November 01, 2012

Southern Cambodia photography workshop - Feb 2013

November 01, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Our next Cambodia workshop will be concentrated in the southern part of the country for 5 days around Sihanoukville, Kep and the surrounding islands. This promises to be another successful experience for a small group of photographers (maximum 6) to fully immerse themselves in a photo rich environment with 2 instructors for personalised hands on training. For more information on the workshop and to register your interest, please follow the link below or click on any of the images:

http://www.f8photography.com.hk/event/southcambodiafeb2013/

Here are a few images of this wonderful part of the world from one of our previous trips there that we will enjoying exploring with you again soon.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page or on the ‘LIKE’ box to the right side of this blog. You can share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below or on the left side of this blog. You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below or on the right of this post OR by clicking this link.

F8 Photography provides commercial photography and photography and video training workshops, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.

October 10, 2012

Manila Photography workshop - signup this week for discount

October 10, 2012/ Gary Tyson

As some of you may know, we are hosting a photography workshop on the streets of Manila in the Phillipines with acclaimed photographer Kurt Kamka from 16-18 November 2012. We are offering an early bird discount price for clients who signup and pay for the workshop before 20th October, so thats just a few days left to go. Save HK$500 by signing up now.

We have capped the workshop at 8 participants, so far we have ONLY 3 SPACES LEFT...act fast if you wish to have a great photography trip with some like minded people.

If you wish to escape the hustle of Hong Kong for a few days and shoot in a subject rich environment in a small group, improve your composition, learn some new techniques, this could be the workshop for you.

Heres the link to the workshop events page:

F8 PHOTOGRAPHY MANILA WORKSHOP - EVENTS PAGE

Heres some blog posts we have done about some of the areas in which we will shoot in Manila:

MANILA WORKSHOP RECCE

PEMBO - PHOTOGRAPHERS PARADISE

MAKATI,MAKATI, MAKATI

LIFE BEYOND THE GRAVES IN MANILA

And heres some very recent blog posts from clients that attended our last workshop held in Cambodia, see their images and read their thoughts.

CAMBODIA WORKSHOP REVIEW BY F8 PHOTOGRAPHY

October 08, 2012

GUEST POST: Terese - Cambodia Workshop

October 08, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Note: This post is written and all photos by Terese Chan (less portraits of Terese) who travelled to Cambodia with us. Terese shot with the Fuji XPro1 throughout the workshop. These are her thoughts.

(the author - Terese, posing for a lighting demo during the workshop in Phnom Penh)

I've been on and off looking for photography courses in Hong Kong for over a year, most of them I found were formal classroom teaching or commercial wedding shooting… Honestly, as a design-trained person I perceived they are boring, stiff and too commercial…and then I found F8 Photograpy (www.f8photography.com.hk). I was stunned by Gary's works, especially the street photos and immediately joined his workshop without hesitation even though I had never met him in Hong Kong.

(A girl playing hide and seek, Fuji X-pro1 35mm ISO 200 F1.8 1/550s)

We met in Cambodia on the first day, all of us got our gear to click on and go! It seems that we had bad luck with heavy showers on the first day but we were lucky though as Gary took us to a good location and we ran into so many lovely warm faces. I had a tough time to avoid getting my camera wet, and yet I didn't want to miss any captures….it was challenging and great fun!

(Terese (left) and Susan still smiling despite the torrential rain...)

(A praying sweet heart, Fuji X-pro1 35mm ISO 1000 F1.4 1/150s)

(Lady under the shelter, Fuji X-pro1 35mm ISO 3200 F2.2 1/110s)

(A girl, Fuji X-pro1 60mm ISO 200 F4 1/45s)

(A boy, Fuji X-pro1 35mm ISO 1000 F2.4 1/52s)

I really enjoyed the total immersion in the environment, it was effective to learn in such a good and relaxing atmosphere with great people. The learning schedule might be intense, but for me the process was fun with all the happy and kind participants, they really made my trip! All the laughter and sharing made the course fruitful and complete! :)

Note from Gary from F8 Photography: Terese classed herself as a 'newbie' photographer when she arrived on the workshop. Having heard that I expected to see 'beginner' images at the end of day 1, but this was not the case, Terese absorbed all the information we gave her about using different lenses and viewpoints to improve her composition techniques, she embraced her camera (Fuji XPro1) which can be slow with autfocus at times, and she got on with all the training, always smiling. My view on her work that she produced was that it was outstanding, like the other clients we took on the workshop, they all worked together and pushed each others standards higher throughout, which benefited everyone immensely and raised the self-pressure level. I think working in that style is a good thing, and I know Terese will agree that the images she produced on this workshop were some of, if not her best photographs she has taken to date. I am aware that Terese is very busy working for Cathay Pacific and it is not easy for her to get time off work, so we want to say thanks for making the time to join us, we hope you reaped the benefits of the workshop, your images certainly tell that story. Well done Terese, great work, and look forward to taking you the next travel photography expedition :-)

Here are more of Terese's images from the workshop:

(Terese seemed to be REALLY enjoying the workshop!)

