The squatters from the previous blog are now in Leicester Square

Yassin still refuses to have his photo taken. Instead he sticks his arm out.

Tanya chasing a squirrel

The ‘English Defence League’. Sounds immense, but in London it seems to be 20ish chavs. Experimented with the framing but the guy is distracting, isn’t he.

This one was an accident

Bikers protesting against proposed charges for bike parking in London.

Some people drawing Eros

Soho

Geeky stuff: Leica M6, Leica 35mm 1.4 Summilux, Kodak TMAX 40

This piece fell off the viewfinder.

Look at all the dust in the viewfinder.

I thought it was time to buy an R4M for the wider framelines, but did I want another temporary upgrade? I decided to buy the Leica M6 instead.

I have my suspicions that my 35mm f1.7 Ultron lens is screwed as well but I’m still doing tests. The whole front half of the lens is loose; basically everything after the focusing ring is currently only loosely connected to everything before and including the focusing ring. The lens literally rattles when I walk down the street with the cam hanging from my back. Once I buy a new lens, both the R2M and this lens will be going to Japan for repair.

Recent shots with the Bessa have been mostly out of focus. I took a test roll with the Leica to see if the lens was OK. Delta 400 developed in XTOL, and The Massive Dev chart for iPhone.

These shots were at f/8 so you can’t really tell if the focus is a little off or not.

f/2.8 or 4, can’t remember which.

f/2. Focus has apparently gone walkabout.

Focus should be on the woman but appears to be on the bag of the guy on the left.

Fine focus, slow shutter.

So some of the shots are off – is it a busted lens, or a back focus problem? Blah.

I want to buy the 35/1.2 Nokton, but Severin tells me Voigtlander lenses have back-focus issues with Leica cameras. I’m not sure if it was just one lens he tested or if it is a known common problem. Summicrons are too expensive. Zeiss in an option. More research needed.

This blog was written and published by wordpress for iPhone – how cool is that!

June 23rd – Ocean City / Atlantic City

June 24th – Philadelphia

June 25h – 29th – New York City

Random photos in no particular order.

South Bank

Polish wildlife exhibition

Royal Festival Hall

Random tourist getting in the way of my photo

Dirty Beach

Saatchi Gallery

Clapham

Pimlico

Borough Market

TV chef

Cured ham straight off the leg

Chinese man and Chorizo burger

Heeeeeuge Paella thing

Codes in the Clouds

Geeky stuff: Voigtlander Bessa R2M; 35mm 1.7 Ultron; Agfa APX 100.

The journey

All the hotels in Pamplona were fully booked months in advance so Yassin and I booked a hotel in Vitoria, an hour’s train ride away. Vitoria is a 7-hour bus ride from Barcelona, where our journey started.

We dropped our bags, got changed and went straight to the train station. Yassin cut himself shaving and sported tissue on his face for the duration of the train ride to Pamplona.

Welcome to Pamplona.

The festival

We arrived at around 3pm on Sunday, the first day of the festival. The festival began at noon but unfortunately train and coach times would not allow us to get there in time for the start. Thousands of people were already there when we arrived and the entire place was rocking.

People were already quite hammered.

The toilets were 25 metres behind this chap.

We went exploring and ended up at a funfair, where I played a darts game and won a bottle of Negrita Rum. Here I am with said rum. On another note, I seem to look very camp in all the photos Yassin took of me in Pamplona.

The night before the first run

Because our hotel was in another town, we had to stay in Pamplona all night in order to make the 8am bull run. This gave us a lot of free time with nothing but alcohol and thousands of Spanish party animals.

Alcohol leads to drink driving….

…dancing on tables with strangers…

…and pictures of me throwing up outside. But we don’t want to see those now, do we?

Do we!?

The route

This is part of the route, a few corners away from the beginning of the run where the bulls’ pens are. The barriers are designed to allow runners to climb, dive under, through or over them to escape a clash with the bulls. There are also narrow vertical gaps in the barriers – big enough for humans to get through but not bulls. The barriers are placed into the ground on race days; there are special cavities in the floor they slot in to. This shows how seriously they take their tradition and the safety of the runners. Also, police and medics are stationed at every exit point to help where necessary. This picture was taken on Sunday so don’t worry, no kids took part in the run.

This barrier is on the first part of the run, about 40 metres from where the bulls are released.

The bull run

After shivering our way through Sunday night/Saturday morning, it was almost time. As runners were waiting for the firework marking the beginning of the run, people took up their viewing spots on balconies.

There were a lot of runners. Most of the people pictured here (us included) were kicked off the course so the authorities could dry the road to help everyone’s grip (including the bulls).

A bunch of us ran back to the start and climbed onto the course again.

Shortly before the start of the run and we were ready to roll. After this shot we split up; I went to the front to sing with the guys who start the run, then realised I didn’t know the words. The newspapers are used to distract the bulls from you if necessary, though some try to tap the bulls on the nose with their newspapers.

Yassin made a short video of the mayhem while running.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I didn’t take any shots or movies during the race but here is a shot of Yassin taken by Maite Hernández from sanfermin.com. As you can see, he is pushing some poor bastard in the way to save his own skin. It’s every man for himself out there.

The aftermath

The below image from sanfermin.com shows the route and the injuries from today’s run. The run starts on the left of the map and goes uphill. The fourth injury logo on the map is where the bulls passed me. Between the two buildings on the map where you can see a number of injuries is a hotspot where you can be very exposed to the bulls because of the corners. When I ran past that point a guy was face down on the floor unconscious, rescued a few seconds later by medics and taken to hospital.

Because we positioned ourselves early in the race we didn’t make it to the Stadium before they closed the doors. Next year we’ll be sure to make it inside.

The bull run was the most exhilarating experience of my life, something I’ll never forget and something will definitely aim to do again next year. If you plan on going, make sure you get a hotel in Pamplona and make sure you book 6-9 months in advance. If I had to sum up the San Fermin festival in one word it would be:

Bonkers.

Here is a video of the bull run itself.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Back from Latvia and Lithuania. But first…

London

Charlotte was in town from France this week. I think we would make good game show hosts.

Someone seems to have been burning the candle at both ends. Someone else has not been exposing correctly.

If you’ve never been to London’s Borough Market, what are you waiting for?

Pheasants

It’s not just meat, either. Half the market is meat related; the other half is cheese, sweets and other vegetarian friendly goods. Perfect place to pick up picnic goods.

Edinburgh

Popped over to Scotland for a day. Next time more eating, less pictures. Or do I mean the opposite?

Oh look, it’s the Indian again. Still no horse.

She’d make a most enthusiastic castle guard, non?

No trip to Scotland is complete without eating a Haggis. For those of you wondering what a Haggis is, it is Lamb lungs/heart with oats on top. It tastes like minced meat. Shame the pineapple juice was off.

Lithuania, Latvia

I broke my camera as soon as we arrived in Riga. I was helping someone with their luggage and the camera hit the deck. Now the focus does not work properly, the focus or aperture ring is loose and it was so cold the battery did not work either. At least it was still capable of taking shots!

I made a bunch of photos in Latvia on a roll of colour film. Unfortunately that roll of film is missing, so the blogging has to begin in Lithuania. I know some Latvians were waiting for my photos with interest – I am sorry! Still trying to find the film. All colour photos below are from Yassin’s digital compact.

Šiauliai

We got a bus from Riga, Latvia to Šiauliai, Lithuania on the way to Vilnius to visit the Hill of Crosses.

The bus from Šiauliai dropped us in the middle of nowhere. The bus continues down this road, whereas we had to back-pedal a bit and walk down a 2KM road, dragging our luggage.

Videos contain profanity!

Click here to view the embedded video.

A little further…

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Success!

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I finished the colour roll here. I only made one photo on the black & white roll at this location.

Eventually we made it back to the bus stop – ten minutes after the 15:07 bus back to Šiauliai. Next bus? 17:32.

You can just make out a faint ‘FUCK’ written under the timetable. My thoughts exactly.

Ah well, 10 KM luggage drag back to Šiauliai is the only option in this situation…

Vilnius

Cathedral Square, Vilnius. This is the most pimping church I have ever seen. And the cleanest. This is where we spent NYE with hundreds of other people, all setting off their own fireworks.

There’s a nice view from the top of the castle at Gedimino Hill. Gotta walk up the side of the road, where the grit has been laid.

Rabbit for lunch in Pegasus. Formerly known as G-lounge if I am not mistaken.

Užupio is an unofficial republic in Vilnius, complete with its own constitution.

When people get married they engrave a padlock and lock it on the bridge leading to Užupio.

There are lots of derelict buildings in this area, off the main streets. It feels like a slum, walking down the side roads.

Goth looking teens hang out in these buildings.

New Year’s Eve: Snow.

Not every car will start today.

Sober in the morning

Not so sober behind the bar in the night. I already want to go back, we had so much fun with everyone in this place.

Just before midnight

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Midnight

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New Year’s eve in Vilnius official verdict: Awesome.

Beaver is a good cure for a hangover. Who knew?

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