Breaking the rule

It's been chucking it down relentlessly all afternoon.

I could even go as far as to say that it really was an unpleasant day to be roaming the streets of London. Still, I could no longer delay my mission to getting out the house in search of my shot of day.

Armed with a huge umbrella I ventured out. I decided to keep my equipment simple and used the 50mm f1.4 lens. Generally one refers to the 50mm lens as being the one that is closest to our normal radius of vision. It's small in size, handles very easily and although I always refer to the 70mm-200mm zoom lens as being my favourite lens, I really like the 50mm lens a lot! It takes me back to my first ever shots taken with an SLR camera. When I started to photograph, cameras were usually sold with a 50mm lens as a customary package. I had to buy this one separately though and I went for one with an opening of f1.4 as it is more light sensitive than the cheaper f1.8 version. Canon also make a f1.0L UMS version which is amazingly bright and the fastest interchangeable SLR lens! Needless to say, it is beautiful and cost the earth!

But I am happy with the one I've got! Grateful that I wasn't carrying my customary heavy equipment I made a dash down my road, across the main road and straight into to nearest shop which happens to be my local stationary shop. The two brothers who own "Miss U" are great! The shop is tiny but has everything you can think of and more! While fighting to close my umbrella I take a shot of Ilesh behind the counter - he smiles and wants me to give him my camera!

"I like cameras! I'm always the one who takes all the family photos."

"Great!"

Telling him about my blog and that his shot may very be the one for today provoked another big smile!

Little did I know at that time that as I stepped out of the shop again struggling with the wretched umbrella I instinctively pointed my camera first across the road to take a shot ... and then again out of the hip to take a guy running towards me...

What can I say? I like all 3 shots! They were all taken in the span of 5 minutes, if that, and really communicate the mood of the day.

Do I really have to make a choice and only publish one image or can I break my self inflicted rule?

I tell you what, I'm going to go for two!

You simply need to meet Ilesh and you also need to see that I wasn't telling fibs!

Half is better than none

Strolling around London with my camera on this rainy Autumn's day turned out to be more stimulating than I had anticipated.

For me, photography is definitely defined by light. Today there was not much of it around though. Finding something that jumps out at me on a day that has hardly any contrast nor colour to show for can therefore be as testing as finding a needle in a hay stack!

An appointment I had took me near Tower Bridge, which gave me the opportunity to revisit the area in the hope of getting my shot of the day. Normally heaving with tourists, the area was rather quiet and almost deserted. Not even a single bright jacket in sight...

Tower Bridge itself is of course a beautiful and historic landmark. On a sunny day it glows majestically. Today, sadly not even the hint of a shimmer... and still I found myself drawn to that prominent feature. Possibly because of the mix of architecture that surrounds the bridge. In a strange sort of way the modern glass buildings blend in well. The contrast - although not in terms of light this time :) - adds a definite quality to what could otherwise be seen as being out of place.

So although I took other shots of interesting buildings, I am sticking with showing you at least half of a historic site!

Taking a gamble

It's grey and miserable today. It actually rained quite heavily and I got drenched on my bicycle coming back from the Lido :)

I wasn't going to rush out again in a hurry. No, cup of tea in hand I made my way up to the office and started to look through all the photos taken over the weekend. There are some really interesting ones that I took on our walks along the Beach. one of which I posted in yesterday's blog.

Today, I'd like to share a shot I still took in London on Saturday on my way to Hastings. I took it from the moving train. Leaving Charing Cross the train headed over the Thames past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Cables either side of the bridge made it difficult to get a clear shot of those landmarks.

What I did however manage to capture is an interesting and unusual shot of the London eye.

It looks as if the photo was taken in black and white, but it was actually shot in colour. Just goes to show what a grim morning it had been.

The wires on the bridge we were travelling over work really well in this photo. I had to be fast though as the distance between the cables and empty space was very short. Taking a gamble and shooting out of a moving train can sometimes pay off and produce a rare image.

Guess what?

I stayed in Hastings! I only came back to London this evening... late!

