Ted Bake & friends

CX1, f5.0, 1/870, ISO 80, JPG, 28mm

Did not have much time for taking pictures today but I still managed to take a few as usual on my way to lunch.
The thing I like most about the CX1 is the fast AF, this come is very handy for street shots like this. If Ricoh can forther improve on this for the next GRD then I will finally have a worthy successor to the GRD I for street photography.

Crossing

GRD II, f4, 1/320, ISO 100, RAW

After yesterday's post, I had a look through my recent pictures and noticed that I have hardly done any street photography in London. I have tried to look out for new things but at the end I do enjoy street photography more. I decided to do more street photography this week but also want to try and give it a different look.

I took this picture (as so many other) during lunch, at first I noticed the reflection on the street and it looked like a pedestrian crossing. Then I needed a subject but did not want to have the subject full in the frame. I have boosted the contrast a lot in this picture to get a picture without many grey tones, almost like using the text mode. I cropped it to 1:1 format because I feel it works beter like this and I started to really like the square format, although I prefer to always shoot in 4:3 and crop later to the intended format.

Heroes Remembered

GRD, f4, 1/320, ISO 400, JPG sepia

Took this picture while walking through Postman's Park today. I always wanted to take a picture here since I have seen the movie Closer and have taken one before, with the GX, but never of the tiles. While walking past I saw this guy looking at the inscriptions and I thought that it would make a good picture in sepia, I am indeed happy with how it came out.

"The Day of the Big Protest, Or...

How the Police Managed to Escalate a Peaceful Situation".


The G20 Summit started and massive demonstrations were expected in the City of London for today. At first there were more police officers and reporters than protesters but this turned soon and around lunctime a lot of people came to protest but also to see what is going on.


In the beginning everything was fine, people were having a good time and were in good spirits, police was present but did not impede or bullied the protesters and other people there. This turned soon when the police got the stupid order to contain people and circled the people in. I was one of the people who got caught in the middle with the police refusing to let anyone out, even an injured person. Only reporters were alowed through.


People were nice and talked to the police at first but after being "contained" for over 1.5h people started to get impatient and angry. They called on the police to let them through and when this failed started to call them faschists and nazis. It did not take long till people decided that pushing was the only way out.
The police thought it was a good idea to bully people and push them to the ground and this is when the situation escalated and everyone pushed their way through. I was in the front line just in front of the police and while I could avoid being pushed by the police I was pushed forward by the people behind me. This resuled in the police line breaking down and the ploce finally moving away and letting people get out.


This whole situation only escalated because some idiot gave the order to contain people, after people pushed their way out they went peacefully about their way. So a note to the London Police, if you want to escalate a situation and turn people against you just go ahead and "contain" people.


Overall it was a very interesting experience and I really enjoy covering protests. Getting caught up in the midle was not great but the people I met, including the police, were generaly very friendly and passionate. Using the GRD only was great and it is the perfect camera for these events, it's fast, small and easy to handle. Took over 450 pictures today, not all of them good but sometimes it is better to take more than not enough on an event like this.
I even managed to get another photographer interested in my GRD. It was generally also a great opportunity to spot the camera people were using and from big dSLRs over Leicas, Contax G2, Rolleiflex, compact and mobile phones there were all sorts of cameras present.

For more pictures go an see my Dropbox gallery here.

Tomorrow after work I'll be heading to the Excel Centre to cover the 2nd day of the protests so check back for more pictures.

Have a Rest

GRD, f5.6, 1/1250, ISO 64, JPG b&w

This is one of my 'lunchtime pictures', I liked how he seemed pretty much fast asleep and enjoying the sun in front of St. Paul's. This is a favorite spot for people to have a nap since the sun almost always shines in this spot all through the year when the weather is nice.
Took it with the GRD I and added the sepia toning and vignetting in post processing.

Sad Lovers

GRD II, f2.8, 1/35, ISO 80, RAW, 8.4mm

The last day of my fish-eye lens week is today. I took a few pictures on my way home but this worked best due to the perspective although I had to play around with the colors and saturation a bit to get the look I wanted.
It was a fun week and taking pictures where the quality does not matter and you can get away with noisy or blurry pictures is definitely something different to what most people try to achieve. While it will be back to normal from tomorrow, I am already thinking about the next weekly theme, maybe a text mode week would be fun.

The Passageway

GRD II, f2.4, 1/6, ISO 80, RAW, 8.4mm

The City of London is full of small passageways or alleyways like this, it makes it easy to go between the main roads and provides lots of shortcuts. It also has a lot of "hidden" pubs, bars and shops in some of the narrow alleys. If you are in the City, make sure you look out for them and find out where they lead you. If nothing else you may find an interesting photo opportunity.

By the Beach

GRD II, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 80, RAW, 8.4mm

Another lunchtime picture, this time from the city "beach". :)
The weather was great and it would have been really nice to be able to go to a real beach but since it was not posible the beach at the Thames had to do the job.

Lunching in the Rain

GRD, f4, 1/200, ISO 400, JPG, 40mm

Took this picture, like so many others, after my lunchbreak. Taking pictures during lunch is sometimes the only way to keep my blog updated. This is where a compact camera comes in handy. This is why for me a compact camera will always have a big advantage.
I took a few pictures but found this to be best although it is slightly out of focus. It works very well in sepia and since I haven't used sepia in a while it was good to have a picture that works beter with it.

Breaking the Law

GRD, f2.4, 1/100, ISO 400, JPG

On my way to catch the train I saw this at Cannon Street Station. I found it quite funny that the police guy was taking pictures with a big and heavy dSLR camera and external flash. Seemed quite odd to me and I could not resist taking a few pictures myself, even when it (maybe) meant breaking the law.
I am not writing this post from a jail cell so good thing the police here was busy dealing with real criminals ;).
If you are wondering what I am on about read here for more details.

