Daily Inspiration #293 by Lilian Cardonne

Hi Steve,

My name is Lilian from France.

I’ve been following your blog for over a year… The amazing photos you take with the Leica M9 made me want to get one as soon as I saw them… But still over budget 😉

In 2008, for my first visit, I fell in love with New York city! I have great friends there now and went three other times after that to visit them I go shooting.

On the last time, in Oct/Nov 2011: the “Occupy Wall Street” people where still in Zuccotti Park, close to Wall Street and I had the great opportunity to go

there to take pictures. I’m not professional of photography, just a passionate so I went at Zuccotti Park several times and just stood there for a while

looking at people, trying to catch happy/serious/emotional/… moments. Among all the pictures I took there, here are some of my favorites. All taken with

my Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 on it.

I hope they can be interesting/inspiring enough to be posted on your site.

It’s really great to have such blog as yours for a photo passionate, thanks 😉

Cheers,

Lilian

30 Comments

  1. IT IS NOT ABOUT THE EQUIPMENT! IT IS ABOUT THE VISION OF THE SHOOTER!

    Come on, folks, enough about “stuff” and just take a look at the imagery! You have some nice stuff there, Lillian. I agree w/Michiel on trying out some wide lenses for your street work. Quite often, I use an 85mm on my D2h (that’s right, I use “vintage” cameras!) along with a 12-24mm on another D2h. In fact, at the 2011 Seabreeze Jazz Festival, it was about all I used for four days!!! (And, yes, some of the images were submitted to Steve for this blog.)

    • Thanks for posting Richard.
      Yes I also agree with Michiel. As I told him, I’m rather new in people photography so in one of my next attempt I will try with my 17-40mm!

  2. Lillian

    I really like your images. Particularly the first one. You have a very good eye and you are not being let down by your equipment. So go forward and continue to make images like these.

    PaulB

    • Thanks Paull!
      Even if I would love to try a Leica M9… I’m more than happy with my Cannon 😉
      The good thing is, fortunately, that photography is much than just an having expensive gear!

    • Why should the equipment let her down? Is this yet another expression of the mantra “Leica’s make good pictures, all other cameras just hinder you”?

      The images are certainly good and well caught. I wonder what pictures would have resulted if the photographer would have used a 24 or 21, and “immersed” herself in that crowd.

      Good work!

      • Thanks Michiel!
        I do have a 17-40mm that is on my camera body most of the time!
        I agree that it would have been worth trying 21/24 and I will in the future 🙂
        I guess that because this series was one of my first real attempt of people shooting I used the 85mm because it appeared to me to be suppose to be natural choice for people!

        • But not the natural choice for “situations with people”? 🙂 It’s a different approach and forces you to go in close. Ideally a fish eye… 🙂

    • Thanks a lot!
      Fortunately for me, the OWS people were an amazing opportunity for this type of pics!

  3. Think they are very nice. Like the contrast in these photos. Just curious – is this how they look right out the camera or are they are post processed?

    • They were taken color in RAW format. Then converted to JPEG and to B&W using Nik Software Silver FX. With this soft you have several filters/presets, I chose one with accentuated contrast because the result looked right to me… And that’s it!

  4. Very nice work. You have a great eye for street photography- you really capture the decisive moments.

    • Wow thanks Jeff! Actually it’s my first real experience with “people” photography and I’m really starting to love it!

  5. Not too shabby from a non-Leica camera using a $400 non-Leica 85 mm f/1.8 Canon lens. Alright, all you Leica fanatics, go for your $ 8,000 M9 and your $4,000 Leica lens and see if you can do much better.

    • Wow ! Bravo Rick for your brilliant comment. Maybe the most clever and constructive post I’ve ever read on Steve’s site..
      You’re sooooooooooo right. But wait a minute : have you ever posted some of your fabolous photos here ? They must be perfect photos, indeed for somebody who has a Leica. I hope you really have a S2 at least… I can’t understand how people can shoot with something else than a Leica. It makes you feel you’re a better photographer, right ? It gives your more talent ? So please, be my guest and impress us, no, amaze us with your fine art photos.

      Bref. Bravo Lilian pour ces photos d’illustrations proches de la réalité. C’est simple, efficace et c’est ce qu’on demande à une photo “journalistique”.
      Quant au commentaire débile de notre ami Rick, il vaut mieux rire de ce pauvre type qui n’a, certainement jamais eu de Leica et, qui continuera à envier le talent des autres faute de mieux. Un être misérable qui vit une misérable vie de frustré… Très symptomatique de notre époque tout ça…

      Si tu as un Flickr ou un site, n’hésite pas à poster l’adresse.

      Bonne continuation.

      Kaïs.

      • MDR…

        Tu sais tous cela ne m’embête pas!
        En fait j’ai découvert le M9 avec les photos de Steve Huff, j’aime beaucoup le rendu de ces photos. Et effectivement, ça m’a donné envie de voir ce que ça donne de shooter avec. Mais bon, je ne vais me plaindre quand même avec mon Canon 😉
        Bien heureusement, la photo c’est bien plus que juste avoir un appareil hors de prix 😉

        Comme tu dis… Bref merci de ton soutien!

        Voici mon compte Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilfr38/.

        Poste le tien si tu en as un aussi!

        Lilian

  6. Bonjour Lilan,

    I like your pics a lot, many people who try street photography in crowds forget to put the subject foreard. Here there is no doubt about your subject even in the mayhem of the crowd.

    Thanks for sharing. Qui sait, on vous croisera peut-être à Montréal, en route pour NewYork

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