Green and Purple

GR, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 1600, RAW

University Concert

GR, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 1600, RAW

Jack Savoretti

I went to see and hear Jack Savoretti in Shepherd's Bush after work, I got the tickets from a very good friend as a present. It was a great concert and the venue was small enough to feel intimate but without feeling crowded so that was cool.

I first heard of Jack Savoretti while watching Sons of Anarchy and since the music in the show was always very good I ended up listening to the soundtrack a lot.

It was a nice evening and I enjoyed the concert a lot. Unfortunately I didn't relay go well prepared in terms of photography since the GR is not an ideal camera for concert photography.

Unless you're in the first row, you have to use the 35mm crop mode but even then don't relay get close enough. Here the GF1 and 50mm Canon lens would have probably more useful. On the other hand it meant I ended up focusing less on photography and even more on the music so it wasn't all that bad.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An Evening with Friends

Tonight I spent a great evening at Oliver's Jazz Bar in Greenwich, after going there almost once or twice ever week when I lived further away I have not been in quite a while although I live just down the road. Oliver's is always a great venue to relax, listen to Jazz and have a glass of wine. Sure, the walls and furniture have seen better days, it's small and dark but this is the right kind of venue you want to be in when listening to Jazz as it allows to be sit back, relax and focus on the music. It also offers the opportunity to be close to the band and have a chat with them and their friends or make new friends with the other people.
In other words if you're in London and want to listen to Jazz, you could go to Ronnie Scott's or if you want it less commercial and more raw you come to Oliver's.

Clyde Morris & the Blue Grooves were playing but this was a special night, it was also Clyde's birthday and he had some friends as special guests performing. The music was fantastic and everyone, the musicians and guests equally, had a great time you could easily see this.
In no small part this was thanks to Clyde's wife who not only greeted everyone and made sure people paid the entrance fee to contribute to her charity, but was full of energy and a great host to everyone, everyone felt at home thanks to her. She also had some very nice home made Caribbean canapés for everyone and then shared the birthday cake.

So on this note a happy birthday to Clyde and to everyone else enjoy this series.

Scissor Sisters at the Tower

Day started with the Olympic torch relay in Greenwich and ended with the BT River of Music 2012 convert at the Tower of London. While this is not my best concert photography, I decided to post a series of pictures taken from the Scissor Sisters gig, all taken with the GRD IV.

Tourists in Berlin

After a rainy start to the day with some thunder and lightning the sun came out although it did remain mixed.

Here some more street photographs from Berlin, taken with the GXR A12-M and the Jupiter-8 lens.

LPMG Shoot The Band 06/2011

Tonight, I went along with the LPMG to shoot some concert footage of bands in Notting Hill. The bands playing were ANDY MITCHELL, ED LAURIE, BEATIE WOLFE, POSTMAN OPERA, FEEN, CUTHBERT 80 and burlesque from VERONICA VENUS.
It was a great opportunity to use the Nokton but I also took the Canon FD 50mm f1.8 along. It was not always easy to manually focus while keeping an eye on the shutter speed and follow the action to capture the right moment.
This series contains my best picture of each performance I have stayed for and is a mix between the Nokton and the Canon FD with ISO ranging from 400 to 3200 for the last picture.

Drumming

GF1, f0.95, 1/80, ISO 800, JPG b&w, 50mm (Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 25mm)

Happy New Year to everyone!

As a nice new year's present I decided to get myself the Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 lens for m4/3, I found it for a very good price on Amazon.fr and could not resist. Amazon is excellent and very fast with the shipping so it meant I already got my lens last night but it was to late for some serious shooting.

Although it was busy in he office I did go out at lunch for some shooting and when I met with friends in the evening it was a perfect opportunity to really test the lens.
It is fantastic and allows for very fast shutter speeds at low ISO, something not possible with the other lenses but at the same time it has a much better quality and look.
While I like that it focuses very close and is almost usable as a macro lens (this is the lens Ricoh should have put on the 50mm A12 module), I am not at all happy with the little distance you can move the focus ring to go from 2m to infinity since it does not allow to be fast or precise and it does not have enough DOF that you don't have to care about accurate focus after 2m. Other than that it's a fantastic lens and feels really good although it is heavy.

So far I would say this is the best quality lens for m4/3, does not need software corrections, is built out of metal and has a proper MF ring around the lens.

Watching the Band

GRD III, f1.9, 1/10, ISO 800, RAW 2:3

I went back to the Cahrlotte Street Blues bar, this has quickly become one of my favorite places in London, the atmosphere is very good and you have live music 7 days a week.
I took a few pictures of the bands playing with the GRD III but noticed that even a f1.9 lens with ISO 1600 is not always enough to capture the motion. This picture is taken at ISO 800 but with the EV at -1 and in 2:3 format but I felt 16:9 worked better. The focus was on the two guys on the side and not on the band so this is why the background is slightly out of focus and overexposed.

In The Spotlight

GRD II, f2.4, 1/40, ISO 1600, RAW

Been to a concert after work today. While I don't remember the names of the bands it was quite fun. It was a small venue and this meant that I could get close to the stage and take pictures of the bands. I did not have my GRD I with me so had to use the GRD II.
One thing is sure, for concert photography you need a very fast lens and high ISO, something the GRDs are very good at. Most people say the high ISO on the GRD II is improved, I think it is the exact opposite and the GRD I performs much better. It is also easier to remove the noise, something very difficult on the GRD II. Overall the pictures came out ok aside from the jpgs being horrible to look at. This is my favorite picture from the evening. I changed the contrast and colors with the curves tool and removed some color noise.

For the GRD III my wish would be to put a faster lens on it, a f1 would be great. Or hopefully Panasonic or Olympus will bring out a small micro 4/3 camera like the Leica/Minolta CL that takes Leica M-mount lenses.