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.