So Christmas is over for another year and I'm sitting in my office staring at a blank computer screen trying to come up with an idea to sum up the year that was. For the record, my ''office'' is really just my bedroom in my home. I call it my office because it really is more of an office than a bedroom. The laptop that I'm writing this piece on shares space on a work table with a large Canon Pro-100 printer. Behind that is a smaller Canon printer on a smaller table. To the right of that is a shelving unit loaded with boxes of photo paper and ink cartridges for the printers and various smaller bits of photo gear. To my left is my old wooden desk with a bookshelf and my older laptop, the hard drive of which contains more than 25,000 digital images which need to be edited, deleted or saved to an external drive. (It's an ongoing project!) My camera gear is stored in two Domke camera bags on a chair near the desk. https://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-camera-bag-conundrum.html A bedroom it is not. It's a photographer's office. It also happens to have a bed and a dresser!
It's been a hell of a year. Like others I know, I've experienced some personal loss in my life. The covid pandemic is still with us with the potential for even more restrictions with the new Omicron variant. The effects of global warming are getting worse with various ''natural'' disasters occurring all over the world. Due to inflation, the cost of housing and just about everything else is on the rise. Billionaires are building rocket ships for trips to space instead of using their vast resources to improve things here on earth and.... well... oh yeah... I got a new camera body for Christmas. Excuse me for a moment while I quiet my conscience.
Conscience: ''WHAT?? YOU GOT ANOTHER ##@!!###!!# CAMERA??''
Me: ''Yeah, but..... ''
I got a Fujifilm X-T3 body. It's very cool! The X-T3 model was Fuji's first attempt at making a camera with some serious video capability. Long known for their appeal to still photographers and street shooters, Fuji cameras were always a bit lacking on the video side. The X-T3 changed all that. In terms of video, it put Fujifilm in the same league as the best offerings from Canon, Sony and Panasonic. It's a camera that lets me shoot video with the big boys while still retaining the awesome still photography stuff for which Fujifilm is famous. I'm heavily invested in Fuji gear for still photography, so the X-T3 fits in perfectly with my system.
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| The two heavy hitters in my photo kit, the X-T1 and the X-T3 |
In addition to the better internal wizardry of the camera, it also has a few external features I like. Dual card slots let me dedicate one SD card for stills and one for video. Or I can dedicate the second card slot for backup if I'm doing a serious pro shoot where results are crucial. The camera is weather sealed. Although I can't go swimming with it, it's tough enough to withstand a light rain or snow when I'm out and about. I like that the articulating screen at the back works in both horizontal and vertical format. The X-T3 uses the same battery as the other cameras in my Fuji kit which makes things a little more convenient when I am travelling or just out and about.
The X-T3 camera model is about three years old and has since been replaced by the newer X-T4. As such, the X-T3 can be had, brand new, for about $500.00 less than it's newer counterpart as retailers clear them out. Also, one of the endearing traits of the Fujifilm brand, is that they don't leave photographers already using their gear out in the cold when they bring out a new product. As much as possible, they offer free firmware updates that improve the performance of existing gear. I've already downloaded the latest firmware update and uploaded it to the new camera. As a result, the performance of my X-T3 is very close to that of the newer model for about five hundred bucks less. Bit of a bargain I'd say.
Me: ''Take that Conscience!''
Conscience: ''(grumbling)''
So I have a new piece of camera gear that should keep me going for a long time.
Conscience: ''A VERY, VERY LONG TIME!''
Me: ''Shut up Conscience! Well... Okay, I'll give you that one!''
So as the year winds down, really all we can do is hope. Hope that this damn pandemic goes away or at least settles down enough that we can resume normal lives. Hope that the greedy bastards with all the resources realize that maybe everyone deserves the right to live with dignity and a degree of comfort. Hope that the powers that be realize that this planet is a beautiful place and maybe we should stop trashing it. I know. It's a tall order. But there's always hope.
Despite everything, I have to admit that I'm truly blessed. I get to live in a beautiful community and create images of it. Thank you to all the people who hit ''like'' or comment on the pictures and blogs that I present. Creative folk can be an arrogant lot. We like to pretend that your appreciation and approval doesn't mean anything to us. It's a lie. If it didn't mean anything, why would we put the work out there in the first place? Thanks for your kindness and support. It means a lot to me. Thanks to all the creatives who continue to make amazing images and stories and share them. I can't help but be inspired by your passion.
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| Some members of the Paris Photo Collective l-r Haether Coombs, Gord Barker, Tammy Doogan, Ryan Eltham, Dean Ellis Photo-walk Sept. 18, 2021 Hopefully, we can all get together a little more often in the New Year. |
Special thanks to all the members of the Paris Photo Collective. We might be the craziest little photography group on the planet, but damn, we crank out some awesome pictures! Keep the passion alive!
Best wishes to everyone for the Happiest New Year!
...more later
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