Tag Archives: Dreamcatcher

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The Fuji X20 as a Street Camera…..Part 2

May 6, 2013 streetshooter 2 Comments

I ain’t no fanboy, can’t be ’cause I don’t know what it is. Just cause I was a Hippie in the 60’s, don’t mean I’m Hip enough now to know about these things.

Let me start by saying what I really hate about the X20 on and off the Streets. It…….hmmmmmmm?

So now that that’s outta the way…here’s some more things I like about this camera. Now bear with me here and keep this between you and me. I don’t want this getting out. It’s got this zoomie lens on it. Shame, shame Shooter….a ZOOMIE?

Now I ain’t one to spread rumors and such but this here shot was at I think 112mm. I know, I know…..a tele shot, in color! Well, this was on the way back from yhe VA…so that’s my story and I’m sticking with it….

The X20 has a wonderful lens and to go with it, extremely fast, accurate Auto Focus…at every focal length. Put that in a small compact camera with great Image Stabilization and you have the making for a wonderful camera. I don’t use the viewfinder but I like it. I didn’t use it above but should have. I forgot about it because the screen is just so good.

On or off the street, this camera is very cool. Look, here’s the thing. I am a shooter. I have been for almost 5 decades. I learned one thing that I never forgot or even got complacent about. The IMAGE!

I love photographs. I love mine, that’s woman’s over there and yours. I don’t need all kinds of things in a camera but I do need a camera to be an active part of my creative process. I need a camera to help me capture the image without intruding on my vision.

There are many cameras that can do the task at hand if….one takes the time to form a collaboration with the camera. I am in the process of adapting the X20 to my process. Unfortunately, this camera can’t ever be a tool to work with. I feel bad about that but I must say that my cameras are not tools, they are my friends and work with me to make the images I get credit for.

Every camera that I thought about being a tool, well…..they were put on eBay.

I normally keep the X20 on 28mm. It just feels natural to me and that in itself is a pleasure. As I stated on my last post, I set the camera to MF and use 4′ as my focus distance at 28mm. I use f/5.6 but am covered from f/4 – f/8.

The Raw files convert to B&W or Color easy. Of course I use my Presets and they are tailored to my vision and my camera’s files.

This is a real serious street camera. It’s very compact, very fast and above all….it reconfigures on the spot.
This shot above…. I was coming out of the Trolley tunnel, the camera was set to AF at f?2 because I was in very low light. As soon as I saw this scene develop, I was able to in a matter of seconds to get the camera set and make this shot. I love the little man on the man’s head…..

I’m weird but have cool cameras……..

Later….don

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

The Fuji X20 as a Street Camera…….and More

May 5, 2013 streetshooter 16 Comments

This is not a review, well, not a traditional review. These are my thoughts and findings on the Fuji X20.

With any camera that I use and hopefully end up keeping, I need certain things from it. The most important is…..the non intrusion, don’t bug me when I’m working, I’ll adjust you when I need to thing. Yeah, that’s a big sentence with a whole lot of meaning. The X20 is up to the chore. As my feelings respond to the street, so must my camera adjust to those feelings. I need to be able to change working settings without hassle.

With the camera in Manual Focus, the focus scale is tricky. Do not pay attention to the DOF marks…they are so wrong. The actual focus mark is close. So, I set the focus indicator to 4′. At f/4,… f/5.6,… f/8,… I get around 3′ or less to about infinity in very acceptable focus. Of course this is using 28mm. I may try DOF settings at other focal lengths but not for a spell. If anyone else has tested and has settings….I’d be glad to post them and give you credit.

I would also give you free copies of the free magazine.

The Auto Focus is very fast and accurate. From 28mm to 112mm, the focus is almost instantaneous. The AF Target Box is very easy to change size. This is very important to me as I change it to suite the light and movement.

Just click the control wheel up…then use the jog wheel to adjust size. Can’t get easier or better than this.

The finder works very well and I tested it so that I know what it sees. It’s nice and now that I know how it works, I can forget about it. The screen is where it’s at…for any camera. Here’s a very cool thing. Sometimes I shoot chest shots. The camera is on a neck strap and hanging around my neck against my chest. The sensor turns off the screen and saves power because your shooting without the screen anyway. This is real nice to save power and also if your in a darker area, no light from the screen.

I go from neck strap to wrist strap in a flash. I use the Le Hook and that’s as fast as it gets.

It’s Sunday morning… 0755 and I need more coffee and I have to mow the lawn. I’ll take the X20 with me cause it’s a great macro shooter also…..

to be continued…….

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1st of May Walkabout Philly Photo Shoot Day….

May 1, 2013 streetshooter Leave a comment

…….hold on a minute dude…….. I’ll bring my friends up to par. See, I have a one on one this morning with Randy. Ok….

Randy…..your camera has to be at the ready…… I take Randy’s camera and look at the setup……we are on the magic escalator at the FTC…..the light there waits Click! for no one…..

….Randy ask me how I saw and made that photo in just a second or two. Randy, that’s why we are here together so you can forget everything and start using what you learned.

