Sunday in London

The plan for the nice and sunny Sunday was to go to Trafalgar Square and take photos of the Indonesian festival there.

I decided to join one of the meetup groups instead of go by myself and took he GXR A12-M with Heliar 15mm lens along (there is however one photo not taken with the GXR A12-M in this post).

The weather was fantastic and it's been great to be outside. Another nice thing was that despite my fears it wasn't really packed so it was very easy to walk around and take photos.

After hanging out at the festival for a while, getting some of the Indonesian food there and a pint after, I made my way to the Southbank to take more photos.

Old School Computing

GR, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 640, RAW

Old school computers are just cool these days and it's always great to see them and see how it all evolved.
After the beige desktop boxes, we're at the boring aluminium wedges these days and they are still all boring lookalikes.

I do miss my Commodore C64 though, great memories. :)

Homeless Chat

GRD, f2.8, 1/160, ISO 400, JOG b&w

The day didn't quite go as planned, the original plan had a lot more photography in it. Still, I did get some other stuff done and bought some new shoes which will be beneficial when walking around taking photos in the future.

I see a lot of homeless having set up camp in London and they surely don't travel light. I do wonder though how they got to this point and what they actually expect by camping in central London. If they don't want to spend their time sleeping on the streets they would need to do more than sleeping or sitting on their ass all day.
I find it quite annoying and think the city would do well to get rid of them or at least get them out of the city and put them somewhere in one of the many abandoned buildings on the outskirts, at least they would have a roof over their heads.
I don't have anything against homeless people but I don't like lazy bums sitting on their ass all day or sleeping in the centre with half their household around them and blocking the way. Plus it's easy enough to get some form of benefits so nobody should really need to sleep on the street.

24 Red Baloons

I've met a friend in town and we've been walking around a bit enjoying the nice sunshine, I didn't take too many photos since we've been mostly catching up but I had my GR ready for anything interesting that crossed my path.

I liked the red balloons here and the red pod on the London Eye.

Saturday Blues

GXR A12-M, f4.0, 1/500, ISO 200, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Took this picture during a photo walk around London today. Liked how the guy just stood in his chair by the 'beach' and was singing and playing his guitar.

Together

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/660, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Sunday at the Southbank

Weather was very nice so I went into London and around Southbank today. This is a series of some pictures I took before managing to fill my SD card and empty my battery without a spare around, overall it was not a well planned photo trip.

Sunday at the Southbank

Been around the Southbank with my GXR and Heliar 15mm lens today.
I like using a wideangle lens for street photography, it means you have to get closer but also means you don't have to worry much about focusing and more about composition and getting the moment. It is also very nice to be able to get more in the picture.

Initially I planned to post a longer series with some pictures I took of the art exhibitions and architecture there but decided to just focus on people an limit the number of pictures I post.

Stranded

RD1, f2.8, 1/181, ISO 200, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

GX200 Walk

First day out with the GX200 and I am very impressed. It is in almost every respect better than the GRD II as long as you don't go over ISO 800.
The lens needs to be faster though, especially as you zoom in you lose too much. The JPG quality is very good though even if it does not get close to the GRD I JPGs. Even long exposure pictures can be used from the JPGs, something that is impossible with the GRD II. So far my impresions of it are very good and I would say from the current Ricoh cameras it is the best right after the GRD I. The RAW files are as good as the GRD II but with less contrast and not quite as sharp but this can be easily fixed. The only most notable differences are the distortion and the size of the camera. I was even quite impressed with the EVF. More will be posted in my review. For now have a look at some pictures

Concrete Paths

GRD, f5, 1/500, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Thames Festival

Today it will be more pictures and less talk from me. Spent most of the day walking around the Thames Festival taking pictures. Took only the LC1 with me and got through almost two batteries, it really consumes a lot of power even if you only use the EVF. In manual focus it preformed great, was fast and easy to use. Only problems came up as soon as the light levels dropped and the f2 lens with a max. ISO of 400 were not good enough to capture the action and it was a pain to focus fast enough with the lens at f2. This is why I need a camera with a very fast lens and at least ISO 1600 at least in GRD I quality.
Anyway, enjoy my ten of my favorite pictures, if I would have to select only one image it would have been the last one. All taken as JPGs and slightly processed, mostly noise reduction and contrast adjustments with some cropping. More pictures will be uploaded to Flickr soon.

Street Art

GRD, f3.5, 1/160, ISO 100, JPG

Today, I decided to go and see the 'Street & Studio' exhibition at the Tate Modern. Before going there I took a walk along the Southbank and took quit a few pictures on the way. Most were with the LC1 but the GRDs were also with me so got a bit of work to do, too. For quick street shots there is nothing better than the GRDs and I know I repeat myself here. The LC1 works great in manual focus mode but the AF is just too slow for some situations.
The exhibition itself was interesting and it was nice to see some classic street shots. I would have preferred it if the theme would be only 'Street' without the 'Studio' since my main interest were the street shots. Studio pictures for me are posed and "fake" so not really interesting. Nothing against studio photography but for me this does not capture the essence of "a moment in time that would be lost otherwise". This for me is photography, capturing a moment that will never return in the same form.