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Showing posts from March, 2016

Bonjour tristesse

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You think your neighborhood is boring? Then go out and document this tristesse and find the hidden beauty in it.  If you look at the world in a taoistic way you should know that there is no black or white. Black is just the other side of the same coin. If you flip it you will discover white. Try to find the hidden beauty of things. Your creativity is limited by your imagination and how you look at the world around you. You don't have to travel to exotic places the find something exciting to take images of. Just go out and shoot!

Camp and wait for the inspiration

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Street photography is not only about the people. For me it is about the combination of time, place and people. Sometimes you walk by a a interesting place and stay there and work the scene by finding the right angle, light or other things that reflect the scene like you see it (yes, we are manipulators and nothing is real!). I start to play around with the settings of my camera. I try to be a child again and just shoot away some photos trying to shut down my brain (meditating). Let the surroundings become your feedback. Maybe you are photographing people in a subway station and you notice that every five minutes there are people running into your field of view to catch a certain train. So you can use this information to create two different shots out of it. Maybe you want to blur or freeze the motion by changing the shutter speed. I always try to let the ideas come to me. I don't want to fall into a scheme and pay attention to every small detail. Trust me, there are so ma...

If you love your 27 put a ring on it!

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Or in this case a very low profile 39mm screw on lens hood that protects your 27mm from damage when the camera is hanging around your neck. It is a bit annoying that Fuji built that lens with a moving (not rotating) thread, but it is okay for me. It is more important to protect the camera in packed and dense situations. Cheers, Nils

Be inconsistent in photography

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There are many photographers who always shot black and white or use a certain type of film all the time. There is nothing wrong with that, but I am not the type of guy who likes that kind of limits. Life is too colorful to only shot in black and white (for example). I wrote an article about that some time ago. Why shouldn't you use all the possibilities of modern photography to achieve great results? And I don't try to be a street, travel or architecture photographer all the time. There are too many things around us that have nothing to do with these topics, but are worth to be photographed. Lear how to see things and how to pay attention to the details (read this fantastic article written by Eric Kim). So don't limit yourself in terms of the subject or the settings of your camera. And don't try to copy a certain look or follow any rules (the internet is full of so called rules). Just play around with your camera and be a child again. Learn how to apprec...

Buy the new X-PRO1!

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Yesterday I was in love again with my new X-PRO1. New? Yeah! Do it like Eric Kim wrote on his blog over and over again. Try to act like you just received your new X-PRO1 today for the first time. Watch older reviews (like that great one from Zack Arias) and put the cheap (only in price) 27mm on this little precious and enjoy! With the 27mm 2.8 the X-PRO1 shines like a crazy diamond in the sun. The auto-focus is spot-on and the lens is tack sharp from edge to edge. There is no aperture ring on this lens what makes it perfect for street photography with a small 27mm pancake. There is no way to change the aperture by accident when you hold your camera. The OVF also shines in conjunction with this lens. The rectangular frame-lines are as small as you can see what is moving into the frame, but large enough to compose your shot like a boss. I nearly never missed a shot even in fast changing situations doing point and shoot. This lens-camera-combination is just perfect without with ...

Why should you buy the new X-PRO2?

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I wrote some articles about the X-PRO1/2 in the past. I mentioned there that you don´t need to upgrade your camera if you're happy with it. Maybe you spend the money on travel, prints or some more lenses. If you are starting from the scratch or need a faster and better camera I will tell you why this camera is perfect for you: the rangefinder style - if you shooting street or reportage etc. it is great to use a camera that won't cover your whole face to maintain eye contact with your subject (this is not the case with the X-T1) faster auto focus even in near dark environments - I often missed a shot because of this with my X100s, X-PRO1 (but you can also use an X-T1) weather sealing - in conjunction with a water proof lens you can now do some shots without fearing a malfunction inside your precious camera more responsive - the faster cpu will make this camera more like an analog one where everything happens when you press a button without too many lagging ISO dial -...