I Can't Bear This Heat!

Which one ate the portage? This shot was taken with 35mm f1.4 on the X-Pro1.

Business Lane

It's a recession, just look at how empty the business lane is! To be honest, if they don't don't get their over budget, overtime tram system finished soon, they're won't be any businesses.

Lurking In The Shadows

What is it they say? Life happens at 1/125th of a second? Well that's the difference between a so so shot and an interesting one. The glance from the guy with the hat makes this shot in my opinion.

The Taxman Giveth & The Taxman Taketh Away

I'll try to post a street photo from the X-Pro1 every day this week. If I miss a day, I'll post two the next. This one is pretty self explanatory. The taxman giveth and the Taxman taketh away. We have many forms of tax in the UK. Some with black hats, some with white, some with no hats at all. They'll take everything on this sign and more...much more!

Wheels

New Documentary Site Is Now Online

I've launched a new website for my documentary projects here. I was originally going to add it as a section on my main site (this one), but I felt it needed a darker look and it's own URL. I'll be shooting a new story soon, but I'm trying to hold off until the new Fujifilm X-Pro1 arrives, as I really need good performance at high ISO. On the X-Pro1 front, I have added it on the gear page, plus the 18mm f2 and the 35mm f1.4 prematurely, but I wanted to complete the site.

I have another story that I already shot that would be amazing for the site, but I would like to get permission out of respect (it's not the photo below).

Fujifilm X-Pro1 Mirrorless System Camera

 

This is a cross post with my blog at DerekClarkPhotography.com

News of the new Fujifilm X-Pro1 mirrorless system camera was leaked today ahead of it's January 10th announcement. It looks like the exposure compensation dial will be in the same place as the X100's but recessed down into the top plate . I have also seen photos of a pre-production unit, and it looked just like this, except it was in it's bare metal state. Notice how far to the edge of the camera the viewfinder is? That should mean you don't see as much of the lens hood that you do in the X100.

The Specs for this unit will be 16mp APS-CMOS sensor with 6 photo sites instead of the usual 4. It will also have Fuji's excellent EXR processor. The lens options will be an 18mm (27mm equivelent) f2.0, 35mm (53mm) f1.4 and a 60mm (90mm) f2.4. Looks like Fuji have left out a 35mm equivalent so not to offend it's little X100 brother. It will have a 2nd generation hybrid viewfinder that according to the French page below, will zoom. Ship date is said to be March, but I think there may be even more demand for this than the X100. I'm looking at doing quite a bit of documentary photography this year, and this camera is a dream come true. it won't replace my X100, but complement it.

Happy New Year StreetTogs

Happy new year to all you street photographers all over the world.

Derek.

A Few Random Shots

Inside The Street Photographers Bag

I thought I'd do a 'what's in my bag' feature for all you gear heads out there. As you can see from the photo above, I actually have two street bags. The green Lowe Pro Terraclime 100 is a great bag that is just about perfect for a minimalist street shooter and is the bag that I used until I bought the iPad2. Why take an iPad on a street you might ask? I love the iPad for reading or writing if I stop for a coffee or if I'm on a train going to or from the city I'm shooting in. I can also load my photos in, edit them and have them in a blog post, ready to upload when I get to a WiFi spot. The Storm isn't a camera bag, but I really like the style and pukka feel to it, it's made of good quality leather and has a section in the front for my iPad and a zipped pocket inside for all my accessories.

My main camera is the Fujifilm X100. That little camera has quadrupled the amount of street photography that I do and I really believe it's one of the best cameras ever made. The Yashica Electro 35 GTN is my film rangefinder which has a 40mm fixed lens. At the moment it has a roll of Ilford Delta 400 loaded, but I want try out some Fuji Acros 100 film after seeing the results that Severin Koller had on some of the photos on his blog, including this one. The Casio FC100 is for a project that I'm working on at the moment and will be featured here on 35mmStreet some time soon.

Make sure you always take plenty of batteries (especially with the X100) and a spare memory card. I have an 8GB in the X100 and a 16GB as a spare. The 16GB would usually be in the camera, but with the latest firmware update there was a new bug that makes the camera boot up really slow when using a 16GB. Reformatting sorts the problem, but it returns after you take a few shots. Let's hope Fuji is working on a new firmware update that will fix the problem.

The Zoom H2 Audio Recorder is for recording ambient sound to use with slideshows or videos, but I'd like to use it for interviews some day. The Fuji flash never gets used for street photography, it's just a habit to always have a strobe in my bag.

That's about it. To be honest, I could go out without a bag and just have the X100 and/or the Electro 35 and a pocket full of batteries. It doesn't really matter what gear you have, even a point and shoot will get you good street shots. When I use my DSLR's on a paid job, I'm a sharpness freak, but when I shoot street it doesn't really matter too  much. It's all about the content and the composition.

Gear List

Fufifilm X100 Yashica Electro 35 GTN (rangefinder) Casio FC100 (point & shoot) X100 Lens Hood 2 x X100 Batteries 16gb SD Card Lens Cloth Business Cards Storm Bag or LowePro Terraclime 100 iPad 2 & Charger iPad 2 Camera Connection Kit