Canon and the Helios 44-2 58mm

Posted on Sep 15, 2020Sep 15, 2020 Posted in Architecture, Art, Black and White Photography, Café Culture, Nantes Photography, street photographyTagged architechture, Art, black and white, Black and White Photography, bokeh, bokeh whore, Bretagne, Brittany, Café Culture, Canon, Canon 6, Canon 6d Mark II, Close up, day out, France, helios M44-2, Ian Myers, ijm photography, ijmphotography, lens, Loire Atlantique, Nantes, obligatory bike shot, photo walk, photographer, photography, quartier, sainte croix, street art, street photography, streetphotography, summer, swirly bokeh, vintage lens2 Comments

It was a Sunday after a night celebrating a friend’s birthday with a “couple” of drinks. Which meant I was a tad on the tired side. Not hungover of course. Let’s just say that I needed to move my booty and air my mind.

As those of you who know me might have guessed already that meant making sure I was fit to drive. I was fit to drive. Grabbed my Canon 6D Mark ii and stuck on the Helios 44-2 58 mm F 2,0 lens.

At 58 mm we are leaving the standard focal lengths and heading off into portrait lens territory. How bold of me! Especially as I would be using it on the streets of Nantes. It’s a M42 screw mount lens and therefore needs an adapter in order to work on my modern DSLR. Manual focussing and without focus peaking and with my bad eyes is not easy unless yon use the flippy outy screen and zoom in,which meant that even I could get some in-focus images.

The Helios is a Russian lens from the Soviet era and the build quality could be described as slightly solid. When I first bought it I had placed it on my dining room table. It fell off the table onto the tiled floor and damaged a tile… But you dear reader are sensible and don’t do that kind of sh*t so you’ll be fine.

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is the bokeh that this lens gives out. If you like creamy bokeh goodness with a bit of a swirl then you won’t be disappointed. Try and spot it as you look through the photos. The bokeh whores amongst you will not be left wanting.

The obligatory bike shot in the streets of Nantes

Posted on Jul 4, 2020Jul 4, 2020 Posted in bikes, Black and White Photography, Café Culture, France, Nantes Photography, street photographyTagged 50mm, 7 artisans, bar, bars, Bicycle, bicycles, bike, black and white, Black and White Photography, bokeh, bokeh whore, Bouffay, Café Culture, Cafe, cafes, City, Confinement, covid 19, covid19, family, France, French, friend, friends, fuji, Fujifilm, Fujifilm X Series, fujifilm xt2, going out, helios M44-2, Ian Myers, ijm photography, ijmphotography, Irish Pub, John Mc Byrne, kindness, love, nantais, Nantes, night time photography, obligatory bike shot, photo walk, photographer, photography, pub, pubs, Social distancing, street photography, streetphotography4 Comments

To start off with this was just going to be a short preparative article before I publish my the photos from my night time article about night photography in Nantes. I was going to start off by talking the pubs opening in England and Ireland tomorrow. I wanted to show you the way that the new normal isn’t like the old normal but it’s still OK and that you can still enjoy meeting up with friends and rediscovering each other after lock down. Our bars reopened on the on the 11th of May so we’re kind of used to the whole thing. We put on our masks if we have to move around the bar. I might be half English and half Irish, but after a certain quantity of ale we all have to visit and inspect the plumbing. Just put the mask on and don’t forget to wash you hands afterwards;

So I’d finished work at 11h45, and was free for the whole afternoon. When I go to Nantes I always park in the same place. I’m a creature of habit. So, I park, and as soon as I come out of the car park I put my camera to my to check my settings. To start with I had the Helios M44-2 55mm lens on the XT2. It’s a lens famous for its swirley bokeh, but on the APS-C captor it’s more tricky to get, but it’s still a beautiful lens. I take a few shots of Bouffay. The bikes, the tramlines.

I wanted to capture the textures of the street. In black and white one can’t capture colour even if that colour information is present in my RAW files. I was looking for repetition of patterns, wanted to to get depth of field, wanted to play with the light reflecting off the street and capture people coming through the pool of light.

Strangely the pub isn’t very far away from these photos and I strangely I found myself sitting down with a Guinness in my hands… I had my mask on, and my hands have never been cleaner. It’s good to be amongst “my people” once more. I think that’s what I missed most about lock down. Having this social group of people who are good to me and make me want to be good to them. They know their names, and I love them dearly!

Well I wasn’t expecting that to go there… I’m such a sentimental old fool. I have hugged them and have made a real special effort not to break their ribs whilst hugging them.

So here are the photos of the pub where my “people” seem to congregate.

So it was already a great night, but I wasn’t there just for a good time despite rumours in certain quarters that I will always deny of course! I wanted to take even more photos. I had the Fujifilm XT2 and the 7 Artisans 35mm F1.2 lens which turns out to a be a manual focus, 50mm equivalent. I usually like to go wider, but that’s my little secret!

When I’m next in Nantes, hit me up! I’ll usually tell people on my Instagram and come up and say Hi! I might even buy you a beer. If we talk, be ready to talk about photography and this fair city of ours. If you have any questions about the photos in this article then just ask! I don’t bite.

Happy New Year

Posted on Jan 13, 2020Jan 13, 2020 Posted in Black and White Photography, France, Nantes Photography, street photographyTagged Anneaux de Buren, Architecture, black and white, Black and White Photography, blog, France, French, friend, fuji, Fujifilm, Fujifilm X Series, fujifilm xt2, grue titan, hangar à bananes, helios M44-2, Ian Myers, ijm photography, ijmphotography, ile de nantes, Loire, Loire Atlantique, Nantes, photo reportage, photo walk, photographer, photography, rainy, reflection, Reportage

So I was almost late for Merry Christmas, but in France you get until the end of January to wish people Happy New Year, so not late at all! Yayyyy, go me! Thank heavens that I’m not called Nads…. (old joke, and I’m nearly ashamed of using it to introduce an article)

Here we go then. Happy New Year. Or as the French might say on a good day, Bonne Année à toi! Which as work will be answered by, Bonne et heureuse… Et la santé avant tout! Have a good and happy one, and good health above all. That’s not really my thing. It sounds like a formula that you bring out to shut people up. I wish you enough riches not to be afraid of going to get the post everyday. I wish you friends or a friend to help you and be there for you. I wish you not what you want, but definitely what you might need. Anything else is a bonus.

I also wish you the joy that a cup of tea and a slice of cake give me!

Since I last wrote I’ve been taking a few photos, been back to work and have completed my first week of the year. I have lead two choir rehearsals, been to one windband rehearsal, had a whole day of windband rehearsal, and have have had the odd cup of tea. Some of them very odd.

On the 31st I thought it might be wiser to let my wife be, and let her look after things rather than be in her way. I know my place after all. Killian was supposed to be heading off into Nantes to bring the new year with his friends. For those of us staying at home, my wife had decided to prepare a raclette, which is based on melted cheese covering pieces of cold meats and potatoes. As I’m not into meat, this was a waste of time for me, but she was lovely and made sure I had a vegetarian option.

So to let her be, I thought I would go out with my camera and try and get some nice photos of the Anneaux de Buren and maybe the grue. Whilst out I met a friend who I had run into when we were out with our children. I spotted his camera, and he spotted mine and we got talking about photography. We still have to go on that photowalk Patrick! Time was getting on and I thought it wise to wish him a Happy New Year, and head back home.

I don’t know about you Dear Reader, but the idea of having to enjoy myself just because somebody said so, gets me a little cranky. Yayy it’s the Reveillon so you have to have fun! No I don’t. So just before midnight I headed up to bed. My facebook status read, Happy New Year, can I go to bed now?

The photos were taken on the Fujifilm XT2 with a 24mm (equivalent) lens, and the Helios 58mm lens. Can you tell which photos were taken with which lens?

Parc Oriental de Maulévrier

Posted on May 8, 2019Aug 25, 2019 Posted in Art, Landscape Photography, ReportageTagged Calm, Canon 6d Mark II, flowers, France, Gardens, helios M44-2, Japan, Japanese, Maulévrier, parc, parc oriental, park, plants, Trees, ZenLeave a comment

I’d heard of this place since I moved to Vendée in 2001, but had never got around to visiting it. The occasion was a friend’s birthday. My photography is my way of detaching myself from this world of commotion and taking a seat to just observe. The French talk about Zen, and “being zen” as an antidote to our modern lives, and finding that certain calm that we all long for.

Japanese gardens are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetic and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape.
Wikipedia

Even thought we were in a group, we allowed ourselves to go at our own pace. For those of you who have a photographer as a partner, apparently you have tremendous patience as all of a sudden we will stop dead and start taking a photo. Today I could just get on with it and wander around. Blissful it was, blissful! The only person that doesn’t mind me doing this is my son who waits patiently. If we go out, I will do 8000 paces, and he will do at least 12000 because of turning around and coming back to me. I do love that boy!

All these photos were taken on the Canon 6D Mark II, with the Helios M44-2 58 mm lens, except for one shot, which was taken with the Canon 16-35 mm lens. I do like the bokeh it gives you and on some of these photos you can actually see the swirly bokeh! Try and spot it…

Clisson in colour, and close up…

Posted on Apr 27, 2019Aug 25, 2019 Posted in Architecture, Landscape Photography, street photographyTagged bokeh, bokeh whore, Canon 6d Mark II, Clisson, Close up, France, helios M44-2, Loire Atlantique, swirly bokeh2 Comments

As you might know from reading the rest of this blog, I love using my Canon 6D Mark II with vintage glass. This Helios M44-2 is a bokeh beast for my inner bokeh whore… I love depth of field and this lens allows me to really express myself. Not only do I get the bokeh but due to a design falut in this lens, you get a “swiry bokeh.”

When I saw photos with this swirly bokeh for the first time I was blown away. I wanted that so boadly and when I first got this lens onto my camera I loved it. I’ve been getting acquainted with this lens and am beginning to get find what I can do with it.

Of course it has limits, the major one being that I can’t focus to infinity but i’m ok with that. I can get around it by using zone focusing. I can be around 6 to 10 metres away from my subject and have a small aperture. Above that the mirror with smack into the lens and my camera with start throwing a wobbler! And we don’t want that , do we!

So this bokeh, what is it then?

In photography, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”.
Wikipedia

My Wife…

Posted on Apr 17, 2019Apr 17, 2019 Posted in portraitTagged bokeh, Canon 6d Mark II, helios M44-2, wifeLeave a comment

I don’t usually think of myself as a portrait photographer, but I do take photos of my wife and children for family albums. I have a Helios M44-2 58mm which is a dedicated portrait lens and found a willing victim…

I say victim but she did say “yes” all that time ago. She usually hates my photos of her… No, she hates all photos of her, but here are some that said were Ok, which is praise indeed!

The Helios lens is a bokeh beast and is a wonderful focal length for portraits. I manage to use it with the Canon 6d Mark II with an conversion ring. It’s like having the best of both worlds… Digital and analogue.