These will be the last. I’m not going to go on all year dwelling on this photographic interlude, however good it was … In my perfect world (no money constraints, free time), I’d be travelling all the time and spending time in all the major cities that are considered to be the Mecca of Street Photography. But unfortunately, my finances aren’t infinite (that trip to Thailand cost us a lot of money), I’m the father of two adorable monsters (whose upbringing takes up a lot of my time) and I have a job. Yes, caught up in the reality of life.

It’s like that, I have to juggle my work, my children and my family life to do Street Photography. I’m not complaining! That’s the case for most of us. If I’d been more selfish, I wouldn’t have had children and I’d have had more freedom. But frankly, if I had it to do over again, I’d do everything the same. I wouldn’t trade my 2 monsters for more freedom! I’d make a rotten analogy with my Ricoh GRD IV. This camera is far from perfect and yet, up until now, I’ve been able to do some interesting work despite all the constraints imposed on me by this camera. My life is the same. I also have constraints and responsibilities, but that doesn’t stop me from doing interesting work in Street Photography. End of rotten analogy …

I think the biggest mistake you can make is to dream your life away and not live it. This week, I was back on the streets of Saint-Denis. The children are back at school and the daily routine is settling down again. So I was back not with the Ricoh GRD IV, but with the Fujifilm X-E2 and the 35mm. I haven’t yet received my Fujifilm X1OO IV, so it’s with the X-E2 that I’m doing my tests. I thought the size of the camera would bother me, but it was more the noise of the shutter release that annoyed me. I never hide when taking photos. My camera is clearly visible and the Fujifilm is all the more visible because it’s the silver version and the TTArtisan lens also has a lot of silver on the barrel. As I said, the noise of the shutter release attracts attention and even though I’m not invisible with my camera in hand, I like to keep a low profile and that’s not possible with the noise of the shutter release.

So I went straight to the electronic shutter release. I know that it’s not ideal because there are regularly distortions when you shoot. Especially when you’re shooting on the fly. Among other things, the electronic shutter doesn’t like movement. I’ve had cases of distortion, even in static situations. I refer you to an old Blog that showed this rather annoying problem … I’ve had a few photos that had this distortion problem afterwards, but I was expecting a lot more than that! In any case, I was much more comfortable in the street with a silent camera. That’s what motivated my switch to the X100 series. So I’m going to have a slightly more compact camera than the X-E2 and also one that has Leaf Shutter, so it’s totally silent.

I have to say that I have absolutely no control over the 35mm field of vision. I’m constantly looking at the LCD screen to compose. On several occasions I found myself too close to what I wanted to photograph. Jeff, stop thinking in 28mm! I think it will take me a little time to master this focal length. What I particularly like about the TTArtisan is the distance markers on the lens. This is super useful for Zone Focusing. I’d always set myself ~3m away to turn my Fujifilm X-E2 into an ordinary point & shoot. When I was in crowdy places like bus stops, I should have set the focus to 1 or 1.5 m, but I didn’t think of that and the photos aren’t as sharp. They are still usable, however, as shown below.

In any case, while I await the arrival of my X100 IV, I’m getting to grips with the 35mm. Gone are the days of Thailand, and back to something quieter and more familiar – the streets of Saint-Denis. Nothing exciting or extraordinary. But it’s my playground and that’s fine!

All photos were taken with the Fujifilm X-E2 with TTArtisan 23 mm f1.4

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During the first part of our stay, we were based in the Sukhumvit district, the eastern part of Bangkok. The nearest BTS station was Nana. This area is known for its bars for foreigners who have come to Thailand for quite different reasons to me. Our neighbourhood was mainly frequented by Westerners and there were a lot of bars and restaurants that targeted this clientele. The street that led straight to the Nana station was very noisy and busy. Fortunately, our hotel was located in a quiet street.

I hadn’t really planned to do any Street Photography sessions. We were a family and my main concern was to visit Bangkok with Gwen and the kids. And of course, to take every opportunity to snap when the occasion presented itself. We did the basic tourist thing. The temples of Wat Pho, the Golden Buddha, the Grand Palace, Chinatown, the Siam district… Gwen knows that Street Photography means a lot to me, so I was able to get some time by my own while they were resting at the hotel.

I’ve read that some people say it’s not so easy to do street photography in Bangkok because there’s so much going on that you get lost. Frankly, from my point of view, I think it’s quite the opposite. I found it extremely simple. The city offers you crazy opportunities. OK, that’s a foreigner’s point of view, for whom everything he sees is exotic. My opinion might be different if I were a Thai living in Bangkok. It’s a bit like Elizabeth Char, who told me one day that she couldn’t take photos in Paris! I found that unbelievable, even though I was snapping like crazy when I was in Paris. All that to say that I found it very easy to do street photography in Bangkok. After that, we headed north to Chiang Mai and then south to Kamala, on the island of Phuket.

