Month: March 2016

Life is a Mystery

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Yesterday Doug Kaye and I met up for one of our Friday photowalks in San Francisco. Along the way, we stopped by the Bank of America Building – at least that’s what it used to be called – at Kearny and California Streets.

The sun is still reasonably low in the sky – and it casts these dramatic light and dark shadows on the south side of the building. It’s a perfect stage – just takes patience to wait for a subject to walk into the frame. It was Good Friday – so there wasn’t a lot of pedestrian traffic into/out of this building in San Francisco’s financial district. But, we’ve learned to be patient – and I was rewarded when this woman walked out the door and into the frame.

The mystery part of the image for me is her quiet reflection in the column across from her on the right. I love her hair and hands in that reflection – balancing off her walking into the light. Sometimes we get lucky!

This image was shot with my Fujifilm X-Pro2 using the Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR lens and processed with the Acros film simulation.

Here’s another edit of this image – suggested to me on Facebook by Theo Streibel.

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Black and White Fujifilm X-Pro2 Monochrome Photography Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Fujifilm X-Pro2 San Francisco/California Street Photography

San Francisco with the Fujifilm X-Pro2

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date March 19, 2016
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The streets of San Francisco provide such a wonderful range of opportunities for street photography – it’s become a bit like an old glove that just fits.

Even on a mostly fog covered morning, we discovered opportunities to capture interesting images – with me shooting with a new Fujifilm X-Pro2 and the Fujinon 23mm f/1.4 lens (35mm equivalent). I shot both JPEG and RAW – and post-processed a few of these images using Lightroom’s camera calibration for the Acros black and white film emulation.

I love the tonality of Acros – and want to spend more time shooting with it in camera. Meanwhile, the X-Pro2 has provided a new challenge – with a bit of a learning curve.

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Black and White Fujifilm X70 iPad Monochrome Photography Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Fujifilm X70 San Francisco/California

Photo Editing on my iPad – Bay Bridge

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date March 12, 2016
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Today I took a video workshop with Karen Klinedinst teaching me techniques for editing images on my iPhone and iPad. While I’ve had many of the apps she walked me through already installed on my iPhone and iPad, I hadn’t spent the time to learn how to use them. Karen took the time to walk me through them – and I came away inspired to try doing more image editing and creative processing on my iPhone and iPad.

This afternoon I grabbed my iPad and tried a few of the techniques she taught me – resulting in this image. Originally shot a few weeks ago with the Fujifilm X70, I used Snapseed and Photoshop Fix on my iPad to create this monochrome version. Snapseed does a superb job with black and white conversion – and Photoshop Fix has a superb healing brush tool. A great combination for this image!

Menlo Park Photographers Photography

Photographer David Burnett at Kepler’s

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date March 9, 2016
2 Comments on Photographer David Burnett at Kepler’s

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Photographer David Burnett spoke with Angie Coiro today at Kepler’s Book in Menlo Park – part of her In Deep Radio series. A selection of Burnett’s photographs are currently on display at Cafe Borrone. He also spoke this afternoon at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center.

Coiro is a great interviewer – and David is a great story teller. The combination was just delightful! While just an hour, this interview could have gone on for two or three more – listening to Angie’s questions and Burnett’s stories.

A couple of the highlights for me included Coiro’s introduction of Burnett where she used the phrase “collectible whispers” to describe his photography. Burnett suggested he might just use that wonderful phrase for a book title!

Another was his description of his JFK photograph – shot as a young man in Salt Lake City. When he first looked at the film he shot that day he thought it wasn’t worthy – but 35 years later he went back and found the negative and found it told another story – an example of how photographs often aren’t technically perfect but are still powerful images.

Hearing Burnett describe photographing Olympic runner Mary Decker’s fall in the 1984 Olympics made me appreciate what he later called “the speed of life.” Sometimes it just comes together – and you’re in the right place at the right time – and it’s a gift.

There was a lot more – this is a very special interview worth listening to!

I met David last summer while attending a Peter Turnley workshop in New York City. I captured Peter and David heading out – with Dave shooting all of us from above! When I met him today and showed him this image – he said “Oh, you’re in my photo!”

Tags David Burnett

Black and White Fujifilm X-E2 Fujifilm X-Pro2 Menlo Park Monochrome Photography Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Fujifilm X-Pro2 Street Photography

On the streets with the Fujifilm X-Pro2

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date March 5, 2016
4 Comments on On the streets with the Fujifilm X-Pro2

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My Fujifilm X-Pro2 arrived a few days ago – and I headed out today on a very wet and ugly day in Menlo Park to take my first few shots with this new camera.

I mounted the Fujinon 35mm F2 lens on the X-Pro2 body and put the camera into Acros film simulation mode. On Crane Street in Menlo Park is the Nativity of the Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Church – one of my favorite local places for architectural images.

Here’s an example – one of my first images shot on the X-Pro2 – shooting with the 35mm lens wide open at f/2.

iPhone 6s Photography San Francisco/California

Up High in San Francisco with my iPhone 6s

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date March 4, 2016
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Sometimes you get lucky – you’re in the right place at the right time.

Such was my luck – up high over San Francisco and shooting with just my iPhone 6s – toward the Transamerica Building, Coit Tower, and Alcatraz and the bay beyond.

It’s amazing what we can capture with just the camera in our pocket…

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