Tag Archives: Streetshooter

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Streetshooter

Ansel Adams and the Zone System … One More Zone

March 11, 2015 streetshooter 12 Comments

Ansel set the stage for how we interpret the tonal range in our photos. The Zone System is the most followed course of work by the most dedicated shooters. It works and works well. I kinda think that there exist 1 more Zone that should be addressed.

The Zone I’m talking about is the Zone of Awareness. I suppose I have written about this many times over and over. I think I enjoy the rediscovery myself. I mean I love learning and relearning what I already know but take for granted because that’s what we do. It’s great to redo your stuff and when no one is looking, check your knowledge banks and recalibrate your way of thinking.

Photographers more than any other people have a tendency to repeat success. We get blinded by the idea that something works so we will do it over and over and even with variation to make a series or body of work, call it what you will.

So what we do is justify the failures we make so easy by using the photo that was a success to start a train of thought or series. Why is all this important? I’ll tell ya how I see it. Photographers really find it very easy to go to auto mode and kinda just drift and maybe make some photos that satisfy you. For most of us that’s enough and we are happy with this scenario. Now hold the F**K on! I am not one of those ppl but I have to write that I am so we are all equal in the shit we call the world.

If your out there and wandering around and shooting aimlessly and think it’s ok. Please move to the next blog. Let’s get something straight right from the get go. We are photographers, granted. We have different ideas, thoughts, working methods, desires cameras etc, etc.

There are a million variables, right. Well, hang it all up to dry. The common denominator is that we are all humans first and foremost. If your making photos of ppl then they are the same as you at the start. So what makes the serious shooter stand apart from the rest of the crowd? Awareness!

Awareness is what separates success from mediocrity. We can accept mediocrity from everyone around us but not from our selves. The Horror! It is an awareness of the self that makes us strive to do better for ourselves. It pushes us to perform better and to make images that work at the lever we want them to work.

So, that means to me that I have a responsibility to share what shit is in my mind with anyone that wants to digest it. I want the shit that’s in your mind so I can digest that. Ya know, here’s something so crazy it just might work. How about as shooters we share our work in different ways so that we all get the ideas of what other shooters think and feel.

Of course this is being done by many and it’s gonna catch on. What does this mean actually? I think it means that I want others to see what I was feeling and seeing and thinking as I’m working. I want other shooters to recognize the Zone that I strive to maintain as I work. I want the awareness of my self to be evident in the photos I make and share. This means that I will not be concerned about a level or success of the photos but only that the Intent shine thru and that the Eye, Heart and Mind cane be understood.

I’m doing more on this probably forever cause photography is my life’s work. Tomorrow more thoughts and photos…………………………………………………shooter out………………………

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Walker Evans and Nikon Coolpix A = Happy Tourist

March 11, 2015 streetshooter 18 Comments

Understanding the basic premise of photography is essential to understanding what you are doing as a photographer. That is that we see a three dimensional reality and abstract it to make a new two dimensional reality called the photograph. Now lots happens from point A to point B and that’s where each of us lives and works. That’s where we introduce our own set of variables to achieve the desired result, the photo.

So that should imply the necessity to understand what our variables are and how to play with them. How to seek and find the discovery of the photo and the self. Well, much of this is being in tune with your Eye, Heart and Mind. Together these elements will or will not realize your Intent.

Tourist have a much better awareness of this than die hard shooters. Tourist have a camera that pleases them and many different cameras in the tourist group. But, each has the camera that allows the least amount of intrusion when they make photos. Tourist are the most aware of the Here and Now. They are totally aware that this photo they are going to make is probably the last time they will see the subject in the flesh. They frame carefully trying to be in the Here and Now and make the best long lasting record of the moment of exposure and thus have the contentment that they succeeded in making the photo that lives in the album of their trip.

Ok, give me the shit. Tourist, c’mon shooter, your barking up the wrong tree. Am I?

I think not. We are all tourist thru life. No none gets a permanent Visa. You bet your butt your a tourist and ya better start thinking that way cause tourist are the most noble shooters out there. They don’t need to study the mechanics of photography, They just have to locate their subject matter, frame and make the photo. Catalog the photos into some kind of grouping and then decide where they want to travel to and make more photos.

