So, a lot has changed since my last photo of the day! We’re on lockdown. Yay…
Since it’s just me, and has been for 30 days, here’s one of, just me.
Hi.
So, obviously being me this isn’t going to be a fluid sequence of one day after another. Prime example: it’s March 20th. I haven’t done one of these for almost a month. Ooops!
So, my photo of the day will have to be one from the recent shoot with Claire in Soho & Carnaby, London. Shot on film, using my latest camera purchase the 1995 Fuji GA645 (I have a problem I know) and shot on Ilford 3200 film.
Why this one? Well, shooting on film is still a unique experience for me. I dip in and out of it, but now I do think I have THE camera. It’s a fancy point and shoot. I can leave it in Aperture priority and it does the rest. I just have to compose the image.
Regarding the image…. the Curzon is a lovely throwback, makes for a great background to an image. Plus it’s rare I shoot fashion. This pleases me much. Keeps my brain active. Yes, I have one…
Now, since I’m self isolating due to the coronavirus, I suspect I’ll be updating this a lot more over the next few weeks!
Gav
Finally deciding how I’ll use my journal is feeling very good right about now. It’s 05:21 , my eyes are slightly blurry but I’m awake early because I have my first wedding of the year and my brain is obviously starting to turn cogs and picture the photos I want to get today.
It doesn’t matter that my first wedding was 2006, the nervous energy doesn’t go. Because like with everything you do, whether it’s the first time or the 400th, you should have that thing in you that makes you want to be better every time. And that’s where I am as I enter my 6th year as a full time photographer. I want to be better. Not lose sight of who I am as a photographer, not try to be a better version of what everyone else is, I want to be a better version of me. This means better documentary photos. Better “film-esq” couple shots. Using my 35mm more. The lens that makes me.
Anyway, I didn’t intend on writing that much about weddings, so I’ll move on to my photo of the day. Which, as I type, I’m undecided on. I pretty much just grabbed my laptop and started typing. Give me a second….
Ok, I’ve decided on this shot of Daisy. It’s taken from when I shot some behind the scenes stills and video for my photography friend Ben, who was shooting his first short film.
Perfect evening light on the eyes.
Gav.
2 portraits of Grace.
So, I got this new film camera. The Fuji ga645. I’ve had my eye on it for a while. Effectively it’s a medium format 645 point and shoot film camera. So, idiot proof. Electronic. Very 1990’s. 1995 actually, that’s the date Fuji released this beauty into the world. Anyway, I’ll talk more about that when I share some photos taken with it. Because these aren’t. Nope. By the time Grace has arrived for our 3:30 shoot, the morning sun had been replaced by dark clouds and rain. The light was rubbish and I wasn’t about to waste film on that!
So instead we went to the staircase in my building, the place where the light is still good enough for a Sony and ISO 1600, and we grabbed a few portraits.
Decided to start a photo of the day type thing on my journal.
And up first I'm throwing it back to September 2019 and my latest trip to the USA. 2 parts NYC and 1 part Montana for a wedding, a photographic treat for Gav!
I’ve chosen this image of a very typical old school American car to go first as….. my Airbnb is in the building on the left!
My Airbnb Street, East Village, NYC September 2019
So a recent wedding in Hamburg gave me the chance to do a spot of street shooting. This was my first visit to Hamburg, and I have to say I loved it. Obviously I wasn’t seeking out the pretty.
Hey, apologies for the quietness, I'm back and I'm in France for a wedding. Staying in the petite village of Vernantes. It's lovely!
Portrait shoot with Holly.
Sony a7iii + Sony 24mm 1.4, Samyang 35mm 1.4, Sony 50mm 1.8 & Sony 85mm 1.8
The results of me walking around Brooklyn and Manhattan for 3 days with no plan.
Almost 2 years to the day since I shot the wedding of Ricky and Jo in Kowloon, Hong Kong, I took the slightly shorter trip to Kentish Town in London to meet them again for the first time since that amazing day, and take a few photos of their beaut little boy.
