August 2022 – 35mmofpassion

20 August 202225 April 2023

Street Photography

I have found that I have been enjoying street photography immensely over the last year. So much infact that I got my X100V, kissing that 35mm focal length that matches the eye. 40mm is seen as being the king of focal lengths; this is a great camera for the street. I also purchased a 20mm for my partener’s GX8 micro 4/3, this giving the 40mm equivalent to take her out and show her the ropes of taking photos. I will pass on some tips I have picked up over the years about how to be better at street photography.

Don’t Be Awkward

Hey, I’m not saying you are awkward but try not to be too weird about taking a photo. Awkwardness can come from many places when taking photos of people and here are some tips: Awkwardness can be driven from the person taking the photo, but also from the person having the photo taken of them. This can compound and escalate into a uncomfortable experience for everyone. Having confidence on your side and following the tips below should leave you and thus by design your subject feeling fine.

Wine Into The Night – Pentax K3 Mk2 24mm 1/60 Sec f1.8 ISO800

Prime your settings before you take a photo

You should know your camera inside out and back to front. Having your camera to your face will attract attention if you hold it there too long. You should have your camera settings dialled in for the lighting rather than fiddling with them while you take a shot. I’m not saying that they need to be perfect but should be in the right ball park. Simple things like deciding if there is movement that you want to freeze, then make your shutter go a bit faster: change that 1/60 to 1/200. You might need to then up your ISO or open your aperture a bit wider. Take a quick test photo as you are walking up to something interesting to make sure you are in the right ball park, think if the light changed much from your last photo you took and update your settings from that. Be proactive in your settings, you will thank me later!

Total Recoil – Pentax K3 Mk2 24mm f2.8 sec 1/60 ISO800

Pay attention

When you are walking around taking photos of the street pay attention. I’m not suggesting I or anyone has a crystal ball, but by watching and observing you should be able to see if an interesting moment is coming. You may or may not believe me in this, but you will never capture a moment that is interesting if you have your head buried in your phone.

Knights of Edinburgh- X100V 35mm 1/125 sec f2.8 ISO800

Take your smallest camera

So it’s funny: I have gone out with my Pentax DSLR with a rather large 18mm-35mm and found that people look at me and react to me like I’m some sort of ghost buster about to steal their soul. The lens isn’t a telephoto super zoom lens, it’s in the ball park of wide angle to something that is roughly the same focal length of your eye.

I have since done a lot of street photography with my 35mm X100V. It’s a small compact digital camera that looks like something out of an antique shop that should take film. People don’t seem to be bothered by this and, by following the steps above, I tend to blend in with the other tourists. Having a quiet leaf shutter also helps as people can’t hear the shutter going off so, if you are quick, people don’t notice.

Directions to the Christmas Party – X100V 35mm 1/125Sec f2.8 ISO800

Keep Your Lens Cap Off

Keep your lens cap off. If you follow the above steps something interesting might happen in front of you, you lift your camera to find that your lens cap is still on, miss the moment and no photo. Your lens cap is there to protect the front of your camera when storing it. While you are walking about you don’t need to worry too much about the front lens element. Bonus tip would be to turn your lens petal (the plastic sun guard) to face out all the time. £3 piece of plastic taking impact is better than the front lens element. You can also buy a UV filter for the front if you are really worried about it or if you think you are prone to damage the front.

What’s Cooking – X100V 35mm 1/125sec f2.8 ISO500

Practice

Sounds cliche, but go out with your camera. It doesn’t matter what it is or how old it is or if it’s film or digital or an iPhone: go out there into the street and be confident, use the tips above and you should see some results. Post the photos on social media and see what comments are posted and build on this. You won’t get better if your camera stays in your camera bag or box under your bed.

6 August 202225 April 2023

How I Got Here

I got here via means of being enthusiastic about tech and having a father who is passionate about photography. The real type of photography is not this instant art we have today.
“I’ll buy your first camera” he announced to me while sending me a link for a Pentax K30 with a double kit lens (An 18mm-55mm and 50mm-200mm) with 16 megapixels on a crop APSC sensor and it looked good. So a quick trip to my local Jessops and I was welcomed to the slightly weird group of Pentax users with many Canon and Nikon users asking me who Pentax was……….

Fast forward a few years of messing about, a purchase of a budget 50mm – 300mm that could do pseudo macro, a cheap 35mm prime that was as noisy to focus as the mirror slap of the camera led to me buying a Pentax Q7. This was Pentax’s attempt to make a tiny camera with toy lenses for the creative type. It was limited to use and the low light was awful as the sensor was so small though it did have appeal with the small switch on the front that was equivalent to instant Instagram filters on the go.

Bacon Bokeh
Pentax K30 ISO200 35mm f/3.5 1/80 sec

Fast forward another couple of years and I was starting to use my camera out of automatic and in “P” mode. I had also picked up a 50mm Macro lens and 50mm portrait lens that stops down to 1.2. The upgraded glass was good, but I had to take a better body so I ended up getting a Pentax K3. The top-of-the-line prosumer APSC, better in every aspect than the K30, and a camera that I would use for many years and I still have it.

