Tag Archives: Philadelphia

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September 1st, 2014 … Fuji X100s Light Duty

September 1, 2014 streetshooter 1 Comment

It’s Labor Day Weekend and I’m doing little to labor myself. Had to go to the shore cause my friend Joe died a few weeks ago and I had to secure the house and things. So after I set the alarm secured.onlinegambling2014.com code and organized a little, we went to the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.

I just made a few snaps cause I wasn’t in the mood for much of anything. Anyway, her’s a few photos that were made with the FujiX100s.

Ya know, color is really nice with this camera but I still don’t see or feel it, I’m kinda trusting the camera to get it right and it does.

Well, I guess I’l go do the Bar B Que for Tanya and get back to photography tomorrow…..

Seeya’s, ………………………………. shooter, exit stage left…………………………………………………………

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August 30th, 2014 … Hurry, Hurry, Read All About It … Inspired Eye Issue 13 Published

August 30, 2014 streetshooter 2 Comments

Well, it’s out. It’s no secret anymore. The Inspired Eye Issue 13 has been released. The news stands are backed up with a line a block long. Every bookstore in the known Universe has a line that will take you an hour to check out, It’s that good.

Here’s the thing….. because you are a faithful follower of my antics and writings and thoughts, I am giving you a pass to the back door. You can use this pass for all your friends and family too…..please spread it around.

Here’s the pass to get the new exciting just published, hot off the press, Issue 13:

http://www.theinspiredeye.net/street-photography-magazine/

Don’t waste anytime on this one it’s bound to sell out….is that even possible, dunno but it’s a great read…..

Enjoy your weekend, be blessed and find peace on your journey.

shooter out………………………………..transmission terminated by user with brain on vacation…………………………………………………………………….POOF!

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August 27th, 2014 Breathing Street With Fuji X100s & Fuji X20

August 27, 2014 streetshooter 10 Comments

The streets of Philly are starting to mellow out and I guess it’s time for me to do the same….NAH! Don’t dream. I’m never mellow, always adjusting energy to meet the reality i’m in.

The thing I recognize about life is that the number one thing to sustain life is BREATHING. Try living without it, you’ll see that I’m probably right. So, if this is so important, why not really get into it and apply it to everything you do, I know, I know…. we usually run in AUTO-BREATHING mode. Well, maybe that’s cool for those that don’t pay attention to breathing. I do and ya know, it’s the one single thing I’ve learned to love most thru my life.

What the heck are you talking about shooter and what does any of this have to do with photography? Ok, ok… cut me a darn break… relax, we’ll get there.

Remember… the journey is much more than the destination.

When I’m on the street, I listen to the heartbeat, smell the fragrances, not always sweet but nonetheless stimulating. I find a rhythm to life where I’m at and try to adjust my stance, my pace, my gaze and my breathing to my surroundings. Maybe that’s why I never ever get bored being in the same city, the same streets and sometimes even the same people. It’s never the same. It’s different in time and space and the light is different and the breathing is on a different rhythm.

So how do we as shooters adapt to this situation on the streets? Well, we need to change our way of thinking, destroy preconceptions, gray out our history and try to see things as if we will never see them again. Maybe for some, try to see things as if it’s the first time.

So the point really is not to let yourself get complacent. If you can just tune into the rhythm on the streets, it will talk to you and grant you clues as to where your next photo may lay.

Life is what we are making photos of. Life as a heartbeat. A heartbeat happens because of breathing. If your not breathing with what is around you, what are you doing?

If ya find that rhythm and breathe with it and have a camera in your hand, well, there’s photos all around you, just open your eyes and have an open mind and heart… well, drink Kona in the morning or none of this means rubbish…..