I hadn't seen my Buddy for such along time so I just had to spend some time with her :) Lots to catch up on.

Walking along the beach I tried my hand at "arty shots"!

The weather wasn't too pleasant. Very windy and rather grey. So I played around with slow shutter settings. You may have noticed by now that I like the effect one can achieve using a slow shutter :)

For me a photos has to either be pin sharp or show some movement! It has to create a mood.

In this shot I used an 8/s and moved the camera slightly while releasing the shutter.

I love the results I get using this technique.

People often say about my images that they are like paintings. I never know whether this is meant as a compliment?!

I have also noticed that sometimes people say about painting that they look like photographs... strange that!

For me, what matters most is that whatever art form one chooses, it is seen as a form of expression. No matter what medium and, as long as the artist has created what he/she had in mind to achieve, everything goes!

Whatever next

I'm off to Hastings.

That sounds great but, wait a minute. What about the blog?

Was it not going to be about London?

Yes. That's right!

So relax, it's OK because my journey does after all start in London.

As usual, I got up early. Even went for my morning splish before rushing back home. Breakfast, Morning Gongyo and off to Charing Cross Train station to catch the 10.45 to Hastings. Well, St.Leonard's-on-Sea to be precise. My buddy, Petra, has a lovely apartment on the beach front.

I left home in good time as I wanted to see what photo opportunities could present themselves at the train station on a Saturday morning.

I felt that there would perhaps be a bit of a holiday atmosphere there as opposed to the usual commuter rush hour madness!

Tube journey was uneventful. I arrived at Charing Cross at 10.15. Great! Half an hour to hang around and observe.

My inkling was right. Relatively speaking, the train station was almost deserted.

Shirley made a bee line to the ticketing machine. We had booked on line and only needed to have the machine spit out our train tickets.

And what can I say next to her was my first photo opportunity!

Click - that's in the bag! And on I went. I got quite a few interesting people. One that I love was again shot from the hip as the guy was sitting on the floor eating his wrap. His coffee cup stood next to him and looked as if it was "growing"out of the ground!

The station was gradually filling up. Trains coming into London, surprisingly carrying more passengers than one would think for a Saturday... Well, London is always busy, I guess.

I roamed around some more. A shot here, a shot there. People asking for advice at the information desk. Lots of people on the phone. Would we really be lost without them?!

The time was ticking away and our train was now ready to be boarded.

I'm happy with my harvest. I consulted "buddy" and Shirley and here is the shot of the day.

Petra loved the coincidental arrangement of all the reds and Shirley the contrast between the vibrancy of the colours and the lack thereof in the man's facial expression.

Great! Because that's exactly what I saw and why I took the photo!

Getting technical

Today I stuck to my original plan. I went out specifically to shoot some still life with the beautiful 135mm f.2L lens and the 1.4 converter. The combination worked a treat yesterday.

So, let's continue and see what it's made of! I was keen to test it with a fully opened aperture. What that means is that almost everything behind the point of focus and a bit in font of the point of focus will be thrown out of focus. Depending on what the photographer wants to achieve, this effect can add drama to the picture. Throwing the backgrounds out is particularly effective in portraiture. The last thing you want to see when taking a portrait is something "growing" out of your subjects head or shoulder :)

Just another quick point. The longer the focal lens, the less depth of field can be achieved. If you wondered what a telephoto lens is, any focal length above 50mm is called a telephoto lens and anything shorter than 50mm is a wide angle lens. As we are on the important topic of depth of field, a wide angle lens will have better depth of field than a telephoto lens.

Why is knowing the subtleties of depth of field important? Well, quite simply because you will want to know before seeing the photo in print (or on the computer screen) what you would like to have sharp (in focus) and what part of the image you want to have more or less blurred (out of focus). All these nuances play a big part when it comes to your creativity.

But enough technical explanation. Let's get creative!

Back to my lens. Remember, it originally has its widest opening at f2 and using it with the 1.4 converter, I loose one f stop (aperture) which brings the lens down to f2.8 wide open.

