The snow flattened everything
Spring is here, someone said.
A Spring Nor’easter shook our state this week. Walking down our road, I was amazed at how thoroughly everything was flattened. I ended up shaking the snow off of almost 50 trees crossing the road to get them to pop up out of the snow. Several others had to be cut off and removed. The wetlands that borders our road was flattened. Usually birds nest in that overgrowth.
On the day of the storm, when it finally died down and I felt safe walking without getting pummeled by falling branches, I only had my iPhone with me. Oddly the birds were still chirping as I cleared trees off the road. Life goes on.
Here is that set of unedited iPhone photos—in reverse order of waning daylight, followed by the GFX photos I took the next day after we were able to clear the trees. Usually in the wide shot with the power lines, there are trees and bushes that block my view of the distant treeline. They’re all bent to the ground. Hopefully some will recover and the birds will continue to thrive.
This is not what I bought this camera for
For the search engines: Fujifilm X100VI. TikTok. Poseurs. Film simulations. Don’t buy this camera without reading this. You need this camera. Five days in Spain with the X100VI. Leica Q3 vs Fujifilm X100VI vs iPhone for some reason. Back to snarky post excerpts next time.
Or, “This is not the purpose for which I bought this camera.” I gave up on prepositions a long time ago. Good luck using them correctly without coming off a bit poncy. “Whoa, didn’t realize I was talking to the King of England.” I digress. And apparently use “poncy” in sentences now.
I mentioned in my last post that I returned my latest X100 camera (X100T) when I preordered the new Fujifilm X100VI to use for street photography. But then I skipped the line when one of my favorite members of the Glass photography community Markus Busch sent me a message that he wasn’t getting along with his X100VI and would I like it. I hesitated. His was the silver version—which I prefer—but I’d preordered the black version to get maximum subtlety when trying to capture candid street photos. While deciding, a day out using my chonky GFX to grab candid shots made me realize that most people on busy sidewalks don’t really notice any camera, especially if you’re not holding it up to your face.
So I had Markus send the camera, then I got sick.
When the camera arrived—lovingly wrapped in Swiss newspaper that will look great beside all the Japanese newspaper my stuff normally comes in—I was as thrilled as I could summon the energy to be. The next day, still feeling quite ill, I snapped a weak joke attempt for my 365 photo, then went back to resting.
Today, I’m feeling almost human again. I still won’t be walking the streets until at least this weekend, but I wanted to get a few shots around the yard. And oh yeah, in the midst of all this, we had the heaviest spring snow I’ve ever seen, which made it impossible for regular cars to get in and out of our driveway. It was a rough weekend.
Anyway, these photos are great (as far as the camera’s performance is concerned). They’re the type of shots I’d normally use my GFX for (damn ending preposition again). This is not at all what I bought the X100VI for (I give up). But if it were the only camera I owned, I’d be perfectly happy shooting it in all situations.
Side note: I haven’t canceled my B&H preorder yet. Probably will. Could sell it on eBay to recoup some cost. Those people aren’t making as much as you’d think, fees alone are $300+. Nobody decries the buyers willing to pay that much. There is no inflated market without impatient buyers. Is being opportunistic worse than being impatient and entitled? I don’t know. It all feels icky. Maybe I’ll just sell it off eBay to someone else who can’t get one, for regular price. Pay it forward. Although canceling the preorder is effectively the same thing, another poor soul moves up the list. My recovering-but-still-weak brain likes the ease of that option. We’ll see. Let me know in the comments what I should do.
I never realized I’d love street photography this much
Include humans in your photos, they said. They were right.
While I love combining a good walk with taking photos, I’m fairly introverted (I even have the t-shirt), so I rarely feature humans in my photos. But what if there were a genre of photography where the point was to capture candid human moments surreptitiously? That I could do. I’ve been training for watching from the fringes my whole life.
I’ve often walked around cities and focused on photos of buildings, cars, the steam coming out of a grate, dumpsters, traffic cones—you get it. While I’m proud of many of these images, the real story is how humans fit into those spaces. So I’ve been practicing capturing moments—as defined by something actually happening in the photo, which usually requires animation of some kind, which in a city usually involves people.
Technically speaking, this—shooting from chest level with my camera on a strap, looking like I was holding my camera but not actually shooting—took some trial and error. I hadn’t used zone focusing before, so it took a bit to dial this in. To get a reasonable depth of field meant I needed to balance the shutter speed with a stopped down aperture (my first day out was almost all motion blurred images). I’m starting get a feel for the right settings, and developing a better shooting technique where I pause—sometimes just a stutter step—to take photos rather than trying to shoot on the move.
