LC1, f6, 1/250, ISO 200, JPG, 75mmAt freezing temperatures I've set myself an objective for the day. It was to go out and cover the demonstration against Israel and the war in Gaza. The turn-out was impressive despite the low temperatures. It was very interesting and I got some great pictures out of it. I have been using the LC1 mostly and the GRD I only for quick snapshots when the slow AF of the LC1 was too much to handle or when the light levels dropped and ISO 400 was just not enough. The LC1 is agreat camera for such occasions since it looks more professional than all the beginner dSLRs and gives one more credibility. One other thing is that no matter how much fun I make about the plastic soap box cameras, in freezing cold you don't want to handle a camera made out of metal without gloves on ;).
Although I had a whole series, one of the changes for the year is to only post one picture per day. I chose this pictures since I find it best summarizes the protest for me.
I went as an neutral observer there and to document the protest. This is why I will not write anything about the actual protest and think the pictures speak for themselves so check out the gallery here.
I like this one. The tone of the colours. The serious look of the man and the delighted look of the child. The right picture for the right moment. Presenting the reality of the same demonstration with diverse mindsets. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteHi Cristian ! I was there too yesterday with my Grd2- posted some shots up also. Boy it was cold! I was shooting for a good three and a half hours with a single battery in freezing conditions and later on with flash too as light evels dropped. Not bad.
ReplyDeleteit's horible to see bullshit "boycott israel" and other hamas supporting stuff. there's a conflict going on for 60years now that is much to complex to just support either one side because of the shit the others are doing recently..
ReplyDeletesry. couldn't leave that uncommented.
Hi Cristian
ReplyDeleteYou have attracted some reaction to your blog - always a good sign.
I think you didn't do justice to yourself with the photo selection, there are some really great dramatic shots in your gallery.
Thanks Mike, this was the picture I found woprked best to summarize the protest although I wanted to post one of the rubbish thrown at the embassy from my Dropbox gallery insted. This works so much better tough since it shows as you say the diferent mindsets of people.
ReplyDeleteHi Steven, I read about the demonstration on your blog and decided to come and try to document it. Like your pictures very much.
I did not use the flash but the ISO 1600 of the GRD I helped together with the fast lens and smaller size than the LC1 since I've been in the midle of the pack when the light levels dropped.
It was so cold hat I had to stop shoting for a while and go wam up with a coffee, could almost not press the shutter anymore.
Anonymous, I did not agree with everything that has been said and done there. I went as a neutral observer and to document this. Like you I agree that the conflict is way too complex to be summed up in Palestininans = good and Isreal = bad like some people have done since this is not the case and it never is in life.
Yesbuts, reaction is always a good sign and one thing about the internet I like and find invaluable. To alow people to post their comments. As you know I don't edit comments on my blog unless they are obviously spam.
As for my picture choice, I struggled till 1pm to find one picture that sums the day up for me and this was the one I thought best. I really like some of the other pictures in my gallery and this is why I uploaded it yesterday to give a fuller picture. Thanks for looking through and glad you liked the pictures.
Went through your entire series and it is wonderful work Cristi. Great documentary! The shot that really grabbed me was of the police staring at you! Hope they did not mess with you in any way as we have read about the attitude against British photographers. Your experience with the cold reminded me of the recent parade I covered....soooooo cold! :) I am adopting the same attitude using the G10, it comes out for events like this...the GRD is for pure, unobtrusive street work. The differences between the cameras are more evident with each photographic event.
ReplyDeleteThanks James, glad you liked the series. The shot you pointed out is also one of my favorites. They were just giving me the stare, nothing else. Having a big camera that does not look like a cheap dSLR helps to gain credibility and if they figure you for a reported there are not many problems with real police. Police Community Support Oficers are different and show sometimes their lack of knowledge of the law by annoying photographers. The police during the demonstration was very good though, alert but friendly.
ReplyDeleteWhile I liked using the LC1, it was just not as fast as the GRD to work and I missed some shots due to the slow AF. The attention it attracted was sometmes good but sometimes not what I wanted.
Think you are making good use of both your cameras and they give your pictures a different feel.
This is a difficult post to give a comment about how a camera performs. I think you did a fine job observing and recording this demonstration.
ReplyDeleteThe subject is so much more difficult though. After so many centuries of wars, religious tensions, desire for power, and people struggling to life, this promized lens is drenched in blood. There is no right nor wrong in this matter. In my opinion the fighting must stop on both sides of the border.
And I hope you will rethink your decision to post only a single photograph a day as your series on dropbox show so well that stories can be told.
I wanted to write: "promized land ..."
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Wouter!
ReplyDeleteI did not write anything about the cameras initially but about my view on this situation. At the end I scrapped it and replaced it with the current post and added the last sentence. I think the pictures in the dropbox gallery tell the story better than I could.
I agree that this conflict is very complicated and after 60 years it is difficult to change overnight. In my opinion both sides are at fault and the people in Gaza need to get rid of Hamas and put the Palestinian government back in place if they want longer lasting peace.
The fighting must stop on both sides as you say, this is why this protest was misguided since it was only directed against Israel and not Hamas. Some speakers actually glorified Hamas and called for more support. This was not very intelligent since it won't stop the war, on the contrary. You should read Stevel Lee's and Tom's posts about this for their view on this.
I know what you mean with putting up more pictures to tell a story but the Blogger format does not work very well with a lot of pictures. From now on I want to summarize my post with only one image and put the other images up in a dropbox gallery. This seems to work better since it allows me to put up as many pictures as needed to tell the story. I might make changes to this and post more pictures if it helps to tell the story in no more than 3-5 pictures.
Great picture. A challenging subject to cover. I was in Germany over the weekend and ran into a demonstration on Saturday too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marco. It was challenging to cover the event due to the number of people, freezing temperatures but also due to the subject.
ReplyDeleteIt seems there have been quite a few demonstrations over the weekend.