The Heron

GX200, f4.4, 1/70, ISO 673, RAW, 72mm

Took this while out for a walk after work today. Sometimes it is very handy to have a zoom in a camera, the added flexibility is very nice. I think as much as I like the prime lens on the GRD I would gladly change it for a lens similar to the LC1. Or a interchangeable lens camera with a very fast prime lens and a somewhat slower zoom lens.

Blue & Yellow

GRD II, f5.6, 1/500, ISO 80, RAW

More color for my blog from today's picture. I don't know why but when using the GRD I, I almost always use either b&w and/or high ISO for my pictures, when using the GRD II however I always end up with a color picture at low ISO. There is something differnt about what you "see" depending on the camera you carry, at least for me it is.
Took this while walking back from lunch near St. Paul's today. There was a road saftey event in front of St. Paul's and the ploice had their bikes parked behind the church.

Keep Left

GRD, f2.4, 1/60, ISO 400, JPG

Took this after work at Bank station, I always find it funny that they put the signs to "Keep Left" but no one pays attention and walks on the right side. Guess going or driving on the right side is more natural to people ;).

Last Kiss

GRD, f2.4, 1/125, ISO 400, JPG

Been a gray and rainy day so did not take a lot of pictures today. This is no problem though since the first picture I took was the one for the blog. When I saw them in front of St. Paul's I knew this would be a good picture. I am quite pleased with the outcome and cropped it to 1:1 format.

Man in Yellow

GRD, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 400, JPG

After taking a break from street photography I have another picture from today. This time however it's not a b&w but color picture. I think it is important to keep changing the themes and style every now and then so as not to become stale and repetitive. This is why I enjoy having different cameras, each with a slightly different look and feel.

At Her Feet

GRD, f3.2, 1/160, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Back in the UK but not much time to take pictures. It gets dark early and the weather is not very nice either. Took this picture during lunch, as always.
More and bigger updates will be coming soon. I will publish the R10 and GX200 reviews, a long exposure and landscape comparison and of course more about my factory visit.

Between Good and Evil?

GX200, f4.1, 1/200, ISO 64, RAW, 24mm

Took this picture of the protest while walking in the City today. I was not the only one to take pictures of this though, quite a few people took pictures but mainly with their mobile phones. The good thing about the City is that there s always something happening so I like working here for that reason. It is also very interesting if you're interested in architecture photography with a lot of very interesting old and new buildings.
The GX200 is very good for this and has a great resolution but not enough contrast and the dynamic range is too low, this was always a problem with the GX series. The resolution is there and you get a lot of details with little noise at base ISO, especially when using RAW.

St. Paul's

R10, f5.6, 1/760, ISO 80, JPG

There are some days when I'm very inspired and take lots of pictures and like quite a few of them. Then there are days when I am not very inspired or don't have time to take pictures. While I had enough time today and went for a walk to take pictures with both the R10 and GX200, I did not take many pictures and most are pretty bad or at best average.
Take this picture for example, it has very nice colors but is aside from that more a typical tourist snapshot so not very arty or interesting as such. Then again, I took it with the R10 and it is nice to use it sometimes in pure point and shoot mode and be like a tourist. The geek in me is now more interested to see how the picture came out, it is the best case scenario for the R10 or any camera. It is taken in bright light, at base ISO with a fast shutter speed so it should show what the R10 can do best. I based the image parameters on Pavel's recommended settings for the R8/10 (Contrast +2, Sharpening -1 and Color Depth +1). I think the result is very good and as usual the colors came out very well. This is one of the reasons I prefer Ricoh cameras over any Nikon, Fuji, Canon and the likes, the colors are just more natural and not over the top saturated.

Running Ahead

GX200, f3.6, 1/200, ISO 64, JPG b&w, 24mm

I mentioned it before but I really like the GX200 JPGs at ISO up to 200. They are very good and I have no problems with using them. Especially the b&w JPGs finally look more like the GRD I. No idea what went wrong with the GRD II but for a flagship camera to have such excessive noise reduction in JPGs that can't be turned off is not good. The GX200 and even R10 are a good step in the right direction even if they are still not where the GRD I was.
The handling of the GX200 is great but not as refined as the GRDs, you can also not quite use it with one hand as well and the GRDs just 'feel' better.
One thing though if you consider the GX100 or GX200, get the LC1 lenscap. This is the best accessory Ricoh produced and will make your life much easier, the lenscap is a pain. It is a simple but great design and if you search about it you will see adaptations for the Sigma DP1 and the Panasonic LX3.

Two People and Two Macros

This is another day with the R10 and I am still quite impressed by it and so was the guy at Jacobs when I went to pick up my GR1 pictures. Went for a walk during my lunchtime and tried to take various pictures with the R10. The best thing is how versatle this camera is, from wideangle to extreme closeup, everything is possible in a very small package. I was quite impressed with how well it performes. Sure, the IQ is not great and the lens is slow but it is the price to pay for having such a wide zoom range in a small package. None of the pictures is post processed, only one is cropped to 16:9 format and all are shot at ISO 80 or ISO 100.
Finally managed to pick up my pictures from the development but to be honest I am very disapointed, both with the prints and the bad quality JPGs they put on the CD. I just can't see film being worthwile since GRD I prints looked better, there is not sign of better dynamic range or better colors in the prints. The only visible difference is the shallow DOF but this can be worked around even with the GRD. Will replace and post the pictures tomorrow.