Going Manual

It’s true what all the film nerds say – there’s nothing quite like film, but then there’s nothing quite like doing it manual.

This is the first roll I’ve shot on a Nikon FM.   It’s so much more fun having a sense of control over the camera and having to think more about the technical aspects than shooting blindly, which is often what I do – especially with the 350D.

Anyway – all negscans, Delta 400 (first time I’ve used this), 24mm lens (mmm).

The first shot on the roll.. is of moi

The first shot I took!

Remember Nigel (or Angel Nigel as he likes to be known)? I bumped into him yet again near work.

Once again he was keen to show me his serving skills

.. and some footie

.. and his air guitar skills, wonderfully improvised using his racquet. (Yes, focusing is off.)

He was actually removed by a security guard from a nearby area which I had to cross as I left work. He remembered me from Wimbledon and started walking with me. I got a lot of funny stares from City workers as I walked down the road with him.

Exposure wasn’t the best on those shots.

Whoops:

East London is great for graffiti.  I can’t agree more with this one.

I work in the Square Mile which is a clean, sterile place full of people in suits where there’s no graffiti or rubbish on the streets - then you walk 5 minutes up the road into Shoreditch and you find things like this.

Minutes after I took this pic I had one very memorable experience.. in Ponti’s, of all places. It’s great how a seemingly meaningless picture to one person, can mean so much to another. Said experience shall remain undisclosed Â

I should work on alignment a little more.  Then again I was on the phone when I took the above which isn’t bad at all I think, but which explains the incorrect exposure.  It’s tough composing, focusing, changing the speed, setting the aperture, and clicking all with one hand!Â

There was a horse show  in Broadgate Circle close to where I work.

This is an Andalusian horse, a show-horse that has apparently won a number of contests in Europe.

Yummy contrast

Apparently this walk is really difficult for a horse to master, and we were ‘witnessing something rare’ according to the trainer.

Two of my lovely colleagues

This was really an experimental roll – I wasn’t expecting anything great from it, but I think the Nikon EM is going into retirement now.Â

Manual all the way baby.

Carnaval Del Pueblo

Carnaval Del Pueblo, 2007 – London

Last weekend was Carnaval Del Pueblo – Europe’s biggest Latino festival. It was so much fun! The weather was pretty Latino as well.

During preparations

The guy below seemed annoyed I was taking his picture – he was babbling in Spanish and all I heard was ‘fhsdfhsf camera fhisddfwer’. From his tone I don’t think he was too happy. Oops.

The man below was very cool – he was showing me various moves.

He took off his glasses and posed again : )

Hm, focus is a little off but he’s still cute!

I was mean to this guy. He couldn’t get his trousers done up and I thought it was a pretty funny sight so I loitered around hoping I could get a better snap. The poor man was embarrassed and went behind a trailer

How funky is this body paint?

The guy rocked – he did some jumps for me!

It’s funny how photographers all love to take the same pictures.

As per usual, there was a large police presence

How they wore these costumes in 30 degree heat, I have no idea.

The procession began

Can you spot me in the reflection?

And here too.

Some funky moves

Rarrr.

I love body paint.

It was quite amusing – they hadn’t blocked the entire road off so the opposite side of the street was full of cars at a standstill. People weren’t very impressed.

Ahh there’s too much reflection here to see the woman properly, but she looked super annoyed.

This man looked incredibly fed up so I tried to sneak a picture, but he saw me and started laughing.

Pissed off bus driver

Coach driver decided to take his own pictures

This guy came right up close to me and started flamenco dancing around me. He was so close I had to step back to get him in focus. I like this shot.

Hm, you can’t see it too well here, but these shoes must have been ridiculous to walk in. There was a whole group of them wearing them.

Knife-throwing

I was surprised they were allowed to do that so close to the public but it was pretty good stuff!

How cruel to dress a baby in this in the sweltering heat

And.. that’s it!

A long blog yet again – so thanks if you got to the end! I took so many pics I didn’t even bother looking through them all properly or else it would have taken forever and I don’t have the patience

I want to go to South America.