Tag Archives: Street Photography

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

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 48 … Investigating the Olympus Pen F … MOJO!

February 25, 2016 streetshooter Leave a comment

The winds were howling all night due to the crazy weather patterns. I awoke a few times and then I stayed awake and went to the office to see my camera friends. They were on the shelves in the cabinet except for the new girl in town. She was sitting next to the PC named Sara. So, Serendipity told me she was anxious to see the city and make some photos. I agreed and we headed out. She said she wanted to be close to my heart so she wore a neck strap.

OOC

I haven’t figured the camera out completely and prolly never will. I just need to have a synergism with it and be able to do my work without intrusions from it. One thing I don’t get is Metering. I like to set metering to a Fn button and be able to go from average to spot, like real fast. I don’t have that yet. I’m holding off about reading the manual. I have not done that yet. I want to see how I intuitively adapt to the camera. So far very good. I am not at the point where I can just let go and get absorbed in making photos butI feel that’s what I was striving for. Not sure about that. I like the way Serendipity and I are together.

I’ve never had a camera where the OOC jpegs were just right. Now that I can’t use raw I’m getting into the processing engine in the camera. I will do raw but i’ll do it with the jpeg attached. The color shot up above, that’ OOC. The B&W above, OOC. I gotta tell ya, I love that front dial. I’ts nice to just change the screen real quick and see what ya wanna see. So I guess when Adobe finally releases the ACR for the Pen F, I’ll do raw and keep the jpegs as notes.

The hardest thing for me with this camera is breaking habits. I am focused on doing so tho’. First habit to break is the screen vs finder. I don’t like finders but I like them enough to torture myself. It’s very bright and clear but I still lost a few shots. Not because of the camera but because of my habit of using the screen. So I put the screeen away and have just the finder to use. I saw a shot and raised the camera and intuitively, looked at the screen, quickly, I used the finder. So, I have to break that and I will.

The other habit is the 35mm only habit. 35mm is my natural field of view.So it’s just a very comfy way for metowork. I started to challenge this 25 years ago and switched to a 50mm fov but always went back to 35mm.

So I went out with Serendipity and she had the 25mm 1.8 and that’s 50mm for me. It’s a nice feeling cause it’s not foreign to me cause I been beating myself up for 25 years trying to change my fov.

The idea is not so much a change of fov but to force a new way of thinking and seeing. The Pen F for some reason has a way of just adding to the experience of making photos. Maybe it’s due in part because of the excitement of a new camera but I’m old enough to know that’s just a start. The Pen F has MOJO. I’ts got a vibe that in an elegant manner, makes you want to work. I will say this. more then most shooters, famous and not so, I challenge a camera and photography more because of where I usually work. I work center city Philly and have done so for decades. So, inspiration is hard to come by. The Pen F is inspiring. It has me examining things I have done so many, manytimes. I find a lasting memory and click.

OOC

Ya know how ya get a groove on? I mean the streets are moving life around and you kinda slip into the clock of life. Then you are at one with everything and you have your camera with you. The feeling that photos are around and you just need to feel and find them.

The street is about life and life is about time. Time moves along and drags life along with it. We just need to bein tune with it all. There are many cameras that can be with you and many will create some kinda intrusion and break the flow of time. There are many cameras that can be with you and just be a part of your life on the street and just flow with you rhru time and space.

The Pen F is just that camera. I am just amazed at how the magic and mojo are in here.

I’ll be out again tomorrow and make some photos and post. Don’t expect any bad press from me on this camera. Ihaven’t anything bad to say.

I’m not getting paid from Oly and don’t really care what they do or say. Serendipity is my girl and our love affair is growing stronger day by day.

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

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 32 … Dark Street

November 19, 2015 streetshooter 5 Comments

It’s the time of the season…..Um, can anyone tell me what that means? I haven’t a clue. They say there’s a rhythm to life and we should try to feel it and move along with it. Well, the dude or dudess that said that for the very first time. I mean the inventor of that phrase was not from Philly. Oh yeah, we have rhythm all over Philly and that’s the problem. Ya get to walking along and then this car stops at a light your at and this music, well, they call it music is blasting out of the car. I see this guy 3 blocks away and I hear his shit all over. His windows are up, OMG! My camera vibrates and screws come out. the lens rattles, I feel my insides shaking… I run to the market cause now I need a, well… relief. What’s this got to do with making pictures you ask? Oh, my friends. Fear not for I shall explain now. Lucky that here in Philly we have underground sanctuaries away from noisy musical cars and trucks. Of course underground they filled most of it with the aroma called, Essence of Human feces and urine.

