In this lively season, I started monochrome photography. Why? A camera called the Leica M Monochrom dropped on my hands! It's a monochrome-only camera, and it forces me to train my eyes to select subjects that are suitable for monochrome rather than take color RAW images and convert them to monochrome. In this photo, I simply thought it's better to use monochrome to describe this cute and mischievous boy because I didn't want colors to distract what I wanted to stress.

There's a restaurant called Georgian inside the Fairmont Olympic Hotel located in the downtown. Their French food tastes undoubtedly great, and their presentation including the shapes and colors of food is so artistic that I already feel happy before picking up the knife and the fork. Just like high quality Japanese food, I'm glad to feel the chef's pride and hospitality. The flower arrangement in the center of the room changes frequently and it amuses regular customers.

Looking at the waving green platan leaves, a couple is enjoying their lunch at the counter by the window. The man wearing a baseball cap in the bottom right is me. It seems that I pressed the shutter when she looked at the lens.

When I peeked in a small restaurant (that was closed on Sunday) through the back window, I could see the street in front of the entrance. Late afternoon light was illuminating inside and I felt time was passing slowly. The monochrome tone matched this scene perfectly.

Warm spring wind goes through the street. The woman was letting her hair blown by the wind by walking against it. The timing was perfect and I can't forget the refreshing lavender scent.

While I was walking with the M Monochrom on the monopod and the M9 on my shoulder, a man with a seemingly watered Tequila asked me if I was a photographer. I liked the atmosphere, so I took this opportunity to take shots using the monopod without being noticed. With a 28mm lens, I need to get close to the subject (I trim later if the situation doesn't allow me to do so), but thanks to the depth of field, I can panfocus. This allows me to shoot on the spur of the moment.

Spring is a season of colors, so of course there're many town scenes that I want to shoot in colors.

I hope I was able to describe the quiet scene of the lake Sammamish with a gentle monotone. It was a cold day and it drizzled off and on.

The weather wasn't very nice, but I took Mo and walked along the river to see the young leaves of poplars. I didn't know if he still remembers the commands "wait" and "run," so I said "run!" from far away. Next moment, he gallantly ran like the Silver in the Lone Ranger..., no actually, he kept rolling around being trapped by the tall grass and passes me. Maybe he found something. I called him right away by saying, "come here!" What a vital guy he is!

When I hang two cameras on my shoulders to shoot color and monochrome, I look exaggerated like a gunman with two hand guns in Western films, I could carry one camera into the bag, but I lose shutter changes. Honestly, I also want to carry the M8 with a short telephoto lens, but it would be too heavy. Can someone become an assistant for me? (meals are included)

There're some tables and chairs in the butcher and they serve light means with wines. Maybe meals using meat? It's a nice atmosphere, but what I liked most is the star mark on her ankle. I need to position my camera at 70cm away from her to take a close up shot, but I shouldn't do that.

A corner of an old brick building. The red flower in the pot is beautiful. Even though there's no color, such architecture is best shot with monochrome.

It's challenging for me to switch to monochrome because I'm used to color photography. However, monochrome or color, a photography must contain the element that speaks about what got to a photographer's heart. For example, if a photo describes an interesting shape of light and shadow, it may not be worth shooting because it only amuses my eyes. An image must reflect what a photographer has in mind, or it would only be a meaningless drawing of things using pixels.