It has finally come to this. Last in day in Nuremberg, and my good friend from Hooked on Europe decided that it would be good to go out on the streets again, and try some fuji night shooting.
Fuji in Europe Part 27 - Last day in Nuremberg
Fuji in Europe Part 18 - Hidden little gem
Right next to the cemetery, hidden from view, is one of the most beautiful little parks in Nuremberg. It's surrounded by 4 story buildings, and it's very easy to miss. It's a perfect little quiet spot away from the busy traffic of everyday. It has a little restaurant at the entrance with a lovely patio
Fuji in Europe Part 12 - A special lens for special place
Fuji in Europe Part 10 - Street Photography in Würzburg
Fuji in Europe Part 9 - Würzburg The Residence
Fuji in Europe Part 8 - Sad history
Fuji in Europe Part 7 - Around Nuremberg
Fuji in Europe Part 6 - Street photography in France
Both villages that we visited in France were absolutely teeming with people. A perfect place to try out street photography. It wasn't easy at first as there was literally too much to take in.
Fuji in Europe Part 5 - Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg
Now what would a trip to France be with out visiting at least one castle. There is quite a bit of them around Alsace region in France. On the way to the charming village of Ribeauville, almost every hill had a castle or a ruin of one
Fuji in Europe Part 4 - France
Fuji in Europe Part 3 - Ribeauvillé Urban Photography
Fuji in Europe Part 2 - Nuremberg Urban Landscapes
Fuji in Europe Part 1 - Nuremberg Street Photography
This is going to be a series of posts of my little excursion to Europe. History repeats itself, as 3 years ago, I manage to get the first Fuji camera, the X-Pro1, a few days before the family European vacation, and the whole trip was shot with that.
The Fuji Park Walk - Part 2
The Fuji Park Walk - Part 1
When I heard that there was a walkabout being organized in Calgary, I quickly jumped on the occasion. Not everyday you get to meet The Fuji Guys in person.
Hip shooting Fuji and 23mm Fuji lens in Las Vegas - Street Photography
Fuji to the rescue?
Street photography was never easy for me. I'm too big of a chicken, when it comes to pointing a camera, even a little Fuji X-E1 at strangers. It seems to me that every time I point a camera at someone on the the street, they will come over and beat me up, to a pulp. I like the work of people like Bruce Gilden, but I don't have the guts to confront strangers like that. My way is discreet. I do a lot of hip shooting, or using long telephoto lens from a safe location :) . Hip shooting is a gamble, specially when using a new focal length, which I'm not used to. This was the case when I mounted the Fujinon 23mm on the Fuji X-E1, and tried hip shooting the Freemont Street in Las Vegas.
Missed Opportunities
I'm used to hip shooting street photography, with a wider lens, so a lot of shots with the 23mm Fujinon lens were misses. Horrible misses. I knew starting this experiment I would need some practice, and it showed. Still, I was able to catch a few interesting frames, and didn't get beat up... I think I can count that as a success :) . Fuji X cameras are perfect for this type of shooting. They are small discreet and quiet. People do not notice you as much. It's not like having a big white Canon lens. Maybe this summer I will be able to go out practice more hip shooting, and aiming my camera properly. Here are some of the shots I captured in Las Vegas. Enjoy!
Freemont street in Las Vegas to scantily dressed police women are crossing the street
freemont street in Las Vegas women exiting a store having a drink
freemont street las vegas a homeless disabled man sitting under a marquee
las vegas three women in striped dresses crossing the street carrying m&m candy bags
las vegas mother and daughter enjoying a rest on a busy street
las vegas a boy looking up in wonder on a busy street
Craigdarroch Castle - Fuji X-Pro1 in low light
Craigdarroch Castle
Coming back from the other side of the Vancouver Island, we decided for a short trip to Victoria. Unfortunately with highway construction that trip was long, and gave us a limited time in this beautiful city. So we decided to forgo most of it, and concentrate on the Craigdarroch Castle. As my wife described in her post, it's a beautiful house built in the 19th century. Since Canada is a fairly young country, compared to the world standards, I would call this house a landmark of our history, yet it is not being looked after by any of the government agencies. It's all done through volunteers. The passion of these people to preserve this place is amazing. We talked to one of the guides for more than 30 min about how the house was built, the attention to detail that went into design and construction of the house. It was quite an eye opener. You could feel the pride in the craft. I will echo my wife's words... if you are ever in Victoria, you have to visit this gem.
