City House

RD1, f1.7, 1/111, ISO 1600, RAW, 53mm (Voigtländer Ultron f1.7 35mm)

Riding Together

RD1s, f5.6, 1/2000, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Another picture from the RD1, this time I made sure I focused beter and have also used the out of camera JPG.
The Epson RD1 is a great camera but it attracts a lot of attention from people, like all rangefinders do these days. I am also not too big a fan of the whole manual focus experience and rather use a good, fast and reliable AF system. I am also not a big fan of the 2:3 format and prefer the 4:3 format or 16:9, if I want something wider.
The experience however is great and the manual controls are as they shoud be with a proper manual focus on the lens and not the rubbish dSLR lenses with the video camera focus ring. I wish a manufacturer would start producing proper dSLR lenses with proper mechanical controls on them.

Welcome to the Matrix

While on my way to meet friends for drinks I saw the Canary Wharf security running towards the main square. Since I was heading in the same direction I decided to have a look what all the fuss was about.
There were two people with megaphones and another three people with signs. At first I thought they were demonstrating against something but they basicaly had a laugh and made jokes about where our society is these days and the security in general. It was very entertaining and a really funny scene so I decided to stay around and started taking pictures.

While taking pictures around I got told off a few times by the security guys and been told that I should be lucky we are in Britain to be able to take pictures of them. He was right, only in Britain do you get hassled that much for taking pictures so I consider myself very lucky.

All pictures are right out of the camera and some are only cropped to 3:2 format. The GRD III performed very well and the new snap focus mode was really helpful since the normal AF is not overly fast or reliable enough for these kind of shots. For this the phase detection AF from the GRD I is much better or at least the faster AF from the CX1.

"The Day of the Big Protest, Or...

How the Police Managed to Escalate a Peaceful Situation".


The G20 Summit started and massive demonstrations were expected in the City of London for today. At first there were more police officers and reporters than protesters but this turned soon and around lunctime a lot of people came to protest but also to see what is going on.


In the beginning everything was fine, people were having a good time and were in good spirits, police was present but did not impede or bullied the protesters and other people there. This turned soon when the police got the stupid order to contain people and circled the people in. I was one of the people who got caught in the middle with the police refusing to let anyone out, even an injured person. Only reporters were alowed through.


People were nice and talked to the police at first but after being "contained" for over 1.5h people started to get impatient and angry. They called on the police to let them through and when this failed started to call them faschists and nazis. It did not take long till people decided that pushing was the only way out.
The police thought it was a good idea to bully people and push them to the ground and this is when the situation escalated and everyone pushed their way through. I was in the front line just in front of the police and while I could avoid being pushed by the police I was pushed forward by the people behind me. This resuled in the police line breaking down and the ploce finally moving away and letting people get out.


This whole situation only escalated because some idiot gave the order to contain people, after people pushed their way out they went peacefully about their way. So a note to the London Police, if you want to escalate a situation and turn people against you just go ahead and "contain" people.


Overall it was a very interesting experience and I really enjoy covering protests. Getting caught up in the midle was not great but the people I met, including the police, were generaly very friendly and passionate. Using the GRD only was great and it is the perfect camera for these events, it's fast, small and easy to handle. Took over 450 pictures today, not all of them good but sometimes it is better to take more than not enough on an event like this.
I even managed to get another photographer interested in my GRD. It was generally also a great opportunity to spot the camera people were using and from big dSLRs over Leicas, Contax G2, Rolleiflex, compact and mobile phones there were all sorts of cameras present.

For more pictures go an see my Dropbox gallery here.

Tomorrow after work I'll be heading to the Excel Centre to cover the 2nd day of the protests so check back for more pictures.

Breaking the Law

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

On my way to catch the train I saw this at Cannon Street Station. I found it quite funny that the police guy was taking pictures with a big and heavy dSLR camera and external flash. Seemed quite odd to me and I could not resist taking a few pictures myself, even when it (maybe) meant breaking the law.
I am not writing this post from a jail cell so good thing the police here was busy dealing with real criminals ;).
If you are wondering what I am on about read here for more details.

"I am a Photographer...NOT a Terrorist"

I took my lunch break early today, to be able to attend and document a protest by british photographers. The protest was called up by the National Union of Journalists and the British Journal of Photography.


It was a protest against a new law coming into force today, it is Section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act. Under this new law anyone "eliciting, publishing or communicating information" about members of the armed forces, intelligence services or police officers, which is "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism", can be arrested and imprissoned. This has caused controversy, especially with press photographers, since there have been numerous run-ins between the ploice and photographers in the past.
I know this since I also had a few run-ins with them but it was mostly with ill informed Police Community Support Officers and only once with the police for taking pictures of the Greenwich Power Station.


The protest saw around 400 people gather in front of New Scotland Yard taking pictures of the building, the ploce and each other. It was a nice protest and everyone was in good spirits, the ploice was nice and even had chats with the protesters.


You can read more about this here, here and here.


Although I decided to publish only one picture a day this year and the rest on Dropbox, I think it makes sense to make an exception for series or articles that benefit from more pictures. This is why I have uploaded 5 pictures for today. You can find more pictures here.

Blue & Yellow

GRD II, f5.6, 1/500, ISO 80, RAW

More color for my blog from today's picture. I don't know why but when using the GRD I, I almost always use either b&w and/or high ISO for my pictures, when using the GRD II however I always end up with a color picture at low ISO. There is something differnt about what you "see" depending on the camera you carry, at least for me it is.
Took this while walking back from lunch near St. Paul's today. There was a road saftey event in front of St. Paul's and the ploice had their bikes parked behind the church.

Bus No. 56

I have another series for today that I just happened to come across after work. This was not what I planned to post today but it is a lot more interesting.
Sometimes just taking a walk instead of the Tube or bus is a lot more rewarding. You never know what you come across (remember my Fire in the Hood and the Stranded posts). This reminds me of a quote from Sin City: "Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find everything". It certainly is true that by walking around and keeping your eyes open you can find a lot of very interesting things. These don't have to be burning cars or accidents but a nice and calm moment that would be lost in time otherwise like this. The important thing is to slow down and look around you. And yes, having a camera ready to record it is even better ;).

All pictures are taken with the Panasonic LC1 and this although I also had both GRDs and the GX100 with me but the extra zoom of the LC1 worked better here, especially since I could not get too close and did not have the 40mm lens for the GRDs. I cropped all to the 16:9 format to give them a cinema flair although this time I did not compose them for this format but they still work.

Stranded

LC1, f2.4, 1/40, ISO 200, JPG, 90mm

LC1, f2.1, 1/40, ISO 200, JPG, 52mm

Another day with the LC1. This time I got the chance to use it for documentary/reportage pictures. Then again, any street photography is documentary style anyway. While walking around central London I came across this accident and decided to stick around and take some pictures. It was very interesting since people thought I am a reporter. This and the bus driver got annoyed when I took some pictures of him :). Very pleased how the LC1 worked in this situation, the zoom ring is great although the auto focus could be faster and more reliable.
While I still shoot mostly jpg with it the RAW quality is impressive. A quick comparison with an M8 jpg shows that while there is a difference in the pictures it is not a difference to be worth almost 20x more in price.

Watching Over St. Paul's

GRD II, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 100, RAW

Just a quick update and not my best picture but I did not have too much time today. Took it after lunch while the sun came through for a while today. It is my tourist snapshot picture ;).