the One a Shoot thing again and Olivier and I are getting the Forum back up and running.

More tomorrow……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Messages From The Streets of Philadelphia

May 12, 2015 streetshooter 10 Comments

Messages may come at you in a number of ways and even in different forms. Like when I’m sitting on the couch sipping some ice cold lemonade, my wife looks at me and I get the message very fast and well. She kinda raises a brow, loses the smile that made me want to spend time with her and gets this cold air coming from her like an air conditioner. This message is, the dishes are dirty and you have to get them clean.

Like the woman in this photo, (points up). She had a message for me and I understood it really well. Well, see, Olivier doesn’t like me cursing on the blog but this woman was sending me a four letter word that starts with F and ends in K and has a uc in the middle. I was minding my business and then I walked to this window and saw this woman standing there and I could see the back of her head. I thought to my self, self, for this to work she needs to be sending you t F uc K yOU to my eyes and she needs to be in the center of that arm. Well, I looked at her and sent her a psychopathic shooter message with my street mind. She turned and looked me dead in the eyes and ya know, Ithink even youse alls can tell the message she’s sending to me.

This is the 8th street Elevated Stop. I see these lights for years and I know there’s a photo but I never make it cause I don’t see it. I had Walker the Oly Pen EP-5 and the Lumix 14mm that thinks it’s a 28mm, mounted. I looked at the lights and all the sudden I realized that I was falling prey to everything I teach about photography. I was seeing these light in a literal frame of mind for years and I couldn’t see a photo but knew it was there. Then I got a message from ET and it said make the photo stupid. So I new that I was to make a photo and make it so that the photo ived on it’s own without the actual reality to fall back on. I saw this guy walking and he had his arm up and well, that seemed normal for Philly.

I defocused Walker and he got nervous and I said, breathe Walker and he did. Then from out of nowhere, ET started to walk into the frame and… click I think ET was trying to take the El and go home. Imagine that.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that if we are in the here and now and making photos, just remember that others like ET are in the here and now also. The messages you send are equal to the messages you receive. These messages are your connection to humanity and trust me, as bad as it may seem at times, it’s the only game in town so get into it and take your camera because while there are many in the here and now around you, you are part of a limited number of poets in out society, your a street shooter, is there anything better?

till tomorrow………………………………………..shooter out……………………………………………………

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Streetshooter

Nikon Coolpix A … Meets The Dreamcatcher

March 19, 2015 streetshooter 9 Comments

Walker the Nikon Coolpix A is getting inspired and is starting to find his way around the block. Listen, I know I sound nutty but truth is, I let my cameras think they are the source of inspiration for our photos. Well, in a way they are but then again so am I. I’m not about to have my cameras thinking they can do this without me. By the same token, I don’t say that I can do this without them. Like Billy Jean said, “Fair is Fair”.

Anyway, there are those amongst us and un-amongst us that think a camera is a tool. Well, to each his/her own even if they are wrong. So, shooter, why you name your camera, it’s a tool? True enough. I’ll bet there isn’t one single person in the world that doesn’t name his hammer. I’l talking Union Carpenters, the backbone of this great nation. Ya think I’m wrong.. read on.

This is for you, yeah you, with the smirk on your face. So we take our un-named hammer and we bang some nails in. Alls well with out tool right. Then you set the nail and get ready to swing and all the sudden, the dog bites your butt. TOO LATE TO STOP HAMMER SWINGING PROCEDURES! Oh yeah, sure as there’s another camera your looking at… BANG. Now look. This part is not funny. See, when a 16oz or 20oz hammer bangs right on your thumb, well this is Hammer Naming Time. Let’s see, hmmm what is a good name for a hammer that is not my friend and is just a tool that smashed my thumb. Well, it doesn’t take this long to find the name….

It’s something like this. I speak from experience. Swing, dog bites ass, total distraction of the un-named hammer that just smashed the thumb…. “Damn you, you M…er F…er! Now these two words, (blocked out for Judy and all my female friends)….are universal. I mean regardless what language you speak, when the hammer smashes your thumb.. these 2 words are the only two in existence that describe the name of your Hammer.

So, I suggest that you name your hammer and make it your friend. Then when you smash your thumb, you know it was a shared experience between friends.

The Dreamcatcher

This series goes back a long time. When I start to see these photos pop up I get very excited. For me it means that I am as open as I can be at the moment. This series keeps me awake but in a different way. I mean, normally I just make photos and do my thing. When these start popping up, I start to think and see images in my head. Not at the moment of exposure, I get that too but like in my dreams. I see some images and then when I’m out there and I’m really out there but I know it so it’s ok according to my Doc, I see the basic substance of the image in my mind. Then I kinda wake up to a new level and it’s like Photo DejaVu. It’s very exciting and stimulating. I mean it’s like self actualization.