So, I depend on these underground sanctuaries to find a new light. Above is just one view of these places. The light is basically stable and controlled so you can see clearly into the darkness. We call these caverns, Concourses here in Philly. There are many people living in these concourses and they be the concourse dwellers. I make photos down there a lot so I am a concourse shooter.

Sometimes when I leave the concourse, I see an enigma. This could be the spirit of concourse dwellers past. Maybe it’s a ghost. Maybe just maybe it’s just a person coming in and I played with exposure to make that effect cause that’s what I see in my minds eye but remember my mind is on vacation so that means that my mind’s eye is now just my eye and well nah, that seems ridiculous. Why would I intentionally make a photo like like? My VA Doc says I don’t see these things anymore and when I do try to let it go away. I’m confused and actually I don’t care to analyze my photos cause I’m not a photo shrink and I accept my photos as they are after I make them ad they don’t need any explanation.

(Conversation with a student I know for a long time.) Don, I have a question. Ok +++. What? Why come you always making these pictures that seem kinda odd? Um, they don’t seem odd to me. Well, they seem odd to me and to many others. Ummm, well that seems odd to me.

Maybe the better question is, why does your stuff seem normal and my stuff odd?

I never sought to make odd photos. I never sought to fit into the crowd. I never sought to get approval on my work except for 2 ppl my entire life. Ding McNulty and Paul McGuirk. Neither are in my life anymore so I am alone and I wing it. I just feel my way, try to find something I can make a photo of and CLICK!

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 21 … Street …Finding Your Way … Change Your Way of Thinking

September 21, 2015 streetshooter 23 Comments

This excerpt is from the previous post so we can refresh our minds….

I asked if she could explain the rules of photography to me and she tried. “Street photography must be… it can not be, it has to have…. you can’t do this…..” So I told her that she has to free her mind and change her way of thinking.

She says that her teachers… told her that street is an attitude, or a way to think, etc. She asked me what I felt street was and I told her, street is a place to make photos. Attitude, come with me to Kensington Ave and make photos of the hookers, junkies and cops… now ya have attitude.

The beauty of art is, we are all in the same boat in the same place and yet those true to heart see things differently and attempt to make their art more of themselves then of and for anyone else. She had a glazed eye look about her and I recognized it because I adopt that look when I but a camera and Tanya finds out… I kinda just sit like a little boy with glazed eyes and act like I’m sorry for being bad.

Ok I will use the name Linda as she would rather not be identified by name. Ok, I get it… I told Linda not to worry cause everyone reading this knows me by streetshooter and no one knows it’s really Don Springer and I’ll keep her secret if she keeps mine.

I met Linda at 2nd & Market streets and we walked towards the Historic Park. Once we arrived, we sat on my favorite bench and she seemed kinda down in the dumps. We started talking and Linda said that much of her problems were due to her 2 brothers always telling her what to do. She bought and uses a Fuji X100s and they say it’s the wrong camera. Well, I told her that Andre’ the Fuji X100s would be beside himself. She smiled and asked me if I really named my cameras. I acted very surprised to learn she didn’t. So I told her first up is to name her camera. Quickly she named it Gina. She smiled and was glad at my approval.

So I asked her what mode she used on Gina and she said “A” 90% of the time. Then I started to explain the benefits of using “M” mode and we talked about it for a good while. So I explained that M mode keeps you in the scene and in the here and now. See, Manual mode requires you to have an understanding of light and exposure. You feel the light not just look at it and you feel the exposure not just make it. The she asked THEE QUESTION…. what happens if the exposure is off? I said my cameras, all of them have Auto ISO or I don’t have them.