So I've decided to start a video diary of my photographic life. Might be good, might be rubbish!
Howdy!
So this Saturday, with some surprisingly good weather in the skies I decided to meet up with a few friends and go for a bit more street shooting around London.
As always I took my less is more approach to gear. Everything shot on the Sony a7iii + 24mm 1.4, with a smattering of the excellent Samyang 35 1.4 thrown in to change things up a bit. The street portrait an example of how good that lens is. That being said, one of my fellow shooters was delivering awesomeness on an iphone (@monkeymuesli), so by comparison I was packing some serious gear!!
So when it came to editing I decided to try out the Kodak Ektachrome E100, something I’ve wanted to do for a while, mainly because I like the slightly alt look it gives. And on a day like yesterday I feel it works well. So much so that I may invest in a few rolls for my Mamiya C330 before I head to New York next month.
Little shout out to my fellow shooters:
@anjap (red head crouched down in picture 8) @monkeymuesli & @mirrorlessjack.
And a mention for Fin, one of the skaters we encountered along the way. Awesome shirt eh.
All images taken during a 6 hour wonder. Hope you like.
Gav
Took a very late decision to go to London and shoot some street. All of these are OOC jpegs from the Sony a7iii + 24mm 1.4.
January has been a bit of a grind for me, so I thought some street would help get the mojo flowing again. I decided to head from St Pancras to Farringdon where I got the first shot, and then a short walk down Old Street before eventually heading to the Tate Modern.
Gav
Not something I’ve ever photographed before, but definitely something I will shoot again!
Since 2015 I have been working for NFLUK, covering the International Series of NFL games that are played in London, at stadiums such as Wembley and Twickenham. And this year was no exception. Previously I’ve shot with a mix of Canon and Sony, but this year was an all Sony affair, shooting the games with 2 x Sony a7iii.
Sony cameras work perfectly for this kind of event, as my job is to deliver photos from my camera to the social media team “real time” for the images to be shared by NFL UK on platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Connecting the camera to my smartphone is essential, and for me the Sony cameras do it best (that’s not to say Fuji or Canon can’t, I just find the Sony system quicker and more reliable).
Now, as a full time wedding photographer the one thing I don’t have much need for is telephoto lenses. As such my bag consists or 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm primes. So for the NFL I use hireacamera.
Deal street braderie
#street_vision
#street_photography
#street_perfection
#photographerslife
#documentaryphotography
#sony
#sony50mmf18
#sonyalpha
#instagramlife
#lookslikefilm
#vscofilter
#sonya7
#sonya7iii
#sonyalphasclub
#vsco
#pocket_bnw
#bnw_captures
#bnw_street
#sweet_street_beat
Got myself a new lens: the Sony FE50mm 1.8 - cheap and petite, slow to AF but seems good enough for someone like me who shoots minimal 50mm.
So was walking to town and I saw this chap looking pretty cool chilling on a bench, went over, asked if I could take his portrait.
Edited on iPhone using VSCO
Sony a7iii + FE 50mm 1.8
I travelled to Naples from Perugia. This was day 1
So I started doing this podcast with my long time bud Ben. Football, the NFL, then photography has kept us “together” for over 10 years now, and we recently decided to start doing a photography podcast.
Worth a listen? Probably not. But we like doing it, so if you have an interest in photography chat, then give it a bash! https://soundcloud.com/ben-bowles-488374072/camera-chat-and-coffee-ep-9-dream-and-fantasy-shoots
Life can be stressful, for everyone, for various reasons. And life lately has been a bit chaotic, house moves and trying to run a business.
But it’s important to remember what you have, and what I have amongst a lot of things is this piece of gorgeousness.
Yep, this is an unapologetically soppy post about my beautiful daughter
Fuji X Pro 2 + 23mm 1.4 - edited on iPhone