It’s January 20th and I still haven’t set foot in the streets of Saint-Denis. Blame it on our confinement since my children tested positive to Covid. Note, it’s still the holidays and I won’t have had the opportunity to go to Saint-Denis anyway… Next Monday is back to school. I will find free time unless the situation deteriorates again. In short, we’ll see.
The children? Well, they’re doing great. It’s just super annoying to have to wear the mask constantly and also to clean everything after them. We were very rigorous during this period to be sure not to be contaminated. Tomorrow, we will return to a normal life without masks. The children will be able to come and snuggle up against us again and be cuddled ! That’s what they missed the most. They could see that we weren’t acting as usual and that we regularly went to wash our hands when we touched them… Glad it ‘ going to be over.
The opening photo of this Blog was taken last Tuesday during our outing to have the children tested. If they were negative, we could shorten their isolation. But of course, I knew that this test was going to be positive and was useless. Basically it takes about ten days to no longer be positive after an infection. On the other hand, on D+7, we are almost no longer contagious.
While we were waiting for the test, I started trying to do some Street Photography with my Fuji xE2 and the 7 Artisan 35 mm f0.95. Of course I wanted to take photos at full aperture. Otherwise there would have been no challenge ! Well, that’s the only photo I kept. I didn’t do much, but I quickly realized that it was mission impossible. Finally to realize what I used to do. If you’re a fan of static photos, it’s playable, but personally, I find these photos boring.
Focusing manually is really tricky and you have to be quick. Who says f0.95, says maximum aperture. So it’s unplayable for scenes that are too bright in direct sunlight. Even with my Fuji XE2 which goes up to 1/4000s, I was overexposed. Maybe I should switch to the electronic shutter to be able to use higher speeds. To dig … But the biggest concern was still to quickly focus on moving targets. The Fuji XE2 has a magnifier help. It’s a magnifying glass that allows me to achieve focus every time.
It’s really useful when I take pictures of my children because I have time to take the picture. But on the street, it’s much more complicated. Anyway, we don’t do Street Photography at full aperture. Anyway, not me ! What about 35mm itself ? Just for information, the full frame focal length is 50 mm. Let’s not forget that we are on an APS-C sensor and not Full Frame. Going from 28 mm to 50 mm is a difficult exercise. It would take time to tame this new focal length and… to be honest, I don’t really want to. HCB was however shooting with a 50 mm ! Yes, but Winogrand was shooting him with a 28 mm ! You have to believe that photographically speaking, I feel closer to Winogrand…
This 35 mm will serve me for my personal photos of my children, of my family. I am quite amazed by the sharpness of the photos and also by the pretty bokeh that this lens provides, which I remind you, only cost me 240€ with shipping ! I could have continued to shoot portraits with the Nikon 50mm f1.8, but with this 35mm, I have a more versatile focal length. I already have a lot of fun with my children but also with the neighbour’s cats who come to visit us.
I hope to soon be back on the streets of Saint-Denis with my brand new Ricoh GRD IV ! I haven’t even set it up since I received it. I can’t wait to shoot with it again. Usually, at the beginning of the year, I have some apprehension about going out to take photos because I still have the photos of the previous year in mind. But frankly, it’s been so long since I went to take pictures that it’s rather impatience that predominates and not apprehension ! I’m not talking about getting Keepers or Glory Shots, but just finding myself in the street with my Ricoh GRD IV.
All the photos were made with the Fuji XE2 et le 35 mm f0.95
Believe me, f/0.95 with a 50mm lens is torture. There’s at least a little more room for error with a 35mm, but not much. You can take photos with moving subjects, of course you know that all is required is a little planning. Predict and focus where the moving subject might end up, use a lamppost or paving stone or tree. I don’t think it works for Street though, you’d never be fast enough, I tried it. Even if you were able to get anything you’d just end up with an isolated subject and a lot of bokeh, not much else. Similar to the light and shadow stuff, only a lot harder work only to produce the same result…80% form, 20% content. You could keep your distance though which would then include some more content, that said, might as well stick to f/11 and get closer. No doubt for portraits it’s the answer, the results can be seen here with your presentation, wide open, isolated subject, superb.
Taking this 35mm to the streets was just a challenge thing. It’s obvious that shooting street at 0.95 doesn’t make any sense to me. It was challenging and too hazardous. It’s definitely a portrait lens with a versatility to shoot some scenes as well.
I expect to do more posed photos of my family. It’s a different feeling than making snapshots with my Ricoh GRD 4 but enjoyable as well! With its massive aperture, it’s also a lens for indoor photos.
Very good though for what you intended though Jeff. Those shots of the boys are great. There are photographers out there that shoot street at big apertures, I’m like you with that, I really don’t get it. With my lens you could set to f/8 easy enough, but I don’t like 50mm, more importantly it weighs a ton and isn’t very discreet. Just like that blog post I wrote where I called it a “one trick pony”…wide open or don’t bother, it does perform it’s one trick pretty well though.