Ride to the country

As we come into autumn, and soon winter, the skies promise to remain blue with little chance of rain, while the temperatures are much more comfortable than at the start of the year.
Perfect weather for riding


E.Zuiko 100mm f3.5  photo: Chris Eastwood

Getting away from the city takes a few hours heading West and once the traffic dies down to a trickle the country side opens up revealing its nostalgic charm.


G.Zuiko 40mm f1.4  photo: Chris Eastwood

Queensland back road still offer some great rural scenery that has not been exploited by the Instagram masses, leaving the places intact with a genuine sense of nostalgia. Needless to say I won't be geotagging these :-)


Lumix-G 14mm f2.5 

Once these cottages were home to farmers and graziers, now fast transportation from town allows to attend the properties without living on them.


G.Zuiko 40mm f1.4

I find that travelling by motorcycle to be the perfect mean of transportation to allow for roadside photography. I don't have to look for a spot to park my car; I just pull over on my two wheels and often I am able to photograph while still seated in the saddle.



Pentax-110 70mm f2.8



E.Zuiko 100mm f3.5


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Image softness storytelling

Following my thoughts on image storytelling (in this post) I now can reason why I like this image I captured the other day.
Would the photograph "tell the story" in the same way if the image would be pin sharp?
I don't believe so...


adapted X-Fujinon 50mm f1.6   1/8000sec

This image is a combination of slight miss-focus with a lens that is not that sharp to start with.
As I used an adapted old SLR manual-focus lens wide-open the view appeared slightly blurry and glowy. That lens renders a sharper image and much better contrast when I close its aperture a bit; but in doing that I would have lost the vintage appeal and separation of the main subject against the background.

Would I have been using instead my superbly sharp (comparable angle of view) modern lens done a better job?
Maybe.
If the viewer is bent on sharpness and precision, recording an event and place with minute details, then yes, by a long margin.
But if the viewer can create in his/her mind a story around that image then I am afraid to say that the super sharp lens would probably not help to create that look of nostalgia.
And that is why I burden myself with the awkward old glass from film days, where I can create "the feel" that my modern lenses can not.