To make the most out of bringing my subject to life I set my camera to aperture priority mode - this means the photographer chooses the aperture and the camera finds the right shutter speed combination to get a correctly exposed image. I chose f2.8 - the available light was good so I set the ISA to 200.

Out I went.

I actually had to kill two birds in one go today because I was asked to think of an image that would work for a therapist who helps people to stop smoking. Putting my thinking hat on and my eyes wide open I strolled the streets of South West London .. yet again ... in search of something suitable. I found an image that I think works well. It contains a subtle yet very strong message.

But, I hadn't found my shot of the day yet.

Continuing along a lovely avenue flanked by gorgeous houses I saw a paper cup resting on the edge of a wall. I was attracted to its colours and the fact that the background worked well too. A bit further a way, still on the same white wall, sat a dead leaf. To illustrate my point, I moved the dead leaf onto the same focal plane as the cup. I composed the shot and went for it.

Looking at the image very carefully you will see exactly where the focus was aimed at. The centre of the leaf that folds inwards is already less sharp than the stalk of the leaf which is where I set my point of focus. The centre of the cup is on the same plane and therefore sharp too. This lens is truly pin sharp which I love in a lens!

Sunset challenge

Favourite lens is falling apart... No, I haven't dropped it or anything like that at all ... I fact, I keep all my equipment, lenses and camera bodies always well wrapped. Since shooting for my blog, however, I have noticed that some of the elements around the focusing ring were getting looser and looser by the minute. It's down to wear an tear really. Quite normal when you think that I have used that lens for well over 15 years.

It has been to all five continents, almost around the entire world and has served me extremely well.

Now that it has been worked hard again it wants a bit of attention, I suppose :)

So, I made time to get the Canon 70-200mm f.2.8L to Fixation, a Canon Authorised Professional EOS Centre and Official CPS Service Centre.

The engineers at Fixation are great. When ever my equipment needed some TLC I took it there.

But, I didn't really have a blog shot yet. A bit of a worry that. However I thought that they may be able to tighten a few screws there and then and that the lens would be as good as new and ready again for an early evening outing.

The short answer to my theory was: no. All the screws are inside and the lens will have to be taken apart.

I had no other choice than to have it booked in. Hopefully I will get it back in a few days.

What next? Panic not. I have another great lens. Not a zoom this time but a 135mm f2L lens. It's a fixed focal lens and at f2 a very light sensitive one at that. It's beautiful. I generally used it for portrait session.

Not today though. No, for a change I thought I'd have a go at catching some still life in the late afternoon sun.

However, because I so enjoy getting close up and personal with my subjects and I was missing the 200mm range, I dug out my 1.4 converter. Fitting the converter between the camera body and the lens meant that the focal lens was now 189mm - that's better! Only drag is that putting the converter on the lens the light sensitivity gets reduces by one f stop. The lens was now no longer a f2 lens but the widest aperture was now f2.8. Still very light sensitive and much better than most semi professional or amateur lenses.

On my merry way went. Photographing with a fixed lens gets a bit more demanding. Quite simply you have to do more leg work! Specially if you want the framing to be perfect.

On the way down the road I got some very nice still life images. Shots of a large crumpled up dead leave on the bonnet of a Mercedes looked beautiful! I loved the reflexion it made. It also reminded me a bit of a shot I took early in the morning with my little Canon Ixus 100.

But on I went. I hadn't finished playing with my long lost friend.

I see two guy playing Frisbee. That looks a bit cool. Their Frisbee is one of these thin rings and supposedly it can fly up to 400 meters.

"In the hands of a more capable player though!" one of the guys tells me.

"Wow, Can I please take a few shots of you? I'd like to get familiar with my lens."

"Yes, by all means"

"Great!"

So, I hang out with the boys and take a few shots. Not so easy. Specially as I had one particular shot I wanted to catch in mind.

The guys were enjoying the extra attention and made a real effort at getting their throwing as accurate as possible.

After a few minutes I got what I wanted. In fact I got two shots I really like. One of each player.

My final choice is a bit more dynamic though and, this is why it got my final vote.