Moving around is fun. Moving around with a camera is more fun.
Yesterday was the first full day of SXSW. Sure, last week we had SXSW-Edu, but that's an add-on to the main conference meant to sell school administrators more and more useless software and gadgets. Not even a wind-up for the actual music, film, and technology conference.
What SXSW means to me is more opportunities to take cameras out and photograph lots and lots of people and scenes. Mostly for my own pleasure. And, as a sometimes bonus, I use the ample photo opportunities presented as an excuse to get re-acquainted with a focal length I've slighted, or a particular type of lens the potential of which I haven't yet realized. I like to find out if it's sharp enough, small enough to handle for hours at a time, and if the photographs it helps me make look good.
So, being able still to walk for hours and hours with a small camera bag over one shoulder and a fat camera and its lens over the other I headed downtown with the plump package of imaging potential to bang away at a mostly street oriented event. Why "street oriented?" Because so much of the attendees' time is spent standing on sidewalks waiting in line, sometimes for hours, for a chance to see "the latest thing" for five or ten minutes. And if people are just standing around then they are wonderful subjects for photographing.
Yesterday's camera was a Leica SL2 and the lens in question was the Sigma 85mm f1.4 Art lens. It was a nice combination and yesterday I tried out lots of stuff I never/rarely use in my usual practice. Like: continuous AF, body and eye detection for street photography, and sometimes even shooting with the aperture at its widest settings. All fraught with the potential for failure --- but as it's not a job, just a busman's holiday --- they are generally happy failures.
One takeaway for me after watching so many of my peers lose mobility and enthusiasm is this... if you can walk around without pain or fatigue and happily photograph a fun world around you ----- don't put off the opportunity to do so every day. All the time. The smile on your face will come naturally. Sitting alone in an office, no matter how nice, is deadly boring and entropic. Move, move, move. And it's okay if taking photographs is just an excuse for being present.
There is no longer any promise of being able to exist in the modern world without a cell phone. Is there?
Lucy Lumen was correct when, in a recent video on her sometimes interesting YouTube channel, she decried the problem with modern street photography. Her take? People just don't dress up any more. Everyone looks the same when it comes to clothes, fashion, etc.
Until you find someone with a pink hat.
Blading is the practice of turning one's body to have the smallest profile.
Best used for working one's way through crowds but also useful in presenting
to an opponent the smallest target possible. Some blade some don't.
The one's who don't are the oblivious amongst us....
If more people wore stuff like this out in the street it might be
a glorious thing for street photography....
This line wrapped around the corner and continued for an entire city block.
I asked one of the staff at the venue about the presentation. His response?
"Meh."
I have no idea what this poster is really for but I sure love the saturated colors and the
chance to have a static subject for which I could use a wide open aperture to
blur out the entire background. Don't know if that's "bokeh" and I don't really
care much. You know, I invented the word, "arigato."
In my usage it refers to the condition and subtlety of the click stop on a rangefinder lens....
About a week ago the Rivian people deposited tons and tons of dirt in a downtown
parking lot on Congress Ave. They formed it into little hills and valleys.
Now you can get in line and ride around in one of their trucks to see how
it handles "off-roading." Off Roading is that thing that mostly only
Subarus do well. But the Rivian is certainly better at playing well
in dirt than is a Tesla CyberTruck.... (AKA: P.O.S.).
these folks thought almost sideways trucks were worth capturing on phones.
No real cameras anywhere in attendance yesterday...unlike in previous years.
This organization would like to see more women on corporate boards/leadership positions and fewer white men named "Dick" in those positions. Seems fair to me.
The mannequin squad lined up to watch the SXSW attendees march down the streets with their heads bent, almost as in prayer, while staring obsessively at their phone screens. Sad....as it was a nice day out yesterday and there was a lot to see in real time. Perhaps this is why birthrates are falling all across the Western World.
This mannequin used partial nudity as a protest against people dressing like crap....
The man in the center of the frame works at a downtown restaurant.
He was genuinely happy. I asked him if I could photograph him.
He thought it might be fun. I hope tips are wonderful this week.
Random street crossing...
and the studious among them...
Man with five or six small dogs on a tricycle.
