Saturday 16 April 2011

Or, Saturday in Napoli

On Saturday 16 April I spent another day in one of my favourite cities; for photography, for food and for the theatre of life: Naples/Napoli.

I have visited often in the past 2 years - it is the nearest big city to my house in Italy. I always stay a night or two and take a camera or three and spend all day capturing this great city.

Above, Chef taking a break

Above, Man and Priest.

I am gradually working through my photographs of the city, editing and uploading them, and eventually shall publish a small collection of them. You can see all the photos I have so far edited and uploaded on my flickr set here: Napoli on Flickr

Above, Girl and White Balloons

I have taken just about ever one of my favourite user cameras to Napoli over the past year or so - Olympus Pen 2, Hasselbald 500 C/M, Mamiya 6 rangefinder, Leica M6 classic, Rolleiflex F2.8 and Leica M8.2. I only just managed to stop myself taking the large format there last time - a bit too much lugging for street work.

Each camera produced great photos, each one attracted interest from local (especially the Rollei and Leica M6, "bella macchina" etc, and each one survived the city.

Above, Ragazzi di Napoli

They used to say "See Naples and Die". Today people warn you about street crime in Naples. I have even been told to never take a camera out there. I ignored them and took all my best cameras. Apart from being a bit street wise, especially when driving in the city (!), I have found Napoli one of the warmest places, and one of the best for street photography. It's not like any other city in Europe.

Above, After the bathing

I always love walking along the seafront in Naples, photographing local having time off, seascapes or, as here, the remains of the day.

On 16 April I also took along my Hasselblad and 3 lenes for black and white medium format photography. I have yet to upload those shots (or indeed some lovely ones taken on the Rollei some time ago). There are never enough hours in the day to catch up with photography! These four here, though here made with a Leica M8.2 and Voigtlander 35mm Nokton f1.4 SC lens.

Saturday 11 June 2011

Or, Alexandra Palace with 3 Rangefinders

Following on from my Fantasies in Chrome (click here: http://rangefinderchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/06/fantasies-in-chrome.html) I used my three cameras to shoot for a couple of hours around the "People's Palace"

(Above, the Palace, Fuji X100)

I mainly used my new Fuji X100, but also the Leica M8.2 with my favourite Leitz 50mm Summicron f2 lens (pre-aspherical, last version) and film Leica M4 classic with Zeiss 35mm Biogon f2 lens

(Above, Cafe by Fuji X100)

These next photos show why, despite loving the X100 more than any camera I have picked up for a long time, the quality of the M8 and that 50mm sweet lens is still better, at least in low light.

(Above, Fuji roses)

Shooting the 50mm Summicron at large apertures creates a lovely look.

(Above, Leica roses)

Again, I prefer how the M8/50 summicron performed with this lovely old telescope.

(Above, Leica telescope)

Although another important advantage of the Fuji X100 is the macro close focussing facility, used here.

(Above, Fuji telescope)

Not forgetting film though. I love how the M4, Zeiss 35mm lens and Portra 400 dealt with this view over London

(Above, Leica M4 London view)

These last 3 photos prove something else though - for general, quick, street shooting I find the X100 the best to capture moments and people.

Click on this tag for all the photos uploaded from the day:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickdemarcofoto/tags/alexandrapalacewith3rangefinders/

More Mamiya 6 in Hanoi

Above, the Ho Chi Minh Memorial, Hanoi

I just scanned and uploaded some more negatives from my recent Hanoi trip.

Above, Girl in Local Dress

These 5 photos are from a film of 120 medium format negatives shot at the Văn miếu temple, or the Temple of Literature and the Ho Chi Minh memorial, both in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Above Confucius

Above, Incense

All these photographs were take with the lovely Mamiya 6 6x6 medium format film rangefinder camera. My favourite travel medium format camera. With the 150mm Mamiya telephoto lens and Kodak Portra 400 iso film.

You can view more of the uploads from this film, and more Hanoi pics, in my Hanoi Chic set on flickr, here.

Sunday 10 April 2011

Or, Bridge Walkers

This photograph was not taken with a rangefinder, but with my Hasselblad 500 medium format film camera and Zeiss 60mm lens which I was experimenting with on that Sunday.

As soon as I saw the square 6x6 negative of the shot (Kodak Portra 400 film) I knew this one stood out. The lighting on the people crossing the bridge, and the way the shutter captured their movement, appeals to me in this photo. I find it looks ore like a painting than a photograph. I should add I have done no photoshopping and the unfortunate band of light on the left of the photo remains,

Monday 4 April 2011

Or, iPhone self-portraits.

