street portraits

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Leica M3/Summitar 5cm. ARISTA Premium 400 in D76.
 
Couple of old (2011-2012) street portraits here. First three are on Fuji Neopan 1600 with a Nikon 50mm f/1.2 with the aperture at either f/1.2 or f/2, developed in Rodinal. Last two are on Fuji Acros 100 with a Mamiya RZ67 and 180mm f/4.5, likely developed in D76. Scans are of the original prints on Ilford MGIV fibre paper.

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I was on my way to a transit agency open house for a proposed new station. Testing some focus discrepancy after getting the M3 and lenses back from DAG. I asked to take this man's picture while waiting for my transfer and afterwards he asked me about my mask and then went off on COVID conspiracies. He was telling me about how it was a scam by the globalists and that he's studied the New World Order since he'd read None Dare Call it Conspiracy. I recognized the title as the book that radicalized Alex Jones as a teenager. He'd tried to tell me about how disarming the population is in the Communist Manifesto (I pointed out that I've read The Communist Manifesto and it isn't) and how communism was invented by bankers. I let it go. Glad he never commented on (or maybe didn't notice) that I'm trans, seeing as the conspiracy du jour is how we're all corrupting the children and preying on cis women in bathrooms and it's all being funded by Big Pharma or the Jews or whoever. Nice guy. Kind of worried about him. Getting deep into conspiracy theories like that is really stressful. He told me he's in his 80s and he's looking forward to dying and leaving this hopeless world behind.

It didn't occur to me until after we parted that I could have pointed out that last owner of the camera I had just taken his portrait with died of COVID but arguing wasn't going to change his mind. Didn't get his name.

I'm often very apprehensive about taking pictures of strangers and in my haste I forgot to stop the lens down. It bugs me a bit that this is a bokeh shot and I would have liked the details of the bus to have been more distinct. Nevertheless, I do really like bokeh thumbprint the Summarit leaves.

Three Rivers Transit Center
Kennewick, Washington
March 2024

Leica M3
Leica 50mm ƒ/1.5 Summarit
Arista EDU 400
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pPnJVU]Untitled by Pierre Saget, on Flickr[/URL]
 
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Evergreen States said:
I was on my way to a transit agency open house for a proposed new station. Testing some focus discrepancy after getting the M3 and lenses back from DAG. I asked to take this man's picture while waiting for my transfer and afterwards he asked me about my mask and then went off on COVID conspiracies. He was telling me about how it was a scam by the globalists and that he's studied the New World Order since he'd read None Dare Call it Conspiracy. I recognized the title as the book that radicalized Alex Jones as a teenager. He'd tried to tell me about how disarming the population is in the Communist Manifesto (I pointed out that I've read The Communist Manifesto and it isn't) and how communism was invented by bankers. I let it go. Glad he never commented on (or maybe didn't notice) that I'm trans, seeing as the conspiracy du jour is how we're all corrupting the children and preying on cis women in bathrooms and it's all being funded by Big Pharma or the Jews or whoever. Nice guy. Kind of worried about him. Getting deep into conspiracy theories like that is really stressful. He told me he's in his 80s and he's looking forward to dying and leaving this hopeless world behind.

It didn't occur to me until after we parted that I could have pointed out that last owner of the camera I had just taken his portrait with died of COVID but arguing wasn't going to change his mind. Didn't get his name.

I'm often very apprehensive about taking pictures of strangers and in my haste I forgot to stop the lens down. It bugs me a bit that this is a bokeh shot and I would have liked the details of the bus to have been more distinct. Nevertheless, I do really like bokeh thumbprint the Summarit leaves.

Three Rivers Transit Center
Kennewick, Washington
March 2024

Leica M3
Leica 50mm ƒ/1.5 Summarit
Arista EDU 400
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pPnJVU]Untitled by Pierre Saget, on Flickr[/URL]
Click to expand...
I had much the same experience the other day, encountering an older (my age) fellow on a hike in the nearby mountains. Pleasant and friendly, but he couldn't wait to launch into the same litany of wacko conspiracy stuff. The thing is, he and I were at opposite ends of the political spectrum, but since I chose to keep quiet and let him rant, he took my silence as agreement. It's interesting and frightening what you'll hear when you let people do that.
In much the same way, your acquaintance couldn't and wouldn't recognize that you're trans. The fact that you were having a (somewhat) normal human interaction precluded the possibility, for him, that he could also be having a conversation with one of them!
My encounter also included (amongst all of the other nonsense) several homophobic remarks on the part of my new "friend". It never even occurred to him, since I look like any of the other scruffy working-class guys in my rural neck of the woods, that I might be queer, one of them. And if it did, the thought was doubtless suppressed, immediately. It's tragic how people's political beliefs prevent them from really seeing or knowing others. I try very hard to avoid that, and hope that I'm usually successful.
 
I spend a lot of time waiting. Sitting or standing around for my turn at something. When I do I like to eavesdrop on conversations. It's always amazing to me how the minds of people work. I wonder how they got so effin' weird. But truly, people are just that way. Many are angry, many are gullible and they want to blame somebody for things they cannot control.

When I was a kid, politics was something that was kinda fun. You picked your candidate and you stayed up late to see if he came in on top. Sorta like a horse race. Nowadays you pick something you hate and join a group of people who hate the same thing and bitch and complain about them to anyone within earshot. Used to be you could joke around with other people about politics, even with those on the opposing side. Not anymore. Politics ain't fun anymore cause politics ain't polite.
 
Dogman said:
It's always amazing to me how the minds of people work. I wonder how they got so effin' weird
Click to expand...
One financial crisis after another and more people feel disenfranchised and excluded from any decision-making process. They feel that things happen to them with no sense of control. Added to this are plenty of bad decisions made by governments, especially during the pandemic. Social media is also used to pitch one social group against the other - men vs women, trans vs cis, black vs white, natives vs immigrants... and the list goes on. This creates a very fertile ground for conspiracy theories.

Going back to portraits, the Rokkor MC-II 58f/1.4 is gradually becoming a favourite lens. It has the best bokeh from all the 50s I have used.

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p.giannakis said:
Going back to portraits, the Rokkor MC-II 58f/1.4 is gradually becoming a favourite lens. It has the best bokeh from all the 50s I have used.

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This is a lovely portrait, Pan. Your grey tones are always so supple and delicate.

An SRT-101 and this lens showed up at an estate sale in my neighborhood for a bit over $100 US. I didn't have any cash on me and I wasn't able to ascertain the condition of the lens and I didn't have time to go home and get any money. Ah well. I got an XG-M for $40 at another estate sale and have been shooting heavily with a 55mm ƒ/1.7 MC I had had lying around. I prefer it to the 50mm ƒ/2 MD that the XG-M came with. Less distortion, slightly easier to focus, nicer bokeh, lower contrast. I also like the slightly longer focal length. Recently got a couple 28mm SR Rokkors as well.
 
Evergreen States said:
I was on my way to a transit agency open house for a proposed new station. Testing some focus discrepancy after getting the M3 and lenses back from DAG. I asked to take this man's picture while waiting for my transfer and afterwards he asked me about my mask and then went off on COVID conspiracies. He was telling me about how it was a scam by the globalists and that he's studied the New World Order since he'd read None Dare Call it Conspiracy. I recognized the title as the book that radicalized Alex Jones as a teenager. He'd tried to tell me about how disarming the population is in the Communist Manifesto (I pointed out that I've read The Communist Manifesto and it isn't) and how communism was invented by bankers. I let it go. Glad he never commented on (or maybe didn't notice) that I'm trans, seeing as the conspiracy du jour is how we're all corrupting the children and preying on cis women in bathrooms and it's all being funded by Big Pharma or the Jews or whoever. Nice guy. Kind of worried about him. Getting deep into conspiracy theories like that is really stressful. He told me he's in his 80s and he's looking forward to dying and leaving this hopeless world behind.

It didn't occur to me until after we parted that I could have pointed out that last owner of the camera I had just taken his portrait with died of COVID but arguing wasn't going to change his mind. Didn't get his name.

I'm often very apprehensive about taking pictures of strangers and in my haste I forgot to stop the lens down. It bugs me a bit that this is a bokeh shot and I would have liked the details of the bus to have been more distinct. Nevertheless, I do really like bokeh thumbprint the Summarit leaves.

Three Rivers Transit Center
Kennewick, Washington
March 2024

Leica M3
Leica 50mm ƒ/1.5 Summarit
Arista EDU 400
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pPnJVU]Untitled by Pierre Saget, on Flickr[/URL]
Click to expand...
I'm happy that you forgot to stop the lens down!
 
I decided to try color after 5 years shooting b&w in Cuba. So I set out on the last day of a trip to Havana with my Fuji XT-1 and 14mm lens with the theme "for sale in the street" At end of the day and almost home, I ran into my neighbor and good friend "Flaca". She was relaxing on the Prado before she showered and got dressed for work in a specialized niche in adult services. Actually, Flaca is not for sale but for rent on an overnight business if she likes you.

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Milton Hershey built a town just east of Havana which incorporated a huge sugar mill to provide for all the chocolate bars produced in his factory in Hershey. Pennsylvania. Hershey, Cuba was the ultimate company town from its inception in 1916. It had a nice hotel, expansive gardens, a country club and a golf course. When Mr. Hershey died, his heirs sold his showpiece town which was later expropriated by the Castro government. Lack of maintenance caused the sugar mill to become non operative while the once exquisite town declined around it as its citizens left. Cuba has a major housing shortage, so squatters live in the remaining worker's housing that still has roofs.

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