I’ve been using the Fujifilm X100v for a while now and to be honest it’s great.
I’ve had plenty of X100 models over the years and they seem to come and go quite easily, for some reason.
Continue reading “Setting up for travelling light.”I’ve been using the Fujifilm X100v for a while now and to be honest it’s great.
I’ve had plenty of X100 models over the years and they seem to come and go quite easily, for some reason.
Continue reading “Setting up for travelling light.”A brilliant days workshop in the woods with Marc Robbins & Demi Ray Oral
Last weekend I attended a woodland workshop run by Marc Robbins & Demi Ray Oral, two photographers right on top of their game at present and each with a portfolio to die for with regards to woodland & landscape photography.
Continue reading “Chasing Light in the Woods”A recent selection of wandering through the beginnings of Autumn.
Continue reading “Autumn Wandering”Autumn is on the way and it’s a great time to head out into the woods and see the colours changing as the autumn season kicks in.
Travelling light with just the Fujifilm X100v and a tripod is a great way to record what’s going on. The weather resistance of the X100v certainly comes into its own on these damp, grey days!
I‘ve been using a square filter kit made by NISI for a while now and although I’ve been very pleased with the performance of them it’s not the lightest or smallest package to carry around. Searching around on the internet I found the K&F Magnetic Filter System at a reasonable cost so I ordered one to see how a magnetic kit would work out for me.
I’ve had the X100V for a little while or so – even took it away as my only camera for a week in sunny Spain.
Continue reading “A few words on the Fujifilm X100V”As much as I like 28mm and in particular 35mm if I had to choose a single focal length, 50mm would be what I’d choose.
The 50mm focal length is always the real deal.
Or the little bastard as I call it.
Continue reading “A few notes on the Fujifilm X100v…”I’m away on vacation for a few days and sitting here with just the Fujifilm X100V for company.
I made the determined effort to just bring the little Fuji for a number of reasons amongst them being I haven’t really spent that much time shooting with it.
Continue reading “Am I a serious photographer?”Digging around the internet for ideas on limiting the gear you have and own, I came across this definition that appears to suit my current thinking to a tee.
Continue reading “Paralysis analysis“A recent few days holiday in beautiful Croatia and just a few images from this beautiful area.
Continue reading “Black & White Croatia”My vanity…knows no boundaries.
…knows no boundaries.
A short while ago I bought a Fujifilm X100v, I think I got influenced from looking at too many social media channels and people singing it’s praises as if it was the only camera any photographer would ever need.
Continue reading “My vanity…”For all the other gear I have that’s probably more suited to woodland and landscape photography I love to get out into the woods with my Leica M10-P and a couple of lenses. It feels a much more cathartic experience shooting with a Leica M over the Nikon Z6 I have.
Continue reading “Loving life with a 90mm”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Minolta Rokkor-C 90mm F4
Continue reading “Three Amigos”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 50mm f2 ASPH
Continue reading “The Lonesome Tree”Sometimes it all gets a bit too much and at the moment my seemingly endless quest to find the right camera gear has been giving me a rather painful bout of sensory overload.
Continue reading “Craving Simplicity”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 50mm f2 ASPH
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 50mm f2 ASPH
Continue reading “Full on Spring!”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH
A little while ago I wrote a blog post about the compromises I make shooting with the Leica M10-P. At the time I have to say I was struggling to justify quite a bit about it for my needs.
Continue reading “All in on Leica?”A couple of weeks back, we had a little bit of mist in my part of the world along with some pretty cold conditions.
Continue reading “Gentle Colour”It’s exactly a year since I pushed the button and was lucky enough to buy myself a Leica Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH.
Continue reading “Happy Anniversary ‘Cron”Hanging the Leica M10-P over the shoulder along with the small but excellent Leica Summicron C 40mm f2 makes for a very compact, easy to use set up.
Continue reading “Sunday Strolling”I’ve been shooting and editing to black and white almost exclusively since before Christmas and since the beginning of the New Year I’ve been shooting with a monochrome view through the live view of my camera.
Continue reading “Starting to Feel The Black and White Pull”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: TT Artisans 28mm f5.6
Given it’s the end of the year, I always like to try and set objectives for the year ahead.
Quite often they don’t work out well – in truth, most objectives I try and set myself quite often come to little, but I like to try and keep myself thinking.
A year in black and white
For 2022, the aim is to shoot exclusively black and white.
Let’s forget about colour, let’s forget about fancy editing – let’s get those creative juices flowing through simple black & white and the glorious tones that monochrome gives you.
