Unlike on my last trip, I wanted to shoot film only and therefore I brought my Leica M6 and my favorite lens the 28mm Summicron. Yes, I also shot some film for a future Youtube video on my Hasselblad X-Pan, but I haven’t developed those rolls yet.

I had a wonderful time shooting in Istanbul and I can highly recommend going there.

Check out my video, where I talk in more detail about what it’s like shooting street photography in Istanbul.

https://youtu.be/3hItghXwckA

Besides my Leica M6 and the 28mm Summicron, I brought the Canon 50mm f/1.8 LTM with me. It’s a screw mount lens from the 1950s which is very affordable and even though it is pretty old, it is capable to deliver some lovely images.

I also brought with me the Leica SL that was loaned to me by Leica Camera Austria. It is pretty bulky and not exactly lightweight but that viewfinder, absolutely gorgeous. I can’t wait to see what the successor to the almost 4 year old Leica SL will look like.

The first roll I shot was Kodak Portra 400 which I usually overexpose by 2-3 stops. The side effect is that the color is shifting and I really like that look but on the first shot I am not that happy with the result. However, later it got a lot better and I absolutely love the results, especially the photos taken on the bridge. That totally makes sense because by then the lighting was spot on. I think Portra 160 would have been a better choice to start with.

After finishing the roll of Portra 400, I quickly loaded a roll of Adox Silvermax 100. I can’t stress enough how much I love this film. Especially when using the Silvermax developer, the tonality and the contrast that film is able to deliver is outstanding. I wish Adox would offer Silvermax 100 also in 120, that would be the dream.

The Leica SL files have been edited in Lightroom using my Color Profiles. You can get them by clicking here.

If you wanna see me taking the photos, check out my Youtube video:

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a trip to Kiev in Ukraine. I went there with a friend and he asked me if I wanna go to Chernobyl. That sounded like a nice adventure and I couldn’t resist.

I took my Leica M6 with a 28mm Summicron with me, loaded with some Silbersalz35 200t film. I also recorded a Youtube video where you can see me shooting in Chernobyl. In the video you can also see some of the photos my friend Dominik took with his Leica M4 and some Fuji Industrial 100. If you wanna see more photos he took, check out his blog: Leicaontravel

23 Lightroom presets that will give you very different looks. Actually, these are no presets like you might know them, these are color profiles which have a couple of advantages over traditional presets. The main benefit is that you can change the opacity of the color profiles and so it’s up to you how prominent the look will be. And the cool thing is that you can easily combine these color profiles with traditional presets that you might already have installed.

The color profiles will work with RAW files and JPEGs. You can use them in Adobe Camera RAW, Lightroom Classic CC, Lightroom CC, and with the Lightroom mobile App.

Compatible with: Adobe Camera RAW 10.3 (April 2018) or newer, Lightroom Classic CC v7.3 (April 2018) or newer, Lightroom CC (April 2018 update) or newer, Lightroom Mobile App (iOS 3.2, Android 3.4) or newer

The color profiles will only work with these or newer versions!

Included are 23 color profiles that let you create awesome looks with minimal effort.

See my Youtube video where I show how I use them:

Purchase the presets in my Etsy Shop for only 13,99€

Next to my digital cameras, I brought along the Hasselblad X-Pan and the Rolleiflex SL66 medium format camera. The idea was to document the trip with the X-Pan by shooting one roll of Kodak Vision 3 250d each day. That doesn’t sound that hard but the fact that I was on an assignment and this was only a personal project on the side, made it very tough. Nevertheless, I managed to get it done and here are a couple of shots I took during that time. You can check out the rest over on Youtube.

The first couple of days we had a lot of rain and the sky was overcast most of the time. Fortunately, that changed the second week where the weather was much nicer.

arrival day

Victoria, Mahe

construction workers, Mahe

Victoria, Mahe

Mahe

Marina, Praslin

our three boats

the view could be worse…

skipper at work, St. Anne Marine National Park

good morning, Praslin

stray dogs, Ile Moyenne

after the rain, Mahe

epic view, Praslin

epic rock formation, La Digue

epic rocks on the beach, La Digue

Petite Anse, La Digue

Anse Cocos, La Digue

Anse Lazio, Praslin

You can check out the whole series on Youtube:

And now here a couple of photos I took with the Rolleiflex SL66.

Grand Anse, La Digue, Kodak Portra 160

Grand Anse, La Digue, Kodak Portra 160

Grand Anse, La Digue, Fuji Velvia 50

Grand Anse, La Digue, Fuji Velvia 50

Anse Cocos, La Digue, Fuji Velvia 50

La Digue, Fuji Velvia 50

 La Digue, Fuji Velvia 50

La Digue, Fuji Velvia 50

Ok, that’s about it for today. Thank you for reading!

Leica M6, 35mm, Kodak Vision 3 250d

Leica M6, 35mm, Kodak Vision 3 250d

Well, the first thing I’ve noticed is that the city is as beautiful as people are telling. With all the old buildings and the canals running through parts of the old town, you can easily tell the builders of the city were inspired by western European architecture. For me personally, the streets of Saint Petersburg would make a nice backdrop for street photography. It was also very convenient that the weather during my time there was almost perfect with sunny days and a temperature just shy over 20°C.

What could possibly go wrong with conditions like that?

Leica M6, 35mm, Kodak Vision 3 250d

Leica M6, 35mm, Kodak Vision 3 250d

I brought along two film cameras with one lens each. My main camera of choice was the Leica M6 with a 35mm lens and also shot with my beloved Hasselblad X-Pan which can take amazing panoramic images but more on that camera in a separate article. I also brought along a bunch of film. Most of the film stocks I was very familiar with and one I wanted to try out for a while.

Leica M6, 35mm, Kodak Vision 3 250d

Leica M6, 35mm, Kodak Vision 3 250d

Hasselblad X-Pan, 45mm, Kodak Vision 3 250d

Hasselblad X-Pan, 45mm, Kodak Vision 3 250d

After shooting there for a bit and especially after my first days in Russia ever I noticed a couple of things that might be interesting to you if you plan to visit Saint Petersburg.

What caught me by surprise was the fact that talking to locals was harder than I anticipated and even the younger generation couldn’t speak much English at all. Since this city is flooded with tourists every year I expected it to be a little easier. In fact, it might be easier to find people that speak German rather than English at least that is what I’ve been told. Nevertheless, it’s not a big deal and somehow you can make it work with putting in a little effort.

Leica M6, 35mm, JCH Streetpan 400

Leica M6, 35mm, Fuji Acros 100

Leica M6, 35mm, Ilford HP5+ pushed one stop

Even if the language barrier can cause some issues which wasn’t a problem at all was getting around the city. It is a massive city and in fact, it is the second largest city in Russia but still if you focus rather on the center of Saint Petersburg you can easily get anywhere by walking. Personally, I think as a street photographer it is the best way to explore any new place and in order to get good shots you have to walk a lot and at the same time it is a good work out.

Of course, you can also take the subway or the bus to check out the outskirts of the city. Public transportation is good and rather cheap.

Leica M6, 35mm, Fuji Acros 100

Leica M6, 35mm, Ilford HP5+ pushed two stops

Leica M6, 35mm, JCH Streetpan 400

Another topic I wanna address at least briefly and that is safety. During my time in Saint Petersburg, I felt rather save and had no issues whatsoever. However, I didn’t go out shooting during night time so I can’t comment on that. Of course, like in all big cities around the world, you should be careful with your gear and all your belongings and try to avoid circumstances that make you an easy target for theft and other crimes. Using common sense often helps not to get in any trouble.

Hasselblad X-Pan, 45mm, Fuji Acros 100 pushed two stops

Hasselblad X-Pan, 45mm, Ilford HP5+ pushed one stop

Hasselblad X-Pan, 45mm, Ilford HP5+ pushed two stops

Now to the most important bit of this article, the thing I was curious about the most and that was how people would react to having their photo taken without asking for permission. Over the years I’ve shot candid street photography in many places around the globe and everywhere it feels a little different. Before my trip to Saint Petersburg I expected that people would show more of a negative reaction which in general is pretty rare but somehow I thought that that might happen more often in Russia. However, to my surprise that wasn’t the case. Actually, it has been super easy and even when I got really close to people, there was not a single instance where somebody got really upset. Even though I saw a lot of people that looked rather grumpy and when I approached one of them most of the time there was no reaction or some people even smiled when they realized that I took their photo.

Hasselblad X-Pan, 45mm, Ilford HP5+ pushed two stops

Hasselblad X-Pan, 45mm, Ilford HP5+ pushed two stops

Hasselblad X-Pan, 45mm, Ilford HP5+ pushed two stops

In conclusion, the trip was a total success and at one point in the future I would love to go back to Russia for a new street photography adventure.

If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I will try to answer them as soon as possible. And of course, smack the like button and follow me on Instagram and Youtube!

Hier nur ein paar Beispiele, den Rest könnt ihr euch in meinem Artikel auf meinem Hochzeitsblog anschauen.

It was a lot of fun running around the streets looking for some nice subjects to shoot. The Kodak Ektar 100 is a lovely film and I really like the colors and the overall look.

Here you can watch how I took the photos.

If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I will try to answer them as soon as possible. And of course, smack the like button and follow me on Instagram and Youtube!

I had roughly one hour to shoot 20 frames of Kodak Vison3 250d which I bulk loaded before the trip. The film has really nice colors and I absolutely loving it.

I used my M6 with the Voigtländer 35/1.7 and here you can watch how I took the photos.

If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I will try to answer them as soon as possible. And of course, smack the like button and follow me on Instagram and Youtube!

Today I wanna talk to you about something that is really important in street photography and that is the idea of using a wide angle lens and getting close to your subject.

Leica Q, 1/400, f/11, ISO400

Why using a wide angle lens in the first place?

You may already know the famous quote „If your photos aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough“ by Robert Capa. He wasn’t exactly what I would call a street photographer but nevertheless, these famous words apply to a lot of genres of photography and especially to street photography.

But this is also raising the question what close enough means and if using a telephoto lens could simply solve the problem. In my opinion, he wasn’t referring to how much the photographed subject is filling the frame, it is rather about the proximity of the photographer itself to the scene he or she is taking a photo of.

A photo taken with a wide angle lens will give the viewer a very different perception of a scene compared to one taken with a telephoto lens. The viewer will feel more connected to the image and the main reason is that the photographer, instead of being an observer from a distance, was actually a part of the scene itself.

So, using a wide angle lens will force you to get closer to your subject or otherwise the image could end up being boring with simply too much in it and no actual subject to draw the viewers eyes to.

Leica Monochrom 246, 35mm, red filter, 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 1600

Sony A7rII, 21mm, 1/8000, f/1.8, ISO 100

Leica Monochrom 246, 35mm, 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 6400

How wide should you go?

Many years I shot a focal length of 35mm or something equal to that on cropped sensors. However, when I got the Leica Q I had to adapt to the even wider 28mm of its Summilux lens. I’ve also tried to shoot in the range of 21-24mm but that was almost too wide for me and these kinds of lenses might introduce some other issues like distortions.

However, if you’re used to shooting 50mm or even longer, a 35mm lens might be a good starting point.

Personally, 28mm is almost perfect for me and offers a couple of advantages over a 35mm lens. It doesn’t sound like a big difference, but the 7mm less will give you the ability to get even closer while including the same context of a scene. And of course, the depth of field is less shallow which makes manual focus more easy without stopping down the lens too much.

Leica Monochrom 246, 35mm, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 3200

Leica Q, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 100

Leica Q, 1/1000, f/11, ISO 320

Does it matter what kind of gear I am using?

For the most part in street photography, the gear you are using doesn’t matter that much.

However, if you want to get close there is certain gear that might be better suited to get good results. I am not talking about image quality and stuff like that, it is rather the appearance of the camera and how noisy the shutter is.

You don’t need much imagination to guess how intimidating a big DSLR is to your subjects when holding it up right in their faces at a close distance of 1m. When using something small like a Leica Q, a Rico GR or a Fuji X70 it makes a big difference and you can get away with a lot more.

These three cameras share another advantage and that is the leaf shutter which makes them super quiet.

Of course, a small mirrorless camera that has an electronic shutter should also work very well.

Leica Q, 1/500, f/11, ISO 100

Leica Q, 1/125, f/1.7, ISO 640

Leica Q, 1/500, f/11, ISO 320

What are the downsides of getting close? People are getting angry, aren’t they?

Actually, I can’t think of any relevant downsides or whatsoever but I get a lot of comments and messages where people share their concerns and assumptions on that topic. By far the biggest concern people have is that they fear that the subject is getting mad at them for „invading“ their personal space. That might sound logical to someone who has never done something like that. However, I’ve never had a seriously bad experience so far. Often people are confused because of you taking their photo. Sometimes they turn around to have a look at what could have been your potential subject since you are that close, they simply assume you must have shot something behind them.

One thing you should be beware of when going out on the streets is that most people are stuck in their heads and they rather do not care about you. Even if they notice you taking their photo, they will most likely forget about it very quickly. In case someone is asking you what you are doing, be open about it and explain what’s going on.

Leica Q, 1/1000, f/11, ISO 1000

Leica Q, 1/1000, f/11, ISO 200

Leica Q, 1/1000, f/11, ISO 250

Do you have any tips for beginners?

Of course, there are certain things you can do to make it a little more effortless improving your skills.

• Be familiar with your camera settings and use zone focusing. That will make you much quicker and the keeper rate will be a lot higher
• act like a tourist and always try to be polite
• avoid eye contact with your subject
• maybe don’t start in areas that are not very populated, instead go to crowded places
  • sometimes people will approach you and invade your personal space
  • you won’t stand out the attention is not on you
  • go to touristy places where people take photos all the time
• try to shoot on subways where you can extremely close and you have time get some shots
• crosswalks and traffic lights are a perfect hunting ground where people are walking towards you
• carry the camera around your neck instead of holding it in your hands, it makes it a little faster to raise it and capture a decisive moment.

Leica Monochrom 246, 35mm, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 1250

Leica Monochrom 246, 35mm, red filter, 1/500, f/2.8, ISO 800

Conclusion

I hope that helps you to understand why you might wanna try to get close and personal with a wide angle lens. For me personally, the biggest benefits are:

• street photos taken with a wide angle are much are immersive and simply more fun to look at
• You are taking a higher risk by getting close to your subject but that might pay off with some nice images that stand out
• you need to step out of your comfort zone and that will help you to overcome the anxiety to approach strangers out on the streets.

If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I will try to answer them as soon as possible. And of course, smack the like button and follow me on Instagram and Youtube!