Notting Hill Carnival 2023

Last week end was Notting Hill Carnival in … Notting Hill area in London. The party last 3 days with the Monday, that falls on a public holiday being the “adult” carnival.

About two millions of people, converge to the area for a Caribbean, African, South American party.

It was my first time and as much as I like a street party this is a bit borderline. It was already very difficult to move where reaching Notting Hill gate, I was not sure it was such a good idea.

Very light closing, lot of booze, that shouted for a cocktail for a not so family friendly afternoon.

But then you go by the back streets ( because the wife said so ) and you get close to the action, people are cool and happy campers, music is loud and enticing.

So well you grab your Leica and lets the fun begin.

I carried the M262 and 35mm Summicron Asph v2 as usual ( I am boring ) and no change of lens. I also put in my bag a M4 with Summicron 50, but that will be for another time.

Once again the 35 is a great lens for such event where you can stand in the crowd. Compared with London Pride where you had to stay outside of the action, this is an opportunity for close encounters.

Moving location we found a nice spot where in between sound systems I met a group of film shooters.

The arrival of a Brazilian batucada was a welcome change in between blasting sound systems.

… temperature was rising

Photographer trying to convince a dancer to pose. This guys was doing some off camera flash shots and was pretty good at directing “models”.

Everybody was pretty happy to pose.

Above is a group of French speaking participants, the carnival is a real babel.

You already know I am not a mass shooter so all in all I shot below 200 frames in 2 hours, and maybe 3/4 of a fil roll, that is not very professional I know. But I am just a hobbyist. I will off course put 2024 Carnival in my agenda. Advise to self ( and others if they are interested ) : travel light, just bring the M262 and 35 and maybe the M6 and 50, avoid bringing a bag its hard to move with one in the crowd. Also pay more attention to the shutter speed, maybe it is time to play with the auto ISO.

LONDON IN PRIDE – On Film

Spartacus?

I wont write much in this post as I probably said it all in the last one : London in Pride. Start of the film was a bit damaged when loading, but I feel it has style.

Lets just say that I carried along the Leica M6 and I switched the summicron 35 and the summicron 50 with the digital Leica M262. The other post contains the digital shots, this one the film ones.

Tom was here!

I arrived with the M6 loaded with the Ilford Delta 400 roll I used for the post The Corpus Christi procession 2023 (The film version), quite a different style or parade.

I then brought a roll of Cinestill 800T that if my memory serves me I bought back in 2017. I shot this tungsten film in daylight without filter, and it seems its ok.

The film is probably decently expired as Cinestill goes. I shot it at 640, same as I did in the past.

The film shots suffer from the same issue as the digital ones, as the afternoon passed I had more and more back light, which is not strictly great.

A bit of flare or processing issue here? I don’t mind, its quite cool.

BA crew deserves an Oscar for their performance

Our neighbour in all his glory!

I hope you enjoyed the viewing.

The Corpus Christi procession 2023 (The film version)

In Singapore I often shot Hindu, Buddhist or Taoist ceremonies, but never Christian ones ( nor Muslim by the way). I came across the Corpus Christi procession two years ago by complete chance and it is now on my agenda one year to the next.

You can find details info at https://catholicengland.org/ but if I may quote the site:

The Westminster Parishes of Maiden Lane & Spanish Place, together with the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and the Order of Malta, invite you to a week of celebrations, centred on the Blessed Sacrament.

The week culminates in a procession bringing Christ to the streets of London, and honouring Him in the Most Holy Eucharist

One to two hundred devotees walk from Maiden Lane in Soho, through Regents Street, Oxford Street, make a first stop at the Ukrainian Cathedral (opposite Leica Mayfair), then cross Oxford street north along Selfridges to end in a short celebration at the Spanish church in George Street.

a guest

Regents street as you never saw it

certainly an interesting unday attraction

The Ukrainian Cathedral

This type of events is also a good opportunity to meet fellow photogs years after years, or to make new friends.

All shots with the Leica M6 “Classic” with either the 28mm Summicron Asph v1 or the 35mm Summicron Asph v2. I used two rolls of Ilford Delta 400 bought in my last trip in Singapore to my favourite shop there ( Ruby Photo ).

I also carried the M262 and the 90mm, but that’s another affair.

the good usage of the 28mm

If you read that far I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Shall I indicate that these pictures have no intentions to mock nor to proselytize?

London in Pride

Our left neighbour

Saturday 1st on July 23 was my first time attending London in Pride. I wasn’t sure about my expectations, but it was soon clear that this is a very popular event.

Our right neighbour

We managed to find a spot near Hyde park corner with direct access to the parade (behind grids though). We were super lucky to have colourful neighbours on our left and right side, so many of the people participating in the parade engaged with them, giving me some opportunities for some “action” to shoot.

Tom was here!

As much as I like taking snaps, I like enjoying the moment, so I stayed at the same place all afternoon, this is not necessary a great idea as after a while I had some serious backlight which is visible on the later shots.

Flying proud and safe with BA

So on the gear side, I brought the M262 for the digital shots and the M6 for film as usual. I carried a 50 cron v5, a 35 cron Asph v2 and the 90mm Elmarit.

The fireman’s kiss

On the M6 I had a few shots left on a Ilford Delta 400 ( black and white ) and rummaging in my film box I realised I did not had many rolls, I stopped hoarding films a while back. I bet that colour would be best suited (good guess) so between a Ektar 100 and an expired Cinestill 800T I settled for the later.

Ni hao

Ok that’s a bit silly, to shoot in daylight with a tungsten film I know, but being unsure of how easy it will be to shoot film that day, I settled for the cheaper film. I purchased this Cinestill as least 5 years ago so it probably cost me half of the Ektar cost, it was time to shoot it and I had decent daylight shots in the past. We ‘ll see in a couple of weeks how sound was this reasoning. And I compensated a bit for the old age of the roll by shooting at 400 ISO

Reflection

So here are a selection in my 600 or so pics. On the M262 I switched a few times between the 90mm and the 35. I think I rarely used the 50.

Pups out for a walk

A camera friendly diva

The flare due to the backlight is quite pronounced in the above, I did serious ( for me) Lightroom edition to compensate, but that’s not 100%. Also I did not put my reading glass when formatting my SD card so I inadvertently reset the camera to factory settings, so I lost the compensation control on the thumb wheel, which I normally use a lot.

Everything is better with bubbles

Mind the Gap

Mister Leather was in town

Y.M.C.A.

A lot of fun, charm, good spirit and probably quite a dose of courage for some participants. I’ll be back.

I hope you enjoyed the post.

Roll 11 – The Leica IIIC is back from repair

So the Leica IIIC went for a repair, at Analogue UK, he was suffering for a lazy curtain causing half of the frames to be underexposed.

When I collected the camera from the shop I loaded it with a roll of Ilford FP4, screwed in the Summaron 35mmF3.5 and hit the road for some test shots.

I have been quite slow to go expose the whole roll. The IIIc even flew to Singapore ( and back ) for a week of work when I only took 4 shots ( I was super busy).

One of the 4 shots is a portrait of my shy colleague Terrance above, while we had lunch at Keppel Bay.

The other 32 shots were taken around London, in my usual areas, Chelsea above, Regent’s Street below.

Or even people strolling along King’s road.

So what do I think about the repair? Well the main defect is gone, clearly there is no comparison with my two rolls from Paris in April.

If I want to be picky I would say that I still fill that I still found the right side of the pictures like the above a tad darker. But this is very subjective

When the light is more subdued left and right seems identically exposed.

Up close and personal, with some flare, that’s not on the body, relax.

The Austin Mini (Special) was my very first car back in 1986!

A colourful street, converted in black and white inside the camera.

Around that time everything felt regal.

Emergency Exit, inside a party bus

Fenwick has been sold and will go soon have I heard

Oh I recently read a review of the TT Artisan 28mmF5.6 LTM version, this is a very tempting lens to complete my LTM kit for a limited budget. The original Summaron prices has rocketed sky high. As we enter July tomorrow, Christmas is just 6 month away 🙂

Everything comes to an end. I hope yo enjoyed the post.

Drum & Bass On The Bike

So 4th of June 23 was a beautiful Sunday, where I forgot receiving an invite to join “Drum & Bass On The Bike” at 2pm at Wellington arch. But anyway as fate has it, by 5h30 I passed by the said arch and noticed there was quite a crowd.

DJ Dom Whiting the man himself

Bodies were shaking to to Drum and Bass sound of DomWhiting and frieds.

Good vide and music. Dancing in the street ? Anytime!

Selfie opportunity

Find out more at https://www.domwhiting.co.uk/

All shots Leica M262 and Summaron 35mm F3.5 LTM

2023 ROLL#06 – UNITE TO SURVIVE

This is the work

3rd of April 2023, Extinction Rebellion held a 4 days protest on Parliament Square in central London.

Sunday was a beautiful day, to march, dance and discuss.

Good opportunity to take a camera out, and make a bit of advertisement for the cause of fighting climate change.

So well there I went armed with the Leica M4 and the 50mm Cron, loaded with a roll of Kodak TMY400. I also use the handheld meter (Sekonic 380x) rather than the hot shoe one.

There is no planet B

… whatever Elon says

The mermaids…

.. are not yes instinct, and happy to pause for a snap.

The lady on the left photobombed the shot with her banner, I am not sure what is exactly her specificity. I feel that sometimes even if I agree with the big picture of the movement I may not find myself in one specific chapel, but ok I am here lets go with the flow.

A very witty speaker

There is no Planet B, encore !

I hope you enjoys the pics, and until proven otherwise lest assume there is no Planet B.

2023 ROLL#07 – Here comes the Nikon F3

Buckingham

After a three years hiatus I have resolved to pull the Nikon F3 out of the box. The F3 is amazing, a couple of fresh batteries (LR44 I am not fussy), turn the switch ON … et voila! its working.

Smelling something fishy

You can find a few posts on this blog my F3 :

• Another old fellow back from the magic cupboad – Nikon F3
• The Nikon F3 gets out the closet
• THE NIKON F3 : DOES IT FOCUS OR NOT
• Time travel with the Nikon F3

hurry up Alice

But for a quick summary, when my SRT101 broke in 1992 I bought a second hand beaten Nikon F3. Yes that was 30 years ago! I have carried it in a lot of places other this time, it gathered dust in the 2000’s when digital was the rage and did not get much more use when I went back to film and discovered the rangefinders.

I am a rockstar

But I love the F3. It is a camera I was really longing for, and since I bought the 50mm1.4 AIS for a travel in Nepal, I really have a nice combo there.

So, as I now belong a Nikon F facebook group I decided to ditch the L—- for a while and pick up the F3. That was week end before King Charles coronation so a bit of action was to be expected, or at least a few people wondering around.

What is the experience of shooting with the F3? Well last time I used it was in 2020 so I cannot say I am an expert, it is pretty simple. But alas I always compare to the M6, I think the rings turn i opposite direction, so focusing and adjusting aperture takes time.

reluctant models – I was only interested in the back light

I have a problem of focusing it seems. It may be me or the camera (I never had it serviced) ? Some shots are in focus, some slightly off, some were way off. I really got accustomed to the rangefinder patch.

Gillie and Marc sculpture at the back of Saint Paul

Gillie and Marc sculpture at the back of Saint Paul

It is not so critical, but I would have no confidence taking the portrait of someone and propose to print it for him. I would rate my chances at 30%, I think it would go up to 70 with the M6.

Nice legs

All in all a nice and pleasant experience ( nobody go hurt), it is a good camera to handle. A pleasant roll of my favourite film, the TMAX 100.

What’s on the menu?

So ? Back to the box? For the moment yes. But as I have paid for a full package of batteries, I will have to shoot more rolls to recover my investment. And yes I saw some mint F3s and they are still a pure object of lust, even if I am not 100% satisfied.

A final note, the Leica III is back from ApertureUK, and is loaded with a test roll of FP4. To be continued

A Royal Affair ( 2023 Roll 09)

As most of the planet knows 6th of May 2023 was the coronation of King Charles III of Britain. Being in London it was another good occasion to go out and burn some film.

That was a particularly wet Saturday even for London, so I had a bit of hesitation on the weapon of choice.

I finally settled for the infamous duo : the Leica M6 for film, the Leica M262 for digital. This is the roll of Kodak TMY400 shot on the M6 with the 50mm v5 Summicron.

I did not want to carry too much gear, so I just put the 35mm Asphv2 on the M262 and put the Elmarit 90mmF2.8 in my Wotancraft bag (I cannot remember the model), which usually makes a pretty good job keeping the gear dry in wet weather.

The first set of pictures was shot in Hyde Park after a cumbersome walk around Hyde Park Corner then nearly up to Exhibition road where the park could be entered.

We hang around the giant screens with my friend L. an avid Sony shooter.

Cool crowd, good but not outrageous quantity of drinks ( well ok that was 10h30 am), a bit of silliness and dressing up in a festive mood.

Most everybody was happy to be snapped.

My roll ended up a bit dark, but what do you expect with such a weather.

Finding the exit of the park was just as complicated as getting in but we head out, looking for greener pastures. Through Mayfair and Regents street we made our way to the “Little Republic of Trafalgar Square” where Republicans were demonstrating their opinions on the affair of the day.

Also in good and cheerful atmosphere.

I swapped the lens for the Voigtander 21mmF4, time for a horizontal et a vertical snaps.

These pictures are a bit less descriptive but quite dynamic.

Finally a last supporter of the the King met on the way back, in full attire.

A bit later it was time for the maintenance team to regroup and head back home.

2023 ROLL#05 – PARIS IN THE SPRING (2)

Sunday newspapers sold at the corner of the street

As the proverb says “errare humanum est perseverare diabolicum“, so here my second post with the second roll shot in Paris ( in the spring) with the Leica IIIC and its curtain problem

A bright jazz band

Of course I did no knew at the time that the infamous back curtain was lazy and that my pictures would be overexposed on the left and underexposed on the right.

Meanwhile Kuzama was painting a vertical line

I was so happy shooting away because as per my last post ( 2023 ROLL#04 – PARIS IN THE SPRING ) Paris and Leica III make for happy shooting. Particularly when a jazz band is playing at the foot of a giant Kuzama painting in the sky ( courtesy of LVMH advertising) .

Canal Saint Martin

We made a particularly long walk that day from the Seine to the Canal Saint Martin, aiming to reach la Villette ( we stopped before and turned back, that was already a 10 km plus walk).

Silence Kills

When I lived in Paris, I rarely ventures in this area, I probably did not set foot there in 20 years. For the cinema aficionados along the canal is the famous “Hotel Du Nord” from eponymous movie by Marcel Carné with Arletty.

Walk your plants

The canal seems to have become a fashionable leisure area where the young and the less young go for a stroll, a ciggie or a drink on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Particularly if the sun is out.

Rediscovering comics

.. playing pétanque, reading, lounging, studying, making music, drinking again, sunbathing, all typeof activities seems to fit along this calm water piece.

Unwilling victim of my camera

Our road ended at the “base nautique de la Villette”, visiting the park of la Vilette will be for another time.

A Vintage Citroen DS, with its vintage driver, shot with a vintage camera.

In 2023 we bring our empty bottles for recycling

The country of food (like any other country)

Next day was the last day in Paris, time for a couple of snaps like the creperie above of the other jazz band below.

A young fan

Ok I did not emphasize too much but the all the shots show signs of the curtain problem, at various level, depending on the speed of the shutter. I played a bit with Lightroom trying to balance highlights and underexposed areas, but I think as the scanner was fooled by the problem, there is just that much I can do. I think I can try to rescan some shots twice and blend… not sure there as any worthy of such work, maybe the next one…

Hyde Park Corner, London

Back in London I still had a few shots in the roll. I changed the lens for the Voigtlander Color Skopar 21mmF4 and shoot away on a Saturday stroll. The mounted police above is quite nice, very dynamic, the 21 has some charm.

Vintage on vintage again

This roll was shot on Kodak Tri-X (ROll 04 was TMY 400).

So the Leica IIIC went to Aperture UK for a CLA and they called me after a little more than a week to announce it was ready. I went to collect it yesterday and put a roll on it so I am checking that its definitely ok. The CLA cost 240 GBP, already the cleaning of the rangefinder is awesome, even if the window is small, it is super bright, focusing is a bliss. It looks like I have anew curtain also.

Tottenham court road – London

Is it worth it? Well how long is a piece of string? The gentleman from the shop told me a IIIC is about 250 GBP, so I could buy a new non CLA’d one instead of fixing mine : that’s an easy answer. Now on the other hand this starts to be an expensive camera. I bought it for about 200£ 10 years ago, had an initial service of about 200£ and now an 240, that’s a 640£ body. On the plus side its newly CLA’d, is in good condition. I shot something north of 40 rolls over 10 years, you can try to make some maths see how much vintage shooting costs.

Lets see how the new roll turns up…