Some of you may or may not know, I’ve been lucky enough to shoot a little for The Brooklyn Circus. My most recent project, was the ever impressive Ticker’s collab Brogue boots. As most photographers can tell you, a fact of shooting, is that a huge portion of your work never gets used, and as a treat to my readers I’m going to share a small bit. These are the unused shots of the Honey Brown/Brown boots. Enjoi, and feel free to comment.
The bane of every photographer shooting digital that isn’t some lucky bastard with an M9, is having to carry around their beast on just about every occasion. Sometimes lugging around equipment all the time to get shots isn’t necessarily the most convenient thing, especially if you just wanna do some street shooting on down time. My full comprehension of this situation occured on my last visit to Vancouver. After a day of shooting for an event, I wanted to see the city and maybe get some extra shots to add. But after a day with my 5d mark II, and 35mm + 50mm + 70-200mm, I had no interest in lugging that shit around one more minute. I dropped it all off at the hotel and just went out.
I didn’t just pick one random camera, I did a ton of research, and finally ended with the Fuji X100. The first thing I HAVE to mention is, this camera isn’t for everyone. Its a fixed focal length of 35mm to start, no interchangeable lens, no zoom, a slow ass macro mode, but its 35mm or bust. For me this was fine, because it was the lens I used the most on my 5d. The person that purchases this should also be familiar with editing RAW, because while the jpegs that come out of this camera are great, you’ll get the best shots from RAW or when the camera is set to Black & White. The hybrid viewfinder is also an interesting and extremely handy feature, as you are able to see exactly what you are shooting. The camera just magically overlays frame lines and info in the eye piece as you compose your shot.
I could really go on and one but I’m not here to do a full bolt to bolt review. I can tell you I love the camera, the construction is excellent and the retro Fuji look will get you glances instantly. I’d recommend this to any serious photographer with a realistic budget, as a secondary shooter.
There is still a lot I have to learn about photography, but something that I’ve always envied were street shooters. While I take inanimate objects, and try to breed life into them, street photographers capture raw emotion and the heat of a moment. So I figured for once, I’d give it a whirl, and I must say I enjoyed it. This adventure, while not producing the most spectacular imagery, did teach me a couple lessons. First, people get really afraid when you still a serious camera in their face, I understand now why so many still use smaller film/leica digitals. Second, this shit is really hard, shooting in the city requires memorizing setting for different lighting conditions. Or at least, my inexperience caused me to have to do it. whatever, it was way more entertaining then I expected, and will more then likely give it a shot again. Please tell me what you think…
FYI, this isn’t ALL the shots I took, I’ll post more later. I need a reason for people to come back to my site damnit!
This is my Aston Martin, sure its missing about five hundred horsepower, and its not exactly british racing green, but living in the city, this will get me front point A to B quicker then most stuck in San Francisco gridlock.