See ya’s tomorrow,,,,,,

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August 24th, 2014 … Fuji X100s and Fuji X-20 … The Important Difference

August 24, 2014 streetshooter 26 Comments

There is one major difference between the Fuji X100s and the Fuji X-20. No, it’s not the mp or the processing engine. It’s not the UI or Grip. It’s not the size or even the battery. All these things one could compare and see a difference. I think the most important thing that distinguishes the the cameras from each other is none of the above,

The important thing for shooters is the ASPECT RATIO. Yeah of course it’s obvious but, why didn’t you write about it? ok then, let me get into this a little. Here’s the thing. The frame or box as we call it must be seen from a few vantage points.

!st…. the idea of seeing your frame as a BOX or a Window. This works in a few ways…..

psychologically, if we see a frame as a BOX, that means we are seeing a confined area and we deal with what’s inside that frame on it’s own.

The other ways is to see the frame as a WINDOW and leave ourselves open to the possibilities to what may come into our frame and thus be aware of things around us. Both methods are acceptable and should be applied as the shooter sees fit. Of course the camera plays a bit in the but it’s easy to adapt to any camera if one desires to use it. I can’t of course and will throw cameras out the window if they bug me…..of course this has never happened but it could. I leave myself open to the possibility of Camera Throwing Out The Window Procedures.

The real important thing between cameras is how IT SEES and how it FORCES you to SEE. The ASPECT RATIO is just about that. You have, well I have 3:2 in the Fuji X100s and I have 4:3 in the Fuji X-20. It may seem like it’s not a big difference but dynamically, it sure as heck…..is. The words active/passive come to play here. NO! I’m not showing examples altho’ I did really.

Use your images to compare, ok? 4:3 is a passive rectangle. 3:2 is an active rectangle. This means whether you are aware of this or not, it effects how you frame you shot. It also effects how the viewer sees the photo and the info it contains.

So using the 2 cameras means to be aware more of aspect ratio than anything else.

Then of course we have to take Horizontal vs Vertical into play. This also has an effect on framing and viewing. You need to be aware of this so that you can understand how your camera works with your vision.

So both cameras have their merits but really, aspect ratio is the biggest advantage between the two.

It’s Sunday morning and I’m beat. Another bad night for sleep. So, I’ll sign off and continue this tomorrow when my Brain comes back from vacation. I think it’s due back on the job tonight sometime……..

……………………………………………………………………..end transmission……………………………………………………………………………….

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August 19th, 2014 … Fuji X20 … Great Street Camera (brain still on vacation)

August 19, 2014 streetshooter 17 Comments

Yaeh, yeah. That’s right, I said it and I believe it too. The Fuji X20 is an amazing camera for any use but for the street, well you didn’t get this from me and I ain’t responsible for any cameras store grabbing yer monies. The X20 is a great camera. It’s a wee bit smaller than the X100s and the megapixel count is less but there’s a real gritty attitude to the images that only the Ricoh GRD4 compares to.

Whoa, hold on. Daido the Fuji X20 comes close to Penelope the Ricoh GRD4 in Grit but there’s still a difference. I don’t know what the difference is but it’s there….. I think. I told you my brain is on vacation so I’m going along in Auto Brain Wave Mode. Anyway, back to the streets. I am happy to report that most times my subject matter is not affected by the camera I use. I also notice that regardless of the camera in hand, I still like a cup of Kona at home and on the street, I like a cup of whatever they call coffee out there. It kinda scares me when even in Starbucks, the coffee is always burnt cause young kids make the coffee and they are too damn busy on their walkman ipod ipad iphone android kindle thingys to notice they are burning the coffee. So the coffee philosophers sit and drink that crap not know that real coffee isn’t burnt… ohhh sorry, I forgot… I ask a young girl, “Can I have a Kona Cream and no sugar?” She says, what’s that?. Cream, it’s the stuff that looks like milk but it’s not milk, it’s cream. She says with a cute smile…(Ok, I lost it, not afraid to admit it. She could sell me anything and I’m good, happy to see here smile.) ….not cream silly, and not sugar, I know what that is… what’s Kona… well the little cute angel just got pushed sooo far off my smile list…hhhhhmmmmm. I said, I’m sorry, I thought this was a pharmacy… and they had Kona…..it damn sura ain’t easy being a streetshooter…. sheeeesh.

