I've decided to rename the Spotlight feature on the blog as FOF (Found on Flickr), since thats where I most often go to browse photos. Today's FOF is "Street Fighting" by Ariil Davidoff (Arique). I was browsing the "Hardcore Street Photography" group, and this one jumped out at me.

I took my two- and four-year-old sons to New York City yesterday. For the most part I was carrying, chasing, and pushing the boys around. In between, I had time to do a bit of street shooting. I used my new Ricoh GX100 in B&W JPEG mode (wanted to try this instead of shooting RAW as usual), snap focus and ISO 80-200. It was a bright day, so the EVF was handy not only because I prefer to compose with viewfinder, but also because the sunlight washed out the rear LCD. I blew a ton of highlights and should have dialed in more negative EC.

Click here for the set.

Thanks for looking!

I've had a Powershot G7 for some time now, and for the most part I've been lamenting its lack of wide angle, RAW, and an accurate viewfinder. I have been seriously considering selling it to buy a Ricoh GX100, which has all of those things. Well, I'm happy to report that the G7 has really been growing on me. As an exercise, I've been using it with the focal length fixed at 35mm, using zone focusing for street shots (manually focused to one notch over 2 meters with aperture at f/4). This has really given me a new appreciation for this camera.

The photography groups at Virb, while small, have been a good influence. I recently joined a street photography group, which has gotten me interested in this type of photography. The idea of photographing strangers without their express permission disturbs me. I'm more comfortable taking photos of places that happen to contain people rather than focusing on the people themselves; yet it's generally the people that make the picture interesting. Coincidentally, I stumbled today across Markus Hartel's site while googling for information about compact, wide Canon lenses. Markus is a street photographer in New York City, and his work is inspirational. It also reminds me just how much I miss New York.