(Gary from F8 helping Terese set up the Fuji XPro1 after installing the new autofocus firmware)

(Sisters, Fuji X-pro1 35mm ISO 200 F1.4 1/680s)

(A boy who peeps, Fuji X-pro1 35mm ISO 200 F2.5 1/220s)

(The boys in a temple, Fuji X-pro1 35mm ISO 1000 F2 1/2900s)

(A smiley face, Fuji X-pro1 35mm ISO 200 F2 1/180s)

We have other posts from the workshop attendees as well as behind the scenes shots and video coming soon. Please stay tuned for that, you can now ‘search’ the blog on the left side of this post to find subject posts easily, try typing ‘cambodia’ to find all our posts from there if you wish to read more.

October 05, 2012

Manila Photography Workshop Recce

October 05, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Details of our November 2012 workshop in Manila can be seen here: http://www.f8photography.com.hk/event/manila-photography-workshop/

I have been to Manila 3 times in the last 2 months and am starting to get familiar with a few of the locales for shooting street life and have hung out with Kurt Kamka a few times, hes an American photographer based in Manila, so its great to have good communication with someone who already has 'boots on the street' (ironically the name of his blog also, which can be seen here).

All images below are shot on the Olympus OMD with 12mm, 25mm, 45mm lenses and processed in Adobe Lightroom 4 with VSCO film presets or Niksoft Silver Efex 2 for black and white images.

(Welcome to Guadalupe, OMD, 25mm)

This last trip we explored the Guadalupe area of Makati which yet again proved to be a fruitful location full of life and great friendly people. Every single person we met was more than happy to be photographed - if anything the only problem was that once you stopped to talk to people and take an image or two, a crowd sometimes gathered which made it more difficult to get good compositions due to the scene becoming far too 'busy' with willing subjects.

(Kurt shows the kids their portraits, you can't help but smile when you see their reactions)

Kurt was shooting with his Leica S2 camera, a beast of a machine capable of producing some amazing image quality, its a bit out of my price range unfortunately and since I am recently divorced from Leica, luckily I am avoiding their gear, although I do agree with him that the quality is second to none. I was using my trusty OMD for this trip again, as it constantly delivers the goods for me, is lighting fast and the lenses are unsurpassed for these 4/3 sensors.

(My tribute image to James Nachtwey style composition, OMD, 12mm)

(Mini-gangsta, OMD, 12mm)

We met all sorts along the way, small kids, elderly people, mini-gangstas...all totally friendly. It's easy to see how some people get worried walking around Manila, as of course there are some dangerous areas, much like any other city, however, just knowing which areas to avoid is all that is needed to ensure a pleasureable experience shooting in the streets, I found the place each trip to be more enchanting and you can't help but appreciate the people.

(Friendly lady, OMD, 25mm)

(Need a shave?, OMD, 25mm)

When you look at these images, bear in mind that all of them were taken in the space of 2 hours, that should give an idea of the versatility and range of interesting people that we found in just a short walk down a few streets. Its not easy in some countries to find so much diversity of characters, especially ones so willing to be photographed. I think Kurt is a lucky man to live in such a cool city.

(View across to Makati, OMD, 25mm - HDR effect - combined 3 images in Photomatix Pro)

When looking over at Makati from a bridge the mix of poverty with the new world is evident, with slum housing blending into skyscraper towers only a few metres apart, there is a lot of contrast in Manila, I noticed that, with high end shopping malls and designer brands all around certain areas, but I am not shocked or surprised by this anymore as Hong Kong is exactly the same in my view with these kind of contrasts.

(Manila in colour, OMD, 25mm)

(More colour in Guadalupe, OMD, 12mm)

(Every little shop window greets you with a big friendly smile, OMD, 25mm)

If I could describe Manila in colour tones I would say its 'Kodachrome'....the pastel colours that I see everywhere remind me of this, and it really is a place that lends itself to colour photography....the last few trips as its still monsoon season, there have been lots of muted grey skies which helps give the colours a nice soft look, perfect for photography...as long as you take your umbrella in case of a downpour.

(Jeepneys in monsoon season, OMD, 25mm)

(Big Mommas house - OMD, 12mm)

(Street scene, OMD, 25mm)

(Need a room? OMD, 25mm)

(The daily news, OMD, 25mm)

(More street scenes, OMD, 25mm)

Just shooting street scenes on every corner interest me in Manila, the characters all seem to be just 'hanging out' in interesting poses or compositions, it makes photography easier in this sense, and of course I still love black and white photography in these streets even though I just said earlier that it lends itself very well to colour imagery.

