Street Street photography (Image thread)

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A quiet Boxing Day and dreary weather meant there were very few people and no interesting light/shadow opportunities. I framed up this shot thinking it would serve as a mental bookmark for a future photo walk in this area when this guy wearing an orange safety vest rode into the frame and completed the picture.
 
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At sunset, the cloud cover thinned out toward the west which allowed for some nice warm light at the end of the day. Walking along the boardwalk, I took some photos of the light on the container ships but it was only when I found some people to put in the foreground that I was able to snap a photo that I liked.
 
Barrie, how do you compare using the Panasonic 20mm and m43 gear these days compared to your rangefinder back then in terms of everyday use and image output? It would be interesting to see if you see it as similar and wouldn't surprise me.
An interesting question, particularly as I'm seriously thinking about trying to process some rolls of film in the near future. I really loved using a rangefinder camera and have been getting the feel of just holding my Bessa R once again in recent days. I probably felt happier using my medium format Mamiya Press and like the results I'm getting with recent scans slightly better than 35mm scans, the medium format came into its own with landscape work. What I would have given for a digital darkroom all those years ago. Times have changed when it comes to photographing people, perhaps they're not so tolerant these days and now places like the fish quay in Plymouth dont allow public access. I did like photographing people at work rather than say just walking along a street. With my Mamiya Press I was asked at times if I worked for a newspaper and even though I didn't people seemed to tolerate it, it was big and it was obvious what I was doing.
I'm finding that there's something about a monochrome film negative that I find that bit more satisfying than a monochrome conversion of a digital file, despite the challenges with dust and scratches. I guess the tonal range is that bit better, but I'm finding it hard to decide just what that elusive something is.
Obviously a digital file resolves more detail, but I find it is perhaps just a little too clinical. Also I very much like to set the aperture with a proper aperture ring rather than some dial that is just an input to a computer. Obviously auto focus is a great asset, but I again found that I was happy using a rangefinder. I suffer from astigmatism and found manual focusing of an SLR difficult, I've never owned an auto focus 35mm film camera.
Also with a fully manual camera using film you have to work harder to get decent results, I find with digital there's a temptation to fall back on correcting sloppy technique in software after the event which can lead to a deal of dissatisfaction with the actual process of taking an image, or perhaps that could be better described as a lack of fun. That's obviously a personal opinion and would be different from someone who has never used a fully manual film camera.
My other option is to make more use of my Sigma Merrills, certainly for landscape work. I find the monochrome output using the Sigma software is closer to a decent film monochrome. Again using them handheld on the street would be a greater challenge, I'm hoping to find a suitable LCD loupe I can use with them.
I'm not sure if that's answered your question, indeed I'm not sure that I can at the moment. Those images were obtained some decades ago and maybe my memory paints a rosier picture of the process than it really was. I know I took a lot more time and trouble with my landscape photographs in those days and that was part of the pleasure, again perhaps digital encourages a more rushed approach which is a reflection of a world that operates at a faster pace than it ever used to. Whatever further avenues to explore and keep the brain challenged.

Barrie
 
An interesting question, particularly as I'm seriously thinking about trying to process some rolls of film in the near future. I really loved using a rangefinder camera and have been getting the feel of just holding my Bessa R once again in recent days. I probably felt happier using my medium format Mamiya Press and like the results I'm getting with recent scans slightly better than 35mm scans, the medium format came into its own with landscape work. What I would have given for a digital darkroom all those years ago. Times have changed when it comes to photographing people, perhaps they're not so tolerant these days and now places like the fish quay in Plymouth dont allow public access. I did like photographing people at work rather than say just walking along a street. With my Mamiya Press I was asked at times if I worked for a newspaper and even though I didn't people seemed to tolerate it, it was big and it was obvious what I was doing.
I'm finding that there's something about a monochrome film negative that I find that bit more satisfying than a monochrome conversion of a digital file, despite the challenges with dust and scratches. I guess the tonal range is that bit better, but I'm finding it hard to decide just what that elusive something is.
Obviously a digital file resolves more detail, but I find it is perhaps just a little too clinical. Also I very much like to set the aperture with a proper aperture ring rather than some dial that is just an input to a computer. Obviously auto focus is a great asset, but I again found that I was happy using a rangefinder. I suffer from astigmatism and found manual focusing of an SLR difficult, I've never owned an auto focus 35mm film camera.
Also with a fully manual camera using film you have to work harder to get decent results, I find with digital there's a temptation to fall back on correcting sloppy technique in software after the event which can lead to a deal of dissatisfaction with the actual process of taking an image, or perhaps that could be better described as a lack of fun. That's obviously a personal opinion and would be different from someone who has never used a fully manual film camera.
My other option is to make more use of my Sigma Merrills, certainly for landscape work. I find the monochrome output using the Sigma software is closer to a decent film monochrome. Again using them handheld on the street would be a greater challenge, I'm hoping to find a suitable LCD loupe I can use with them.
I'm not sure if that's answered your question, indeed I'm not sure that I can at the moment. Those images were obtained some decades ago and maybe my memory paints a rosier picture of the process than it really was. I know I took a lot more time and trouble with my landscape photographs in those days and that was part of the pleasure, again perhaps digital encourages a more rushed approach which is a reflection of a world that operates at a faster pace than it ever used to. Whatever further avenues to explore and keep the brain challenged.

Barrie
That all makes so much sense, thanks.
 
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France Wins the World Cup in 2018
by Andrew Priest, on Flickr

The evening France won the world cup in 2018 was the evening we stayed in Le Pont de Montvert. As you can see there was an excited crowd along the river to watch and celebrate the win.

Our accommodation was across the river: A room with no ventilation on a hot night with a rock for a pillow and a French AC-DC cover band made for a very memorable stay.

Chemin de Stevenson-2018-D8-33: Day 8 of 12 – Le Bleymard to Le Pont de Montvert: Walking the Chemin de Stevenson (GR 70 Robert Louis Stevenson Trail) in the south of France
 
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Because I can't see the upper half of the person, I imagine he's (I think it's a he) staring at the pigeon even though, in all likelihood, he's staring at his smartphone. But the ambiguity makes it easy to assume that there's a connection between the person and the pigeon which creates some interest, I think.
 
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