Street Photography

I'm Now An Official X-Photographer

I'm very happy to announce that Fujifilm has invited me to be an official X-Photographer. I've known about this for some time now, but kept it hush hush until I was added to Fuji's X-Tog site. You can see my bit HERE.

I've been a Fujifilm user since the X Series began and was lucky enough to get my hands on the original X100 as soon as it was available. Looking back at the pictures I've shot since then surprises me a bit. The time has flown and I'm pleased with what have produced so far. The cameras have come on leaps and bounds and with the firmware update coming this December, it looks like everything I've wished for is finally coming (to the X-T1 at least).

I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.

Kage - Fuji - Street

A quick Friday hodge-podge of a post and of course some recent street shots.

The Kage Collective entered phase II this week with release of our new website. It's been two years since we launched the collective and a lot has happened in that short space of time. I suppose the big difference in the group is that we have grown to eight members over seven different countries, with the most recent members being Vincent Baldensperger (France), Craig Litten (USA), Bert Stephani (Belgium) and Kevin Mullins (UK). We now have a new blog on the site called Chronicle, which is a place all eight of us will be writing for regularly. Patrick (LaRoque) has written the first post that lays out what's new on the site. So rather than me re-hashing it here, why not click HERE and take a look at the site. Then have a look at our firs three blog posts on Chronicle.

Fujifilm anounced the X30 recently, but what's interesting about this X20 replacement is the mass of features included that users like myself and many others have been asking for. Here are a few

  • The ability to move focus point without having to press an Fn button first.
  • Being able to customise what's in the Q Menu
  • Exposure metering where the focus point is
  • Manual control over video
  • Exposure Compensation dial works in Manual Mode when using Auto ISO

I'm really hoping these features will filter down to current models, like the X-Pro1, X-T1, X100/S through firmware. Thanks to Fuji for listening (as always). With Photokina coming up in about 10 days, who knows what's coming. X-Pro2? X100T?

I'm heading out tonight to the big smoke to shoot some night time street shots, but I'll leave with a few from this week. Captions below each photo for camera lens choice.

Rob The Street Photographers Bag

Millican are based in the beautiful English Lake District and produce old school, rugged and well made bags for the great outdoors. I was first introduced to Millican via a project called Freedom Through Photography that I was involved in to promote their collaboration with Fujifilm UK to produce camera bags for the X Series. I'm not sponsored or paid by Millican in any way, I'm simply writing this review because I feel I've finally found a small, discreet and well made bag that suits street photography and small documentary shoots and I though I would share it with you.

So why such a small bag? That's easy, the bigger the bag, the more we try to cram in to them. I'm definitely guilty of this and I regularly have that inner voice that tells me I'll need as many lenses I can cram in. But when shooting street photography it's good to travel light. To be honest I would be happy to just have my X100S and some spare batteries, but my inner voice wouldn't allow that. The bag in these photos looks bigger than it actually is. It's really not much bigger than an iPad Air.

What you see before you is Rob The Traveller, but Robert The Camera Bag is also available. The only difference between the two is that Robert includes the Small Camera Protector, while Rob doesn't. I bought Rob because it (he) is available in Slate Green, but Robert is only available in Grey Blue and Antique Bronze at the moment. I have both large and small camera protectors, so I already had that covered (as you can see in the last photo).

The only downside to Rob is that because I have a lot of stuff in the main compartment, it can be a bit of a fumble to slide my iPad into the dedicated section at the back (inside) as the pouch has a thin material, rather than a firm padded devider (which would make the bag more bulky). This is a minor thing and not a deal breaker in any way. I have a piece of card covered in cellophane (that came with prints) in there at the moment that gives me something rigid to separate my iPad with my camera and lenses and allows my iPad Air to slide in easier.

The material Millican use for their bags is a high quality weatherproof 100% cotton canvas and veg tanned leather. This is my third Millican bag (I also have the X-Series Christopher and Matthew The Daypack) and the quality and craftsmanship is the same on each of them. These things are built to last and will probably look even better as they age. I love the old school fasteners on the main and rear compartment and the leather covered handle is extreamly useful. On Millican's website it says they Rob was "inspired by Grandad's old binocular case, which travelled the world. And then some". I love that!

