Buying Books

GR, f2.8, 1/320, ISO 560, RAW

It's funny how you meet people in one end of the world and then a few years later you meet up again in a different place. It's cool to meet someone again after a few years and have a chat and catch up.

This is how I ended spending the day in Blackheath again and it was nice to both meet a friend but also see Blackheath again.

A Glass of Wine

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/45, ISO 3200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Blue and Green

GXR P10, f4.6, 1/100, ISO 100, RAW, 85mm

Reflection

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/100, ISO 3200, RAW, 80mm (Industar-61 f2.8 53mm L)

Blackheath Race for Life 2011

RD1, f6.3, 1/1176, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtländer Nokton f1.4 35mm)

Rainy Funfair

GF1, f8.0, 1/50, ISO 200, JPG, 50mm (Holga f8.0 25mm)

Hang On To It

GRD III, f1.9, 1/32, ISO 766, RAW

Nobody Around

GXR A12, f2.8, 1/17, ISO 800, RAW, 28mm

First Snow in London

GRD III, f4.0, 1/42, ISO 64, JPG

Blackheath Fireworks 2010

The fireworks in Blackheath are some of the best in London and take place every year beginning of November for Guy Fawkes Night. Having lived for the past 6 years in London and always around Blackheath it is surprising that I have only managed to see them twice including today. For one reason or another I have always been out of London or even the country.

Although I went to see the fireworks not having a tripod with me meant that I ended up having more fun taking pictures of the proceedings around the fireworks than taking many pictures of the actual fireworks, although I took a few video clips of them.

On another note, thanks to BT's incompetece I still don't have a phone line and broadband at home so my updates will be sporadic and in bulk whenever I get round to do this so please feel free to go back and look at my older posts even if they don't all fit on the first page.

Waiting for the Bus

GXR P10, f9.3, 1/1000, ISO 100, RAW, 135mm

Sunset over the Heath

iPhone 4, f2.4, 1/293, ISO 80, JPG

Fire Through the Pinhole

Sometimes you are limited by the choices you made when you walked out of the door with only your newly designed pinhole lens but then realize a proper lens would give you the results you would like in a situation like this. Well, since it is useless to complain or regret not having brough the right gear along it is best to just try and make do with what you have. I doubt many people have tried any documentary or journalistic photography with a pinhole camera but having a digital camera with a pinhole lens does work to some degree as you can see my small series here.

Also my new design of the pinhole lens is much better and does work very well but most important is that I have a lot of fun with this.

Shooting Bubbles

GF1, f5.6, 1/1600, ISO 100, JPG, 100mm (Sigma f2.8 50mm Macro MD)

I completely forgot about the Bike and Kite festival this year so when I went out to go to the park I picked the Sigma macro lens for the GF1. It might be a very good lens for macros but for general photography it is not idealy suited. But since I like a challenge I made do with it instead of going home and picking a different lens.

Clouds

GF1, f16, 1/1000, ISO 100, RAW, 56mm (Leica f2.8 28mm R)

Maybe not the best picture to introduce my new Leica lens for the GF1 but I liked how the clouds looked and thought it makes a nice picture regardless of the lens used.

One thing is certain though, only after you start using some good legacy lenses on the m4/3 cameras will you see their true potential. Even the highly praised 40mm Panasonic lens is very poor optically when compared to the Leica or the Voigtländer lenses. The contrast, the sharpness, the colors are all different and even my cheap Canon FD lens is superior to the native m4/3 lenses.
The only downside is that the new Leica lens and adapter weight almost more than the GF1 and 40mm lens together. It is worth however for the optical quality and also for proper MF ring around the lens instead of the stupid focus by wire system.

Train

GXR, f5, 1/143, ISO 200, JPG, 50mm

I have been taking a few pictures from this spot but the reason I took this today is the folling post from almost one year ago: No Trains.

While I was walking over the railway bridge I heard the train coming so I decided to take a picture which could act as a follow up picture to my previous one.

Crows on the Roof

GXR, f3.5, 1/1500, ISO 200, RAW, 50mm

Another picture from snow covered London. It is a lot nicer to have snow if you don't need to take public transport.

Football Practice

GX100, f4.4, 1/620, ISO 100, RAW, 50mm

For this picture I had an idea and wated to make it look like an old newspaper photograph. For this I went and did the opposite of what I usually do, I lowered the contrast and brightened the picture up.

Morning Frost

R10, f5.2, 1/2, ISO 400, JPG, 200mm

I love early mornings and it was a really nice morning today. It was pretty cold but also a clear sky. While walking across the heath I had to stop and take in the great view with the ground frost rising and creating a nice atmosphere when illuminated by the passing cars, street lights and the quarter moon. Looking up I could see a lot of stars and constelations. This was simply amazing in this moment and I wish I could have taken a picture to show all of this but think this picture works quite well and leaves some things to the interpretation.
These things might be small but we don't really take time to appreciate them, we keep rushing from one place to another and in the mornings just drive by in our cars or in the bus without stopping and looking around us. Early morning is the best time of the day for me because it feels like a different world out there.

Somewhere Under the Rainbow

GRD II, f5, 1/320, ISO 80, RAW

After the heatwave we had in the last days we got the rain back today. The good thing about the rain today was that it created some dramatic clouds and shadows. On my way home I even saw two rainbows over Blackheath. It looked fantastic and while I was glad to have my GRD II with me, the CX1 would have been better due to the longer zoom for this since there were some nice detail shots I could have taken. I was split between two pictures for today, this one and one of both rainbows but somehow this just worked better.
I quite miss the CX1 and am thinking of buying one or the CX2 when it comes out to have in my bag just in case.