Last week, I resumed my normal routine in Saint-Denis. Since the end of June, the kids have been on holiday and I’ve been hanging around the streets less often. It’s always the same during this period, I continue to do Street Photography, but in a different way. As you may have noticed, I took a lot more photos at the beach or other places where we’d been hanging out during the holidays. Back in the charming monotonous streets of Saint-Denis, where there’s little or nothing going on… Nah, I’m kidding, I told you I’d stop going on about how boring the streets of my town are! Well, it’s true that there’s not a lot going on, but if you look around a bit and put a bit of effort into it, you can still find some interesting things.
So here I am, back on the streets with my Ricoh GRD IV still on my wrist. 9 months with the same camera, that hasn’t happened to me for a long time! When I was editing my photos recently, I realised that I had a lot of dead or turned-off pixels on my sensor. This gives me more work in post-processing because I have to enlarge to eliminate them. Well, the really annoying ones… I wonder if this Ricoh GRD IV isn’t starting to decade. Anyway, we’ll see. I still hope to finish the year with this camera. So it’s with the Ricoh on my wrist that I’m hanging around rue Maréchal Leclerc, the main thoroughfare where I spend most of my time. I have to pick up my children from school, so as usual I go to the ‘Petit Marché’ bus stop.
For those who don’t already know, this is THE SPOT in Saint-Denis. There’s no place that offers so many opportunities for Street Photography. I refer you to a blog written about this place. What makes this place so interesting is its direct proximity to the Petit Marché. The white building with its arcades is home to butchers and fishmongers. And at the back is the covered fruit and vegetable market. There are also a number of souvenir and craft stalls. The building’s arcades and steps provide shade or a place to sit for Dyonisians waiting for the bus. I took countless photos here. At rush hour there are people everywhere!
Well, that was before … You’re not going to believe this, but they’ve moved the bus stop! They’ve moved it about fifty metres … It gave me quite a shock when I passed the old stop that had been dismantled. It’s all empty now. Gone are the steps of the Petit Marché, filled like football terraces. The new stop consists of just a large canopy to protect users and a few benches. Not nearly enough, given the number of people using this bus stop. People used to sprawl out on the steps of the Petit Marché for a reason… I don’t understand why this stop has been moved. It doesn’t improve traffic flow. Maybe the Saint-Denis council didn’t think it was a good idea for commuters to sit on the steps of the Petit Marché? Surely they’d rather see them waiting standing in the sun? And when it’s going to rain here? It was still more practical for users to wait under the arcades than in the rain …
Apart from these considerations, I found the old stop more photogenic. But like everything else, you have to adapt to new environments. The new stop is right next to the boutik sinois (Chinese shop) which must serve drinks to 90% of the marginalised or other alcoholic people in Saint-Denis! This shop must make almost 100% of its turnover from beer and rum (I think the owner is my father’s cousin!). Which is going to make for some fun photos from the bus stop! Knowing that there are a lot of children and women who use the bus, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to have this alcoholic population closer to the bus stop. At least they’ll have less distance to crawl from the shop to the bus…
This move has at least had the merit of shaking up my habits and getting me out of my comfort zone. I’ve been to this side of town a couple of times and have already managed some interesting photos. You can see the contact sheets below.
Two very different situations that show there’s potential here. Anyway, I’m going to have to get used to it, this stop is here to stay. In a few years’ time, no-one will remember that it was located fifty metres below! I’ll be here to get out my old photos…
All the photos were made with the Ricoh GRD IV.
Send that pretty girl photo to modeling agencies, get her employment!
Lol! She was pretty and aerial as she was walking. But we need to buy her some shoes to prevent her from having fungus! Those pavements are microbes nests!
Bonjour, vos photos noir et blanc sont-elles ainsi à la prise de vue ou en post production ?
Je ne shoot qu’en raw. Donc post-processing pour chaque photo. Pas que je fasse mieux que les jpgs des constructeurs, mais c’est une vieille habitude …
How annoying is that? Plus I expect the market received some extra business from the people waiting for a bus so they’ll lose out. Those same people/passengers who led a healthy lifestyle, spontaneously buying some fresh nutritious fish because the bus was late, are now left no alternative than to go se the shop by the new bus stop and thus condemned to a life of rum and ruin.
Wonderful work by you even so. Like the guy with hand, fabulous.
One of those unexpected moments ! I saw this guy stretching out and it ended up with this photo. Lucky me ! The magic of Photography. Being able to freeze that moment to question the viewer. this Bus stop moving was kind of kick to my ass to force me to do things differently. Of course it was easier for me to make photos on the other spot but even if routine is comforting, change is also benefit !
Hey Jeff, I recently discovered your YouTube slideshows (which I have watched several times now) I absolutely love your photographs – they are so inspiring! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I desperately need to get my hands on a Ricoh GRD IV now and I’m pretty much obsessing over it – hopefully I’ll be able to get one soon. I love the depth that it seems to capture.
I have a question regarding the aspect ratio – from what I understand the GRD IV is 4:3 but you seem to shoot 3:2 (my preferred ratio) How do you go about doing this? Do you change the ratio in camera?
Also, I know you shoot raw (I google translated you mentioned this) and you do post-processing…I was hoping you could share a bit of your process for b&w and colour?
Once again, thank you so much for sharing your work with the world – it truly is beautiful.
Hey Johnny, so you’re the guy increasing my number of views of my slideshows! Kidding. Glad you like the photos. They’re not catchy but rather mundane but I like it that way and that’s my way of seeing street photography.
The Ricoh GRD IV is a beast despite his old age. I ‘ve written a lot of blogs on this camera. You’re right. The native ratio is 4/3. You can select the 3/2 ratio in the menu. I also prefer this ratio. But you loose some pixels. In 3/2 ratio, my photos are 9MP instead of 10.
I use some presets for the B&W to save some time. I can share it if you want. For the colour, I just do some minor tweaking on LR. No preset I just go with my mood
Yeah that’d be me! ???? No I absolutely love them man 🙂
So I actually just pulled the trigger on a GRD IV today (just couldn’t help myself!) Got it on eBay, mint condition. I’m in South Africa and the seller is in Japan so hopefully it doesn’t take too long and gets here safely.
Cool, I’ll change the ratio in camera – I think I can live with 9MP…you’ve certainly shown that it’s all one needs to make great photographs.
My style of photography is completely different as I’ve been shooting only in colour and I seldom photograph people directly because it feels awkward – your work has made me want to explore shooting from the hip, etc and using B&W more (which by the way I’d appreciate if you’re willing to share presets so that I can experiment with that – I’d like to minimize time in front of the computer and rather be out there with the camera)
Thank you so much for getting back to me by the way 🙂 And for creating this space where people can connect from across the globe.