Finally an image in the familiar 3×2 full frame aspect ratio. The Leica is back. Fixed and cleaned. And I got a free new battery with it (100$ retail value). I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. Probably both. Glad to have the camera back. Because the SL2-S can do things for me that my other cameras can’t do. Like shooting with manual M-Mount lenses with a 0.95 aperture. On the other hand I’m still disappointed by their service and handling of the matter, after my brand new Leica failed me 3 days into our Israel trip with a mechanical shutter defect. I picked it up yesterday and took it for a spin around the Old Town, shooting with the beautiful TTArtisan 50mm .95 lens.
Today I want to say a heartfelt “thank you” – to all of you!!! When starting the “Streets of Nuremberg” back in January 2016, I would not have imagined in my wildes dreams that one day 7000 people will follow my photographic musings. I am truly grateful for each and every one of you! I’m grateful for those who stop by once in a while, and for those who are frequent readers. I’m especially grateful for the many friendships that have developed with great people from all over this globe. It means so much to me! Today this blog has reached a truly memorable milestone! Thanks for 7000 followers!
Hide and Seek | Hong Kong | 2 sec @ f/3.5 and ISO 100
The perfect way to start into February is with Episode 10 of my Instant Inspirations (links to previous editions at the end of this post). Today I talk a bit about photographing nocturnal skylines and want to provide you with some inspirations to give your skyline photography some fresh angles, which of course would be also valid for shooting skylines during the day. To find out more about how you can bring some new life into your city skylines continue reading after the jump….
Yessss…I did it again 😉 Also this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge “Repurpose” I can answer with a Street Photography image. A man making shoe soles out of old car tires. If this does not qualify as being a repurpose I don’t know what else could….
I took this photo in the Streets of Moshi in Tanzania. The camera I used was my Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the mZuiko 14-150mm Travel Zoom, image details are 1/100 sec, f/5,6 @ ISO 200 and 42mm focal length (= 84mm full frame equivalent due to the m4/3 crop factor of 2).
A year ago today I started my photography blog “Streets of Nuremberg” with the post Shooting on a rainy Saturday. Completely new to blogging I had no idea what I got myself into and where this would lead me. My idea was to use it as sort of my own photographic diary as well as my space on the web where I could share with others my experiences on my way deeper into photography and some tips and inspirations for others to try.
The Journey was amazing! I would have never expected what this blog has developed into. First of all, and most important of all, I would like to extend a big, huge, gigantic and heartfelt “THANK YOU” to all my readers, followers and supporters!
For a few insights into this amazing ride, some reflections and outlook to what’s to come continue reading after the jump….
Who says Street Photography can’t produce graceful images? This is my entry for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge “graceful” .
I took this photo of the backlit silhouette of a girl gracefully running in front of a fountain with gloomy thunderstorm clouds overhead in Munich. The camera I used was my Ricoh GR II, image details are 1/400 sec, f/7,1 @ ISO 160. The Ricoh has a fixed lens with 18mm focal length (equals 28mm in full frame).
Street Photography Quick Tip 3 – Practice shooting “blind”
All of a sudden the job that pays my bills has almost completely taken over my life, it’s tough to find time to go out shooting these days. Still I thought I can quickly post another of my Street Photography Quick Tips. One of those short, easy to read and easy to use tips that I think could help you while shooting in the streets. Today’s post is complimenting my previous tips about shooting inconspicuously. It is about practicing to shoot “blind”. If you want to find out how, continue reading after the jump. Continue reading “Street Photography Quick Tip (3)”→
Street Photography Quick Tip 2 – Another way to shoot inconspicuously
In time for the weekend here is the second edition of my Street Photography Quick Tips. Some short, easy to read and easy to use tips that I think could help you while shooting in the streets. Today’s post is another tip for shooting inconspicuously. If you want to find out how, continue reading after the jump.
Street Photography Quick Tip 1 – A way to shoot inconspicuously
Motivated by the very positive feedback to the start of my series “Instant Inspiration” (links at the end of this post) I want to launch another regular series – the Street Photography Quick Tips. Some short, easy to read and easy to use tips that I think could help you while shooting in the streets. The first edition of “Street Photography Quick Tips” is about shooting inconspicuously. If you want to find out how, continue reading after the jump…. Continue reading “Street Photography Quick Tip (1)”→
The cold season has truly arrived in Nuremberg, it’s been gray and rainy all day. Not that fall wouldn’t provide good photo opportunities, just think about the coloring leaves and wet puddles that can be used to capture street scene reflections (reminds me I need to do an “Instant Inspiration” on that).
This street scene I took near the front of our German National Museum (Germanisches Nationalmuseum) on the South Side of Nurembergs Old Town.
Image taken with the Ricoh GR with 1/125 sec @ f/5 and ISO 160.
It just happens once in a while, to me as probably to all of you as well. We don’t have the drive to go out shooting, we feel like our images look all the same, lack creativity. It’s called “Photographers Block”. What we shouldn’t do (and I’m very much guilty of this) is then to go out to buy new gear, a new camera, another lens, because we feel this motivates us and will take our photography to the next level. This trap, commonly called G.A.S.(Gear Acquisition Syndrome), will only help the camera manufactures make profit and won’t make us better photographers. Because most of us already own perfectly fine cameras.
Sometimes all it takes to get over “Photographers Block” is to look for a different view point, a fresh angle in our photography. When I suffer from”Photographers Block”I look through images from fellow bloggers or through my Instagram contacts to look for fresh ideas, inspirations. Photographs that “turn me on”, that have contents, perspectives that I find appealing, that I’d like to try myself. Not copying it, but using at as new fuel for my own creative variations.
For that reason I decided to start a new series on “Streets of Nuremberg”, where once every while I post an image where I think that might serve one or the other as inspiration to try something new, find a fresh angle to his or her photography and overcome “Photographers Block”. A sort of little “bump”towards new creativity. I call this “Instant Inspiration”. If you take up on this little inspirations I invite you to share the results in the comments, post a link to your image, as sharing ideas between us could be fun for everyone.
So the first “Instant Inspiration” is to shoot the streets from a very low angle. I took the image above with the PEN-F and the 25mm f/1.8 lens (a “nifty fifty” in full frame equivalent). The legs are those of my wife, I didn’t sneak up to a stranger ;-).
It has been a while since I last posted from the Streets of Nuremberg, but lets just say I had my summer break 😉 Was back in town yesterday doing some shopping with my wife and brought along the Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 25mm F/1.8 (my m4/3 equivalent of a nifty fifty, considering the m4/3 crop factor of 2).
Passing through the old town we discovered that this weekend was an Italian Market on the bridges over the Pegnitz River. The food vendors offered plenty of Italian goodies to try and we even bought some delicious Italian truffeled salami to take home.
And right across from the food stalls I saw this guy leaning on the bridge railing, all relaxed and having a smoke. And I decided just then and there it would be a good time to put my new resolution (shooting deliberate street portraits with short primes instead of shooting unobtrusive candids with more distance to the subject) to a first test, so I walked up to the guy and just asked him if I could take his portrait because I like his style. And sure enough he smiled and agreed. Talking a bit to him learned he’s Italian himself.
Visually, his bright red cloves contrast perfectly with his black coat, so I left the photo in color, just increased clarity in Lightroom to give the portrait more punch and worked a bit on the graduation curves. I also added a slight vignette. The image was taken at 1/160 sec f/3.2 and ISO 200.
