There were several reasons why I wanted to go to Toronto and a couple why I didn’t, but the pros out-weighed the cons and so I set off for my day out.
The main reason I wanted to go was that it had been such a long time since I had been to Toronto with the purpose of shooting, though today, that was not my sole purpose. My health has made me a bit cautious, and I was aware of this, thinking to myself that in days past, I wouldn’t have not given a second thought…and I would have been off! And those days were just a short while ago.
Another reason was that I wanted to try my Viltrox 13mm F1.4 which I hadn’t given a good workout, so I carried it as my main lens for the day along with three other, far more than I needed, or used. Just before I set-off, I repacked all my gear into a different camera bag ~ I had carried too much, but that was also another reason, I wanted to see if I could manage it. I was thinking about my trip to England and Portugal later this summer.
The last reason was that I had recently bought myself a good pair of trainers and wanted to see how they would work out ~ they were fine and enough said about them ~ no complaints there!
My train was a few minutes late ~ a medical emergency on board a few stops earlier ~ I don’t know if that was an omen for the rest of the day, I’m not superstitious, but I was already not in the best frame-of-mind.
I was just not feeling very inspired, yes, I was tired when I set out in the morning and I had not been keeping well for the two previous weeks, but I told myself that I was going out to shoot and I was just going to follow my feet ~ I hadn’t made a plan.
It’s pointless giving you a blow, by, blow account of the day, so I will summarize the day for you…I did give the Viltrox a work out, not to my satisfaction, but enough to give me a good feel for the lens and also know that I had made a good decision in buying it. The lens is very wide, I knew this of course and used it accordingly and I will be taking it with me when I go to England and Portugal later this summer, but not as general walk around lens! However, in tight spaces it’s fantastic!!
The only other lens I used that day was my Super Takuma 50mm F1.4 – and I had thought that I would use that after lunch, in the afternoon. Up to this point, I had only used this lens in the woods and had never taken it to Toronto ~ I wanted to see how it might perform, should I take it to Europe with me. Well, the lens performed well enough, but I also decided, if I’m going to keep my gear to a minimum, this lens might not make the list.
Although I have been into Toronto for appointments and meetings a few times in the last few months, this was my first trip in for photography in about 10 months. There was a change to Toronto ~ the number of homeless seems to have grown and sadly, probably as a result, Toronto smelled like one big latrine ~ very sad indeed. I also witnessed a sight I have not seen in the “west” before...which I’ll say no more about, it was bad.
People were also not willing to pose for street portraits, a few were, but on this occasion my success rate was quite low. I’ve actually found with my walks in the woods recently people are also not so willing to pose, perhaps with the use of phones, people are becoming tired of the continual stream of photos ~ I’m over simplifying things of course.
The whole day’s shooting just felt flat and I felt very disappointed, mostly with myself. Granted, I was tired and perhaps not my usual self when I set off in the morning, but it seemed more than that. I know that I am very critical of my own work and today it seemed like I was just not hitting the mark ~ in fact I felt way off!
By the time it came to turn for home, I almost felt relieved to be leaving Toronto, with the thought that I had not done my day justice and I had wasted it…and I hate wasting time. But it was just one of those days and we all have them and it wasn’t a total waste, I had learned a couple of things and that was the best take-away for the day.
We’re not going to end of a negative note, no that wouldn’t be right…as I said, there were things learnt and although I wasn’t satisfied with the days shooting, I knew enough about myself to know that I had to see my images on a large monitor. Here are a couple points…images may look okay on the rear screen or EVF of your camera, but seeing them on a monitor is a much better way to examine your images. The sun was exceptionally bright and I know that in bright sunlight, my eyes aren’t so good anymore, give me some shade!
I did look at my images that evening on my return home and there was some potential there for a little creative post processing. It took a few days ~ time elapsed for contemplation of the images and how I would post edit them. I knew that by themselves, the images were nothing special, however, as always when I’m out shooting ~ I’m always thinking of how I can visualize a final image…and here I’m not talking about street or urban photography, or street portraits. More so along the lines of taking scenes or shapes and patterns and using them to create a final image that is more interesting than the sum of their natural parts.
On the whole, that day’s shooting was a mixed bag and I had come away with more than a couple of images that weren’t too bad! Perhaps I have become too self-critical, so much so, that I forgot to simply enjoy the day and put too much pressure on myself to come away with fantastic images…we all live in hope! This was perhaps the best lesson of the day.