New website - 135street.com

Jaans said:
Heres my take: I can already see a lot of passion in this idea. I really enjoyed poking around what you have up so far.

Other members have raised some excellent points with regards to technical issues with the website. I personally haven't started a website because websdesign is certainly not my strong point. If and when I do it, I will pay someone to translate my ideas to the screen. I will also take into account the technical suggestions that they gave you.

Content: I have a clearer idea about this side of the equation. I guess you will always have to balance the main thrust of the website - in other words do you want to concentrate on 'gear' like in your review and article sections, or do you want to concentrate on 'street work' with great photos, technique and interviews with masters and up and coming street photographers.

The reason that I bring this point up is that just about any successful photographer that you meet would eventually want his students to focus on the process, ideas and imagery and move away from 'gear talk'. So, there is the inherentt risk of your website being tagged as a gear forum, instead of a place where street photographers can congregate and discuss their visual process and how this translates into images.

And as Steve Ash said, Steve McCurry would not be labelled as a street photographer, although he does have some street work in his portfolio. He descends from that Nat Geo tradition of taking colorful photos in exotic places, well exotic from the stand point of the typical 'westerner', who incidentally is your target market for this website. So, in my definition of street, it encompasses the banal daily movements outside your doorstep, or your hometown/city. It doesn't involve spending thousands of dollars to travel to war torn countries in search of the exotic. Because that in a way is cheating as the exotic is already an inherent part of the genetic makeup from images from this part of the world.

So, at the risk of sounding controversial, I would can that Steve McCurry portfolio in the masters section of street work, because this is definetely out of kilter with the rest of the website. There are a lot of great street photographers in the world now with very strong opinions about the exotic locale of photos versus the banal everyday. I am pretty sure that you would be alienating a huge slice of your audience by keeping him in that section. Besides, there are a ton of photographers who would fall under that banner of street way ahead of McCurry. Your inclusion of Winogrand was a good but obvious choice.

So, there are a other street photographers that I would include instead of McCurry. Here are four that I would include for starters: Richard Kalvar and Joel Myerowitz, William Klein, Lee Freidlander.

Anyway, these are just some of my opinions regarding content. All the best!
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Jaans,

I really appreciate that you took the time to give such a complete set of suggestions.

Your point about Steve McCurry being in the "Masters" section of the "Street work" is valid, and I agree with you. I left it in the "Book reviews" section, since actually I was mainly talking about his book.

Joel Myerowitz, William Klein, Lee Freidlander are in my list of Masters, and they will have an article about them. But the "obvious", as Winograng, Elliot Erwitt or HCB (just to mention a few) will also appear. I have already a couple of interviews with established "street photographers", as I have also with a few young with talent who need a place to start showing their work.

As I said earlier I will "broaden the spectrum" and sometimes, some articles will come up from photographers who are not "just" street photographers, but also photo-journalists, fine-art, or even travel photographers. The reason to do this, is that a street photographer should look at different yet similar genres to evolve, just my opinion.

When you talk about gear, I couldn't agree more, but... this will be a commercial project (at least thats the plan), so we will have to also talk about gear. 80% of the visits go for the gear articles. I will do my share and try to give interesting articles centered in photography, but I just can't leave gear out of this. I will try to make a difference in the content of each article (gear or otherwise), I'm working hard to come up with interesting articles, thats why your opinions are so important.

Thank you.

Pedro Cardigo
.........................
www135street.com
www.pedrocardigo.com
 
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35mmdelux said:
Many websites doing these reviews & featuring famous photogs in English. Is the Portuguese RF market sufficient to make such effort worthwhile?

Also, you write that the 50 Cron is the sharpest. I believe this title belongs to the 50 Summilux ASPH (APO). Good luck -
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Hello,

Your point about the Portuguese market is valid, but you are forgetting the Brazilian Market were they also speak Portuguese.

I've heard mixed comments about the Summilux/Summicron sharpness question. When I tried the Summilux ASPH, I felt that sharpness was almost as high as the summicron (by a hair, or two), but the contrast was higher (as well as the micro-contrast) which may change the perception of sharpness.

I can't tested again right now, but I have one Summilux ASPH on order, so when I'll receive it, will do a comparison.

Thank you.

Pedro Cardigo
.........................
www135street.com
www.pedrocardigo.com
 
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tom.w.bn said:
This sounds like you don't have any commercial intentions. But I suppose that some rff folks here looked at the site from a commercial point of view.
Is this site just a personal project?
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This is a personal/commercial site, but I want to provide content that interests me as well as you. That’s why I ask for opinions.

Thank you,

Pedro Cardigo
.........................
www135street.com
www.pedrocardigo.com
 
As the "other half" of the 135 Street project I just wished to thank everybody for all the suggestions and inputs.

Pedro and I wish to make the best website we can about the subjects we love.

Regards,

Paulo Teixeira
-----------
www135street.com
 
Offered the 50 Summicron vs 50 Summilux ASPH (APO) -- I'll take the Summilux no question about it. Fast and beautiful handling characteristics. ...follow your passion..

Ciao - P.
 
35mmdelux said:
Offered the 50 Summicron vs 50 Summilux ASPH (APO) -- I'll take the Summilux no question about it. Fast and beautiful handling characteristics. ...follow your passion..

Ciao - P.
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Yes, I just love fast lenses. As I said I've ordered it, I will decide about the Summicron when I receive the Summilux... 🙂
 
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