Too Cold Out + Fuji X100F

This past month has been a real struggle to get out and take photos outside. It’s just been so frigging cold, that it’s simply not enjoyable. So any excuse to capture some photos are very welcome. I have been taking my son out driving in preparation for his driving test. So with my Fuji X100F in hand we spent a couple hours driving around in the city. I of course was in the passenger seat and I actually managed to capture some photos while Noah was driving. Of course it would have been great to stop and walk around but there just wasn’t anytime to do so, and as I mentioned, it was cold out.

For anyone who has read my previous blog posts, I tend to shoot with a few different cameras. The Fuji has been neglected over the past couple months. I tend to stick with a camera for a while before switching it up. That camera has actually been my Sony A6300. It is a great walk around camera and although I initially got it for video, I have been using it a lot lately for my personal photography. With that being said, the Fuji X100F is still my favourite ‘walk around camera’. The colours that come out of it and of course the overall feel are second to none. So for the past few days I have shooting with it and I realized how much I missed doing so.

The second batch of photos below were actually taken today and truly reflect my title I chose for this article. I always try and get out on my lunch breaks for about 40 minutes to take photos in the neighbourhood. My wife how is a teacher, told me it was quite cold out … -25 degrees Celsius. I was very tempted to just stay inside but I bundled up and trekked outside with the Fuji in hand. At first it wasn’t too bad, or so I told myself, but I soon realized about 20 minutes in that it was indeed very cold out. I honestly thought I was getting frostbite.

Regardless, I still got some keepers. They aren’t my best work but It was a very rushed walk and one where I didn’t really want to stop for more then a few seconds for fear of freezing in place. I do miss the warmer months were I could literally spend 20 minutes in one spot and work a scene. Not now. But that’s how it goes I guess. If warmer weather does come soon, I want to get out and get some good landscape photos of all the snow. Until then, my cold power walks will have to do.

Downtown with the Fuji X100F

This afternoon I decided to head downtown for an espresso at my favourite coffee shop in town. For the second week in a row, it was closed early. I even went earlier this time. I wasn’t planning on walking around and taking photos but I did bring my Fuji X100F with me so I decided to spend about an hour walking around.

Luckily I brought my hat and gloves because it was quite chilly. I’ve taken photos downtown many many times so it’s always a challenge looking for different ideas and compositions. In the cold weather I tend to just keep moving and photographing what ever catches my eye.

I did have a bit of a scare halfway through my walk. As I was crossing the overpass I stopped to give a couple people some spare change. Up taking off my gloves I forgot that my hand strap was on top of it. Bam. My camera fell about 3 feet to the ground. Luckily I have a pretty sturdy hand grip which took the brunt of the impact. After I quick inspection everything worked well. Although I did lose my shutter release button. But I learned my lesson this time around and ordered a 3 pack.

I continued on my way to the marina which was very cold. I didn’t stay there too long. Once I got back to my car it took me 5 minutes to open due to a failing battery in my keys, which I have been meaning to fix for quite a while now.

I still wanted a coffee so I stopped at another great coffee shop which is always open. Photographing with the Fuji is just a pleasure. It honestly feels like an extension of myself. All the photos here were shot in the chrome setting and I uploaded them directly to my phone and tweaked them in the VSCO app. I realized after the fact that I had grain set to high so I apologize for the grainy photos. I don’t mind grain though personally.

Long Exposure Street Photography with the Ricoh GR II

As much as I love photographing around town here in Thunder Bay, it’s sometimes hard to find the motivation to do so. I imagine a lot of photographers around the world have creative ruts. It doesn’t help when it’s -25 out and the days are short. So, it’s important to look for different ways to look at things and different ways of shooting. Long exposure photography is a great way to do that. It often takes the usual ordinary scene and transforms it into something completely unique.

With my Ricoh GR II in hand, my wife picked me up from work and we made our way to the mall. I got her to drive so I could take photos on the drive there. Why the Ricoh? Honestly, any camera can accomplish this and I recently did a set with my Fuji X100F. I chose the Ricoh this time around because it’s extremely portable, inconspicuous and just a blast to use. It also has a built in ND filter which really helps with long exposure.

It allows me to get my shutter down to around 1 - 6 seconds depending on the ambient light. Because we were in the mall, it wasn’t really needed all the time though.

With this kind of photography there really is no right or wrong way to do it, and that’s what makes it fun. However I will explain my process and settings.

I was typically at f16, ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1-4 seconds. I usually adjusted the shutter speed to what I wanted and then set everything else accordingly. I was in full manual, and just focused on the part of the scene I was shooting. You don’t really have to worry about perfect focus or focus at all depending on what you are going for.

Plus when you are at f16, everything is going to be in focus anyways. Regardless, once you start blurring the scene, it’s not imperative. Once I start shooting it’s slot of trail and error. I take photo, see how it exposes and reshoot. As I’m taking the photos I move the camera a bit, either in and out or side to side. 

This type of shooting isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I find it extremely fun. It’s more artistic if anything. When you are able to have people in the frame, it adds a sense of mystery I find. The great thing about photographing in the mall is that there are a ton of colours. When long exposed it creates a nice palette.

If you haven’t tried this yet, I encourage you to do so. Especially if you are tired of photographing the same areas in town day after day. You will start seeing things differently.

Walking around with the Nikon D850

I continue to be impressed with my Nikon D810. It's like my Nikon D750 on steroids. Don't get me wrong, my 750 is still a fantastic camera, but there is just something about the files that come out of the 850, that I just can't put my finger on. One of a recent shoots I had was downtown, so after I was done it I decided to walk around downtown for about 20 minutes. These are the resulting photos. 

The lenses I used for these photos were mostly the nifty fifty and I think the one with the flag was with my 85mm. All the processing was done in Lightroom using my usual recipe but always tweaked for each and every photo. I don't just bulk edit, I like to individually process each final photo. The black and white photos are processed in Silver Efex Pro 2, which I'm so thankful still works in Lightroom. I just love that program.

Anyways, that's all I have to say. I'm not sure if anyone even looks at these posts so I'm probably just talking to myself as usual, but if there is anyone out there, enjoy!

A Long Time Coming

I say in the title it has been a long time coming because it feels like ages since I just got outside and walked around to take personal photos, not something I'm paid to do. Don't get me wrong, I love paid work and I hope it only gets busier, but everyone now and again I need to get out and shoot for myself. That is exactly what I did this evening. 

Originally, I wanted my wife Anne to join me but she just wasn't feel up for it. So because it was just me, I decided to make it into a photo walk. I grabbed my trusty X-Pro2 which I have been neglecting for quite some time. I usually use my Nikon gear for all my paid work. I had the X-Pro2 paired with the 35mm 1.4, which is probably my favourite lens out of any I own. I just love the character and tones it creates.

As with most of my photo walks, I don't really plan a route. I did want to end up at Calico for a cappuccino, so that was my destination. The good thing about this time of year is that the sun is low around 5:00pm which makes for soft(er) light. So I was able to play with some shadows that weren't too harsh. I didn't really focus on people like I have done in the past, but my favourite shot of the walk was actually of a person. Go figure. The header image of the man on his phone against the wall, was literally shot from the hip as I was walking. I didn't want to stop and compose because I liked how he was looking down.

The rest of the photos in this series were just things that caught my eye, whether it was based on colour, pattern or sometimes shadows. Everything here was processed in Lightroom and the black and white images were done through Silver Efex Pro which I really hope doesn't fade away anytime soon as a program.

Thanks for viewing!

East End in the Morning

East End was one of my latest locations for a quick photo walk. I have walked around this location numerous times but there is always something new to photograph, and I proved that by coming away with a few good shots. For this walk I brought along my Fuji X-T1 and the 16-55mm 2.8. It allowed me to get a good mix of wide angle and also some close up shots. It was foggy all day so I knew I had to get out and take photos. I never though I would say this, but it almost too foggy. With that being said, the extreme weather allowed for some pretty unique captures.

The reason I like the East End is because a lot of it is old. I just love photographing things with character and grittiness. Of course, it's not all old there but it's a good mix. From the houses to the train yard, there is a lot of variety in that area. With it being foggy, it allowed me to capture somewhat gloomy and melancholy photos. But also, being overcast with no sun, meant really good even lighting. Even if it was kind of a dark morning. 

I actually was able to venture down to Westfort later in the day so be sure to check back soon for photos from that short walk as well. Thanks for viewing!

Early Morning Marina Walk

So I decided to grab my X100s for a change and brave the brisk morning air down at the Marina. For anyone who reads these posts, you will know I have been using the XT1 and 35mm combo almost every time. I decided I would switch it up this time around with the X100s. It's a slightly different perspective so it forced me to frame my shots a bit differently. I also made sure to get in really close for a lot of the photos as well.

As for processing, I used the out of the camera JPG files for almost all of them. I can't remember what setting it was but it goes to show you, the files coming out of Fuji cameras are so nice to look at. I did included some colour photos as well, simply because they worked better in colour. 

I actually came away with more keepers then I thought I would but then again, I was quite picky with what I shot. Most of the photos were taken in and around the Marina as well as part of downtown. Thanks for viewing.

Passing Time in Victoriaville

Anne and I had to take Noah to his dentist appointment last week so instead of waiting for him at the office we decided to head on over to Victoriaville Mall. Of course, along the way, I captured anything that caught my eye. I always look for textures or just different angles that you normally wouldn't really see. If anyone watches me walk, I'm constantly looking up and down and even behind me. 

For this walk I just had my trusty X-T1 and the 35mm 1.4. It's such a light combo and very convenient to carry around. Using this camera for 'street photography' if you could call it that, is so much fun. Plus, it's very unobtrusive. Not that I'm snapping photos of people too much, it doesn't draw attention to myself when I do. 

All in all, we had about 45 minutes to kill. It was enough time to check out a new coffee shop by the mall, the mall itself of course, and I still had to drag Anne down at least one back alley. The photos below were processed from the RAW file in Lightroom and I used my usual presets and adjustments. These particular images have more of a vintage tone to them. 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!

Downtown - Exploring the Parkade

I'm always looking for different places to photograph in often the same place, if that makes sense. For instance, I headed to downtown Port Arthur with my camera in hand and decided to try and explore somewhere completely different. As soon as I got out of the car, I turned around and noticed the parkade. Done. I had never actually been in the parkade before so I was interested to see what I could find. 

Of course, once I entered, I headed straight to the top floor. There were absolutely no cars and it was mostly snow covered. It didn't strike me as the busiest parkade, at least on the top couple floors. The view of the city from the top was ok, not the greatest though. If it were a couple floors higher I could have really gotten some great cityscape photos. With that being said, I think they are building a parkade right next to the hospital and perhaps it will eventually be higher. Time will tell! 

So, after walking around the top a bit I started to make my way down, making sure to check out the view on each floor. There was a light snow that day so it actually provided some interesting photos with the snowflakes. As I mentioned before, it was a very empty parkade so I took advantage of that with some of the photos. One with a woman walking and a few other shots with cars and just overall emptiness. 

It was almost time to head home, but before I did I made sure to actually walking around the downtown for a few minutes to see what I could come up with. My camera of choice was my Fuji X-T1 and the 35mm 1.4, for those of you who are interested, assuming anyone actually reads these blog posts...

Macintyre River Walk

This is just a quick post for some photos I took last week. I decided to walk around the Macintyre River area with my X-T1 and 35mm in hand. It was a chilly morning but not too cold where you didn't want to walk. So I headed down the trail along the river and once I got to the train tracks I did a quick check for oncoming trains and crossed. I was able to get a decent photo of the snow covered tracks which is included in this set.

Surprisingly, out of all the years I have lived here, I hadn't made it out to the semi abandoned building on the other side of the river. I honestly don't know what it's called or if it's even fully abandoned but I spent about 20 minutes photographing different angles. In the end I included my favourite photo which was looking straight up. 

The rest of the walk was just the usual in and out of back alleys and along the street. Instead of my usual post processing I decided to include some duotones in this set. I think I may incorporating this a bit more for a select few photos in my portrait and wedding photography. It gives the images a completely different feel. Of course, with anything, you just have to make sure you don't go overoboard. Unless that's your thing of course. 

As always, thanks for viewing!

Almost too cold to take photos .... almost

This winter has taken a turn and it has been very cold. That's not good when you actually want to do something outside, but I decided to defy the extreme temperature, grab my camera, and wander around aimlessly looking for things to photograph. After meeting Anne for lunch at Cronos Cafe, I dropped her off, parked the car and began my cold and brief venture in downtown Fort William. 

Instead of my usual X-T1, I decided to pull out the X-E1 paired with the 35mm. I had forgotten how capable of a camera it is. Just like with all Fuji cameras I own, the colours straight out of the camera are superb. The first 10 minutes of the walk weren't too bad but then I started feeling the cold, especially on the face. Instead of giving in I just decided to keep walking and hopefully that would warm me up a bit. It didn't. Regardless, I managed to explore for about 25 minutes. 

I didn't really have anything specific in mind, as usual I just captured what caught my eye. I finished off my walk around the train yard on Simpson Street and did some in camera double exposures. Some of them turned out pretty good. It's usually a hit and miss kind of thing but fun as hell to try. If your camera has the option, next time you are out and about and looking for something different, give it a shot. 

Thanks for viewing!