Sound familiar? See, you are a tourist. Told ya. I love being a tourist especially in my home town. It allows me to feel free and open with the environment and ppls. This is not an illusion but facts and a way to work.

I’m at Love Park watching the tourist watch me and I feel happy. Being around tourist gets me to think and feel as they do. That’s a wonderful gift and I cherish it completely. I look to the fountain and I see this guy walking and screaming profanities that I never heard before. As I watched him I started to feel like I was seeing Moses and the lost Tribe. Something like that. He’s looking right at me and I raise Walker the Nikon Coolpix A and he lowers his head in a very humble position. CLICK!

I became anxious to see this photo when I get home.

Photos are not only a reflection of ourselves, they may also reflect others and in many ways. This is an anti-tourist photo. I guess that’s not entirely true cause if in fact I am a tourist, then this is a tourist photo. See what can happen if we dissect the natural process of what we are doing? Well, we must do that to understand what and why we are doing it and also to get a pathway to subject matter that we should be on.

I’m heading out to work and seeing where I can find some photos. I’ll be back later and write more. Post your thoughts plz as I need to know if this is interesting to you as it is for me.

………………………………………………………………….. To Be Continued………………………………………………………………

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

A Chat With Andre’ the Fuji X100s

March 9, 2015 streetshooter 5 Comments

Shooter, c’mere for a min. Well, I recognize that voice anywhere anytime. I also know Andre’ the Fuji X100s is gonna have his say on something but I don’t know what yet. Listen Shooter, the boys and girl on the shelves are a bit upset by some of your actions. Ya got the Canon EOS M2 on the shelf with flash, lenses. I gotta tellya Shooter, we are all upset by your latest acquisition. Even Penelope the White Ricoh GRD4 is like beside herself. She’s real cute by the way but I can’t calm her down anymore. Sexi little lens cap…mmmmmm.

Now, it’s been decided that The Nikon Coolpix A is now named Walker. This is not a request, we have decided that and end of story. So when you and I go out and it damn sure better be a lot, we are taking Walker the Nikon Coolpix A with us. Once again, this is not a request.

Now tell everybody about today and we will discuss the EOS M2 situation over a glass of Spatlese. later.

Finally a temperature that will allow snow to melt. So I take Andre’ and Walker and load them in the Cosyspeed. Wait for the bus and I feel it getting warmer every minute. Awesome. I can feel my hands and me fingers.

My ears aren’t numb as well as lower extremities and stuff.I set the clocks on the cameras cause Andre told me cause he knew I’d forget. I got my POW/MIA hat on so when I’m talking to Andre’ no one pays me any mind. I get to Market East and as I’m walking thru, I see a guy sitting by himself. I move past him and Andre’ says, you need to work, make this shot work. So I walk back, get Andre’ at the eye, slowly frame, and I mean I’m not hurrying at all. Then I release the shutter. The guy turns to me and laffs. He say’s it’s fuggin’ hot out. I say, well, you dressed for the cold bro’. He laffs and says you crazy mudder fugger. I smile cause he’s right.

I say, what makes me crazy? He says, how old you is? 65. You pay a mortgage? yup. You pay lectric and stuff? yup. He says, I told ya you waz fuggin crazy.

I’m in therapy for years and this guy gets me zero’d in, in a few minutes and tells me I’m crazy and now I believe him.

I wonder if he has office hours. Sometimes I feel disconnected and it’s an awkward feeling until I see what I’m feeling all over the place. People lost in the environment, lost humanity, just a sense of not being in the moment. Well, I don’t suffer from these things cause I’m always aware of the moment whether I am in it or not. Even if not, I’m usually aware that I’m not.

………but, maybe I need to get out again tomorrow with my dear friends, Andre’ the Fuji X100s and Walker the Nikon Coolpix A. Yes, good idea and I’ll continue the conversation with Andre………

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

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

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

February 22, 2015 streetshooter 14 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Truth Of Going

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Andre’ the Fuji X100s … 9 Months … Still My Best Friend

February 8, 2015 streetshooter 12 Comments

The time of slow down could be seen as a productive time for the backend of process. I mean, working LR and getting organized and cleaned up is always a good thing. It’s no so much that I live in chaos and disorganization, I don’t. I’m diligent about this sort of thing. It’s the Windows 8, Imac, LR camera, world meeting of the lost mind of one known as Shooter.

