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OT:
Jim, I'm currently looking for a point'n'shoot digicam but with manual controls and a wide angle lens, something like the Canon Powershot S70 or S80. I recall reading you said you occassionally carry a P&S digicam which takes okay shots - would you mind telling what make it is?
Tried viewing the link but it requires Windows Media Player - just the thought of that brings back bad memories of my old Acer. I'm a Mac boy now.
Originally posted 70 months ago.
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ispistole edited this topic 70 months ago.
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a real lesson in how to shoot street, and how to talk a good game.
- camera to face. no hip shots!
- did anyone hear him say fuck?
Posted 70 months ago.
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Jim, I'm currently looking for a point'n'shoot digicam but with manual controls and a wide angle lens, something like the Canon Powershot S70 or S80. I recall reading you said you occassionally carry a P&S digicam which takes okay shots - would you mind telling what make it is?
Don't know what Jim had in mind, but perhaps the Ricoh GR Digital (28mm equiv). Perhaps also the Fuji F30 (but that puppy lacks fully manual controls)... pretty ok cameras all round.
Posted 70 months ago.
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Cheers Hinius - apologies for dragging this thread off topic - I live in Vietnam and haven't found the GR Digital anywhere. It looks like an interesting camera, but quite pricey - the EXTRA optical viewfinder is £130 - the camera itself, £399 - according to online stores in the UK. Ouch!
I've seen the S70 which has 28mm equiv. here for $350. Good manual control and RAW.
To get back on topic, I've been working my way through the Magnum list of photographers. So far, have been most taken with Richard Kalvar and Harry Gruyaert. The latter is more beach than street in this book, but some excellent work:
www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/CDocZ_MAG.aspx?Stat=DocThumb_D...
And this street shot from Morrocco is a peach:
www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/CDocZ_MAG.aspx?Stat=DocThumb_D...
Originally posted 70 months ago.
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ispistole edited this topic 70 months ago.
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Actually the P&S digicam is sort of a piece of crap, especially in low light in color - it's some sort of Casio 2MP card camera from a few years ago. That said, its B&W mode is somehow pleasing. It's tiny and usually in my bag, too, which helps justify its existence.
A couple of the working pros I know use those GR digitals. A bit out of my budget for digital right now, but looks nice, as does the non-digital version.
What's that Leica-looking digital rangefinder? RD-1? I was playing with my friend's the other night and he had it fitted with a 1936 Leitz Elmar 35mm 3.5, so it must have some pretty good manual capabilities.
Posted 70 months ago.
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@ispistole - see:
www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponent...
There's a non-MS plugin that works well - I'm on a Mac as well.
Posted 70 months ago.
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Cheers for the heads up, Jim, for both the camera info and the media player.
Posted 70 months ago.
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RD-1 is just a Bessa R2a with a digital back. The F30 does have P/A/S. I don't know if it has a full "M," though. It's one of the few digicompacts with a usable ISO800.
Posted 70 months ago.
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Is there a public opinion on the Panasonic DMC LX1, soon to be LX2.
Manual Control w/ Leica lens, Leica minimalist features, and very very descrete looking.
Thinking about leaving my current P&S for this one. Curious why it never gets mentioned.
www.dpreview.com/news/0607/06071904panasoniclx2.asp
Posted 70 months ago.
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My whole stream is with a gr-digital. I absolutely love it!
Posted 70 months ago.
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ispistole, I have a GR-D and would recommend it. If you have any particular questions about it, feel free to send me a flickrmail.
Posted 70 months ago.
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And thanks for the link, Jim. I love it when this kind of stuff gets posted here.
I didn't hear him say "fuck," but I noticed he smiles a lot.
Posted 70 months ago.
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@ipistole, i carry a olympus c-70, witch is like the canon powershot serie, and i do recomend it for its manual options. I'm happy with it.
thanks for the link jim.
Posted 70 months ago.
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Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Have been mulling over the Canon Powershot S70 ($350) or S80 ($550) here in Saigon, mainly for the width it would offer - and portability. I want something I can carry around with me to and from work.
But the more I read about the GR-Digital, the more tempting it sounds.
Check out the digital grain in these shots:
www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00HIgi&...
@Toon-bo and druedrue - checked out your photos - some great shots - a great advert for the camera. My credit card is starting to look worried!
Posted 70 months ago.
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I have watched this Joel Meyerowitz video several times for inspiration and it's great to see it posted here. I wish there were more like it. It's great to see the technique of someone I admire.
Posted 70 months ago.
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Thanks, ispistole, but most of the pictures in my stream are from a dslr.
