Go out and shoot – something I need to keep telling myself these days. Which is totally ok, I guess, as photography doesn’t always have to take center stage in life. But then there is the sudden itch to grab a camera. In this case my vintage Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 25mm f/1.8 prime lens (50mm full frame equivalent with the m43 crop factor of 2). And heading out into the streets for a late afternoon stroll, capturing life that happens in front of my lens.
Yesterday I was doing some street photography while strolling through the alleys of Intra at Italy’s Lago Maggiore. It was really too hot and humid to get the creative juices flowing. This is the only shot that is a keeper from the outing. I saw that mural and what message it seems to convey, and the luxury coffee store across the street. Then I saw the approaching sunlit family of casual Saturday shoppers. More contrasts. I snapped away with my iPhone.
In post I debated whether to convert to monochrome. But I like how the colors work together in this image. One photograph I like is enough to be happy with a day of otherwise energy-less shooting.
If you feel energized to head out with your camera (or smart phone) to capture some street photography, check out my free Learning Center for lots of tips and inspirations around shooting in the streets.
Doing Street Photography while visiting museums and exhibitions is one of my favorite things to do with a camera (or in this case just my iPhone). Another opportunity arose during a recent visit to Genoa. The doge’s apartments of the Palazzo Ducale are featuring an exhibition of the work of Emmanuel Radnitzky, better known as Man Ray. The title image of the exhibition was already featured in another recent post. Join me for a tour of Man Ray’s work. Check it out by clicking the link below. A little disclaimer: the post needs to be treated as NSFW 😉
A quick street portrait today of a man with curly hair. Taken with the Leica SL2-S with the Vario Elmarit F/2.8 24-70 ASPH. Jpg out of camera (taken with the Leica’s high contrast monochrome profile).
If you are looking for tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center.
Sometimes photography just happens. The Significant Other and I are vacationing in Grisons in Switzerland. Unwinding, relaxing, mainly hiking around the beautiful mountain landscape. Today we had an off-day. In the afternoon we drove to close by Flims, the principal Ski Resort in the area. Now, in summer, it basically is deserted, apart from mountain bikers, a few tourists and the local folks. Shopping for some groceries, we entered recently built, futuristic looking shopping center that is mainly built underground. I took out my iPhone 14 Pro and started snapping pictures of the shiny modern architecture, already thinking monochrome. Then the man appeared on the top of the escalator, with the rest of the scene totally deserted. Like the last man in one of those end of civilization movies. I had my street photograph and a story.
Sometimes you wander through the streets with your camera in hand, and you wonder what comes next. Then something catches your eye. Looks real. But it is not. Illusions. You snap the picture. Then you see another…and another….and you have a little series going….
Since having completed work on our Genoa apartment, The Significant Other and I have been down to our new “South home” a few times. But since then, the weather hasn’t been quite our friend yet. Little sun, lots of rain and very inconsistent. Not what you would expect from Italy. It also rains in Genoa. But then again, the weather here is fully in line with the wet winter and mostly grey spring we had in Germany. But the Street Photographer doesn’t care though. Grabbing rain coat and the cam, turning on the subdued monochrome presets and heading out to capture the stories of the streets…..
A rainy day in Genoa gives me time to edit my photographs from our recent trip to Seville. I came across this one of the peacock already featured in this previous post. Not only shows this image the prefect camouflage its plumage provides to this magnificent bird in its natural habitat, rainforests. But the photo also demonstrates the things my eyes are constantly scanning for when roaming the streets. I’m always on the lookout for interesting combinations of light and shadows, colors and textures. I’m doing this also when I don’t even carry a camera (which practically never happens, as at least the iPhone and its camera is always with me). This is what I call my daily visual push-ups. In this photograph, it all comes together. Bringing home an image like this after a day of shooting gives me great satisfaction.
Taken with my Leica SL2-S with the Vario-Elmarit-SL 1:2.8/24-70 ASPH. Image specs are 1/400 sec @ f/8 and ISO 200, 70mm focal length. Post-processing (brightening up the shadows) in Lightroom Classic.
If you are looking for tips and inspirations to improve your photography, check out my free Learning Center.
We’re back home. The nice thing is that, if you call two places home, you get to be back home quite often. The Significant Other and I are spending the week after Easter at our “South” home in Genoa. And we can enjoy it to the fullest, as we are off from our jobs that pay the bills. So let’s take the camera and head out to the Streets of Genoa for a short stroll through the alleys of the medieval old town. “Benvegnûi” means “welcome” in the Genoese dialect…for a few more quick shots continue after the jump….
Time to start the photographic recap of our recent trip to Seville Spain. The first post is about an impromptu Flamenco session we witnessed when strolling though the Plaza de Espana. For a bit of background about Flamenco and some more images continue after the jump…
Casual Observations…arguably there should be a question mark behind this photograph I took today in Nuremberg’s Future Museum of a young couple looking at a projection of planet earth. Considering the questionable state of our big blue marble (climate crisis, starvation, wars, …), it is more likely an anxious contemplation of those young people when thinking about their future…
Have a peaceful Saturday and a great start into April!
This was what I carried in my Lowepro Passport Sling for a week of street- and travel-photography in Seville. Besides my Leica SL2-S and the Vario-Elmarit-SL 1:2.8/24-70 ASPH standard zoom I brought two additional primes: The TTArtisan 50mm .95 M-Mount (with a Novoflex M to L adapter) “Nifty Fifty” and as telephoto lens a vintage (Made in the GDR) Pentacon auto 2.8 / 135mm MC (with Novoflex M42 to L adapter). Add a spare battery, my cleaning kit and a few of my Street Photographer’s Business Cards. To find out which lens never made it onto the camera and why I didn’t carry a backup-body im my Seville camera bag, continue after the jump….
