Tag: photography

Photography-related posts. I talk about inspiration, settings, gear, other photographers, etc.

End of Spring Break

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/15 sec, ISO3200
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Good evening! How was your Sunday? It’s the end of Spring Break for the kids and that means that the week of sleeping late every morning is over. So, I am hoping that Koa goes to bed soon! (Bay is already in bed and his lights are off)

A couple days ago, the weather turned chilly again, which was a huge surprise to me. I thought we were already into Summer weather! Come to think of it, today is the first day of Spring. That’s great, because I don’t like Winter or the cold. Bring on the heat already!

Today I did a lot of research on new Chromebooks because the laptop I use to write this blog every evening has a hardware problem and is super-slow, and sometimes will just crash in the middle of whatever I am doing. Luckily WordPress does a pretty good job of auto-saving so I haven’t lost too much work. But the computer boots up so slowly that I think it is time for me to find a new laptop.

So… I decided on an Acer Chromebook 11 laptop. I want something that is simple, has good battery life, and a good keyboard. I don’t need a lot of horsepower since I will not be using it for any photo editing or gaming. Just WordPress, Netflix, YouTube and general browsing and the Chromebook should be perfect for those. Also, the price that I found was nice… just $165! That’s a $15 price drop from yesterday…

As you may know, I have been trying to simplify my life and declutter. This new laptop is so minimal, that I am really looking forward to using it! Just like my X100T makes me work within its limitations, I am wondering if the Chromebook will have a similar effect. We’ll see!

Today’s photo is of a new lens that Mariko bought for her camera. It’s the highly-regarded Fujinon 35mm F/2.0 WR lens. It’s really nice because the focus is fast and silent, the aperture ring feels great, and it’s a lot smaller than the 18-55mm zoom. Plus the image quality is excellent and it has a certain look to the images that Mariko really likes. It’s definitely a keeper lens!

Well, I better get to bed. It’s past my usual time!

おやすみなさい！ -B Barron Fujimoto

Fun Friday

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Austin, 2016
Photo info: SONY SLT-A77V, 10mm, f/9.5, 1/45 sec, ISO800
 Austin, 2016

こんばんは！

Happy Friday everyone! How’s it going? Today was a fun day for me. I went to take some photos of the building that my company will be moving to later next month. I was just planning on photographing the outside of the building, and a courtyard area, but I met the property manager and he lent me a hardhat and said I could go up to the fourth floor (where we’ll have the entire floor) and go check it out.

So I got to wander around and see all the construction going on up there. I also met the superintendent and he said to just be careful… so I got to take a bunch of photos (one of which is above) and check it all out. It’s a pretty great space and the views are really nice! I can’t wait to move in.

Another fun thing was that Mariko bought a new lens for her Fujifilm X-T10 – the excellent 35mm F/2.0! It’s so cool. The sharpness and color are great, and the AF speed is so fast. It’s also silent and weather-sealed. Definitely a must-have if you have a Fujifilm x-mount camera.

Lastly, a new tutorial video was posted by Cynthia Lin. It’s “Moon River” which is one of my favorite tunes! So I have been practicing the chords. It’s a fun song and I like to think that re-learning the chords exercises my brain cells. I want to keep my mind sharp!

So that was my Friday. Not bad, huh?

Take care and see you tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

-B Barron Fujimoto

Lukasz Kazimierz Palka Tokyo Street Photographer

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I think this is such a great video for a number of reasons.

First, the photos that Lukasz Kazimierz Palka creates are wonderful and beautiful. I love his night shots, especially the vivid colors and incredible sharpness. He really captures the vibrance of the Tokyo streets and the people there. Fantastic!

Second, I feel he has an honest perspective on his own motivations for photography and why he takes the photos he takes. I thought the way he got into photography was interesting and realistic (a way to get out of his apartment and explore the city), then his explanation that he takes photos of subjects he finds beautiful is honest and straightforward. It’s the way it should be.

And third… it’s Tokyo! My favorite city of all time. It was my dream to live and work there, and I did for a few years. It’s funny to think that I have not been there (even visiting) for 15 years. It seems like it was just yesterday! I really like Osaka, but my heart is in Tokyo. So, seeing Lukasz Kazimierz’s photo brings back so many good memories.

Anyways, please watch the video. I think you’ll enjoy it!

Culling photos and RAW vs JPEG

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"Olympus XA" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/25 sec, ISO6400
 “Olympus XA” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going? Over here, it’s raining… make sure to keep dry and stay healthy!

Today’s photo is of one of my favorite cameras, the mighty Olympus XA. It is such a great design, and takes wonderful photos because of the lovely Zuiko lens. I love it, although I don’t shoot with it too often.

Tonight I replied to a post on Flickr that was concerning running out of hard drive space because of shooting many RAW files. In writing my response, I thought about how my philosophy on making photos has changed over the years to where I am now, which is a happy place. Not surprisingly, it has to do with decluttering. Below is the response I posted:

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Just my personal experience…

Short answer: It helps if you cull your photos early on, and be “ruthless” about it. 🙂

Long-winded answer:

I think many of us have gone through or are going through a similar situation, myself included. There was a time when I was shooting so much, in RAW, kept everything, was running out of space, and “got behind” in processing those files. Photography started being less fun for me.

Then, I started shooting some corporate events and my view on culling the photos started to take shape. Each time I clicked the shutter, I would think “This photo is going to take me X amount of minutes to process.” This left a feeling of dread – I didn’t want to stay up all night processing so many! So I decided I needed to cull more aggressively. Now, if I shoot one event presenter, I might take 40 shots, but immediately (in camera) cull that down to 15, deleting obvious ones like closed eyes, weird mid-talk expressions, etc. Then later in Lightroom, I’d spend one minute to cut that to 3 maximum (more for a keynote), and post-process those.

I then started applying that to my personal work. I found that choosing the best ones in-camera soon after I took them made photography a lot more enjoyable. The sooner I deleted the rejected photos, the less I would think about them and consequently eliminate any regret I might have had in not keeping them. (I didn’t have time to get attached to those photos) And my memory card felt nice and tidy, free of clutter.

Another change that really helped me enjoy photography more is that I now shoot exclusively (for my personal photos) in JPEG. I have found that committing to the image immediately gives me a sense of closure and peace-of-mind. This may sound weird, but to me, a RAW file is the middle step in the photographic process, with the end of the process being a print or JPEG. It’s like the RAW file represents an unfinished project (with endless possibilities) and when I had 1,000 RAW files sitting on my hard drive, it was like having 1,000 unfinished projects just gnawing away at me. (I guess I have some issues!)

So now I cull like crazy, and I’m happy with (or at least committed to) the images I keep, and forget about all the others… it’s a lot less clutter on the hard drive and less clutter in my mind.

Sorry for the long-winded (and somewhat off-topic) message, and thanks for reading.

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I hope you have a nice rest of the evening, and let’s do our best tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

-B Barron Fujimoto