Cycling at Tower Bridge

I was tired from all the walking so i sat down at one of the seating area near the Tower Bridge, there were a lot of people whether cycling, strolling, jogging, photographing, u named it, with my X100S in my hands equipped with the WCL, i tried to capture this cyclist and see if my X100S is fast enough to focus and take a shot. i think it did well here. No hunting by the X100S. Although its a hit and miss, hopefully the X100T improves on that.

From London to Italy and Leicester ........ (Part Florence)

23rd July 2014

Next stop Florence. First impression as soon as i got out of the train station, this felt like Milan. I'm not really enjoying Milan as i should be, except for that Piazza Del Duomo Milan, just standing in the middle of the Piazza is an experience itself. Florence is like a one big festival city. From one piazza to another piazza the road is crowded with people or specifically tourist. People just walked in the middle of the road, its like the road is for pedestrians, the car just had to slow down and do a soft honk. Beep beep... "Attenzione attenzione", i think you can do a one whole day visiting florence because that's what i did. One day is enough for sightseeing only minus museum walk-ins. I walked from the train station till the garden, (that's way down below in the map, wait? what map?), but it didn't feel that far, maybe because it was crowded from one place to the other, like i said it was like one big festival, its just super crowded with tourist.

I've checked into Hotel BellaVista, a nice small hotel just near the train station, it is convenience, i don't have to walked that far, dragging my luggage all the way, it's just a 5 min walk. Thank goodness for technologies nowadays, i just use Google Maps to give me directions and for my walking navigations. I'm gonna spend two nights here in Florence, one day in Florence and tomorrow, Pisa.

My hotel room's view

Its funny, the first time you walked the streets, you feel foreign, you feel lost but once you knew where you're going, or at least spend a day exploring what's nearby, exploring the city, you get familiar, you become comfortable and feel safe. But that goes for every country i went, not just Italy. That's what i'm feeling right now.

There are like 70 plus channels on Tv but all speaking italian. Only Oggy and the cockroaches and tom and jerry i could understand. I do miss hearing English speaking channel.

Gelato is everywhere in Italy, and so do Florence. Its really nice to lick a Gelato on a hot summer day and the nice ice blended fruity drinks. So refreshing, so cool.

A street artist in Florence

Florence, its like a one big Festival city. The streets are crowded. Its like woodstock.
I was walking down the street when i stumbled this street artist. He's good. I took a bunch of pictures and tipped him.

Taken with a Fuji X100S. 

It made my face smirked when i see tourists with their big DSLRs. It looks heavy hanging there on your neck. Get a Fuji. Small, light and awesome IQ. plus that retro look that everybody seems to fond of. but thats just my opinion and i am entitled to it.

haters gonna hate.

A picture a day

I think starting today imma post a picture a day on this blog, probably only on weekdays since its the only days i have access to my computer. i started one yesterday, its called a man with trombone. Hope you guys enjoy the picture, and the upcoming dreadful pictures that will come along your way. giggles..... and LOL

A Man with Trombone

I was in New Orleans just walking along the street when i spotted this guy with a trombone. As usual i took a quick shot as if i'm taking a picture of the whole damn street but i was caught. He was cool about it and said "How was it?!"
I said "Nice!" and gave him a thumbs up.

Such a cool city!

"Lenny Kravitz" with a trombone.

Leica M8 with Voigtlander 15mm. 

Voigtlander 35mm 2.5 OR 35mm 1.4 ??? Help me!

I used to have this problem. Its hard deciding which of these two lens i should get. Back when i got my Leica M9 i solved this problem by getting the 40mm 1.4. Its not 35mm but close. Now that i sold my M9 and left with an M8, this problem is back. M8 being not full frame, a 35mm will become something close to a 50mm, say 46mm?? Anyway, one problem i found with M8 is choosing the right focal length. All those RF lenses were design for full frame. 35mm is 35mm. I din wanna get the 40mm because it might be a bit on the longer side for the M8. I set my standard focal length as 35mm because this is how my X100S used to be and i'm comfortable with it. Then i should get the 28mm, it will be roughly about 35mm on the M8. But i wanted my lens to be small. all those 28mm with fast apertures are quite big. So to make things easy for me, i set myself to get a 35mm. but which one? a faster lens at 1.4 or a pancake but slower at 2.5. i'd love a faster lens as i like to play with bokeh and shooting in low light will allow for faster shutter speed. But based on reviews on the net, its a mix reaction but mostly said this 1.4 classic nokton has focus shift. and worst distortion and prone to flare. The 2.5 color skopar gets nice review, sharper, less distortion and less flare, able to get bokeh as well and cheaper too!

I knew in my heart that the 2.5 is a much better lens than the 1.4, but i just cant get f1.4 out of my head, i was placebo-ed by faster lens equals more bokeh, faster shutter speed. and i hate the fact that if i buy the 2.5, i might still buy the 1.4 in the future just for the sake of the 1.4.

Sigh. Story of my life!

From London to Italy and Leicester .... (Part 1 London)

12th July 2014

Its 6.15am and i'm hovering above the clouds of london, it was beautiful up here, the sunrise gave the clouds an orange tint glow and we're circling up here waiting for our turn to land. This is typical of london heathrow traffic, as we circled, there were a few planes visible from looking outside of the plane window as they takes turn to land. While we're up here it reminds me of the scenes from a movie called the langoliers, all you see is clouds blanketing the world below. I should have taken my camera but i'm too lazy to take it out of the bag, and just like that i missed the moment. As we descend into the clouds, i was expecting a little turbulence and to my surprise there was none. And then the city below begins to appear, London, gone was the sunrise, the city in mist and a typical london weather, grey skies. The mood definitely turns dark. The temperature outside is 17degrees celcius, not quite the hot summer but maybe it was just morning weather. I'm still adjusting the time change as my body prepares to prevent jetlag. I do feel like its 6am in the morning, thats a good start.
I hop the next train to Paddington.

I've arrived at Paddington station and it was quite a busy morning. Hundreds of people getting their coffees and catching the next train. There were a few cyclist, in their spandex also getting breakfast, there's burger king and some bagel stations, a lot of options to choose and me i just sit on the cold steel chair thinking what's good for breakfast. Pigeons literally flew past my face and i'm the one who needs dodging. Not from where i come from, a slight move of your hands, and there goes the birds fleeing for their lives.

Its 9am and the hotel check in policy is at 2pm. 5 hours to burn. My fuji x100s sits in my bag and have yet to come out. I'm too tired from the long flight and i need to sleep in a proper bed. Sitting for 16 hours is not cool. Your bottom hates you and your sleeping pattern messed up. I left my luggage at the hotel and head back to Paddington Underground Tube station. First stop, Whitechapel.

I am in Whitechapel to check out the market but it seems that i'm too early as they were just about to setting up their 'tent'. I've been to Shepperd's bush and i think Shepperd's is the better market. I'm talking about street market. cheap ripoff clothings, and stuffs. Its 10am and the weather is about to show its summer. cloudy blue skies and warm sun, here comes summer i thought. As i was taking out my camera and started taking pictures, one guy came to me, he was pushing a trolley full of stuffs, i guess he's one of the sellers there, he said "Brother, no picture please". I said "OK" and just like that, it turned me off, of doing any photography. I guess i am a sensitive guy. I also found out that, that place is quite dodgy. Quite a few hobos, asking for a penny. When one hobo came to me and ask for two penny, and me being the "NO" guy, of course said no, he started swearing and mumbling, all i heard was "Cmon its only 2 pennies". I am totally a foreigner there and for my own safety, I left whitechapel.

June 10th 2015
***at this moment, i have lost my idea for a write up, might as well post some pictures rather than me talking out of my ass, this has been a long overdue blog post LOL***