Shots taken with a camera that is always with you

[GrahamBy]

Oh, another with DSLR: I volunteered to be a model for a friend's life drawing class, and turned the tables at the change of pose:

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Ha, I found a cheap flight to Europe in 1986 on JAT (Yugoslav Airlines). Aside from the flight itself (smokers on the left, non-smokers on the right, broken seat, an oxygen leak which fortunately prevented the smokers from lighting up at risk of immolation), there was an obligatory night in an "International" Hotel in Belgrade. I remember a dining room that must have been able to set 400, with 1 diner... and in the room, my bed was in an alcove that was quite a bit shorter than me...

Yes, it was often said that if you came to Belgrade from the West, it looked like the East. If you came from the East, it looked like the West 

[armand]

A shot of my now gone father while playing his favorite game; in an airplane taken with Canon Powershot S100. I moved to Sony RX100 since but I still have the Canon, very compact and good if the light was decent.

[Zorki5]

I've come across a gem of a short video, featuring an 82-year old New York photographer, Ken Van Sickle, musing on the subject of "What makes a photographer when everyone is taking pictures?" Well worth 3 minutes of our lives, in my humble opinion.

https://youtu.be/hA_uVCCD5Is

For the purpose of this discussion, however, I am attaching a relevant screen shot. The sentence before that one was "I carry a camera..."

Thanks for the link; the central station shot at 1:45 reminded me of a shoot I took while on a night walk with my wife in a small Ukrainian town; taken with 5D (original) and 16-35/2.8 II... I had Fuji f31fd as the time, but also grabbed 5D as it was dark outside already.

The street was lit with mercury-vapor lamps, which gave the scene quite a surreal look...

[Richowens]

S90, taken at the library in Davis, Ca.
I was fascinated by the light patterns.

 

[MattBurt]

I often carry a small SLR, a Pentax KS-2 with a few of those lovely little jewels, the DA Limited primes. Or sometimes the weatherproof 18-135 but it's a little bulkier. Almost always worth it to have along!

Those O'Hare shots remind me of this Detroit International shot from last fall.
IMGP2615-Edit by Matt Burt, on Flickr

I take it on dog walks.
IMGP5422-Edit by Matt Burt, on Flickr

...and people walks.
IMGP5317-Edit by Matt Burt, on Flickr

[Zorki5]

I was fascinated by the light patterns.

This is something I quite like myself -- patters, geometrical compositions...

I'm fond of Rodchenko's works largely because of that, even though geometrical figures per se were rarely his subject. His use of angles and unusual perspective though is something of a very similar nature.

[Zorki5]

I often carry a small SLR, a Pentax KS-2 with a few of those lovely little jewels, the DA Limited primes. Or sometimes the weatherproof 18-135 but it's a little bulkier. Almost always worth it to have along!

Sometimes I used to carry 5D with Tamron 28-300 even on a walk, just in case. One such walk, with quite a story behind it, led me to the observation deck of the Christ the Savior Cathedral. Good Lord, what a view of Kremlin was in front of me... Pretty good weather, just the "right" clouds, and only a Tamron superzoom with me. Would prefer having my 24-105/4.

Still regret now being better prepared then, but that's that. Bumping "clarity" in post never has the same effect as contrast of a good lens:

[Zorki5]

Some robot show, RX100II. Can't remember this guy's name, unfortunately.

The lighting was a blitz of blue and magenta, really hard on the eyes let alone the little Sony; here's what I managed to salvage:

[Zorki5]

Still regret now being better prepared then, but that's that. Bumping "clarity" in post never has the same effect as contrast of a good lens

That said, a superzoom do have its perks:

[muntanela]

I won't even start describing what restrooms looked over there...

I was in St. Petersburg in March 1998, in a sort of secondary school residence. I remember well the bathrooms, they weren't dirty, but had deposits very similar to those of caves, I was very impressed by that mysterious and baroque underground world on a high floor. I had my old Canon FTb, but the light was insufficient to take shots.

[MattBurt]

Out on a snowshoe again with Luna and that KS-2/18-135 combo for quick snaps.
IMGP5589-Edit by Matt Burt, on Flickr

[Zorki5]

Out on a snowshoe again with Luna and that KS-2/18-135 combo for quick snaps.

High-key made her face look strangely human to me; I just spent several long minutes staring at the image -- for the second time. Maybe it's just me, I don't know. Uncanny.

[luxborealis]

I love a window seat when flying, and am always on the lookout for signifiant views. Here are two from my early days with digital. Both were made with an Olympus E-1 (5mp). The B&W printed quite well on a 42" canvas and is now in our livingroom.

Enjoy!

[Zorki5]

I love a window seat when flying, and am always on the lookout for signifiant views.

Terry, many thanks for sharing. Kilimanjaro is one of those places that truly fascinate me, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen any view of it similar to your first image. Almost top-down views, or similar to your second, but not the first one. Also, Kilimanjaro shots taken from a plane tend to look... documentary at best, while yours is very nicely composed.

Here are two from my early days with digital. Both were made with an Olympus E-1 (5mp). The B&W printed quite well on a 42" canvas and is now in our livingroom.

My first digital camera was Sony F717, a tad older than your E1; also 5Mp. Wouldn't say "your mention of 'early days with digital' provoked lots of fond memories" though    Nope, I quite like where we are today, technologically. I could barely live with necessity to stick with ISO100... barely, but could... But AF was completely and truly nightmarish for someone trying to catch that moment.

Here's a shot I took with F717 during a trip to San Diego's Sea World:

[MattBurt]

High-key made her face look strangely human to me; I just spent several long minutes staring at the image -- for the second time. Maybe it's just me, I don't know. Uncanny.

She has an expressive face for sure, especially her eyes. Thanks for the comment. If I can make an image someone wants to linger on I consider it a success!

[Ken Bennett]

Saw this gentleman while waiting for a train in a small Ukrainian city on New Year's Eve. Grabbed my X-T1 and the 18mm lens and ran out into the snow chasing after him, shooting the whole time. The locals probably thought I was crazy -- didn't see a lot of people shooting street photography over there.

[luxborealis]

Saw this gentleman while waiting for a train in a small Ukrainian city on New Year's Eve. Grabbed my X-T1 and the 18mm lens and ran out into the snow chasing after him, shooting the whole time. The locals probably thought I was crazy -- didn't see a lot of people shooting street photography over there.

Fantastic! This could/should go viral!

[Ken Bennett]

Fantastic! This could/should go viral!

Thanks, though I expect it'll just be my Christmas card next year.

[BobDavid]

I wish that would be true. In reality, I leave my cameras (DSLR or p&s) at home way too often. I wish I have Zorki5's tenacity to "never ever leave home w/o a camera."

And yes, I took a camera (though not a DSLR) to that place you probably have in mind too.

You see, during my years in Russia, I traveled on business to some areas quite different from the westernized expat refuges (i.e., glitzy restaurants, hotels, and shopping malls) in Moscow in the mid-nineties. Hotel accommodations in those other places was more in line with Soviet standards. For instance, Krasnodar, in the south of Russia, had one floor of one hotel (!) renovated to western standards (by Turkish contractors - something that won't be possible as of this year). Clean bathrooms, marble, Italian faucets, etc. The price was reasonable, about $60 per room. At one point, however, there was some sort of convention in town and I was forced to stay in a Soviet era Intourist hotel, the only chain allowed to host foreign tourists in the past. Their prices reflected that old mentality of charging more to foreigners, coupled with the fact that they probably knew everything else was already fully booked, so the price was $100. But their rooms, and especially bathrooms, were a far cry from the Turkish renovated, Italian marble, etc. ones in the other hotel. So I took out my p&s (an Olympus Stylus at the time) to document something more akin to a public toilet in a seedy part of town than a $100-a night hotel. Sorry, can't show it to you now, my then-wife tore up the print, as too inappropriate to keep

The only other time I left my DSLR at home for a significant trip (and have regretted that to this day) was my trip to Belgrade in 2010. I just took a Canon G10. To make matters worse, I made another one of those once-and-never-again decisions, i.e., to shoot only jpeg. I thought  that, with no options to download the memory card during the trip, it would be prudent to save some space on it. Big mistake.

Nevertheless, I made two shots that have a special meaning to me. One of my now-late father:



... and the other on a layover stop in Paris. The Paris shot, in spite of being a straight-out-of-camera jpeg from a p&s, printed on a 30"x40" canvas, is now my best selling print at art fairs:

Thanks for the stories. I studied the picture of you father before reading the backstory. It held my attention on several levels.  I totally get the Parisian scene. It's impressionistic, colorful, and "romantic." Now and again, I'll have set my camera on low-res jpg and make do with what's there. On occasion, through careful post processing, I've been able to salvage a picture--mostly because the subject transcended the technical limitations. One of my mentors always said: "Impact trumps technique."