So I took her camera and set it up like mine and she had settings that were like from another planet. I then showed her how to use Auto ISO and explained that this is the most efficient way to keep some control over what’s happening. I explained that if I set the camera to f5.6 1/250, the ISO will adjust according to the light to maintain proper exposure. So I could shoot for a certain aperture or shutter speed and the camera makes the ISO If I wanted to play more, I could set the exposure way off and the ISO would have to jump or lower to meet the exposure. So maybe in medium to low light I could push the ISO up by making the exposure force the ISO. Like I could set the camera to 1/250 F5.6 and the ISO would just to like 3200 or 64oo. This would give me qualities I might want in the photo. Like for example, grain and maybe irradiation in the high tones. Or maybe I would set the camera to like… 1/60 f/4 and then the ISO might drop to 400 or 250. This would give a cleaner image.

I figured that her and I need to get the mechanical issues under control before we get to the aesthetic ones. Of course, we need to get rid of the brothers issues before we do anything and that’s on Linda…….So I greed to meet her again tomorrow morning and work some more things out…..

Meds kicking in… gotta sleep…… ni ni alls…………………………………………………………….

Color, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 19 … Rainy Day … the Fuji X100s

September 10, 2015 streetshooter 13 Comments

So I’m on the couch watching CNN and I hear a ruckus upstairs. I start to walk up the steps and it becomes obvious that the noise is coming from the office or back bedroom. So, slowly I walk down the hallway, being very careful so the cameras that are sleeping don’t wake up. Quietly I walk into the office and there, there on the 1st shelf, there on the 1st shelf all by his lonesome is Andre’ the Fuji X100s dancing. Not a slow dance either. Ya’s gotta trust me here. If’n ya’s never saw a camera dance, well, Andre’ the Fuji X100s is dancing kinda like Disco. Oh, yes, don’t you laff at me, just because my camera dances and yours doesn’t, well, that there is your problem.

So I took the headphones off of Andre’ and as it turns out he was listening to Donna Summer. I figured, I ain’t saying nuttin, he gotz class. As I am bent over, Andre’ shoots a lasso of the Luigi Neck Strap at me and it goes right around my neck. I take this to be a subtle action that means he wants to go out. So I figure, any camera that can dance to Donna Summer, turn on the iPad and use headphones, find Donna Summer, throw a lasso of Luigi neck strap and get it right around my neck, well, he’s bad ass and I don’t mind being on the street with him.

Don’t forget my friends, he never woke any other camera up. That’s a feat in itself.

Andre’ says it’s raining and maybe we should call off the shoot. Well, at this point, I felt like the hero Andre’ thinks I am. I said, look my friend, there exist a beauty in the human condition under diversity that one should go to and not run from. Andre’ the Fuji X100s looks at me and says, look kid, your a nice guy, smoked toooo much funny shit when you were a kid but all in all, your ok. What does all this have to do with being in the rain?

Ya know, he had me stumped for sure, I couldn’t answer him so I made that face like… I’ll pull your battery out sucker…. sometimes ya have to just find a natural compromise with life and it’s inhabitants. I decide and Andre’ lets me decide to just be in the beauty of the rain and to just feel our way around. I don’t mind Andre’ feeling things hanging around my neck but if he’s in my pocket, I don’t want him feeling anything down there.

So we are in this really nice natural just wanna see and make photos of what we see mode. No expectations, preconceptions, wants, rules, suggestions, ideas, anything but just seeing.

Now I gotta tell ya, lets keep this between you and me. Andre’ the Fuji X100s is a great camera and a great friend. We have good conversations and everything. The thing is, When we are out working, he’s very quiet. Most he will do is let me have control and he usually set’s the ISO,. That’s it. So I think he figures by being this way, if the photos aren’t that good, it’s my fault and not his. Some friend huh?

So, when I teach a class there is always someone that ask me if I talk to my camera. Well, I say, what are you crazy, cameras can’t talk. Sheeeesh, we use mental telepathy to communicate. If they get that, they have a good shot at being a human being with a camera. If not, they will struggle their entire life looking for what they can never find.

So I had Andre’ hanging around my neck. I have my left hand covering his top and like a cover over the lens. Then my right hand can raise him to my eye and he stays kinda dry. I mean I didn’t get a drop of water on the lens all day. I made a lot of photos, well for me it’s a lot but I posted just a few cause that’s what I did.

Tomorrow if you remind me I’ll show you what I did to my thumb grip. It’s a great idea and I been using it like this for a while….

no no……. ya gotta wait till tomorrow… till then

…. be blessed on your journey……………………………………………………………………..

