French girls

There was a hearty feeling in the air at the French festival; a mild winter day with crisp skies seemed to make people happy.
I noticed that many girls there had a bit of a different look; less pompous, sultry or dismissive. I liked the atmosphere of the place.


Kodak Cine Ektanon 102mm f2.7  1/800sec



Kodak Cine Ektanon 102mm f2.7   1/1600sec




Cosmicar 50mm f1.4  1/4000sec

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Birds in the garden

My local botanical gardens are open to birds and human visitors to roam free. No cages, no nets, like nature is meant to be enjoyed.


adapted C-mount Cosmicar 50mm f1.4  1/2500sec



adapted Kodak Cine Ektanon 102mm f2.7   1/2000sec


adapted Kodak Cine Ektanon 102mm f2.7  1/5000sec


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Alfresco dining

With a warm climate year-round and low precipitation Brisbane offers the perfect weather for eating out, under the stars.

I particularly enjoy the markets and urban parks South of the river where dining is a much more organic and low -profile experience than in the city itself. 

G.Lumix 14mm f4.5  1/6sec

I see a more down-to-earth crowd where the focus is to enjoy oneself, not parade or show off :-)

The people that frequent these places are very approachable and conversations flow easily.
The food can be viewed and the offerings are extremely varied, from all continents.

G.Lumix 14mm f2.5  1/25sec
And ultimately I see a much closer connection between people where they can mingle freely and not just stuck behind a crammed noisy restaurant table unable to talk due to the noise.


Pentax-110 50mm f2.8  1/6sec
After living in USA for almost a decade (MA, VA, UT and CA) I now really appreciate how these open spaces where one can socialize and enjoy a simpler life contribute to a more genuine quality life.

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Fence post

I live in a city but I long for the country.
It is so difficult to find some open space with tall grass and an old fence.


Cintagon 35mm f4.5  1/500sec


Cintagon 35mm f4.5  1/320sec

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Man up

A group of men chatting after exercise, outside. No alcohol :-)


SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4  @ f2.8  1/2500sec

I am usually too shy to ask strangers for a photo but reading the back of the guy's T-shirt made me do it :-)
I wanted a particular expression from the men chatting and after a minute or so they stopped feeling my presence. I took a few images with a vintage manual focus 50mm lens that provided the visual separation from the background.

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Rainforest trees

In the dense subtropical rainforest the trees are overwhelming; I rarely see the whole tree.
The close proximity of the giants keeps my view focused at the base of their trunks, observing the intricate shape of the roots and texture of the bark.


G-Lumix 14mm f4.5  1/4sec

The light is diffused and the moisture allows for vines, lichens and mosses to grow, sometimes creating abstract paintings on their bark.


G-Lumix 14mm f4.5  1/15sec

And the root system is at times rather bizarre, nothing like I have ever seen in a European forest.


M.Zuiko 9-18mm f4.5  1/15sec

Before the rain

There was rain in those clouds but nothing could get in the way for an evening run on the beach.


M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8  @f5  1/2500sec

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The orange bag

It sticks out, bright.
Not originally intended as a camera bag, with a custom insert it now serves very well for a kit of a couple of camera bodies and several lenses.
Ah yes, those are Micro Four Thirds cameras, not big monster DSRLs :-)

Around the city:


Vintage manual lens: Nikkor 105mm f2.5 rangefinder  @f5.6  1/500sec

Early morning beach walk on Xmas day.


Nikkor 105mm f2.5 rangefinder  @f2.8   1/3000sec

On the golf course, trying to get a low angle shot.


Industar-61,  50mm f2.8  @f5.6  1/30sec

Moon-rise at the beach, again.


Sigma 60mm f2.8 DN  @f4  1/10sec

The stretchy dress dress and the camera bag seem to live in symbiosis: best combo for outdoor warm weather photography.

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Bokeh of a vintage lens

A 50 year old vintage lens from Germany is my favorite one for close-up photography.
It renders the out-of-focus areas with a creamy bokeh and tends to create "bubbles" on the highlights.
Mounted with extension rings it is often used hand held on my mirrorless cameras.



Often images look closer to watercolors than photographs; the shallow depth of field has blurry backgrounds with edges that seem to "bleed" softly into the next color.



The Meyer Optik Trioplan 50mm f2.9 is a manual focus lens, very small in size compared to modern lenses. Not exceptionally sharp, it might not please the perfectionist wanting to achieve details in every twig or grass blade but it is the lens that I regularly take on my outdoor trips to recreate the "feel" of  a place more than just accurately record it.



Somebody once said: I am not interested in image quality, I am interested in quality images.

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Spencers creek

A few minutes of the golden hour illuminated the puffy clouds above our camp.


G-Lumix 14mm f2.5  @8  1/15sec to 1/180sec (composite image)

Granite spires

Granite spires of the high country in the Australian Snowy Mountains.


G-Lumix 14mm f5.6  1/500sec

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New Year's Eve

I am not for one to party in a big crowd, celebrations in a drunken stupor and loud shouting.
I am more for the quiet place with selected cherished friends, exotic location, kind of guy.
New Year's Eve was celebrated away from any noise, but the one of wind, cascading water and my little gas stove.


G-Lumix 14mm f5.6   1/6sec

We were tired from walking and rock-hopping; set up camp early.
I had no idea when midnight struck as I was sound asleep.
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Fluffy and Tiger

Time over I have observed a similarity of appearance between dog and owners.
This scene seems to fit  :-)


Nikkor 105mm f2.5 RF  @f2.5 1/6000sec

Shelter in the forest

There is no forest more enticing than a snowgum one, up high, close to tree-line.


G-Lumix 14mm   f5.6  4sec

The weather twisted trunks look spooky, the dead branches bleached by the elements; however the soft grass that grows around snowgums is inviting to place my shelter.
I feel safe here knowing that the tortured trees will shed some of the high wind, if it had to pick up during the night.

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Vintage portrait lenses

Only recently I have started to explore portraits.
I am not that great with photographing people close-up as I feel that I am bossing them around when I ask to pose a certain way to get the image I want.
Petra however is happy to accommodate my request while I futz with old vintage manual focus lenses: she understands and enjoys manual lenses herself :-)


Jupiter-9 85mm f2 @f4 1/250sec
I could use an auto-focus lens but I am not too fond of the clinical look I get from them: too sharp and the bokeh is often not as "creamy" as old, simpler optical-design lenses.
It's the quirks and faults of the Russian lenses that I seek in some of my images.
The challenge however is to make them work in demanding light conditions as they tend to flare badly in back-lighting.


Jupiter-8 50mm f2  @f4  1/250sec
I often miss the focus since I like to use them rather wide open and the depth of field on longer lenses is very shallow.
There is no way I can get satisfactory images of fast moving subject but for slower type of photography, I enjoy the feel and look that I get from lenses sometimes older than myself :-)

I wanted to see how 4 different lenses perform in similar lighting, time of the day and conditions.
My favorite look comes from the extremely popular Russian lens (copy of the German CZJ Biotar) : the Helios 44-2. At 58mm f2 it is just the right focal length for portrait. Easy to focus (contrasty enough) and the background blur (bokeh) is very much to my liking.


Helios 44-2  58mm f2  @f2.8  1/20sec
The more compact looking (I have a thing for small camera/lenses) but longer focal length of the Jupiter-9 85mm f2 is a very low contrast lens and not that sharp (at least my copy).
I have to work on my images after I shot them as out of the camera they look very milky.


Jupiter-9 85mm f2  @f4 1/1500sec
In the mix of these old Russian lenses I tried also a very long lens: a Vivitar (made by Komine) 135mm f2.8. It was an impulse by on eBay but a very pleasant surprise.
I find it sharp even wide open and the bokeh is rather pleasant even tho not as creamy.


Vivitar 135mm f2.8   @2.8 1/20sec!
Last but not least I do realize that these lenses are easier to use today than when they were designed for film cameras. The incredible image stabilization on my diminutive Olympus cameras allow me to take images with incredible low shutter speeds. At 270mm (film camera equivalence) I shot the above image at 1/20 sec!    If that was on my Nikon camera many years ago, it would have been a total blur, unrecognizable image :-)

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The hardy flowers

Most of the ground flowers have finished blooming and I could see pods of seeds where before there was color.
The delicate soft petaled flowers were gone as the heat of summer is now present most days.
New flowers, much more hardy, are now appearing.


SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4  @f4 1/6000 sec

This one remind of the typical high-mountain Edelweiss with its velvety petals


SMC Takumar 50mm  f1.4  1/8000 sec


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