On the way back at the end of the shoot we were strolling along the Pasig River banks and came across a bunch of crazy kids jumping off a road bridge into the river, which looks pretty polluted and has a very very strong current.....these kids must have amazing immune systems, and can swim like olympic athletes to resist that current....not to mention the dangers of jumping off a 50ft high road bridge....one kid had climbed right to the top of the girders as can be seen in the image below...i didn't see him jump from there, maybe he has second thoughts once up there, but Im quite sure some of them have done that before...have to admire their fearless attitude and passion for having fun, no matter the risks.

(The jumpers, Pasig River, OMD, 75mm)

(Underpass, OMD, 25mm)

We will be returning to Manila to run a workshop with Kurt Kamka in November, its really a great place to shoot, its perfectly safe, my only advice there is don't go street shooting at night, keep to areas that are safe and be wary of taxi drivers, almost every taxi driver I met always trys to tell me 'the meter doesnt work' or the fee is an extra few hundred pesos....its just one of those things...confirm the price before you set off with a cab or ensure they use the meter, then you'll be fine and still have a few hundred pesos left over to buy the kids a coke for being so friendly in their village :-)

Details of our November 2012 workshop in Manila can be seen here:

http://www.f8photography.com.hk/event/manila-photography-workshop/

Links to Kurt's work can be again seen here at the links below:

http://www.kurtkamka.com/

http://bootsonthestreet.tumblr.com/

If you want to see other posts we have written about Manila, please click this link below which will search out all the Manila posts for you on our blog for your convenience:

http://www.f8photography.com.hk/tag/manila/

September 30, 2012

GUEST POST: Steve - Cambodia Workshop (Asst Instructor)

September 30, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Note: This post is written and all photos by Steve Porte (less portraits of Steve) who travelled to Cambodia with us as assistant instructor. Steve shot with a combination of Canon 1D Mk IV and 5D Mk III throughout. These are his thoughts on the workshop:

(Steve is always having a laugh and a joke, enjoying life - here we were setting up a lesson in 'off camera lighting')

Last week, I traveled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia with F8 Photography owner Gary Tyson and four other photographers. Unlike our casual visit in July (described in a previous post that can be seen here) this trip was to host a formal photography workshop in and around Phnom Penh. The group consisted of four participants, Gary and myself. Here are my thoughts on that trip...

(The motley crew - Andrew, Ian, Susan, Terese, Steve & Gary)

On our last visit, we had great weather and beautiful light. This time, there were daily rain showers - but the rain had little effect on our daily routine. Both during and after the rains, we were bathed in the same soft light we have come to expect in Cambodia, and the rain actually became an interesting element in several of our images. Just like our last visit, the combination of colourful infrastructure, verdant landscape, warm and friendly people, and the soft light, made for a wonderful photographic experience.

(5D3, 85mm, f/1.2, ISO 200)

(1D4, 27mm, f/3.5, ISO 200)

(1D4, 16mm, f/6.3, ISO 200)

(1D4, 34mm, f/3.2, ISO 200)

The biggest surprise for me this trip was the quality of work produced by the workshop participants. The four arrived ranging in experience from first-day-with-a-new-point & shoot, to an experienced nature photographer. Although this was billed as a basic-skills workshop, each participant produced some very good images on day one. After four very long days of shooting, group and individual tutoring, and nightly post processing lessons, each participant was putting up some very strong images, with a much-improved keeper rate. Very impressive.

(Steve (top right) tutoring Ian (left) whilst Terese (front) studies her images captured so far)

As always, the real treat shooting in Cambodia was interacting with the local people. We met some well to do folks, and some less fortunate - but regardless of their situation, all were warm, genuine, and displayed the winning Cambodian smile. The warm welcome we received from everyone made the trip wonderful, even without raising a camera.

(Steve engaging some subjects with his infectious smile)

(5D3, 85mm, f/2.2, ISO 200)

(5D3, 85mm, f/1.4, ISO 200)

(5D3, 85mm, f/1.2, ISO 200)

(1D4, 35mm, f/6.3, ISO 200)

This trip, as usual, we delivered portraits taken on the previous trip (and some shot early this visit). Every person to whom we delivered prints beamed at seeing their own images. I’m not sure who was happier - the subjects at receiving the prints, or us at seeing their reaction. A true win-win situation.

(1D4, 22mm, f/5.6, ISO 200)

(1D4, 35mm, f/2.8, ISO 200)

In my last F8 guest post, I mentioned that Cambodia is a wonderful place to visit, to shoot, and to use as an effective teaching venue. The atmosphere is relaxed, there is abundant local and international food cuisine, the light is beautiful, and the people are wonderful. I’m happy to report that nothing has changed. For me, it doesn’t get any better than this - even in the rain....

(5D3, 85mm, f/1.4, ISO 400)

Note from Gary from F8 Photography: Just want to say a special thank you to Steve for joining the workshop in this capacity. His assistance, experience, humour and character were a great addition to the workshop, helping everything along smoothly and all the participants have expressed their thanks already. The workshop was a much more fruitful experience for all with his participation. Cheers Steve.

More of Steve's photography can be seen via this weblink.

(Steve quietly ponders which flavour milkshake to try next at the Riverside bar and grill, Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh :-))

September 30, 2012

GUEST POST: Susan - Cambodia Photography Workshop

September 30, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Note: This post is written and all photos by Susan Lim (less portraits of Susan) who travelled to Cambodia with us. Susan shot with the Olympus OMD throughout the workshop. This is her story. (Susan became 'at one' with her OMD shooting sometimes 12 hours a day, practice, practice, practice)

(Susan loved interacting with the kids and shooting in the rain with her new shooting buddy, Terese (far left)

When I first registered for the Cambodia workshop I told Gary that I wanted to explore this part of Cambodia, learn their cultures and practice my basic photography skills using my recently acquired Olympus OMD.

I was given a lot of opportunities to take photos in different locations such as Wat Phnom (Buddhist temple area in the city), the silk weaving villages on Mekong Island, rice fields outside the city, street photography and environmental portraiture inside Pagodas and around other parts of Phnom Penh and the last day we visited an old temple complex about an hour away from Phnom Penh with some old ruins, great for landscape images and portraiture of the elderly temple minders.

(Inside a Pagoda, Olympus OMD, 20mm)

(Little girl on Mekong Island, Olympus OMD, 20mm)

(Monks at the Pagoda, Olympus OMD, 20mm)

(Intense portrait, Olympus 20mm)

In each location, people are willing to have their photographs taken and they were all full of smiles. I did notice a lot of poverty in Cambodia, which sometimes upset me as I am not used to seeing these things having travelled from Hong Kong. The results of my photographs are highly impacted by my emotions.

My thoughts on the the workshop training:

The workshop was very well organised, Gary from F8 Photography is a brilliant photographer. He is knowledgable and well experienced. Without his guidance, I would never have learnt so much about how to see and take images in a way I had never done before.

I also benefited a lot from the other participants who are all highly motivated and engaging, Steve, Andrew, Ian and Terese. Each of our session ended with critiques of photos which includes great suggestions for improving our photographs. I also learned to see results of different camera brands and the photography style of each participants. I would highly recommend F8’s Cambodia workshop to anyone.

Note from Gary from F8 Photography: Susan had a great workshop with outstanding results. She had recently purchased the Olympus OMD and wanted to immerse herself somewhere away from the distractions of Hong Kong life to fast track her learning experience. I think she did this without question, and anyone viewing her images here will agree I am quite sure. For someone who has only been shooting a few months, her results were excellent, I was in fact quite envious of some the shots she 'saw' that I didn't see myself :-). On this type of workshop the instructor always learns just as much from the clients I think, I love to see how others interpret a scene, I can always learn from that. Susan was affected by some of the poverty she saw during the workshop, this is not a bad thing, this is a reality, we all react differently to what we see, and it is reflected in some images in her portfolio. This reminded me of my early visits to Cambodia, it is easy to get overwhelmed by some of the sights, but I also think this makes us stronger photographers as being emotional about our work is a good thing, it means we care about what we are trying to say. Good work Susan, well done.

(Rainy day, first shots...this was one of Gary's favourites that Susan produced on Day 1, Olympus OMD, 20mm)

(Cheeky children, Olympus OMD, 45mm)

September 25, 2012

Smile! you're on camera in Cambodia!

September 25, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Now our Phnom Penh photography workshop is complete and we have returned to Hong Kong I will start to prepare some blog posts from each of the clients so we can share their point of view on the workshop and on Cambodia. Whilst I am doing that I would just like to share a few 'behind the scenes' headshots of our participants and some of our subjects and the underlying memory I have of Phnom Penh which is….happiness….even though the country may be poor, there are few other places I have visited that I have seen so many genuine smiles.

I walk around Hong Kong and the general vibe is very very different to Cambodia, of course these two places cannot be compared, but the reality for me is that whenever I am in countries that have more money and affluent lifestyle…..there always seems to be a lot less smiling going on…..

I hope by viewing a few of these images it can make you smile and give you a very small insight into the vibrant and colourful faces of Cambodia.

We will have lots of blog posts from the clients and behind the scenes footage coming shortly, stay tuned...and keep smiling :-)

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August 28, 2012

Pembo - Photographers Paradise

August 28, 2012/ Gary Tyson

(Welcome to Pembo, OMD - 25mm)

Welcome to Pembo...my new favourite part of Manila. I have to say that ANY photographer visiting Manila simply MUST take the time out to visit this area. Its an amazing little district full of intertwining streets and an extremely vibrant street life culture. This place is exactly how I imagined Manila to be in my mind before I visited, full of smiley faces, great colour and amazing characters - even the cats look cool in this part of town!

(Coca Cola Cat, OMD - 25mm)

I'll start off this post with just a few images from the first 10 minutes of walking into Pembo....this should give you a view into the place, from chaotic traffic, variety of characters, smells of street life (check out the pig photo!) the place was like a circus of life, and I must yet again thank my new friend Kurt Kamka for showing me this place.

(It's all about family - OMD - 25mm)

(Hanging out on the street, OMD - 25mm)

(A local form of transport - the trike - OMD - 45mm)

(Bacon sandwich anyone...OMD - 45mm)

(Peek-a-boo, OMD - 25mm)

As I wandered down the street in Pembo (I was only here for 2 hours), I couldn't decide which lens to use on my camera (this is one reason why I usually just take 1 lens with me whilst out on the street....to minimise confusion and help me concentrate on one focal length)....There was so much to see here, I wanted to shoot wide angle environmental shots, then shoot close up portraits of the same people....luckily the Olympus OMD lenses are all very small and light, which enables me to carry 4 primes, which all together weigh less and take up less room than just one of my Canon 'L' lenses. I switched frantically between my wide, medium and longer lenses (12,25, 45, 75) throughout the walk to enable me to capture as much as I could of this place.

(Harsh light, works for me!, OMD - 45mm)

(A sneak peak into someones living room, OMD - 25mm)

(A proud man, OMD - 25mm)

(More than happy to pose, great character, OMD - 25mm)

Something myself and Kurt discussed on our walk was how everyone just can't help smiling in the Phillipines. Its a great 'de-stress' exercise to just go for a walk around Manila, its infectious and by the time we had finished our shoot, we felt we had a very fulfilling afternoon and pleasant experience, and I feel lucky to be able to just walk around and engage with these people, my life is enriched by meeting them and I am very grateful that they allow me a few seconds of their time to capture their vibrant smiles and laughter.

(Laughing girl, OMD - 45mm)

(Brotherhood , OMD - 25mm)

(Shy at first...OMD - 75mm)

(...then strike a pose...OMD - 75mm)

The light was very harsh and the weather hot as we walked the streets, but as the whole area is made up of small streets and alleyways there is plenty of opportunities to use the shade and dappled light to get some nice shots, even in harsh light, I don't worry too much, there is always a way to shoot...i love shooting into the light as much as anything, so I am always on the lookout for interesting light to use to my advantage when the weather is like this.

(Full of character, OMD - 25mm)

(Hello stranger, OMD - 45mm)

(I LOVE the colours of the buildings - OMD - 75mm)

(Shy boy, OMD - 75mm)

(Mini-Gangsta, OMD - 25mm)

(shooting into harsh light works well with natural diffusers, OMD - 25mm)

We were lucky enough to stumble onto a basketball match between some locals also and they allowed us to shoot them for a while, this was a welcome break for us from the harsh sun outside as we hung out in their indoor court for 20 minutes and a good chance for me to test the high speed 9 frames per second framerate of the Olympus OMD, as I had not used it for sports photography yet, worked pretty well i thought.

(Olympus OMD had no problem with fast moving sports, OMD - 75mm)

(A national past-time in the Phillipines, OMD - 12mm)

I know this blog post is quite a long one with plenty of images, I hope that doesn't bore anyone, I really couldn't make my selection any smaller to show this place, its so interesting for me, I just wanted to share the beauty of this place, and as I said earlier, I strongly encourage anyone visiting Manila to take the time to visit this locale. Here are a few more images of some of the great people we met along the way.

(Family life is everywhere , OMD - 75mm)

(One of my few black and white images from this trip, OMD - 25mm)

(Eating 'Balut', a fertilized duck embryo complete with feathers....yummy....OMD -25m)

(Local musicians in Pembo, OMD, 75mm)

(Friendly waves goodbye as we left Pembo, OMD - 25mm)

(We will be back for sure!, OMD - 45mm)

All images here are shot on the Olympus OMD with various prime lenses and all processed with 1-click presets fromVSCO film presets, still by far my favourite film simulation filters that work directly as a preset within Lightroom 4.

For other posts I have written recently with images of the new Olympus OMD in Manila please see the links below:

LINK TO BLOG POST: Shooting the back streets of Makati

LINK TO BLOG POST: Residents of Makati Catholic Cemetery

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD goes to Manila (first trip in July 2012)

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD shooting in Ulingan, Tondo, Manila

August 26, 2012

Life beyond the graves in Manila

August 26, 2012/ Gary Tyson

(Entrance to Makati Catholic Cemetery - OMD, 25mm)

Along the backstreets of Makati in the heart of Manila lies an old Catholic Cemetery, seemingly abandoned, but on looking inside it has a lot of residents, who are quite alive.....living in the tombs that remain within. It always amazes me the places that people can turn into quite homely communities....this was yet another one of them, full of smiling faces and vibrant colours.

(Graveyard kids - OMD, 25mm)

During my short trip to Manila I hooked up withKurt Kamka who I have met through our Hong Kong Street Photography group on Facebook (feel free to visit our group and join in if you like shooting street, linked here). This was the first time we had met in person, so we grabbed lunch together and had a chat about cameras and life and it was good to see that we were both shooting with the Olympus OMD today. Another interesting observation from shooting together was that I was preferring to shoot in colour and Kurt shoots mostly in black and white. I also usually shoot this kind of scene in black and white, however, I am finding all the colours of the phillipines impossible to resist, so am still personally hooked on colour for almost all my shooting in Manila at present and also I am loving the VSCO colour film presets that I'm using in Lightroom 4 that allow me '1 click' presets to get me to retro film looks from my OMD RAW files with ease.

Some links to Kurt's work can be found below at his blog and Tumblr sites:

1. Kurt Kamka Blog

2. Kurt Kamka Tumbr site

Kurt suggested we visit the old catholic cemetery as it was very close by. Of course I thought this was a great idea and opportunity to visit a location that I'm quite sure I would never have found on my own - you can't beat local knowledge when travelling somewhere unfamiliar.

(Kurt Kamka (left) and myself outside the cemetery (Kurts websites are linked above this image)

Inside the cemetery, we were greeted by lots of different people, each and every one of them very happy, and quite surprised to see us. I'm guessing they probably don't get many visitors there, and especially not westerners, but like most of the other places I've visited in Manila, we were welcomed by friendly faces and open arms, some of the elderely ladies took a liking to us and insisted on having their photographs taken with us, which was fun and very humbling to be hugged by these people, they really are very genuine people and truly great characters.

(Kurt sharing the love with a friendly lady in the cemetery - OMD, 25mm)

(Great character, full of smiles! - OMD, 25mm)

(Smoke break at the crematorium - OMD, 25mm)

The children we met followed us round for an hour or so and they were more than happy to hang out with us, take some pics and practice their English language skills, I think almost everybody I have met in the phillipines speaks pretty much perfect English, from the youngest child to the eldest of folk, so it makes communication very easy.

(Children living in the graveyard - OMD 12/25mm)

Lots of people were resting in the midday sun whilst we were at the cemetery, so we were careful not to wake them whilst we were wandering around shooting our images, they seemed to be quite content in their hammocks which were usually strung up between two large gravestones.

(Rest in Peace - OMD, 12mm)

The children here have turned certain areas of the graveyard into their playground, a few of the young boys were keen to demonstrate their acrobatic skills springing from tomb to gravestone like some military obstacle course.....I took a few images of this, but was trying to discourage one young boy as he kept looking to me for approval every time he jumped, and I couldn't help thinking that if he missed his landing spot, he was going to be seriously injured!

(The jumper - OMD, 12mm)

(Graveyard girl - OMD, 45mm)

Some areas of the cemetery had dogs roaming around, some of the residents warned us that the dogs could be aggressive, so we kept a few yards from them in most cases, I think they were most likely just hungry dogs so that would make them grumpy and aggitated for sure. I noticed some tombs had dogs tied to the stones, I'm not sure if they were supposed to be guarding that particular tomb, as one man told us the stories of the grave robbers who regularly come at night, digging out graves and taking anything and everything that could be used to make money (gold teeth...metals...etc).

(Graveyard dogs - OMD, 25mm)

It certainly was a unique place to visit, with a vibrant and interesting mix of people living within the cemetery. Again I must say, its always such a humbling experience in these kind of places, always greeted with big smiles, hugs, asking nothing in return.

(Old and young residents of Makati Catholic Cemetery - OMD, 25mm)

I will be shooting again with Kurt Kamka during this short trip to Manila, and will be posting more images from our adventures around the city in the coming day or two, so please check back to see more from this amazing city. In the meantime, here are the links to Kurts sites again, please take a look as he has been living in Manila almost a year now and has an extensive portfolio of images from the city.

1. Kurt Kamka Blog

2. Kurt Kamka Tumbr site

All images here are shot on the Olympus OMD with various prime lenses and all processed with 1-click presets from VSCO film presets, still by far my favourite film simulation filters that work directly as a preset within Lightroom 4.

For other posts I have written recently with images of the new Olympus OMD in Manila and other parts of Asia please see the links below:

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD goes to Manila (first trip in July 2012)

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD shooting in Ulingan, Tondo, Manila

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD goes to Cosplay event in Hong Kong

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD goes to Cambodia

August 02, 2012

OMD goes to Cosplay

August 02, 2012/ Gary Tyson

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/200 @ f3.2, ISO 200) (This image above is the only one from the set that I have linked a full size version too, so any pixel counters who want to look at it full size click this link...this for me shows how good a 4/3 sensor can resolve detail).

So, after a few weeks of extensive travel photography around Cambodia and Manila in the Phillipines, we are back to Hong Kong and found out about the Cosplay exhibition held in Wanchai Exhibition Centre, so thought we'd put the Olympus OMD to more tests using slightly longer lenses than normal, focussing more on portraits, rather than street or environmental shots.

The lenses of choice for this shoot were the Panasonic 25mm 1.4, Olympus 45mm 1.8 and Olympus 75mm 1.8. Remember all focal lengths are doubled for their 35mm equivalent value.

All I can say about using this camera for portraiture is 'wow', it keeps on surprising me, no matter what I use it for....I wasn't sure what to expect with tight portraits, how much detail would the 4/3 sensor resolve...all I can say is that the sensor is simply amazing, especially when combined with these high quality (but reasonably priced) prime lenses.

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/500 @f1.8, ISO 320)

Another thing that the Olympus OMD seems to do well is 'colour', and I thought the Cosplay event would be a great place to showcase this with all the variety of coloured outfits and wigs, and for sure, I hope these sample images I have posted here show that. They have all had minor contrast and levels adjustments only in Lightroom 4, no other editing was required and in 99.9% of the images, white balance was not changed at all, so this shows the RAW files coming out of the OMD have already great white balance. Of course with RAW files this wouldn't be an issue as all white balances are embedded so its a 1-click change to fix any issues, but not having the issue in the first place is always reassuring.

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/200 @f2, ISO 320)

(Olympus 45mm 1.8, 1/320 @f2.8, ISO 320)

Details captured in the eyes and hair when shots are tight portraits like these is truly great for a camera of such small size. I know I keep blowing its trumpet talking about how good the camera is, but at this stage (1st August 2012) I can honestly say from all the cameras I have used and whats available on the market currently, there is no better choice if you are looking for a small system to replace or enhance a DSLR rig. Its affordable, robust, has some of the best glass I've ever used on any system (including Leica), and is just above and beyond anything else available. This is of course just my opinion formed by lots of usage of various rigs, I am in no way related or sponsored by Olympus or any other camera manufacturer, this is just a working photographers honest opinion at this current time. I hope another camera is released that kicks its ass, good gear means the competition level has to rise and other manufacturers need to produce the goods to stay in the running.....and for sure this time all the others in this category (and many categories above 4/3 better be opening their eyes and looking very hard at what Olympus has got so right).

(Panasonic summilux 25mm 1.4, 1/2000@f1.4, ISO 320)

(Panasonic summilux 25mm 1.4, 1/400@f2, ISO 640)

Here are some more images, all captioned with the relevant lens from the event....I still have no idea what Cosplay is...I'm guessing its some tribute to Japanese cartoons, excuse my ignorance. Regardless of that, its a great subject full of interesting characters who were all more than willing to be photographed. Apparently this Cosplay stuff can be found in abundance in Japan.....next stop Tokyo :-)

(Panasonic summilux 25mm 1.4, 1/320@f2.8, ISO 320)

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/640 @f2, ISO 400)

Unusually for me, I hardly used the wide lenses when shooting around this event, there were a lot of messy backgrounds as the place was packed full of people, which made it difficult to isolate subjects with any wide lenses, I think these were the only 2 shots that I liked with the wide lenses, one indoor and one outdoor.

(Olympus 12mm 2.0, 1/200 @f2, ISO 800)

(Panasonic summilux 25mm 1.4, 1/40@f2, ISO 640)

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/1000 @f2.8, ISO 320)

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/800 @f2, ISO 320)

F8 Photography provides commercial photography and training across Asia, with workshops on Street Photography and other photography and video training courses, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.

July 24, 2012

Ulingan Charcoal Factory, Tondo, Manila

July 24, 2012/ Gary Tyson

This is a short video slideshow of stills images and sound that I shot last week at probably one of the visually worst slums I have ever visited in my life. I suggest to view it, you click the box at bottom of the video and change to 720 HD and then click fullscreen to view it in best quality, crank up the volume, hear the sounds of the place with the music.

All of these images are shot on the Olympus OMD.

(If the video doesn't appear first time here, just refresh the page and it will appear).

I became aware of this place in Tondo, Manila after seeing some footage on a website which I have copied below, if you feel you want to get involved, please visit their site, as they for sure are trying to do great things for people in a very desparate situation.

