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Rich Simpson
Whitby "The Town"
To anyone not familiar with Whitby, this is one of those odd northern England coastal towns, where its traditional role as a northern fishing port has, over the years changed, and developed into a truly vibrant mix of traditional English values and eccentric tastes. It's a true kaleidoscope of British life, encapslated into a small bustling town where heavy bikers rub shoulders with Goths, families with small children, dogs and pushchairs jostle for a place in a chip shop or ice cream queue, and vast swathes of old folk are let loose for a day?s outing and a good dose of sea air!
The town is roughly divided into two across the estuary, by a traditional metal swing bridge. To one side is a kind of fairground type atmosphere, with a colourful collection of bars, fish & chip shops, ice cream bars and slot machine venues, while on the other side, are meandering narrow streets with a tasteful collection of boutiques, jewellery shops, that lay below the Abbey overlooking
the town. Whenever I have time to spend in a place such as Whitby, my photographic antennae invariably turn toward the people that give it life and that certain sense of place. Festooned with the sort of hoardings and props that give it a true fairground atmosphere, the buildings and streets take almost a theatrical feel.
Preparing for Action
I joined up with the Safari Group early on Sunday morning, and found myself presented with the Brian?s very latest offering from Olympus, the E520. Soon after, it was generally agreed that we should work in small groups to swap ideas and techniques. So everyone piled into their cars and headed off to Robin Hood's Bay, which is accessed by a steep street from a hill top car park. I was joined by Andrew Swan, who had driven up from Rugby that morning. One uncomfortable look at the steep road down to the bay, and the equally steep walk back up, and we were headed straight back to Whitby in double quick time! The harsh morning light wasn?t going to do us any favours either, so we had no regrets about missing the first attraction of the day and instead headed back into Whitby to begin our walk through the town.
Since I was using the E520, and Andrew was keen to try out my E3, we did a quick swap, and were soon out there by the harbour among the masses, hunting for likely targets. Mindful of how sensitive some folk are about having long zoom lenses aimed at them, I'm afraid I tend to shoot first and answer questions after. Not the ideal policy I'm afraid, but it seems to work. This approach comes I
think from my childhood fascination with my father's large format bellows camera, which had a large hinged wire viewing device. Armed with this beast, and with my father in tow, I happily trailed around the London underground for hours on end, looking for unsuspecting victims.
At full extension, with its mounted hood, the 50-200 is an intimidating piece of kit, but it performs beautifully in the street, able to pick out images and focus swiftly.
In a busy place like Whitby, it is quite easy to avoid being noticed. People are more interested in window shopping, feeding an ice cream to the dog, queuing outside a fish & chip shop or wondering how to lose all their hard earned cash in another slot machine centre. On the day, I brought five lenses with me; the 12-60, the 50-200 (the old non SWD model) the 11-22, the famed 35-100 f2, and the 1.4x TC. All these I left in the car apart from the 50-200. I find that carrying just one lens has a wonderfully liberating effect, by doing away with the need to make any decision at all about what lens to use! The f2.8 - f3.5 50-200 is perhaps used more often than any,
due to its compact size and light weight, coupled with an equivalent FL of 100-400. And yes, it is a light weight compared with any equivalent lens from competing marques!
Looking for Targets!
My aim was to pick out images that would collectively give a strong impression of the day. I looked out for bikers, Goths, the elderly - in fact anyone who had character. The lobster baskets, rusty steel, stalls, the slipways and piers all added to the back-drop. I think Andrew was beginning to understand my approach to street shooting when I noticed him staring out of the window of the upmarket coffee bar we were seated in, trying hard to look innocent... The E3 with 50mm lens attached was being carefully aimed straight behind him
at the unsuspecting girl right behind us who had obviously demonstrated to Andrew her obvious model material! The resulting picture can I believe be found within Andrew's collection of images. (I really like that shot...!)
The pair of us cruised (if that is the right word) along the Whitby streets, and re-joined the group in a lively town pub, where I continued to snap away at an unsuspecting Steve Elliot, who was finishing his beer, and Marie, who with soft window lighting, who's profile seemed to achieve the likeness of a Classic Dutch master painting. The odd pigeon and flying seagull did make it to the final cut of twenty or so shots, but in the end, sense prevailed, and I elected to choose some more off-beat images such as the aging corgi, the three bikers looking out to sea, (.. as though an alien craft would be along to pick them up at any moment), and the Lowry looking group of four taking snaps of each other while seemingly defying the North sea breakwater!
The E520
One of the great benefits of the day for me, was the opportunity to test drive the E520. The E510 I recently sold always gave me the impression of being "almost there but not quite..." - and having bought the E3 soon after its release tended to underpin those feelings. On this occasion though, I felt very comfortable with the new model - from its vastly improved LCD (better than the E3 LCD by some way), to its improved review speed, and where it really matters, image quality, which to my eyes, was very close indeed to the output from the E3. A quick comparison of histograms between the two cameras on identical subjects suggested they were virtually indistinguishable, and it does seem that we now have a fully fledged midrange lightweight camera more than capable in its own right as an alternative to the E3.
Conclusion
I hope the final collection provides a fairly balanced view of life in Whitby, and if it does, then it all has to be worthwhile! Most importantly though, is how in such a short period of time, the Safari Group has reached a point where individuals and couples are gaining confidence all the time. Through friendship and discussion, and the sharing of ideas and thoughts on equipment, the standard of photography is, as far as I can see, improving month by month, which is a great testament to Brian's determination and commitment to the Safari concept.
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