Back to Hong Kong for a Personal Goal

Bucket list 1/2 Marathon CHECKED. Have kind of let photography take a seat out the back the last year and concentrated on getting healthy, what is the point of all this camera equipment if I have no health to use it!

Travelled back to Hong Kong to do the famous Standard Chartered Half Marathon. Though this blog is not about running or fitness, so let us get back to the photos. After some R&R, I managed to head out to venture out around Tin Hau on the Hong Kong Island side and then headed to Kowloon’s Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui.

I decided to pull out the Leica M6 for a day of challenge and I must say fun.  Not only is exposure and composition a thing to think about I now had the challenge of manual focussing. This doesn’t come easy to someone who uses a Canon 1Dx and Fuji X Pro 1. Admittedly the X Pro 1 is slow to focus but it at least is still auto focus. I am aware I can manually focus on both camera’s but I do not see the value in that.

After coming back home and placing the film for development, I have been awaiting in anticipation as to what I had done. With out further or do here are the better shots I think I have managed to grab.

Shooting alone - Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Fuji Superior X-tra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

Taking a break on the outskirts of Victoria Park

Fuji Superior X-tra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

The Ding Dings as they are affectionately known as. Trams can get you literally right around HK

Fuji Superior X-tra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

Tin Hau Temple was built in the early 18th Century

Kodak Portra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

After venturing nearby my hotel, it was time to use that credit that I overloaded on my Octopus card. The MTR station was close by and i headed off to the touristy Lady's Market in Mong Kok

Mong Kok is certainly a busy place, lots of colours and definitely lots of people.

Kodak Portra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

Lady's Market .. well has Ladies I guess. The market now is full of fake shirts, phone covers, dodgy USB keys, the odd $10 Rolex.

Kodak Portra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

How business is done in Lady's Market. Pay pal payment ? or just a slow day and the shop keepers are helping each other in Candy Crush?

Kodak Portra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

The Lady's Market is a long series of stalls, fancy a massage for $38HKD ? there is also free wifi .. hmm ?

Kodak Portra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

Who do you call and for what ?

Kodak Portra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

I wonder if I can find my A+++ class fake Rolex in here? One of the many alley ways in HK

Kodak Portra 400, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

People rule the roads, people take preference over the vehicles in Mong Kok

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

Just getting through the crowds was no easy feat

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

By no means is life easy in Hong Kong

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

The young and old do it tough

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

Enough of the depression in Mong Kok and head to the touristy East Tsim Sha Tsui where I intend to take some snaps of the "Avenue of the Stars", the building architecture around the harbour, and the Star Ferry's. My feet are aching now after doing 21kms the day before but I'm enjoying the freelancing street photography.

How many tiled steps ?

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

What is on the other side of the tunnel?

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

This is what happens when film costs too much to change mid roll, and grab a Portra 400 to take a shot

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

The Star Ferry Pier. The substitute for the Luna Aqua, which happened to be under maintenance when I arrived !!

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

Hong Kong's version of Madonna - Anita Mui (梅艷芳) unfortunately passed away at a young 40 years old in 2003

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

They call me Bruce ... Bruce Lee, another one of the famous status on the "Avenue of Stars" walk way

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

East Tsim Sha Tsui is a developing area, cranes are everywhere here.

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

Causeway Bay ... Human traffic !!

Kodak 400TX, Leica M6 with Voigtlander Wide Angle Color-Skopar Pan 35mm f/2.5-M (PII)

Well that is a wrap, one day (well actually about 5 hours) of walking about in Hong Kong. HK is not all glamourous but it is a street photographers heaven.

I got a bit of practice using pre-focus method on the Leica M6 and every time I pick this camera up it seems that it just gets easier to use. For my mediocre shooting, I think the camera produces some magical shots. It really does capture the moment. My only disappointment is that I cannot afford to change film mid roll. To me it seems more ideal to have 2 Leica M6's, maybe bolt on a 50mm on the other but the cost of it all hurts my head. For now I think I will stick to Kodak Portra 400 and black and white images in post with the help of VSCO.

Enough of the camera talk, it's time to save again for the next adventure.

Living the DREAM ... well not quite

I'm a huge fan of Scott Kelby, I mean who would not want to take photos of premier sports in the US. I've gone over his "YouTube" clips a million times and looked at his blog with his NFL shots in awe.

After a month or so, playing around with the Leica M6 range finder, I decided it was back to using AF, and what better equipment to use than the Canon 1Dx to see if I can get in to the groove to do sports. My dream is to be a NRL photographer, for those who don't know what the NRL is, it is basically a Rugby League competition played in Australia. The competition basically has teams made up from the east coast of Australia, plus one New Zealand team. It is an elite competition with some the ferocious hits in a brutal contact sport. True gladiators play this game !!

Tonight I have bit the bullet and decided to go watch my beloved St George Illawarra Dragons come against the North Queensland Cowboys. Both teams are a little under strengthened with both sides having players represent the annual State of Origin series.

I used the SpyCal to calibrate my 70-200 f/2.8 L IS lens (version 1) and teamed it up with the 1Dx. I know I do not really have the reach so I got a seat closest to the fence and prayed there would be no balls or players flying at me.

I benched myself before the start of play (actually watched the game before hand) to try and get familiar with what kind of shots I will be able to get. I choose to get a seat pretty much behind the goal post so all the traffic coming down my way would be running towards me. From memory the camera was set to Scenario 5 which was for erratic behavior and to my surprise it tracked players very well. For those interested in the settings, white balance was set to cloudy, aperture f/2.8, shutter 1/1250, ISO 3600, single point auto focus.

The score ended up favorable to my beloved St George Illawarra Dragons and I hope my photos do justice to the Dragons on a special day where we remember the late Great Reg Gasnier. What a special player ... what an IMMORTAL.

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 27 (J Nightingale 3 A Quinlan C Runciman tries G Widdop 3 goals G Widdop field goal) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 24 (A Winterstein 2 C Rona T Sims J Taumalolo tries E Lowe 2 goals) at WIN Jubilee Oval. Referee: Gavin Badger, Adam Devcich. Crowd: 12,082. 

Oh and would i love to get a real paying gig to do this stuff.. you bet i do !!!

Unfortunately the dragons warmed up on the other side of the field.

Former junior Dragon and Cowboys captain Ashton Sims warming up

Ben Creagh leading the Dragons out and running past the retired Reg Gasnier no.# jersey

The Dragon's million dollar per season gamble, Benji Marshall. Ready for the kick off

The Cowboy's sending big mew recruit Tatau Moga down the right side for the Dragons. Marshall and NIghtingale hada hard time of it in the early stages of the game

Winterstein barges his way over in the corner, and that's Cowboys 4 Dragons 0

Jack Stockwell back in grade and pondering how that first try was so easy for the Cowboys. Must have looked at his wrist and dew strength from Alex McKinnon

Benji giving Stockwell a rev up after the first try

Hangon the cheer girls are up and its now Dragons 4 Cowboys 4.. would have needed a 1000mm lens to have caught that action on camera. Charly Runciman scores the first one for the Dragons

Didn't have to wait long for the Dragons faithful braving it in the cold, the ever reliable Jason Nightingale takes the Dragons to a 8-4 lead, his first of three for the evening. Tough conversions for Widdop for the first two tries and he missed them both.. only just...

Captain Creagh CRUNCHED .. the Sims brothers, Tariq and Ashton snash their former junior team mate straight after the kick off

A bit of bad blood .. a little push and shove and it is all sorted out.

Big Tariq taking u ball off Lui... young kids keep your eye on the ball like Mr Sims

Another junior Dragon, Kane Linnett trying to find space for his winger

The ever reliable Jason Nightingale under the high ball... but ummm he drops this one out of the bread basket

Benji Marshall cleaning up in the in goal after the Cowboys put in a pressuring grubber kick

More work for the Dragon's right side D

Winterstein makes it Dragons 14 Cowboys 10 just before half time. I forgot to mention Quinlan scored earlier to make it 14-4 to the Dragons but again the action was on the other side of the ground

Mike Cooper makes a much needed powerful hitup to try and restore order for the Dragons

That's half time and the score is 14-10, Dragons head in with a slight lead. Ashton Sims leads his players to the sheds for half time

Dragon's toughening up in the middle of the ruck

Widdop trying to get Quinlan in to space

Quinlan's hole closes and he tries to get Beale involved

Beale thinks better and runs away from Tariq Sims

After starting the second half soft and letting the Cowboys jump to a 20-14 lead, the awkwardly hard to tackle Nightingale saves the day. Close to the line one on one he is tough to get a hold of. That's 20-18, Cowboy's with a slender 2 point lead

Make that 20 all as Widdop pilots a simple one through the goals.

Ex Raider, Joel Thompson lives up to his promise tonight, and probably had his best game in the Red V

I think Beale knocked the ball on whilst attempting an intercept, the ref's let it go and he makes a long break to allow the Dragons to take a 26-20 lead, due to a great try to Nightingale in the corner and Widdop also converts a tough one.

Widdop still probing late in the game, the Englishman has really lifted his game this season after leaving the Storm

The defiant Happy Dragon mascot .. gives the crowd a fist pump after Widdop kicks a field goal to make it 27-20 with less than 10 mins on the clock

Ah Mau to Quinlan, the apparent small forwards the Dragon's have are busting the middle of the Cowboys late in the game

Nightingale trying to make it 4 for the night in his man of the match display. Just a little short here ..

Stockwell makes a late break in the game but it is in vain. The run led to no increase in the score for the Dragons and the Cowboy's scored a late consolation try in the 80th minute to make the full time score 27-24.

The Film Experiment

Everyone goes through phases in life and well it's time for me to have a go and use a film camera. Whilst I am at it why not just go for manual focus and pick up a Leica. If I am going to do it properly (well to some purists) this is the way to do it. One BIG note, and that is I am not using an all Leica kit !! Using a Leica M6 that comes with TTL (ok that is cheating a little) and a Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 pancake lens. I couldn't afford a Summicron and it will take me some time to be able to afford one.

Being a person who has only ever used AF, manual focus is something that is very very foreign to myself. Not only using a manual focusing camera, but to make things more exciting a classic range finder, in the Leica M6. Most people have said using these cameras for any kind if photography has slowed them down and allowed them to compose and frame much better shots than using the new razzle dazzle equipment. I would say it has definitely slowed me down but I do not think for the better at the moment.

I have decided to try out a few films and I got a film case from Japan Camera Hunter with a big variety of films, there are many interesting ones in the set and it is definitely like a box of chocolates. I'm sticking with shooting in ISO 400 film and here are some samples from Fuji's Superior T-Max 400, Kodak Portra 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400.

My apologies, I do not have a film scanner and the photos are not of the highest quality in terms of resolution.

Fuji Color - Superior T-Max 400

Fuji Color - Superior T-Max 400

Kodak - Portra 400

Kodak - Portra 400

Kodak - Portra 400 ... cannot afford two bodies and waste half a roll but this is Portra with back and white in post

Kodak - Portra 400, black and white conversion

Kodak, Tri-X 400

Kodak, Tri-X 400

Kodak, Tri-X 400

Kodak, Tri-X 400