35mm Street is the street photography blog by award winning photographer Derek Clark. It features tutorials, tips and tricks and lots of pictures from an experienced street photographer.
It’s that time of the year again, Edinburgh Festival. That means a meet-up with friends to visit the annual World Press Photo exhibition in The Scottish Parliament building and then a bit of street photography. WPP was excellent as always and just as depressing. Don’t expect happy smiley pictures. It’s all hard hitting stuff as usual. Well worth a visit before it ends soon.
Thanks to John & Bill for a great day out, ending in an unexpected show (Have I Got News For You).
I’ve shot a boatload of street since the beginning of the year. Like anything we do a lot of, we start to develop our craft. It’s the 10,000-hour rule I suppose. Something that I’ve become really aware of lately is knowing where the light will be good at certain times of the day. I know on certain street corners that the light will drop between a couple of buildings and that it will bounce off glass and steel before reaching the pavement (sidewalk). The colours are fantastic and it really enhances the Classic Chrome film simulation in my Fuji cameras. I also know where to go next when the light disappears from my favorite corner.
We moved our clocks forward at the weekend for British summertime, so all the good light will be an hour later than usual. Pretty soon the sun will go down even later and the streets will be empty when all the good light is available. March might just be my new favorite month for street photography, but let's not wipe out April when it just began.
These pictures were shot with the Fuji X70 (28mm) and the X-Pro2 with the 16mm f2.8 (24mm).
Of course, I cannot neglect the monochrome side of things just because the light was great for colour. As always, all my black and white street pictures are post-processed using Nik, Silver Efex Pro (now owned by DXO and well worth the money).
The grey of the dark Scottish winter feels as though it lasts longer each year. This year has felt particularly bleak and my camera optimistically peaks it’s viewfinder out from under the the lid of my bag, then rushes back in to hibernation. But then suddenly there was a bit of decent light, a few degrees increase in temperature, and colour made a brief appearance. There must have been some sort of memo sent out, because a few people had shed their blacks and greys and were now wearing colour. Oranges and yellows drop-kicked my eyeballs and the buildings were bathed in late afternoon sun. A teaser trailer for the summer to come.
More from this years Edinburgh Festival. Three Colour and five black and white. All from the X-Pro2 with the 35mm f2 lens. This camera has turned out to be an amazing street machine, especially with the 35/2. Pretty soon the 23mm f2 will arrive and I'm sure another amazing street lens will no doubt be with us.
Speaking of the X-Pro2 and the 35mm f2 for street. My Kage Collective pal Patrick La Roque, who actually had his right hand surgically removed and replaced with an X-Pro2 and 35/2 combo, has been back on the Street Focus podcast with host Valerie Jardin sharing his top tips for street shooters.
