Hi everyone,
Another of my shots from yesterday’s visit to Guildford.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighkemp/50057836942/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/
Kind regards
Leigh
Category Archives: Travel
View from Guildford Castle
Hi folks,
I spent a few hours ducking in and out of the rain in Guildford and managed to get a few shots, good to be back to landscapes. PEN-F and Lumix 12-32 mm.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighkemp/50055304706/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/
Best wishes,
Leigh
A dedicated follower of retro fashion 🙂
Hi folks,
Although I’m not a follower of fashion, only retro fashion perhaps, if that’s not too much of a contradiction in terms 🙂 . I just couldn’t resist this Birthday present to myself a really nice black faux leather half case with red stitching to match my red/black Cordweaver neck strap for my PEN-F. A bargain at £17 on Amazon. It’s nicely made, fits beautifully and finishes off a beautiful looking camera as well as providing a nice grip and a bit of extra protection which can never be a bad thing. It has a press stud fastening flap allowing access to the battery and memory card compartment so it can stay fitted all the time, nice as I don’t want to have to keep taking the case on and off. It also comes with a matching wrist strap which I’ll probably find a use for. It has an aluminium section in the base which gives added protection to the underside of the camera but doesn’t add excessive weight. I’ve always liked black, red and silver colours they go together very well.
Kind regards
Leigh
“From the bridge”
Hi everyone,
Another test of my PEN-F. This time with my Lumix 20mm. Shot from Kingston Bridge. 5 frame HDR. This combination of 20 MP sensor is super sharp.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighkemp/50050123706/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/
Best wishes,
Leigh
“Sit yourselves down and pull up a river”
Hi folks,
I don’t do that many street shots. Taken yesterday, two ladies sitting on the banks of the River Thames, Kingston Upon Thames, enjoying the sunshine, feeding the birds.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighkemp/50043105628/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/
Kind regards
Leigh
“Day tripper”
Olympus PEN-F and Lumix 12-32 mm, Lumix 20 mm F1.7 (fitted), M.Zuiko 9-18 mm and M.Zuiko 45 mm F1.8. total weight with battery and memory card fitted, not including lens hoods, approximately 870 grams (1.9 lb). So about the weight of a bag of sugar!, all I love about the Micro Four Thirds system 🙂 .
One thing I always consider when working on bag load outs, apart from weight, is to try and design them in such a way that the camera with any of the lenses fitted fits into the bag so as to not have to muck around, wasting time, changing or fitting lenses purely as a matter of necessity before or after shooting.
Also, when travelling if there’s anything less conspicuous than having a small non-DSLR looking camera hung around one’s neck (and to anyone not in the know the PEN-F looks, by design, very much like a vintage film camera), it’s a small camera out of sight inside a small bag but still ready to be used at a moment’s notice. 🙂
Bag, with knees for scale, fit’s neatly on the fold down table thing on the train. 🙂
The masked man, still can’t get my hair cut until next week 🙂
Hi folks,
I did a short photo walk with my new PEN-F along the sea front at Bognor Regis yesterday and got a few shots. I didn’t have long as it wasn’t the principal reason for our visit. 🙂 . All 5-frame handheld HDR shots processed in Aurora HDR 2019.
I love the English seaside resorts, they bring back many happy childhood memories of the somewhat rare treat of a day trip to the coast. These coastal resorts are swimming in “kitsch” (pun intended), fish and chips and ice cream and even though I’ve been lucky to travel to some beautiful places, they’ll always have a special place in my heart and I still love ’em. 🙂 . Sadly of course, due to COVID-19 many places including the Pier are still closed but there’s always something to see and photograph and the weather was fantastic.
All these shots were taken with my tiny Lumix 12-32 mm pancake zoom lens, a much underrated, very sharp little lens which was often bundled as a kit lens and which I’m sure a lot of photographers dismiss far too easily. You can keep your heavyweight £2000 lenses (assuming that I could even afford them), this little gem of a lens delivers time and again and is excellent value for money especially as one can pick them up second hand or maybe, as I did, new, split from kits, for next to nothing.
I’m loving this new camera, it’s small and light and it behaves beautifully, feels very natural in one’s hand and, with its gorgeous retro 1960’s rangefinder styling, it felt and looked totally at home in yesterday’s surroundings as there’s a quintessentially timeless feel to many of these coastal resorts. I could almost have put the clock back fifty plus years to my childhood and not looked at all out of place, great fun and quite magical!. 🙂
Ghost Train
Ghost Train 2
Wave Watching
Pots and the Pier
Boats and Pots
No play today
Relative Solitude
No one at home
Until further notice
A stranger on the shore
Flickr Album of my PEN-F shots
Kind regards
Leigh
Ever so close and far away (onwards and downwards).
Hi folks,
Okay let’s get the dreadful photographic puns out of the way first. The events of this year, being confined to staying indoors for more than three months, have helped me to shed a lot of light on things, it’s really brought things firmly into focus and given me a new perspective (both literally and metaphorically). 🙂
It’s true that one never fully appreciates what one enjoys until one can’t do it and that’s the case with my landscape work, there are fewer things in life that I enjoy more than finding a beautiful peaceful location, taking my shots and processing them however my recently rediscovered interest in macro photography has given me another interesting and enjoyable string to my bow which I fully intend to pursue. For a change I’ve been working with small subjects a heck of a lot closer than infinity with an extremely shallow depth of field and using artificial light sources indoors and not my much preferred natural light. About as far removed as one can get from my landscape work.
For some years now I’ve been getting ever increasingly bored and frustrated with living in the London area and frequently finding myself yearning for new, more picturesque, horizons to explore and photograph and it’s horrendously expensive to live in this area so we’ve made the decision to up sticks when we can and move to the south coast of England where there’s a lot more scenic interest for me to photograph with coastal towns, sea, rivers (naturally 🙂 ) and surrounding countryside a plenty, “location, location, location” 🙂 . Then I can get back to taking more shots like these.
So it’s “onwards and upwards” or, more accurately, geographically-speaking, “onwards and downwards”. We’re really looking forward to the move and exploring our new area, bring it on!. I’ll keep you posted. 🙂
Kind regards
Leigh
Two can play at that game 🙂
Hi folks,
In many ways my wife is always an inspiration to me. I’ve often joked with her that her handbags are like Dr. Who’s T.A.R.D.I.S. Full of “useful things” that she “might just need” just like my camera bags are for me. So I set myself a small challenge to see just how much small lightweight camera gear I could fit into one of my tiny Manfrotto camera bags and here’s the result, oh and for the record, my packed camera bag weighs in at less than her packed handbag and at the less than princely sum of £7 my camera bag cost me considerably less than any of her handbags. 🙂
First off to give a sense of scale, the bag is approx. 8 inches wide –
Back pocket: memory card case for 6 spare cards, 4 moist lens wipes, 2 spare camera batteries in a neoprene case, a 52-58 mm step up ring which adapts my ND filter to fit my 9-18 mm lens and a pair of filter wrenches.
Main compartment left: Olympus PEN-F with Lumix 12-32 mm (37 mm filter thread) and JJC hood (which will accept 58 mm filters), hard case (originally designed for stereo ear buds) containing Olympus 9 mm fisheye body cap lens (or maybe my 15 mm body cap lens) and a 58 mm variable ND filter.
Main compartment right: M.Zuiko 9-18 mm (hood fitted), Lumix 35-100 mm (hood fitted). Underneath these lenses my Lumix 14 mm or Lumix 20 mm, Olympus M-CON macro converter (fits the 12-32 mm, 35-100 mm , 14 mm and 20 mm lenses) and the hood for the 14 mm or 20 mm into which the M-CON sits neatly.
Lastly I fitted two sticky pad/feet things to my lens back caps to cushion them. So my camera, a total of six lenses (I’m counting the M-CON as a lens) and other vital stuff that that I “simply must carry with me and I might just need” all into a small, discrete, lightweight bag. Whilst I was taking these shots she came into the room, saw me sitting on the floor taking pictures of the bag and it’s contents on the carpet and said, with a smile on her face and a look that one usually reserves for animals and small children, “I won’t ask!” and then walked out. She knows me too well!. 🙂
Kind regards
Leigh
“A sign of the times”
Hi folks,
A lone cyclist wearing a face mask, sitting on a bench. Taken on a photo walk in a local park to familiarise myself with my new PEN-F camera. M.Zuiko 14-150 mm @ 150 mm f/5.6. 5-frame hand-held HDR with minimal processing.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighkemp/50024811113/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/
Kind regards
Leigh
The big picture post.
Hi everyone,
Following on from my post yesterday I thought I’d do a posting with a selection of shots taken with my M.Zuiko 9-18 and 14-150 mm lenses.
Kind regards
Leigh
📷 Digital Art Photography 🎨 : "Paintography" ✈ 👍 