Environmental Portrait

I chose to post a series for two reasons today. First I have been at an 'Environmental Portrait' workshop and took these pictures for the assignment there although I did not submitt any of these for critique afterwards but chose a different one. The second reason is because it is a series from the London Bridge festival.
All pictures have been taken with the Panasonic LC1 and have only been converted to b&w or sepia.

Race for Life 09 in Blackheath

This is a early blog update for me but after getting back from the 'Race for Life' event in Blackheath I think I found the 5 pictures I want to use for today.
I decided to use the Panasonic LC1, it has the zoom and color pictures are just great from it. I am highly impressed with the quality from the LC1, it has a fantastic lens but more than that, the sensor is very good. I believe 2/3" (or slightly bigger) and 6-8MP is the best size for a compact digital camera, it gives enough dynamic rage, very nice colors and does not have too much noise.

Plain Lazy

LC1, f5.6, 1/320, ISO 100, JPG, 61mm

Took a short trip to the seaside and went to Whitstable today. It is a very strange place, a bit messy as if the people could not decide if they like or don't like the sea. Most houses look onto the main road instead of the sea. The harbour is also quite small and most of it is taken over by a big cement factory. It makes for a nice day out but I am not sure if I would really come back here.
This picture was not my favorite for the day but in the end I quite like the funny old chap with his hat in front of the boarded up beach hut.

Waterlily

LC1, f2.4, 1/1250, ISO 100, JPG, 90mm

Took this while out for a walk in a park nearby today. I have darkened the blacks and added some vignetting to make the white waterlily stand out more.
I really like the LC1 and how it handles, for color work it is great. It is a shame that Panasonic has not released a LC2 and I can only hope they will release a LC2 based on m4/3 but only with the same fantastic 28-90mm f2.0-2.4 lens.

The Eye of the Dragon

LC1, f8, 1/800, ISO 100, JPG, 48mm

It was a quiet Sunday for me. I went back to the Bike & Kite festival and took some more pictures. It was not a very good day for kite flying since it was mostly windstill but people had a nice time nonetheless.
I took this picture at one of the stands there and wanted to get the sun to shine into the eye of the dragon while still providing a glow around the head. In post processing I have added some vignetting to bring out the glow more.

Blackheath Bike & Kite Festival 2009

The 2nd Blackheath Bike and Kite Festival was on today. The weather was great so there were a lot of people around. I went out to take some pictures with the Panasonic LC1 and ended up taking more pictures of kites than bikes but it was good fun and the LC1 performed just fine and I was quite glad that it did have a zoom.
You can see the full gallery here.

Thames Barrier

LC1, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 100, RAW, 41mm

After the Ricohforum meetup yesterday I took a walk with the Panasonic LC1 today. I walked to the Thames Barrier to take a few pictures, the light was very good with some dark cloud and rays of sun in between. I did take a lot of pictures but like this one best.

London Marathon 2009

Got up early today to go on an assignment and take pictures of the 2009 Flora London Marathon. It was an event by the LPMG and Bliss to take pictures of the official bliss runners. Although they announced rain for today, the weather has been fantastic and great for being out and taking pictures although the harsh light posed a problem at times.

I decided to take the Panasonic LC1 with me since it has a very usefull zoom, fast lens, handles very well and the dynamic range is very good. Everyone else had big dSLRs with long zoom lenses so my 90mm tele was where their zoom lenses started. My choice of cameras did stick out but at least I did not have to worry about a sore neck at the end of the day ;).
The only problem with my choice of camera is the slow and unreliable AF and the EVF lag of the LC1, I had to resort to manual focus at times and using one eye to frame through the EVF and the other to see the actual scene, this worked ok although the EVF is not 1:1. It is really a shame Panasonic never released a LC2 based on a 4/3 sensor and faster AF, a G1 in a LC1 body would be a fantastic camera and a bit like a digital Contax G2. I think the most important thing in a new camera for me is a fast and reliable AF, using manual focus is ok but I would not want to rely on it all the time.

Since I never go out of the house without one of my GRDs, I also had the GRD I with me for street shots while walking around. It did give me some very nice shots but also a few problems that I need to look into.

You can see more pictures from the marathon in my Dropbox gallery here.

Lazy Cat

LC1, f5.6, 1/400, ISO 100, JPG, 90mm.

Did not have time to take many pictures today. It was not because I was lying in the sun all day. While I wish, I could have done it like the cat in the picture, I was spending some 'quality' time in the plane and the very efficient London transport system instead.

Slope

LC1, f6.3, 1/2000, ISO 100, RAW, 53mm

Ok, this was the last full day in Berlin. I took most pictures with the GRD I today. But since I decided to post only pictures taken with the LC1, I did prefer this picture.

Tomorrow it will be time to leave and go to Hilden. My posts should be more on time from there.

Little Lady in the Water

LC1, f5.6, 1/1000, ISO 100, RAW, 90mm

Ok, after the last days of posting only pictures taken with the Panasonic LC1, I have decided to post only LC1 pictures from Berlin. I mean, if I have to lug around all-day the big and heavy camera, I might as well make use of it and show it. This is also my biggest problem with it, it's great to use but I hate carrying it with me. Literally a pain in the neck ;). Never understand people lugging around big dSLRs with massive zoom lenses, no matter how good the image quality but the weight and bulk would never be worth for me.

