of canterbury walks and chocolate hot cross buns

This weekend was one of those where circumstances meant I wasn’t really feeling it. I woke up, looked outside, then decided I just didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to go into the city, I didn’t fancy going to Margate, I didn’t really want to go anywhere. All I had the energy for was going to the shops to buy some food then lounge around the house the rest of the day. Nothing wrong with that. It’s not necessary to always be doing something. There’s nothing wrong with just relaxing and recuperating, especially when work is a bit intense thanks to the ever changing situation in Higher Education…

Sunday I felt largely the same. I looked outside and couldn’t get together the energy. On top of that, our youngest was feeling a bit downbeat and just wanted to sit around and watch TV. So I stayed home while my wife and the eldest went to church and do some shopping (I don’t go to church on account of being a committed atheist). Time was cracking on though, and I needed to get out. So to raise the spirits of our daughter, I took her out to Waitrose to look at the Easter eggs and see what she fancied. Amazing how much her frown in the morning disappeared as she looked at all the eggs on the shelves, excitedly telling me which one would be her absolute favourite, before I treated her to a bag of mini creme eggs (her favourite). Of course, I spent ages trying to decide what I wanted, before deciding to go for the chocolate hot cross buns (incredible toasted) and some Tony’s mini eggs. We both went home happy.

With spirits lifted, once I was able to head out I got in the car and drove into the centre for lunch armed with my camera and the 18mm. No camera bag. No additional lenses. Just two fully charged batteries and the lens on my XT3. I didn’t expect to get too much, but the light was pretty good and the shadows gave me something to work with too. The conditions were good and my mood was right, so maybe this time…

It’s bad when you feel like you’re bored of Canterbury. I think the problem is I’ve walked the streets so much these last twenty years (since I moved to the city from Dover), it’s hard to spot new compositions. They’re always there, of course, it’s just sometimes difficult to spot them. Familiarity tires the mind I guess. In many ways this isn’t surprising. Despite it’s many photogenic spots, it is a small city and you can find yourself treading the same ground over and over. Sometimes you just long for fresh experiences. The difficulty is in finding them with a limited budget.

Nonetheless, sometimes that familiarity can be a blessing as well as a curse. You know where the light will fall best. You know where will be quiet, where will be busy. You know where to be at what time and what you can expect. When you’ve got two hours to spare in the city, that can really work in your favour. Crucially, of course, you know where the best places to stop off for a refreshment whilst you meander…

And so. Another day out with the 18mm, but this time some better results. Ok, not groundbreaking, portfolio images, but images that at least restore some confidence that you can work this lens in Canterbury and the first attempt was just one of those mediocre trips you get from time to time. Besides, it was never going to be the case that the trip out was going to bring down my whole day…I had chocolate hot cross buns to look forward to.

Shooting Street Photography With The Fuji 18mm f1.4

As promised, I did two trips out over the last weekend taking only my 18mm Fuji lens (well, and the camera body obviously…), with a determination to get a decent amount of usage from it and try to get my head around street photography with a wide-angle lens. I’m going to split this into two posts, one about my walkabout in Canterbury, the latter one on Margate.

I wanted to try to get a range of different shots, not just pointing the lens upwards for architecture shots, nor just catching wide-angle street scenes. I went out thinking I would push myself to try different styles. It would be very easy to come back with a load of identikit shots with the only difference being the people in the shot. So I looked for abstracts, details, candids, plus yes, the odd street view or architectural shot.

Before I get into it more, let’s get the boring stuff out of the way…

camera settings

I shot the vast majority at f8 (with some exceptions), with a shutter speed of 1/1000th (unless it was a static subject, in which case I might drop it down a bit), ISO set to auto and exposure compensation was anything from -1 to -2. I used zonal focusing, leaving the focus at around 2m for most of the day. This ensured a wide depth of field, and meant I didn’t have to fiddle around with the focus too much as I was walking around (unless I shifted the f-stop and wanted a very shallow depth of field).

Ok, boring stuff done, moving on…

Canterbury

So how did I find it? Difficult. I’ll be honest (no spoilers!), I found day one more difficult than day two. I wasn’t really happy with what I came away with in Canterbury. On reflection, I decided that the problem was for the kind of photography I like, wide-angle would only work in a handful of spots. Canterbury is obviously only a small city, and it felt fairly limited in terms of compositions that would work at a wide-angle. There’s the classics of course (Butchery Lane and the view of the cathedral, or the Buttermarket for example), but little else immediately sprung to mind.

Now, this might say more about me than anything else, it just seemed quite difficult to spot shots that would work at 18mm (27mm on full frame). I came to thinking that if I was in a large city walking around, I’d find many more compositions, but in Canterbury it was a bit more difficult. I think some photographers would get a lot from a wide angle lens in the city, with the opportunities for candid photos and layering, but they’re not something that come easy to me, so finding those kinds of shots is a bit of a struggle. All that said though, I think all of this was more about the limitations I placed upon myself, the blockage I had already decided that I wanted to overcome. I don’t think I did overcome it, but I think the experience helped me to explore some potential I’d probably not seen before in the 18mm. And quite possibly the walk in Canterbury made the next day in Margate much easier…

Anyway, let me know what you think. I do think the Margate ones are better, but no shame in sharing photos from a disappointing trip. It’s all part of the process after all…

the photos

Fringe and Ginge, Canterbury

Fringe+Ginge is one of my favourite cafes in the city. Well, in truth, it’s pretty much the only cafe I go to in the city…because I don’t really drink coffee so I’m really not down with the whole coffee culture thing. A good cup of tea is all the caffeine hit I need. But it’s not just the tea and chilled vibe (famously, no laptops and stressed people trying to work!) that draws me in, the windows also do it for me…especially at this time of year when it’s cold outside and nice and cosy inside.

In truth, I started taking pictures of the cafe long before I started going in and spending my money. After a while, I felt a bit guilty just using it as a photo location and figured I should actually go in and spend some money there too. And I’m glad I did, Alfie and Olivia (the owners) have made this an essential place to stop off and grab a tea, a pastry or a toasted sandwich. And both have been really cool about me taking photos in and around the cafe, which is also a big plus.

And for a small spot, there’s plenty of photo opportunities, again, especially at this time of year with the condensation on the large windows at the front and side of the building. I was even thinking recently that you could even make a really niche zine out of the interior and exterior of the cafe, but that’s probably a challenge too far for me at the moment. Something to consider in the future though maybe.

Anyway, I thought I’d pull together a number of recent photos taken inside and outside the cafe. It’s amazing what you can get in one, small location if the conditions are right and you are patient (which isn’t always the case with me).