The Silver Camera

     Just about every article about photography that I have read advocates the use of a black camera for street photography as well as other other genres within the craft. In street photography, a small camera, preferably in black,  is said to be  relatively unobtrusive and allows the photographer, to some degree, the ability to be  inconspicuous in  obtaining  the much coveted candid portrayal of street life. The other advantage to a black camera is the much reduced reflective footprint when photographing shiny objects or taking a picture through glass. 

     Personally, I think most people, (myself included) prefer  black cameras simply because they look cooler.

     In my photographic career, most of the cameras I have owned have been black. Starting with a Yashica FX3 (my first serious camera) back in 1979. Generally, given a choice, I prefer black cameras.  

     However my latest camera purchase is gloriously silver. It all came about when I pre-ordered my Fuji X100F. I had been reading about this camera in several online articles prior to its release in the Canadian market. Before its release I had gone to a Fuji event in Toronto to take a look at it and try it out a bit. I was smitten. After much deliberation, (Well not much really. If you read my last post you'll know that I'm a self admitted gear junkie!) I decided to pre-order the camera. Before pre-ordering it, I called the camera shop in Toronto that had hosted the Fuji event. I wanted to confirm that the camera would still be available on its advertised release date. I hate placing an order for something and waiting weeks to get it. I was assured that the camera would indeed be available on its release date but, if I wanted the black one, I would have to wait a couple of weeks more. Did I mention that I hate to wait weeks for something I've ordered? Okay.  You know where this is going.

     Precisely on the release date, Canada Post dutifully delivered my little silver gem. It arrived about 20 minutes before I had to leave for work. I felt like a little kid at Christmas who's not allowed to play with his new toy.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

My Fuji X100F

     For the record, I have to say that this is, without a doubt, one of the coolest cameras that I have ever used. If I were a little more qualified in the world of digital imaging I might even write a review of it. There is a lot to it and I seem to be discovering something new almost every time I use it.

     Part of the charm of the X100 series of cameras  (and indeed the entire Fuji X series line) is the old school look and design. I am an old school photographer. Okay, full disclosure. I'm not really "old school". I'm just "old". I like having conventional dials to control things like shutter speed, aperture and focus. I'm not a big fan of digging through menus to control a camera. 

     Apart from the practical aspects of the design, there are the aesthetics of the instrument. Just the look of this camera has been getting me a lot of comments. Unlike most "street"  photographers, I'm not really interested in stealth. I happily and proudly sling whatever camera I'm using around my neck and it is in plain sight whether I'm using it or not. I do not feel the need to carry even my smallest camera ( a Fuji X70) in a pocket or under my jacket. I prefer compact cameras simply because they are lighter and easier to carry and, with today's technology, they are capable of producing results that seriously rival that of  their much larger and heavier brethren. About the only time I feel the urge to hide my camera away is if I find myself in one of the shadier neighbourhoods of a large urban centre, or to protect them from environmental damage, heavy rain, excessive dust etc. I also tend to keep my gear under wraps when I find myself in close crowded conditions such as an event or on public transit. I think that any photographer with an ounce of common sense and intuition knows when to put the camera away.

     I find this need for stealth to be almost ludicrous. News flash people. The average human, walking about,  is used to the fact the there are people with imaging devices almost everywhere . Everything from high school kids taking selfies with their cell phones to full time professional photographers with large cameras and sophisticated lighting kits doing wedding portraits in a scenic public location. The average person passing by usually does not care that you might intentionally or otherwise include them in a photo. In this day and age, people are bombarded with thousands of images daily. Is it really necessary to treat photography like an undercover stealth operation worthy of an international spy agency?                                                                                                                                                           

Debbie; A local lady I often run into when I'm downtown. Today it was the thrift store.  She spotted my camera and asked if I would take her picture. As I brought the camera up to my eye she grabbed a hat off of the rack and popped it on her head. Kind of a cool candid.  Fuji X100F

