Another year … what next?

As we approach the middle of December, my job within the food sector starts to get a little mad, so I thought it may be an idea to reflect on my photographic year and consider what the new year may bring.

Having dipped my feet into the world of older compact cameras in the autumn of 2022, I believed it would be just another diversion on my photographic journey and that I would return to the well trodden path in just a month or two.

I didn’t!

For me, that diversion has become one of my most enjoyable chapters in my photography, as slowly but surely the toe dipping became a fully fledged dive in at the deep end.

There is rarely a trip now where I do not take one of my Lumix LX series or Canon S series compact cameras, with one of my micro four thirds ‘proper’ camera, more recently, I have dared to take just a digicam to challenge myself with supposedly less capable gear.

I use the word challenge but in all honesty it has actually been more like fun, especially when many of the images I have captured with these smaller sensor cameras have become some of my best photos of the year.

Throughout my blogs, I have said how much I love the black and white rendering from these pocket rockets, often now if I see a scene that I want to edit as a monochrome image, I will reach for a digicam.

In terms of 2024, I will continue to shoot a lot of square format photos and perhaps dedicate one of my photographic days purely to one of my digicams, ‘digicam Sunday’ has a certain vibe…

Before posting a few favourite images, I would like to wish all those who have followed my musings throughout this year a very happy Christmas and new year!

Saturday not as planned

Today was to have been an early train from Exeter to Teignmouth, the intention being to hopefully capture the sunrise, my optimism was unfortunately thwarted by pouring rain for most of the morning.

With Plan ‘A’ out of the window, plan ‘B’ would be to seize any window of opportunity, however brief to continue my dalliance with shooting squares, my latest self imposed challenge.

I use the word ‘challenge’, yet in all honesty this has ceased to become a challenge, put simply, it’s turned out to be a whole lot of fun, especially the monochrome emphasis.

Once again, I chose the Panasonic 20mm F1.7 lens, just for its compactness and the fact it is becoming one of my favourite focal lengths.

Beesands in black and white

After a busy few weeks during the peak season, I am back to a Monday to Friday routine, seeing a welcome return to my visits to my home town of Salcombe.

While I am still focusing on my ‘squares’ project, the black and white theme was temporarily put on hold, as Saturday’s early outing rewarded me with some beautiful light and colours, so today saw the return to ‘normal service’

Today’s shoot was with the latest bargain buy, an Olympus EM10 mk III, with a 17mm F1.8 Olympus lens (35mm full frame equivalent).

This particular focal length is probably my favourite, certainly my most used after spending a year shooting with just a Fujifilm X100F just a couple of years ago, going back to it once more is like slipping into a comfy pair of well worn shoes.

Today’s outing is at Beesands, on the South Devon coast, a couple hours here before my return to Exeter for the start of another working week.

Inspired by the Olympus ‘Grainy film’ mode, I have developed some custom presets, some with less grain and contrast, others to emulate that gritty analogue vibe, Capture one being my editing suite of choice, that said, I do like the in camera output enough to use on some occasions.

I am really enjoying the challenge of the black and white format, learning to use the light and tonality to my advantage, looking for other shots when the light is not in an ideal place, I do feel that I am learning to ‘see’ in black and white the further I get into this project as my shot choices are becoming more selective.

A morning stroll with the LX5

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I have started to take myself out of my comfort zone in my photography and I did so again on my latest photo walk.

More often than not, there will be a compact camera in my bag, backed up with another micro four thirds camera body and a prime lens, the Panasonic 20mm F1.7 being a big favourite.

For this walk, I wanted to see what I could get with just my Lumix LX5, removing the dilemma of which gear to use on a particular shot, as so often becomes the case.

I did allow myself the luxury of the optional filter adaptor, as I have not tried long exposures with a compact camera before, besides which, the filters barely took up any space in my camera bag anyway.

The LX5 is the perfect tool for keeping to my square format project, the dedicated aspect ratio dial is much better than having to dig into camera menus, for me dials are king!

In the not too distant past, I would never have seen myself enjoying my photography this much with an old point and shoot camera, a big part of me wanting to have the latest gear, and too big a part of me wanting to be seen with it.

One of the other advantages of a smaller camera, is the fact that I will happily have it in my hand for the entirety of my walk, there is no weight to it at all, so it is always ready for another shot.

Knowing that I had only the LX5 actually gave me a sense of freedom, rather than restriction, my mind was set to compose the shot with the single camera, either I took the shot or I didn’t, simple.

More often than not I did, with an almost equal measure of colour and black and white images, I may have mentioned on more than one occasion that I love the black and white colour profile on the ‘5’.

In the last few months my outings with my collection of digicams have been mostly around my home city of Exeter, but the coming months will become a little less manic in work terms, allowing some time off and trips further afield.

Anyone who has watched the Tom Hanks film castaway will understand why my immediate thought to this scene was ‘WIIIILLLLLSSSSONNN!’

Finding my niche

Since early July my working week has increased to six days a week, so when I am able, I try to get out for some after work shoots to satisfy my image making appetite.

Just a few weeks ago, I felt that I was in a creative rut, perhaps down in part to my preference for early mornings where I habitually shot the beautiful reflections in my local River, the Exe, or the sun rising to mark the start to a new day.

The change in my normal routine has brought me out of my comfort zone but also spurred me on to embark upon my latest project, shooting in square format.

I feel excited once more about getting out and taking photos, even if it is on my doorstep where I must have thousands of images already but not in this format and I am just glad to be out doing the thing I enjoy most.

To reach this chapter in my photographic journey, I have of course been inspired by so many photographers, in any learning curve we all try to emulate our peers but there comes a time when we emerge with our own creative voice.

