Empire State

GX100, f6.3, 1/1600, ISO 100, RAW, 72mm

Impressions from Philly

Went to Philadelphia for a daytrip today. It is a nice and interesting place and well worth a trip from New York.

Where's my Umbrella?

GXR, f5.6, 1/97, ISO 400, JPG, 50mm

Standpipe

GXR S10, f2.7, 1/73, ISO 800, JPG, 28mm

I wanted to write less about technical stuff on my blog but need to say this.

The JPG engine of the S10 module is so bad that everything looks like an oil painting at ISO 800 and over. I still can't believe how Ricoh managed to get from the fantastic JPG engine in the GRD I, which to me and many is still the best JPG engine in a small sensor camera, to this mess in only a few years.
Bottom line is all current Ricoh cameras are RAW cameras only, the JPG engine is a mess and rates as one of the worst I have seen.

I surely hope Ricoh comes to their senses and stops smearing the JPGs with their overly agressive NR. I simply don't want to process RAW files to get a usable picture out of my camera.

Walking Up

GXR S10, f2.5, 1/125, ISO 1600, RAW, 24mm

Nothing too special and not more to say other than I like the perspective and wideangle perspective distortion, this is what made me select this picture.

Kiss in the Rain

GXR S10, f4.4, 1/9, ISO 1600, RAW, 72mm

Waiting

GXR S10, f4.8, 1/104, ISO 100, RAW, 28mm

I never had so many mis-focused pictures before the GXR, nor did I really care so little about this like now.
Is it my fault or the cameras fault, is the AF really that bad that even Snap AF gets things wrong? I don't really know.

Enjoying the Sunny Weather

GXR S10, f6.3, 1/620, ISO 100, JPG, 72mm

Here's looking at me

Yesterday, I got the S10 module from Ricoh and took it for a walk today. The weather was great and I took hundreds of pictures.
I am not sure if it was the weather, the new module for the GXR or anything else but I was very inspired and could not stop taking pictures. I filled 8GB worth of SD cards and even had to charge the GXR battery during the day.

Since I took so many pictures, I decided to post a series here and upload quite a lot more to my gallery. Head over there if you want to see all my favorite pictures from today.

Surprised

GRD, f2.4, 1/64, ISO 1600, JPG b&w

Taxi

GRD, f2.4, 1/25, ISO 400, JPG

Wise Guy

GRD, f4.5, 1/400, ISO 400, JPG b&w

I just love any form of industrial photography and would like to to more of this, so if anyone has a photography job for me in this area let me know ;).

This shot I took on my way to work, the light in the morning was very good and together with the steam really added the right atmosphere to the picture. It was not until this guy walked in front that this picture really worked for me, you can see a different perspective in my New York gallery on the last page.

Piggyback

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

Don't know why but I really like this picture. Maybe it's the reflection of the kids face in the window or maybe I just looked too long at the grainy pictures in the two photo books I received today.

The books I got were The Americans by Robert Frank and Dream Street by W. Eugene Smith. Both are excellent and I can only recommend them.
Not that my picture is as good as the ones in the book but both books show that just because a picture is blurry, grainy, out of focus or all of these, it can still work great and be an excellent picture. Look at some of the most highly regarded street and journalistic photographers and you see that some of their best pictures are far from being technically perfect, or at least what most people today consider perfect.

Lonely

GRD, f2.4, 1/50, ISO 400, JPG sepia

Gong Xi Fa Cai and Happy Valentine's Day

GXR, f5.6, 1/1070, ISO 200, JPG, 50mm

GRD, f8, 1/640, ISO 100, JPG

For all my other pictures from have a look at my Dropbox gallery.

Washington DC

GRD, f9, 1/2000, ISO 200, JPG b&w

Thanks to a long weekend due to President's Day on Monday, I decided to take a trip from New York to Washington DC.
Washington is completely different from New York and feels very quiet and almost empty of people, a bit like Berlin. It is nice and relaxing to walk around although all the snow does not make this very easy at times.

The weather was good for photography and I have tried to vary my shots although some are more tourist snapshots. You can see all in the Dropbox gallery here.

New Castmember

GRD, f2.4, 1/20, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Peering Out

GRD, f2.8, 1/160, ISO 1600, JPG b&w

Snow in NYC

GXR, f5, 1/540, ISO 1600, RAW, 50mm

Wear It

GXR, f5.6, 1/104, ISO 400, RAW, 50mm

Mirrorworld

It has been a beautiful day, the weather was cold but clear and the light simply great for taking pictures. New York is a fantastic location on these days due to the many glass buildings that reflect the light but also because people are a more relaxed with regards to photography.

After the last weeks or so when I was not really overly inspired, I knew exactly what I wanted and it has been one of my best and most productive days in New York.

The series I posted all happened on one street corner where the light was fantastic and the reflection in the mirror showed quite a contrast to the real world. I found it interesting how sometimes peoples expressions can change and seem different when seen in a mirror, almost as it's a different person.

You can see more of this series and other pictures in my Dropbox gallery.

Walter Scott

GXR, f7.1, 1/410, ISO 400, JPG b&w, 50mm

Blaues Licht

GXR, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 400, JPG, 50mm

Squeezing Past

GXR, f4.5, 1/930, ISO 800, JPG, 50mm

The Assistant

GXR, f4, 1/100, ISO 800, RAW, 50mm

Sometimes while taking pictures something unexpected happens, you look for a particular picture but what you get is much more and much better than you could have hoped. This picture is one such example, I was after a different shot but what I got was much more.
The look on the models face after her assistant gave her the robe to warm up is great and could not have been staged or planned. This is why I cropped it to square in order to get a tighter composition. I am very happy with the result and find this is one of my best pictures.

For more pictures from New York have a look at my gallery here.

Filming

GXR, f4.5, 1/153, ISO 800, JPG, 50mm

Walking to Work

GXR, f5, 1/13, ISO 800, JPG, 50mm

Walking to work is great, no matter the weather. It not only provides some exercise but also photo opportunities if you keep your eyes open and camera ready.

Today's picture is the worst from a technical perspective but the one I like most. Technical quality is nice but not always necessary to get a good picture.

Collection

GXR, f5.6, 1/350, ISO 400, RAW, 50mm