Ricoh GRIII has arrived, it’s updated and ready to go, but where to go?
I decided to jump on the train with no clear idea where I was heading, Cambridge, London, no wait it’s hot and sunny I’ll head out to the coast. Not really sure why I chose Great Yarmouth, as I hate the place, I guess my thought was it’s not too far from home and it’ll be busy.
I arrived in Yarmouth just after midday and I wasn’t wrong, the place was packed, Regent street which is the main walk from the town centre to the beach was wall to wall with people, the perfect testing ground for the new camera. I was so excited, for two reasons, the first was I love being by the ocean and the second, I had a brand new camera to play with, days like this just don’t get any better. I didn’t spend any time in the town centre as the place is a real hole, it’s just full of people you don’t won’t be anywhere near and I just don’t feel safe in the centre, I feel like people are watching me.
While I was on Regent street I was able to try out the feature on the GRIII, snap focus on the touchscreen, I should take the time here to explain that I hate touchscreens on cameras, for the most part, I think they are a waste of time, the real use I see with them is being able to go through the photos you’ve already taken. Here is where I think Ricoh has found the perfect use for the touchscreen and it’s the snap focus, I was able to get up close to people taking their photo without them noticing and it works so well, I’m so glad the GRIII has the touchscreen it’s the best feature on the camera.
But, the reason I chose Yarmouth was for the coast and it had been ages since my last visit to any seaside in the UK. The beach wasn’t as busy as I thought it might have been, the people were spread out which was nice, it allowed me to move around with ease and frames up scenes without too much distraction. I was on the hunt for moments, light and I found both, being around the beach was beautiful lots of people on rides including donkey rides which I must confess I had no idea was something that still happened. The Ricoh GR3 was in its element, I was having a blast shooting with this powerful camera, I spent just over 5 hours shooting around the coast and it was amazing, this was my first day shooting on streets since the Lockdown started, not counting the times I walked around my hometown with camera in hand.
The GR3 is small enough that it doesn’t get noticed, I’m able for the most part just to disappear into the background. There was a scene that I worked:
This couple sat by the beach feeding the seagulls it was fantastic to watch and to photograph, the GR3 was able to capture moments that most cameras would’ve missed, I couldn’t believe how sharp the images were, I was loving it.
All in all, I had a fantastic day being by the coast, I was dying to get home and to start going through the photos and I’m happy to share my favourites below.
The question I now had to ask myself about, the Ricoh GR3, was this just a holiday romance or was it a love that was meant to be?
