Is Ricoh GR still Champ of Street Photography in 2023?

In this video I return to the streets of Indianapolis for my first street photography walk in 2023, using my new-to-me Ricoh GR, the original.

I wasn't sure what kind of results I was going to get with the Ricoh GR, as I'm used to using the GR III, which is a much more advanced version of the original GR. However, I found I really did not need the bells and whistles that come along with the newer GR III, including the crappy plastic selection wheel on the back of the newer model that went bad on me within a few months of use. There is no plastic wheel on the original Ricoh GR, just a normal, usable selection button that should have been also used on the GR III.

I went for harsh contrast with this outing, as it was high noon on a very sunny, and unusually warm February afternoon. The sun made for great contrast, but the key is to position yourself in the right place, and wait for people to pass through the space with heavy shadow separating them from the sunlight.

I shoot all my images in RAW, and process in Lightroom. The effect of blacking out the shadows is accomplished mainly by slamming the BLACK slider in Lightroom all the way to the left, leaving the shadows at midpoint, and typically adding some WHITE slider to the right, requiring a bit of LIGHT to be pulled down to the right as needed. Add some BRUSH of black in some of the dark areas to fit your style and that's all that's required. I typically leave contrast at mid-point, or back off a bit, but usually do not increase contrast (as it makes the white areas too washed out and harsh.)