Liverpool “Street”

andy1868

andy1868

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Andy
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So I thought I would share some recent shots from a jaunt around Liverpool. I haven't shot any street for a good few years, and after COVID subsided a little I said I would get back into it which tied in nicely with the arrival of a new to me camera; a Contax G1. I'd also been chomping at the bit to try out some different films which I also did, Ilford HP5 and FP4 and just for good measure I thought it might be a good time to try out zone focusing :LOL: So with all those variables I wasn't expecting too much but I think I may have managed to pull some salvageable shots out of the day :D There's definitely some clichés in here so be warned :LOL: Any thoughts good or bad are welcome!

First impressions of HP5 are excellent, I can really see myself using it a lot more. The jury is still out for me on FP4, I'm not sure if its for me just yet but I do have another roll to shoot so I'll reserve judgement :)


Skate by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Waterfront by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Chillin' by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Caught by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Clocked off by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Moment by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Home Time by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Reflection by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr
 
Cliches are a good way of getting back into street photography. If I go out to shoot street and it's been a while, or if I'm just not getting in the zone, I'll shoot anything and everything for a while. Then I find my keeper rate improving. I even started a new album on Flickr called Scrapbook for uploading the 'anything and everything'.

I particularly like the first one. The fact that the guy's hand is out of the frame adds some dynamism to the shot. The second is a bit of a cliche, but works nicely by showing a lovely smile. That piece of sculpture in the third one resembles a dog with its tail up, and I want to shout, "Don't lie down there!!!" :D

The fourth is probably the most cliched type of shot we've all seen over and over again from the start of the 2000s onwards - a guy looking at his phone; but you do seem to have nailed the focus. The fifth one is good, as he spotted you and smiled; it's the ones that look like they're about to launch themselves after you that I don't like so much. I notice the guy creeping into the left of the frame and wonder if you don't like cropping or retouching after digitising?

I also particularly like the sixth one. The two are a couple, and the rubbish bin reflects this with the '1' on the side, as does the single guy walking away; one of those shots that says more than you first think. The seventh is another cliche; I'd like to see one of these where the escalators are packed with people, just for a change. I like the eighth one because buildings often look more interesting distorted in a window reflection.

The zone focusing seems to have worked nicely. The main thing I notice about the photos as a set is that five of them are high-contrast and three are fairly mid contrast. Do you process them yourself?
 
garryknight said:
Cliches are a good way of getting back into street photography. If I go out to shoot street and it's been a while, or if I'm just not getting in the zone, I'll shoot anything and everything for a while. Then I find my keeper rate improving. I even started a new album on Flickr called Scrapbook for uploading the 'anything and everything'.

I particularly like the first one. The fact that the guy's hand is out of the frame adds some dynamism to the shot. The second is a bit of a cliche, but works nicely by showing a lovely smile. That piece of sculpture in the third one resembles a dog with its tail up, and I want to shout, "Don't lie down there!!!" :D

The fourth is probably the most cliched type of shot we've all seen over and over again from the start of the 2000s onwards - a guy looking at his phone; but you do seem to have nailed the focus. The fifth one is good, as he spotted you and smiled; it's the ones that look like they're about to launch themselves after you that I don't like so much. I notice the guy creeping into the left of the frame and wonder if you don't like cropping or retouching after digitising?

I also particularly like the sixth one. The two are a couple, and the rubbish bin reflects this with the '1' on the side, as does the single guy walking away; one of those shots that says more than you first think. The seventh is another cliche; I'd like to see one of these where the escalators are packed with people, just for a change. I like the eighth one because buildings often look more interesting distorted in a window reflection.

The zone focusing seems to have worked nicely. The main thing I notice about the photos as a set is that five of them are high-contrast and three are fairly mid contrast. Do you process them yourself?
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Thank you for the kind words Garry :) I think the scrapbook idea may be good for me too. As i said in the first post i haven't shot street for a long while and even though I've been shooting for over 10 years I'm kind of rediscovering it again. I went from shooting anything and everything to shooting paid portraits then just weddings; as i was doing more and more paid work i was doing less and less for myself. Then when i stopped weddings a couple of years ago i never really picked my own stuff back up again until recently and here we are, trying to find my stride again :D

It's not so much that I don't like cropping or retouching as some of them have had little tweaks in LR but from memory number 5 did get a tighter crop and i decided to try and keep him and the bike in the rule of thirds which unfortunately meant keeping a leg in. I guess i hoped it wouldn't be too distracting but perhaps i was wrong :LOL:

I'm not processing myself at the moment, they've all been done by a lab. While i love the idea of developing, the idea of scanning is putting me off so i'm currently exploring perhaps printing myself in the future. My workspace is too small at the moment at home for any of that though, I can just about squeeze a PC and monitor in there but that may change in the future. I'm just exploring film more and more at the moment and I'm far from an expert. There is a discernable difference between the HP5 and FP4 looking at the scans side by side, the FP4 being less contrasty, although the only FP4 shot in here is number 7. From my understanding, overexposure will give more shadow detail but less contrast and underexposure the polar opposite but obviously there's loads of other factors come into play too, it was a really sunny day for example and the ones in direct sunlight seem to be the most contrasty.

The first one I was really quite proud of, I did have a chat with him before taking any photos and he was over the moon about it. This is probably the best but there was a couple of him in total which I've sent to him over instagram.

The third is a Lambanana statue which are all over Liverpool, each painted by a different artist/artists but you're definitely right as he's at the wrong end of it :LOL:
 
I'm looking forward to seeing more. I shot some film a long time ago when I didn't know what I was doing and had never heard of street photography, and I'm fascinated by what people are doing with film. I know I couldn't do it myself, without getting instant feedback, and only having a limited number of shots, and only one ISO value to work with.
 
You're only limited by how many rolls you have with you :D I quite like not having that instant gratification at the moment, take a shot and just know that you aren't going to see it for a while; then when you do get it back and see how it came out is a real buzz. I don't have some philosophical reason for shooting film over digital other than i'm enjoying it more :)

While the ISO is technically set you can still expose it for different values a little one way or another to give different effects, apparently Ilford XP2 which is ISO400 can be shot between 50 and 800 and developed as normal for useable shots (supposedly). The limiting factors can make it a challenge too which adds to the jeopardy!

I do have some more from the same day, I just didn't want to bombard the first post with picture upon picture!

A full escalator as requested :LOL:
Escalate by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Old and New by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Curious by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Sightseeing by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Graffiti by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

Shopping by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr


Cat Cafe by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr

And finally one of the limitations, this was on the way home using FP4 which is ISO125, and even at f2 it was still giving me a pretty slow shutter speed so I thought I would test to see how well i could hold it!
Waiting by Andrew Roberts, on Flickr
 
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You have a steadier hand than mine.

By the way, I wanted to point something out, When I first came ino this thread, I was half expecting to see photos taken in Liverpool Street in London, which I know quite well. I should have read the "Liverpool street" a bit more closely. Anyway, I got a nice surprise.
 
garryknight said:
You have a steadier hand than mine.

By the way, I wanted to point something out, When I first came ino this thread, I was half expecting to see photos taken in Liverpool Street in London, which I know quite well. I should have read the "Liverpool street" a bit more closely. Anyway, I got a nice surprise.
Click to expand...


I did wonder if there was a Liverpool Street somewhere, I don't know London that well so certainly wouldn't know about one in particular. Perhaps I should visit and compare :D
 
Thanks to the admin for moving this thread into the correct forum :D
 
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