All the world’s a stage

Man walking past a comic mural
1/350 sec | f/8 | ISO 800 | 35mm

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women, merely players”, said William Shakespeare once. It’s also the motto of this blog. This monochrome street photograph is yet another example of it.

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Confined

Stuck in a window
1/2000 sec | f/2.4 | ISO 500 | 35mm

Took the Leica on a stroll into town on Saturday. There were noticeably fewer people on the streets of Nuremberg. Could have been due to the week of school holidays. But maybe it was the fear of getting infected with the new coronavirus that leaves people confined to their houses.

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The Rangefinder effect

What's up, shutterbug
1/350 sec | f/9.5 | ISO 1250 | 35mm

Shooting street photography with a Leica produces what I call “the rangefinder effect”. While people in the streets have a tendency to find it disturbing having a big ass DSLR pointed at their faces, their reaction is definitely quite different when they see the casually wandering photographer working the manual focus and the aperture ring of an almost anachronistic looking small black camera.

Obviously, shooting with other retro looking cameras like the Olympus PEN-F or the Fuji X100F is also much less intimidating than using a big DSLR with a huge lens attached. But those cams use autofocus and thus the process is often reduced to a simple point and shoot. The point and shoot approach would also work on a rangefinder using zone focusing (the systematic pre-focusing of a lens at specific distance and aperture to achieve a sharp image), but to get the hang of using a rangefinder I mostly take the time to set up the shots individually. Which, as totally unusual these days, draws curiosity and often a (probably pitiful) smile, the rangefinder effect. Especially when you are close to your subjects, what you have to be when you shoot street photography using a 35mm lens.

If you are looking for tips and inspirations around photography, be sure to check out my free Learning Center.

Wish you a great Monday!

Marcus

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Street Photography Quick Tip 2 – Another way to shoot inconspicuously

Street Photography Quick Tip 3 – Practice shooting “blind”

Instant Inspiration (8) -Make a portrait of a stranger

Instant Inspiration (29) – Frame your subject

Revisit your work

Up! | Nuremberg | 2019

Sometimes it is important to revisit your work. This image from The Significant Other climbing up the staircase of Nuremberg’s Schauspielhaus I posted already back in early 2019. While putting together our photographic yearbook of 2019, I was looking again at this photograph I took with my iPhone, and it still is one my fav images from last January.

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The young have fun

Loughing girls
1/125 sec | f/6.3 | ISO 200 | 100mm

Grey days? Who cares! Freezing temperatures? Comfy and warm clothes. The young have fun on the Streets of Nuremberg, and don’t mind the dull weather.

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In need of some color

Shopping Girls with a smile
1/800 sec | f/4 | ISO 1600 | 25mm

The sun is missing in the Streets of Nuremberg. On days like this I’m in need of some color. So is my street photography. I’m not really looking for the classical high contrast black & white images, but shoot in color, looking for those scenes where color makes the photograph better.

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Make the portrait of a stranger

Portrait of a Stranger
1/80 sec | f/2 | ISO 200 | 25mm

The Oregonians call their rain “liquid sunshine”. And true Portlandians refuse to carry an umbrella. This is different on the Streets of Nuremberg, especially on a day like today, where it felt like breathing pure water when outside.

But the pouring rain is also an easy subject to get into small talk with a visiting tourist. Before asking if I could make their portrait. The request was of course approved with a smile. And gratefully acknowledged by the photographer with a smile. It’s easy – try it!

For tips and inspirations around street photography check out my free Learning Center. Then take your camera, go out in the streets and shoot! Make the portrait of a stranger!

Have a great Wednesday!

Marcus

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Instant Inspiration (8) -Make a portrait of a stranger

Finding your photographic style

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Back to work

After the two week Christmas break it was back to work today. It’s not that returning to the job that pays the bills made me cry today. But after a splendid sunny winter day yesterday, that is how the sky looked this morning. Kind of fitting, I guess. This image was the sole “visual push-up” I managed to get done today. Taken with my iPhone through the glass roof of my car. The shape and textures of the droplets just caught my eye. Every day with a photograph taken is a good day in the end.

Have a sunny Tuesday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Rainy Streets

Rainy Sunday

Shooting on a rainy Saturday

High Heels wouldn’t come

Shoot everywhere

1/80 sec | f/4 | ISO 320 | 18mm

You should shoot all the time. Use every opportunity to press the shutter. Shoot everywhere. Even in a changing room of a department store. Look for gesture, shapes, lines, layers. Just train your eye, and snap away.

Like I did here while being shopping with The Significant Other this past weekend, using my Ricoh GR II, shooting in P-Mode.

Oh, and The Significant Other didn‘t buy the shirt 😉

Wish you a great Monday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Street Photography Quick Tip 13 – Shoot in a Coffee Shop

Instant Inspiration (29) – Frame your subject

Instant Inspiration (6) – Storefront Windows

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Happy New Year from the Streets of Nuremberg

Happy New Year

I wish all my friends a blessed, happy, marvelous, successful, beautiful, inspirational, creative, wonderful and healthy 2020! May all your wishes and dreams come true!

Have a splendid new year and a great new decade!

Marcus

My photographic journey through 2019 (5)

Monochrome street photograph of two lady throwing a dirty look

The last day of 2019 is upon us, and so the last episode of my five-part series looking back at my photographic ventures during the past year. And as the “Streets of Nuremberg” are principally a street photography blog, here are my fav street images of 2019…

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My photographic journey through 2019 (4)

Cannon Beach at sunset
Cannon Beach

Of course travel photography has played a major for me also in 2019. While the trips for the job that pays the bills have been significantly reduced from 2018, I still had the opportunity for some travels to my beloved Pacific Northwest, and I added a trip to Udaipur, India, late in the year. Private trips had The Significant Other and myself travel, among other short visits to our neighboring countries, to Estonia, Italy and Jordan. And we had our usual share of trips around Germany. So here are a few of my fav travel images from 2019….

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