Lines

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/1520, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this at the City of London Museum while enjoying a walk during lunch.

Playing the Sax

GXR A12-M, f1.2, 1/125, ISO 2500, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Not many things are nicer midweek, than chilling in a jazz bar, listening to some good music and enjoying a bottle of wine.

Telephone

GXR A12-M, f1.2, 1/125, ISO 1600, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this on my way home, initially I liked the red and blue light around the scaffolding area but then the phone boxes caught my idea and when people started to walk past talking on their mobile phones I had an idea for the picture.
While these two are not exactly where I would like them to be in the frame I like that both walk in a different direction and both talk on their mobile phones while ignoring the red phone boxes.

Yellow Car

GXR A12-M, f2.0, 1/125, ISO 2691, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this in the evening when meeting a friend for drinks, I liked this staircase and the lights there but the car made the scene perfect and the yellow colour added to it, the woman walking down the stairs also worked well in the composition.

Light Up

GRD IV, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 800, RAW

Been a dull and grey day so did not do much or take many pictures, took this one when going for a walk to get a pint.

Saturday at the Avalon

Went to see Nancee play at the Avalon in Soho but arrived a bit late so only got to see the end of her performance. Since there were also other bands playing we decided to stick around and listen to them while having drinks.

Took my GXR along to take pictures as usual but struggled when trying to process them thanks to the blue light they had in there. The best tool turned out to be Photo Mate on the Nexus 7 where I processed all these pictures and posted from.

Thanks to Photo Mate it becomes easier to just use Android and I hardly ever need to use Windows anymore.

Hiding

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/380, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Another entry in my orange series, I was specifically looking for orange things to photograph today while the last pictures just so happened to have orange in them. Think I need to do more of this and set myself some themes and challenges of things to photograph.

Hall

GXR A12-M, f1.2, 1/125, ISO 835, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

In keeping with the orange theme a picture from the Barbican taken during my lunch break as usual. I like the orange wall and liked how the chairs were placed in front of the word 'hall'.

Orange

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/3200, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this during lunch when the sun came out near Smithfield Market, I walked past this white wall with the painted black squares for a while and was looking for a photo opportunity. This time I was waiting around for a few minuted to get a few pictures and more important the right picture.
I like this one best out of he pictures I took there.

Fog over Tower Bridge

GXR A12-M, f11.0, 1/3000, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm) 

It was a foggy morning but the sun burned off the fog quite fast, when I got into Cannon Street and saw the nice light and fog I had to take a few pictures.
This is my favourite although I also have some with the Heliar 15mm that I really like.

Blogging with Friends

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting friends and fellow bloggers Björn and Kesh for some photography, a chat and some drinks.
I always enjoy meeting other photgraphers and bloggers, it's always very interesting and great to be around like minded people.

Björn had his RX1 along and I took a few pictures with it, it's really a very nice camera and a lot smaller and lighter than it looks.
If I would not be as happy as I am with the GXR, I would have most likely ordered one by now.

The pictures on this post are all taken with the RX1 aside from the last one which is with the GXR Mount A12 and Nokton f1.2 35mm lens to have something to compare with.

Walk Alone

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/1150, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Today, I took the GR1 out for a spin again but since film needs lengthy developing it's pretty useless for my blog so I also took the GXR along for some proper photography.
The GR1 is great to handle but I really have a hard time getting to grips at focusing with a OVF over a LCD screen, I miss seeing and knowing how my picture looks before taking it. Another downside is having to use film which takes time and costs a lot of money to develop and this is even worse if you need a digital version of it.
Having said all this, I plan on using film more often this year as I like the struggle and challenge of using it. It also feels great going back to digital afterwards and be able to see how much photography has improved and progressed over time.

Saturday in Greenwich Park

When heading out for a walk through the park I decided to take the Jupiter-9 lens with me, I planned to take pictures of the squirrels and other wildlife in the park and some flowers. As you can see from the first two pictures, this worked ok for a short while till I switched back to taking pictures of people.
I am not used to long telephoto type lenses so I struggled a bit with framing in the beginning and since I like to get close some pictures qualify more for street portraits than street photography.

On my way back while walking across the University, I came across the set for the new Chavez movie with Michael Pena so I took my paparazzi picture of him to have it next to my picture of Nicole Kidman.