See, all my things go haywire and do it in a way that makes me think it’s a conspiracy of things, thoughts, principles and actions set against one known as Shooter, aka me. Luckily I take good meds and that assures me that it’s not just against me. I am not the only target. All youse out there are targets also.

I know, I know. No one wants to admit about the breakdown of the natural order of all photographic concepts and thoughts and principles are on the attack, but they are. What? You think only you get to feel the Winter Doldrums and have an excuse for not doing much. Oh, ye of little faith. Be it known that all things in the known universe are susceptible to the Winter Doldrums Fall Out and be lazy phenomenon.

So, with all this going on Andre’ the Fuji X100s beings the finest camera ever designed in the known universe and I’m told by the higher ups that he is also the finest designed camera that will ever be borne in the known or unknown universe. That’s saying something but damn right, I’m a saying it.

Oh, yeah… sorry. Racing thoughts happen to plague me and from time to time I don’t realize that I’m in a racing thought mode but sometimes I do and it doesn’t matter because by the time I get to the end of the racing thought train I forgot what I was thinking before I started the racing thought syndrome.

This is one of those times.

Andre’ felt we needed to get out and burn some battery power. So I cleaned his eyes and his rear accommodating visual apparatus for Shooter to see what he sees. We started walking and Andre was nice cause it’s cold and my hands were getting cold but his internal heating system puts out just enough heat to keep him from freezing in my hand. Film cameras like the M Leica don’t do that and you can get a frozen M to your hand and it ain’t pretty I tell ya.

We we are walking and he’s looking at the girls. Andre’ is a leg man. He gets that from 1st Generation Andre’ the Leica M4 from the 70’s. He made photos of legs that sold very well called Gambe’ Game.

We are walking and I’m still feeling detached from everything. I mean everything is there but I don’t feel connected. I don’t care about things because I just don’t. I do care about people. I love people and I’m told I may be a people too, imagine that.

Then why feel disconnected? Why is that detachment so obvious? Why care about it anyway? It’s an aura that we can’t see or feel until it presents itself to us. I am a BBC and CNN watcher. I get info from there. When I really want to see what’s going on in the world, ya know where I look? Flickr. Yup, that’s right. Flickr shows us what everyone is doing all over the world. It shows us how people are feeling and responding.

My flickr friends keep me focused on many things. Andre’ the Fuji X100s keeps me tuned to reality as we know it.

I walked passed this window and a woman was sitting there all alone in her store. No customers and kinda sad looking, I walked passed. I stopped in maybe 10 seconds. I looked at Andre’ and changed my exposure. Andre’said, go for it. If you mess up, I got your back and will change the ISO. I always trust him more than any camera I ever had. Wait a sec…. don’t gimme that shit like he’s the only camera I have. Don’t go there because the Leica crowd will castrate me. Get it.

I put Andre’ to my eye and then like magic, this woman looked me dead in the eyes. I mean I’m outside and she’s inside and I knew she would never know I was there. Then as I clicked the shutter and put Andre’ to rest in my hand, she smiled at me as if she knew I was a human being too.

I remember being about 10yo and climbing on the side of this building. That was 55 years ago and that building still remembers me. Maybe it made photos of me climbing or maybe it’s soul missed me because when I saw it, I was compelled to see my old friend in a photo. I wish I had a camera back then because then I would have better memories of people and things and pets.

Memories. Interesting thoughts. I mean when winter Doldrums hit and there’s nothing to make photos of, maybe then it’s time to make the real photos that will mean more as every day passes. It’s sad to get lonely but it’s sadder to get complacent with ourselves and life.

There exist nothing around you that doesn’t have the beauty of the universe in it. Just look at everything, no not like the first time your seeing it. That’s a bunch of shit. Look at anything as if it’s the last time you will ever see it. Make a photo of that experience and poooof, winter doldrums be gone.

speaking of which, I’m outta here till shortly……..

be blessed on your journey my friends………………………………………..shooter out…………………………………..

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

Winter Doldrums Defeated By … Walker The Sony RX100M3

January 31, 2015 streetshooter 12 Comments

Brrrrrrr, I hate it. Winter keeps me cold not just my physical being but inside also. Even my mind sloooooos down and tries to find comfort by the burning ideas region. It’s all smoke right now, no fire of ideas burning.