So I figured I don’t need no Kona coffee out on the street because I getz it at home and home is where the Kona is. The Fuji X20 has some interesting things going on.
I mean I wrote about this camera a few times, actually more than a few times but not really a lot of times but enough times that well, let me get some meds in and maybe I can manage to keep on track. One of the great things is the small sensor and the DOF it makes. Say your shooting at f/4.0. …. ok waiting… say it ok…eh… I’ll say it for ya… I’m shooting at f/4.0 shooter. Well with the lens set to 28mm and focused to 5.0′ we get this DOF from 2.5′ to infinity. Now, I ain’t the smartest pencil in the box when my brain is on vacation and I certainly wouldn’t wanna do much but drink that coffee I love… uh… damn…uh.. oh yeah.. Kona.. see….but I gotta say this…. 2.5′ to infinity… I think that means.. I could hold my arm out, make a photo, have my hand in focus and be in focus at tommi, or Wouter…yup.

Now it seems to me that if you can’t find a photo somewheres between 2.5′ and infinity… whoa.. wait a second… let me think about this…. If I Only Had A Brain…. if”n we can get that kinda DOF at f/5.6.. well I ain’t even gonna think what happens at like F/8,f/11.. nah… when my brain returns I’ll address this but till then… well, hmmm uh.. what the hell am I even talking about…? Dunno… I hope youse do cause I damn sure don’t…..

c’mon… just kidding…. what’d ya think…. “I’m smaaat Mikey”……

The Fuji X20 can set you free. It’s really the perfect companion for the Fuji X100s. The size difference is negligible but smaller which is nice. The lovely 28mm FOV captures me in a way 35mm doesn’t. Ray Sachs mentioned to me a few times that he felt that 28mm was better for me than 35mm. He’s a friend and I respect his opinion highly and I must agree that there’s something about 28mm I adore. Luckily the Fuji X20 named Daido lives with me and now will be getting more use again.

So, all I can say is that I am enjoying the break from 35mm FOV and enjoying the time my brain has taken for vacation.

I’ll post again tomorrow for sure….. but listen…..

tomorrow I’m going to Starbucks to chat with the little knucklehead cute angel that thinks coffee comes from a bag…yeah right beautiful… coffee comes from that bag… it kinda just grows in there…hmmmm

well, what could an old streetshooter have in common with a young, cute coffee attendant? Well, at the moment, neither of us has a brain…..

shooter out…..uh, I think that’s me but it might be the guy typing at the keyboard….hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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August 16th, 2014 … Fuji X100s … Observations from Philly Streets … Or Zone Focus Tip

August 16, 2014 streetshooter 6 Comments

So I guess I have to continue working because Andre’ the Fuji X100s told me to get off my darn azz and get to work. So we went down town on Market street like we did a million times, who’s counting?
I guess it don’t matter. I mean, I’m not trying to find any photos. I’m not seeking magic. I’m not really doing anything but trying to find pieces of my soul.

Well, maybe that’s fine and dandy for me but Andre’ the Fuji X100s had a different idea. He says to me….”Go and sit down, we need to have a chat and you can’t walk and talk at the same time”. He continues as soo, “look, I like working with you, your a good kid… who likes kids? We need to expand the image rights so that we share the credit and responsibility equally. I’ll let you do a little more cause I don’t want to hurt your feelings but your firmware is like from the 60’s dude.

Ya know, you always write about how the camera works for you in different scenarios but let me tell you something young man. I’m preparing a series of post about how you work with me. It’s no longer a one way street.

So, here’s what we are doing today and I’m not asking, I am really telling you what to do. Maybe you brain goes on vacation but mine doesn’t… not at all.

I want you to try to use your mind and just hear me out. We are going to explore the DOF potential as applied to street shooting. Now I know your some kinda Streetshooter and you know what your doing, we all know that but you don’t really have a clue as to what I’m doing.”

