F8 & Eric Kim Street 'projects' workshop review - Aug 2014

Last weekend myself and Eric Kim ran a workshop here in Hong Kong.  We had a nice group of mixed abilities from all over Asia and Europe, clients from Macau, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam and even as far away as Budapest in Hungary came to Hong Kong to spend the weekend shooting with our group and sharing ideas and learning some new tips and tricks.

The focus of this workshop was 'working on projects', so it was slightly more advanced that some of the basic street shooting style workshops, requiring a different approach to shooting on the streets.  Some may find it easier being given a project to focus on, some find it harder to focus on 'telling a story' with a short sequence and tighter edit of images.  Whichever way you approach it, for sure it will help develop visualisation skills for all photographers looking for a slightly different approach to their work.

The first evening of the workshop was spent reviewing clients existing portfolios that they were asked to bring along for critique.  This is always a very valuable part of the workshop as it enables everyone to get to know each other, let down their barriers and showcase their current work.  It also helps us to figure out which direction we think they may like to try next and after the workshop finishes to see how they have moved their benchmark up a level or two.

The 2nd day is spent with various presentations in the morning (after lots of coffee and snacks), sharing some examples of our own projects and talking thoroughly as a group about everything that has been showcased that morning.  After lunch we discuss potential ideas for projects with the group, share them all and let the clients pick 2 projects to work on over the rest of the weekend before their final presentations.  This method proved to work very well, and the discussions brought out some great ideas for people to try.

Then, the group departed off, either alone, in pairs or under guidance from us where requested, to explore deep into Kowloon and Hong Kong Island for the rest of Saturday and Sunday morning, exploring their ideas, sharing feedback over dinner and fine tuning their visions before meeting back at the workshop base for Sunday lunch and to start the process of selection, editing and presentation.

People always underestimate the importance of being a strong self-editor, something that some people struggle with, so we used some techniques that are really useful in Lightroom to help the visual process, helping the group break down their portfolios to a very tight edit by the end of the day.

Final presentations were made individually, allowing each client to showcase their work and get up in front of a group and practice their presentation skills.

We had group  discussions over the presentations, and gave our final thoughts to the clients.

To finalise the workshop we have an excellent presentation from our good friend Jonathan Van Smit (flickr link), an acclaimed street shooter based in Hong Kong, well known amongst our community for his black and white close up street shooting in Kowloon.  Jonathan has been a guest speaker at many of our workshops and always inspires others with his dedication, drive and passion for what he is doing.  He has recently departed on a personal project in Israel, and we wish him the best of luck with that project and stay safe!!!  More of Jonathan's work can be seen here.

All said and done, the workshop was a great success, all client feedback has been positive, and I for one have seen some large improvements in portfolios of many of the clients as I have spent a lot of time with most of them before and am quite familiar with their work.

Below I would like to share some more images from the workshop, bearing in mind the clients only had less than 24 hours to produce their sets of images, these are some of the individual images, tagged with the name of their project to give context.

Great work everyone, looking forward to the next workshops already.

F8 Photography runs workshops all over Asia, including travel photography in Cambodia, Japan and India all coming up in late 2014, please check out our website for more details on how to sign up for those, or check our blog for loads of reviews, slideshows and feedback from clients who have attended previous F8 Photography workshops around Asia.

F8 Photography also provides commercial photography and videography services, please see our main website for that or check out Gary's public page on Facebook to stay up to date with our latest images and what we are up to.

Thanks for all the support and keep shooting.

Buddha's birthday celebrations....F8 Photography style

We are now into our second day of the Phnom Penh photography workshop and we started the day bright and early before 6am shooting the views over the Mekong river for sunrise and the workers and monks coming over off the boats from silk island. Sunrise over the Mekong, Leica M9P, VL 21mm F4

Monks arrive by boat from Silk Island, Leica M9P, 90mm Summarit

After that it was a quick breakfast and heading out to the local monastery...it still wasn't yet even 7am...a few yawns of tiredness could be seen, but everyone was highly motivated to get some shots before the harsh sunlight started...which wouldn't to far away...this is one of the main problems this time of year in Cambodia, the heat is unforgiving and the light can be extremely harsh...so its early rises and late finishes to capture the best light.

Lydia at one of the temples in the monastery, trying to catch a bit of shade from the heat.

We spent a good hour at the monastery chatting to monks and helping those that wanted to practice their english language skills, as well as playing with the kids and fascinating them with showing them their images on the back of the cameras.

Leica M9P, 90mm summarit

Today is the 25th of May, the day on which the Cambodians celebrate Buddha's birthday, ascencion and enlightenment.  We were lucky enough to be invited back in the afternoon by some of the monks to witness the parade and take part as we wished.  Of course this would offer us a great photo opporunity so we all graciously accepted the invitation and headed back in the early afternoon to see what unfolded.

Leica M9P, 90mm summarit

Similar shot to above, but this time trying the Leica M Monochrom and 28mm.

Several of the monks we had met earlier were conducting preparations in the main temple so we hung out there anxiously waiting as more and more monks and children gathered below.  Andrew was kind enough to offer me the lend of his Noctilux lens as he wanted to try my 75mm lens.  This worked well as as I knew with so many people around, if i wanted to single out someone i would need to be using either a Noctilux or a 75/90mm focal length.

Excited kids await the start of the celebrations, Leica M9P, 50mm Noctilux

The kids were all carrying flowers as offerings for inside the temple after the precession which was about to get underway for the next 30 minutes or so.

Monks prepare for their celebration march around the monastery, Leica M9P, Noctilux

Leica M9P, Noctilux

As the parade came to its end back at the temple I crossed the street to try and get some shot of the Monks coming past with a bit of symmetry, as i focussed on this monk he didn't notice me, but just looked up to the heavens....i thought...."jackpot" as that was for me the shot of the day....so we had spent a good few hours around this area and I think it was well worthwhile and a great experience to be able to be part of their day.  We will be sure to return on Monday with prints for them all to return our gratitude to them for allowing us to photograph them.  Tomorrow its off to silk island bright and early at 6am.  Looking forward to more great photo opportunities in a rural setting.

My shot of the day for me personally, Leica M9P, Noctilux

If you wish to see other images and blog posts from this trip and other Cambodia trips you can see a selection by clicking here.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog here.

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.

Southern Cambodia photography workshop - Feb 2013

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.

Manila Photography workshop - signup this week for discount

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

GUEST POST - STEVE

GUEST POST - TERESE

GUEST POST - SUSAN

SMILE IN CAMBODIA

GUEST POST - ANDREW

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.

Manila Photography Workshop Recce

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/

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.

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.

Interviewed on Eric Kim's Street Photography Blog

In March 2012 we ran a street photography workshop with Eric Kim from Los Angeles in Hong Kong, it was a great success with 24 very happy clients over the course of the weekend.  Eric recently asked me if I could do a quick interview for his blog, so I'm just re-posting it here for anyone who wishes to view it: CLICK HERE TO SEE THE INTERVIEW WITH F8 PHOTOGRAPHY ON ERIC KIM'S WEBSITE

When Eric was in Hong Kong I also interviewed him on video, you can see that video below (if doesnt appear immediately, just refresh the page)....

Eric Kim interview in Hong Kong from F8 Photography Ltd on Vimeo.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

Pembo - Photographers Paradise

(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

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

Makati, Makati, Makati

(Kurt Kamka on the prowl on the back streets of Makati, OMD - 25mm)

Some will know Makati as the business district of Manila in the Phillipines....some may know it for another reason - an infamous red light district.....you will find neither of those places featured in this blog post.

Today's post is about two guys just going for a walk down a few streets of Makati, well away from the business zone and suits and well away from the red lights.  I see both those things in Hong Kong on a day to day basis whilst moving around town and I have no desire to feature either of them here, so I wanted to simply show a few images from taking a walk down some completely normal streets just off the tourist map in Makati with my new shooting buddy Kurt Kamka.

I was lucky enough to hook up with Kurt Kamka on this trip who was my trusty guide throughout my few days shooting.  He does some outstanding photography on the streets of Manila and his work can be see at the following links:

1.  Kurt Kamka Blog

2.  Kurt Kamka Tumbr site

Something I have mentioned a few times before and will continue to do so is about using the Olympus OMD camera for this type of photography - in my mind its perfect....simple as that.....both me and Kurt shoot in a similar fashion with this camera, fully utilising the rear tiltable screen as a viewfinder and one touch  shutter release of the screen...it works wonders.  Ironically both of us previously shot with Leica M series cameras but are both finding the Olympus to be well up to the job on the streets (Kurt also still shoots with a Leica S2 camera).

(Brothers, OMD - 75mm)

We had earlier been shooting some people that live at the Catholic Cemetery in Manila (blog post on that featured here) then grabbed some water and headed for another hours walk round some back streets.  These are the images that we captured on that walk.  I am still mesmerised by the colours of the Phillipines, I actually find it hard to shoot in black and white here, as everything has a beautiful 1970s pastel colour tone to it (in my mind at least), which I just want to record all the time with my camera.  Even this little girls blue Ukalele seen below was exactly that, from the clothes to the Jeepneys, the colours just scream out at me.

(Perhaps the warmest smile of the day - OMD - 75mm)

We came across these kids sat in the street playing musical instruments and having a great time together, I stopped to take some photos, help them practice a little bit of English and then scare them with my terrible Ukalele skills...lol.

(Image by Kurt Kamka - The kids weren't familiar with my Beatles and Rolling Stones renditions...lol)

I have never seen so many smiling kids as I have seen here during this trip, a lot of people call Thailand 'The land of smiles'....I'm quite sure the Phillipines could easily win this title also.

(Land of smiles, OMD - 75mm)

There were also plenty of animals to be found along these back streets, I saw a lot of cockerels tied to doorways, and Kurt explained to me that these were used for 'cockfighting', a viscious sport I imagine which seems to be very popular here and in many other parts of Asia.  I also encountered a vicious dog or two, luckily tied to a post, and probably the skinniest cat I have ever seen!

(Who let the dogs out?, OMD, 25mm)

('Ma-Cat-i' in Makati, OMD - 25mm)

As well as the young kids in the street we met plenty of elder folk who were equally as nice and pleased to meet and interact with us as we wandered through their neighbourhood.  Of course we had a few funny looks at first, but with big smiles and friendly gestures, every single person we met was more than happy to be photographed.

(Friendly gentlemen in Makati, OMD - 75mm)

On our way out of the back streets we came across a building site, where some workers were hanging around outside on a break, they stopped us in our tracks and insisted that we photograph them.  The Fillipinos just seem to LOVE being photographed at every opportunity.

(Pinoy smiling builders, OMD - 75mm)

As we finished our walk the heavens opened and poured down, so it was time to jump in a cab and head back for a coffee and some editing.  A succesful day was had by both of us and a great first meeting.  On the way back to my hotel I was reminded of the poverty that of course exists here as beggars tapped on the taxi window asking for money, I am never sure what is best in this situation, does giving them money keep them on the streets...i guess so...but its always a hard call for me...

(Begging at the roadside - OMD - 12mm)

The following day I found a photography paradise in a part of town called 'Pembo'.  I am currently editing my images from that location and will do my next blog post on that once I arrive back to Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon.  Please be sure to come back for a look as there are some great characters featured in those images and if anyone reading this has any desire to photograph life in the phillipines, I strongly recommend visiting that place.

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: 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

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

Life beyond the graves in Manila

(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

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

OMD goes to Manila

(street scene in Manila) NOTE ABOUT PROCESSING:  All images here are shot on the Olympus OMD with various prime lenses.  They were then all processed in Lightroom 4 with 1 click presets from 'VSCO film 02' using only their Fuji Superia 800 for colour or Fuji Neopan 1600 settings for black and white.  These are my favourite film simulators and make any digital camera RAW files sing instantly with 1 click.  More information can be found here at the VSCO website on these presets.

So, after a successful trip to Cambodia using the Olympus OMD  the previous week, I decided another trip was in order, this time the other direction from Hong Kong, heading South East to test the EM-5 on the streets of Manila in the Phillipines.

Now some things must be mentioned about Manila for any budding photographers wishing to travel there.....BE CAREFUL.  As much as I liked the city, for sure there is a lot of things that could easily go wrong here....some of the poorer parts of the city are for sure totally unsafe for westerners to venture into alone, and carrying expensive camera gear around is only going to attract unwanted attention.  Like many other places I have visited you must stay streetwise, don't flash expensive gear, leave your nice watch at home and most of all use common sense.  Walking around at 2am in a poor neighbourhood in Manila is going to end in tears for sure....

(Traffic wardens in Manila....ummm whats the point...)

The first thing I noticed when walking around various parts of Manila was the traffic.....it seemed there was complete chaos on the roads, not dissimilar to Hong Kong at rush hour, only here it seemed to be the same all day long....so i chose the best options of transport, my own two feet :-)

When I did travel between districts I used the famous 'Jeepney' buses that can be found everywhere, they are great fun to drive around in, extremely cheap and provide good photo opportunities from the back door, open windows and even of the people inside.

The first day I was in Manila I was lucky with the weather, the light was great, it was hot, just a nice afternoon for strolling around exploring the city.  Lunchtime is clearly siesta time in Manila with people strewn all over the place getting an afternoon nap, kind of reminded me of my parents place in Spain where the same thing happens every day.

(siesta time in Manila, its sleep, read or relax...)

The few people that weren't asleep were having an easy time playing board games in the street.  This kind of place was helping me relax a lot even after a few hours, as I always compare with Hong Kong, which seems to be really non-stop (part of the reason I love to escape as often as I can), you really don't see this kind of lifestyle in Hong Kong, despite the heat, people are running around at full pace 24/7, at least in the inner city where I work and live, so its really nice to see people taking time out and 'smiling'!!!

(A lovely lady who was more than happy to pose for photographs in the street)

Like most asian cities, the streets were full of children playing and kids always make great subjects for me, they are innocent yet their faces tell a thousand stories, something i noticed recently when shooting a scene in Hong Kong was that everyone in the scene was just going about their business apart from 3 kids in the scence, all of them were looking directly at me....maybe kids would make the best street photographers...as they are very very aware of their surroundings and dont miss a trick :-)

(happy kids (and dogs) playing in the street in Manila)

Of course some people view photographers a little more suspiciously, but despite that, a big smile and a handshake go a long way, and as usual, everyone I met and befriended were absolutely fine being photographed.  Even the gangster looking dudes who try to look 'tough' guy tend to break a big smile when I show them their photo and tell them they look like 'James Bond'....flattery gets you everwhere...

(locals in Binondo district, Manila)

The variety of people and colour around the city really attracted me, it really is a bustling metropolis and a great photography location.  As I mentioned earlier discretion is the better method with camera gear (as is pretty much anywhere in my experience), so using the little Olympus OMD was actually perfect (yet again), as it allowed me to shoot discreetly from the hip using the touchscreen with its super fast autofocus.  This is the 2nd time I have used it travelling in a month, and it didn't skip a beat at all, ultra reliable....I thought I would miss my Leica M9...but if I'm honest, this thing is far more functional, never ever stutters like the Leicas do (thats a simple fact that sometimes the M9 just won't react when you press the button...) and the image quality is amazing, of course not superior to a full frame camera...but most of our work is going on the internet or medium sized prints, I am quite positive to 99% of people, there is no visible difference in image quality, and those that think they can tell a difference on a processed image (especially at web size images)....well their name is Pinnochio I'm afraid....

(diverse characters around town, security, driver, and the oldest paperboy!)

A quick note again on the presets that I have used to process these images, they are from VSCO, and are the simplest and most powerful presets you can get in my opinion for Lightroom, ACR or Aperture.  They really do emulate the film looks well....how do i know this....because I shoot a fair bit of these exact films on my Mamiya 7ii and my Contax G2 and scanned files have very similar tones and characteristics to these digital files once processed.....so if you are looking for a filmic simulator that takes seconds to process your RAW files, these are worth a look for sure.

(Processed with VSCO Fuji Neopan 1600 or Fuji Superior 800 settings)

Whilst I was in Manila, I did some shooting in a very poor area called Ulingan in Tondo, probably the roughest and most dangerous area of Manila, the reason being I want to work with a charity there called Project Pearls, and I will be heading back to Manila now that they have made contact in a few weeks to do some video work with them.  You can see the blog post and video of the images shot there last time at this link, its really quite amazing to see the resilience of these people who live and work there.

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

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

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

Olympus OMD goes to Cambodia

(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.

(using touchscreen again and getting nice and close with the 12mm lens)

(on boat roof on way across the Mekong River, 12mm)

(children on Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh, 12mm ISO 6400) (sleeping child, railroad slum, 12mm)

(railroad slum, Phnom Penh, 12mm)

(monks at the riverside, 12mm)

(Pagoda Boy, 12mm)

(Rush hour, early morning, 45mm)

(villagers on Silk Island, 20mm)

(102 year old female temple minder, 20mm)

(railroad slum kids, 20mm)

(railroad slum kids, 12mm)

(railroad slum kids, 12mm)

(railroad slum kids, 12mm)

(Our little gang of photographers, L to R: Giles, Steve, myself and Dave, 12mm)

Guest blog posts on this trip from Steve who accompanied us can be read here:

Guest blog posts written by Dave who also came along can be seen here:

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

Tsim sha Tsui at 0.95 in low light

(The back alleyways on Chunking Mansions, great light always) Note: All shots on the Leica M9 with SLR Magic 50mm 0.95 hyperprime.  All processed with VSCO Film Presets in Lightroom 4.

Tsim sha Tsui is one of my favourite places to shoot in Hong Kong, you have the diversity of rich and poor all in a very tight community, with alleyways connecting the designer shop streets the the drug dens and everything in between.

I have been testing the SLR Magic 50mm 0.95 lens for a few weeks now, and am thoroughly enjoying the experience, and again this was my weapon of choice on the M9 for some nice grungy low light portraits and street images around this interesting part of Kowloon for a few hours last night as I tried to escape the mayhem and overspill from the Rugby 7s tournament on Hong Kong Island.

(A very friendly gentleman with his grandson)

The characters around this part of town range from the super rich, shopping along Canton road, laden with bags from Gucci, Dolce & Gabbanna and the likes...to the homeless and everything in between.  This is a normal reflection of Hong Kong life in most parts of the city actually, this diversity makes shooting on the street very appealing, I love how I can be shooting a model outside a store, then 10 seconds later I'm haggling with sinister looking characters in a back alleyway over whether they should allow their portrait to be taken (every time I do that, I have so far had no problems at all, I even take these guys prints back and they are actually very friendly towards me - like everything in life, its all about perception, if you act scared or threatened, generally people will react accordingly, reassure them and yourself that you are doing nothing untoward, and you won't go far wrong...just keep a friend close by to keep an eye on you ;-)).

(Becky and Rocco looking for images around Chunking Mansions)

(Practicing fast focus at 0.95 on a passing taxi...this is how I fine tune my focussing speed :-))

Anyway, more about the lens....I am using it almost daily now, and am finding that I can nail the focus even wide open most of the time, this comes about simply by shooting several hours a day, so I am getting plenty of practice, and am out shooting at every available opportunity with my M9.  I have noticed no focus shift on this lens whatsoever, at any aperture, and once stopped down past f2 it is way sharper than my summilux lens was before (i owned a non-asph version), which was sharp, but I cannot compare with the latest version.

(Gentleman in the alleyway doing boxing training, super friendly guy)

The only downside to this lens as people who have seen it will know is the weight, its a big piece of glass, but thats the compromise for 0.95, need a big hole to suck all that light in, and for me its no problem, I would rather carry this lens and have that option.

 (This giant of a man approached looking wary, after a quick chat, he became a new best friend)

These few pictures show how this lens comes into its own territory, shooting in dark alleyways with only the odd small streetlamp to work with, it just sucks up all the light and gives me fast shutter speeds even at low ISO and makes shooting in this low grungy light a simple task.  None of my other lenses even get close, the M9 is renowned for not having great high ISO quality, so for me this is the answer at night.

(Friendly character inside Chunking Mansions spent 10 minutes telling me the best places to shoot in Delhi!)

I have heard some people mention on my blog about 'purple fringing'....If the focus is off, then sure, you will get that with any lens when shooting into light with high contrast subjects around the edges, you can see from the colour samples here, I have done no 'fringe removals' of any kind, I have simply used '1 click' presets from VSCO film presets for lightroom 4 to give me the tones I desired from the M9 RAW files, I have not retouched the images in any other way.

(Nice chaps from Ghana, happy to pose for me inside Chunking Mansions)

Below is a portrait of Becky, one of my friends who was out shooting with us around the area, I just love the way this lens renders, to me it is a classic style, and it really copes well when shooting into the light and gives lovely lens flare effect that I do not find distracting at all, this is my opinion only of course, but from all the lenses I have shot, I really don't see any problem with this effect here.

(Becky posing with her trusty 5D II, her weapon of choice for photography)

The hub of activity around Tsim sha Tsui gives a photographer so many opportunities, I was actively looking for scenes like this one below last night, trying to find something quirky through glass, using the shallow depth of field to my advantage to help separate the subjects from the background and foreground.

(Shooting candids through the windows)

(Shooting candids through the windows)

Even late at night, all the restaurants are busy and full of activity around Hong Kong...I tend to shoot a lot of stuff at night, theres more shadow and contrasty light around, and usually easier to find interesting 'characters' to shoot around town.

(Chef on a break outside his restaurant - he cheered up immensely when I showed him the image)

After a couple of hours round the back alleys, I headed back to the Star Ferry along Nathan Road, which is always full of interesting characters aswell, whether its someone trying to sell you a copy watch or handbag, to the interesting characters just going about their lives, normally I have had no problem with shooting people in this area, just smile if they see you, and I almost always then engage them in conversation, exchange business cards and send them their photographs, makes getting out and shooting a very social and enjoyable experience, this is my therapy, it keeps me sane!

(Sitting on the fence - again, he grinned ear to ear once i showed him the image)

(Interesting outfit - passer by on Nathan Road)

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

Street Photography with Fuji XPro1

NOTE:  All images shot on Fuji XPro1 and Fujinon 35mm 1.4 lens with autofocus only.

We've had our hands on the Fuji XPro1 for about a week now, and starting to get used to it and its nuances. Yesterday myself and a few friends met up in Soho and headed over to Temple Street in Kowloon which is a great little area for street photography with vibrant buzzing markets and even more vibrant characters around the place.

After a short trip on the ferry across the harbour, we walked up Canton Road, which has a lot of the big brand shops and is always full of characters, a great area to warm up before hitting the markets further into Kowloon.  You can always be sure to see hundreds of mainland tourists spending their fortunes around here on designer brands.

This was the first full day of shooting the XPro1 in this environement for me, and using only the 35mm 1.4 Fujinon lens in full autofocus mode (I believe the manual focus with the fuji lenses is totally useless as its fly by wire only), which means there is no tactile connection between you and camera/lens...its way too slow.  If using manual focus with other lenses such as the Leica lenses, its brilliant, I don't know why they insists on developing a fly by wire manual focus system, it really is completely unusable in my opinion unless you use it exclusively for 'zone focussing'.

So, I decided to shoot everything with autofocus.  There has been much debate about the AF capabilities of this camera in light of the X100 problems.  I can say this....yes, its not perfect, however, it is pretty fast (if the camera is kept awake) and it nailed 95 percent of my shots without a problem.

I shoot very fast when in the streets, so normally i use zone focussing, so using AF was almost a step back for me, however, I think this environment was the perfect test for this camera, as I believe many people are looking at the Fuji as a viable street photography/travel photography replacement for their DSLR or even as an alternative to the Leica M system such as M8/M9.

I shot everything in RAW, converted via the Fuji software supplied with the camera, then edited in Lightroom 4 using VSCO film presets set to Kodak Portra 400 for all images other than the black and white conversion using Niksoft Silver Efex Pro 2.

A quick note on the VSCO film presets - If you are looking for a good film emulation preset for lightroom, then look no further, these really are good, I have hundreds of presets and I keep going back to these ones, I believe they are the most realistc set available, and I am eagerly awaiting a specialist set from the for Leica and who knows maybe a Fuji specific set also, as they tweak camera calibration settings in RAW also, not just basic adjustments, they have camera specific versions for Canon and Nikon already, as well as a generic set for other cameras for now, and they have promised to release Leica specific profiles, which I hope to get my hands on as soon as possible.

The markets around Temple street - as you can see from these pictures have a diverse mix of characters.  Although its probably classed as a 'tourist friendly' area, there are still a lot of things going on behind the scenes here, with triad activity and in particular prostitution clearly visible on the streets even in the middle of the day.  Any photographer visiting this area should be aware that most of these girls will react quite adversely if photographed....some are friendly of course and don't seem to mind....however, if unsure, then my advice would be just stay well away from shooting anyone you think may react negatively.

I noticed many muslim girls around the markets when we were shooting, so approached them to ask permission to take their picture as they were wearing some great colours.  All of them were more than happy to be photographed.

The Autofocus on the Fuji had no problem at any stage with shooting a diverse mix of subjects, and as the image below shows, shooting into the sun, (sometimes difficult for autofocus), there was again no problems with the performance.

Two of the young ladies accompanying us on this 'photo walk' were Becky and Cheryl, both previous attendees of the street photography workshop, Becky was keen on shooting her 5DII using zone focussing to get her shots, whilst Cheryl preferred to use her new Canon S100 (I think that's what it was), for speedy and discreet street shooting.

This gentleman below was a great subject I thought, he was just squatted on the road, laughing continuously, and was more than happy to be photographed.  I noticed on closer look that he had a cigarrete in one hand and 3 spares in the other!!! Thats what I call chain smoking!.

The only lens that I used during this trip was the Fujinon 35mm 1.4, which so far I must say is a great lens (as long as not using manual focus - way too slow), normally I shoot much wider for street photography and closer to my subjects, but this seemed to work well on this day for me.   I keep emphasising about the autofocus - and again you can see from the image above, quicky focussing on the cigarretes on the bottom left corner of the frame, it had no problem locking on and giving me the desired focus point.

The total time we were in the markets was only about 2 hours, and I found the camera consistently delivered the results I needed.  I have tried this camera with a Leica M mount adaptor and the 35mm F2 ASPH lens also, and the results were quite spectacular, very clean and sharp images, very easy to focus using the EVF its really great with an M mount lens for this, my wish would be that it had 'focus peaking' similar to the NEX-7, then there would be no need for me to zoom in to fine tune focus using the rear dial, especially with wide lenses as its a bit harder to fine tune the focus than with a longer focal length lens.

This fantastic gentleman was more than happy to let me take his portrait and yet again the fast performance of the Fuji XPro1 had no issues nailing the shot for me.  Something else I have noticed is that the metering system of the camera seems to overexpose about half a stop most of the time...I consistently left the camera set to -1 or -2/3 to get more accurate exposures, but this is not a problem for me, I just think it takes a little bit of practice, figure out where all the buttons are (there are a lot on this camera that are easy to press by accident...) then it will be fine.  It's just like any other camera tool, we need a bit of time learning our way round it, and then there won't be any issues.

Overall I am very pleased with this camera when using it for street photography.  Being a similar size to my Leica M9, the feel was quite similar and I believe its a perfect size for this style of photography.  People aren't really intimidated by a camera this size compared to a DSLR with a big zoom lens, its ultra light (maybe feels even a little too light for me - again i'm comparing the the tank like construction of the Leica which many won't like).

So my final thoughts are as follows:

Recommended for street photography - A BIG YES.

Recommended to switch if you already have a Leica M9 - personally NO, but I think many will....

Recommended for manual focus with Fuji lenses - NO WAY!

Recommended for manual focus with M lenses - YES, REALLY WORKS GREAT.

Recommended for anyone wishing to switch from DSLR or looking for travel photography camera - YES YES YES.

So, I won't be swapping it for my Leica just yet....but I can still highly recommend the camera, its ergonomically great, looks the part, and I personally haven't had any serious issues with autofocus.

I have another blog post using this camera at night with a 50mm 0.85 lens from SLR Magic, if interested to see the image from that, please click here.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

Eric Kim Street Photographer - Hong Kong (VIDEO)

Eric Kim was recently in Hong Kong running a street photography workshop in partnership with F8 Photography.  After the workshop we had a few days to go around town shooting and on the last night we decided to catch Eric's thoughts in a short interview to get his opinion on how the workshop went and also ask a few other questions about his views on street photography in general.  There is footage of the workshop and shooting in Hong Kong mixed in with the interview.

F8 Photography continues to run photography workshops and training in Hong Kong and Cambodia and lots of student reviews and workshop information is available on the website and our blog which can all be seen via this link.

Special thanks again to Will Gell for supplying the background music, and to Nate Roberts for asking the questions and Trevor Smith as 'soundman'.

Here is the video: (can watch in HD on Vimeo).

http://vimeo.com/38560897

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

EXCLUSIVE: SLR MAGIC 50mm 0.95 on M9/XPro1

(Watch seller - Kowloon - Fuji XPro1, JPEG FINE) UPDATE:  I made some comments about the white balance on the Fuji not being so great later in this post - I retract that statement as I had the camera set to VELVIA mode, so the colours are naturally boosted, making skintones much yellower than the M9...an unfair comparison, so please disregard anything about colours in the post for now, updated images coming soon with ASTIA/PROVIA film settings and RAW once available.

Its arrived!  The SLR Magic 50mm 0.95 'stealth' edition lens...one of only a few in the world available for testing....and we are lucky enough to be one of the chosen few to put it through its paces.  Unfortunately the M mount version of this lens (featured here) is not available to the public yet, so you will have to wait a few more months to get one, the initial pre-order batch for end of July has already sold out.  I think September 2012 is the next batch so get your pre-orders in quick if you are interested!

Another toy that happened to come along with it was the Kipon M adaptor for the Fuji XPro 1, so we have the exclusive opportunity to be able to show some of the first ever images (if not the first) with this combination.

Effectively on the Fuji (1x5 crop), the hyperprime becomes a 75mm 0.95 lens, great for portraits!..

(My friend Kelly helping out with the lens tests - Fuji XPro1, JPEG FINE)

The shots on this blog post were all taken on day 1, have tested the lens here in Hong Kong on a rainy night only for only about 2 hours, the images will all tell you underneath which camera was used and all are shot wide open at 0.95.  The images shot on the Fuji XPro 1 were in Vivid (Velvia) mode in JPEG FINE setting as we are still awaiting RAW conversion update for Lightroom 4, so is difficult to compare with the excellent RAW files coming out of the M9.

(passer by, Kowloon - Leica M9, processed from RAW)

With the Fuji, there is no focus confirmation, but there is the zoom button which allows very easy focus confirmation at extreme magnification...if anything it zooms too much for my liking.  Personally I found it a lot easier to use just the EVF (i normally hate EVF viewfinders) to focus it and found I could do it quickly and accurately most of the time, even wide open was easier than I thought....this gives a slight advantage over the M9, as with that of course it is always manual rangefinder focus with available light...which is fine during daylight, but much more difficult in low light, the EVF on the Fuji brightened up the scene and made it relatively simple to nail the focus.

(shy laughter, Canton road - Leica M9 processed from RAW)

I noticed Steve Huff did a review yesterday using the lens in bright sunshine with an ND filter, link here, I will be taking his advice and trying something similar myself, although unfortunately the current Hong Kong weather has little requirement for ND filters...its dark by 3pm with this crappy weather! :-(  Maybe in a few days I can get a few images up on the blog with that setup, I have only generally used ND filters either for video work with the 5DII, or with flash to shoot wide open during daylight...perhaps I will try the same with this lens :-)

(shopping, Fuji XPro1 JPEG FINE)

So, heres some more images for now showing both cameras output with the lens.  I must state again as before in all my reviews that I am a 'user' not an analyst, so i don't care much for technical jargon, I just want nice sharp images full of 'pop' coming out the other end of the camera, and both M9 and Fuji are doing that without any hitch whatsoever, I am excited to see the RAW files from the Fuji, as the JPEGs are already amazing....i think in all honesty I am still a slave to Leica though....theres just something magical about what comes out of that camera for me...maybe its the time, effort and money I've invested in the Leica system that hypnotises  me...I have used many many different cameras over the years...but like most M9 users we all agree that when it hits the target...there is nothing quite like it.

(mainland tourists in Nathan Road - Fuji XPro1 JPEG FINE)

(outside Chunking Mansions - Fuji XPro1 JPEG FINE)

(crossing the road - Leica M9 processed from RAW)

(middle of the road - Fuji XPro1 JPEG FINE)

(makeup - Leica M9 processed from RAW)

(man in street - Fuji XPro1 JPEG FINE)

(My friend Kelly again, in the subway - Leica M9 processed from RAW)

(lady in the street - Fuji XPro1 JPEG FINE)

(Kelly full length - Leica M9 processed from RAW)

(lady daydreaming - Leica M9 processed from RAW)

My main observation so far between the two has been colours....of course as stated before, its very difficult to compare RAW files with JPEGS.....so I'm not going to dwell on it just yet....more tests to come as soon as I can get RAW access from the Fuji.

You can clearly see from these samples that the colours on the Leica M9 are far better, much more natural and muted and representative of the natural light when out shooting, the Fuji images are excellent, just need the white balance tweaked for each one (I haven't touched white balance on any of these samples).

Anyway, hopefully this will show anyone that is interest in either combination of camera that they are both very very capable of producing excellent results with this lens, and I am very excited to try more shots, especially during daytime also with the ND filter.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

My first thoughts...Fuji XPro1

(35mm lens, ISO 6400, 1/250th F1.4) I have been back in Hong Kong only a day, and I get a phone call from one of my suppliers....the Fuji XPro1 kit is here....come and collect it and take it for a test drive...of course, like the obedient little boy that I am....i quickly agreed and darted across the river to Kowloon to collect it.

Now something has been tickling my mind...last week I had my best week ever with the Leica M9....totally restored my faith in the beast....however I know the Fuji was on the horizon, and although I don't consider it a direct competitor with the Leica, I have to admit I was scared in case the results from it were so good that I started to question my investment in the Leica gear at some point.

Now I must stress again that I am not a technical wizard nor a scientist of any form....I simply use the camera I have in my hand to attain the best images I can....and the only thing that limits me with the Leica is the ISO..thats it, and even then its mainly because i LOVE to shoot in almost darkness or extremely low light and have found the ISO performance questionable in certain situations.  That will soon be rectified as I will be testing the SLR Magic 50mm 0.95 lens from next week, so will be able to shoot bats in a cave without light i think :-)

Anway, I just wanted to post a few images that I shot tonight and share a few quick thoughts on the Fuji XPro1 having used it on the streets of Hong Kong for only 3 hours.

(35mm lens, ISO 3200, 1/800th F1.4)

Camera settings will be posted under each image, however I will not post full size images for one reason....i dont know how to do it and keep the blog size images at same time! I'm an wordpress idiot when it comes to that, so if anyone can share how to do that on my blog I will happily share links to full size files for them should they want to see them.

My initial thoughts were as follows:

Pros:  perfect body size, amazingly sharp lenses with great maximum apertures, looks super cool (one guy i shot even shouted 'waahhhh LEICA!' after I took his pic, so the Fuji has no problem demanding street cred already as people are thinking its a retro Leica :-), extremely good high ISO performance...shooting in the dark at ISO 25600 and nailing sharp images!

Cons:  Autofocus missed a handful of shots initially...i have almost rectified that problem already by turning on some other autofocus settings that seem to help...I think a bit of practice is needed then it will be fine.  After an hours fiddling around, I was able to shoot in a bar with literally no light, where I could not read the label on my beer and get perfectly sharp focus 9 times out of 10...so i guess its just a bit of practice, time will tell, I've heard many complaints about the X100 focus....so i was expecting problems, but nothing dramatic has occured, simple fine tuning and it seems to be pretty much there already.

Here are tonight's quick snapshots, please bear in mind these are purely test shots for me to try and familiarise myself with the camera in low light...testing focus and high ISO performance.

Following shots all on the 35mm 1.4 (equivalent approx to a 50mm on full frame) 

(no post processsing or adjustments, simply camera JPEGS here)

(Rocco the Leica slave,  1/350th F1.4, ISO 6400)

(Taxi,  1/1000th F1.4, ISO 3200)

(Woman texting,  1/150th F1.4, ISO 3200)

(Happy Couple,  1/350th F1.4, ISO 3200)

(Caught me peeking,  1/105th F1.6, ISO 3200)

The following few pictures were all taken on the 60mm 2.4 lens (again, no post processsing or adjustments, simply camera JPEGS here)

(dinner time,  1/110th F2.4, ISO 5000)

(inside computer centre,  1/500th F2.4, ISO 5000)

The following images were shot in a very very dark bar, i cranked up the ISO straight to the maximum ISO 25600.....heres the results...again, no noise reduction, or post production whatsoever, these are straight from camera.

(35mm lens, ISO 25600, 1/450th, F1.4)(35mm lens, ISO 25600, 1/340th, F1.4)(60mm lens ISO 25600, 1/120th, F2.4)(60mm lens, ISO 25600, 1/170th, F2.4)

Although these images have been shrunk down for blog sizing, hopefully there is enough information to show the quality at least to give an idea...basically as I said already, there is a total lack of noise anywhere at any ISO....I shoot normally Canon 5D Mk II, Canon 7D or Leica M9 and this Fuji blows them all out of the water in a nano-second with regards high ISO performance...if this is the future of cameras to come with this kind of high ISO performance, then I might as well sell my flash units, as I won't be using them much anymore!

I have to say, apart from the tiny niggles with the autofocus I had at the start of the night, overall I am extremely impressed....I ain't selling my Leica gear, its a very different feeling for me shooting a rangefinder over an autofocus camera...but for sure this new Fuji is going to be getting a serious workout over the coming weeks.

My initial advice to anyone who is looking for a lightweight alternative to DSLR where image quality is paramount, or a less expensive alternative to Leica for street or travel photography...I think this camera could very easily fill that gap.

Please bear in mind that I have not tested any other cameras that could be considered competiton....this is just my gut feeling as a photographer who shoots a lot of images on a day to day basis in a variety of situations.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

SLR MAGIC 50mm 0.95 Hyperprime (FIRST LOOK)

(First shots wide open  in Lan Kwai Fong) Anyone that shoots Leica M cameras may have heard the buzz that is going around currently about this new 50mm lens that is due to come out later in 2012.

We were lucky enough to meet Andrew Chan from SLR MAGIC who let us have a play with a prototype lens here in Hong Kong for a few hours.

Something I must state up front is that firstly I am in no way affiliated with SLR MAGIC or Leica, so my opinion is completely unbiased.

Secondly, I have never even touched a Leica Noctilux lens, which of course is the only other lens in this category (unless you consider the Voigtlander 50 1.1), and to which people are comparing this lens, therefore I cannot compare quality, bokeh or any other details.

I am only qualifed to tell you what I think as a working professional and extremely passionate street photographer my views on what I thought about the lens after an hour or so of playing with it.

Please note that none of the pictures here have had any sharpening applied to them, only minor colour and tone adjustments.

We met Andrew in Lan Kwai Fong in Central, a great place to shoot in low light as there is plenty of street lighting, alleyways and of diverse characters to shoot.  Also that night it was raining which added a certain ambience to the light.

I was running a street photography workshop with Eric Kim from LA this last weekend so he joined us and posed as my subject for a few of my first test shots, which have now landed as his profile pic on his website and facebook page:-)

We will be running many more of these street photography and travel workshops regularly by the way for anyone interested, check our website here (apologies for the quick plug to my own business..:-))

(Eric Kim posing for the hyperprime...focussing was perfectly accurate at 0.7 metres)

I do own a Leica 50mm 1.4 pre-asph lens which is extremely sharp and I am very much in love with this lens, so I wanted to compare the two, not really for sharpness but more to see how big the difference in BOKEH (background blur) was between 1.4 and 0.95 and if I thought the difference was substantial enough for me to consider buying the hyperprime when it is available.

So my first thoughts in brief for this first look are as follows:

1.  Its damn heavy (as expected), its a very big piece of glass, so this is no surprise...I don't mind this fact, heavy glass means quality as far as I'm concerned.

2. The build quality feels great, very very solid...I love the smooth 'no click' aperture ring...very very cool, and lovely built in sliding hood and screw on lens cap.

3. Its gonna be expensive...nowhere near as expensive as a Noctilux of course, but its gonna be a lot more expensive than the Voigtlander 50mm 1.1 (I have used that lens, and unfortunately I'm not a big fan of that particular lens although for the price it is still very acceptable for many people).

4.  The BOKEH is AMAZING!!  Yes, I compared it to all I had available...which is a 1.4 and of course there is a big difference between the two.

5.  Its damn SHARP wide open....I took about 100 shots with it, all wide open...and found about 90% of the shots were pin sharp where I focussed, I am sure any mis-focussed shots were only down to me, not the lens.

(Eric Kim  in Lan Kwai Fong)

Please bear in mind that I am not a technical guy...to be honest, none of my Leica lenses are coded, I don't notice any problems or differences between other lenses that are coded that I have used, maybe I'm lucky, or just ignorant...I don't look that hard, I just want to make strong images, and I'm more concerned with my subject matter.  I don't get too excited about whether a lens has a very slight vignette effect, MTF charts or slight barrel distortion...I'm a photographer...not a scientist :-)...Most imperfections in my opinion (especially vignette or barrel distortion can be fixed in Lightroom 3 in about 2 seconds, and even quicker if u set up a lens profile preset that if you had any issues, so could easily be fixed on import without ever having to do anything).

Just to note on my previous paragraph, I didn't see any vignette or distortion with this lens, but i didn't test it for these factors either, as I said I tested it as a photographer who shoots low light portraits and street photography.

To summarise, are these very few points that I have addressed enough to make me want to buy one?....the short answer is YES...I want one NOW.

I will be contacting Andrew at SLR Magic to get my name on the list...I will buy one as soon as they are available...not because I'm a gearhead (that's debatable among my friends :-)) but purely because I LOVE to shoot in very low light...I love BOKEH....and I love to save a bit of money where I can...there's no way I can afford a Noctilux...the Voigtlander 50mm 1.1 is not in the same league in my personal opinion.....so this is where SLR MAGIC is going to fill the gap with regards price...but with quality I suspect they may well overtake the Noctilux....I really can't fault this invention and I hope the production copies are as accurately calibrated as the prototype I played with.

The camera world is very exciting at the moment, and I'm very positive about this lens and am sure its going to be a great success.

Here are a few other images shot with the lens, all wide open on the M9.

(Me, photographed by Eric Kim at minimum focussing distance)

(shot wide open from a bit further back..)

(wide open, shooting through my friends with background about 10 metres away.)

(black and white conversion)

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

No Photos allowed.....or are they? (VIDEO)

Cat Street market stall advertising 'NO PHOTOS'

In recent news here in Hong Kong there has been much controversy about photographers rights to shoot in public places (in particular in front of large branded designer stores, etc).  Security guards have been misinformed by their employers about what is 'public space' in front of a shop and therefore this has led to confusion, aggressive and sometimes even violent confrontations between photographers and staff.

These big stores are not the only places that try to 'enforce' a ban on photographers, even small market stalls have signs up saying 'no photos', 'no cameras', or 'photo - $200', etc.

To those of us in the know, this is basically outrageous behaviour on behalf of the shopkeeper, trying to create some kind of martial law around their own property, thinking they can control what you do with your camera in a public space.

Now, I don't want to confuse the issue of photographing people, I am well aware as should everyone be that some individuals do not like having their photograph taken, especially without permission, and I  completely understand the issues surrounding that.  This is not what this blog post is about, it is purely about having the right to shoot an interesting market stall, a shop facade or interesting building without having to worry about consequences or thinking that you are doing something wrong - you are not, its well within your rights to take photographs.

This short video we shot in an hour or so the other day shows a quick walkaround Central and Sheung Wan in Hong Kong shooting a few market areas where they have these signs.  I have heard many people say they get confronted in these places so thought I would try to see for myself if we had similar problems and I highlight in the video the ways in which we shoot to try to avoid confrontation.