I try to live and work by the theory of Eye, Heart and Mind. It works but now, my eye and mind are very close in here but my Heart is down there a ways. The elevator from me head to me heart is out of service because it’s too cold. Usually this time of the year I work my LR catalog and get things ready for the new year. Usually this time of year LR always wants to mess things up with my hard drives and catalog. Well low and behold, the LR mess with shooter’s catalog and hard drive Gremlin is front and present. Oh yeah, everything is a mess. Don’t even think I’m gonna mees with today, hell no.

Anyway, back to the street. I guess that the doldrums are inside of us more than exterior. Ya get to feeling kind down and then it’s easy to place the blame on other things going on. Yeah, yeah. I’m more guilty of this than anyone I don’t know. I’t not like slump time, it’s more like focus your intent time. Time to recognize the moment with the eye, heart and mind then with many photos and seeking the moment in LR after the moment has passed. Winter doldrums could be the best tool and friend you ever have.

If your slowing down and focusing your Intent, maybe just maybe you can see the photos before you knew they were in the camera.

The Zen of Archery applies to the Zen of photography. If you go out with your camera and shoot a lot of frames thinking you’ll edit later in hopes of finding something, well, good luck. When I was an archer, I used scopes all kinds of things to help me hit the target. Just like a camera, load it up with stuff and go for it and not be from the ryr, heart and mind.

A friend Ray told me, Don, you’re a good archer but maybe you should start to enjoy it instead of making it work. I didn’t have any idea what the hell he was talking about. I was in the high 90’s all the time and that’s out of a possible 100.

I mean I had this stuff down. Then one day Ray took off all my stuff from my bow. I mean just the arrow rest was there. He said lets go find ourselves. Well, first off I was happy because another nut was now on the planet. Any way, Ray showed me how to shoot intuitive. So I started to like the feeling of standing my ground, looking at the target maybee 100 yds away and then set the arrow and breathe and just let everything go without intrusion. I would squint my eyes, draw the bow and feel the arrow come back to my chin. I closed my eyes for a second and could see in my minds eye the arrow hitting the target. I then opened my eyes and looked at the target, no aid to help me see… raise the bow and feel where it was to be, draw the arrow the to release position and let it go.I close my eyes for a brief second and then open and heart Pfttttt! Plumpt! I walked to the target and was amazed that I hit the target, no not a bullseye but I was close. I did this every time I went to the Archery range and the more I did this intuitive style, the better my hits were.

Here’s the relationship to what you do in life and now we are talking photography. A camera has to eliminate intrusions as much as possible. Yes, you can go out and shoot your brains out and maybe get something. If this is your style, you and I will have little to talk about.

When I wen to the target to see my hit, I loved seeing it in there and sometimes a BULLSeye. I mean, I did this with my feelings, I was aware of my intent and my eye, heart and mind all being aware in the here and now and I see the hit on the target and I claim it as mine. I mean really mine. I was there and remember the experience.

Shooting photos is the same. If your connected like this, the reward for you is that YOU are aware that you were there when you release the shutter and when you see it as a finished image, that image represents you in total. It is you. It is the experience as you recorded it totally aware of doing so.

Hey, ya know what. It’s too cold for archery and my back can’t do it anymore. Just go out and make your photos connected this way and you’ll have the rewards of loving what you do.

Stay connected to yourself and you’ll have the ZEN of life with you at all times.

Be blessed my friends, even youse that walked out of the room…………….

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

Winter Doldrums Defeated By … Andre’ The Fuji X100s

January 22, 2015 streetshooter 7 Comments

It’s no secret that Phila has not paid the Spring Summer weather service so now we have Winter. It’s ok, we just have people on the street freezing and homeless, people committing murders, divorces, marriages, babies being borne, young people and even old people dying. There’s lots going on here and maybe if I wasn’t so damn cold I could get off my azz from the couch and stop watching CNN.

Well, this is called winter doldrums and it’s a disease that creeps in when the wether gets cold and stays until it warms up. There is no known cure NOR HAS THERE EVER BEEN FOR THIS WINTER DOLDRUM SICKNESS.

So a few dayz passed and Tanya said get the hell off your ass and get some exercise. I thought to my self, Shooter, maybe she’s right. So I went upstairs to the office and sat at the Mac and started exercising my fingers by typing and opening LR and looking at photos.