My friend Walkser the Nikon Coolpix a made both these photos. That’s cool for me because usually, Penelope the Ricoh GRD4 makes these and stimulates me to doing so. So now that Walker is doing it, I’m very happy my friend is willing to help me find these images. Andre’ the Fuji X100s isn’t really into the Dreamcatcher and I don’t force the issue. We should never force friends to do anything, it should happen naturally.

Anyway, I’m tired again and have todomeds. I’ll be back hopefully tomorrow.

You’ll have a blessed evening, morning or afternoon depending where you are in the world.

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Winter Doldrums, 7F … ShOoTeR in Da House … Canon EOSM2 iS tO

February 22, 2015 streetshooter 14 Comments

Olivier is going on and on about his new camera, the Canon EOS M. Well, when this was first introduced a few years ago it perked my interest. There was something about it that appealed to me and just as I was about to buy it, I started reading about slow AF and crapola like that. So I passed it by but always thought about it. Time went by and I got Andre’ the Fuji X100s and that’s my main squeeze. It’s by far the camera that puts me where I need to be when I am working.

So here I am with my Sony RX1003M and I like the camera but I hate the menu. I don’t love the camera. I like it a lot. Well a guy in Texas is getting the Sony and I now have a Canon EOS M2. Thanks to eBay for fast turn around.

Olivier tells me, “dude, you won’t believe how close that 22mm lens focuses and it’s not Macro.” So I get bored and take the Canon out and start to mess around with it. Well first off, I notice the menu is so similar to the Sony that I almost puke. Then I sit back, sip some Green Tea,(Organic only from Tibet)….and say to me self, yo, Shooter, think Canon and ye shall see the light.

So I finish my tea, pick up the little rascal and look at the menu. I go thru it a few times and eureka, it starts to make sense to me. Look, I’m stuck in the friggin’ house. da wifey Tanya is here and what the hell can I do to escape reality… Of course, silly, get into the camera. So I immediately realize that selling the Sony for the stupid menu is no longer justified. I now realize that the Sony has a zoomie lens and I donotcanknow like a zoomie.

Whoa, hold on dude. Yes the Canon has a zoomie but hes smaat enough to be able to change his vision with different optics. This is good.

So I start to get into finding things I need to work the camera. The truth, I have the camera ready to go in manual mode in less than 5 minutes. It’s that simple. NO… I DO NOT READ MANUAL UNTIL I AM LOST AND THEN IT’S TOO LATE CAUSE THE CAMERA IS DEAD TO ME IF I NEED A MANUAL.

The Truth Of Going

One of the things that shooters are trained to believe is that you need to go someplace to find good photos.

Look, sure it’s great to go to exotic spots and seek your images. But the truth is, if you can’t find them at home, they aren’t out there anyways. I tell myself this to convince myself that I’m able to find photos wherever I am.

Well, it hit about 15F and let me tell ya something. Working in LR and making photos around the house ain’t bad. It’s not hard to live with. I mean, sure I wanna hit the streets especially with the little rascal Canon EOS M2 but it ain’t happening. So it brings to mind the thoughts of just relaxing with photography and just enjoy the beauty of making images that are just pleasing to me.

Theres a certain amount of greed in photography. Like, you do it for yourself. We all know that photography is visual communication and thus it should be communicating to others. Well, that’s true but sometimes we need just to communicate with ourselves just to have a grasp of what we are doing and discovering. These photos may be key to the body of work that you live. I mean, we get direction from photos that ask questions as well as answer them. You test the parameters of your vision and the results hopefully give you an answer to what you are seeking. Even if the answer is not what you expected, there comes a realization in direction as to whether you are on the right path or wrong path. Even that is a learned experience because if we see the right path and recognize that, is it because of habit or are we complacent? The wrong path opens the doors and ask, why is this the wrong path? Perhaps I should be here and be out of my comfort zone just to experience something new.

So the Canon EOS M2 is the kind of camera that was introduced to the wrong market. I think Canon saw this camera as a tool for pros that wanted a compact camera. Well, that’s a mistake and by now they know it too. A pro will want a camera that is basically his/her pro gear but shrunk down in size but now IQ or features.

Enter The Inspired Eye Shooters, Olivier and Shooter. Well, many pro shooters complained about all sorts of things on the camera. It got belittled. criticized, looked upon as useless until. Some smart shooters thought, ya know, this is a little camera, solid metal, nice IQ and ok UI. No Olivier and I aren’t the smart guys that figured this out. Those guys are over at DPR and I ain’t mentioning names like Joe or Ben.

I’ll get more into this again tomorrow if I get my frozen butt up from the chair. It’s a metal camera so it’s gonna be cold in the hand but I gotta get out and work.

……………………………………………………………………end transmission…………………………………………………………………………

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer