Friday Night, April 10

Without getting into a long explanation that is extremely unimportant to this post, I was invited to someone's birthday party at a local pub a few Fridays ago, but I had prior plans.  The plans didn't last as long as I expected and I ended up meeting the birthday group later that night.



The party isn't all that important, except for the fact that it made me walk around the Market for a good 40 minutes.  (My buddy was tired, I left his place and got to the Market about 40 minutes before the party was to meet there.)  I spent my time, of course, walking around taking photos.



I hadn't done that, at night, in the Market, for a long time.  I am easily a creature of the night.  I dislike mornings and seem to wake up when the sun goes down, especially if I'm already outside.  I love walking around at night taking photos; I just don't get much opportunity to do so.  I suppose I could easily go out and do it any night I choose, which is absolutely true, it's just rare I am outside at night waiting do to something with some time to kill.



I feel that the city during the day is functional, and not much more, especially during the week.  People wake up, go to work, and come back home, occasionally going to some store or other to buy something.  It's all very sterile and orderly.  At night, especially getting closer to the weekend, the city comes alive with vibrancy and diversity.  During the day, people have to dress appropriate to their jobs, and have to act appropriately; at night people wear the clothes they want so they can act like themselves and have fun the way they like to have fun.



With my trusty Canon S100 (though I don't know how long I'll be calling a Canon camera 'trusty'), I set out to wander the Market as soon as I got there, as I knew I would be waiting for people to get where they're supposed to go.  The camera is small and discrete, but has good focusing and good low-light performance.  I've never really been disappointed by this camera.



Walking around, I generally took shots of what I wanted to take shots of.  I did miss one photo opportunity, though I'm not too disappointed I missed it.  I did walk past it (which is bad), but got my thoughts together about the shot I wanted and did a 180 to go get the shot (which, I consider, for me, a good thing).  It was somewhat chilly outside, and there was a girl in front of a club, waiting for friends, being very cold, in clothing that was more appropriate for inside the club.  By the time I got back, the shot was gone, but I was proud of myself for trying.  (Again, this come down to my goal for 2015.)



You'll see things at night that you probably won't see during the day.  For example, as I rounded a corner, I saw this guy doing one-handed push-ups on a corner.  I had to run to get a shot of the guy before he got up and collected money from the people he was performing for.  At night, people are a lot more lubricated and a lot more likely to entertain this type of performance.  Again, more life and diversity at night.



I hope I can do this many other times this year.  I guess that's up to me, but I suppose that if I have a reason to be downtown, I'll feel a bit better.  This can be another goal this year: be more active at night, which I like.

The First Day

Inevitably, in the same way that there is a last tolerable day where photography is able to be done, there comes a day where the cold temperatures break and it's again possible to walk outside and take photos without fear of your fingers falling off.

I remember a few years back (4, to be specific), I got so tired of not being able to take pictures, that I walked outside the first day it was relatively warm.  As I remember it, I walked around for about two hours, in massive amounts of rain/sleet, in massive amounts of slush (as it was just over freezing).  When I got back home, there was no piece of clothing that was dry and took a long, warm shower as soon as I could.  As much as I dislike being uncomfortable when I take photos, I really enjoyed walking around that day.  It was shooting in conditions I'd never shot in before (or, to be fair, since).

This year, the first actual nice day of shooting was April 3rd.  I walked around for some 5 hours and got a sunburn on my face.  It was a very nice day, being sunny and around 15 Celcius, and the Market was pretty busy.  It was a bit strange getting back getting in the swing of things and trying to take pictures of random people.  I've been in the Market a few times since then and I'm getting back into the groove of things.  Getting back to my Leica is a bit weird, after not really touching while the weather was freezing.

All the shots in this post today were taken on that day, and, like I said, a few were nice.  My Flickr page has a few extra ones.  I took a few shots I was happy with, but I have to get into my photography mindset.  Already this year, there are a few shots I wish I'd taken.  I am getting better at this, though.  A few times after I walked past a nice shot and wished I'd taken a shot, I've walked back to try and get what I wanted.  Unfortunately, in some instances I've missed the shots, but such is the case with such a transitory type of photography.  I will definitely try to not think about repercussions and shoot before thinking about it this year.

That is my goal for 2015.

Ribfest Street Photography

Ottawa, for photography (of any kind), is a great place: it's the country's capital, and so is filled with culture in the form museums, tours of various kinds and events and festivals of every kind.  For example, the weekend that just passed saw the Busker Festival, most of which I unfortunately missed.  There's always next year.  There are also great landscapes (say, Gatineau Park) not too far from downtown.  Music festivals abound, as well, with everything from Escapade to Bluesfest to the Chamber Music Festival.

One of these such events is Ribfest, which generally happens in mid-ish June.  (This year, if you care, from the 18th to the 22nd.)  Being a big fan of Digital Rev and Eric Kim, and admiring the videos of Street Hunters, I decided to do my own walk-around video.  I was a bit nervous shooting this, but once I started shooting, my video shooting didn't seem to matter too much; people didn't seem to notice or care I was using two cameras at once and I was more preoccupied with shooting photos than worrying about my video.  I basically walked down Sparks from beginning to end and back, snapping things I found interesting.  Beware: lots of ribs in this video.

I gloss over a few things in the introduction of the video and I'll quickly go over these now.  The video was shot with my Canon S100, which I was holding in my left hand and I was shooting with my Leica M in my right.  I shot all the photos with a Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 lens (bought from Digital Rev, incidentally).  The two main reasons for the lens choice are twofold: one, leading up to Ribfest, it just seemed like the best choice of the three lenses I own to get the mood and look I wanted to capture; and two, because I was shooting with one hand, I couldn't futz around with focusing, and at 15mm at f/5.6 or smaller aperture, pretty much everything was in focus.

Another thing about this lens, as Ken Rockwell points out, is it's not ideal on a digital sensor, as there's a lot of funny colours on the edges of the shots.  This is absolutely true.  I don't mind the purples on the edges, as I think it frames the shots nicely, and because everything was shot on the same lens, all the shots have somewhat uniform look.

I had a lot of fun doing this thing and when I find a friend, or if I can convince my cat to hold my S100, I may use my 50mm lens in a later endeavour. Let me know if I can improve on anything in the video, or if you even like this video.  It's long at over half an hour, but I like this type of video, and so I hope you like my contribution.

Humble Beginnings

Everybody has to start somewhere; one wonders what Henri Cartier-Bresson's first ever photos looked like.  (I do, at least.)  My very first camera was a Polaroid my father gave me when I was 5 or 6 or so (and to be honest, at this point I'm only guessing given it's so long ago).  I don't remember which model, but, as with everyone's first Polaroid if you grew up in the analog age, it was one of their instant cameras.  At 13, I got a Pentax Espio 115, and it served me extremely well.  If I was so inclined, I could put a battery in it right now and it would be perfectly functional, giving me great photos (though it needs to be cleaned slightly).

The first digital camera I had any relevant experience with was my ex-girlfriend's Sony something-or-other.  It was a small pink camera (she was that kind of girl).  The first digital camera I personally owned was a Canon EOS XSi/450D/Kiss X2.  (I knew I was into photography by then.)  For those actually interested, I bought it as a Boxing Day sale in December 2008 (the 28th, as I remember it).

Looking at all my photos taken with that camera, I can definitely see how I've evolved as a photographer.  The first shots were mostly of my cat (Swarley was the best cat, ever), or of general city landscapes.  Everything was experimental and new.  I was trying to master all the different settings and how they interact with each other.  Most of the results were standard fare; just generic photos of someone starting out.  I don't look back and wish I could have taken any of them differently because at the time I was in a learning phase: taking photos of everything I could to figure out what type of photos I enjoyed taking.

Given that I now consider myself a street photographer more than anything else, I wanted to share my first street photos that I still remembered.  The first shot I truly consider my first street photography photograph is the first one under here, of the lady walking down the street.  Funny thing: I had the hardest time actually finding this particular shot amidst the 7200-or-so I took with the XSi, not because it was particular hard to find, but because I could have sworn it was black and white (and so I was scrolling through trying to find my black and white photographs).  It turns out, I'd seen it a year or so back, and at the time re-imagined how I'd have edited it with a more mature photographic mind, and that's the picture I remembered taking in my head.

At the time I was taking RAW and JPG at the same time, not because I particularly edited my photos, but because I'd heard it was the best thing to do.  As such, the photos here are presented unedited as they came out of the camera.  I could tweak them and improve them a little bit, but that wouldn't be as authentic as presenting them as they actually are.  I hope you enjoy these.  It was fun scrolling through my first shots again.  For those interested, these are very early shots out of my camera, numbered 236, 520 and 5160.

Again, I consider this shot my very first street shot.  Oh, I'd taken shot of random people before, but it was at Winterlude, which is a festival, where people are plentiful.  Besides, those shots are not as good as this one.  I took this photo simply because I liked the way the lady looked walking down the street.  She's tiny in here but it was a start.  If I were to edit this photo again, I would definitely change it to black and white, and perhaps lower the highlights to lessen the whites of the snow.  Overall, I consider this a good start.

This is perhaps simply a good shot because of the reflections on the ground.  I also like this because I don't know if I'd trudge through the rain again to get some nice shots (though I probably should).  There's nothing special about this shot, but the composition is good and the reflection add a nice touch.  If I were to edit this shot, I might just play with the clarity and contrast, but not too much else.

I actually remember walking through the Market and hanging around while the blurry guy on the left was doing magic tricks for crowds of people.  I remember sticking around for a while, grabbing shots here and there.  There's one shot of the magician I have, where he looks intense and energetic and, oddly enough, a little desperate in my eyes, though that last thought may completely be a reflection of my own feelings at time.  Looking back at the photos I took that night, I prefer this one.  My outlook on life has changed, and the sense of wonder and happiness in this lady's fact seems more my style right now, which is why I chose this photo.  

Because it was night, I have a lot of blurry shots from this night, either from bad focus or slow shutter speed.  Even though this was shot 5160 I took with this camera (not including the photos I was taking with my 2 point and shoots at the time), I was still learning (why I took this photo at ISO 200 is beyond me right now, but c'est la vie).  Taking this shot now, knowing what I know, even with the XSi and 50mm f/1.8 lens, I would definitely get better results.  I'm still learning now, but I feel I've come a long way since then.  I don't ridicule myself for not editing my photos back then, or shooting night scenes with ISO 200, but the fact that I see issues with my older photos means that I've moved on and I've learned new things.  Hopefully my photos have gotten better, and hopefully as time goes on, I keep getting better.  Maybe in another 6 years, I'll go through my 2014 shots and do a retrospective post like this one.

Rainy Day Start

It's raining like crazy outside today (though if you don't like the weather, and this being Ottawa, just wait 10 minutes), and it's my first day off in a long time I can't go walking around to take photos.  As such, I figure it's a great time to post for the first time in an even longer time.

Housekeeping things: I haven't stopped taking photos, I've just stopped posting them.  There's no particular reason for that, with the only exception of laziness.  I've started posting on Flickr again thanks to a co-worker that wanted to see some of my newer photos.  Another big deciding factor in starting to post again is I have a new toy.

I won't get into details now, but I'm now mainly shoot my street photography with a Leica M and 50mm Noctilux.  I'll probably write/film a review later, but I'll say I love this camera in its entirety.  Other than that, I still have my Canon 5D Mark 3, S100 and Fuji X10.  I still shoot with all of them, though my 5D is mainly used for shooting and filming wedding this year.  I don't think I've used it in any other way this year.  I still love this camera, it's just a bit unwieldy for street.

As always, I still plan on shooting, and I will make a effort on posting to my Flickr stream.  I will also try to update this blog every now and then.  For now, I will leave you with this album.  No real reason for it, I just like it for some strange reason. Clothes on Stuff.

Oh, well look at that: it's now almost sunny outside.

I Want Some More

First post in almost a year, but that doesn't mean I haven't taken any photos.  First thing that happened is that I sold my Canon 7D and bought a Canon 5D Mark 3.  I've also just been editing my photos and not really been doing anything with them.  I may also go through my backlog of photos I haven't even retouched and do something with them.  It may be laziness (probably, in fact, a chunk of it), but I've also been busy with other things.  (Mostly laziness, though.)

In any case, it's getting warmer, which means I'll probably end up spending more time outside, and so more time photographing random things; indeed, in the past two weeks I've done much more of that than in the past two months.  These six shots are just a small part of the photos I've edited, and an even smaller part of the photos I've taken and want to edit.  I've posted more on my Flickr page, which you can go visit if you want to see other things I've posted that aren't on here.

I'm also still wondering what to do with this blog: whether it should be more instructional, informational, demonstrative or just random ranting.  I'm sure it'll be a bit of everything, as it's been before.  I've used a few cameras I'd like to recount and I'll definitely talk about my newest photographic acquisitions.  I'm also being a videographer for a wedding in a couple of weeks, so that will be interesting to discuss, and definitely a different experience from photographing a wedding.  I'll let you guys know how everything goes.

Here, then, are a few starter pictures.

This is an employee from a fish market in, well, the Market, in Ottawa, on break.  Incidentally, Wang's Noodle House is probably my favourite place in the Market.

I do take some shots in colour, but not this one.  There's a lot of construction going on in downtown Ottawa,  and these are just two guys doing their job.

This little kid seemed pretty excited with the cheese shop, though the parents seem less interested.

This was taken a little while ago, but I still like it.  No comment on the picture itself - you guys can figure out what's going on.

Last one for now:

This is Jen.  This was pretty much the first time I used the Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 in actual practise.  It's a manual-only focus lens, which make focusing really annoying.  Some of the shots were terrific, though, and it's a great lens.  Regardless, this is probably the best shot of the evening, unless you like pet cats.

Another reason I'm deciding to add more to my blog is that I'm paying for my Flickr account, so I may as well make use of it in some way.  No doubt I'll get bored in a few months time again and stop posting again for another little while, but until then, I hope you guys enjoy!

Randomness from the Past Couple of Months

Like I mentioned a few days ago, I posted some 35 pictures on my Flickr page, but I decided to post only 10 here, the ones I consider the better ones of the bunch.  There's nothing particularly special about any of them, they're just nice.

I will mention the 8th picture down, of the gentleman on the table looking like he has a headache.  He did not like me taking a picture of him.  He didn't say anything but he looked at me really funny.  I'm actually surprised he saw me.  I was in front of him, but he seemed in his own little world.  In any case, it's probably my favorite picture of the past few months, so at least this guy can feel good about that.

Here goes:

I woke up one morning and just couldn't really see the parking lot 150 feet down.  Maybe Tux had better luck.

For some reason I like these kinds of shots.  It's been edited to look contrasty and somewhat sharper than it was, but I like the texture and feel of the shot.

I'm not sure what kind of story this shot tells you but it says something.  I suppose, taking it again, I'd want to get something in the background because as is, it doesn't really situate the beer can anywhere.

Some people waiting for the bus in a dark, dark bus stop.  One guy pulled out a fantasy book of some kind, the other just sat on the chair.

This picture is better if it's a bit smaller.  Why are clubs so dark?  I like the idea of some random guy looking at these two girls getting freaky on the dance floor.  That stupid Rickard's sign blocks out some of the scene, but hopefully you get the idea of what's going on, anyway.

More waiting at a bus stop, this time at a different stop on a different day.

Wide-angle lenses are pretty nice.  I took this with the Canon S100. I was actually walking on the sidewalk and managed to get these two people looking over the river, with the 24mm-ness (equivalent) wide-angle end of the lens.

Regardless of what this gentleman thought of me, I love this shot.  I just like him looking the way he does, with the two birds going about their lives, not really paying attention to him.

I found it funny how people were using this building to advertise this movie.  It's also interesting because, say it was a dictator's place, it would definitely be private property and you wouldn't be able to trespass on it.

Last of the bunch for today.  I was walking around the Market and it was fairly dead, but I did catch a few shots, this being my favourite of them.  Just a guy playing guitar, busking for money.

I hope you enjoyed these, and there's hopefully going to be more coming soon enough.  I don't have much of a backlog, but I might go through my archives and post things I haven't touched in a while.  We'll see.