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 19 … Fuji X100s … Synergism for the Soul

September 8, 2015 streetshooter 8 Comments

Sometimes Andre’ is a pain in the butt. Oh, very sorry, Andre’ is my Fuji X100s and my Camera Soul Mate. Yo’ hold up now. My other cameras are certainly my friends and they have names too but Andre’ the Fuji X100s in my Soul Mate.

Here’s how it all started. It was May 20th 2014. I got a brain call… oh, sorry, some people call this mental telepathy, others call it intuition, my shrink calls it, 30 days to cool down. Anyway, I was watching CNN and I got a brain call. My brain accepted the call and it was from some camera in NYC. So, my brain just being back from vacation said,”take this call shooter”. So I did.

On the other end of the line, now I don’t know if it’s actually a line like I’m giving youse right now but it’s something. Shooter, this is Fuji X100s and I’m stuck in a damn box in B&H Camera Store in NYC. I’m Black and I need you to buy me cause otherwise you will never make a good photograph as long as you live and in the here after every shooter will shun you. Well, I gotta tell ya’s, that kinda haunted me for about 3 minutes and then I sad to the camera stuck in a box in B&H camera store in NYC….how do I know your the real thing? I gota goodz cameras, Leica’s all over and a darkroom and digital cameras and computers… so what makes you think I’m gonna buy anything your saying?

The camera stuck in the box in B&H camera store in NYC said to me, shooter, I am your Soul Mate. I kinda shivered cause some woman I married said that to me and well, …anywayz…. So I pulled the card and paid for the camera… you know which one already. In case ya just arrived, just read back a little and it will be explained about the camera stuck inside a box in B&H camera store in NYC….

I know I get overnight shipping from B&H without extra cost from UPS. Soo I tried to settle down and get some sleep…………………………….snore…snore…toss….turn……racing thoughts again…..snore…..

I had a good night sleep thinking about my camera….uh huh… got ya….. I mean 1 hour is always enough to be tired all day and stay on the couch watching CNN while waiting fir UPS to bring my new Soul Mate home. Ding Dong…. it took me 2.445677965 seconds to get my ass off the couch, into fight mode to the door and open it. I sign the ipaddy thingy and the UPS guy says….. good luck sir, this box wouldn’t stop talking all the way from NYC. Yup, he said it kept saying…yipee I’m going home….yup….yippee…..

I looked at him and told him my DR would love to have a conversation with him about this…. he smiled and left. I sit the box on the table and just look at it. Then.. very slowly I can see the box move a little…gasp…..! I extend a hand cautiously to the box… slowly I moved my hand to the box…. breathing deep… eyes wide shut…..then… all the sudden.. the tape holding the box together starts to unravel itself…. slowly as the box moves by itself, and the tape unraveling a voice… I look around.. no one home… me brain… not home either soooo I listen

Shooter, get your ass over here and cut this box open and get this tape off. Do I have to do everything?

Look, I was in the Army, the Infantry. You learn to take orders and if Sgt says drop, your ass is on the ground before he said it. So I followed orders and slowly cut the box open with my trusty Buck Side Kick. Inside was another box, oh my… not again… please, me head hurted already and my brain isn’t on site. Well, it’s a Black Box that says Fujifilm on it. I reach down and ever so slowly, carefully… meticulously place my hands on the box. The box shakes just a little… and the voice says… shooter, open the damn box, I’m waiting inside. So I do it, I’m damn 11B and shit nothing on THE LORDS green earth scares me anymore. I open the box and there lying all wrapped up in plastic and cushioned like jewelry is a Black Fuji X100s just looking at me.

The I hear the camera coughing… I said what’s the problem. The camera says, ever see those signs about not covering your head with plastic….? I said, of course…. WELL THEN GET THIS RKJKHAFO;LASYKRZDHFL OAWLIYHFC PLASTIC OFF OF ME, i CAN’T BREATHE. So I take the plastic off and the camera breathes a sigh of relief. It says to me, let’s get a few things straight. I am a male. Care to see my Male Camera Organ? No thanks… I smiled. Never seen a camera penis and really don’t want to anyway. Camera says, ok you need to charge a battery and I said I have like 10 from your Grandpa X100… and I have one charged already.