Regular viewers of my Rangefinder Chronicles blog will know that I managed to loose a portable hard drive storing many of my rangefinder images for this blog taken between March and May 2011. So for early April I am having to dig up some experiments with self portraits on my iPhone 4.


As I mentioned before the iPhone4 camera is a great device for a photographer to have. It means you always have a camera, with fixed, quite wide, lens with you. And you can use it without anyone noticing. Of course the image quality is trash, OK for a small thumbnail on facebook perhaps, but that doesn't stop you experimenting with composition and ideas whenever you have a moment.


One thing I like about it is you take self-portraits that don't look like self-portraits. In all the 3 photos above my right hand is holding the camera phone. But you can't see that in the photo. Kind of cool, really.

Rangefinder fans, don't worry, I have saved scans and digital images from some more street shooting in Napoli during April which I shall put up in the next blog(s).

Fantasies in Chrome

Above, X100 and Merc (Shot with Leica M8.2 and Leitz 50mm Summicron f2 lens)

Saturday June 11, 2011 was the third day, back in London, with my new but retro Fuji X100, and the first day off I had to use it fully.

Above, 2 Ms at the cafe (shot with Fuji X100)

So I took the X100 with me in my retro 1983 chrome Mercedes 500 SL. And I took my Leica M4 classic and M8.2, both chrome, and of course retro, too for a day out.

Above, M4 in the glove department (shot with Fuji X100)

I ended up, by accident, in North London's Alexandra Palace where I used all 3 cameras to shoot some colour photography - I shall upload those photographs in another blog entry later.

Above, Self portrait in Merc (shot with Fuji X100)

But before photographing the Palace and around I wanted to shoot a retro-chrome themed series with and of all 3 cameras, and the 500 SL. These are some of the photographs.

Above, Beautiful M4 (shot with Fuji X100)

I have now (at the time of uploading this) had the X100 for a week and a bit. I am certainly still very much in love with it. Take the macro photo of the beautiful classic M4, above. It has great sharpness in the in focus areas and very pleasing out of focus bokeh.

Above, Fuji X100 in the glove department (Shot with Leica M4, Zeiss 35mm Biogon f2 lens and Kodak Portra film).

And of course the X100 looks beautiful as well. Not quite (for me) as beautiful as my M4 classic, which took the photo above, but still a stunner. I was stopped today by a few people admiring it, and with two of them used the conversation to make nice portraits of them.

Above, Fuji X100 and open top (Shot with Leica M4, Zeiss 35mm Biogon f2 lens and Kodak Portra film).

I love nearly everything about my retro Mercedes 500 SL (apart from how much it drinks). I love the little details, the strong lines and the hick heavy and clunky metals doors - and and those 10970s style slim door handles. All compliments the beautiful X100. And this photo was appropriately shot on analogue - which by the way did very well with the shiny highlights on the door handle.

Above, X100 and Coffee (Shot with Leica M8.2 and Leitz 50mm Summicron f2 lens).

What is it about Rangefinder cameras (usually Leica) and coffee shots? I don't know but I'm always doing it too. There was a little Italian cafe by Ally Pally, and I had my usual double espresso macchiato. It looks, and was indeed, good, just like the X100 next to it. I like the colours in this photo, the angle of the teaspoon, but also it shows just how small the X100 is.

Above, X100 in glove dept ((Shot with Leica M8.2 and Leitz 50mm Summicron f2 lens).

My Leica owning friends will be pleased to hear that, after using the X100 for a few days now, I a have no doubt that, generally speaking, the Leica M8.2 is better for image quality, especially with the right lenses. It's generally a better camera and of course you can use different focal lengths. I am sure he M9 is even better, and I still prefer the images of my film Ms than I do over the M8, generally.

But that is not to say the X100 is a poor second. Far from it. For may things it is better than the M8 - autofocus, lightness and silence, macro ability and high iso. Definitely high iso is something the X100 really does well in, though in a comparison in black and white I made on 12 June, to be uploaded sometime soon, I actually found I preferred the M8 on 1250 clack and white to the X100 at 1600. Colour is a different matter

Above, Pushing up the daisies (shot with Fuji X100)

I could not have shot this with the beautiful M8 that is the subject of the photograph. That's because I wanted to be very close, in the blades of grass itself, and you can't focus that near on the M8. You can on the X100. And the colours and definition are great.