Fuji X-Pro1 and low light
Photographing the Craigdarroch Castle on the inside proved to be a bit challenging. The Fuji X-Pro1 does not have an on board flash, so I had to bump up the ISO on most of the inside images because of the dark interior. Most of the following images were done an ISO 1000 and higher, and I think the camera performed very well. Also the contrasts of very bright windows combined with darker interiors, created very high contrasts. I could have used HDR, but I did not have a tripod handy, and the shutter speeds were already dangerously low for hand held photography. Plus there were a lot of humans milling around. So I opted for single image, and no bracketing. I was very impressed how the X-Pro1 performed in such challenging situation. So enough of the ramblings from me... here are the photos of the inside of the beautiful Craigdarroch Castle. Enjoy!
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01
Looking up in wonder - Cathedral Grove
Cathedral Grove
Coming back from Long Beach we had to stop at the famous Cathedral Grove. It's a very old forest located in MacMillan Provincial Park. The trees there are hundreds of years old, and so tall one could say they touch the sky. It's one of the most beautiful and humbling places we have visited. To think that these trees have been standing there since the middle ages, is uncanny. Even though there are a lot of people visiting, the place is strangely quiet. One could say it's a spiritual experience. I guess that's why it's called the Cathedral Grove.
Capturing the Grove
Trying to capture the Grove is not an easy task. You have to have a very wide lens and lots of space to be able to catch one of these tree giants in entirety. It's almost impossible, because there is almost no room along the paths to back away far enough. Even at 15mm it wasn't enough. Still, the experience is well worth the trip. Highly recommend you stopping by, and enjoy the quiet of time. It's amazing.
Cathedral,grove,bc,trees,history,nature 01
Cathedral,grove,bc,trees,history,nature 01
Cathedral,grove,bc,trees,history,nature 01
Cathedral,grove,bc,trees,history,nature 01
Cathedral,grove,bc,trees,history,nature 01
Cathedral,grove,bc,trees,history,nature 01
Cathedral,grove,bc,trees,history,nature 01
Morning at the Beach - Landscape Photography
When is a wide angle too wide
There are times when in landscape photography, a wide angle lens is just simply too wide. When the sky has nothing to offer, but it's color, and when the ground has nothing to offer either. It's not easy sometimes to photograph the mood of a landscape, when the sky is blue, and the ground is flat and feature less. Yet there is a certain mood in the air, like that morning on the beach. There was a mist coming from the ocean, and hanging low on the beach, but the sky was featureless and I had to work hard to find something interesting on the ground.
Big Zoom
This is a perfect time, when the big zooms come out to play in landscape photography. This is a perfect time to focus on something far away, instead of up close, and that's what I did. The mist coming out of the ocean, created this incredible mood. The people walking along the beach became ghosts, appearing and disappearing. With a long zoom, you can capture a beautiful mood, and add a completely genuine human element to the landscape. Here are some shots from that beautiful morning. Enjoy!
Mac
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 01
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 02
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 03
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 03
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 03
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 03
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 03
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 03
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 03
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 03
beach,bc,ocean,landscape photography 03
Candid Beach People - Street Photography
Street Photography... what streets?!?
I don't know if you can call this street photography, as there are no streets really... so what do you call beach people photography? I guess I'll stick with street photography, since to me that definition basically says, that these are candid photos of people. Just the setting is a bit different from a street.... it's a beach. Anyhow, now that we got this out of the way, let's continue. I really enjoy photographing people. I am normally the biggest introvert you'll ever meet, and going out among people and taking their photo, scares the crap out of me. I'm usually the creepy creep, training my lens on you, from far away :)
Candid Photography
When people are not aware that you are taking their picture, they behave as they normally would. The moment they spot a camera pointed at them, their behaviour changes instantly. They either hide, give you a fake smile, or just pretend to ignore you, but their natural behaviour, that moment, vanishes with out a trace. This is why I try to use either a very wide angle lens, or a long zoom. The wide angle is perfect for hip shooting. What I mean by that is, you pretend to adjust settings on your camera, and without raising the camera to your eye, you take a photo. Or you carry the camera nonchalantly in your hand, and point in the general direction and hope for the best. Wide angle lenses are best suited for this, as it is hard to miss the subject. Other lenses require lots of practice, to know exactly where to point to get that awesome image. Changing from a 17mm to a 35mm lens had disastrous effects, as none of the hip shooting images came out. I just didn't know how to aim the lens properly. So my tip to you is... try hip shooting, or find some balls and don't be afraid of people :D
Here is some examples of beach street shooting, enjoy!
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01
people,bc,travel,candid,photography 01