Have at this set of nkag's instead:
www.flickr.com/photos/keinak/sets/72057594087660318/
Posted 70 months ago.
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thanks jim. i concur with amyb68.
Posted 70 months ago.
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scribeoflight [deleted] says:
I'd go for the GX8, if you thinking of Ricoh - I don't think the prime is significantly sharper than the lens on the littler cousin, and the CCD (from what I've read, is no less noisy than the GX8).
I use my GX8 set to wide with the manual focus set a little ahead of infinity, and it works absolutely wonderfully, for what it is.
I'd actually forgotten that several of those were GX8 shots - thankfully I tag quite religiously.
Posted 70 months ago.
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Woh, that was quite a good video. If I looked that suspicious in Cardiff I would get beaten up every week :-D
Posted 70 months ago.
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The video calls bullshit on "street must be black and white", too...
Originally posted 70 months ago.
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AndrewWiese edited this topic 70 months ago.
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I don't quite follow how he makes himself "invisible" by bobbing, lurching and hopping around like a mad rabbit. Could it be that the New York crowds just don't care enough to pay heed to some creepy photographer ninja?
Posted 70 months ago.
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Karl Zeissky - why do you call him creepy? he was smiling and chatting the entire time and was doing a good job of making people comfortable with his presence.
peace.
Originally posted 70 months ago.
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bryanF. edited this topic 70 months ago.
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In one of the other interviews on the site, I read that his dad was a boxer and taught him to box at a young age. That would account for the way he moves.
Posted 70 months ago.
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Well I find that in NY which is unlike any othr city in the world it is easier to go unoticed acting like that. Also when you have a film crew filming you while doing it is a whole other thing as well. one thing i will say about him tho.... i wish they had shown some of his good work. because the shots they showed him taking were all shite save for maybe two in my opinion. I saw a gallery exhibit of his a little while ago and the stuff he had was awesome. he is quite a character tho isn't he?
Originally posted 70 months ago.
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500lbGüerilla edited this topic 70 months ago.
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> The video calls bullshit on "street must be black and white", too...
Yah, but I like to save color for the times when the color is extraordinary. Getting more than three people in the frame doing something interesting and getting them composed well and getting color combinations that don't make you want to vomit is too much to ask for most of the time. Too often the clashing colors on city streets are distracting from the action or pathos or whatever the photo is trying to communicate. That's not surprising because most signs are designed to grab attention. I shoot everything in color but know that most shots are going to take a trip through PS channel mixer to get rid of the hideous colors.
Besides, for me doing a nice B&W conversion is part of the fun.
Posted 70 months ago.
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"B/W conversion" you just made me sad Kylejones.
Posted 70 months ago.
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for those interested, here's a link to his gallery from iN-PUBLIC
Posted 70 months ago.
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True, he shoots color on the street. One day I hope to be able to do that too. I finally trained myself to "see" the scene in B&W, so that I can concentrate on composition. One day I hope to have the kind of skill that he has, so that my color stuff could be as good as his.
I wonder if we could get him to join Flickr and HSP?
Posted 70 months ago.
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I too thought he looked a bit like a nut. A fairly good-natured, loveable nut, but if I saw him bobbing like that (especially in his black ninja gear) I definitely wouldn't consider him "invisible" as he claims. Then, being a New Yorker, I'd keep right on walking.
He was about two blocks from my office. I've tried, mostly without success, to get good pictures in that part of midtown.
Posted 70 months ago.
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Personally, I kinda like the hat...
Posted 70 months ago.
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Don't cry for me, 500lbGüerilla. I'm getting results I like with the processes I use, so I don't feel hampered by not shooting black and white film.
Originally posted 70 months ago.
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kylejones edited this topic 70 months ago.
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@lanegreene: I think the point of the bobbing and weaving was that if you look down the sidewalk and see what's coming you can get the drop on someone (or at least keep your camera hidden) by using movement and body language. What makes me uneasy about these tactics is that they are the same ones a mugger with a sap would use. For this and other reasons I prefer to just walk around with a camera in plain sight.
Originally posted 70 months ago.
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kylejones edited this topic 70 months ago.
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For this and other reasons I prefer to just walk around with a camera in plain sight.
I think it is MUCH easier to hide in plain sight, when you act creepy and sneaking people will pick up on that.
Having said that when he bounces up and down, people must think he is just some crazy nut, and thus ignore him. Plus it made the video more interesting :)
Posted 70 months ago.
