Shooting in central London recently, experimenting with my new Zuiko 17mm F1.8 lens. I think this is a perfect focal length for street photography as it equates in real terms as a 35mm focal length, and works perfectly with the OM-D. The guys jeans stood out and complemented the blue sky in the background.
To brighten up the winter blues I revamped a slideshow of images I took back in August last year. It’s a summers day at Camden Market…. music pumping, smells of street food cooking and the Camden crowd with their quirky dress sense and hair do’s…… Well worth a visit, and don’t forget to haggle!
Here’s the YouTube slideshow. The images were uploaded at Low Res, so may not look too good at full screen.
All taken using the fabulous Olympus OM-D with a Sigma f2.8 30mm lens.
I am an avid Twitter user, tweeter, tweeb… whatever you like to call me!… obviously being an Olympus user, I follow most things connected with the brand. So one day I came across a tweet by Olympus UK asking for submissions for an upcoming feature in the Olympus User Magazine… why not, I thought.
I am predominantly a street photographer, I walk the streets and take photographs of things/people/situations/objects that interest me. I’m not into deep heated discussions about what is and isn’t ‘street’ apart from when it obviously is not!
I try to set myself small projects when out, this way it makes things a bit more interesting for me. One of my longer term ‘projects’ is that of the ‘off duty chef’. These guys nip out between services for a quick smoke or a phone call, often in shop doorways, often on the back streets out of sight of customers. So I started to build up a body of images depicting them, and pretty soon it turned into a bit of a fine art, predicting where I would bump into them, and what times they are out. I really respect them, they are hard working, often long unsociable hours, often miles from home.
Anyway… this what I presented to Olympus, and it did get published in their magazine on about page 9 here… http://content.yudu.com/A20gyv/OlympusMagIssue5/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=
Here’s a couple of pics.
ps. @bobrhodesphotos is my twitter handle…. feel free to follow!
Continuing with the flash experiments, I got this image a few nights ago in Soho. What do you think?….. Is it a Fluke, a Fake or Straight Up?
Street Photography for me is about freedom and being able to push the boundaries of our personal comfort zones. For me I had the opportunity to explore my comfort zone limits this week. I usually shoot in the daylight hours, and I did manage to squeeze in a few hours, but this week I was going to see a fantastic exhibition at Tate Modern meaning my day would be shorter than usual.
My mojo was at a bit of a low, as we all go through at some point photographically speaking, and I figured this must be a way to get back on track. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/william-klein-daido-moriyama Featuring the superb work of William Klien and Daido Moriyama.
It did the job, it was also almost dark outside, so I thought to myself this is the ideal time to try something new. Flash.
I was as usual shooting with the Olympus OM-D using my 30mm Sigma. ( after reading the various reviews and comparisons of the Sigma 30mm v Panny/Leica 25mm I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not worth spending the extra money (for me), and will keep the Sigma.) I also used the superb little flash unit that comes with the Olympus. After trying various settings I settled for 125th/f5.6/auto ISO/fill flash. I will experiment more when I have more time, but this seemed ok for now.
I was a little apprehensive to say the least, I have not worked this way before, and you can’t exactly escape the fact that you are taking someone’s photograph! In daylight things are much more anonymous, with flash you stand out like a sore thumb!…. This is right outside the comfort zone for me, and took some time to settle into it. I was choosing my subjects carefully too, hopefully the groups of girls I photographed weren’t going to beat the shit out of me! As I was getting braver, the time was getting the better of me and I had to go, next time out I’ll have longer and will experiment more and push My boundaries a little more.
Here’s a few pics….. next time you are out, push it a little…. you never know ’till ya try!
So here’s a few pics, I wont label them so you can look into them and maybe see what I was thinking when I pressed he shutter. All taken on the stunning Olympus OM-D using the kit 12-50 lens, which I think is a very versatile bit of kit actually, although looks wise I don’t like it much. I am hoping for a Panasonic/Leica 25mm f1.4 eventually, I think this will be ideal for street photography, as I am lover of prime lenses.
Later in the day, I was wandering aimlessly…ahem! walking with a purpose, around Soho. The early evening light was stunning, and I found just the scene to use it.
I went out yesterday with a couple of pals from my Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/groups/streetphotographersuk/. Starting point was Canary wharf, shooting around the sky scrapers here really makes you feel small, but at least the stormtrooper security guards didn’t bother us, I think partly due to the fact that none of us were carrying dslr’s. Using the smaller more discreet camera’s such as my Olympus OM-D has so many advantages over the bulbous over weight dslr camera bodies, and not getting noticed by security is just one of them!
After debating over coffee on the next location, we ended up back on the tube up to Bank station and walking up the river into town. Up through Soho and to another coffee shop, this time the superb Milk Bar sister cafe to the famous Flat White coffee shop near Soho market. Streetphotography is turning me into a serious coffee head! I can’t possibly drink instant now!
A mooch around here and then up to Oxford St. via Regent St. Oxford St was manic as usual, with potential shots coming at you at 100 mph. I probably completed 2.5 laps of Oxford St in total on top of all the other plodding around, no wonder my bloody legs ache so much after these days out!
Any way pics…
