Thanksgiving + Fuji X100F

This past Thanksgiving I made sure to bring one of my cameras, just in case we managed to get out for a walk or just to take photos in general. I knew there would be one if not too dogs there so, it was pretty much a no brainer. Who could resist taking photos of dogs, or any kind of animals for that matter. The animals in question my wife’s cousin’s dogs, Frank, pictured above and Yoshi who you will see below. The camera I decided to carry with me on this day was the Fuji X100F. It’s portable, discreet and super fun to use. Oh, and it produces great photos. Although, I’d like to think I have something to do with that. Then again, I guess that is all subjective.

I actually managed to get outside twice in one evening, so I was in my glory. The first was with everyone, and we walked to the park around the block. We had some fun around the playground and got some fresh air in the process. As always, I just captured whatever caught my eye. Usually it’s just still life that I find interesting, but I also got some good shots of the dogs and my family too.

The second outing was just me and Frank. I took him for a walk across the street around the train tracks. He was so good off the leash, waiting patiently here and there while I stopped to take photos. However, we did have a close call. I took my eye off him for a few seconds down a back alley. Next thing I know, he was in a backyard pinned down by another dog. Frank just went into the fetal position and gave me a look saying ‘I’m just going to play dead and wait this one out’. Luckily it worked. With a little cohering, the protective dog, released his grip and just barked at us as we walked away in shame.

After all that excitement, we headed back for some well earned turkey. Even Frank and Yoshi managed to get some as well.

Mount McKay and Abandoned Cars

I have been spending a lot of time lately trying to hone my 'video skills' and my personal photo walks have taken a backseat. Well, this morning I decided to take my X100F into the rain, even though it's not waterproof, and see if I remembered how to take photos. ;)

I joke about taken photos, as I have been doing a lot of professional work, but I have missed just walking around aimlessly and capturing still images. My first destination was the Mount McKay lookout, at the base of Mountdale Road. I'm not sure if I a lot of people know about this spot, because there is rarely anyone there, but it is quite beautiful. As soon as I got out of my car, I saw a cute little chubby rabbit hopping around. I swear it looked like a household rabbit. I did manage to get fairly close before it hopped off into the gloomy forest. As I do with almost any cat, dog, horse or bird I see in my travels, I had a short conversation with it. Sometimes I worry that I'm a bit crazy. I can't be the only person that talks to random animals though right?

It was already raining lightly when I got to the lookout but I still managed to get, what I think, are some good shots. Remember, the X100F is a fixed 35mm lens so you really have to compose with your feet. I like to get in super close to things but also appreciate the landscape type photos. 

The next stop after that was the James Street Bridge. By then it was raining fairly hard but I just made sure to keep the camera somewhat covered. The crappy thing about the bridge, is that it has been closed to traffic for quite a while now. Even though you can still cross it, the usual pedestrian walkway is fenced off and you can only walk on a different walkway, which has fences on both sides, so no clear view of the river etc. 

The geese were out in full force and I got a wicked photos of one of them perched on the top of the bridge structure. He didn't quite know what to think of me but luckily I didn't get dive-bombed. Not wanting to go home just yet, I went for a quick drive to Mission Marsh and this little partially fenced off area with abandoned cars. It is by far one of my favourite spots in town. There is nothing special about it, but if you let me know loose in an actual junkyard, I would probably spend days taking photos in it. I love old vintage cars and broken down things. 

I called it a morning after that and decided to head home and do some actual work. The Fuji X100F is such a fun camera to use and it really forces you to move and compose. But then again, my whole Nikon professional kit, consists of primes so it's nothing new to me. 

Thanks for viewing!

Yonge Street with the X100F

Last week I was hired to photograph a 3 day conference in downtown Toronto and I was pretty excited to do so, for a couple reasons. The main one being that I got to be a part of an amazing conference for ONWA, which you can read about on my professional blog here. The second reason was that I could not wait to get out and do some street photography. Lastly, I was very anxious to try out my new X100F. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to do very much street photography. However, I still managed to go for a quick walk around the block one evening, and managed to get some keepers and test out the new camera. 

I little back story about my experience with Toronto. I lived all around the Toronto area off an on for about 9 years back in the day. During that time I was working as a Graphic Designer, which I still do here in Thunder Bay. But, it wasn't until I moved back to Thunder Bay about 9 years ago that I really got into photography. Being back in Toronto now so many years later and with my new 'outlook' so to speak, was almost overwhelming. It's hard to explain, but I was looking at everything through a fresh set of eyes. 

Don't get me wrong, Thunder Bay is a beautiful city, but you'd be lucky to find 10 or more people on any given block at one time, unless you it's an event of some sort. As I walked out of my hotel room onto Yonge Street, there are hundreds of people, not to mention all the architecture and history. I joked to my wife Anne that it was almost too much. I simply wasn't used to it. That did not stop me from wandering the area and looking for interesting compositions. In a perfect world though, I would have had 8 hours to just take my time and enjoy it. Alas, I only managed to get out for about 1 hour the whole trip. We are going to a concert in August, so I plan on leaving a lot more time during that trip since it's strictly a vacation and not for work.

As I mentioned above, I recently acquired an X100F. I actually traded in my XPro 2 for it, seeing as how I just wasn't using it enough. I originally owned the X100s but sold it a couple years ago to fund some of my Nikon purchases which I still have today. It was like being reunited with an old friend, I felt right home using the X100F. Boy was it fun to use as well. Don't get me wrong, I could have easily brought one of my Nikons but I wanted something indiscreet and portable. 

All the photos below were shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom. I'm always amazed at the initial colours coming out of pretty much any Fuji camera. The X100F is no exception. I can't wait to really spend some time with the camera. 

Silver Creek Cliff

Anne and I decided to go see Arcade Fire perform in St. Paul, Minnesota this past weekend. The concert was their best yet that I have been to, and I almost want to see them again in another city. In any case, each time we do the drive to Duluth or Minneapolis, I always want to stop along the way to take photos at various spots. The problem is that we are always pressed for time and either want to get to where we are going, or on the way home, get back before it gets dark.

Well, this time around, we had plenty of time on the way home so we decided to make at least one stop at a location I always wanted to explore. That location was Silver Creek Cliff. Anyone who has been to Duluth and back should instantly know the tunnel, and area I am talking about. Each time I have driven by in the past, I have seen the path on the side of the cliff. It was fantastic to actually finally do it. 

Another bonus was that the weather was absolutely perfect, at least in my mind. It was gloomy and grey. I guess I'm just a sucker for overcast and even lighting. I think it makes for great moody photos. I brought my Fuji XPro2 with me, paired with the original lens I bought when I first entered the Fuji system, the 35mm 1.4. I have bought and sold various Fuji lenses over the years and this one lens, I have kept throughout. There is just something about it. 

We parked the car in the lot, dressed up warm and headed off along the trail. The view even from the trail was beautiful, as you could see the wide expanse that is Lake Superior. Also, because of the weather, it had an almost painterly feeling to it. Along with some landscape shots, I got my wife Anne to pose for a few photos too. She's so photogenic that I could have easily spent an hour there photographing her. 

In the end we just did about a 10 minute walk up and down the trail. It was neat seeing the cliff up close and I always find it amazing how they were able to build right through it. 

Before we got back in to the car, I made Anne (safely) stand in the middle of the highway as I captured one final photo of the tunnel in the background. It was one of my favourites of the bunch. 

I also included a few photos at the end of the batch, one from our brief stop in Grand Marais of the lighthouse, and another of the lookout just before the border. Thanks for viewing!

Last Day of the Weekend

This is going to be a short post, but I did want to take a moment to share some more photos from this past weekend. Just like in my previous post, I took our dog Willow for a walk, just as the sun was setting. So there was some really good soft lighting coming into play. As with my last session, I used my Fuji XT-1 with the 16-55mm. It proved to be the perfect lens choice for the walk. Sure, I wasn't able to get my usual shallow depth of field, but it did force me to focus a bit more on composition. With that being said, it is a fantastic lens, and when zoomed all the way to 55mm, you can really get some great seperation.

Saturday Walk with Willow

The weather warmed up just a little bit this past weekend so I was able to get out and take some photos without losing feeling in my fingers. Plus, we brought Willow over for the weekend so I had another excuse to get out and walk. 

I kept it simple for this walk, just around the neighbourhood. Although I still wanted to go to at least one spot where Willow could roam free for a bit while I take photos. That destination ended up being the elementary school down the road. I always challenge myself to find photos in even the most mundane things. As soon as I saw the playground in the school, I knew I could come way with some great shots. I saw a lot of great colours. Even the school itself had some interesting elements to photograph. Or at least, that's how I saw it. One of my favourite photos of the walk was the one I used as the header, the Canada flag. It happened to be great timing with the sun and I waited patiently for the wind to blow just the right way. 

My camera of choice this time around was the Fuji X-T1 paired with the 16-55mm lens. I mentioned in another post that I had been using my Nikon D750 almost all of the time. Lately I have been taking the XT-1 instead and I am loving it. I almost forgot how great the colours are straight out of the camera. And it's just so easy to use. Switching it up with the zoom lens was also a nice change too, seeing as how I always use primes. 

Willow was patient the whole time. She just waited by my side, off leash, as I took photos. Very cute. Of course she did do a few rolls in the snow to cool off. Stay tuned for photos from my Sunday walk, which I once again did with Willow. Thanks for viewing!

Things That Caught My Eye This Past Week

This past week I actually had a photo assignment for The Walleye, which required me to photograph a particular section in Downtown Port Arthur. While, I can't post those photos just yet, I did managed to capture my usual amount of random photos in between. Since narrowing down my camera collection considerably, and switching to Fujifilm, I almost always carry the X-T! around with me on photo walks. All the photos below were taken with the X-T1 in combination with the 35mm 1.4, 16-55mm 2.8 and the 50-140mm 2.8. Thanks for viewing!

Simpson Street with X100s

I have been neglecting my X100s as of late so I decided to go for a short walk this afternoon after meeting my wife for lunch. Because it was close by, I ended up around Simpson Street which is one of my favourite areas to go to. Mainly because everything there is a bit old and worn in a bit more. It was a bit chilly so I only spent about 30 minutes walking up and down Simpson Street. But, I did end up coming away with, what I think, are some good shots. 

The thing I do love about the X100s is that it is just so easy to use and compact. Because it is a fixed focal length, you don't really have to worry about zooming. The only zooming you can essentially do is with your feet. I usually just leave it on auto everything and manually adjust the aperture when needed. 

All the of the photos were shot using RAW in camera and then processed minimally through Lightroom, using a combination of VSCO and my own tweaks. Thanks for viewing!

Cumberland Street

Here are a few photos taken during the afternoon last week. This is pretty much all around Cumberland Street on the main stretch and off the beaten path a bit. Instead of my usual XT-1 combo I brought along my Nikon D610 and 85mm. It may be a bit heavier but it's still a fun duo to use when walking around. Thanks for viewing!

Niagara Falls + Hamilton + Toronto with the Fuji XE-1 + 16mm 1.4

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently travelled to Southern Ontario with my Fiancé Anne to attend a wedding. In that post I mentioned I only brought one camera with me during the trip and that was the XE-1 and the 16mm 1.4. Well, I put it to good use during the rest of our trip which took is through Toronto, Niagara, Hamilton and eventually back to Toronto. 

One of the things I was looking forward to purchasing while in Toronto was the grip for the XE-1, but surprisingly 3 camera stores didn't have it in stock. Either way I always attach my small strap so it easy to carry around. With the 16mm attached it wasn't heavy by any means but the grip would have definitely made it a bit more comfortable. 

This was our first time flying Porter and we definitely liked it. Flying into the new airport was actually kind of exciting. It was overcast that day so photos upon landing of the skyline weren't really feasible but I was able to get one decent one. Going on 3 hours sleep wasn't ideal but once we arrived in Toronto we just kept going. Breakfast was first and then as I mentioned above, I tried a few camera stores. No luck there. We decided to head on over to the St. Lawrence Market as Anne had never been there before. Although the XE-1 isn't the fast camera, I had absolutely no problems quickly turning it on and focusing on a given subject. Whether it was a window cleaner dangling from above or a skittish pigeon on a ledge, it did amazing. It also helps that the 16mm is a fantastic lens. It really is a nice combo.

One of the things I wanted to practice a bit on this trip was 'street photography'. My definition of street photography, at least for me, is mainly taking photos of people on the street and moments. I was able to capture a few in Toronto and some more again in Niagara. For each of them, I actually used auto focus for the most part, with a few being capture by way of zone focusing, which I am still trying to practice. My favourite of the bunch was the one of the lady sitting on the bench with people passing her by.

Niagara provided endless opportunities for photos, especially with the Falls. Along with the standard photos of the Falls while walking around, we were able to hop on the ferris wheel and capture some great expansive views. 

We then had one full day in Hamilton for the wedding. If you haven't seen my previous post, head on over to see how the XE-1 and 16mm performed! The last day of our trip was briefly spent in Toronto. Our destination before taking off was the Distillery District. Sadly it was raining, but we decided to purchase a very overpriced umbrella which allowed us to walk around a bit. (I highly recommend you bring your own umbrella when going to the Distillery District, we couldn't find one under $35. Yikes)

The good news was that the rain provided some awesome photo moments. I was able to capture some more street photos which I think turned out pretty good. Then it was off to the airport. We took advantage of the free snacks and coffee and left shortly thereafter. Please enjoy some of my favourite photos from the trip. As usual, all of them are processed in Lightroom.