This is the first DSLR video that Gurung RJ has shot with very little instruction in advance, so I must thank him for his efforts in helping me put this together.

Also a special thanks to Will Gell who has very kindly allowed me to use his music for various projects, amazing musician, check out his albums here:

Please remember when out shooting that you WILL upset some people sometimes, that's unfortunately the nature of the beast with street photography, some people will always react negatively no matter how polite you are, maybe they just had a bad day, or maybe they just grumpy...thats life, its a choice you make if you wish to become a street photographer, never take it personally, and try not to respond in the same manner, keep smiling, say thank you and continue on your way.

Previous recent blog posts that relate to the same issues are linked below, the first one has an extensive video shooting street photography in Kowloon with a GOPRO camera attached to the top of the Leica M9, linked together with the images that we captured during the walkabout:

HOW WE SHOOT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IN HONG KONG (VIDEO)

DOLCE & GABBANA PROTEST FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS RIGHTS IN HONG KONG

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

Street Photography...underground

Something I hear a lot is "I went out shooting and there was nothing to see", well my honest reply is....."there is ALWAYS something to shoot", no matter where you are, there are always things to find of interest, be it people, buildings, landscapes or even subway station markings as was the case in subject for this little adventure...

The subject of this post came about whilst we were out shooting street photography one day, we were spending a lot of time in-between our chosen locations on the Hong Kong MTR (subway/tube) then we came up with a quite random idea of shooting the station names at each stop and making a fine art print of it.  Now this is a subject that most of us in Hong Kong see every day, but somehow for me is much more interesting when seen in a collage type image because of the patterns and colours, etc.

Rocco was using his trusty new found friend the Fuji X100 (he also uses the Leica M9 and for film shooting the Leica MP) and I was using the Leica M9 which I use exclusively for all my 'non-commercial' shooting.  All these cameras are absolutely perfect for shooting 'street photography' and anywhere where you need discretion, such as the MTR, due to their low profile size which is generally not intrusive or offending to people.  This is not to say that other cameras are no good, I personally think my Canon 5D Mark II image quality is second to none,  these are just our personal choices to achieve maximum image quality with a low profile camera in these environments.

So, technical jargon aside, we photographed all the station names along the entire Tsuen Wan line (or red line), and along the way I photographed pretty much every sign, marking and logo I could find on and off the trains that was relative to the MTR experience, with the idea to produce some quirky images of the subject as can be seen in this image below.

I think by the end of this day, we had shot far more images on the MTR system than we had on the street, and that's a good thing, as we shoot street photography several times a week already, so it makes a nice change.  Signs like the ones below I had never noticed before, 'no spitting'; you would think that is an obvious thing that people wouldn't need reminding to refrain from doing in an enclosed environment around other people!

We spent a total of around 3 hours shooting the stations, in theory if it had been pouring down with rain outside, we could have shot this whole project without getting wet, so even on those types of days, this kind of thing would be a perfect little project to work on for something different - no excuses for not getting out taking pictures, wind, rain or shine!

The message in this whole post is really about 'opening your eyes' to what is around you, we all rush around too fast, especially in these big cities where life's pace often overtakes us and gives us little time to absorb what is all around, but it is really important as a photographer to take the time to step back and observe, you really will surprise yourself if you can find the time to do this a few times a week, even if its only for half an hour, its an amazing world we live in, both in black and white and colour, so get out there, find something ordinary and make it extraordinary!

Upcoming blog posts will talk about where we print and frame our images here in Hong Kong, and the software we use to very quickly put together multiple images like in the montages above.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below.  You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

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.

So Uk - The oldest government housing in Hong Kong

Sunday morning, and myself and good friend and fellow Leica photographer 'Rocco' met up for a traditional English breakfast in Soho before deciding where to head out for some street photography on this pleasantly sunny but chilly Sunday morning. We decided to visit 'So Uk' in Cheung Sha Wan, reported as the oldest government housing estate in Hong Kong.  We thought it might make an interesting subject so we jumped on the MTR and headed off into Kowloon.

We did a little googling on the way to find out more information: the 16 block estate was constructed in 1960. Unlike many public housing estates built afterward, the architectural design of the estates is unique in Hong Kong. There are 5,316 flats in the estate, with capacity of 15,200.

Upon arrival I was slightly surprised, I thought it would look more 'run-down' being the oldest estate, but it was very well maintained and clean, a far stretch from any of the older government housing I could find in London or anywhere else in Europe for that matter!

The kind of images I had in my mind before going to So Uk were 'texture', 'symmetry', 'shape'....  So At first I tried mainly to look for these kinds of images, which were everywhere to be found, as you will see later in the blog post though....I always seem to gravitate towards 'people' photography, no matter where I go, just can't help it!

Another shock for me was that almost every single person i met spoke perfect English and were super-friendly towards us, maybe they don't see too many 'Gweilo's' (westerners) visiting the estate, I am not sure, but either way, it was very pleasant to be able to chat to many different people around the estate and find out a little about their life there.  The image below shows Pat, Harvey and their small Peking dog called 'Bun Bun'.

Another lady we met at the entrance to the estate was equally happy to chat to us, maybe she wanted to practice her English, I am not sure, but one thing for certain was everybody we met was more than hospitable towards us, at first I thought she was pushing her children or grandchildren in the a pram...then I realised it was two poodle dogs dressed up - amusing for us, and a common site around Hong Kong.

The children we encountered were equally keen to chat to us and asked to be photographed when they saw our cameras....Something else I noticed as there is not much 'green' space for gardening in these kind of places was the abundance of Bonsai trees decorating the entire area which also added to the serine peaceful feeling about the place.

As we walked around, something else caught my eye - a pre-wedding photography shoot was happening on the roof of the car park!  I guess it makes sense as the place certainly has some contrasting views to the bright red costumes the bride and groom were wearing, so I approached them, had a little chat and asked if I could photograph them all together, as I find the costumes very interesting and again must emphasise the total friendliness of the people around this place.

A few other individuals we met also chatted away to us at length and we met a group of young local photographers who were doing the same thing as us, just exploring the area, so we grabbed them for a quick photograph as well.

So after a few hours in this wonderful part of Hong Kong, we stopped at the local 'cafe' for a hot coffee....perhaps this is the reason I don't live in this part of town.....it is way too far from the nearest Starbucks for me! :-)

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please 'like' us on our public Facebook page also.

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