January 2019 – Daniel Pietzsch’s Photo Journal
photojournal.danielpietzsch.com
Dad on a visit and other daily-life snapshots.
Boom! Another journal entry!
December 2018 – Daniel Pietzsch’s Photo Journal
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Still in a bit of a photographic rut, I didn’t take that many pictures this month, either. But here are twelve. And this wraps up 2018.
Finally wrapping up 2018.
November 2018 – Daniel Pietzsch’s Photo Journal
photojournal.danielpietzsch.com
Simply ten photographs.
I wouldn’t call it “catching up on my photo blog”, but at least here’s another post.
The weather is better than expected and so we’re staying a night longer than planned. Good times!
October 2018 – Daniel Pietzsch’s Photo Journal
photojournal.danielpietzsch.com
In Paris.
My selected photos from last October. Mostly shots from Paris.
I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. Especially the ones from the Rolleiflex.
I found this old photo from 2013 in my drafts, and I must say I’m rather pleased with the quality of this scan. I’m pretty sure, this roll was developed and scanned by Foto Görtz here in Düsseldorf. I don’t know what they were (or are) using, but I’m sure it’s something better than the flatbed scanner I use.
This is Kodak Gold 200, shot with a Nikon FE and the 50mm f/1.8 E lens.
Guessing exposure
To reduce my reliance on an external light meter, most times I guess and set my exposure before taking a meter reading. This makes me assess the available light first and makes think about what the exposure might be. When – or even if – I then take a meter reading, I’ll correct my aperture and shutter speed settings, if need be.
I found this to be a very effective way to get better at guessing exposure. Outdoors, I use the sunny 16 rule as my guidance, of course. For indoors, I mainly rely on experience.
Why I love shooting film: The challenge
There’s something very rewarding about being able to operate an all-manual film camera and produce useable images with it. You have to get the exposure right, the timing, the focus, the framing; you often need a steady hand in low light; and developing the film needs to be done correctly, too.
I do use a light meter app on my phone to help me with setting the exposure, though, but that’s about it for additional technical help. A meter simply makes me more confident in dialling in my exposure. But – to be honest – more often than not, I guess (or even know) the exposure.
And I could shoot more automatic film cameras to help me out. But I prefer those manual mechanical ones. This might be making it unnecessarily hard for myself, but that’s exactly the challenge I like so much. But just because I’m using these manual tools, doesn’t mean I’m automatically taking better pictures, of course.
And to end this not on a more modest note: once you start shooting film and use manual cameras – while at first indeed challenging – you’ll notice it’s actually not that hard. I got used to this way of shooting and now prefer it over using all sorts of automatics. It makes for a more controlled, quicker, and more enjoyable experience for me. And it’s a more calm way of shooting, without many buttons to push or looking at flashing lights or screens.
But still: it’s a nice feeling having captured an image where I was 100% responsible for all the technical settings and processes.
Today, Zoe and I made a bike ride to a more far away playground. She likes playgrounds. And bike rides. Whenever she sees my bike, she wants to climb into her seat and put her little helmet on.
We had an enjoyable afternoon together.
I just came across this photo in an old draft post. Seen on El Teide, Tenerife. October 2014.
Does this count as writing? Hardly. But it has to do for today.
Here’s an outtake from the September 2018 journal entry.
Rolleiflex. Fomapan 100. Developed in Rodinal 1+50. Really like this film!
September 2018 – Daniel Pietzsch’s Photo Journal
photojournal.danielpietzsch.com
Back on the road. We made a trip to Normandy and other parts of the French Atlantic coast.
Here are 56 photos from last September.
Being ready to shoot
Reading my posts in the “How I took the shot” series, I realised they might come across as brag. But that’s not what I’m trying to say.
My point is rather, that in street photography there’s always a lot of luck involved – simply because for candid street shots you can’t plan anything. But also – that being patient and prepared are valuable skills to get better at as a street photographer.
By “being prepared” I mean both paying attention as well as having your camera set up correctly. There were many more unsuccessful attempts in the past where I waited and nothing interesting was happening. Or I didn’t wait long enough. Or I didn’t get the shot, because
- I was not paying attention or
- my settings weren’t right or
- I wasn’t quick enough or
- I didn’t dare to take the shot.
And that’s way worse: You can’t do anything about it when nothing interesting happens. But you can be ready, if it does. So I try to eliminate these four issues as much as I can. And then I’m sometimes even at the right place at the right time.
How I took the shot: Part 2.
This photo was taken last June on a bus ride back from Nice to our campground. The challenge with this one was to be observant, quick and shooting in a moving vehicle while having other things to do, too.
After I got onto the bus, I took a read from my exposure meter on my iPhone to get a ballpark exposure for the bus’s interior. I preset my exposure to f/1.4 and 1/60th of a second (for my APX 400 film). I rarely shoot this lens at its maximum aperture, but this time I decided to do so, because I was on a moving bus and wanted to avoid motion blur.
I noticed this woman and I sensed she might make an interesting subject matter: she seemed tired and generally exhausted from the day. Because this was the most promising scene, I preset the focus already, too, using a person or object at the same distance1.
Then it was time to wait. It was a long bus ride.
And it took a while, but the waiting paid off. She had her hand over her eyes like this for maybe one to two seconds. Luckily I noticed. And because my Leica was around my neck, ready to shoot, I quickly raised it to my eye and took this photo.
Inside, I quietly went: “YES!”
Maybe all of this would have been trivial, if I was shooting a digital camera with auto-exposure and auto-focus. But who knows? Maybe then the auto-focus had missed or the camera wasn’t even powered on. ↩︎
How I took the shot: Part 1.
This photo was taken in 2016 at the opera house in Oslo with my Rolleiflex. It’s my favourite one of several images I took there.
Patience and luck were responsible for getting this shot. I was standing at this very spot for approximately 1 to 2 minutes already, having the camera pointed this way, patiently looking down into it. I was waiting for some gesture or anything else interesting happening between those two. And then out of nowhere this helicopter flew over and they turned around – looking up – the way you see on the image. That they are pretty much look-alikes is just the cherry on top.
This was way better than I could have anticipated. I couldn’t quite believe it when I took the shot (and I only had one chance, as after advancing to the next frame, the scene was gone), and was thrilled when I finally got to see the negative after I developed the roll.