Winter Portraits

I had the privilege to shoot 3 models yesterday at Eau Claire, the weather was cooperative with relative warm temparture and the sun warming everything up.
A friend was also kind enough to lend me his 85L II to test out during the shoot.
My opinion, it's a fantastic lens, really meant for portraits and wide open at f/1.2 you get stunning background separation.
However I noticed a lot of fringing and wasn't impressed with the slow AF.
Here is a portrait at f/1.2 which gives its Sartorialist look.

The bokeh is comparable to the 135L although some may disagree but I find the 135L's bokeh better.

Jen should model for Le Chateau, she looks stunning on this purple coat from Le Chateau.




Next is Elle with her red coat and dark hair, her look was saying Street Fashion all over, so we decided to walk towards the Sheraton hotel when I saw these Yellow cabs parked on front. I asked one of the drivers if we could shoot inside the cab for a few minutes and here are the results.





Then it was another Elle with her amazing sense of fashion, everything just worked well together, her pink top, purple stockings and bag.

Finally some street shots!

Well after a long 4-6 weeks of break from shooting, although I have been slowly shooting again the past 2 weeks with my Canonet QL17 and Leica M6, here are my favourite shots from the 4 Ilford XP2 Super rolls that I got developed.
First two are cropped cine style, which is something I've been doing with some of my shots. It doesn't work with all pictures but for some, it just looks so right.






and perhaps, my favorite shot this month.

Saw this girl leaning at the corner of the street with his friend, waiting for something. I was hesitant on crossing the street at first with my shy attitude, but I knew deep inside that I would regret it even more if I missed this opportunity. So I braved in, crossed the street and asked if I could take a picture of her.

Out again with the Pentax 6x7

Haven't shoot with the Pentax 6x7 in weeks, so while I was sick I decided to go out for a walk with the dogs and brought a camera with me.
Here's some shots from our walk.



This last two were taken the next day when I came back to work and decided to finish the Ilford HP5+ roll.

Christmas Party with friends

All us friends decided to have an early Christmas party before everyone were busy with their own families. Fun night with good food, good friends and a bottle of whiskey.

Street and Landscape

Some Alberta farm landscape shots from yesterday, weather was perfect for B&W with fog and frost on the tree branches.
Colored shots are currently being developed by Vistek and should be up by Thursday.

Bokeh test: 645N vs 5D

Went to Chinatown yesterday afternoon and ended up shooting one of the Lion statues with the Pentax 645N,I remember shooting the exact same statue about a year ago with my 5D and 135L.
It's not a very accurate test but gives you an idea of the difference in background blur between the 2.
135L was at f2 and 150 was at f2.8

Pentax 645N

A friend and I decided to swap gear for a little while, I lent him my Leica M6 and I got try his Pentax 645N.
Conclusion: he's buying a new Leica M and a 50mm f0.95 Noctilux and I'm now craving for a Pentax 645N and 150mm f2.8 lens.
What a fantastic camera to shoot with, although a little bulky for street, performance and quality you get makes up for it.
Here's some of my favourites:

Street photography with Chris Cheng

Buddy Chris wanted to experience street/fashion photography in downtown Calgary, so we decided to meetup in a quiet afternoon and go for a walk.
I brought my 5DII + 135L and Chris brought his 5DIII + 85L