Although if honest the thing I am loving most about the X100 is just how great it is to use one camera, one lens, without having the chance to worry about what it would look like with other lenses, and then just concentrate on the photo you are taking. It's liberating and a great camera for taking everywhere and anywhere.

But this is not a comparison. I love the look, feel, handling and results of all these chrome beauties.

You can see all 30 of my photographs in Fantasies in Chrome in my flickr set, here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickdemarcofoto/sets/72157626868623151/with/5846627033/

Thanks

Nick

Tuesday 29 March 2011

Or, View from my House in Colleruta

I have taken photographs of this view, from my bedroom balcony in my house in Colleruta Italy, many times. I have still never captured how beautiful it actually looks, from this mountain high panoroma, into the valley with the mountains in the background.

But I do quite like the colours in this photograph, which I took with my Leica M8.2 with Leica 28mm Summicron f2 lens at its smallest aperture, in a tripod, on Tuesday 29 March.

You have to click on the photograph to see any detail, and a larger (but still much reduced) size can be viewed on my flickr page.

Sunday 27 March

Or New Cloths from Rome

Here is me, trying on some cloths I just bought in Rome

Leica M8.2

Hanoi on 35mm film

Or, Another Hanoi Interlude

I have started to now scan my 35mm negatives from my recent Hanoi trip, and part of my Hanoi Chic series which will eventually form a short book: Hanoi Chic on flickr

The shot above, I call Paper Tiger.

Regular viewers of the blog will know I took a Leica M8.2 with me for digital and a Mamiya 6 rangefinder for medium format.

These shots were take with my third camera, the Leica M7 (probably my favourite 35mm camera), with ).85 viewfinder. These photos are scanned from the first film, all using my favourite lens, the last version of the pre-aspherical Leitz 50mm summicron f2. And Kodak Portra 400 film.

The photos above I saw whilst crossing the road. I took the same scene with the M8, but it didn't work, and two exposures with the M7. This one worked.

Above, Woman with traditional costume.

I did not take many shots with the M7, I guess because it is so much easier using digital and the M8. But I have to say the M7 shots, particularly with the 50mm summicron, that work have a great quality. The film and lens complimented each other especially when I shot with large apertures, as most of these are.

Above, Biker Portrait.

Again I took this guys portrait with the M8.But I far prefer this version.

Saturday 26 March 2011

Or, Leica M8 in Rome

On 26 March I returned to the eternal city. I did some shopping, ate some good food, and of course some photography...

On this trip I was concentrating on some large format film photography - but I have not yet had time to scan the big negatives.

I also had the Leica M8.2 with 28mm Summicron f2 lens for casual street shooting - with which I took these shots

You can see more here: flickr

Saturday 19 March 2011

Or, Rollei Saturday

On Saturday 19 March I took my beautiful Rolleiflex 2.8F Twin Lens Reflex medium format camera to work.

It was such a sunny Saturday I took it to the roof and shot a few exposures with the new Kodak Portra 400 iso film.

Above, a tree.

This was the first time I used the new Portra 400. I realised when I got the negatives back, and scanned them, that this film really is sweet. You can see me rave about it on my Hanoi Interlude, below.

The film, although 400 iso, has such fine grain it looks more like a 100 iso film. Especially, of course, when used in medium format. Must try this in large format...

The Rollei is one of my favourite cameras. So well made and beautiful to use. But it also produces great photos. I have explained before I include it within my Rangefinder Chronicles because, although not a rangefinder at all but a TLR, I use it more like a rangefinder than an SLR. That's mainly because it has no mirror, and so you can easily shoot at 1/15 or 1/8 of a second and get razor sharp images.

As I did in these colour pics. No tripod necessary. 400 iso and slow shutter speeds meant, on such a bright day I could shoot f16 hand held and the images are as sharp as a 100 iso film on a tripod with, say, my Hasselblad. Or, for that matter, a Canon 5D Mk II. Except, of course, the images and colour are, in my opinion, far more beautiful than you get with a DSLR.

Finally, this was one from a black and white film I took after work in Islington. I think it was Fuji Neopan 400 (my favourite black and white in 35mm and 120 film). I developed the film at home and managed to pour a bucket of dust over it somehow, so most of the pics are not publishable. But this one, of a shop in Upper Street, worked.