vertigo

Rain might keep me from shooting, but drizzle isn’t so bad. So, today I managed to finish the two rolls of 120 I had planned for yesterday – a roll of Rollei CR200 and a roll of Portra 400 – plus another two rolls of HP5+ with the Leica. I guess I have developed a few good strategies where to shoot in this town now and haven’t been frustrated about shooting here for a while. Summer helps and it’s way more interesting than the winter months. The people around here are creatures of habit too, so they tend to go out always at the same time of day to do the same kind of things and it helps to pick my route on my walks. The best time to go for a walk in the neighbourhood is just before siesta when everyone is getting ready for lunch. The children just come back from school, people go to buy their bread or some ingredients for the meal and it’s easy to catch little everyday moments. It’s also the worst time to go to the supermarket actually.

The best time to hit the city centre on the other hand is just after siesta when people come back from work. Then they might go shopping or buy a few groceries in the supermarket in town. There is no light in winter, but in summer it works. And of course Saturday is a good day for this as well, but it’s insanely crowded. And if you’re trying to avoid people the best time is obviously the siesta, but this doesn’t necessarily hold for the touristy areas which I usually reach by the time the siesta just starts. And a good side-effect of this strategy is that I usually finish at the perfect time to get a few things from the supermarket when it’s at its emptiest. With these strategies timing is essential and half an hour too early or too late will leave me with deserted streets. However, I’m really getting better at this and lately I managed not to have any unsuccessful or frustrating walks.

And today I even ran into another photographer. I stopped at the local second hand shop to see whether they had any interesting cameras or lenses – they hardly ever do – and an old man started talking to me after he saw my Leica. Apparently he has 7 Leicas himself – among them an M2, M4 and an M5, but also two Rolleiflexes including a 2.8 Planar. Although I’m perfectly happy with one Leica and one Rolleicord for street, the 2.8 Planar is a delicious thought in itself.

The roll I show you today continues right after I finished off with the last one yesterday.

All pictures taken with: Leica M6, Zeiss ZM C-Biogon 35mm f/2.8.
Kentmere 400 stand-developed in Caffenol-CL.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

Did I mention that I’m afraid of heights? I couldn’t look down without vertigo, but if there is a camera viewfinder between me and the abyss I have no problem whatsoever.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

This was calling for black and white.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

Quite predictably a stunner in black and white.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

This is the building of an insurance … tells you everything you need to know about their intentions.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

The architect clearly didn’t mind wasted space. By the way, I stumbled over that corner when I was trying to frame.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

I already saw this from the other side, but there were distracting signs in the background, so I walked into the field to get the shot I wanted. Well worth it.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

And the field was rather photogenic too.

Comments

  • Micke

    Enjoyable reading as usual, and great images. I guess the town your walking about in, is Barcelona. Right?
    Regards

    • Thank you Micke! And no, I wish it was Barcelona, but instead it’s a much smaller beach town at the Atlantic.

      • Micke

        Hmmm, to bad, but I guess the Atlantic beachtown has some to offer. Myself is in a VERY small town, ca 490 km south of Barca… (As you Leica shooter, M3 Summi50)
        Rock on

        • Well, it offers surfers mainly … not really that amazing I have to say. At times it really frustrates me, but at least there is a nice beach in the summer. The rest of the time it rains …! That’s what happens when you combine the ocean with mountains sadly. M3, nice! Cron 50 or the lux?

          • Micke

            Summicron, just 60 years old 😉 ( http://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/50mm-f2-dr.htm )
            Love the body and lens, so solid and accurate.

          • Cool lens 🙂 I don’t have much use for 50mm myself but might get one for low light at some point.

          • Micke

            50mm is pretty allround but I would love to get the Elmarit 28mm 2,8 -M. Love the fact that both lenses takes 39mm filter. Can be found on Ebay or so… 🙂

          • I think I couldn’t live without a wide angle, the Zeiss is my only M lens so far and the only complaint I have is that sometimes I’d need something faster. The same filter system? That’s handy. I use a step up ring to 52mm because the Zeiss takes 43mm filters and that’s completely strange. 52mm is easy to find and I share the same filters with the Rollei with an adapter too.

          • Micke

            That’s pretty nice solution, I mean, filters are not that cheap 🙁
            I have a 28mm 2,8 Canon FD lens and a 50mm for my F1 body. I think that 50mm and 28mm goes very well together, as complementing nicely. Mostly shoot color on the F1, so don’t really need any filters for it.

          • Indeed, filters are quite expensive, so I didn’t want to buy more than one set. The only filter I have for colour is an 80A filter.

Leave a Reply