RANDOM-ISH OCTOBER PICS
SHOT WITH THE FUJIFILM X-PRO3, XF35 F1.4, XF27 F2.8
Without sounding too self absorbed… I’m making a little bit of an effort to post more on this blog, if not for my own good, then at least for the sake of trying to get my money’s worth from my yearly Squarespace subscription. Yeah, the guilt is real.
Picking up the camera continues to be a bit of daily mental wrestling match, something which exists completely in my head. “Yes, pick up the camera. No the lights no good, forget about it”. That sort of thing. By the way, as I type this at 4:50 pm, the sky has just turned the most incredible blue color with the clouds varying shades of grey/blue and snow white. Too bad I’m typing this or I’d go pick up my camera ;-)
There are many areas in my life that I can say I have the most incredible amount of discipline. Funny, because I was a completely lazy kid. Somehow I figured out that in order to be good at something you need to “wash and repeat”. Great, but in my brain there are so many tired reasons for leaving the camera at home or on the shelf.
Oh and did I forget to mention for about a month my one and only camera was at Fujifilm getting the ribbon for the LCD replaced. I know, I still had my iPhone.
So here we are, it’s early November and I’m digging through some of my images from the fall. They were created when I was winning some mental battles and picked up the camera. It’s really not all that hard. One foot in front of the other, wash & repeat.
another angle
SHOT WITH THE FUJIFILM X-PRO3, XF35 F1.4
The lesson I keep needing to relearn is to just let go… let my mind and my camera do its thing. You can never be sure if what the camera will capture will be complete rubbish or if it will be something with some potential.
A couple of weeks back Alice and I went to our favourite local pizza joint… Alice did the driving. It was that time of daylight that was just holding on, dusk was in full momentary flight. 10 minutes later and neither of the first two images would have been possible.
In truth, I had left my camera on manual mode from some recent experimentation and neither of the first images are anywhere near in focus. And maybe that’s why I find them so interesting. So yes, a happy mistake. On this day I’d like to think I was channeling my inner Saul Leiter, a photographer who’s black and white and color work I greatly admire.
The last two images were taken inside North of Brooklyn pizza on Geary Ave. By then, I figured out my earlier “mistake” but like the first two images, on this day I was inspired by the negative space. And of course all of these shots are done in 1:1 format, another current obsession. I’m not sure why but I find I can imagine the images with more clarity when I get rid of the clutter of a wider aspect ratio.
On this day, at this hour, I allowed my brain to look at the world from another angle. I’m very grateful that I did.
THY NAME IS CORONAVIRUS
With half of my wife’s extended family still in China, this years celebration held at Noble Seafood Restaurant was a bit of a quieter affair. My mother-in-law made it safely back from Shanghai a couple of weeks ago but her siblings are currently stuck waiting for the coronavirus epidemic to get sorted out so they can get flights back to Toronto and Sweden.
The vibe at Noble was a few degrees less than the typical new year’s meal. It wasn’t quite as busy or frantic as it might have been. Even a week ago (pre WHO emergency declaration) there were those that figured a celebration at home was a safer choice.
Still, it was decently busy and we united to put on a good show of overconsumption. Good times were had; crab, lobster, fish and abalone with a dash of pig and chicken were on the menu (12 courses in all). Believe me, no one went home hungry. Red envelopes were shared. Next year, we hope that we will all be together and Corona can go back to being the name of an imported Mexican beer. Until then, enjoy the pics and stay safe.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F/1.4
IAN MACDONALD WORKSHOP
A big thank you to Ian MacDonald - @ianmacdonaldphotography - for a wonderful 2-1/2 days in mid August. The recent workshop was held in downtown Toronto, beside myself there were 10 other willing photographers.
Always a great experience learning from a new instructor and Ian was a willing and gracious host with lots of terrific tips.
SHOT WITH X100F AND X-PRO2