Well, I dunno if’n youse talk with yer camera and maybe you do. The thing is this. It’s ok to talk to your camera. It’s even ok to have your camera talk to you. as long as you know it’s the camera talking to you, it’s ok, if you think it’s someone elsse… my DR has an open appt next Wed at 1300EST.

So, now that we are clear on the talking with camera procedures, let’s get on with this.

The X100s has a very well designed Focus Scale. The DOF scale….eh, needs garlic.

Here’s a table from DOF Master that makes sense on the street…….

The focus distance stays at 10′ and Set the camera to MF. This way you have control of the Focus Scale.

F/4 6.86 – 18.4

F/5.6 6.07 – 28.3

F/8 5.22 – 118

F/11 4.36 – Infinity

Who the heck needs that F/16 thing?

So at a focus distance of 10′ now we see the Zone of Focus and adjusting exposure we can apply this scale at anytime to get a real fast working camera. Now I love my Fuji X100s named Andre’ and I don’t wanna hurt his feelings but isn’t this a system of Zone Focus? Of course it is but now you have something to work on. Try making the scale for 7′ also and whatever turns you on. I prefer the AF on theis camera but all the photos in this post are with Zone Focus at 10′.

It’s Saturday and I’m taking Andre’ and Tanya out for the day. Notice Andre’ is first. See Andre’ reads my blog and is a subscriber and even buys the presets but Tanya, she couldn’t care less………

end transmission………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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August 13th, 2014 … Fuji X100s … Observations On A Walkabout

August 13, 2014 streetshooter 11 Comments

Ya know, if ya ever been on a walkabout, well it’s the perfect time to do some observing. Better yet, have a camera at the ready and your good to go. Now I understand that not everybody from every country gets to do a walkabout but if ya have friends from OZ, well your qualified to be a walkabout camera toting shooter.

Don’t get this wrong, that Wouter fella is a Stroller. Word here in NE Philly is that Wouter invented the strolling procedures for shooters. It has caught on to millions and millions of photographers and other kinds of walking peoples, imagine that.

Sometimes when I’m on a walkabout, I think in terms of B&W and other times, not many but it does happen, Color. What does this have to do with the Fuji X100s? Good question and here’s the nitty gritty answer. The Fuji X100s can make either a B&W or a Color photo. I know, I know, hard to believe but it’s true. I hear tell other cameras can do this too but I an’t never seen one do it so I don’t believe it.

It should be obvious to you that my brain is on vacation and that’s why I’m posting like this. Sometimes we need to et the brain go on vacation because we start to over think what we are doing and how we are doing it and why we are doing what we are doing the way we are doing it. It can be a good thing to work without too much thinking. Luckily the Fuji X100s allows this non-thinking method of working because the engineers at Fuji thought about the thinkers and non thinkers using this camera.

Because of this thought out fact from the thinking and non thinking engineers at Fuji, we have a camera that doesn’t interfere with our work whether we are thinking or not thinking, the camera just works and does what it is supposed to do about what we want it to do and what we think it should do.

Sometimes there is negative energy on the street and some one may not like me making photos of their storefront and after they learn that I have the right to do so and now she understands, I make a photo of her and that’s that. I don’t bully anyone but I never run from confrontation. If she didn’t yell at me and call me an old man, well I would have remained the Proper Gentleman that I aspire to be but yelling at me and making empty threats… well…CLICK!

It’s an interesting thing this Life Photography is. I find it most satisfying and I will attempt to do it again tomorrow.

Peace be with you and always believe in what you do and who you are…………….if you don’t how can you expect other to…….

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August 6th, 2014 … Fuji X100s Proves Jimi Hendrix Wrong (more ramblings from the street)

August 6, 2014 streetshooter 34 Comments

Now we all know that Jimi had many things right. I mean a generation of people learned a new and brilliant way of thinking. Well, Jimi said one thing that I find as an untruth. “….ain’t no life nowhere….”. Well, here in Philly with Andre’ the Fuji X100s, if you look around “….there’s life everywhere….”.