The first day I tried this was in New York with a used Fujifilm X100T I’d just picked up from B&H that day. Even though most of my photos that first day were unusable, I was hooked. This is a genre with near unlimited subject possibilities (there are only so many leaves to shoot during my normal walks on our rural dirt road). And it’s a genre that can be practiced in any city or village, wherever people live out their lives.
My second day in NYC was better. Then I came home and walked in Portland, and some of those were good. I went to Boston last weekend expecting to walk there, but the weather was so beautiful, every single person was on the sidewalk and every single parking spot was filled. I ended up shooting no photos at all. Next time I’ll plan that one better (take the train).
When the Fujifilm X100VI became available, I preordered it and returned the X100T, so I’ve been without that perfect little street camera model for a few weeks. The other day in Portland I tried my GFX with its kit lens fixed at 45mm (35mm full frame) to match the focal length of an X100. I set it to manual focus and manual exposure, zone focused to a reasonable distance, and tried my hand with that big, slow, obtrusive beast. The results were not bad! For several reasons (heavy, awkward to creatively/subtlely aim, sometimes slow to fire, loud shutter, weird flaring), that is not how I’d prefer to do street photography, but it works in a pinch. So I captured drunken St Patrick’s Day revelers in glorious medium format, and I’m not sure a single person noticed my camera. Given a more sober day of the year or a less tourist-y area of town (more cameras in general), I’m guessing the GFX would draw more attention.
I have no idea if/when I’ll get my preordered X100VI, but thanks to the brilliant community on Glass, I believe I’ll have a different unit soon. More on that later (hi, Markus!).
There is much talk about the ethics of this genre of photography. I’ll let smarter people hash that out, but my opinion is that if you are of an age of consent and inhabiting a public space, you will be seen—whether in person or via photograph. I don’t post photos of children, and I won’t show the faces of folks who are unhoused or otherwise struggling (exception in this set, there are clearly some drunken folks. Irish celebration will do that.). And there are photos that I may exclude just because they subjectively don’t feel right. Generally speaking, though, I’ll let the law rule here—if it’s viewable in a public space, it’s a potential subject.
Here are some of my favorites from outings in Portland, Maine, and New York, New York.
Getting back out there
One foot in front of the other.
I used to walk up and down our dirt road at least once a day. The vast majority of my first 365 project’s photos were taken on these walks. Lately, though, I haven’t been summoning the energy to go out in the cold—and I haven’t found inspiration on the brown winter road.
The last couple days have been sunny and relatively warm and I’ve taken advantage of it. Here are some photos from two days of walks on our late-winter-but-maybe-spring-is-coming? road.
(I don’t always point out which gear I used for a shot, but these are all taken with my favorite combo, the Fujifilm GFX 50s ii + Mitakon 65mm f1.4.)
Forgettable photos taken too late on a previously foggy morning
On working with what you’ve got not what you want.
The thing about photography as a hobby is that the primary goal is not the photo. The photo is important. It’s the thing that keeps you motivated. If you never took photos you were proud of, you’d quickly lose interest.
The primary goal of photography as a hobby is the practice of photography. It’s learning to see things others don’t see. It’s grabbing the camera and pointing it at things, wondering if you can make something of it. It’s walking. It’s feeling the place where you are. It’s often disappointment. It’s the thrill of knowing before you even release the shutter that this one is going to be good. It’s about looking back and seeing how your photos have improved over time, about being a little surprised and proud that yeah, I took that.
I was pleased to hear Daniel from Glass reiterate (ironically) the thought that often goes through my head when viewing some peoples’ photos: if you can only get photos you’re happy to share by traveling to exotic locations where it’s fairly easy to close your eyes, point the camera, and come away with “bangers,” you’re not really growing as a photographer. But if you can walk out your front door—or hell, stay inside—and immediately see half a dozen options that might be something, you’re exercising the creative muscles necessary to grow.
When you travel, of course take your camera. Shoot a mountain or a lighthouse or a space station or something—whoever you share your photos with will love that shit. But don’t wait for a trip or the weekend or an occasion. Practice as often as you can, even if the conditions seem wrong or you missed the best light.
Sick burn
Or why you don’t DIY electrical.
Some excitement in the local grocery store strip mall parking lot over the weekend when a BMW caught fire, scorching itself entirely and peeling the paint off the Mercedes parked next to it (no one was hurt).
Rumor has it that the owner (from New Hampshire, obvs) had hooked up their own massive speaker in the trunk and that somehow caused the fire. The trunk does seem to be the source of the fire, but I prefer to think that the tunes they played were just that hot. Their only crime was playing the sickest beats without a fire extinguisher on hand.
Regardless of the real cause, let’s just assume this is a powerful reminder that you should hire a professional to do electric work—or that technology is just not ready for the kind of fiery jams celebrated in the Granite State.
My favorite part of this is how both drivers folded in their driver’s side mirror. You know, to avoid damage.
Rescued from the archive cull
Look both ways before deleting everything.
Traditionally speaking, I delete nothing. I have close to 200,000 saved emails (all read!). And I have every photo I’ve every taken.
Recently I decided I should delete unused photos en masse to free up room on my hard drives. I have been pretty good about rating keepers in Lightroom Classic as at least ★☆☆☆☆, so creating a smart collection to show me the rest was pretty straightforward.
Given my reluctance to offload anything digital on the off chance I may need it some day, I scrolled back through 30,000+ photos from the last year or so to make sure I was okay losing them forever. And of course, there were several that I had missed. I gave them a quick edit, exported, then tagged them ★☆☆☆☆ so they left the To Delete smart collection.
THIS IS WHY I DON’T DELETE ANYTHING.
Really, the lesson here is to take a little bit more time after importing. If I’m good about hitting that ‘1’ on the keyboard if there’s the slightest chance the photo might be usable, I can feel pretty confident about either deleting the rest right away—or at least giving that ongoing To Delete collection a quick look once in a while before clearing it out.
Here’s that set of rescued photos. (I’m not done reviewing yet, so there’s a good chance this post has a part two.)
In this house, we celebrate X100VI day
For those who observe.
After more than a year of checking B&H near daily to see if the Fujifilm X100V was available yet, today I caught a glimpse of something new as I was closing the search results page in frustration. “Coming soon” it said. And folks, it was the next camera in the X100 line, the Fujifilm X100VI. I hit that preorder button faster than the onset of regret after Taco Bell. Then I figured out how to pay for it.
(Wait, shouldn’t this camera series be called the XC and this one is the XCVI? As I’m reading it, this camera is the Fujifilm 96. Nice…?)
To celebrate the occasion of me actually being able to order a camera before the eBay swarm descends, I posted some X100F shots on Glass. And made this blog post. And I intend to consume all the previously embargoed X100VI content on YouTube.
But for now, here are some of my favorites from the archive from years with the X100 series.
The other side of the strip mall
Introducing my new ongoing project, Gorgeous Garbage.
After The Incident, I didn’t want to push my luck when taking my daughter to the gym. So the next time I decided to explore the other side of the strip mall to see what treasures it possessed. Eventually I wandered around behind the building.
And reader, I hit the mother lode of dumpsters. Like tons. My photos of those glorious rust buckets have helped seed a new ongoing project called Gorgeous Garbage. I collect a lot of trash photos—like someone else I know—and have wanted to compile them into a project for while.
Below are some of the other keepers from that shoot that didn’t (necessarily) fit into the trash content dynamic. All in all a good outing.
Confrontation in a Luddite town
Understand your rights before you trample mine.
Update: André forwarded me a post from a photographer who has encountered similar situations (one at a gym!). Check it out.
I’ve written before about taking every opportunity to shoot photos, like while waiting on a family member. Lately my daughter has been going to the gym, and since she’s on a learner’s permit, I tag along. While I wait, I shoot photos around the strip mall where the gym is. Some of those were featured in this post.
Today while walking around that parking lot taking the photos included below, I saw a big guy standing some ways off staring at me. Then I heard yelling. The volume increased. “What are you doing?”
I ignored it for a while because there was no reason it would’ve been directed at me. But it continued. I turned around and noticed the big guy had been joined by another, angry-looking guy who was now clearly yelling directly at me. “What are you doing over there?”
I cautiously walked toward the men, since I wasn’t going to carry on a conversation at that distance or at that volume.
“Taking photos.”
“Of what?”
“Anything. Everything. Things that are interesting to me.”
“What’s interesting in a parking lot?” The second man somehow sounded angrier than when he started yelling. He eyed my camera. He looked ready to rip it from my hands to see what was on it. Good luck with that, buddy. A GFX with Mitakon makes a good defensive weapon.
“What isn’t interesting in a parking lot?” I pointed and described a few things I’d just photographed. “That blue wall. The smoke coming out of that pipe. That old machinery.” I didn’t point out any dumpsters since I didn’t want to completely break these well-intentioned men.
This went back and forth for a while. I got a little more heated, even pulled out a classic: “Last time I checked, this was a free country.” I hate that expression, but I needed to speak their language.
The angry one was personally offended that I was walking around—“with my Fujifilm camera” (he noticed! aww)—taking photos inside (without the “of the… inside”) people’s cars. And that’s illegal! (It’s not.) And an invasion of privacy! (If it’s visible in a public place, it’s not private.) Also, I wasn’t even doing that.
It turns out that someone saw me from the gym windows one of the previous times I’d been there. They reported that I’d been taking photos of the inside of peoples’ cars. The closest example of that (I checked my library) was of a flower pot someone hanged from their rearview mirror (it was interesting, though the photo wasn’t a keeper). If I hung a planter with an actual plant in it from my car’s rearview mirror, I’d want people to notice it. The same applies to vanity plates, flame jobs, and every single antique automobile.
So… one person one time saw my lens pointed at the window of a car and now I’m angrily confronted in a parking lot. Don’t ever change, small town Maine.
The angry one wore himself out and went back inside and I was left talking to the more reasonable big guy (I think he works at the gym). He was still stuck on the photos inside peoples’ cars thing, but he did admit that I had the right to take photos of pretty much anything.
“It is a free country, but not for long. It’s going communist.”
Sigh. Don’t tease.
“If you take photos of the inside of peoples’ cars, someone in the gym might capture you doing that on their phone and you could be in real trouble.”
Sensing an opening, I decided to help the next photographer unlucky enough to land in this town and pushed back.
“I hope nobody takes my photo, that would be an invasion of privacy.” (It wouldn’t be.)
I took the last photo below (of the wonky speed limit sign, with a car’s “inside” visible) as the big guy and I walked apart-but-parallel back toward the gym. I assume that got me on a list. My daughter may need to change gyms.
To be real for a moment, though. This confrontation shook me. I go out of my way to choose subjects that no one will have a problem with, after this happened. Even peoples’ faces—perfectly legal to photograph in public places without consent—only appear in my work tangentially. If I want a human element, I shoot from the side or back of the person—or from far away. That goes against everything well-known street photographers advise for making the best work. But this is a hobby and I have a family. I’m not taking chances.
Apparently in our fucked up society, where drivers of giant pickup trucks moan about bicyclists, rich politicians whine about poor migrants, and beefy bros harass photographers in parking lots (but say nothing about the countless security cameras in the same lot, some likely piped into their own place of business), even my relative cowardice is not enough to allow me to practice my craft in peace. Some people simply don’t understand the desire to capture beauty in the mundane—a staple of some of the best photographic work.
So stay safe, but know your rights. Because no matter what you do, people are people.
January days
It’s the journey, not the sitting at home on your ass.
Stop signs. Mail trucks. Old tractors. Is there any photographic cliché I won’t photograph? Unsure.
This might not be the most unique subject material, but on these cold days, any creative outing at all is a win.
Keep getting out there. The practice is what matters.
Flood warning affects your immediate area
[turns off notifications]
Two posts in one day?! Please don’t call the best practice police.
My CARROT weather app seems to send more and more flood warnings lately and finally one of them actually affected me. We had a big rain storm last night, on top of the 12 inches of snow we had 2 days ago. The rain stopped this morning, but the temperature is high, so snow continues to melt. Suffice to say, there’s some flooding.
Our road is currently un-passable by small cars/children. Based on wading into the water, there appears to be about 6 inches on one side, 8 or 10 inches on the other. I decided to make lemonade and took some photos while I was investigating the damage.
Let me tell you, that boot shot was not easy to get with that heavy Mitakon + GFX combo. Fortunately I didn’t drop anything in the water.
I love big sensors
Insane crop still better than a phone.
Just a quick note about how convenient big sensors can be. I was able to crop to this:
From this:
And it’s completely usable for online sharing.
Also, turkeys are majestic af. Though based on how far away I was when they took flight, they’re a little chicken.
This year’s photo project
The reality of what you’ll find.
It’s been said in various forms by well-known photographers: all photographs are lies. I was reminded of the truth of this when I visited the popular Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine recently.
Almost every photograph taken at a well known landmark seeks to frame the obvious subject without other distractions. Other tourists, power lines, trash cans, parking lots—most of us try to eliminate the “ugly” bits that don’t match the tourism board’s brochure crop.
A tourist-heavy (almost all out-of-state plates) destination like Nubble also highlights another photographic lie. Many people pull their car into the lot, leave it running, and jump out for no more than 3 minutes to get a selfie with the lighthouse in the background. Then they drive away, which, frankly, good riddance. This is akin to the influencers who wear their bright orange or blue jacket to get a photo of themselves by a mountain lake, then drive to the next scenic location to rape it for content. The lie is that they spend time in nature, that they care about this stuff.
After observing this behavior (which is a common occurrence in Vacationland and other “destinations”) for a while, I realized the real story at these places isn’t the obvious subject. It’s the reality of what’s happening in front of it.
Once I started seeing this reality, I tried to capture a bit of it. Later, when I was home and discussing the phenomenon with Jennifer, we thought of other photos that would’ve helped tell the story. As we talked, I realized that this is the series I want to tackle in the new year: the reality of what you’ll find at ’gram-worthy travel destinations. It isn’t always pretty, but in some ways it’s more interesting. Maybe the truth is always more interesting than a lie.
The challenge will be to show it all. While the quick-pic-and-leave people are annoying, there are others who really soak in what they’re experiencing, enjoying the crash of the waves and the wonderful air. I want to show a well-rounded subset of what is happening at these places, from a neutral perspective. That will be difficult.
We live in Maine and frequently visit locations like this. I’ll start there. We’re also planning a road trip to see some of America’s natural wonders in the West, most of which I’ve never been to despite living in Wyoming for a decade. That should make this a good year for such a project.
(Another related goal is to add a portfolio section to this website that collects series and themes so visitors can view my favorite work without digging through the blog. Stay tuned.)
I hope this idea resonates with you. I’d love to know your thoughts and hope you’re able to follow along.
A second first snow
That first snow was so nice, we did it twice.
It’s no secret that I don’t like snow. I endure Maine’s (really, not that bad) winters because the other 3 seasons are more or less perfect. But we got our first snow of the season—again (the first first one melted), and the way it was sticking to the grass before piling on and flattening it was interesting. Here are some closeups for you snowaphiles.
A comfortable rhythm
I know what I like to shoot and how I like to shoot it.
Though I still love to experiment with different lenses and cameras, I’ve also arrived at the point in my photographic journey where I know the sorts of things I really enjoy shooting because the results are predictable. Some of it is cliché, like old cars. Some is odd, like dumpsters. And some is just random items I see that make me wonder about how they got there.
These are always shot with my GFX 50s ii and Mitakon 65mm f1.4. The lens is always wide open. The photo is usually a little under exposed, and the RAW processed with Fujifilm’s Classic Negative color profile. The crop is always 4:5, usually portrait orientation. The subject is usually centered, and usually clearly separated from the background.
This is the formula that I love coming back to. Here are a few examples that fit into that bucket.
Ramblings about which (Fujifilm) camera to buy
An oldie but a goodie.
Fujifilm XF10 and X-T1
I recently picked up a used Fujifilm X-T1 in the beautiful graphite silver finish for a fantastic price. I’m impressed with how well this camera holds up after all these years. The images are beautiful and the autofocus is faster than I would’ve guessed (based on the fact that YouTube “experts” don’t think even the most modern Fujfilm cameras are fast), but the quality of the build and materials is what impressed me most. Fujifilm does not make them like this anymore, which makes me sad and a little angry.
That camera got me thinking about how many Fujifilm cameras I’ve owned over the years, so I made a list, roughly in order. These are cameras that I owned and used longer than the return period.
X-T10
X100T
X-T2
X100F
X-T5
XF10 (still own)
GFX 50s ii (still own)
And here are the cameras I’ve tried and returned (and one still inside the return period). Usually I return them because they didn’t fill a need well enough to justify the cost, or I decided on a different option.
XF10 (the first time)
GFX 50s ii (the first time)
GFX 50r
X-S10
X-S20
X-H2
X-T1 (just bought, plan on keeping)
If we count the cameras I’ve owned twice, uh, twice, that’s 14 Fujfilm cameras I’ve held in my hands, put lenses on, and walked around with. And they’re all good cameras. I’ve never tried Sony or Canon, and it’s been years since I’ve used Nikon. But the models from those manufacturers that they put on display at Walmart (yes) or Best Buy make the newer, cheaper-feeling Fujifilm models feel downright premium. I like my cameras with some… class. (Aware that Fujifilm has a history with cheap cameras, too. But let me know in the comments, anyway, so I can get some comment action going on this website.)
I tried one old compact Leica (the X1). It was enough to convince me that yes, there’s a bit of a look to the photos and yes, they’re well made. I don’t know if I’ll ever justify the price for a modern digital Leica, but I am intrigued by the M2 or M6 film models. Leica, for my money, definitely makes the most beautiful cameras. But most of us can only afford to look at the art in the museum, not in our hands. Or at least enjoy buying groceries.
Depending on what you plan on using your camera for, I could recommend any of these Fujifilm cameras. By the time you get up to the price of X-H2/s models, sure, maybe Sony would be a better bet. (I find $2,000+ unconscionable for APS-C sensors.) Fujifilm is certainly chasing that market with those cameras. Gone is the retro cool styling. If you’ve already got X-mount lenses, the X-H series are great cameras. If you make money from your camera or are serious about video, maybe that’s what you need.
Notably missing from my lists above are the rangefinder-style models, the X-Pro series and the X-E series. I’ve always been tempted by the idea of an X100 with interchangeable lenses, but always ended up with the X-T SLR-style cameras instead. My wife recently ordered an X-Pro2, though, so maybe I’ll get to sneak a peek at that. Based on my experience with the same sensors, processors, and features, though, I don’t see how you could go wrong with those models (update your firmware!).
The two models I no longer own that caused me some regret are either of the X100’s and the 50r. The latter, especially, really grew on me while I had it, but since the 50s ii had in-body stabilization, eliminated rolling electronic shutter with still subjects, had a much better grip, and included a free 35-70mm lens, it made more sense.
The model that constantly surprises me and can really always be with you is the XF10. Find one, buy it, use it. The results are the most outsized of any camera I’ve used. Using the same equivalent focal length, it’s a Leica Q without the awkward pocket bulge and second mortgage.
I’ve been on the X100V wait list at B&H for a long time (and am perturbed that apparently people can skip the list by calling up and ordering on the phone). But with this new/old X-T1 and a small lens (TBD), I have honestly lost interest in that beautiful hype monster.
There’s a lot of life left in those older cameras. If I were just starting out today, I’d seriously consider one of the older Fujifilm X-mount models that the YouTubers (and thereby, eBayers, followed by MPBers) haven’t (yet) pumped up. The X-T1 is an excellent camera, even by today’s standards. Why pay more?
Another glorious afternoon at Reid
I am always happy to walk here.
If you’ve followed this blog for any time at all, you’ll know one of my favorite places to walk and take photos year round is Reid State Park in Georgetown, Maine. All of Maine’s State Parks are lovely, but Reid is particularly photogenic regardless of where you are in the park. Here’s another batch from this weekend.
While you’re waiting, take some photos
Capturing a bit of lingering autumn while waiting on my kid.
Taking someone to an appointment and waiting in the car? Don’t play Solitaire on your phone for the billionth time. Walk around and take some photos. Here are mine from today’s wait.
Alcatraz
I finally escaped the mainland.
I’ve been meaning to visit Alcatraz when I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area and fortunately before my recent work trip I finally remembered to book a ticket. As expected, Alcatraz was in many ways an old, decrepit prison. Actually, in all the ways. But the history is interesting and the views from the middle of the bay are fantastic.
When I arrived at SFO, I hurried from the airport to my hotel, checked in, and walked to the Alcatraz ferry to catch the last tour of the day. I took along my Fujifilm GFX 50S ii with Mitakon 65mm f1.4 and an adapted Yashica 50mm f1.9.
The latter is difficult to love, but if you’re drawn to photos that look nostalgic, that’s your lens. It’s easy to tell which of these photos were taken with the Yashica because of the heavy vignetting. That lens was only intended to cover 35mm film.
Regardless, I got a few shots I’m happy with from both lenses and quite enjoyed the afternoon ignoring the audio tour, exploring on my own, and nearly stealing the audio tour player as it beeped at me while 300 people in the return ferry line stared.
I find myself needing to balance how much of my life is dedicated to taking photos, so I made a point of only shooting one day and putting my camera away during the rest of the trip. That meant that, for this trip, Alcatraz and the tourist-y nearby Fisherman’s Wharf area is all I managed to shoot this time.
