an ongoing journey in search of Light...
Continuing the series of images shot while in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Again, the ability to blend in to the street, the confidence to shoot people comes from a state of mind. Happens some days. Is elusive on other days. Can becomes a natural state with practice.
I was within handshaking distance of this lady photographer.
Nikon Df + 50/1.8. RAW Conversion in Capture NX2, final tweaks in Photoshop CS6.
Yesterday I wrote that to me street photography is a state of mind that allows one to blend into the street and boldly shoot. I also said that the camera hardly matters as long as it is an instrument that inspires you to shoot.
When I created this image, I had managed to blend into the street – I was shooting with the camera to my eye and at close range, without people reacting. :)
Nikon Df + 50/1.8.
Recently, I had the opportunity to spend half a Saturday walking through San Francisco’s Chinatown, one of my all-time favorite places to walk-through, camera in hand. Usually, I shoot with a Rangefinder camera but of late I’ve been shooting almost exclusively with the Nikon Df and the 50mm Nikkor “Kit” lens.
Much has been written about the “Rangefinder Experience” and the value of a Rangefinder for street shooting, some of which I even agree with! Whatever the benefits/disadvantages of a rangefinder camera for street photography, a relatively small, very high quality DSLR camera-and-lens combination like the Nikon Df + 50mm/1.8 Nikkor can certainly enable one to shoot effectively in the street.
To me, street photography is a state of mind, an ability to blend into the street and boldly shoot. The camera hardly matters, as long as the camera inspires you to shoot. For me, the Df is a superb camera. I’m especially enamored of the monochrome images that I can coax out of the camera with little effort.
“And her enchanted hair was the first gold.
And still she sits, young while the earth is old,
… And, subtly of herself contemplative,
… Draws men to watch the bright net she can weave,
Till heart and body and life are in its hold.”
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Boston MFA, original sculpture by Kiki Smith.
Park Street Church, located at the intersection of Park Street and Tremont, in Boston, is a historic stop on the Freedom Trail. The Church’s steeple, rising 217 feet high made it the tallest building in the US till 1846. The church is located next to the historic Old Granary Burial Ground.
A view of the Skyview Atlanta ferris wheel, as dawn breaks over the city. Nikon Df + Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 SE.
Recently, I had the opportunity to take a quick walk in downtown Boston, around the Boston Commons area. I had my trusty Nikon Df with me, mounted with the 50mm f/1.8G SE lens. Here are a few image from that stroll. I think they definitely illustrate the clean images the Df produces at high ISO settings.
Four images from a series that I call “Sailing through Time”:
