GR1 – MikeHawkey.com

It must have almost been a week since I picked up my Sony Nex, and many many months since I last used my Industar 61 (generally I would grab the Jupiter-8 for a manual 50).So, I headed out with this combination and my Ricoh GR1 (to finish the film in it) for a several hour stroll around the Devonport and Belmont areas.

As it has been for a few weeks now, the beaches were packed with people, the sun out and the water cool. I had earlier gone for a swim, so ventured off the beach track and more into the local parks and reserves. Walking out of Devonport, Lake Road, I captured today’s image. Shot just behind the memorial plaques and crosses, a wood post, chain fence runs the entire length. Approaching early evening the shadows were getting longer and I was drawn to the light filtering through the trees as I looked through the viewfinder up the fence passageway.

In post editing I did a fair amount of mucking around today in Gimp, adjusting contrasts, shadows, saturation and finishing with the rounded edges just after an aspect crop.

I also managed to finish off the film in the GR1, but don’t know if I will get around to developing it for the next few days or not.

The days are counting down until I return to work now. I enjoy my job, but am never one who enjoys finishing a holiday!…but enough about that. I still have several days up my sleeve!

I got the opportunity to develop one of my films from Fiji today. It was by accident that I had loaded a roll of Ilford Pan400 into the camera, planning to shoot colour for the whole holiday, but it made its way into my case somehow, and since Ricoh GR1’s pre-load the film before shooting, it was easier to just go with it than swap it out for colour (my colour films have been sent off for developing).

Anyway, today’s image was shot in a rainforest area several hours south from Nadi in Fiji. We were taking a trip to an inland waterfall after visiting one of the local villages seeking permission to enter. Some tourists ride up rather than walk, and I came across such a group on my return to the village. Unfortunately this horse was not in the best of moods today and had caused some issues on the trip up (I would too if I had to carry people through a muddy forest in the hot midday heat). Using my GR1 I got as close as I felt secure (it looks further away with a 28mm lens) and captured the horse and his guide calming him.

In post production using Gimp, I adjusted the levels a little, but otherwise left it as scanned. Considering the brightness, even undercover of the canopy, I was happy with the result the 400asa film gave me.

Fresh back from Fiji, I’ve had just enough time to look over my digital images. For those reading who may have missed my final decision, I ended up making it a ’28mm Holiday’, taking along my GR1 and GRD IV Ricoh cameras. I shot off two colour and one black and white films on the GR1, and a fair number of digital images also. Weather being fantastic, the light was also pretty harsh come mid-morning.

Today’s image, ‘Searching for Shade’ is one of my favourites from my initial inspection of images. Taking a stroll around the Denarau Port area, Nadi Fiji, where we were based, the temperature was around 30 degrees Celsius with no cloud cover. I managed to find a larger tree with good foliage and sat down to try and cool down a little. Transitioning from Auckland’s ~12degrees the week before, it took me a few days to adapt to the heat!

Just down, back in the sun from where I sat, I captured this image on my GRD IV. Using the bleach bi-pass mode. I particularly like how the bleach bi-pass in the Ricoh worked with the harsh bright light I had during the day. Sitting back at home its 11 degrees again…don’t think I’m quite over the holiday yet – I’d welcome that tree in the shade right about now!

Tag: GR1

The Chain Fence

A Horse in a Forest

Searching for Shade