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i think it's far creepier to use a telephoto lens and shoot at a distance than the in close approach Meyerowitz and others have used over the years.
when you're in close at least people can get a read on you and your non-verbal body language (smiling, laughing, being relaxed) . they can probably figure it out rather quickly that you're a photographer of some sorts.
i dig the bobbing and weaving....and the hat :)
Posted 70 months ago.
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I think the hat might be to draw attention away from the camera. ;-)
Actually, if you watch him, you can always see his camera - if you were to see him, you would see a photographer. He's not sneaky or threatening.
His face is probably just as important - people see a smile and they aren't threatened. If you watch James Nachtwey's "War Photographer" you can see a similar technique. His face seems sympathetic and trustworthy and you'll see him raise an open palm occasionally. He's separate from the event, though never distant.
I was watching a pickpocket once in Paris who had an interesting technique for disappearing - he actually walked around banging a tambourine. He should have traded his pickpocketing for street photography - he would have been a master.
Posted 70 months ago.
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jncolligan, I have an LX1. It's a good little camera, & I've written about it on photorant. After I got it I also found out that otehr people I know have it too, like John Brownlow and Ben Lifson. Validation is always reassuring (and then you have to go out and actually make pictures).
I know what NYC is like on a cold sunny morning, but I was struck by Meyerowitz wearing gloves -- the black/black/black means that the motions of his hands (and camera) don't pull the eye of people he's looking at. Clowns (and Bugs B & Mickey M) wear superwhite gloves for the opposite effect -- so that their gestures will read from a distance.
BTW, without the hat he's quite bald. And he's outdoors all morning (as opposed to the 5 minutes between the B train and the office). You can hardly blame him for dressing warmly :)
Posted 70 months ago.
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Yeah, his bobbing a weaving made m notice him more. HCB was the type who stood still and struck like lightening, then moved from his original spot. Joel is doing aerobics on the street. His smile does remind me of Nactwey's though. I liked the interview.
Posted 70 months ago.
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I agree with the bobbing/invisible thing - there's one shot while he's bobbing around and he gets in someone's way lol.
Posted 70 months ago.
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I love the LX1 and have tons and tons of photos on my stream using the LX1. It has lots of manual features and a 28mm lens. But my favorite of all reasons is that using it in MF is great and easy because of the DOF that is right on the screen. Do any of these other digital cameras work in manual focus mode easily? Like the GR digital? With the LX1 I have gotten really good at knowing distance. That MF feature for me is a lifesaver, makes for easy taking photos, the camera is not working against me, I have no wait for it to AF. I have not been able to ever use AF well on any camera, SLR or P & S ever. When I used to try over %50 of the photos I shoot were just out of focus or taking to long to focusing and focusing on wrong thing, making me miss what I wanted to take.
Although it is a noisy camera the lens and camera is extremely sharp, sharper then the Canon dSLR and the kit lens it comes with and also sharper then the canon 28mm lens I got.
Posted 70 months ago.
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Having read a fair bit of his writing, his voice & demeanor were not what I expected. I guess it shouldn't be suprising that he sounds the quintessential new yorker, but I think i expected a persona that was a little more....delicate?
His technique when trying do demonstrate "being invisible" actually demonstrated quite the opposite, and maybe that's the real lesson: forget being invisible; get out there in plain sight, get in people's faces, move your whole body to get the position, angle and framing you want, and don't worry about people noticing you. They generally don't notice or care (at least not in NYC). If he thinks he was invisible, he was badly mistaken.
Or maybe THAT'S the real lesson - if you THINK you're invisible, you'll do fine - even if you're so obvious you might as well be dressed like a clown. People were clearly just trying to ignore the crazy old guy in the ninja get-up.
Be the crazy old guy/lady. Look as goofy as possible. Works for Joel, apparently.
Posted 70 months ago.
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@shveckl & @photorant.com Thanks for the LX1 confirm. The LX2 will be my first leap from my fuji finepix p&s to something more informed. :-)
@photorant.com Great site, learned loads about the LX1 from it and the links from it.
Originally posted 70 months ago.
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~Joe~ edited this topic 70 months ago.
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Great video. Really gave the feel of street photography.
Liked the hat too. Although if I had ears like that I'd have pulled the hat down over them. They must've been frozen!
Come to think of it I did have ears like that once, but they were pinned back many years ago. Much warmer, not to mention streamlined. Helps with the bobbing and weaving.......
Posted 70 months ago.
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His blog page is pretty good. The old lady with the blue lens sunglasses, the woman with crutches kicking the shoe guy, the contrast of the van and bus. Good stuff.
Posted 64 months ago.
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Gosh I miss NY. People move so much more quickly there.
Posted 64 months ago.
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