Categories
iPhone 13 Pro Max Optimism Photography Photography - Fujifilm X70

On Optimism, the News and Technology

I’m enjoying listening to an interview with Kevin Kelly on edisode 110 of the 3 Books podcast wiht Neil Pasricha. Kevin’s optimism is a delight – and a great reminder of how to sustain positivity.

I really enjoyed Kevin’s discussion about news – that bad news (like almost everything we read/watch daily) travels fast while good news travels slowly. He says if we had headlines every ten years, instead of every day or every hour, those headlines would be more optimistic. Such a good point.

2022 for me has been a year of very consciously turning my news consumption way down – especially video news which I’ve essentially eliminated. I still do follow a lot of RSS feeds and read too much news from those print/online sources – but getting rid of the talking heads on TV news has been very rewarding this year!

I also very much enjoyed the recent Cool Tools episode that Kevin did recently with my photography guru Christopher Michel. Chris is a wonderful teacher of photography and his abilities with portraiture continue to amaze me.

On Cool Tools Chris recommends one camera (beyond the Leica’s he typically uses) – the Ricoh GR3. The GR3 is a camera I’ve resisted buying – preferring my iPhone’s camera for the kind of casual street photography that I enjoy. But the GR3 gets very high marks from Chris, Eric Kim and others.

Eric says that the

“RICOH GR III/IIIx is probably at least 1000x better for photography than even the newest iPhone Pro.”

Maybe he’s right. He continues:

“The iPhone Pro camera is not for ‘pros’– it is actually for grandmothers who want to make better landscape photos, millenials/zillenials who want to shoot better selfies of themselves and their ‘lifestyle’, or for people who just want the most long-lasting battery on a phone (which happens to also shoot photos).”

But for now and the kind of photography I’m doing, I’m more than satisfied with the computational photography power of my iPhone Pro.

There was one camera that I owned previously that was in the same genre as the GR3 – the Fujifilm X70. I owned the X70 for a couple of years and really enjoyed using it. Chris Michel talks about how his tools (especially his cameras) must inspire him – and the X70 did that for me. Unfortunately, I sold my X70 a few years ago and then Fuji stopped making that model – so they’re hard to find in decent condition. That X70 of mine is one camera I really wish I’d held on to!

Both of these episodes (with Kevin and Chris) are great to listen/watch. Two masters at work!

Categories
Fujifilm X-E2 Fujifilm X-Pro2 Fujifilm X-T1 Fujifilm X100F Fujifilm X100S Fujifilm X100T Fujifilm X70 Photography Photography - Fujifilm X-E2 Photography - Fujifilm X-Pro2 Photography - Fujifilm X-T1 Photography - Fujifilm X100F Photography - Fujifilm X100S Photography - Fujifilm X100T Photography - Fujifilm X70

Using Fujifilm JPEG Film Simulations

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.

Categories
Black and White France Fujifilm X100T Fujifilm X70 Paris Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Fujifilm X100T Photography - Fujifilm X70 Street Photography

Paris in Late September

Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Two years ago I attended a Paris street photography workshop led by Valérie Jardin – see my first post about that here. Most of my Paris posts are here.

This year I repeated the exercise – heading back to the City of Light for another superb week of street photography. Valérie is a superb workshop leader – and my photo buddy Doug Kaye was also signed up to go. I couldn’t resist flying back to Paris for a week on the streets in late September!

The weather was ideal – one rainy morning but otherwise spectacular fall days with beautiful light and the lower sun angle that this time of year provides such niche light/shadow contrasts.

I traveled light – shooting with my Fujifilm X100T and the even smaller Fujifilm X70 – both are superb cameras for street photography.

Below are a few of my favorites from the trip – you’ll find even more here in this Flick set. Enjoy!

Untitled//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Mirror magic//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Lit//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Sweetie//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Close #2//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Categories
Black and White Fujifilm X70 Monochrome Photography Photography Photography - Fujifilm X70 Street Photography

At the Pantheon in Rome

Pantheon - Rome - 2016//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

While I was in Rome in April in a workshop led by Valérie Jardin, we spent a lovely morning at the Pantheon.

A couple of us, including my new friend Ken Lyons, found a lovely cafe and had a cappuccino while watching the crowds. A lot like watching the fire in the fireplace – interesting little insights here and there.

After coffee, Ken headed over to stand behind this obelisk and spent a couple of minutes lining things up – as I watched – and waited – learning from him.

This image was my result – shot with my new Fujifilm X70. It sure brings back great memories of that lovely bright morning in April in Rome!

Categories
Fujifilm X100T Fujifilm X70 iPhone 6s Photography Photography - Fujifilm X100T Photography - Fujifilm X70 Street Photography

Roman Holiday

Spritzes - Rome - 2016//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Last week I was in Rome – in a street photography workshop led by Valérie Jardin. It was a very special week – with a great group of photographers from Australia, UK, Canada and the US.

This week in Rome was my third workshop with Valérie – having first joined her in the fall of 2014 in Paris and this past February in San Francisco for street photography workshops in both locations. She’s a great leader of these kinds of workshops – the best I’ve experienced.

For the workshop, I opted to go with minimal gear – my Fujifilm X100T, a new Fujifilm X70 and my iPhone 6s (with the Apple Battery Case). I left behind my interchangeable lens and bodies – wanting to just stay as minimal as I could. I was very happy with the results!

This was my first time in Rome where I had time to explore – and I loved it. The weather couldn’t have been better. Our group worked together part of the time and we had ample time to just go exploring on our own as well. A very special week with some wonderful memories was the result. I don’t think I’ve ever walked so many cobblestone streets in my life!

My Rome album is here.

Reader - Rome - 2016//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Happy Together!//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

DSCF0520//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

DSCG6606//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Goodfellas - Rome - 2016//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Your Turn - Rome - 2016//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Bliss//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

DSCG6559//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

IMG_2135//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Trio + 1//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Categories
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

San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge

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!