I have to admit, the X20 was ready because I know where I’m at and what I can find there. He thought that the X20 was really a cool fast camera. It is and so is the GRD4, the Pen3, the 5D11 and the Canon G9. It’s about setup Randy….all the people reading this know that and never have an issue getting that decisive second.

Click!

So Randy has a real nice Nex 6. Nice camera. I tell him to learn to use the screen…..I mean he’s looking at the finder all the time. USE THE SCREEN Randy! See that guy right above these words….yeah, that’s him….I saw at the moment before exposure,a photo. Now I won’t use it for myself but workshop time is here and I will use it for that.

Randy saw the import into Lightroom and the magic of the preset…..one click and that’s what is up above. So I answered all the questions Randy thru at me and I helped with the setup and he is happy. I asked about breakfast and he said it was on him…..

We ate at my unfavorite grease pit and all was fine for a 1st of May Day Walkabout Philly Photo Shoot.

Ya know, sometimes I make regular street photos also….like the guy above…..no…he doesn’t make photos…he makes a photo….See the arm action and the posture…tell tale sign of a photo.

More sane craziness later………

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Rainy Day Bluez…….and the Fuji X20 is My Friend……….

April 29, 2013 streetshooter 3 Comments

No! I’m not starting to do color for myself. I am in the process of making Color Presets that make an image feel the way I want it to make me feel. That’s not an easy task because I’m really not a color shooter.

The content and intent must be supportive to color and visa verse. So I just shoot what I always shoot and let the color pixels fall where they may. I don’t think I’d want to be a generic anything at anytime. So I make things the way I live them.

Take the photo right above…..yeah, that one. See, I was just doing my thing looking for whatever I look for. Then without thinking too much, I raise the camera and breathe and then Click! I was thinking that I liked what was going on. The girl seemed so caught up in her femininity and that of the heads. I didn’t think about color or black & white until I got the images into Light Room.

Then of course I realized that I am in the process of designing color presets. So, heck….let’s try it. By Jove, I think he’s got it!

It should be noted that the camera in my hand was the Fuji X20. At no time did it speak to me or cause any intrusion. I don’t treat my camera as a tool. I treat is as my companion on my photographic journey.

More tomorrow…..Good Nite Wouter…..Good Nite Jorge……….

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………of course the camera has a lot to do with it………

April 27, 2013 streetshooter 2 Comments

Many of my friends are writing on their blogs and in forums etc that it’s the shooter and not the camera. Well, not to be argumentative but I probably am as my wife definitely thinks so….. all the time. See the camera is much more important then most realize.

Barsik (the best muse I ever met)

It’s true that ones vision is the main ingredient in photography that needs the most attention. You can read fancy books, go to school, take workshops, classes whatever you like and it’s mainly about your vision. It should be….until you go to WORK!

Here’s what I teach. There is a process to anything, even drinking a beer. One should be totally into the here and now during the process in order to get the most out of it.

So lets move along and go to work. We will analyize the process of making photos. Now please don’t think there is only one way or even my way. My way works for me and I really don’t want you to do it that way….I’d rather you find your own method of working.

(the camera Don, get to the camera part…..) allright, allright.

Your on the street. Your eyes are like that of a hawk. Your walking and your in step with the life that surrounds you. You can smell the perfume from that young lady……over there,…to the right….you smell the exhaust fumes from the buses and the cars etc.

Your camera (I hope you named your camera by now)… is in your hand just waiting to respond to your every whim. Sorry, the guy over there has his camera on a neck strap….that’s fine…… ok….

You can feel something on the horizon but it’s not yet….just a little bit further down the street….

Then, out of nowhere this lady walks out towards you and the light behind her is perfect…click!

You didn’t get that, geeze, why are you fiddling with the controls to set exposure? You, over there…see…you raised the camera to your eye and she saw you and well….. there’s a million things to come between you and your photos. The one thing that can’t be tolerated is your camera. So if the camera is just a tool, then go hammer a nail with it.

Smack

Your camera must be an extension of your process. You must have a friend that your working with and not an intruder that just causes lost images. You should be able to make an adjustment in just a few seconds. If the camera is not an important part of your work, then your probably just looking for a scapegoat for you shooting failures. Yeah, this is heavy do do. It’s easy to say, my camera is a pain to work with.

The point is, you have to take responsibility for your choices in camera acquiring procedures. I have a Pen3 with the 25 lux and the 14 2.5. The Pen3 is a very good camera to work with….for me…. I can go back to around 1967 and I didn’t like SLR’s. I just didn’t like the form. I still don’t. I loved Leica M’s because they worked so well.

Flash to 2013 and I still feel the same way…almost. I had the Fuji X10 and really loved the camera. It reconfigured in a flash. Well, I never got a single RAW file to be processed the right way. I have all the goos processors..I make presets, right. I make photos right!

Now the Fuji X20 is at home and it does RAW like I love clams. The point is that this these cameras are mine and I use them. The offer no intrusion to my process, especially on the street.

I beg to differ with my friends. I state here and now that the camera may be a tool to them but to me and my readers….bunk. It’s an extension to our vision because we chose the right one……

No go and sit with you cameras and come up with names….cameras like names…..well…I do take meds for this sort of thing but my wife states that they ain’t working……

I saw this dude on my ride home. Dude didn’t see me on the ride home.

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More Preset Madness

April 25, 2013 streetshooter

Yeah…yeah! I’m stuck on the computer doing presets. Well, I’m really stuck on 2 computers that refuse to co-operate with me or each other. Me poor brain is starting to think in terms of color. My brain, not my mind. But I must admit that working in color is teaching me lot’s of things.

Oh yeah…. I’m learning what I already know. I don’t like color but I do like making the presets.

So because I don’t really care for color, I have to find a way to trick the ole’ brain into thinking it likes it. I have sent some of these presets out to shooters and have all good responses from them. I guess that means I might have my brain fooled.

What I am doing is this. When I work, streets usually, I see the world in color. It’s not my idea but they put color in everything. So, in my brain, I reprocess the image in front of me to be in shades of grey. This of course is happening in the mind….now enter my cameras. I have them all to have a B&W screen. If they can’t do that….they belong elsewhere.

So, if I take the color out of the scene and then make a B&W photo the way I want, then add color to it with a palate I can live with….I get what I have up top there….. see those up there……

I do this for those that like the color presets….for the rest of us……. up there is where it’s at….

don

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For Wouter Brandsma & Jorge Ledesma also for the Ricoh GRD5

April 15, 2013 streetshooter

So I’m in the middle of the interviews for Issue 2 of The Inspired Eye Magazine. I’m gonna have to drop a few names here because they get me to thinking about stuff. Nah, it’s not like I need inspiration or ideas or even trouble. I certainly dang sure don’t need any GAS.

Anyway, Wouter and I are going back & forth with interview emails about photography, not photography etc. Whoa…..hold yer horses now. I got Pete Tachauer, Christophe Debon and Paul McGuirk all working on the interviews. The reason I mention the 2 culprits above is that….

I’m working the street…hey…hey…making photos ok. Sheeeesh…. I get an email and I figure I could use a break. I sit down on a bench in front of the Liberty Bell. I pull the ole’ antique iPhone 4 out and open the mail program.

Now let’s get something straight right off the bat. I love the EP-3 and the lenses I have for them. Yup, I gotz 2 Pens. So I got the Silver Pen….Walker with me and he’s sportin’ the 17mm 1.8. Now I ain’t one to question things when they start to working just righty fine. There’s enough to do when the stuff hits the fan…….. The email shooter, what’s in the email? ok…ok…sorry..brain fart.

So there on my phone screen is this post from that Jorge Ledesma fella. Now I like Jorge and his blog. I read it because he bust his hump making it entertaining for his readers. Today he made the ultimate post for dreams of the new future. See, he posted a video about the new GRD5. Well, I damn near had a hissey fit when I watched the video. Nah, the first 5 times I just watched but that 6th time…that was it. I was figuring it’s a fake, again. So I forward the email to Wouter and he confirmed that it was a real camera and that the video was in fact true. Now until we get the camera in our hands…it’s a dream but this dream, if it comes true…dang, I’ll sell my M43 stuff again.

The reason being is that the GRD4 is about as good a camera as any camera could hope to be…..the GRD5 will move to a whole new level.

I ran home to my garden and made this real quick with the GRD4 but…this is exactly what I envisioned the image to be.

Thanks Jorge…..Thanks Wouter, see ya on the emails shortly….Thanks Ricoh….Sorry Olympus….

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

Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

The Dreamcatcher Strikes Again

April 12, 2013 streetshooter

Ya know. I really like what I go after and find on the street. Hey, don’t get me wrong…I love the street but it’s not the only place I work.

The images that bring the most satisfaction and always did are the Dream images. There’s something mysterious and ethereal amongst other things that excite me visually about them. The thing is that I can SEE the potential for the image before I release the shutter. Well ok Don, that’s the idea of Pre-Visualisation. I know that but there’s another element to take into consideration. That element is the print.

I use the term “Print” to mean the image you see on your computer screen after all the stuff is done to it. I love the idea of the transformation from reality to the print reality. The beautiful part of the experience is that I can see it when I am at the ready for exposure.

I’m not trying to sell you anything just expressing how much I love my images, the process of capture and the finished print produced thru my presets. This ain’t no sales pitch, just a note to let you know that I really do use the presets.

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Dreamcatcher Is On Flickr Explore

April 2, 2013 streetshooter

Photography has so many special ways of drawing out our inner thoughts and feelings. For me, it’s always been about a dream. No, not photography but life. Making photos has allowed me to explore many inner thoughts and feelings. At times I just work the street or do portraits or the garden or whatever my lens is looking at.

I sometimes feel that I’m seeing visions from a place that is not of this earth only. It doesn’t scare me in the least. It actually excites my creative juices. Maybe I’m just having a LightRoom breakdown. I mean after all, I am influencing the final image with presets and or adjustments. Surely that helps to create the dream like effect that happens on the photo.

I agree with that but why would I make photos like this in the first place?

More questions and photos tomorrow……

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer