In front of a restaurant, a woman sat on a window ledge, under cover. The covered sidewalk provided the light that I like. She wore running gear. When I asked her for the right to make a portrait, she was a teeny bit reluctant, but quickly agreed. Her name was Tennille. I said, like the Captain and Tennille? She said “Yep”. I wonder how many readers remember The Captain and Tennille. Read about them HERE.

My only regret is that I did not have her look to the side. She was looking directly at the bright road, so the light falls evenly on her face with no directional flow.

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A few minutes later I met Betsy, in the middle of the road at a farmer’s market. We were both in bright sunlight. She obliged me and stepped into the shade of an adjacent booth.

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These images were both shot with the camera that I had rented for one week, the Olympus OM-D E-M5, with 45mm f1.8 lens. It is a very sophisticated yet physically small system. Although I had considered buying this, I will not be doing so for now. The image quality is fine (I think), but I did have some trouble handling it.

My hands are not particularly large, but I kept accidentally moving dials and buttons. When I brought the camera to my eye, often settings were different than I had thought – very disconcerting. For street portraiture, I want to concentrate on the personal interaction with camera settings more or less automatic. In a week, I could not do this with confidence.

Thom Hogan likes this camera, and has replaced his Nikon D7000 with it for his back up. Nevertheless, in his review he does point out accidental button pushing. See his review HERE.

Bob