After Dark

GXR A12-M, f1.2, 1/125, ISO 228, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this on my way home, I found the poster very fitting and liked the reflection on the wet floor.

The O2

GXR A12-M, f4.5, 1/125, ISO 1405, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Been a grey and rainy day so did not take pictures till the last half an hour of the day so this is from my way home while waiting for the bus at North Greenwich.

Taxi

GXR A12-M, f1.4, 1/810, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Maybe not the most exciting picture but I still quite like it, it was playing around with the polariser filter and trying to shoot the Nokton almost wide open during daytime.

Going In

GXR A12-M, f6.3, 1/570, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this during lunch again, it was a great day out and probably the hottest day this year.
It was not easy to go back to the office afterwards.

Focus on Imaging 2013

Another year another visit to Focus on Imaging in Birmingham.

What set this year apart from previous years was my complete lack of interest in any new camera, gear or gadgets. It was nice to see the Fuji X100s, the split image manual focus is great and would be perfect with a red peaking overlay and Fuji has really improved the operation, and the X20, the information overlay in the OVF is great and puts other OVFs to shame.
Aside from this there was not much to really see at Focus and it starts to feel like Fuji is the only manufacturer who actually cares about this show or maybe it's also because Canon and Nikon have absolutely nothing remotely interesting for me with their boring dSLRs and very poor mirrorless and compact cameras.
Still, at least Canon and Nikon bothered to show up, Sony, Panasonic and as usual Ricoh did not even do this. Olympus had a small booth dedicated to the OMD which seem to do very well for them and rightly so, it's a great camera and the best m4/3 camera.

This time round it was less of a gear show for me but instead I did have time to take pictures of the models and people around. A 53mm lens is not perfect for this task as you have to get very close but it was still good fun to do and the GXR performed very well and showed why I don't care about any new cameras.

So unlike the previous years no camera talk here and instead pictures so in a way the focus this year was on the actual imaging for me ;). Hope you enjoy this series.

Pause for a Moment

GXR A12-M, f1.2, 1/125, ISO 1131, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Only took three pictures and this was the one I liked best from today. Sometimes no really good photo opportunities present themselves so it's more difficult to get a lot of pictures to choose from.

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.

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.

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.