French Quarter in the Rain - Leica IIIC and Summar 5cm f2

I recently attended the LHSA (International Leica Society) Spring Shoot in New Orleans, Louisiana. One of my favorite places to photograph, I was hoping we'd get some inclement weather to build some mood into my pictures. I was not let down - it rained on and off, sometimes quite heavily, during my whole trip. I loved it.

 

Here are some shots of street musicians playing in front of Rouse's Grocery on Royal Street as a rain storm rolled in and subsequently left.

 

All were shot with the Leica IIIC and Summar 5cm f2 lens. One of Leica's earliest fast lenses, the Summar is infamous for being being soft. I happen to have a clean copy, without a scratched front element, which is rare. I find it to be a wonderful lens.

 

 

Shooting iso 400 film (Kodak TMax 400), I couldn't quite get a fast enough shutter speed to capture the rain as I wanted. I hope that you can see it in images 2 and 3.

 

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Walking in the Rain, New Orleans

I met this nice lady one morning at Jackson Square. I informed her that she was wearing the red jacket that every photographer dreams of, especially when shooting on a dreary, rainy day. She actually agreed to walk out into the rain so that I could photograph her under the tree covered in Mardi Gras beads, with the wrought iron fence of Jackson Square in the background. Now that says New Orleans.

 

Walking in the Rain, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, 50mm f1.4 Summilux Lens

iso 800, f3.4, 1/90 sec.

 

She actually emailed me (I gave her my card), and I sent her this image. It's nice to close the loop in that way.

 

My only regreat is that I had to act quickly, and didn't use a fast enough shutter speed to clearly show that it was raining pretty hard at that moment. 1/250 second would probably have capture it well. Of course, that would have meant higher iso and wider aperture, which would have compromised depth of field (I wanted a lot) and digital noise. So, this is the compromise I decided to make.

 

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Rain Makes Night Photography More Dramatic - Leica M9

Armstrong, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4 Lens

iso 640, 1/16 sec.

 

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Dogwood Blossoms in Rain

I have been enjoying shooting my older Nikon SLRs a little more often lately. These shots were all made with my Nikon F (plain prism) and Nikkor pre-AI 135mm f3.5 lens.

 

Taken just after a morning rain, I found the color of the dogwood blossoms and the water drops quite interesting. Moving in close and shooting wide open, I was able to get quite a shallow depth of field.

 

The light was changing quickly as the clouds cleared, as you can see in the second image, where the sunlight's a lot more direct than in the others.

 

I really love shooting these old film cameras.

 

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Another Simple Post - I Love Umbrellas

Image Source: http://hillofcarnation.blogspot.com/2013/12/blog-post_8458.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HillOfCarnation+%28Hill+of+Carnation%29

 

I ran across this beautiful image on "Hill of Carnation" - a Japanese blog. It says so much about contemporary Japanese lifestyle.

 

(Click Here) to see the blog.

 

Here's one of my rain/umbrella pics from my latest trip to Japan. I don't know why, but I find umbrellas so photogenic.

 

Rain in Nihonbashi, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Leica Summilux 35mm f1.4 Lens

iso 640, f2.4, 1/45 sec.

 

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The "Sketchbook" Concept

User jl-lb.ms on Rangefinder Forum has put a name to the concept of exploring a subject or concept with a camera, simply documenting a scene, or exploring a thought. He calls it a "sketchbook."

 

(Click Here) to read the post on Rangefinder Forum, and see a couple of examples posted in the comments.

 

I think I do this regularly. Below is an example of my exploration of some raindrops on a tree in the dreary winter of Virginia.

 

"Sketchbook" Raindrops, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Pana-Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f2.8 Lens

 

Little glimpses like this are interesting. I remember well the day I took these. I was out for a late January walk, cabin fever having set in. I also remember lamenting the barren scene of winter, with very little interesting to look at or shoot. White sky, no leaves on the trees, lots of gray. Even in these times, if you look hard enough, something is interesting. One approach is to simply go with the lack of color and shoot monochrome. Look for structure. Another is always to shoot closeups.

 

What works in these shots, if anything at all, is the glowing dots of out-of-focus raindrops. The final shot shows these best, in my opinion. Even though the overall outdoor light was very dull, even, low contrast, the drops against a relatively dark shadow background lends at least a little drama. No masterpiece here, these are still worthy of the "sketchbook." They bring back the day for me now, 18 months later.

 

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Practicing What I Preach - A Walk In The Autumn Rain - The Warm Side

I'm always writing that photographers should not let inclement weather keep them inside. Today I decided to practice what I preach. So, I grabbed the Leica M9, mounted the first Leica lens I ever owned (a 1953 Summarit 50mm f1.5) and headed out right after a major rain. I saw the light turning nice, and went for it. Turned out, the rain didn't come back until after I was finished. I was rewarded with these images.
 

First Reds of the Season, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summarit 50mm f1.5 lens

iso 200, f6.7, 1/60 sec

 

Nature's Rituals, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summarit 50mm f1.5 lens

iso 200, f1.5, 1/180 sec

 

Sun Shines Through, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summarit 50mm f1.5 lens

iso 200, f2.8, 1/1000 sec

Water Drops on Reeds, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summarit 50mm f1.5 lens

iso 200, f2.8, 1/4000 sec

End of Days, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summarit 50mm f1.5 lens

iso 200, f11, 1/250 sec

 
 

Transition, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summarit 50mm f1.5 lens

iso 200, f2.8, 1/2000 sec

 

 

I don't use this old lens much any more. It has a little haze, but not too bad. It gives a crazy out of focus accent, known as "bokeh" in photographic circles. It's pretty darned sharp, but the focus point moves forward at wide apertures. It's truly an artistic lens, not a technical one. But, I love the results.

 
The Summarit also draws very nicely in black and white. In my next post, I'll include a couple of monochrome shots taken on the same day. Get ready for a little creepy autumn darkness after all the warmth and color of this one...
 
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Shooting in Bad Weather

It's that time of year, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere - yes, here in Northern Virginia, along with the welcome cooler temperatures, gorgeous changing leaves, and approach of winter, we get a fair amount of rain. I try my best not to let it keep me indoors, or away from shooting.
 
I recently read an article on shooting in inclement weather on the Photo Blog ePHOTOzine.
 
(Click Here) to read the full article.
 
Here are some points that author John Gravett makes about shooting in the rain:
 

1. Wear protective gear for yourself - a good rain jacket, waterproof pants, maybe gloves. John doesn't wear gloves, but suggests neoprene fishmerman's gloves, if you need them.
2. Carry a waterproof camera bag. Many of the LowePro bags come with a handy integrated rain cover, for example. You can also always use a plastic bag, but it doesn't look as cool.
3. Protect your camera when it's out of the bag. John makes the point that some gear (he mentions Nikon) is very water resistant. I use the Shutter Hat (below) for my Nikon or Micro 4/3 kits when it's really raining. I use a hotel room hair cover (the ones that you get free in the hotel room bathroom) for smaller cameras. I also use a DiCaPac cover for my Lumix DMC-LX5, which makes it completely waterproof.

Shutter Hat Camera Protector

Image Source: www.amazon.com

 
In terms of the photography itself, John likes to work with telephoto lenses to compress the perspective, and often uses water to provide a flow to the composition.

Rain on Branches, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, Lumix 45-200mm Zoom Lens

iso 800, f5.6, 1/125 sec

 
John also suggests trying black and white in the rain.I find that black and white, with a yellow or red filter to make the sky contrast more dramatic, can really work well.
 
Here's a shot I took in the pouring rain, using my DMC-LX5 in the DiCaPac cover.
 

Chesapeake On A Rainy Day, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

iso 80, f2.8, 1/320 sec

 
If I were to try that again today, I would certainly do it with my waterproof Lumix DMC-TS3. It's so much easier to use than operating camera controls through a waterproof cover. And there was enough light on this day that the TS3 would have done fine. The TS3 doesn't shoot raw, and doesn't have near the low light and lower noise capability of the LX5. But, in this case, convenience would have been very nice.
 
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Photography Blog Announces April Contest Winners, and Start of May Contest ("Rain")

 

First Place Winner - "The Blue Galaxy," by csardases

Image Source: http://www.photographyblog.com/news/april_2012_competition_winners/

Photography Blog (www.photographyblog.com) has announced the winners of its April photo contest, themed "Black and Blue," as well as kicking off its May contest, "Rain."

(Click Here) to see the announcement of the winning images (first place, "The Blue Galaxy," by czardases, shown above.)

Be sure to (click here) to see the full gallery of April entries.

Personally, I find the overall quality of the submitted images to be quite good. For example, the second place winner ("Virus," by zainee) is really cool:

Second Place Winner - "Virus" by zainee

Image Source: http://www.photographyblog.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=124393

I plan to get out there and shoot some rain-related images for the May contest. I have a couple existing images in mind, but can always add more. Here in Northern Virginia, I'm sure I'll get the chance to get out in the rain this month.

In fact, I need to get my Lumix DMC-TS3 waterproof camera out in the rain!

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