I slip the charged battery into the yet unnamed male black camera. I turn the switch on and he says, do the settings like time and date and I got the rest. Now, I’m wondering what was in those mushrooms Tanya made for dinner but I gotta tell ya, I hope she has more cause this is a trip and a half.

So the camera says to me…shooter, word all across the world is that you name your cameras and recognize the contribution that we cameras make with your photos. I said yes, I am sensitive to the needs of cameras and well as they are sensitive to me.

The camera says to me… ok, what’s my name? I said to the camera, your name is Andre’ after Andre’ Kertesz.

……………………………………….. more tomorrow if your interested and if you’re not, how come………..

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 13 “Hit The Road Jack… and “

August 17, 2015 streetshooter 4 Comments

OMG Shooter, get off it dude, ya been whining for long enough. Get yer ass back to work and stop this simple shit. Ok, ok, cut me a break aight. That’s how Walker the Pen 5 treats me. No time to slow down and no pity. So, the shooter bluez are “Hit the road Jack and don’t ya come back no more, no more”. Hey youse all know I name my cameras and have conversations with them so when I get the bluez, they are called Jack, what else?

So I am rediscovering the 50mm FOV. I had a desire to work with it as my primary lens at the turn of the century. Well, it only took 15 years and I am trying hard to adapt to the 50. Youse can think I’m crazy as a loon but I don’t really care. I know that adapting to another FOV can happen 2 ways. The first is to just use it and have fun, nah, not me, I ain’t looking for fun, I’m working, it’s my life’s work ya know. I like to have the FOV become my natural FOV. Right now and for decades it’s been 35mm.

Here’s what this means. You walking and see something that you want to make into a photo. You look and raise the camera and at this precise moment, you will make or break your image. If you raise the camera and see the frame is way off, if you think you can just zoom by feet you are wrong. Many teachers say to just move in or out but this is wrong. What attracted you to the frame is the subject and the perspective. If you move when you get to the frame, you change perspective. That is controlled by CAMERA POSITION. So ideally, when the camera is at the ready, your framing is very close to what you visualize in the image is what you get.

I was on Market Street and I saw this family walking hand in hand. I thought it so beautiful to see this connection in the city where there is very little connection. Maybe I made the photo because I loved seeing hat connection and maybe it woke me up and I realize that it is my issues out there, I lost the connection. Simple huh, bullshit. I now know what I lost and now I seek to find it again even if it takes a new form.

So shooter is out there again and going strong.

Be blessed my friends…………………….end transmission……………………………………………

Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Streetshooter … Thoughts and Findings … Defining and Finding “Intent”

May 5, 2015 streetshooter 11 Comments

Sometimes I just want to make photos and not for any other reason then the enjoyment it gives me. Whenever I do tho’, I feel guilty. I feel like I’m not working which is bullcrap. I mean I still get my 5 miles walk in. I’m still carrying my camera. I’m still trying to find my photos and trying to allow my photos to find me.I would think it’s a matter of intent but I know that is wrong. My intent is to make photos. I feel that everytime I pick up the camera, Hmmmm. So what is happening when I feel that I’m somehow working different but I’m not.

So if I’m doing things kinda the way I do things and I’m thinking about things the way I do and the camera is too, where is the variable?

Maybe it’s not me at all. Maybe theres some kinda Kinetic energy from the subject matter that is working in a strange way and maybe I am responding to that energy in a different way. Nah, even if that’s true, I can’t let it alone like that. I am accountable for everything I do and make in this world. There are no accidents and there is only my incompetence or inability to deal with life and all things living or dying or dead. So that must mean photographically that I am the origin of my work and I don’t accept that. I believe that I am only partially the origin of the work. That must mean that I am only partially accountable for the things that’s don’t work. Mayne this sounds like a bunch of contradictions and maybe you think you don’t have these issues but I beg to tell you that you do. I see it as more an act of discovery. I’m 65 and been a shooter all my life but doing something for a long time don’t make it right, it just makes it a long time coming.