Today, I got more in the rhythm of the place and my street photography improved, I had more and better pictures. Berlin is different and so are the people, I need to adapt and look for different things and have a different pace and approach.

Men With Hats

LC1, f5.6, 1/1000, ISO 400, RAW, 90mm

Ok, if you wonder why I took this picture in ISO 400 in broad daylight then I have to say it was user error. No idea how I managed it but by mistake I set the LC1 to ISO 400 and did not notice it until the evening. While ISO 400 is not great, most pictures are usable if developed from RAW. The funny thing is that today my GRD I pictures are taken mostly at ISO 64 and not as usual at ISO 400.
Well, sometimes mistakes happen, at least the pictures are still usable and some who are not are easy to re-take.

Other than that, Berlin is pretty nice and the weather is great. Still, somehow I can't connectwith the city that much and I am still not overly inspired. Most of my pictures are more holiday snapshots and some architecture.

Shadow on the Wall

LC1, f5.6, 1/1000, ISO 100, RAW, 70mm

I was not sure what picture to post today. It was a close call between this, a street shot from the GRD or a picture of one of the sights. Then again, with me so much into street photography it made sense to use this.
When I walked past this spot, I really liked the tree shadow but found something lacking. There was a great looking tower in the background but including it did not do anything. I needed people in the picture but the first people walking past were not 'right' so I had to wait for the right moment. When these guys came along i knew I had my shot.

Die Welt - Berlin

LC1, f5, 1/1000, ISO 100, RAW, 60mm

Arrived in Berlin today and went for a walk. Have to say it is a nice city, modern with great architecture and it is pretty laid back. It is however not quite as expected and right now I am not sure if I like it or not. It is not as inspiring as Hong Kong to take pictures where I could not stop.
It was hazy day and this might have been the main reason I haven't been that inspired. The picture I chose for today is one of my favorite. The main reason I chose it however is that it has Berlin written in it ;).

Burnt Out

I posted quite a few series recently so my motto of 'One Day. One Picture.' did not quite apply. But sometimes it is necessary to show a series of 5 pictures to give a better feel to a place or theme.

I took the pictures today in a burnt out building nearby with the Panasonic LC1. Always wanted to go there and take pictures but never really got round to. It was really lucky that I could go in and take pictures close up. As much as I enjoyed taking pictures in Bodiam Castle, I somehow found taking pictures of this building more inspiring but also more challenging. It is easy to take a nice picture of a beautiful place or great building but taking interesting pictures of decay is a bigger challenge. The weather was on my side today and I went there at the right time to have the sun provide great light and shadows inside.

Castle Visit

The initial plan for was to go to Bath for a daytrip but the weather was mixed so instead we decided to go to Bodiam Castle. It was a very nice trip and the castle offers some great photo opportunities even in mixed weather and with some light rain.

At first I thought of taking the GRD I and GX100 along but the dynamic range of them was a concern so I decided to take the GRD and Panasonic LC1 instead. The LC1 has a higher dynamic range and the slightly longer zoom is certainly very usefull. It is truly a unique camera with fantastic controls, aside from the GRD this is my favorite camera. Panasonic really needs to release a updated version of it with only a different sensor and leave the rest alone.

300

LC1, f2, 1/125, ISO 100, RAW, 41mm

Took a walk with the LC1 today, it is really a great camera to use and it is a shame that Panasonic did not see it necessary to replace it with a LC2 or base the G1 design on this instead of a dSLR. I like having the zoom and focus ring around the lens, this makes using it much easier and intuitive. There are only a handfull of digital cameras with great build and controls and these are the Ricoh GRD, GX200, Panasonic LC1 and Epson RD1.
Took this picture while walking along the Thames. I liked the green and the light gave a nice contrast, I added some vignetting to get the look I wanted.

The Yelow Wall

LC1, f6, 1/60, ISO 100, RAW, 28mm

Although the weather was fantastic today, I did not get to take many pictures and spent most of the day indoors. I have been to a LPMG workshop, first about off camera flash and then Charlie Waite took over and told us about his motivation and approach to take pictures. It was a very interesting day and especially Charlie Waite is a great speaker.
One perticulary interesting thing during his speech was when he showed us some of his work, he mentioned only one camera that he used and it must have stood out from his other pictures. This was a GR21 from which he had two pictures and both pictures were b&w high ISO film pictures. I found it very interestng to see that the only camera he mentioned was a Ricoh and like the majority of the Ricoh GR pictures they were shot in b&w. This shows me that my suggestion for Ricoh to create a fully b&w GRD would be a good idea and that people would like one.

Antenna

LC1, f5,6, 1/320, ISO 100, RAW, 90mm

Took this picture while waiting for the bus today, liked the grey sky. I wanted to give it the look of an old TV with heavy vignetting and strong contrast but, although it looks like it, the picture is full 'color' and not converted to b&w. I quite like the result after adding some noise it looks very crisp and I like the contrast.

12:20pm Pancakealympics

After my long walk yesterday, I decided to take it easy and just went out to take some pictures at the Blackheath Farmers Market today. They had the first Pancakealympics in London. The kids had a lot of fun and especially the kid in the green t-shirt really went for it, he was constantly racing along.

All pictures are taken with the LC1.