INSIDE Inside the main section of the bag has a separate section for iPad at the back and one at the side that I use for a Zoom H1 audio recorder. There is also a zipped compartment that is ideal for business cards or bank cards. It's a safe place to keep your phone or wallet when you're on the streets too. The Small Camera Protector fits squarely on the bottom with enough room for another on top if required. This small insert will hold cameras up to an X100/X100S or X-E1 with an 18mm or 27mm lens attached. My recent street setup has been the 28mm and 50mm conversion lenses inside the camera insert on the bottom of the bag (separated by a padded insert from an old Lowepro bag). My X100S sits on top of the Small Camera Protector with the lens hood attached. I also have a mobile phone pouch on the bottom of the camera insert that the two conversion lenses sit on (see the last photo on this post). This pouch keeps my cables in one place and saves me from stuffing too much into the front pocket of Rob.

FRONT POCKET The front pocket is very handy and where all those important bits and bobs go. I have a Moleskine notebook and pen, spare X100S batteries, lens cloth and Apple Earbuds. It's unusual for me to need to change SD cards on the street, so I keep a spare SD card in it's plastic case inside the internal zipped pocket in the main compartment. The front pocket is also ideal for a mobile phone.

What's in my street photography bag at the moment? Here's a list of everything you see in the photo above. The two things that are missing are my Apple Earbuds and Lens Cloth. iPad is not essential (obviously), but it's nice to be able to read or write when stopping for coffee or travelling on a train. An iPad Mini might be a better option to save on weight.

Rob The Traveller bag by Millican

  • Fujifilm X100S
  • WCL-X100 Wide Converter Lens for the X100/S
  • TCL-X100 Tele Converter Lens for the X100/S
  • Zoom H1 Audio Field Recorder
  • Small Camera Protector by Millican
  • iPad Air
  • Apple SD Card Reader
  • iPhone Cable
  • iPad Cable
  • Phone Pouch for cables
  • Business Cards
  • Hotel Shower Cap for shooting in the rain
  • Moleskine Notebook (Evernote version)
  • Pen
  • Extra Sandisk Extreme SD Card
  • 2 Spare X100 Batteries (I usually have a third too)

So that's Rob. A small well made street bag that doesn't look like a camera bag and 28mm, 35mm and 50mm options. Another possible setup would be an X-E1/XE-2 with an 18mm or 27mm lens attached inside the camera insert and an X100/X100S on the top. Two cameras with two focal lengths. Rob or Robert would also make great lens bags, (probably) large enough to hold two large f2.8 zooms for those DSLR users, or two to six Fuji (or CSC) lenses (depending on which ones). Click HERE to visit the Millican website.

If you're looking for something a bit bigger, Christopher, The larger of the two X-Series bags is now available in Grey Blue as well as the original Antique Bronze and includes the Large Camera Protector.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 & Testing New Fuji Glass

Fuji X-T1, 10-24mm f4 at 17.5mm. Shutter speed on this was 1/60th sec while panning with the bikes.

I've had the pleasure of trying out some great new Fujifilm X Series Lenses that they sent to me recently and thought I'd post some street shots here before I review them over at my DCP Blog. The lenses are the tiny 27mm f2.8 Pancake, The super wide 10-24mm f4 and two converter lenses for my favourite street cameras the x100 & X100s. these two screw on lenses take the standard 35mm (full frame equivalent) lens down to 28mm or up to a 50mm. 28mm, 35mm &50mm are all great street photography focal lengths, so there's pretty much something for every street photographer wishing to use the X100 or X100S. Reviews for each lens coming soon.

X100S 19mm wide angle converter lens

X100S 23mm standard lens

X100S 35mm tele converter lens (50mm FF)

X100S 35mm tele converter lens (50mm FF)

X100S 35mm tele converter lens (50mm FF)

Fuji X-T1, 10-24mm f4 lens at 24mm

Fuji X-E1, 27mm f2.8 lens

45 Minutes On The Street With The X-T1 & 56mm f1.2

I spent 45 minutes shooting on the streets today with the Fuji X-T1 and the 56mm f1.2. As the name of this blog suggests, I like to shoot street with a 35mm focal length, so with the 56mm coming out at 85mm (with the 1.5 crop), this was way different from what I usually shoot (on the street anyway). I fired off a shot to see how my exposure was looking. As I was in Aperture Priority Mode it was really to see if I needed any exposure compensation. A woman was walking in front of me and I stopped and took a shot of the back of her head (it was only for exposure after all). When the shot was previewed for half a second in my viewfinder I could see that not only did this lens look stunning, but the X-T1 focuses really quick. My settings were Auto ISO 3200 with a minimum shutter speed of 1/125th sec and my aperture was set to f2.8. Usually I would be shooting street photography with my X100 at f8 to give me a bit of leeway with the focus and moving subjects, but this was a new experience in the world of X.

I was curious to see if the 23mm f1.4 would perform as well, and if the X-T1 would become my new go to camera for street, even though I had no intention of this new body being my street camera. But to be honest, I was enjoying the 56mm too much and I decided that the 23mm would have to wait for another day when it could have the X-T1 all to it's self. So I'm sure that will be my next blog post here soon.

Feel free to ask any questions about the X-T1 in the comments.

The Mutts Nuts

35mmStreet.com.XP1X0386-Edit

It's been a long wet winter. We get about eight or nine hours of daylight at this time of year in Scotland. By 4:30pm it's dark, but what light we do get is mostly poor. Last Sunday showed a little glimmer of hope with some nice light. Even though it's the middle of winter, there was no shortage of tourists in Edinburgh. Here are a few shots Taken late in the afternoon and into the early night.

Kage Collective :: Now We Are 7

The big announcement today is that we have gone from four to seven members over at The Kage Collective. Our three new members are fellow documentary photographers (in alphabetical order) Vincent Baldensperger fron Toulouse, France, Craig Litten from Palm Beach, USA and Fuji X photographer Bert Stephani from Steenokkerzeel, Belgium. All three of them are great photographers in their own right and we look forward to including their stories in the near future. But for now you can take a look at our updated Members Portfolio section on the Kage Collective site. All seven portfolios are newly updated...so check them all.

It's a privilege to be part of a collective with such a fantastic group of photographers. I would like to single out the hardest working member of the Kage Collective. Patrick (La Roque) created our Kage website and keeps it up to date and running smoothly. We all upload our own content, but everything else is Patrick. He is also the founder and both the magnet that brought us together and the glue that keeps us as a collective. A friend, a colleague and an absolute star.

Verona and Cortina - Italy

First two photos (above and below) are from Verona, the home of Romeo & Juliet, a big coliseum and a lot of strange people. It's a great place to wander round a shoot street photos.

These two shots (above and below) are from the beautiful town of Cortina, which is high up in the Dolomites and not that far from Austria.

Anatomy Of A Street Shot

I was about to post this shot with a few others from the same day, but as it's one of a sequence of three, I thought it might be good to have a look at them together to see the reasons one is chosen over the other. A lot of street photography is about one shot. Someone walks toward you, you take the shot and they're gone, never to be repeated ever again. But sometimes you have a chance to fire of two or three. This was one of those times because the dog slowed things down. I  shot this in Glasgow (Scotland) with the X100. It's still my favourite street camera, even though I now have the 23mm f1.4 (35mm full frame) for the X-Pro1. There's just something special about this tiny silent camera. As a side note - the X100s in black was announced yesterday...food for thought.

SHOT 1: I like this street as it has character, but it's not usually busy. I think this was my second shot of the day. I saw this guy walking his dog and I liked the contrast of the long dark coat and the odd wooly dog. I knew we were a bit far apart for the 35mm field of view, but as it was only my second shot of the day, I took a test shot and checked the photo in the viewfinder. If you are not familiar with the Fuji X100 ( and XPro1), the viewfinder has a tiny screen that slides in when you take a shot and let's you see the photo without chimping on the camera LCD. My exposure was ok. The Sky was a bit blown out, but it was a grey day and it was more important to expose for the street. But I knew this wouldn't be a keeper. I knew that before I pressed the shutter.

SHOT 2: I moved closer and he moved closer. I crouched low to get a better angle. This is the shot that works best for me. It has strong leading lines that take the viewers eye to both subjects. It doesn't matter if your eye reached the man or the dog first because the tight lead that connects them also causes you to shift from one to the other. I really like the pose, it's a little stiff with one foot slightly raised and twisted as it leaves the kerb. The expression is good and makes you wonder what's going on in his life. He has things on his mind that might be worrying him. I also like the man walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the street and the 'Beer Cafe' sign seems to suit the overall look of this street too. There's a lot of elements that just work in this shot and it's the one I chose as the keeper.

SHOT 3: This shot is usable, but a lot of the elements that worked in shot 2 are missing. The man on the left has almost gone, the dog lead is hanging loose and doesn't work as well as a leading line.  Although the main subjects pose is ok, his expression is nowhere near as good. In this shot he looks more annoyed at me taking pictures than lost in his own thoughts. This is all subjective of course and I realise some of you will prefer shot 3 over shot 2. But for me there is more to keep my attention in the second shot. It's important to take the time to study a shot. We tend to fast forward everything in this digital world, but there's nothing better than sitting down with a cup of tea or coffee and a big photography book.