It is also said that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is insanity. I have my VA Shrink, what’s your excuse? So maybe it’s the fact that I work in Center City all the time, well, most of the time that is finally taking a toll on me. Funny, I was shooting Market Street for a while last year and I felt like this. So I took the Elevated Train out to 69th & Market. I walked around about 90 minutes, went back to Center City and worked for 5 months and never felt stifled. That alone amazes me. I mean it’s not like going to Paris for vacation. It’s just a few miles away from my normal stomping grounds.When I’m having these moments, even changing cameras means nothing. I just see the same shit with a different camera.

I write this because I know everyone with a camera goes thru this. It’s normal and it might seem like the doldrums will never pass. Well, let me point a beam of light onto the subject. I think for me, it’s more internal then external. I mean if I bring up the old preconceptions that are harbored in my mind and heart then my eyes shall see them as old preconceptions. Regardless of my intent, I am destined to fail.Sure, I’ll make photos and sure I’ll probably like some but, I wont get what I am looking for because I am not connected on all levels.

Here’s some things I discovered and figured out. I am not claiming to be the inventor or Doctor of Photography. I am just a guy that’s made photography a very important of my existence and these are things I try to live by.

There are 3 facets to photography. Eye, Heart and Mind. The Important thing is INTENT. Try to visualize a Pie. In the center is INTENT. Equally at three points are Eye, Heart and Mind. There are 3 parts because Intent is why you do things and not how you do things. The other 3 are how you do things. All parts are the sum of one and effect each other at different times.

Now I am distracted on the streets and don’t know why. SoMy intent is to make photos and my heart and eye are working together butmy mind is preoccupied with why it isn’t working right.

So if the center of the pie is intent and lets say, that’s where the photo wants to live,it’s impossible because even tho my intent is good and my mond and eye are good, my mind is on vacation so I can’t get what I want because the system is failing. All parts must work and if one part doesn’t, well, don’t fight or pressure yourself like me, just go with the flow and in time it will fix itself.

Thee is a place I try to live in most times but I can’t be there all the time because I’m human as you and it’s impossible. The place is called, “The Here and Now”. To get there you must apply the principals I just described. If you don’t know where this is, it’s no on a map, it’s not found by Google, no GPS will get you there. The only way is to Understand and LOVE your Eye, Heart and Mind and then when your out shooting, pay attention to the MOMENT because that’s where you need to be to be in the HERE and NOW.

If you think this is nonsense, well look at your work. I promise you that this is where your images live. They may only speak visually but you need to be able to understand why and how you came together with the. If your not in the here and now with your camera, where the hell are you and why?

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

Streetshooter … Thoughts and Findings … Life From The Street

April 30, 2015 streetshooter 6 Comments

Sometimes it bothers me when people don’t get an image I post.

For me this is life on the street. I mean of course it’s not all life but a figment of life where she is and where I am at this here and now. I relate to this as being alone amongst the masses. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, just saying it’s a feeling. See, I respond to the street in the way I feel. I feel this image because I feel alone out there and this makes a statement that I felt. Sometimes a photo is poetic in the visual experience. Other time, the poetry may be inside us and not visually portrayed so easily. There is no right or wrong, there is just the work. So do I accept my photos because they are a part of my essence and ask nothing more from them then to simply exist? Maybe I should put them out to mass media like Flickr and let my Flickr friends take the responsibility on approving the photos or rejecting them and fucking up my mind?

I guess I’m as guilty as everyone else and I’ll do both. Of course doing this completely contradicts my intent as a photographer. Well, it doesn’t really but it puts my intent in front of the camera and my shrink for further analysis and discussion. Long ago I made photos because I just wanted to and was immune to output from anyone. I just was in a groove and loving what I was doing. Bliss I believe they call it.

Now I make photos because I need it more than breathing. I make photos because I must and have no choice and don’t want a choice either. Now I make photos because I want to.

Now I make photos because not from love of photography anymore but because I LIVE photography.

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Streetshooter

Philly Street … Thoughts With … Olympus Pen EP-5

April 22, 2015 streetshooter 16 Comments

So I grabbed Ruth the Olympus Pen EP-5 and an extra battery and a lenspen. The camera has the Lumix 20mm f1.7 II. We headed out the door for the trip down to Center City, namely Market Street. There’s a feeling on the street something like we are all coming out of hibernation. For me it’s like breathing. I met a young shooter from Philly and we chatted for a minute. He had those fancy dancy headphones on. I asked him what he was listening too and he replied 80’s rock. He asked if I listen to music while I work and I said, the street is my music. His head went back a little and his eyes squinted somewhat. He had that look my shrink gives me when he ask how I’m feeling and I tell him I don’t feel. Well, that’s the look.

