The delights of using Fujifilm cameras include the film simulations that Fujifilm includes for application to JPEG images. I’m a big fan of Classic Chrome for color images and Acros for black and white images.
UK wedding photographer Kevin Mullins has just posted a blog post and accompanying video describing how he uses these film simulations in his wedding photography. He sets up his favorite setting using the Custom Settings feature of his Fujifilm cameras.
Over the last five years or so, my photography interests have migrated from landscape to street – and, in the process, I’ve had an evolution in the kind of camera gear I enjoy shooting with.
Back in my landscape photography days, I used traditional DSLRs – both Canon and Nikon. I had the great lenses for those cameras and a big backpack with which to schlep all of that gear around. But in January 2013 my interests changed. I participated in a person to person cultural exchange trip to Havana Cuba and came back having fully enjoyed waking the streets and just taking pictures of interesting people in interesting places.
Gradually after that trip my interest in landscape photography faded and my new interest in street photography blossomed. Along the way, I opted to get rid of my big, heavy DSLR cameras and bought into the then relatively new family of “mirrorless” cameras introduced by Fujifilm.
My first Fuji was the XE-2, a great rangefinder style camera. Next was a Fujifilm X100S – an even more classic looking rangefinder design with a fixed lens that’s just perfect for working on the street. It’s small, fast, and beautiful – you look like more like a tourist than a serious photographer making it easy to take even more candid street photographs of people. I subsequently sold the X100S and upgraded to the X100T which had several incremental improvements over my X100S.
A few weeks ago, I upgraded again – to the new Fujifilm X100F – perhaps the ultimate refinement of the rangefinder design by Fujifilm. For street photography, this is just a wonderful camera and the improvements in the F over the T make a great camera even greater!
Here are a few of the first photographs I’ve taken with the X100F on the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area:
One in a while I see an architectural shot that I find interesting – and it’s the combination of structure and light that makes it so.
Here’s an image from last year – shot with my Fujifilm X100S on San Francisco’s Market Street – and processed in Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2.
A hat tip to Joel Tjintjelaar for sharing some of his techniques in working on these kinds of black and white images.
I think it was James Taylor who penned “the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.”
I love getting out on the streets with my camera in a beautiful city – like Paris in this case – and just watching, looking for beautiful light and people enjoying life.
Here’s an example – shot with my Fujifilm X100S. Happy hour! Savor every moment!
We’d just arrived in Paris – and Valerie Jardin was walking us around the area near the hotel. I shot this with a Fujifilm X100S – looking into the light. Opted for the subtle color treatment instead of monochrome – seemed to add a bit more depth and interest.
I recently published an initial version of this image – shot very quickly at San Francisco’s Ferry Building as we were heading into Slanted Door for lunch.
My friend Doug Kaye commented – gee, that image seems a lot darker than what I remember you showing me on the back of your camera! So I tried again – going back to the original and processing it another time. This image is that result – and, I agree with Doug, it’s brighter and better.
Shot with my Fujifilm X100S and processed in Lightroom 5 and VSCO Film.
On a drizzly Friday in San Francisco, we walked along Market Street heading back to the Ferry Building. It’s fun to get wet pavements – and, sometimes, even reflections – as they’re not all that common in the City.
This is an image of one of the historic streetcars that run on San Francisco’s Market Street – in the livery of the Birmingham Railway and Electric Company in Birmingham, Alabama. The car itself has a subtle sense of motion to it – and the fact that it’s only a partial shot seems to add a touch of drama to the image.
Shot with my Fujifilm X100S. Post-processed in Lightroom 5 and VSCO Film.
Here’s another quick shot from a recent Sunday visit to Stanford’s Memorial Church – with the lovely light steaming in.
Shot with my Fujifilm X100S.
I recently took a Sunday walk on the Stanford campus – something that was an almost weekly occurrence when Lily was alive. We always had a great time – she made lots of new friends and found lots of interesting smells along the way. And I got some nice exercise – which I’ve been missing!
On this Sunday morning, I had my Fujifilm X100S with me. Here’s one of the images – taken in the small area behind the Stanford Memorial Church. A great spot for peace and quiet – and for reading.
I post-processed this in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC – applying a bit of a painterly effect.
Friday’s weather was drizzly in San Francisco. Perfect for my kind of street photography. Rain’s an unusual event this year in the City – but when it comes, it sets a whole different tone – umbrellas come out, we seem to walk faster and closer together, the reflections capture our eyes. Special times.
We were walking from the Vivian Maier exhibition at a gallery on Geary Street down Market Street to the Ferry Building and lunch at Slanted Door. I was walking slowly – trying to take in the sights on this special drizzly day.
Shooting the folks coming across a crosswalk can be fun – especially on this kind of day. This image was shot across from the Ferry Building with my Fujifilm X100S. It’s lunchtime, let’s go pick up something – and enjoy it!
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