day off.. but..

[JoeFriday]

with winter fast approaching in the northern hemisphere, and Daylight Savings Time only slightly prolonging our days, I've been eager to use what little 'prime time' we have to take photos outdoors

it doesn't help that I work in a windowless office during the week.. and by windowless, I mean that in the second story location my company occupies, there is precisely one window on the entire floor

so I was very anxious to grab my essential cameras.. the M3, Contax IIa, Contax T, and a GSN just because it hadn't been used in 4 months.. leaving behind the Canonet, Nettar, Kiev with the J12, and Rolleiflex.. cuz I didn't think I'd have time to shoot one roll of film in each camera before the light was lost

not that it mattered.. today is as overcast as it can possibly get.. I think I could point the camera in any skyward direction and get a solid 18% grey for metering

 

[Socke]

Yes. but the christmas markets are about to start. Lots of brightly light booths with people inside waiting to get shot 🙂

 

[lynn]

Oh. I do sympathise.
I had today off, too, and three cameras in my bag: the Nikon, the GSN, and the Ricoh (with the 1967 Svemapan!)....all loaded with 100 ASA, from brighter days.
I would've needed a tripod to capture something decent in the dimness that typified this afternoon, so I came home with a sore shoulder and not one single shot.
Tomorrow's supposed to be even worse here. I fear I will never finish these rolls of film!

 

[zuikologist]

We have forecasts for snow by the weekend in the UK. It might make for more interesting photos. These grey days seem ideal for some grainy b&w film.

 

[Frank Granovski]

There's always night photography via a tripod, light metre, and holding the shutter open a trigger cable or using the timer===depending on how long the shutter's gotta stay open. That's what I used to do in the dork way back when. 😀

 

[peter_n]

I worked a full day today but I carry a cam loaded with NP1600 on my 1.5 hour commute (each way) - two subway trains and a shuttle limo. I got a good one tonight I think, a bloke fast asleep sitting upright at the top of a stairwell in Park St. station. 🙂

 

[Fred]

Night photography is fun, it can be a tad hit and miss but star trails are quite eaasy to get. Use a slow aperture to get the different colours of the stars though otherwise they all come out odd shades of white.

Unfortunately my neighbour has just installed a halogen sensor light in the garden that is over sensitive, the slightest movement from a disgruntled ant will set it off and the light polution renders any sky photography useless.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Fast black and white film, Brett... That'll do it.

Here we have a ghastly forecast: snow overnight and possibly the rest of the week too.

Seems I'm going to spend a lot of time scanning, putting my slides in their sleeves and doing other fun things.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

First cold day of the year. I learned not to wear gloves while firing the Canon IIf. The tip of the glove impeded the shutter dial from rotating freely. At least it was not the shutter freezing up in the cold! I took Three J-3's out for a test today. Did not make it back to the car to grab the Sonnar on the Nikon S2 or Canon 50mm F1.5. That will have to wait for a warmer day, and after the J-3's have been verified. I sure hope the green-eyed, platinum blond Russian beauty performs as good as she looks! I've only seen green coatings on multi-coated lenses and single-coated lenses designed to work in near-IR. We have a number of lenses at work designed to work with near-IR with this shade of green.

 

[taffer]

>I sure hope the green-eyed, platinum blond Russian beauty performs as good as she looks!

Eh, what, where !?!?!? 🙂 🙄 :angel: 😱

Eh, wait, youre talking about a lens !?!? :bang:

 

[JoeFriday]

I took the GSN out for a few shots today, but only tripped the shutter 3 or 4 times.. at least it was something

you guys in metro areas have no idea how good you have it for photo ops.. my commute, while I'm not complaining, is a 6 minute drive down a nearly straight highway.. the only thing I could ever photograph would be other cars, or the rare pedestrian standing at a street corner.. and shooting out a car window generally guarantees extremelly dull compositions

the other problem with small town street photography is that people almost invariably seem to take offense at having a camera aimed at them.. there's no anonymity that one feels when being one of 30 people walking down the street.. people around here are more likely to glare and say "I didn't give you permission to take my photo".. which explains the lack of portraits in my gallery

 

[peter_n]

I do appreciate the fact that I live in a big city, even though I have never lived in any other kind of environment. And not just for the photo ops, there are a lot more opportunies in any endeavor you might be interested in. These days when I'm not at work I'm on the subway either going there or coming back. So I'm taking a lot of pics on the subway, and my scanner is at the shop getting fixed. Very frustrating. 🙁

 

[Trius]

I away visiting family. I brought the SPs and an OM-1n with 21, 35 & 100. Tomorrow morning I'll try to get outside for a bit of a walk around the yard ... relatively unfamiliary territory to me. I brought some high speed films, so will load that up as it will be a grey day, and later inside with family gathering I'll need the speed for people shots inside.

Thanks for the push, Brett. It's easy to just sit around and not make the effort... not a good idea in winter, as it dulls the senses.

Earl

 

[JoeFriday]

hey, that's what I'm here for.. I think 🙂

 

[FrankS]

Brett, I'm in the same predicament here in my little town of 13,000. In the "downtown" area there are only ever a total of 10 or 12 people at a time in a 2 block range, so street photography of strangers on the street is totally out. I do live about 1 hour away from Toronto with 6 million people though.

 

[JoeFriday]

Frank, you ever feel like you'd be arrested for pointing a camera at someone in your town? that's about how I feel around my area

I live an hour from Milwaukee, which would solve that problem.. if I can just get a day with decent light over this weekend I'll head down there

 

[FrankS]

Arrested? No, but most folks just really would not appreciate it. If I want a shot badly enough, I could just ask. It would spoil any spontenaity, but it would usually work. I assume. I'm kinda shy.

 

[ch1]

Aw c'mon...you'se guys have it easy!

I do much of my shootin' during lunch hour in the middle of NYC - right in midtown.

For me the problem isn't taking the pics on the street - those folks don't give a damn.

It's the "get a life" nosybodies in the office who invariably have to say:

"What'ya doin' wid that camera? Gonna take some pik-chures?"

Would be answer: "Like - duh? No, I'm gonna hang myself with the strap because I hate working with you!!!"

Real answer: SILENCE

Perhaps its because I'm older now. But I must admit; I feel much more ill at ease taking photos then I did 20 or 30 years ago.

Vulnerability perhaps? "Stupid" self conciousness?

I don't know - you tell me.