When I was younger and had more innocence, hmmmmmm well innocence for sure, I would see the world as interesting place photographically. I adopted a premise for my work while in VietNam. See, I was surrounded by life of all forms but in a fraction of a second, the world was transformed to a place where nightmares are real and not dreams, friends I talked with and ate with and smokes with were no longer a part of this world and now they would be memories that would haunt me to my elderly age and still live inside my soul and mind.

The point of this is, that as many are taught to “See as if seeing for the first time”. There’s such a beautiful innocence in that statement and method of working, seeing.

I envy those that can live in a world like that and make photos.

For me it’s a different approach. I have no choice in how I work. I don’t want a choice either. I am doing everything wrong in my work and because of that, I am doing everything right in my work. I don’t ask opinions about my work and I don’t want or need them either. This work is my death, not yours.

For me, I works as if…”seeing something for the last time….”.

What’s the Fuji X100s have to do with all this? Think about it and then come back and continue reading. If I feel this way about my work, I need a camera that feels that way to. Ok, so the camera might not feel but it should let me feel, right. Well, that’s what Andre’ the Fuji X100s has to do with this. Andre’ lets me experience and photograph life as if I will never see the subject again. Try as hard as you will, you will never see the subject the exact same as you do right now. All things change in the blink of an eye or the beat of a heart.

Sound like sentimental bullshit. Ok, go look at photos of you family that passed on. I’ll wait for a min……………………………………………….. C’mon, dry the tears, we all have that emotional feeling for the lost moment. We all lost friends, family, pets, everything we get attached to or not attached to.

The assumption of seeing for the first time means that we can be arrogant enough in our work to think we have a power that if we blow the photo this first time, we can always get another later, better and more important… yeah, it’ll be better next time around.

I wish I had THE LORD tell me that my time is going to run for many, many decades and all be healthy years. I could go thru life not worrying about anything, not paying attention to anything around me and then the process of making photos would be different.

I do pray every night. I don’t pray for more time, more money, isn’t that being selfish? My prayers are my business but the point again is, I never got those messages from THE LORD or anyone else for that matter. So I figure that my time on the planet will run out someday I know this, I am ready but not yet. Doesn’t it make sense for me to make photos that are kinda like memories.?

So, If I photograph as if I’m seeing something for the last time, then when I look at the photos, they will have almost a private loneliness about them. lonely becaue I miss that moment right now and I will always miss that moment.

I wonder if that moment will miss me?

So I decided this summer I would just make photos because I can and because I want to. That’s what I’m doing and I’m doing most with my FujiX100s because that camera is a gas to work with. This of course doesn’t mean I can get away with bullshit because I can’t. I won’t let myself anyway. I will let myself work in a manner that pleases my soul and my heart.

Sometimes I wish I was the shooter that hated the camera being used. I mean, “this damn Leica, Nikon, Canon, Olympus camera never does what it’s supposed to do. I can’t get a shot right with this crappy camera.

Man o’ man.. lucky to be that shooter.

See, if I’m having problems out there finding my photos, it’s not the FujiX 100s at fault, it’s my fault. So I can’t blame anyone or anything but myself. I do that a lot too, ask my VA Shrink.

I’ll be back tomorrow my friends.

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August 4th, 2014 … Fuji X100s … Works Hand in Hand With … Ricoh GRD4

August 4, 2014 streetshooter 12 Comments

Penelope my Ricoh GRD4 was very angry but more than that, she was hurt because she felt neglected. Rightfully so I might add. Since I have the X100s, I haven’t really used any other camera at all. Not because I didn’t want to but because there was no reason to use anything but Andre’ the Fuji X100s. I feel real complete with this camera and even my Leica’s and Roger’s Leica’s don’t entice me to do anything.

It’s been a slow time for me shooting wise but not for The Inspired Eye. Time consuming is not a strong enough statement. Thing is, I am actually enjoying all the work for The Inspired Eye that Olivier and I put our hearts into.