Well, I damn sure felt better, no kidding, I be exercising this and exercising that and man o’ man, it was a good workout. Me brain cells even gitz werkin’. all 17 of em’. Then all the sudden, out of nowhere, I hear a voice. Now see, I’m allowed to hear voices as per VA Guidelines. I recognize dem dere voices so they are VA approved. No problems yet. shhhhhhh, closes the door to the office, pit’s Springsteen on, yup, good ole’ Bruce and then starts to listen to the unapproved voice that is not VA certified recognized warranted selected deselected and otherwise allowed to hear said voice.

Well, the voice is non other that Andre’ the Fuji X100s. He says, listen shooter. I doin’ care about you and yer fancy schmancy Leica’s, Nikons, Sony’s Ricoh’s Canon’s nuttin. You don’t get me out to work pronto, I’m a gonna give you the worse case of Mental Diarrhea ever suffered by any one in the history of mental diarrhea.

So beings da smaat shooter that I am, I grabbed Andre’ the Fuji X100s and we headed out. Well, he’s got it made ya know. He fits in my pocket to stay warm and then, yup you guessed it he gets me to hold him and keep him warm in my hand. Then he says to me, listen kid, you walk around and find the photos you want. DO NOT BOTHER ME until needed. So, I put him in the pocket and walked around. Then, oh yeah, then when all else was right in the world, I started to tune in to my inner self. It’s a dark place in there. No, no not because theres a demon or bad energy in there, sheeeeesh, I don’t have lighting inside so of course it’s dark.

Well, once I started to release everything about any preconceptions or expectations, wants or demands. I started to feel some images. Andre’ told me not to worry and just enjoy the moment. I really wanted to get into just being free with my camera but I was freezing my butt off. He don’t have a butt so what the hell does he know anyway.

All I know is this. I love making photos and the ones that I like the most are the ones that I like the most. The Winter Doldrums are def here and they ain’t going anywheres in a hurry but truth be told, Andre’ and I are up to the task of staying mentally flushed and not falling prey to the nothingness that surrounds us all….. more about this tomorrow…………..

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

Barsik The Cat and Andre’ the Fuji X100s Face Winter

January 15, 2015 streetshooter 12 Comments

Don’t worry, Walker the Sony RX100M3 was there also. See, I don’t really like winter. It’s not just the cold, or the lack of warm sunlight. It’s not that I have to wear 200 lbs of clothes and still be cold, nah.. not any one of those. It’s not even getting lectured how I’ll be cold if I don’t wear the proper protection against the cold, nope not that either.

It’s not just the cold on the cameras that makes my hands cold because I’m not wearing the gloves that Tanya told me to wear so I wouldn’t have cold hands and I know that cause it’s been that way since I was a kid and I still ain’t learned to listen.

No it’s not any one of those things I hate about winter, it’s the whole damn package. All of the above and more are problems for me. So, what to do?

Well, first make sure your batteries are fully charged as cold makes them get uptight too and they drain faster. Keep your lens and all glass surfaces clean. This is obvious right, don’t believe it.

The thing is for me… winter makes me aware how precious life is. I mean I see my beautiful garden covered in snow and the remains of all the work and all the love in a frozen state. I see the cold all over the world I live in and it effects my energy, my vision both internal and external. So I guess I’m stuck in a mode of not stagnant but kinda like slo mo forward with a lot of looking back. I mean winter is a slow down time. It’s a most important time and I look forward to it every year. Why? Well I slow down and smell the dead frozen roses.

It’s a time for reflection, a time for cleaning the memory banks and deleting those things recorded that make us complacent. It’s a time to dream about the warm weather and the body loosening up and how we can’t wait ti get out and really work.

Winter is a reality check for Lightroom. Oh yeah, I got the balls to say it. Time to work the catalogs, just ask Judy, she knows. Time to organize everything. Time to drink Kona in the morning and Spatlese at night.

I’m not the only one waiting for warm weather. All the birds in the world come to my birdbath. Now they just sit and wait. No camera, no lightroom, no Kona or Spatlese.

Just sit and wait…… patiently and in the cold and wait… yup, just wait………….

Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Andre’ the Fuji X100s at the Mummers Parade

January 10, 2015 streetshooter 14 Comments

Well Little brother Walker the Sony RX100M3 was there too. Actually I started with the Rx100M3 and after a few minutes wanted to get Andre’ the Fuji X100s warmed up. So I took andre’ out and like instantly, I woke up. I mean it’s like my old friend was glad to be with me and I was glad to be with him. He’s so much my partner that he preset the exposure to 1/250 f5.6 with auto ISO. There’s the possibility that I set that before I put him away last time but I know he was happy to be with me making photos and set my starting exposure for me. Yes, I believe in magic also.

See for me, making photos is the is the culmination of my life experiences at the exact second of release. I guess that the experience and the resulting images are the mark of awareness that I am alive and present in the here and now. Andre’ has a way of getting me focused to the awareness of life that no other camera ever did, except my Leica M4’s. It’s an intuitive process that makes me be in the Zone. The Zone is about the here and now and the awareness of the Eye, Heart and Mind.

Some may ask, why is it important, I just wanna make photos. Well, if your not in the here and now, where exactly are you? What is so interesting there that you aren’t in the here and now? If you are in the here and now, are you aware that you are or are you drifting aimlessly to no destination? Ya think this will have an effect on your photos, on your life, the heck with photography.

So what do I do as a shooter? Good question. My old buddy, Paul McGuirk many decades ago told me, “Don, you are a very keen observer. You observe with your heart not only your eyes.” I have a pain in my soul and he will never know how much I love and miss him.

So my photos are my observations of life. In the future and I hope a long ways out there too, I want people to know what the world looked like while I lived in it.

I may not be at one with the people in my life and I may not be at one with the world. I may not even be at one with myself.

I know one observation. I am at one with Andre’ the Fuji X100s and that makes me at one with myself when he’s with me.

Have a blessed journey my friends.

shooter out………………………………………………….>

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

Seasons Groovin’ With The Sony RX100M3

December 27, 2014 streetshooter 18 Comments

Tis the season the be Golly cause the RX100M3 is a awesome compact camera. I have been testing the camera and it’s done perfect with ease. Unfortunately, I am not on track to be doing to much shooting. I’ve been studying my diet. I’m really inso salad and not a big meat eater so, I watch Tanya as she makes the salad and avoid anger and divorce by not testing the Sony RX100M3 as she’s cooking.

It took me 9 years to learn that camera testing procedures don’t mix with Da Wifey cooking stuff.

The guy laying there, he’s not homeless, he’s drunk. Oh and that’s not booze running down the ground behind him either, that from the Philly open air

toilet system. Dude on the left is very cool. I see him down Market all the time. He makes money there but he always gives to the needy. For him, it’s Xmas all the time.

Ya know the 70mm is not hard to take. It draws me in and allows me to get close enough but still have a tighter crop. I didn’t like the long end on the Fuji X30 as it was too long and made me move back. I guess that’s a strong reason why I always preferred the 35mm on my M Leicas. This lens goes to 24mm on the wide end and 70mm on the long end. I’m not a zoomie lover but the RX100M3 is working it’s way into becoming a Zoom Liker.

The camera is named Walker after Walker Evans. We had a private naming ceremony and it was very nice. I named it Walker because Walker Evans was a very dedicated photographer that could do anything with any camera. He worked in every genre’ and did so beautifully. I remember Ding McNulty showing me photos and then he put Walker’s down on the table. I think at that very moment I had a real complete understanding on what photography can mean to life and death. This was after my tour of duty in Nam and I knew that Walker had influenced me and I hadn’t ever seen his work. So I name my Sony RX1003M after Walker Evans with all due respect and love because the camera can do just about everything and do it well.

I’m actually feeling inspired by the RX1003M. Well, that means something to me cause the cameras that live with me inspire me or they can go inspire someone else. So that’s a big statement in it’s own.

Ok, shhhhh I have a friend named Judy. She’s a good shooter and she has the same camera, different name but same camera. In fact, I don’t think Judy names her cameras so I have to have a talk with her about that. She did most of her work in the last year or so with the RX1002 and I saw most of her stuff and a lot is good. That kinda pushed me over the edge to get the camera.

So as a New Years Resolution I will do my best to keep this blog going and make it interesting. I want to keep this blog open to the readers so if you have a story and some photos, your welcome to let it come to life right here.

Have a good weekend and I’ll be posting again on Monday.

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

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer