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{PHOTOGRAPHY} For the Love of Street Pt. II

  • Writer: RETRO1920
    RETRO1920
  • 4 min read

Panasonic DC-S5 Sigma 28 - 70mm F2.8 Lens

ISO: 2500 Focal Length: 31 mm Aperture: f/3.2

Shutter: 1/160



Around my birthday, my wife bought me a new camera. I ordered a camera package from B&H; the package came with a kit lens and they threw in an additional 85mm on the house. When I purchased my first camera back in 2016, B&H held me down with a starter pack - they threw in a free video rode mic pro an extra battery and an sd card. Back then when you purchased on B&H it was tax free. I had to stay loyal and purchase from the goats.


I will probably stay with Panasonic Lumix bodies for as long as I use a camera. In 2016, I fell in love with the ergonomics of the GH4. I have used other cameras in the past. While at university I dabbled with old school broadcast cameras, and when shooting music videos for friends I used run and gun style Canon equipment. For my style, the Canon was too rigid. From other prior experiences, the Sony is a bit too advanced with their ergonomics. Everyone's style and minds work differently, for me the GH and the S series fits my personality and my style of organization. I see a camera as an extension of my shooting style and taste in functionality and the s5 fits me perfectly.


I understand if I didn't purchase a Panasonic camera first, I wouldnt be opposed to Canon because all of my non-native lenses are EF mount lenses. I have gravitated towards the price point of Canon's ecosystem.


The past few days, I have fallen in love with my camera all over again. The last time I used my camera it was to capture moments for my son's second birthday, and some street photography downtown in my city. Aside from that, I haven't put a lot of time into the craft.


ISO: 200 Focal Length: 45mm

Aperture: f/3.5 Shutter: 1/200


What they don't tell you about getting a new camera is how much you gravitate towards your old camera, because it's what you know best. Imagine having a new Porsche Boxster in your garage but you keep driving the car you are familiar with the most.


This year, I've done my best to minimalize my creative space. I went from a big, but compact, gear bag to a cross body bag that I've rigged to carry 2-4 lenses and my camera. Adding extra velcro compartment straps made the cross body bag more versatile. As I've stated previously in my post on street photography, street is an opportunity in real world situations to become more familiar with your shooting style and environment. Yesterday, I captured some landscape shots.



While shooting with my friend David, I quickly realized a lot of my settings on my camera in M Mode were for video, and I needed to do a better job of unlocking autofocus and touch pad capabilities to be able to shoot in two to three autofocus modes at will when presented the opportunity. With my GH4, I didn't have to think about any of the settings because I already integrated a system over an eight year period.


There's something about manual focus. That's my bag. However, when shooting photography you have to keep an open mind to different shooting styles.


We discussed a few things before shooting, light meter, touch shutter... the usual. I noticed when discussing your shooting style there are clear distinctions or principles that translate better for video than for photography. For instance, when shooting videos its best to not underexpose too much because you can't bring details back in post (obviously, over exposing can be worse). When shooting photography, I have a tendency to underexpose slightly to capture certain contrast, lighting, and shadows that I want to remain present in the shot to help capture a certain tone or mood. These were tendencies I realized when shooting yesterday with my S5.


I have been gravitating towards photography as of lately. It may be due to the fact my camera can shoot full body 4k and sometimes the mbps are so high I don't know how much horsepower my 2018 Macbook Pro can handle. This reality has me working more with photography. I will say, the newest update/version of Adobe Premiere Pro 2023 has helped my workflow with videos. They fixed some kind of bug, I know it. Thank you, Adobe.


Here are some images I captured at Bonnet Springs Park in Lakeland using only my Sigma 28-70mm native (L-mount) lens. In the future, I want to take my 85mm out for spin.










What I enjoyed most about shooting at the park that day was my total shot count was only 102. I kept 73 of the 102 shots, and editing was really just raising the exposure, and changing the highlights, shadows, and s curve a bit. Majority of the time when I take shots, my total shot range is 300-400 plus. Having more intent on what I am capturing has made editing and shot selection, an easier and more enjoyable experience.


Just putting this in the ether, when I explore an unknown place and I check out videos on YouTube, some of the videos are about 30 minutes plus. There's so much fluff and so much, "Vlogging." I'm hoping creatives in the future can capture all the essence of an unknown and exciting territory in about one minute and ten seconds.


Maybe one day we can hint at visiting a unique place people are interested in, obviously in a creative way, for about as long as it takes to wait at a red light (70 seconds). Maybe one day I can pilot an episode around this problem identifier and call the web series, Unknown or Untraveled.


12.21.22

-MCMXX

{PRE-PACK} I Promise, I'm Good

  • Writer: RETRO1920
    RETRO1920
  • 7 min read




Pre-Pack includes:





Winter is coming, I create the best when the weather is cold and crisp. Fall/Winter weather is a cheat code. I got a secret tape I wrote back in the winter of 2021 that I'm excited to get out into the world. The inspiration behind the tape was tapping into a different light source. I've known Dax, forever. We used to ride the bus to our football games in high school, and bump Drake's Comeback Season and deep cut records by Lil' Wayne, and mix it up with some RnB and downtempo songs before we stepped on the field. Years, later I would ride in Dax's mustang and we would be playing records by Drake, Rick Ross, and just eclectic songs with those Justice League type beats. Dax used to always tell me, "Bro, you get on these types of beats no one is touching you."




Dax used to tell me, "Bro, you get on these types of beats no one is touching you."

In the midst of working on a tape tentatively titled, "Daydreams x Nightmares," Dax's idea popped into my head, I started writing separate material that was more melodic and anecdotal, beat driven so to speak. In my down time from writing for Daydreams and Nightmares, I started gravitating towards Justice League type beats and sitting in the pocket.


As I talked to AYNT about it, he expressed having a similar writing process where he can almost work on something else to take his mind off his magnum opus and it helped him stay creative, stay writing, and pretty much fine tune his skills for the project he really wanted to perfect.


When working on this tape, the flows and rhythms came naturally. Dax was right, the fly high art sounding beats was a good pairing for my style.


Remind you, while working on Daydreams x Nightmares I was in prime form. I was studying Aesop Rock, KA, and R.A.P. Ferreira f.k.a Milo. Also, Wu-Tang: The American Saga was in the background of my creative space at all times. I was focused on the technical aspect and I was writing, memorizing, and transcribing my work.


(1st Pic, Blue Pad, by AYNT) One of my bucket list goals on this project was to go toe to toe with Lupe Fiasco's song Mural, in a medley of bars for a song I wanted to title Stendhal Syndrome. For Daydreams and Nightmares I recorded a few drafts in the beginning of 2022.

After smooth sailing for quite some time, life happened. I started having some audio issues and a little writer's block after writing in a very effortless manner the winter prior.


During labor day of this year, Holla and AYNT came up to Central Florida and we had a chance to catch up and get in the creative spirit. This sparked my creative passion.


Around this time I was still having audio issues that prevented me from recording for over three months. It was a faint crackle that was messing up my takes when I was recording. Exhibit A - Change Up (Draft) produced by T. Coop


Change Up (Draft) (Prod. by T. Coop)



Needless to say, I fixed the issue. The much appreciated creative spark by seeing my day ones, probably ignited my will to fix my audio issue. After weeks of changing out XLR cables and starting new sessions with no additional plug-ins, etc.. the issue started to dwindle.


The issue most likely came from adding a volume decibel on the master bus high enough to make the mastering of the song sound leveled at 80%. The added plug-in being used while recording had me peaking and causing distortion. Scarlett also replied back to my e mail and told me to update the software; I never knew that was even a thing for interfaces. When I removed the plug-in, prior to recording, and updated the software the distortion stopped. The change of XLR cables helped create a new work flow, so if any other issues arise I knew it wasn't from my cables.



A day or so after our excursion in Central Florida, I recorded about ten songs for I Promise, I'm Good. The songs were all recorded in one sitting, about ninety minutes of work. Two songs have been added below, but have not been added to the Pre-Pack. The tape is tentatively drafted as a sixteen track project. Soon as I was cognizant of the crackle going away I was trying to record everything I could before I had another random hick up in my audio workflow.


- Wassup (Prod. by SOB Production)

- Ocean Views (Prod. by AWSMJ)

Wassup (prod. by SOB Production)



Ocean Views (Prod. by AWSMJ)



What I will forever remember about these recordings is how much fun it was to be in the booth. I was freestyling a lot of my second verses and even leaving gaps in some of my verses to leave room for improvisation; if I knew the end rhyme within a two or four bar set up and the theme I could wing it until I got there. This took me back to a time when I was in Just-This Crew and I was in my bag.


These songs are in draft form though because of this writing style. I need to go back and polish and if some of the freestyled lines worked, I transcribed them to fill any gaps in my verses. My style has been a lot like spraying a wall with graffiti, I have to see it on the wall before I can make sense of the painting or story I am trying to convey.



My style has been a lot like spraying a wall with graffiti, I have to see it on the wall before I can make sense of the painting or story I am trying to convey.

Some bars are I need to perfect by rerecording. Some anecdotes I had to fact check later, because when I was freestyling I jacked them up. "Hey Dax I freestyled back when you had the charger and Bert had the challenger. You had the mustang, right? I know, I gotta change that line." Another example, for On Road, Whenever You Need Me I said, "One you can confine with," instead of, "Confide in." The curse of freestyling.


On this tape, I wanted to tell more than just my present story. I revisited the past and distant future at times, like usual, but this time around I also mingled with anecdotes from the POV of my friends. In Floor Seat Flows II some of the perspective is from Dax's POV and how he stayed solid in times where a lot of people would've jumped on social media and bragged about how much they did for the city.


My wife heard Wassup today and asked me what the waterbed line was all about. She knows all my anecdotes and felt cheated that my pen knew more than she did. The water bed line intermingled anecdotes from my life and AYNT. "It's an inflation bed," she said in a corrective manner, "right?" "Yeah," I told her, "but try saying studio near inflation be....," she stopped me abruptly. "Yeah, yeah that sounds crazy (laughing)." I took her back to a few times in my life where the bar was rooted in concrete facts and how the same kind of lifestyle and grind I had with AYNT when he first had his studio set up in close reach.




So why is this one called the Pre-Pack? It's a preview pack. This is my version of clearing a room with the sage. Daydreams x Nightmares has moved up the priority list. What I didn't want, was for this tape to drop next year in a season where the weather wasn't as authentic to the time when I wrote it. Also, I didn't want two years to go by from the time I wrote these records and for myself and others to feel so distant from it. This project screams cold weather. Though it's only halfway done, I wanted people that appreciate my art to tap in and get a teaser to what some of my close friends that create are calling my best work.


Also since I'm working on different things at one time, friends ask me to send the drafts as some kind of complete entity, and others get some of the songs on my other tape confused with it being on this tape. I wanted to draw a mental line in the sand, so I can gracefully tap back into this other tape I enjoy as well.


So I thought it would be a great idea to show what I've been working on in real time with this tape, before all my energy goes elsewhere. Put it this way, I hit the pause button but I'm letting you see all the work leading up to it before the full-length release.


Though I Promise, I'm Good has been a more organic, impromptu, at times for better or worse jazz experience.... Daydreams x Nightmares has been very structured. Though, I've had less edits and have trusted my gut with my first writtens and most times than not my first takes.



What am I working on now

Daydreams x Nightmares 😶‍🌫️ x 😱 2040: An Audio Journey


I Promise I'm Good (Tracklist)

Paso Robles (Prod. by The Noise Emporium)

Floor Seat Flows II (Track Two Theory) (Prod. by The Noise Emporium)

Muse (Prod. by Kimpe)

On Road, Whenever You Need Me (Prod. by Skeyez)

After Hov (Prod. by The Noise Emporium)

Legacy (Prod. by PilotKid)

Six Degrees of Separation

Kyotos On, Still Need Healing

I Promise, I'm Good

Club E11even

Wassup (Prod. by SOB. Production)

Telepathy

Ocean Views (Prod. by AWSMJ)

Deadwood Leather Rose

Ocean Views

No More Poets (Blue Tape Coming Soon Freestyle)

16 Tracks

Release Date: TBD




I promise, I'm good.

12.11.22 - MCMXX

After bernz and wrek,

who saved the city the most? (us)

-After Hov

Track 5

I Promise, I'm Good


P.S. - I have untagged versions, but majority of my demos start with tagged versions of beats that I purchase once I know I'm going to keep the songs on the tape. Always big shout out to AYNT and Shay J for building with me on this journey(s).


*Mixing is incomplete.*


My most vulnerable track on here, God willing, will be Kyotos On, Still Need Healing.



EST. 1920

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original work published on EST. 1920 blog

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