I’m not getting much time on the streets but the little time I have is being used up by Andre’ and then penelope stopped me dead in my tracks the other day. She knows she has power love me with her pale white skin, sexi little body, feeling great in the hand….Of course, we have a love affair ever since we found each other a few years ago. So when she abruptly influenced me to take her out, well…who am I to question?

So, Penelope got me wanting to be working again and I promised her that I would get out more often and take her and Andre’ together, well, each in their own pocket. So I will start back seriously tomorrow and try to keep things going.

This is someones home. It’s at the 676 Underpass near 7th St. I mean I’ve seen and photographed many street homes all over the city but this was different. I crawled back thru the brush and then I saw like a living room, well designed. This house had cover from weather, protection from police or intruders. I saw on the ground a box that had supplies in it. So I put $20.00 in it and crawled out. On the sidewalk there is a fire hydrant. I saw the wrence in the weeds, smart person. Able to do laundry, bathe and have drinking water.

I’m gonna go by this house as much as I can to try to meet this person.

So I know those reading this blog are anxious for me to get back to work and I promise, I’ll start tomorrow.

Please remember that the OPEN CALL FOR THE INSPIRED EYE BLOG IS STILL OPEN.

Shooter out…. seeya tomorrow…..peace, whatever the hell that means anymore……

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July 23rd, 2014 … Fuji X100s… Dedicated To The Souls Lost In Flight MH17

July 23, 2014 streetshooter 19 Comments

Well, if your a regular follower of this blog, you’ve noticed that I haven’t posted too much in the last few weeks. No excuses either. No, I’ve been making some photos, not many but some. Nah. Not really sick, The VA with all the bad press, takes good care of me. We’ll i do have a passing but recurring illness. It’s a case of Igotlazytopostontheblogitis.

Olivier was no help during this time of perpetual laziness. He just kept telling what needed to be done and the deadline. Ya know what I need from the world at this point of time is not photography and it’s not my intent to say everything is just a pretty picture.

I am and have always been a CNN addict. That just means that I want to know what is going on in the world. The new effects me in different ways. For example, I am near to the Cold War in the Home front. Tanya and I don’t see eye to eye on the Ukrainian War. What does this have to do with photography? If you even need to ask this question, well… there’s other blogs you should visit. See, I have friends from almost every country in the world. I care about my friends. I get concerned about how things are effecting them. So just because something isn’t happening in your back yard, doesn’t mean that you get away unaffected, you don’t. No one is that lucky to just be safe and comfortable and not feel what the world is doing to people.

So I look at myself and think that maybe I am lucky and then realize, no one gets off without feeling for others. No one is immune to the world. I remember my friend/brother Paul McGuirk saying to me back in the early 1970’s….”Most people look at the World thru Rose Colored Glasses. I look at a Rose thru World Colored Glasses.”

So in a time of what seems to be numbness, maybe it’s just a time of self reflection. I mean I’m extremely effected by the Human Condition. I can’t escape it and actually don’t want to. The camera is an interesting friend for me. Andre’ keeps me in touch with myself better than any living being alive or dead. See, Andre’ keeps me in the here and now and because of that, with all the just going on in the Human Condition, I am at peace. Maybe it’s just a brief passing dream but when I’m making photos, the world and all the crap seems to dissipate and just lets me be at one with mother light and just work.

The illusion of peacefulness plays deep in my Eye, Heart and Mind. I am attracted to the people and things that are inside my head. I mean, I don’t make a photo unless I feel it. Maybe it’s not gonna be a masterpiece but I know one thing for sure. It’s my photo and it represents my time in the here and now while I walked upon the Earth.

And just when ya think your alone and feeling kinda desperate and lost, ya come across a gentle soul that looks at you for the comfort you are looking for.

This Post is dedicated to all those souls effected in The Horror of Flight MH17. May you all find Eternal Peace in the Hereafter and your souls be forever blessed by THE LORD. Amen

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer