This week, we have the chance to meet two newcomers to our website and the Mirrorless Monday tradition! One is Jeff Mein Smith, and the other is Lucinda McKittrick. Neither are photographers by profession, but their passion for the art is more than obvious from the photos they’ve chosen to share.
Jeff is an English teacher in a Chinese-medium-of -instruction (CMI) school in Hong Kong. He is a member of Cathay Camera Club, a multi-cultural amateur photographer group. He and his wife, both from New Zealand, bought their first serious camera, an Olympus OM 2 Spot, in New York in the 1980s on the first stop of their 3 year overseas odyssey. The stylish small size of that camera has been happily revisited in his ownership of a black OM-D EM 5 which goes with him nearly everywhere in Hong Kong, as street scenes there can be fascinating.
As he states, “To go from Olympus OM to OM-D is ‘to come 4/3 circle” Very true, Jeff!
One of his photos from the Hong Kong streets is the one he has chosen to display here. It is aptly named “The 3 stages of sleep” and perfectly represents the unbearable heat that has overtaken the city. About the photo, Jeff states:
“Hong Kong street cleaners take a well-earned rest on a hot, humid afternoon.”
We strongly believe that effective street photography should provoke reflection. Indeed, looking at this example, you cannot help but ask yourself hundreds of questions about the lives of these hard-working women. Who are they? How many hours do they work? What has pushed them to the point of exhaustion? Street photography must tell a story, and that is just what Jeff has done with this great photo.
The second contribution is by Lucinda McKittrick who has shared a beautiful shot taken during a walk in Ely at the beginning of June. About the camera, she states:
Please see attached a shot taken with my already beloved Fuji X20… I’d only had it for a week, and am so impressed by it! It’s going to be properly tested next month on a Belgium cultural/sporting trip!
Though this photo was taken in 2013, it has a wonderful retro feel to it thanks to Fuji’s sepia film simulation mode (and of course, the presence of the vintage car and the old building!). It is the kind of photograph you could imagine finding in your grandmother’s old box of photos from her childhood. We can’t wait to see the images Lucinda brings home from her time in Belgium!
Remember, you too can be featured on Mirrorless Mondays! If you have a special photo you want to share, all you have to do is send us an email at mirrorlessons@gmail.com with a) information about the mirrorless camera you used, and b) a short blurb about the photo!
