GX GARNERINGS

(Ricoh GX200; water taxi and the "driver") A Ricoh user, ismall , texted me this in the morning. We had been in contact but probably both of us tried to be not pushy. So I kept sending her email and tweets instead of calling her direct and she kept waiting for me to contact her first. Great that she texted me finally. So we met quite early this morning. She brought alsong a film camera and a GRD3 while I a Leica X1 in case I need to put more pixels in the images, Leica D-Lux 5 for its zoom range and the GX200 mounted with the wide converter. We spent a day shooting out from the tram, on an outlying island and in an open-air market. It was a long, enjoyable day and here are some more of the shots I did with the GX200:        

(Leica D-Lux 5) "Hey, mind me take a photo of you two," I couldn't help walking up to them and asking as the sunlit scene was so lovely, especially on a Friday evening when work is put behind the mind. They were very willing and lost no time to look into the lens, smiling: Look, the man was shooting me back in secret with his LX5 mounted with a wide-angle converter. I said it'd make a better shot if they pretended to keep talking as they did when I walked up to them. They are the most willing strangers I asked for permission to shoot so far. The first shot of today was how they responded to my further request. We talked a bit about our cameras before I thanked them and walked away.

(Leica X1) A wise lady friend of mine living in OZ has won herself a number of awards and medals for her life-long contributions to the environment, one of which was awarded to her by a former OZ Prime Minister which she, unfortunately, like many Aussies, distastes. But she has lots of wisdom in life to face even more paradoxical situations. I have the privilege to learn from her some of my fondest, one of which is that she thinks most people, when left to their own devices, worry too much for nothing. Seize the day, she always says, because when the chance is gone, it is gone and will very likely never come back to you again. Seize the day or stand to lose. She summarised this saying, "You can't worry about everything." This is easier said than done. An extreme fictitious example. A man goes into a a tailor shop and asks for a made-to-order shirt. After much fuss about the measuring and going through the fabrics and colours of choice, he is asked to make a down payment

(Leica X1) How close are commuters stuck together in the underground train during the rush hour? Today's image gives you a clue as the camera failed to focus at even the shortest focusing distance which is 1m.  It took quite some chutzpah out of me to hold up the camera and snap this shot while around me were other commuters as close. Some eyes were laid on me as I did this shot. I went on snapping, and might have heard my pulse pounding in my ears but I just played dumb. Such excitement may be the extra addictive aspect of street photography to me.

(Ricoh GX200) It appears from today's hot weather that summer is finally here. April to June is fine but Hong Kong is forbiddingly hot and unbearably humid from July through to September. The hottest period of summer is not helped by the wind blowing from Mainland China, bringing the pollutants from the manufacturing boom towns to here. No wonder when Hong Kong was still Her Majesty's colonial land, the summers saw most members of the British ruling class fly back home to hide in their personal castles by the sidewalks, er, pavements. For the locals, taking a spin on their bikes or chewing popsicles are probably great ways to chill out from the heat.

(Ricoh GRD4) This is still a public holiday in Hong Kong. I'm slacking off a bit again. Have a nice day.

(Ricoh GRD4) This is Sunday. Make it colourful.