This week’s blogpost isn’t conceptual or gear-focused, it’s just a good old fashioned ‘photo-dump’ of images I’ve captured over the past few weeks.
I’ll do my best to actually discuss the photos though, and reflect on what the image shows, how I took the image, and why I think it’s worth sharing. Not sure the when is really worth exploring?
Here goes…
The Mists Recede
Taken with the Nikon Z8 using the 50mm f1.8 S – three images stitched together in Lightroom
I’m starting strong right out of the gate. Up until now, (it will change after Christmas), I’ve had Wednesdays off work to look after my daughter. When we go out for our adventures together, I’ve taken to always bringing a camera with me – just in case.
This policy proved wise earlier in the month, when during our drive to Marlborough we ventured into a mist-covered landscape that was truly breath-taking. We climbed a hill in the car on our way to Avebury, and I had to pull over at a viewpoint and capture this.
I took a lot of photos, but something I learned a long time ago is that a pretty view does not a photo make. It needs a subject, or to tell a story. I also only took the 50mm with me, and no matter where I pointed it, it felt like I wasn’t telling the whole story. Therefore, I made the choice to take three images that I knew I would stitch together into a panoramic composition at home on the computer.
The reason why I think this photo works, is that thanks to its sheer scale, it manages to convey the majesty of what that morning was like. The light was awesome; the view went on for miles; the mist was beautiful but didn’t conceal too much of the lush green landscape. In fact I loved this image so much, I had it printed and framed.
Just the One Swan (Actually)
Shot at Mottisfont using the X100VI and its fixed 23mm f2 lens.
Whenever I go out with my family these days, I tend to throw the Fujifilm X100VI into my bag for any possible moments worth capturing. (See here for why: Why the X100VI is Every Dad’s Perfect Camera)
During a recent trip to Mottisfont, I threw on the Cuban Negative recipe and just took a few snaps here and there. A moment that really caught my attention though, was an old fisherman’s hut with a little view of the adjacent river. I so happened to get there just at the right time to take this photo. I think it’s self-explanatory: the frame…frames it?
On the Theshold
My son and I went for a walk around Salisbury and the Cathedral. I took the X100 and when my son rushed ahead to look out the gate onto Exeter Street, I saw a little opportunity present itself and I snapped this.
The shutter speed was fortunately just right to show the movement of the bus going past. The light was also really nice and did a good job of back-lighting Ted.
I thought this photo worked because it somehow manages to capture my son’s personality, whilst also conveying the movement of the moment. The X100 is great for being able to quickly take these fortuitous shots.
The Smoking Man
On the same day I capture ‘The Mist Recedes’, I also took my Z8 around Marlborough and captured this. It was a spur of the moment shot and I didn’t faff with the settings too much. It doesn’t have much substance to it, other than I thought he looked interesting and he was well-lit. I did edit the photograph in Lightroom afterwards, but the afternoon sun did most of the heavy lifting here.
‘Dawson Engineering’
I’ve often tried to take a good photo of this garage – I once saw Kyle MacDougall photograph it in one of his YouTube videos, and I’ve been there a few times since.
I went here with my son on a walk out, and I was actually focusing on making a video that day. But this view through the trees created a composition of the garage I hadn’t seen before, so I spent a few minutes trying to do it justice.
I feel this works as it stands out thanks to the light, and the forest on the periphery of the image acts as a natural frame. I chose to use black and white for this image and added some grain – mostly as an homage to Kyle MacDougall I guess!
Summing Up…
Through looking at my Lightroom Catalogue – a lot of the photos I took this month which I like were on the X100VI! But… that’s probably not an endorsement of ‘Fuji colours’ or the ‘x100 vibe’ – it’s simply because I’m a busy dad, and it’s been so convenient to carry it with me.
Stay tuned for my Copenhagen photos, where I (you guessed it) took the X100VI and the Nikon Z5II…
