Persongalleriet #575: Live Blog from Istanbul, Day 2
Today was a nice warm day with some sun, mostly the hazy kind. I spent the morning lightrooming and writing the previous blog post. I didn't get out on the streets until about noon. As I was closing the window before leaving the hotel room, I noticed two men arguing in the street right outside. Walking down the stairs I made my camera ready and shot this as I stepped out of the hotel:
Off to a decent start, I think! :-)
I didn't really have a plan and walked randomly in some favourite blocks near the hotel. I got some shots of dogs yesterday, but today was more of a cat day.
The Beggar.
I walked downhill through some deserted alleys near the Grand Bazaar, but as I got nearer the Spice Market the streets began to fill up.
Daddy & His Girls.
I followed a street I hadn't walked before and ended up outside Sirkeci train station. I went in to see if "my" cats from last year were still there. Saw this one residing over the old engine outside.
Top Cat.
Of course, there were more cats inside. Here's one:
The Cigarette (II).
Walking down the Quai, I decided on a whim to go to Kadıköy with the ferry. Last year I only went on one return ferry ride and thinking about this trip, I had made up my mind to do it more this time around.
Yellow Love.
Arrived at Kadıköy.
Took a long walk along the waterfront, an aspect of Kadıköy I hadn't realized before. But this was a Sunday and lots of people were enjoying the sea views.
Balloons.
Back at the Ferry Terminal.
Ferry to Eminönu.
Once at Eminönu it is of course impossible not too shoot some more, even though the body aches and the belly is empty.
Galata Selfie.
Dinner was a chicken dürüm wrap and a banana.
Be well, everybody!
/Niklas
Enjoy the rest of your stay in Istanbul and may the street photo gods be with you!
Cheers,
Fredrik
Everything so far is with the Samsung. I really like everyhing about it. It's fast, so I can shoot whenever I want to. I love the way it handles. I use the tiltscreen Rolleiflex style and it goes an inch above the rest of the camera, so it's a little bit closer to the eye. As long as it's polished, I can see the image on the screen quite clearly even in harsh sunlight. You can use the touchscreen to change the focus point quickly and I do that a lot. Love the IQ. I brought my Nikon D800 as backup and if it rains, but I haven't used it yet. I put the 30mm on yesterday afternoon, but this morning I directly felt the need to change back to 20mm.
So directly from Hong Kong to NYC, huh? Not bad! ;-)
I'm going to be a bit behind on everybody else's pictures while on the road, but I'll try to catch up eventually when I get back home.
Niklas
Yes, it feels quite luxurious to do both do HK and NYC within nearly a month. NYC was planned back in April last year to benefit from the British Airways avios/airmiles before their policy changed. HK had to be done to be able to visit a friend momentarily working there on a project that just finished – although now he will stay there permanently which means I wouldn't have had to stress so to go there! Will visit him in HK in the future – think I told you before...?
How a camera handles is so important in street photography I realise more now than ever. My GR works well for me without a tilt screen but I think I will take out my Fujifilm X-M1 which has such a screen to do a bit of Rolleiflex style street photography one of these days. I think it will be less quick to work with which will limit how close I will get but that means I think my 35mm will work quite well, producing shots that may be a bit different. In NYC I felt I took too many close up street photos from time to time.
Great that you chose to visit Istanbul again despite the recent terrorist attacks. There's a lot of good stuff in Turkey and Istanbul and they need the income from tourism. Turkey has a lot going for it and I am not happy about the current government's efforts to crackdown on freedom of speech and expression and how they want to make the country less secular. It's a shame really.
Be safe and work that NX-500 for what it's worth!
Cheers,
Fredrik