Over There

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/870, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this during lunch when the sun came out through the clouds, this is always the best light for photography as the dark clouds in the background add a nice contrast to the bright areas in the foreground.
The GXR and Nokton combination produce some very nice colours, this is why I don't use b&w a lot these days.

Red

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/250, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this during my lunch break at Temple in the City, the grounds are very nice but I never managed to see the church there which is quite well known, it only opens at 2pm for visitors but I have not been around at this time.

She had a heart shaped balloon in her hands so I thought this fits well for Valentine's day but you can't see it properly in this picture.

Microphone

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 295, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm) 

Took this while at the theatre this evening.

After my laptop caused some problems, I decided to process and post this from the Transformer instead. I have used the excellent Photo Mate and Photo Editor apps for this and posted using Chrome.

No. 27

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/60, ISO 456, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Took this on my way to lunch, walked past this a few times and always thought about taking a picture but have not been inspired before so today I could see the picture I wanted to take and this is it.

Smoking

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/60, ISO 1467, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Took this on my way home from work, rather than taking the Nokton lens I decided to use the GR lens instead. The slower shutter speed I set up and the fact that she turned just when I was taking the picture means this is not the sharpest picture but I like it and sometime street photography is not about being perfectly sharp but capturing the right moment.
The lens flare works well in this case and I like how it adds to the atmosphere.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

GRD IV, f1.9, 1/125, ISO 295, RAW

Gong Xi Fa Cai to everybody and a happy year of the snake!
Hope you had a great day.

Rock at The Pelton

GXR A12-M, f2.0, 1/18, ISO 3200, RAW, 75mm (Jupiter-8 f2.0 50mm)

Went with the Greenwich meetup group to the Pelton Arms to listen to the Secret Police band, have drinks and chat. It was a fun evening and got quite late but since it was just around the corner it was easy to get home after.
I decided to take the Jupiter-8 along, it is smaller and lighter than the Nokton and I figured it will be quite packed so the extra range was handy. Still, if your max. ISO is 3200 then the difference between a f1.2 and a f2.0 lens is huge. Still managed some decent shots but it was not as easy.

White Boots

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/104, ISO 200, RAW, 21mm (Voigtlander Heliar f4.5 15mm L)

Took this again during my lunch break while walking to the Barbican, I like using the Heliar since it gives a wider view but also makes focusing easy with the large depth of field.

Gallery Thursday

Went to the Tate Modern during lunch for a quick browse and after work I headed to the Whitechapel Gallery and after to my favourite gallery at the Wapping Project. This is a series of pictures taken at each of these galleries, the first is at the Tate, the second at the Whitechapel Gallery and the rest are all at the Wapping Project.

Reflection and Lines

GXR A12-M, f1.2, 1/23, ISO 3200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this on my way back home from the cinema, it was handheld at 1/23 so I was not sure I would get it sharp enough but it came out fine.

Bus Stop

GXR A12-M, f1.4, 1/125, ISO 2000, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this on my way back to the station I missed a much better shot due to not having the camera out and then traffic in the way. Still like this one although it is not exactly what I wanted to get.

Yvonne at the Rattlesnake

GXR A12-M, f2.0, 1/133, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

I like going to places where they have live music playing, especially if I know one of the artists or bands playing.
It's nice to hear live music but more so it's nice to meet people who are passionate about what they are doing, this is quite a nice change if you work in an area where people are stressed and don't really like what they are doing.

I also enjoy taking pictures at concerts, so today's picture is of Yvonne Mathieu playing at the Rattlesnake in Angel.

Art at the GoMA

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/1740, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

On my way back to London I had a few hours in Glasgow, just enough for a visit to the 'Gallery of Modern Art', a short walk and a nice lunch and of course another glass of whiskey.

A Day in Edinburgh

What do you do if you fancy a whiskey and would like the real deal? Well, you take the evening train from London to Glasgow on a Friday and enjoy a proper whiskey in Scotland and get the ambience to go with it.
While there it is a good idea to stick around an also visit Edinburgh the next day so this is a series from my visit there.
Since this was an impromptu visit, I did not pack properly and only had my usual day to day things with me but the GXR A12-M with Nokon and Heliar 15mm lens was there and my Nexus 7, unfortunately all without a way to charge.