My settings were basic. I talked a bit about this in my previous Blog, but I’ll go into a bit more detail here. The 35mm isn’t as wide as the 28mm on my Ricoh GRD IV. This means that you have to get used to this new field of vision and keep a little more distance from the subjects you’re photographing. With the 28mm, I liked to get very close to people because the focal length pushed me in that direction. The 35mm is different. It forces me to stand back a bit more. I let myself be guided by the shot with the help of the LCD screen, to make sure I filled the frame correctly. I tried to shoot with the viewfinder but I just wasn’t comfortable. After 7 years of using the Ricoh GR almost exclusively in all its forms, it’s difficult to change the way you shoot. Well, that was when I was using zone focusing. Because when there wasn’t enough light, I’d open to f1.4, and then of course I’d have to do manual focusing using the viewfinder.

When I started Street Photography in 2016, I chose the 28mm to follow in Gary Winogrand’s footsteps. I had no trouble getting used to this focal length, for the simple reason that I was just starting out and had never used any other focal length. Why did I want to try 35mm? Quite simply to try and follow in the footsteps of another Master of Street Photography: Henri Cartier Bresson Joël Meyerowitz. Don’t think I’m being presumptuous if I say I want to follow in the footsteps of these two giants, Cartier Bresson Meyerowitz and Winogrand. I’m not comparing myself to them. They are just two photographers among many who continue to inspire me.

Beyond the tighter focal length, what scared me the most was the Zone Focusing management. With the 28mm, you’re using a wide-angle lens and the focal length is very forgiving. Obviously, the tighter the focal length, the less effective the zone focusing. But I soon realised that my fears were unfounded, and the 35mm works very well with zone focusing.

I set my standard settings to: f8 / focus at 3m / AutoISO (ISO 6400 max with a minimum shutter speed of 1/500).
With that, the focus zone was 1.6 m at almost 20 m. If I opened the shutter to f11, I was in hyperfocal, with a sharp focus zone of 1.3 m to infinity! When using these settings, you have to accept that the ISO goes up because you’re often in the shade in Bangkok and to keep the shutter speed up, the camera has to lower the ISO. On the occasions when I was taking more relaxed photos that didn’t require such high shutter speeds, I deliberately lowered the shutter speed (to 1/125, for example) to save 2 diaphs in ISO. In short, zone focusing is a good idea, but it’s an intelligent one, depending on the situation!

As I said earlier, I sometimes shot at f1.4. A heresy, some might say! Street photography can only be done with a small aperture! But when the light starts to fail, I still prefer to shoot at maximum aperture to keep my speed up and control the ISO. I often use f1.4 in covered markets or for night shots. The result is quite pleasing, but clearly you can’t photograph scenes any more, because the focus is only made to a specific element of the image.

The TTArtisan 23mm is really very pleasant to use manually. The aperture ring is notched, so you can quickly choose the right aperture. The focus ring is precise. In short, I didn’t have many problems with my focusing with this lens. It’s true that I also had help from the Fujifilm X-E2’s built-in magnifier. Even though the viewfinder pixelated when there was a lack of light, it wasn’t a problem for focusing.

The conclusion of these few days spent with the 35mm is that it’s a focal length that I like and that I find interesting to use. I was afraid I’d find myself too cramped, but that’s not the case. Even at f8, you can integrate a more blurred foreground into the foreground and give depth to the image. It’s just that my Fujifilm X-E2 is starting to go a bit mad. Without warning, it changes the pre-set settings (AutoISO with minimum ISO: 200 | maximum ISO: 6400 | minimum shutter speed 1/500s) to ISO settings: 200 | minimum shutter speed 1/60s … I might as well tell you that I’ve been tricked several times and the photos are unusable … Each time it went wrong, it took me a while to realise what the problem was. Gwen told me it was a sign of a new camera! As you know, I’m not a GEAR addict. I like to make do with what I’ve got, but right now I clearly don’t have anything else to shoot with at 35mm. John Harper, suggested that with all the Ricoh GRD IV parts from broken cameras at home, I could assemble a 35mm Ricoh GRD V! Great idea, and I could sell it to Pentax!

I could go for a second-hand Fujifilm X-E4, as I was planning to do, but from a Street Photography point of view, I’d rather go for a Fujifilm X100. Smaller and lighter. What motivates me to go for the X100 series is that this camera has a leaf shutter. Once you get used to using it, it’s hard to do without. The GR series and also the Fujifilm XF10 have the leaf shutter, and unfortunately the X-E series doesn’t… The X100s have a very good second-hand price and are relatively expensive on the second-hand market. Maybe I’ll wait for the new X100, due out in early 2024, to try and find a V or IV that’s not too expensive. In any case, these latest iterations are already way ahead of my 2013 camera! I’m still thinking about it, but change is good and the 35mm seems like a good choice!

