Tag Archives: 21mm f/4 Skopar

Black & White, Color, Dreamcatcher, Garden, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

Tis a Sad Day Due to Technology & Word Press!

August 9, 2013 streetshooter 6 Comments

When I was younger I felt that the most important thing I could do was to make photos. I cherished the moments I was with a camera in hand or by my side. Even when I was on the streets with my M4’s I felt connected to the Street and Myself and ultimately, the images we made together.

I had a few light meters but it was a rare occasion that I would actually use one. I actually had a Gossen Luna Pro in the bag for a few years and when I opened it to change the battery, it was corroded. Geeze, I felt panic because my trusted meter was dead and not I couldn’t use it if I wanted to. I felt betrayed by technology.

This was a funny way for me to think because once I went to the darkroom, I was a very perfect technical worker. Of course I didn’t abandon my natural abilities for the technical ones but I managed to merge the two.

Years passed and I gave up more natural freedom and let the new technology take hold of my passions. When the Digital Revolution hit home, meaning photography, I dove in with abandon to all that I was as a natural photographer. I saw the cameras as a convenient way to make photos and then the Alpha on LR and I was good to go.

The circuit breaker panel is in the darkroom and sometimes we blow one. So I get to go into the sad darkroom that misses me and the work we did together. The smell of those lovely chemicals has long since faded.

Lets get to the present. I am well into Digigraphy. I love the process of making images. I love the cameras, the software etc. I even started to like my blog on Word Press. Well, for some time and in the present also, I can’t log into my WP account if I want to post on a friends blog.

Today is the last straw. I will no longer maintain my blog at WP and ptobably not use this one either. I’ll be on Flickr but otherwise, I’ll be out working.

Ya know…..when I go out now, I have to check my batteries, the iPhone 5 charge level, all this technology. It’s made me sick for the last time.

If I can’t feel like things are working with me, then they won’t…anymore….

Peace….don

Black & White, Color, Dreamcatcher, Garden, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

The Ricoh GR … Defining Your Vision Part 2

August 8, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

Don’t get me wrong on this stuff, ok…. I just want to show how I open my Eye, Heart and Mind. The constant in your work will be the eye, heart and mind. It’s what makes you unique in the world. So, if in fact…that’s true and it is….all of us who are street warriors should strive to keep those 3 elements as healthy as possible. We should also keep those elements working together in the here and now, especially while making photos.

Enter the camera. Enter the Ricoh GR. The GR operates at a very heightened state of awareness. It is most intuitive and extremely easy to float in the here and now. When it’s in your hand on a wrist strap, your eye, heart and mind are free to gaze upon the scene and move in and out without fear of the camera causing an intrusion. You concentrate on the subject matter in a way that most other camera strive to reach but mostly fail. When your trigger mechanism is activated, the GR immediately captures what you saw, the way you saw it. Your not struggling for focusing rings, settings etc because the camera is now a part of the process of Making the image, not outside of the process.

My definition of a Street Warrior is something like this. Most shooters, (I want to keep this related to photography)… will look at the world as a place to make photos. They count on the next photo to be better than the last. They move forward in time chasing the elusive butterfly, know as the great photos.

The Street Warrior moves forward thru time but sees the world as a passing journey. The street warrior is in tune with himself and seeks the next image not because it’s the elusive butterfly but because he counts back in time. Knowing that each and every image recorded may be the last or even close to the last, he is prepared to make the NEXT IMAGE the one that marks his place in time.

Keeping focused on the here and now with the eye, heart and mind does not allow a camera that will cause intrusion on the moment. I know this is crazy stuff because not many will read this and that’s a shame. If I wrote about GAS or a camera review, well……I won’t.

I hope youse understand what I just wrote. If you do, you’ll never have a camera issue again. If not, DPR has good reviews……

Gd’ nite……

Black & White, Color, Dreamcatcher, Garden, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

The Ricoh GR …. Defining Your Vision, Part 1

August 7, 2013 streetshooter 6 Comments

…. any chance any of youse know that Olivier Duong guy? He’s got a blog and is semi-publisher of a magazine we do together called…The Inspired Eye. So we’re talking on the phone today and he’s going on about how the GRD4 is on it’s last leg and he needs a replacement compact camera. I suggested the Ricoh GR and he immediately stated that he wanted something different.

I’m going to explain in a series of post about how the camera makes you think and how it effects your vision and ultimately, your work.

First up is the GR. I have a few post about this camera already on the blog. If you look down there…..yeah, down there a few…that’s it….you’ll see that this is an ongoing train of thought.

The GR kinda floats in time and space…hereafter called the Here and Now. It’s a very responsive camera and allows absolute freedom to the shooter within it’s definition of a camera. It works very fast and gets the juices flowing. It’s very precise and supports a few ways of working. Of course, it also works well as a slower method and even macro but it’s designed to be a pocket-able, fast unobtrusive camera for the streets. It’s very intuitive and that’s just what it should be.

The GR produces very nice files that are elastic in both Color and B&W. It’s faster than the GRD4 and the files are way cleaner. This is a plus for pixelpeepershooters but the GRD4 has MOJO in it’s files that the GR has to have put into it’s files during PP. No issue at all because Presets are available to get the images anywhere you want.

Tomorrow, the philosophy of the Street and finding your way to it.

