So what do you do with the days between Christmas and New Year apart from stuffing your face further, flake out on the sofa and watch rubbish TV?
Well if you happened to have given yourself and 35mm f/2 prime lens for your Fujifilm for Christmas then it would be really rude to not take it out for a test run to see how it performed. So on the 28th I got together with my dear photography friend Joe O'malley for a walk through the East End, and boy did we walk. London Bridge to Bethnal Green.....and back
Light and fog on London Bridge
The Crow & the Fog
The journey which was around 17km by the time I had made it back home took us through Liverpool Street, Petticoat Lane, Whitechapel, Spitalfield, Brick Lane, Columbia Road, Hackney, Haggerston, Cambridge Heath, Bethnal Green, Shoreditch, Old Street with loops and twirls and back streets. Such an experience, almost empty and so tranquil (it will seem most of London were still away or still sat at home on the sofa in PJ's). The weather kept changing from clear blue skies to thick mist and fog that hung over the rooftops which made the most nondescript places look eerie and spooky and put an edge to the street art and candid captures we took along the journey.
Through of all this I had Joe telling me about the artists that had created the murals and street art we came across. To boot he is also a walking talking encyclopedia when it comes to the history of East End. I learned so much about anything and everything from Jack the Ripper to architecture, estates, transport, storefronts, jobs you name it - brilliant!
Original Store Front
What was even more brilliant was how the lens performed. No disappointment whatsoever with crisp and clear captures, it didn't keep chasing for focus like the 23mm and did great in the low light and fog. I love the Bokeh and found little if any distortion. I had done a lot of research beforehand as there is also a 35mm f/1.4 on the market but at a much greater cost. The majority of all the reviews seem to suggest it was hardly anything between them so at the lower cost this one was the preferred lens. Well this is my new favourite thing and I have had it with me everyday since and it just keeps giving.
Below are some of the many captures from our walk around, I had a somewhat hard time choosing.
Petticoat Lane
Contrasts of old and new
Spooky
Old derelict Victorian Building
Fun
Mural near Spitalfield
Murals just off Brick Lane
Alleyway of urban art
Two fingers
Keep breathing
Watching the world go by
Overgrown Bridge
Spooky park behind Brick Lane
Urban Explorer
Cold
Classic Mural
Feeling observed
Bright boozer
Columbia Road without the market
Cheese London, Hackney
Beauty and the Beast
Dining next to Brilliancy
Dundee Arms
Foggy Walk
Fog in Bethnal Green
Mural in Bethnal Green
an early exit of Chrstmas
Wooden mudguards
I've got my eye on you
E1
Magic light in Old Street
Sneaking a peek
Shoreditch
Colourful
Stickman oh Stickman.....