Photography

The Feds are Coming! FED 5b Street Images III

Noir-style street photograph in Barcelona. Shot using a FED 5b and Delta 100 film.
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Another high-contrast contra-luz shot from the FED 5b. I am really happy with the way that these have come out – for a 20 euro camera that is 35 years old it is capable of some amazing images, and it is also quite pleasant to shoot with thanks to the quirky-but-solid construction and quiet-but-satisfying shutter. Another bonus is that people seem to react less to the sight of the camera, possibly because it does not look even vaguely professional. This film was the first that I have  completely taken without a meter, using just the sunny […]

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Photography

The Feds are Coming! FED 5b Street Images II

Cyclist in the Ciutat Vella, Barcelona. Shot with FED 5b on Ilford Delta 100.
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Shooting fast moving subjects wit the FED 5b. Rapid focusing with the Industar 61 lens is quite hard. The viewfinder on the FED is tiny, and it is easy to miss a focus error when working quickly. Even zone-focus is slow as the focusing ring has a very long movement, and there is no way to tell where the focus is set without looking at the lens (there is no ‘tab’ or similar found on some Leica mount lenses). The trick used here was just to preset the focus and wait for the subject to […]

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Photography

The Feds are Coming! FED 5b Street Images I

Film based Street Photography in the Ciutat Vella, Barcelona. Shot with FED 5b on Ilford Delta 100.
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  The first of four posts with images shot with the (now repaired) FED 5b. These were all taken in or around the Ciutat Vella, early in the morning. Barcelona’s streets are fantastic for these contra-luz style images at this time of year, thanks to a combination of the low sun and the just-washed cobbled streets. This was shot with the FED and Ilford Delta 100. I shot almost all of this sequence with the lens at f11-f16, using zone focus (which is not hard at these f-stops!) and guestimates for […]

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Photography

Bazaar

Los Encants flea market, Barcelona.
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Old books at the Els Encants market, Barcelona. This is a market whose origins date back to the 14th century, yet which is now housed in a new ultra modern permanent building. Despite the architecture, the market retains much of the character that you might expect if you were to mix a 14th century trading style with 21st century goods. The aim was to capture some candid images of people browsing the second hand books, furniture, ceramics and general bric-a-brak:

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Photography

Cathedrals

The Design Museum, Barcelona.
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Three images of the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona. Still very unsure if this is inspired or terrifying architecture, although all I can think of when I see its military grey straight walls is all those 70’s dystopian science-fiction futures. All images shot on HP5+ with the Minolta XDs and 24mm lens, for a change of perspective.    

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Photography

Wine Tasting in Barcelona

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Some shots from a wine tasting event at Passeig de Lluis Companys during the Mercé, in Barcelona. Here you can by a set of tickets which can then be exchanged for glasses of wine from many excellent local producers. However, given the quantities of wine being tasted (see above…) I think that it is more accurate to see the event as a kind of giant open-air wine bar… The photographs were all shot on HP5+ 35mm film, pushed two stops to ISO 1600 by processing in Kodak HC-110 1+31 (Dilution B) for 6:45 at […]

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Photography

Queremos Dormir

Protest banners about late night noise from tourists in Barceloneta
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Banners on apartments, protesting against the all-night noise from tourists in Barceloneta. It is a problem pretty much everywhere now in Barcelona, making it very difficult to live in the city. And quite literally, the blog is going to sleep for a while as we recover from the heat and tourists…

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