All the photos were taken with the Fujifilm X-E2 with the TTArtisan 23 mm f1.4.

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In any case, I’d like to wish you and your family a happy new year in 2024. For our part, we started the New Year in Thailand. We embarked on 27th of December just after Christmas and we’ll be staying there until 14th of January. We’ve been in Bangkok for 5 days now, and now we’re flying north to Chiang Mai, where we’ll be staying for a few days before heading down to Phuket.

Christmas has come and gone, and as I’ve been relatively good in 2023, Santa has put a new lens under the tree for my Fujifilm X-E2. As I’d written in a previous Blog, I was planning to get a 23mm (35mm FF equivalent) because the 7Artisan 35mm 0.95 was a bit big and the focal length was too tight and lacked versatility. I have to say that I love this lens and that it will surely remain my favourite focal length for portraits. So here I am with a TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 on my Fujifilm X-E2. A fully manual, compact lens that cost just €80!

I thought I’d do the whole trip with this focal length. So I left my 18mm f2 and my 35mm f0.95 at home. Nevertheless, I took my Ricoh GRD IV as a backup, because I didn’t know if I’d be able to get used to this focal length. I had no doubts about the travel photos to document our trip, but I had more questions about the ‘Street Photography’ aspect. Even though this trip is essentially about our holiday in Thailand, you know me and I certainly wasn’t going to resist snapping like crazy.

That was the case! Strictly speaking, I didn’t do any Street Sessions. I took advantage of our travels to do a bit of Street Photography. And frankly, there’s so much going on in the streets of Bangkok that just taking the overground metro (BTS) offers enough opportunities for a guy who lives on a small island lost in the middle of the Indian Ocean! Bangkok is an incredible city and it would take me months or even years to get the measure of this megalopolis. You’d have to take your time in the different neighbourhoods and settle down to get a consistent result. Clearly I didn’t have the time, so I made do with what I had.

Let’s come back to the 23mm. It was a very pleasant surprise. I was a bit apprehensive about this change of focal length, as I’ve been shooting exclusively with the 18mm for over 7 years… The transition was fairly straightforward, even though the lens is manual. I think I love having control over the focus, and I think one of the big plus points is the increased battery life! They’ve never lasted so long! I was also happy to get back to Zone Focusing. I set myself at f8 and focus at 3m. That gave me a zone ranging from 1m60 to 20m sharp. When I was shooting with the viewfinder, I had fun changing the aperture and setting the focus precisely. In Street Mode, I often shot with the LCD screen in Zone Focusing mode, as with my Ricoh GRD IV. But sometimes, when the light was lacking and I found myself with larger apertures (I even went so far as to shoot at f1.4!), I manually focus and I have to admit that the lens is really pleasant to use. The aperture dial is notched, unlike the 7Artisan, which is a real plus! The focus ring is also very pleasant and I was able to focus precisely even when walking. However, there’s a little play around the bayonet. It’s nothing to write home about, but it’s worth noting.

As far as image quality is concerned, I’m pretty impressed for a lens that costs just €80. For the way I use it, I get a lot of bang for my buck! It’s light, fast and compact. Everything I need for street photography. And it’s also a focal length that will be more versatile for my family photos, with less distortion than the 18mm. As far as street photography is concerned, the slightly tighter focal length than the 18mm didn’t bother me much. Zone Focusing works terribly well and is clearly the ultimate weapon for street photographers!

While we were having lunch in Chinatown, I went in search of a shop to have my sensor cleaned because it was riddled with very annoying dust … Shooting regularly at f8 or f11, these stains made my post-processing heavy and tedious. On the afternoon of 31 December, I found myself in Mega Plaza Chinatown on the 5th floor having my sensor cleaned. A 5-storey building, just like in Hong Kong. Each floor has its own speciality (video games, figurines, games, electronics, etc.). This top floor is entirely dedicated to photography. Thousands and thousands of second-hand cameras (Leica, Minolat, Nikon, Canon, Pentax, etc.). Both film and digital. And even more lenses! I came across a guy who spent 15 minutes cleaning my Fujifilm X-E2 and didn’t even charge me! It’s a service that would have cost at least €70 in France. So here I am, ready to go into 2024 with a clean sensor! I must say that I hadn’t cleaned it since 2016 …

I’ll leave you with this first Blog of 2024. I’ll try to do a Street Photography Blog as soon as I have the time or the motivation!

All the photos were made with the Fujifilm X-E2 et le TTArtisan 23 mm f1.4.

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