Maybe my own journey has taken longer than many, those who come on photo walks with me, know my propensity for taking detours to find a different shot, my photographic self education has followed this same meandering path, yet it is a journey I would not change.

The gallery of images below have all been shot over a period of a few days, in various locations in and around Exeter, all very familiar to me but seen with my current mindset.

A grey day in August – Perfect!

It’s a Saturday morning but I have a few hours of overtime at work to do before I can get out with my camera and get a few more frames in the bag with my square format project.

I have packed my Lumix LX7 in my rucksack, so I am good to go, once I am back in town, even though it will only be an hour or so, I’m looking forward to finding a few images of my home city again.

I really like the monochrome profiles from the LX5 and LX7, so much so that I am happy to shoot Jpeg, the small sensor digicams add grain and noise that for me, look better than in post editing, it also saves time being sat in front of a PC monitor.

For most of the morning it has rained, as I arrive back in town, the rains have cleared but a thick cloak of grey remains above, perfect for my needs today!

My favourite from today is the old bus station yard, I deliberately set an ISO of 400 to increase the grain and noise to give a gritty feel to the scene, not to everybody’s taste but I am enjoying experimenting.

Post editing consists only of straightening and exposure adjustments if needed and a frame added on a selected few.

A new photographic project

Once again it has been a while since I last posted any content on this blog, it’s not for the lack of outings, perhaps more from a lack of anything new.

I am still shooting with retro cameras but I feel that this is now the norm, not the exception, so perhaps it’s time for a new project, something to challenge or exercise my photographic imagination and creativity.

I have decided that over the coming weeks, that I want shoot in only in 1:1 aspect ratio (square format), with an emphasis on black and white images.

To some, this may sound a little restricting but there are a couple of reasons why I am doing this.

Firstly, with the summer season in full swing, my working hours are longer as I work within the food industry, so my photo walks are going to be to quickly accessible local places that I have already photographed the socks off!

Secondly, I enjoy the challenge of self imposed rules, after recent projects, I have seen familiar places in a different way, almost as though I am seeing a location for the first time again.

Without further ado, I would like to share my first images from my latest idea, a few shots around my home city of Exeter, shot with one of my favourite compact cameras, the Lumix LX5.

It’s all black and white to me….

Since my foray into using smaller digicam style cameras began, I have noticed a distinct change in my mindset in my photography when I am out on my regular walks.

My DSLR style cameras are the serious, well educated older brother, aiming to excel at everything, where as the smaller cameras are the more streetwise younger sibling, a little more fun to be around and a more adventurous nature.

It is the fun nature of these cameras that makes me experiment more with them, just to see what I can get out of their small sensors, subsequently, over the last few months I have found myself taking more monochrome images because I have learned to embrace the grain or noise produced at comparatively low ISO’s .

As most cameras these days have some option for storing custom settings, I have made a monochrome custom setting that shoots in JPEG with an in camera Black and white setting and am really quite pleased with the images produced.

They are far from fine art photographic masterpieces but for me, they capture a mood or a moment that will evoke a memory years down the line, it is after all the moment, not how sharp an image is.

A selection from the last few weeks …..

Black and white with the ‘5’

I am due to be moving house at the end of the month so I should really be getting my head around packing more boxes to make my life a little easier and what better way to start, by deciding to go out for another local camera walk!

In my defence, it was just after six thirty AM, my customary first brew of the day was already history and I am sure my neighbours would not be happy with too much disturbance at that hour on a Sunday morning anyway.

As I was so pleased with the new (but old) LX5’s images from yesterday’s outing, I decided to take just this camera and a spare battery, this diminutive little camera easily fits into a pocket, so for the first time in a very long time I, I did not even take a camera bag with me.

A few of the reviews on the LX5 had suggested that the in camera dynamic black and white picture profile was very good, so I have set one of the camera’s custom presets to shoot with this profile in JPEG only, I decided also, to make full use of the ‘5’s ability to shoot in the square format at the flick of a switch.

An additional post will be made in the coming days of the colour images from today’s sneaky outing but I was keen to share the images from the black and white perspective, before I begin the onerous task of sorting and packing for my impending move.

One frame – and then there were three.

My camera collection has grown a little over the last few days, my recent outing with a Lumix LX3 that I had bought for next to nothing, prompted search for more digital compacts at reasonable prices.

While an online search was promising, a friend of mine mentioned he had a box of camera gear he was looking to shift and would I be interested?
Does a bear facilitate its lavatorial functions in the woods?

Long story short, I have four ‘new to me’ cameras in my collection, two of which had their first proper shoot yesterday, the others will have their day in the coming weekends.

The Canon G11 and S95 are both around 10-12 years old and fit my old camera theme very well, so I was looking forward to using them on today’s shoot.

While the S95 is very pocketable, the G11 is bulkier but both lighter in my camera bag than my trusty 5dII.

Keen to get out before the bank holiday crowds descended, I set out at just after 6am, a familiar route along the riverside for what was to be one of my most enjoyable photo walks.

I will post another blog over the next day or two of the many pictures I took today but my favourite was a minimalist image of 3 pigeons perched on top of one of the flood defence pillars on my route, the almost clear sky adding a good backdrop.

Initially there were just the 2 pigeons, as I approached, a third joined the avian meeting, which made me remember one of my favourite Genesis albums “And then there were three”

With the s95 in hand, the image was mine, I knew immediately it was going to be a monochrome image, the slight grain from the tiny sensor adding more character to the image.

I think the S95 will be in a bag with me at all times now, it’s small size is ideal, as I still prefer a camera to my mobile phone for images.