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….
Welcome to March. Technically we should have spring now. Unfortunately, it’s still winter outside. No wonder that the casual weekend shoppers head into coffee shops to warm up. Have you seen the hidden photographer? I’ve got myself a blond pony tail…
Playing with reflections is a great area of street photography. You should grab your camera (or phone) and go looking for interesting reflections yourself.
More tips and inspirations around street photography you can find in my free Learning center.
The image was taken with my iPhone 14 Pro and post-processed in Lightroom Classic.
The other weekend, my Dad and I went to a Classic Car exhibition in the Nuremberg Trade Fair. Big Boy got us the tickets, and it was a great opportunity to escape the Covid dullness and do something special. Not that I’m too much into cars. But they are sure fun to photograph. Especially when they are Classic Cars. So I grabbed my Olympus OM-D E-M1X with the mZuiko 12-100 F/4 with the intention to shoot some details of the exhibited cars. Click the link below to see some resulting images.
Just a random shot that I took yesterday at a classic car exhibition at the Trade Fair Nuremberg. Colors match those of the festive season, that is not so festive here on the Streets of Nuremberg. For the second year in a row, all Christmas markets in Bavaria have been canceled. The car show was still on, but you had to be double vaccinated and additionally present a negative Covid test certificate less than 24h old. Plenty effort to go watch some vintage cars. But at least an opportunity to grab the cam and do some creative shooting.
Image specs 1/10 sec @ f/8 and ISO 400, 200mm focal length.
Happy Mayday from the Streets of Nuremberg. A strange first day of May it was. Covid-19 lockdown, stormy weather, empty streets – far away from the usual cheerfulness at the start into what we Germans call the “Wonnemonat”. Dearly in need to see something else than our home and the supermarket, The Significant Other and I headed downtown to the Wöhrder See, where the Pegnitz River is dammed to a lake just before entering the city walls.
This is how it looks when you photograph the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta in the moment a wave washes over your camera and the lens is half submerged.
July is upon us. Not that it makes any difference, as the scorching heat wave of the past two weeks just carries on. Which would make me rather lie down in the shade of a tree near a swimming pool, rather than in a shop window in front of the unforgiving lens of a street photographer. But the heat wave is definitely no reason to get a summer blues.
Some times, the photographic opportunities fly to you. Literally. After all, this is the wild Pacific Northwest. And after three days stuck in a meeting room, with not so much of a chance to take the camera downtown Portland for some street shooting, I got my chance at a fun photoshoot with a family of Canada geese that passed the glass front of our meeting room.
When have you juggled yourself in the air lately? Isn’t this a perfect fitness program to get yourself into shape for for those upcoming beach days?
A fun part about street photography is playing with perspective. Like in this image from Chicago’s Millennium Park. Taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1X and the mZuiko 12-100 f/4. Image specs 1/200 sec @ f/4 and ISO 200, 75mm foval length.
…the rain has come. I know, the song by Jimmy Cliff has a slightly different title. But the snow on the Streets of Nuremberg has been replaced by torrential rain. It’s gruesome outside. The maximum you can do as street photographer is going for some puddle shooting. And then finding a coffee shop for some hot Espresso.
The photograph was taken with the Ricoh GR II, specs are 1/125 sec @ F/5 and ISO 1600.
RAW conversion and monochrome processing in Lightroom Classic CC.
If you want to pick up your camera this Sunday and are still looking for inspirations what to shoot, check out my free Learning Center.
Messaging | Berlin | 2018 | 1/40 sec – f/2 – ISO 2000 – 12mm
Most of us photographers don’t only shoot solely for our own archives, but share our work on our blogs and social media accounts (Instagram, 500px, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter). To find recognition, collect likes and comments. And who doesn’t like to receive positive feedback?
But it shouldn’t turn into an obsession. I’m picking up my camera because I want to create art. If I shoot an image that visually pleases me, I’m totally happy. And if some of you like it as well, after I post in on my blog, that’s even better. My blog posts are automatically posted on my facebook pages, but I have to admit I rather infrequently check my facebook, be it my feed or comments/notifications. Flickr I hardly use anymore, on 500px I’m practically a no-show.
On Instagram I have two accounts – Travimago for my travel images, streetsofnuremberg for the street photography. I have days where I post regularly on Instagram, followed by weeks where I am not active. Probably that shows in my followers there, only about 100 and 200 respectively. It spikes a bit when I post, then drops again to that level. I don’t see Instagram as an outlet that brings much benefits for me, also because I like to share some info with my photography, that I can do only in a limited way on this platform. And that probably no-one reads anyway, as Instagram is a swipe and like only medium. So as I’m not on a hunt for likes and followers, I feel there is no real need to invest much time on my Instagram accounts. I mainly use it as a picture archive that I have on my phone where I can quickly show particular images to other people I talk to face to face about my photography.
So my main outlet is this blog, that requires already much of my time, preparing posts and photographs, writing, answering comments and browse to my feed from the many blogs I follow myself. Generally, the interaction through blogging beats anything I find on other social media channels.
As I mainly restrict myself to blogging, I’m not constantly “on” to check all social media channels, checking my likes and count my followers. Instead I use the time to pick up my camera and create art which is much more gratifying.
The above image was taken with my Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 12mm F/2. Images specs are 1/40 sec @ f/2 and ISO 2000.
If you look for tips and inspirations around photography and want to use the weekend to pick up your camera, check out my Learning Center.
We’re back in Nuremberg after a great weekend in Berlin where we visited close friends. Besides spending real quality time together I also got some street shooting done when we headed into city center after we did a fun tour riding a rail trolley (Draisine) in the afternoon.
This street photo I took during the blue hour near the Alexanderplatz. I loved the color contrast between the blue light outside in the street and the yellow light in the shop window. Then I merely waited a few seconds until a subject arrived on the scene (didn’t have more, as the others in the party, already starved, where rushing towards a nearby Vietnamese restaurant that we always visit when in Berlin).
The photo was taken with the PEN-F and the 12mm F/2. Image specs are 1/250 sec @ f/4 and ISO 1600. When shooting people in the blue hour, don’t even try to get the white balance right in order to get correct skin tones. That’s why it is called blue hour 😉
Monsieur Vuong | Berlin | 2018
That’s “Monsieur Vuong”. Same camera/lens combo, specs 1/20 sec @ f/4.5 and ISO 1600. As I’ve written many times on this blog, instead of complaining about cars parked in the wrong place in front of your subject, use them to your advantage. Have I mentioned I love reflections?
There is more to come from our Berlin weekend, stay tuned!