Urban Explorer;  The Eaton Centre Mall in Toronto has this cool compass rose inlaid on one of its floors. Photographing from the mezzanine above, I made a few photos of passersby walking through it. When this guy, complete with backpack and camera in hand entered the scene, my finger stabbed the shutter button before my mind could even register the shot. The situation was almost too perfect! Yeah okay, sometimes I'm  stealthy!
Fuji X70

Autumn Stroll; Taken with my pseudo Leica. (Leica D-LUX Typ109)  Unlike many  photographers, I have never felt the urge to cover the red dot on my Leica. Actually one of the most common questions I get when using it is, "What kind of camera is that?"  In other words, the average non photographic person has no  idea  what the Leica brand is about and no knowledge of the significance of the red dot. Everyone's heard of Canon and Nikon. Leica?... Not so much. For me, masking the brand is not worth the effort of digging the electrician's tape out of the toolbox.

      Furthermore, not hiding the camera can actually be an asset. It's a chance to promote my brand. I'm a photographer. I make photographs. It's what I do. It involves a camera. I rarely feel the urge to hide my camera away when I'm out and about.  A few days ago I was walking through a local park making some springtime photos. As I passed by a woman and her young daughter, the daughter asked if I was a newspaper photographer. I replied that no, I wasn't, although sometimes my pictures are used in the local papers. I told them about how I was marketing a series of  local postcards and prints through a couple of downtown stores. The child's mother responded by saying that she would check them out next time they were downtown. I gave the mother my card and wrote directions to my flickr page. ( I don't have a website yet)  A good human connection through photography. You can't buy that kind of promotion.

    I live in a small town. Before Christmas last year, I participated in an art show and sale at our local market centre. One of the most common comments I got was, "We've seen you out and about with your camera. It's nice to finally see some of your pictures."                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The Art Show & Sale; Wincey Mills Market, Paris, Ont.  I got the chance to meet and talk with a lot of people. We sold some prints and took orders for several more. Never underestimate having at least part of your portfolio ready to show on a handy tablet! 

     I could provide a lot more examples of interesting chats that I've had while being out with my camera. For me, it's not an uncommon occurrence. The human connection is important. Photography tends to be a solitary activity. Most of the time, it's just me and a camera out taking pictures, not to mention the countless hours spent by myself in front of a computer screen editing them. But the human connection is important. Anyone can buy a picture and hang it on their wall. But if they've talked to the photographer, and know a bit of the story behind the image, that picture takes on  more significance. Never underestimate the power of the human connection. It's the reason people will pay serious money to go to see their favourite musical artists in concert, even though they can download their recordings for next to nothing.

     So, I've found a feature of my cool, new, shiny, retro styled, silver camera that is not mentioned in the brochure. It gets people talking. 

We talk about photography. We talk about pictures. We talk about art. 

We talk about life

...more later. 
         

     
     
        

The Cult Of The Brand

     "Don't drink the Kool-Aid" Ever since the mass suicide of  the People's Temple cult in Jonestown Guyana, this expression has come to mean "Don't get involved with any organization where the consequences might be unfavourable." Apparently the cyanide administered to members of the cult was mixed with a concoction of Kool-Aid and fruit juice.

However, in these days of brand marketing, sometimes the Kool-Aid can look pretty dam tempting. Take it from me. I'm on my fourth brand of photographic gear.

      Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a gear junkie. The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem, right? It could be worse. Some guys collect cars! I'm often asked "What kind of camera do you use?" The last three brands of photographic gear that I've used are Canon, Leica (Panasonic) and Fujifilm. If asked what my favourite of those three brands is, I would categorically say Fuji.

     Before I go any further, let me state that in terms of picture quality, it's pretty hard to go wrong with pretty much any well known brand of camera. Almost all models and brands of camera, available today, are capable of delivering exceptionally good quality photographs. Even the lenses and sensors on a modern smartphone are capable of providing images that are more than adequate for the needs of the average person who just wants to take a "good picture". So why, when almost everyone has the capability to make a decent photograph with a device that can be easily carried in a pocket do photographers still bother with cameras at all?

      The answer lies in the user experience and also in the experience of the user. 
  
     I find it awkward and difficult to make a photograph with a cell phone. I can't wrap my hands around it. I can't hold it in my right hand and support it by putting my left hand under it as I can with a decent ergonomically designed camera. The photo below is  a selfie that I took in a mirror to use as a social media profile picture. It pretty much demonstrates what I'm talking about.

       Also, most photographers that I know are control freaks when it comes to their photographs and the act of making them. We like to have control of the lens aperture to control the amount of light coming in to the camera. The aperture control also allows us to control depth of field, blurring out a background to concentrate the focus on our main subject, or, conversely allowing all areas of a given scene to be relatively sharp for landscapes and street photography. We like to be able to control the shutter speed to freeze action or to allow for a creative blur of motion. We like to have  control of whatever in the scene we specifically want the camera to focus on. It's the creative  use of these fundamental controls  that, in my opinion, make the difference between a photographer verses someone who just wants to take "a good picture". 

     So what does all of this have to do with the brand of camera that any given image maker uses? Just this.  Back to my statement about most photographers being control freaks. What if a camera company actually listened to what their customers want? Fuji did just that.

    For quite a while I would read in online photography blogs and articles about these remarkable cameras. People who used them seemed to really love them. I'm not talking about the usual brand loyalty of a Canon or Nikon user here. I'm talking about photographers who are seriously interested in in image making and take these compact, old school looking cameras  everywhere they go! They talked about film simulation modes. As the name implies, Fujifilm was primarily known as a film manufacturer in the heyday of 35mm film. The company took the look of a lot of their old films and managed to digitally simulate their effects in camera. It all sounded very cool and intriguing but still I resisted. I had too much tied up in Canon gear. I had purchased a Leica branded compact camera with the classic Leica look and full manual controls less than a year earlier. It was to serve as my compact walk around camera.  Much as I liked the look of the Fuji gear  as well as the look of the images their cameras produced, I resisted temptation. Then things went bad and then kinda good.

     I noticed some rather large specks showing up in the upper portions of photos I had taken with my pseudo Leica. Sure enough, despite the camera having a fixed lens, some dirt had managed to get into the camera and had lodged on the sensor. Because the camera has a fixed lens, I could not simply remove the lens and clean the sensor myself. The camera had to be sent in for service. Leica dosen't have a Canadian service centre so I shipped it off to Leica's facility in New Jersey. This all occurred on the Labour Day weekend.

     After a month of the Leica languishing in Leica's service department, I made a phone call to the facility to enquire   about my camera. I left a message on their voicemail. Another week went by with no return phone call.  By now it was getting into the height of the fall colour season. Prime time for an outdoor and landscape photographer like yours truly. I had a nice weekend autumn colour tour planned and, dammit, I wanted my nice little compact camera back!  Another phone call to Leica resulted in me leaving another message on their voicemail. Again ,there was no returned call. This was how a so called "premium brand" treated their customers!

     The deadline for my fall colour tour weekend was fast approaching and I was still without my Leica. I bit the bullet and decided to go camera shopping. My intention was to purchase a Canon G5X. I had looked at one earlier and thought that it would fit the bill. I went up to our local Henry's Cameras to investigate the camera further. Henry's had one but the salesperson also showed me the Fuji X70 which was a little less expensive. I really liked the Fuji, but, for me, the Canon was the more practical choice. After all, I already had a lot of Canon gear. Things like external flash units, a wireless remote and other stuff that could be used with the Canon. I already had the Canon wireless app on my phone and tablet and knew how to use it. In terms of a camera brand, everything  pointed to the  Canon G5X as the logical choice. But, dammit, I really liked the look and style of the little Fuji and I was intrigued by what all the fuss was about with the Fuji brand. Also it was a tad less expensive. 

     I drank the Kool-Aid!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

My Fuji X70  

 
     I took the camera home and spent an hour or two reading through the owner's manual while the camera's battery was charging. The next morning, prior to embarking on my fall colour tour, I went for a walk by the river near my home to try out this little gem. I soon learned why Fuji photographers love their cameras.

     I put the camera into "classic chrome" film simulation mode. By all reports that I had read online, this was a favoured setup for good colour rendition. The colour was fantastic! I loved the control provided by an old school shutter speed dial and a conventional aperture ring on the lens. With the touch screen, selective focus on any point in the scene was a snap. The camera doesn't have a viewfinder but it does have a flip up screen. Old school shooter that I am, I found it quite comfortable to use the flip up screen holding the camera in a waist level position ala my old Yashicamat 124 medium format camera. The X70 has a fixed  18.5mm (28mm equivalent) wide angle  fixed lens. At first I thought that the wide angle with no zoom capability would be very inconvenient. However, I've found that in practical use, a fixed wide angle is a blessing in disguise. It makes me work a little harder for the shot. I don't  get to plant myself in one spot and zoom to frame the image. I have to physically move to get closer to my subject or, if I can't get closer, I have to consider how I'm going to use foreground detail to enhance the composition.                                                                                 

.

 
      In trying out the Fuji X70 that autumn morning I realized what had been missing in my photography. Fun! It is a great little camera to use. With a fairly large APS C sensor and a very sharp  lens, it delivers amazing quality. With its compact size and full control features, it's a camera that allowed me to really feel the joy of  photography again for the first time in a long time!

     Okay. So this blog post is about the cult of the brand. Clearly, in my opinion,  Fujifilm makes great little cameras. But there's more to a brand than a good product. What about customer service? When I returned home from my little fall colour tour, I noticed a minor issue with the X70.  when I uploaded my photos to my computer, I noticed that the file numbers reset on a daily basis. I realized that if I didn't correct this problem, over the life of the camera, I would end up with  thousands of images with the same file number. Not very practical for a shutter happy photohound like me.

     I thought that the issue was a minor one that could probably be resolved by changing a setting in the camera's menus and so gave Fujifilm Canada a call. In very short order, my call was transferred to a service technician named Mark. Wow! Unlike my experience with Leica, I got to talk to a real breathing human being! He was a very nice guy who listened patiently while I explained my problem. Before getting into working on a  solution, he asked what I thought of the camera and again listened patiently as I told him what I liked about  it. Wow again! A company that actually cares about what their customers think and actively seek feedback about the product! Mark had never heard of anyone having my problem with that camera but said he would look into it and get back to me. He immediately set up a service file  and gave me the reference number. He was as good as his word and within 24 hours he called back and left a message on my voice mail. He still hadn't found a solution to the problem but was looking into it further. Shortly, after that I received a second return call from Mark suggesting that I might have to send the camera in for testing.

      After my experience with Leica, I was loathe to send ANY of my cameras ANYWHERE!
I took another look at the Fuji. I saw that, in camera, the files were numbered consecutively as I wanted. It occurred to me that perhaps the problem wasn't with the camera but with the computer. With my Canon cameras, I always uploaded images using a Canon program. The Fuji used Windows for uploading. Sure enough, I found the problem in the Windows import settings and fixed it with a couple of clicks of the mouse. I called Mark back at Fuji to tell him that I had solved the problem. He was happy to hear about it and said he'd make a note of it in case anyone else had a similar issue. Even though the problem was ultimately not with the Fuji product, I was impressed with the level of consideration that was put into what was really a very minor issue. Great service!

     Since then, I've purchased yet another Fuji camera and I'm beginning to sell off my Canon gear and will probably eventually part with my pseudo Leica. Let's just say I found my favourite flavour of Kool-Aid

...more later  

     

         

     

Small Town Street Photography

     Street photography, as the name implies, is usually associated with the environs of a big city. However, I have always been an enthusiast of taking any artistic genre out of it's conventional context. Like these guys. https://youtu.be/e4Ao-iNPPUc  That, and living in a small town provides me with the potential to try out this idea without the hassle and expense of travelling to the big city.

     I am a huge admirer of Henri Cartier- Bresson.  He is widely considered to be the godfather of street photography. What I admire most about his work is the almost poetic nature of his images.Cartier- Bresson had no problem with shooting images of people going about their daily lives and is best known for capturing what he described as "the decisive 
moment".



  

     The photograph above is a prime example of Cartier-Bresson's mastery of the art of street photography. It is brilliantly composed. With the exception of the vertical lines of the staircase handrail supports, almost all lines in the image lead the eye directly to the main subject. Notice that the lines of the edge  of the staircase align very closely with the pathway line on the street. The curved line of the curbstones at the top of the frame serve to lead the eye to the cyclist as well as provide a further sense of the motion of the main subject. The subject itself is slightly blurred by the intentional use of a shutter speed that is just a bit too slow to freeze the action, thus further emphasizing the subject's motion. Cartier- Bresson's  use of the golden ratio (the divine proportion) in the placement of his subject within the frame is the icing on the cake. I would say that the photo was carefully composed well before the subject appeared in the frame and, with perfect timing, was captured in precisely the spot intended for it. The "decisive moment"indeed!

     Now back to my comparatively feeble attempts at the art of street photography. After all, it's all about me. It's my blog. They're my pictures. Haven't you heard? With the election of the Pumpkin Bumpkin in the States, narcissism is the new normal.

     The one problem ( In this day and age, no one has problems anymore. Today people have "issues" or "challenges."  Me? I stick to having good old fashioned "problems".)  I  have with street photography is the inclusion of people in my photos. I tend to find it a bit intrusive to photograph people without their knowledge or consent. Like most photographers, (and perhaps most people) I  dislike having my photo taken and out of genuine human empathy, project that feeling to others. So what often happens is that my attempts at street photography tend to turn out as streetscapes devoid of humanity.

     

     

      

   The above picture is a little better in that the table for two at least suggests humanity. But, what I'm really going for is something like this.

                                                                                                                             
     Or this;

                                

     Needless to say, the estate of the great Cartier-Bresson has nothing to worry about from me. However, I do find this street photography genre fascinating and I think I'll pursue it a bit more. We'll see where I go with it.


     more later...

Embracing Monochrome

    Anyone who follows me on social media knows that I love to photograph sunrises and sunsets. What can I say? The colours are awesome! It's the same reason that Autumn is my favourite time of the year. And then there's Winter    

 "Three hours of daylight and all of them grey. The suicide prevention group have all run away." from "Wintertime Blues" by John Hiatt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiN7Q3DTWBc   It's been a pretty dreary winter so far. I'm pretty sure that I can count the number of blue sky days on the fingers of one hand. I have to admit, it can get a little depressing. It seems every day features nothing but grey skies, fog, mist or drizzle. The temperature, for the past couple of weeks, has been unseasonably mild so we don't even have the beauty of snow cover to mask the bleak landscape.

     So what's a photographer with an itchy shutter button finger to do? Well, when life hands you lemons... Actually that quote really applies if life hands you lemons, sugar, water and a nice pitcher for mixing. If life hands you nothing but lemons, you're pretty much screwed. But I digress.

     My solution is to embrace the grey. Go monochromatic! For the most part, I'm trying to stop using the phrase "black and white" in application to photography. Black and white is, well... too black and white. It implies that I'm making images with black ink on pristine white paper when what I'm really doing is creating images utilizing infinitely varying shades of grey. Besides, monochromatic kinda sounds more sophisticated. Hey, I'm not just another bumpkin with a camera!                                                                                                                                                    

     Since my photographic renaissance in the world of digital imaging, I've been taking everything in colour and converting it in post processing when I want it in monochrome. That way, I get the best of both world's right?  Not really. I've found that, at least with my two newest cameras, I have a pretty wide array of black & white options in camera and it's been a lot of fun trying them out. Besides, if I want colour, I can simply switch back to the various colour settings in the camera while I'm on location.  I love using photographic terms like "on location." It sounds so much better than "When yer out takin' the damn pitcher!"  Did I mention that I'm not just another bumpkin? Of course if you are a bumpkin there's a good chance you could be elected President of the U.S.A.  Wait a minute... he's orange. More of a pumpkin than a bumpkin. Perhaps a combination of the two, a pumpkin bumpkin. But again, I digress.

     

     Anyways, I'm having fun making  monochromatic pictures again. However, I have to admit that I kind of miss the old way of doing black and whites. When I think of the hours  I spent in a darkroom developing films and making enlargements from the negatives, it's a bit sad to think that it's now pretty much a lost art.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

     Nostalgic feelings aside, I still believe there's a place for monochromatic imaging in modern photography. If nothing else, it helps to make me a better photographer. The images themselves are more graphic. I have to pull out all the stops when it comes to composition. I have  to work a little harder to use  visual elements like form, line, shape, texture and balance to make an image with visual impact. Photography is a bit more of a challenge when I don't have pretty colours to save my butt. Actually, a sort of litmus test for a colour photo that I learned a long time ago is, " Would it still look good in black & white?" Colour is only one of many visual elements. If an image can stand on its own without it, It's (hopefully) a good photo.                                                                                                                                                                             

 

     So if you want to expand your creative vision, I strongly recommend spending some time ( a week, a month or even a year) in the world of monochrome. I guarantee that it will change the way you see the world. Besides, what the hell else can you do with almost a month of grey, dull weather?                                                                                                      


...more later                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

January

     So it's a new year. Since I stopped drinking, I find  the New Year's celebration is kind of pointless. Even when I was drinking, it was kind of pointless except that it provided me a reason to drink and party. (As if I needed one!) Nothing much changes just because it's a new year. I mean January 1st I woke up lying in the same bed that I slept in in 2016. Same pile of laundry behind the door, same old ramshackle house. Besides a different set of numbers on a new calendar, not much has changed.
      
     But, whether I like it or not, change is always happening. Furthermore, if I want change on a personal level I have to make an effort to make that change a reality. The quote "Be the change you wish to see in the world." attributed to Mahatma Ghandi is valid. However it implies a personal responsibility to enact change within myself rather than passively observing the constant change in the world around me.

     

     Photography is an odd activity in that it requires observation of the world around me combined with the action of using my skills and tools to make a visual record of it. Passive observation combined with a degree of activity in creating a visually interesting image.

Winter Shadow; Taken New Year's Day 2017

January Thaw

         So making New Year's resolutions is not really something I do. I prefer to make plans for the upcoming year. My plans include developing a website for my photography, participating in more art  shows and community events at a local level, acquiring a logo and creating a bit more of a brand presence for my work on social media, expanding into portraiture and more "people oriented" imaging, and just generally enjoying the time I spend making and presenting a vision of the world I inhabit. Some of these plans are in the works already although nothing is carved in stone just yet.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
 

Another New Year's Day photo. Small Town Reflections

     The only concrete resolution that I'm making is to  make photographs and share them with people who (hopefully) like them. Oh wait... I'm already doing that!


                     ...more later          

New Blog

     I've been very neglectful of my old blog, Multifarious Musings. My last published post was in April of this year and, prior to that was a post from September of 2014! My readership of that blog, though small, is fairly loyal and I can't help but feel some guilt in my negligence in producing some read worthy content on that web page. It's not that I haven't made some attempts to produce material for the blog. In total there are six unfinished drafts on the post list. But publishing a blog post is akin to publishing a piece for a newspaper or magazine. The posts are invariably topical or seasonal and if not published while they're hot, they are pretty much irrelevant. For example, I doubt anyone  wants to read of my Autumn escapades in the middle of the Christmas season.

     Another problem I often find myself facing is the choice of what to write. To that issue, the name of my old blog "Multifarious Musings" can actually be something of a hindrance. The subject spectrum is far too broad. I find myself spending far too much time trying to decide what to write instead of sitting down and simply putting words and pictures to computer screen. 

    I decided that what I needed was a fresh start with a slightly more limited perspective. The old adage, "Write what you know." comes into play here. For the past few years, photography has been my primary extracurricular pursuit. I've decided that what I will present here are photos with some text describing the adventure or experience in making them. The perspective will be almost entirely photographic. I want to share a vision of life from the standpoint of one who has a passionate interest in making images of it. For readers not interested in the nuts and bolts of photography, I'll try to keep technical detail to a minimum. At the very least there will be some (hopefully) good and interesting pictures.                                                                                                                                                             

     Stay tuned. This could be kinda cool!

   
               ...more later (Yeah, I'm keeping that tag line! )