He asked me if I was nervous about taking photos on the street and I told him I’m an American and I have The First Amendment as my protector. Then we sat and sipped some $50.00 burnt Starbucks wannabe coffee. He said he likes it and his wife does too and it was then I realized he was more fucked up then me. ….but we got into a conversation about making vs taking photos. Now it was I talk and he listened and sipped the Starbucks rustocoffee. So he wanted to know whar the difference was and could I explain it where it makes sense. So I sipped my spring water with a slice of lemon and started to explain about Intent and the aftermath of it.

After 15 minutes he started to understand and he thanked me for the free lesson. OMG, a lesson, ok dude, your welcome. I didn’t know it was a lesson and then, then all the sudden it occurred to me that everything in the universe has the ability to teach and to learn. So even on the streets making photos the energy you receive is equal to the energy you send. So your intent is to make photos but ya know, you aren’t in it alone. Those that think they ARE EITHER SUPER EGO MANIACS OR JUST FRUSTRATED WITH LIFE. If life is a give and take miracle then it stands to reason that photography is also. So that means that we think we are the origin of our work but that’s not true. We are not alone in life.

Our photographs and I am only talking about photography, are a collaboration between life and ourselves. We hope for and strive to find a synergism with the street and make the photos that represent that synergism. We can not rightfully state that we are the Origin of our work. There are those amongst us that think they are the Supreme Image Maker and that life had nothing to do with their work. Bullshit!

If your out there and your not tuned into life and the street, then you may as well drink that shitty coffee because your better off not destroying your energy. If you are like every reader that ever was or ever will be on this blog, then you are aware that you don’t take any photographs, you collaborate wit Mother Light and The Street and you make your photos.

Tomorrow is another day and if I wake and am healthy, I’m hitting the streets. I hear tell Life is out there and I’m gonna look for it.

…………………………………………………….end transmission……….shooter out…………………………………………………………………

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Streetshooter

Philly Streets … April 7th, 2015

April 7, 2015 streetshooter 9 Comments

I took Ruth out for a walkabout a few times and I have to admit, she’s wearing on me. No, not cause Ruth is my Mother, but because this Ruth is my Olympus Pen EP-5. I must admit, OLY did a smashing job on this camera. I knew this 19 months ago but forgot because I just did. So now it’s like a rekindled love affair.

If there’s one reason and only one reason to love this camera it’s the AF. Simply put, there is no camera that focuses faster. My favorite M43 lens is the Lumix 20mm. I had the original version and now I use the 20mm 1.7 ll. This lens is known to not be the fastest focusing lens in M43 world. Well on the Pen EP-5 it.s lightening fast. No joke, it comes alive on this camera and the camera comes alive with this lens. This and the fact that you have a 5 point IS system that works and is amazing, makes a streetshooters dream come true.

Don’t let my

photos leave a bad impression of the IQ of the camera. It’s about pristine to 24oo and 3200 is excellent. The images compete against my Fuji X100s and are equal to it up to and including these high ISO’s. Amazing, I tell ya, amazing. Ok, ok so I am not the most neutral shooter with this camera. Fact is I don’t have to be and I’m not. I loved the EP-1 when it was released and this is light years ahead of the excellent EP-1.

Ya know, first time in a long time I’m having fun again. I mean the EP-5 is a gas to work with. It makes me feel like shooting and it’s all metal so It’s protection in seedy neighborhoods, not that Philly has any like that.

The thing is with cameras and me, is if I don’t love it, then maybe someone else will. I’m a shooter and more than that, a street shooter. I have no times for nonsense with cranky cameras. These photos represent play and learn time. I’m just groovin’ on life as I see it and enjoying being a shooter. The streets are coming alive and ppl are mosyin’ around. The battery is charged, lens is clean, the smell of exhaust is in the air, trucks and busses and cars are making loud noises, the light is starting to cook and it’s almost warm enough to go with a light jacket.

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer