CAMBERWELL LIFE: AN EARLY PHOTO WALK IN AUGUST

Another very busy week, and I had a Saturday full of wedding editing lying ahead of me. My head and heart are full – my dad is coming to the end of his days on earth, and I needed some processing time before just sitting down at a screen. Plus it was a beautiful morning, and I was keen to write a local, Camberwell Life, blog again.

On top of all that I wanted to try out a 20mm f1.7 lens on one of the Lumix bodies. Holidays are coming up and I am trying to travel lighter. Can I go away without a Nikon? I think I may. But some kind of fast standard lens (faster than the little kit 12-32mm) was needed. This little pancake is very neat and really syuits the size of my GH3 and GF7 bodies – though it is actually a wee bit wider than the ideal for the GF7.

For this walk I took the Lumix GH3, without its battery pack. I am delighted with the lens.

The principal reason for getting a faster lens, of course, is not simply to get more light into the camera, but to decrease the depth of field of focus. The smaller the sensor/film format, the deeper the field of focus for a given focal length and aprture, so it is a real struggle to get the kind of lovely blur and bokeh that I am used to from my full frame Nikons. I intend to do a proper comparative blog some time, with my full frame cameras, our DX cameras and our MFT camera bodies side by side.

This flowers, on my neighbour Carron’s front wall, show the way that an aperture of f1.7 helps an MFT camera shoot the classic bokeh look.

This lost trainer on Grove Lane also shows the shallow depth of field when shooting at f1.7. In fact, I used that aperture almost the whole time this morning.

As a regyular wedding photographer and events photographer, I find I still need to practice and keep thinking photographically on my days off. Camberwell is a vibrant, colourful and ever-0changing neighbourhood. Today I concentrated on seeing details and buildings/eateries I had not noticed before.

Outside the Joiners (my fave, for the open mic on Thursdays)

Inside the Joiners 

Walking the dog to Ruskin Park

Runner in Ruskin Park

Parched grass in the park, and the sense of heat building as I headed home. 

I left home at about 0830 – that lovely col in the air that has the promise of heat to come. An hour later when I got hiome, the day was a hot one already – though not like crazy July!

Camberwell needs rain!

Photos from one walk with the Lumix GH3 and Lumix 40mm f1.7 Gii © copyright Andrew King Photography