Black & White, Color, Dreamcatcher, Garden, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

A Wouter Brandsma Stroll Day …. of a Different Kind.

August 6, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

Wouter is taking some time off and going thru some personal issues. That’s understandable if you follow his blog like I do. You do follow it right? I thought so….

Well, I’m a walker by nature, used to be a runner but too old and can’t make photos running thru the streets cause a cop will see you holding the camera in your hand and know that you stole it and need time in jail to readjust your sick mind.

We all know that already. What we didn’t know….oh yeah…don’t try that stuff around here…I’m not the only one knowing that Wouter is a stroller. He’s so much a stroller, I think he invented it. It’s being traced thru the historical documents because there’s another guy that is a stroller….Pictor The Strolling Shooter. There’s no clearly defined person that actually invented the Art of Photographic Strolling.

So beings the walker that I am, I asked the GR if she would like to take a walk and she happily replied yes. I think she knows that I’ve been spending a lot of time with the guys out there. What, oh sorry…the guys are the Sony Nex 6 and the Ricoh GXR M Mount. They get along fine and both share the same lenses. Not many squabbles but occasionally they argue over the resolution in the images.

So Tanya, you remember…the Ricoh GR is named Tanya and I headed out to center city….my favorite spot. She was hot today and I noticed a few cameras checking her out. She made me promise to spend more time with her in the next few weeks and I agreed.

So for a spell, the GR will get a workout again and can rest assured that she’s not being sold off. I like Wouter’s work both in photo and words. I guess as a younger shooter he will just keep a strolling along and I the elder will keep on walking….. and I’ll keep on doing that with camera in hand till I reach the end….

Black & White, Color, Dreamcatcher, Garden, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

The Eye, Heart and Mind … a Recipe for the Streets

August 5, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

There comes a time when most photographers, especially street shooters, feel a connection to the images they are making. Ya know….it’s been said that one should try to connect to the subject matter. In a way I agree with that and in a bigger way I don’t. Let’s face it. You might, maybe, almost have a few seconds before you click the shutter. In those few seconds are we suppose to connect to our subject matter? Yeah right…it ain’t happening, well here in Philadelphia it ain’t. So here’s a way to do this.

Work and work hard. Edit your efforts and get a grouping of images you like and relate to. I know youse all do this all the time so why am I preaching again? Well, if you want to connect to what attracts you out there, first you have to see it in print or on your screen.

See, now that you have these images in front of you, it’s time to read what you saw when you made the photo. You have to find the path to your Eye, Heart and Mind. Seriously, you’ll never get connected to your work just looking for it out there. You must connect to it in front of your eyes. You now have the time to study your efforts, thoughts and even reactions to what you do.

So now go out and do this…I’ll wait here……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Ok, glad your back.

There are triggers that get you to release the shuter and there are triggers or attractors that get you into the image. Once you are aware of these, when your out there on the street….it’s like markings on a map. You are never lost and if you feel the road is all to familiar, it’s easy to steer off into a new direction. The point is, to be aware of your Eye, Heart and Brain and your place in the here and now.

The Power Of Suggestion…..you figure it out….

Black & White, Color, Dreamcatcher, Garden, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

The Voigtlander 21mm f/4 Skopar 7′ Rule for the Street

August 2, 2013 streetshooter 1 Comment

Here’s some good stuff for the real street shooters. I’m using the Nex 6 and soon to be GXR M Mount again on the street with Voigtlander lenses. Ok, no biggie everybody does that. So what’s up wit dat Shooter?

The 21mm f/4 Skopar on the APS-C cameras comes out to 31.5mm FOV. This appeals to me in a very special way. See, for many years I used 35mm FOV on my Leica’s and even Digital Cameras when I could. Then it happened that 28mm became more natural for Camera Makers to do so I was forced to change my Natural Field of View, 35mm to 28mm.

Years ago I actually got 2 M6’s because of the 28mm in the frame lines. I was excited, got the Elmarit and never used it much. Now I am at the point that I still love 35mm but I also love 28mm. Enter the Skopar. Converted to 31.5mm it’s kinda right in the middle.

Love working with it. One of the issues with manual focus lenses is just that, focus!

So here we are and we wannna shoot the street with the Skopar but how to do it fast. I mean real fast. Here’s what I do and why.

I set the lens to 7′. My shutter is usually around 1/400 +- depends on light. Here’s the inside scoop on this.

f/4 5 – 11′

f/5.6 4.5 – 15.3′

f/8 3.9 – 30′

f/11 3.3 – Infinity

f/16 2.7 – Infinity

f/22 2.2 – Infinity

It’s easy to see that the DOF carries very nice, even wide open. So now the Aperture plays more important than before. If you are in lower light, f/4 will get a nice image even up close, the blur will be very sexi. I work this lens all the time like this and it’s as fast as the GR on Snap mode. That’s what I need on the street….speed and accuracy. I find the frame just right because it’s right in the middle of my Natural Field of Views.

This is a very stimulating way to work. There’s no auto something. You set the exposure, set 7′ and frame the photo. The beautiful thing here is that if you need to change anything at all…it’s right there as fast as you can do it.

I’ll be posting more tips and tricks shortly. Until then, The Inspired Eye Magazine, Issue 3 is being published today.

I hope you read it and more importantly, I hope you enjoy it. It’s a great read…..

Later, enjoy the weekend if it’s that time in your corner of the world.

don

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer