Mark Davis

Nikon D800E, 16-35mm f/4 at 16mm, f/8 (Really Right Stuff tripod)

On a recent trip to South Africa, I decided to devote more of my time time trying to shoot landscapes, rather than my usual street scenes.  Inspired by the luscious, green rolling hills of the Western Cape, it was an easy and obvious decision.  All of us are used to seeing beautiful landscape photography; it is probably the most…

Paris – on the streets

On a sunny October Saturday afternoon, after an agreeable lunch near the Place des Vosges, I wandered the streets of the Marais district for a couple of hours, capturing images of Parisians at play.  The Marais, originally the Jewish quarter, is one of the more fascinating, and less touristy areas of Paris.  It is full of interesting buildings, street life and people and a rich hunting ground for…

I grew up in Northern Ireland, leaving just after my 19th birthday.  I have visited once a year for about a week since then.  Visiting again during the last few days, I have been struck once more by the sensational beauty of the countryside and the coast.  Visiting tourist attractions like The Giant’s Causeway, I have been surprised and very pleased to see visitors from all over the world,…

I became a fully paid up member of the rarified club of Leica ownership in May this year.  As with any exclusive club, the entry fee is enormous and not justifiable by any normal rational processes, other than for the super-rich.  I wanted to find out what all the fuss and awe is all about, and so, after hours of reading blogs by Leica lovers and looking at photographs taken by Leica…

Battersea Power Station is acknowledged by all Londoners and visitors to London as a landmark building, a structure to rival St Paul’s Cathedral in its scale, grandeur and beauty.  It was in fact originally described as a “temple of power”.  Unfortunately, it has for three decades fallen into a state of serious disrepair and repeated attempts by developers to buy it and breathe life back into it…

My “normal” lens for some time now has been 35mm, with the 28mm on the Ricoh GR coming a close second.  With both of these focal lengths, you feel close to the action and the perspective is ideal for street photography.  Neither of these lengths feel to me particularly wide angle, and I have been interested for a while in exploring something truly wide.  I believe that Daido Moriyamafor many…

These are not photographs of famous London landmarks.  They feature instead ordinary buildings which largely go unnoticed, but which, in the right light are beautiful and are part of the fabric of this great city.  These were all shot with a Leica M9 and a Summicron 35mm f2.

Early morning on Seymour Street

I have just come back from a trip to South East Asia, where I visited Hong Kong, Java, Singapore and Bangkok.  One of the highlights of the trip was visiting some of the second-hand camera shops in Hong Kong; it is a photographers’ paradise!  I bought a Nikon FM3Aand when I started using it for the first time, I realised that there was no battery in it, meaning that I had no assistance from the…

Saturday night on Flickr.

This is the first time I have used the high contrast B&W setting on the Ricoh GR.  I am pleased with the contrast and definition, but I think it will take some time fully to get the hang of it. 

It continues to surprise me just how enduring is the power of monochrome photography.  Why is it so universally appealing?  It cannot simply be nostalgia for the old way of doing things.  We live in a high-tech, digital world; very few of us are content to watch TV on a black & white set, but yet we are often drawn to the magical quality of monochrome still photography.