The name of the charity is Project Pearls, and their website is below:

www.projectpearls.org

July 23, 2012

Olympus OMD goes to Cambodia

July 23, 2012/ Gary Tyson

(Gary in the railroad village with the locals outside Phnom Penh with OMD and Mamiya 7ii)

So here we are again, back to the glorious backdrop of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, this time bringing a different camera system - The Olympus OMD for a 4 day field test.

This blog post is not an all out review of the camera system, I'm not a techno-phobe, this is a real world usage review and highlights of my thoughts on the camera system in a fast changing environment and for close up street and travel photography...you won't find any MTF charts or detailed lens analysis....just images that I shot and my thoughts on them :-)

The last time I visited Cambodia I shot only the Leica M9, as I had shot here several times with full Canon DSLR systems and wanted a smaller rig to shoot travel photography with, and the Leica was a perfect fit...albeit the seriously expensive option.

The Leica system is hard to beat (some say impossible), so the bar was set very high, I have achieved some fantastic results with my Leica M9, therefore I already had an unfair comparison level in my mind...but I thought if a camera is going to succeed in 2012 and beyond, it needs to raise the bar and match some of the already outstanding options available to us.

With this in mind, I wanted to test some other rigs out to replace my Leica rigs for street photography and lightweight travel photography. I had tried the Fuji XPro-1 a few months ago, and have written some positive thoughts on that camera system, but after extended use I must admit I found the autofocus to be a little slow and inaccurate at times for my liking, even though the image quality was great. Therefore that camera was moved on and I was back to using Leica again.

Anyway, the only remaining system that attracted me was the new Olympus OMD, with a selection of the already proven prime lenses available from Olympus and Panasonic. So the day before we flew to Cambodia I picked up a kit, camera, grip, 12mm f2, 20mm 1.7 and 45mm 1.8. I figured this should cover most of what I need, and I tend to shoot a lot very close up, so I assumed the 12mm lens (24mm equivalent) would be spending most of its time on the camera.

One of the features that I was initially unsure of with the Olympus OMD was the touchscreen for shooting....At first I thought this was a bit of a gimmick, as I'm a traditional style photographer who likes to look through a viewfinder (I don't care much for EVF either....), so I didn't think I would like the touchscreen feature, especially for shooting.

However, I am a changed man, the touchscreen shooting feature - the ability to compose, focus and shoot almost instantly using only the screen has completely revolutionised the way i shoot with this type of camera.

(using the touchscreen to shoot...image shot below)

I learned the cameras menu systems, and setup it all up how I wanted on the 2 hour flight from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh, without the manual (I never read manuals), so that was easy to do, this helped me warm to the camera once I had it all set up how I wanted, disabling a few features, and programming others to the function buttons to suit my needs.

(First image I took on the OMD, 12mm)

This first shot above was the first time I had tested the touchscreen, which allows you to literally just press wherever in your composition you wish the camera to focus and then shoots....this happens almost instantly, so its a great way to capture a scene or a portrait without having to raise the camera to your eye...its kind of like shooting using zone focussing from the hip...except you take away all the problems that method has (misfocus, composition issues, etc), so in reality this could be the perfect street camera for me.

Because there are very few cameras with this technology currently, I believe that nobody at any stage during my trip there actually had any idea what I was doing when I was shooting in this way....even if I approached them and requested to take a picture, once I was done they would still stand there waiting for me to start....I like that, as then I can capture a more natural image with no barriers.

(local villagers on Silk Island, 45mm) (elderly lady on Silk Island, 45mm)

Using the longer lens (45mm - equivalent to 90mm) was also great fun, as I had the same control as with the wide lenses to capture tight portraits without having to raise the camera. Another thing that has amazed me, having only used this system for 2 weeks now is how sharp the lenses are. I am used to Canon gear for work, which is great...and Leica gear for travel/street which can be phenomenal if you get the right lenses....however...in all honesty for the price of these lenses (some as low as only a few hundred US dollars) their performance is amazing...I couldn't ask for sharper images, and that coupled with super fast and super accurate autofocus...i just love this camera more every time I pick it up.

(school kid hiding under a desk, 45mm)

(local school in Phnom Penh, with super friendly staff and kids, 45mm)

However, as mentioned earlier, I am happiest shooting close up with a wide lens (normally a 24 or 25mm lens, so the Olympus 12mm (equivalent to 24mm) was always going to my new best friend on this camera, and to be honest, this lens was the reason I bought the system in the first place...).

Below are a further selection of images I shot there over a 4 day period with the various lenses. I think as this was the first week I had used the camera, I was more than happy with how it performed and the quality it produced. The main thing is that I haven't missed using the Leica, despite it being my workhorse camera for the last several months....this tells me something....I'm not saying one is better than the other, as I still think the Leica M can produce amazing photographs, however if you want a system that can give you a lot of the portability and loads more technical gucci features than any Leica....and you don't want to remortgage your house to afford the system....then maybe the OMD is worth a very serious look.