Fast forward again a couple of years I was approached by my sister who was getting married. A few peculiar comments about me taking my camera to the wedding and after sitting down with her she stopped beating around the bush. I agreed to do photography at her wedding after she asked, it was slightly strange as she normally wasn’t shy about saying anything else but this time it was serious stuff! My Father, who was very supportive of my photography skills, announced that I needed another body so I could have two different lenses available all the time. I was then gifted a Pentax K3 MkII that was extremely generous and a good deal for everyone: cheaper than a photographer, and I got a second body that I also still have. I then included purchasing more gear over the coming months: two flash guns, enough kit to have indoor photography (that came into its own in a dark Norman church when it was raining outside) as well as a leather camera strap (buffalo leather) that could hold two cameras as after all I was a guest and had to look the part. I’ll discuss this in further detail and the editing process after but I would recommend doing a wedding, great fun.

March 5th, 2016 Sister Wedding
Pentax K3 Mk2 ISO100 50mm f/2.8 1/320 sec

Going on a few more years I got a Panasonic GX8, a small micro four-thirds camera that was good and small, again great fun. I went to London for a BrewDog beer and photography weekend with my Dad. The mission was clear: go into every BrewDog bar in London to complete a shareholder’s challenge, take the cameras to record the moments, and talk about everything tech and photography. The bonus mission goal was teaching the staff in the hawks cider taproom how to make Moscow Mules as well as gifting a bottle of bitters to them so they could make them all afternoon. My Father had an X100F at the time.

45th U.S. President
Pentax K3 Mk2 ISO200 36mm f/11 1/4000 sec

We are in the final year of the photography story and nearly up to date. I was looking at getting a small camera and one that could perform better than the GX8. Photography is really a 3 horse race at the moment: Canon, Sony, and Nikon. I was reading a lot of reviews and didn’t want to change the platform away from Pentax for the DSLR as I had picked up a few extra lenses. An 18mm-35mm 1.8 Sigma Art lens and a 10mm – 20mm super wide. To change to Sony would have been a £5000 investment. I purchased the Fuji X100V and called my Father to tell him the news to find out he had upgraded his X100F to the X100V. I had the same camera as my Father and my twin sister took great pleasure in telling me I was a copycat, I do need to mention mine is in black and his is in silver.

I have always said that prime lenses are the most fun and I love a 40mm, so to have a very capable camera with a fixed 35mm prime is amazing. I have some thoughts I can I can post about street photography and how to do it better. I’m not an expert by any means but happy to share what make my photography better instantly.

London Underground
X100V f2.8 1/60sec iso160

I hope you enjoy this blog that my father and I will write on. There are opinions about many things including how to shoot and what format to shoot in.

I feel I have waffled on for far too long about the opening story and timeline of photography equipment. I’ll discuss more in detail about primes and why the 35mm/40mm primes in my opinion are the fun ones to use. Until next time.

6 August 202225 April 2023

I Can’t Photograph

Why is someone who is a self-confessed poor photographer writing on a photography blog? Well, the answer is simple. You don’t have to be good at something to enjoy it. I started taking photographs when I was about 7 years old. My father gave me a Penguin bellows camera that took 120 roll film. The thrill of framing my subject in the viewfinder and pressing the shutter was only surpassed by the expectation of the image that would be revealed after the chemist had worked his magic. Most of my shots were family, with heads cut off, or a cat’s tail and a space that the cat had previously occupied. A combination of poor focus and camera shake marred most of them, but that didn’t dampen my enthusiasm.

I progressed to a Contaflex fixed lens SLR when I was 16 and my family shots mostly had heads. The 35mm semi-wide angle lens meant that most were in focus too. The cat still eluded me though! A variety of film cameras saw me through photographing children, family events and holidays. The thrill of the shutter press and resulting wait for the film to be returned never diminished, though my photographs didn’t improve much.

Highlands 1978 – It was dry and sunny when we set out! I was driving the Beetle – Contaflex

As my buying power increased I eventually went digital with a Nikon D80, then a D90 with a plethora of lenses. These got in the way and were heavy to carry, so I downsized to an Olympus EM5 with a plethora of lenses. After a while I realised that I was paying so much attention to the kit that I was no longer enthralled by the shutter press. The lure of the instant gratification of the digital image drove me to perpetual chimping and I had lost the magic of the act of taking a photograph. I pondered what to do next and had an inspiration. I changed tack and bought a Fujifilm X100.

The optical viewfinder, aperture dial and shutter release felt just like my old film cameras, yet was blessed with reliable autofocus and delightful image quality, I revelled in having to zoom by foot and re-engaged with the act of taking a photograph. Whilst writing this it has occurred to me that I have also stopped chimping, so have the magic of seeing what images I have captured when I get home.

Blown Glass – Chihuly Garden Seattle – X100F

It’s not exactly like the old days. I don’t cut heads off, the shots are in focus and the cat is in the frame! They aren’t works of art. At best they are a record of a point in time, but I don’t care. I am back to enjoying taking photographs!