They were a big hit at all the crosswalks.
dogs are cool.
Power vaping.
Observation after seeing the images large on a good monitor:
The Leica SL2 medium size, Jpeg images look pretty darn good.
The 85mm lens is a lot of fun for street photography. More to come.
On the whole, people have gotten much heavier over the years.
Austin's downtown is pretty darn safe this week.
Lady in a pink hat - great seeing, wonderful photo.
ReplyDeleteSome street photographers have a strict rule against photographing people with cellphones. If you had done that yesterday you would have come home with very few people shots, some mannequins, and dogs. The ubiquity of those devices is truly amazing.
ReplyDeleteSome street photographers are missing the chance to record a period of history that will pass in time and become considered very interesting. And some are just dumb. Can't take an image anywhere in Austin without having a phone in the screen. Even with photos of just dogs or cats.... Try taking images of downtown areas in Texas with no cars or trucks --- now that's hard!!!
DeleteMore dog (and cat/hamster/capybara/etc) photos please.
ReplyDeleteJeff in Colorado
Since Kirk recommended we look at the photo blog of a cute photographer (Lucy Lumen) I've sort of looked at the blogs of several cute YouTube photographers, and became interested in Courtney Victoria, not just because of her cuteness or her name -- although Lucy Lumen is a pretty good name also, for a photographer -- but because of her gear. She uses a Hasselblad medium-format camera. To shoot mushrooms. Really. And recently, tried wildlife
ReplyDeletephotography with a long lens on her Hassy, and I thought, my god, why doesn't she try something cheap, like a Leica? (Actually, I found out later, the Hassy MF doesn't cost that much more than a Leica.) Anyway, she has some nice hi-res mushroom shots. I bet you could print those suckers out twelve feet wide.
I went through my list of acquaintances, friends, relations, and I don't know any Dicks. Is that unusual?
ReplyDeleteNo, I wasn't being cute, other than referring to your photo. I don't know anyone named Richard. I met a friend of a friend 30 years ago called Rick (short for) but that's the only one I can think of. Right now I can't think of one from any of my jobs either. I know an Olga though, not many of those around and I haven't spoken to her in years.
ReplyDeleteRobert, I am frankly amazed. Richard is the 6th most common male given name in the country of Canada. Just behind Robert and James. Given that it's in the top six names I find your circle of acquaintances to be a statistical outlier from a mathematical point of view. If you've not met a "Richard" in your jobs is it because you are self-employed? Additionally interesting that you would know an Olga but not a Richard as Olga doesn't track within the top 100 names for women in Canada. Stranger and stranger....
Deletethose are a great bunch of snaps Kirk
ReplyDeleteI spoke too soon. I remembered a Richard from a job in the mid-1990s. I worked there about 6 years, lost touch with him after I left. Also, a distant cousin's middle name was Richard but I haven't seen him in 40 years. Still, that's not many. I went down a different rabbit hole last evening, trying to find out about Kamera lenses. Turns out they were sold at Woolworth's. Then I started remembered other store-branded photo equipment, Sears, JC Penney, etc. This was all kicked off by seeing an M42 Kamera 35/2.8 lens for $15 Canadian on a site. That led to "m42lens.com" where I was blown away by how many manufacturers/brands there were.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you wrote about using an 85mm lens in this post about a day after I saw a video about a street photographer who is inspired by Saul Leiter’s work. He extolled the virtues of using a telephoto like your 85mm lens - to focus on details rather than the whole street as you would with a wide lens. I have a 90mm lens around here somewhere that I should really try using again.
ReplyDeleteI came across Lucy Lumen recently on YouTube. She is okay. I find Ali O’Keefe on the “One Month Two Cameras” channel to be more engaging. She does some street photography - but focuses on getting out and shooting with “old” digital gear. I have also been watching “Bokeh Therapy with Jack Wang” lately - mostly for lens reviews/opinions that feature a fair amount of decent (IMO) street photography. Lots of good stuff on YouTube if one knows what to look for.
Why post all these photos when you could have written more about the technical specs and history of the lenses?
ReplyDeleteNot trying to be cute - I am surprised that I do not see mannequins with cell phones as part of the set dressing.
ReplyDelete