I enjoy the colours of the woodland, but quite often find it difficult to keep it consistent. It’s a constant dilemma I have – shooting in colour or black and white.
Maybe that’s to do with my colour blindness, maybe it’s the lack of subtlety in my editing. Whatever it is, I do find it is frustrating at times.
Shooting and editing in black and white should also provide a more consistent approach to my work as well.
Of course shooting in RAW means a colour RAW file, but I can set my camera bodies to show a black and white preview, with Lightroom I can set a black and white import and with careful simple editing maybe it’s just possible to alleviate some of those creative worries that colour gives me.
Keeping it simple
Once again, my feelings turn to gear. It’s a constant internal churn I have with myself, I have a couple of different cameras that I turn to and despite the enjoyment of using different makes and models I crave simplicity.
I’m happiest when I have a camera body and a single lens with me. Even the introduction of a second lens often causes me to consider which focal length would be better for any specific composition when I’m out.
I’d like to remove such feelings, so the plan is to use my M10-P as my main body and the 35mm Summicron for as much work as I can.
I love the ‘cron 35mm, the image quality and field of view suit me, it really is the reason why I bought a Leica body for that lens.
Looking at my LR catalogue I shoot at around 35mm focal length for approximately 90% of all of the images I take. Even when I use a zoom lens I tend to see a composition at that kind of focal length.
As I’ve written about previously, the Leica M bodies are a bit of a compromise for a lot of what I do, but it’s a camera I love to use – it makes me want to take photographs and when I use other systems I feel like I’m simply pressing the shutter button rather than making a concerted effort into finding out how to make the image.
So, the objectives remain pretty similar to those I made around the same time last year – only this time the resolve feels more solid.
Only time will tell I guess!
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH
A quick Boxing Day wander to blow the cobwebs away!
Continue reading “Boxing Day”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm ASPH
After a little over two years of owning my Leica M10-P, the thought process is do I need (well I want) to move it on.
Continue reading “Compromise – At what cost?”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm
Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 24-70 F4 S
Elan Valley – a series of lakes and dams that fuel parts of the Midlands with water sit in the beautiful rolling hills of Wales.
Continue reading “Elan Valley Trips”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2
Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 24-70 F4 S Filter: NiSi CPL
Woodland Photography with a Ricoh GR3, you cannot be serious?!
Continue reading “Woodland With a Ricoh GR3”The best season in the year for woodland enthusiasts like me!
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2
Autumn is almost upon us and most woodland/landscape photographers are waiting for those golden tones that only autumn can offer. That and mist/fog!
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 50mm f2
Celebrating two years of Leica M10-P ownership today.
It’s been a pleasure to use, not always practical and for sure doesn’t suit all sorts of photography – but the results never fail to impress and it’s always such fun to shoot with.
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2
Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 14-30 F4 S Filter: NiSi CPL
Camera: Ricoh GRiii
Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 14-30 F4 S Filter: NiSi CPL
Continue reading “When the Sun Shines”Having a few days away in Scotland I couldn’t resist taking my film gear and a couple of rolls of film along for the ride with my digital cameras I had on hand.
Here’s a few random images from a great few days – if you’ve never been put it on the bucket list, the Highlands of Scotland is an amazing area to visit!
Leica M6 & Summicron 40mm f2 | Fujifilm 400h & Kodak Portra 400
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2
We had a few days holiday once things started to open up a little, and chose to head to the Scottish Highlands, to get away from it as much as we could.
Continue reading “Scotland Adventures”Having recently taken delivery of a Nikon Z6 along with a Z 24-70 F4s and 14-30mm F4s lens, I was keen to get out and really see if I had made the right choice!
Continue reading “Waterfalls at Blaen Y Glyn”Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 14-30 F4 S Filter: NiSi CPL & 6 Stop ND
Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 14-30 F4 S Filter:NiSi CPL
Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 24-70 F4 S Filter:NiSi CPL
I’ve been toying with the idea of switching up my ‘landscape’ kit for a little while now.
Continue reading “New Toys & Happy Days”Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 24-70 F4 S Filter: NiSi CPL
Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 24-70 F4 S
Camera: Nikon Z6 Lens: Nikon 24-70 F4 S
Always welcoming, spring bluebell woodland photography offers a bright punch of colour, just as the woodland areas appear to come alive with colour.
Continue reading “Bluebell Woodland Photography”Having pretty much photographed woodland locally around me for the past 12 months or so, getting over to Cannock Chase a little way from home proved to be a fantastic morning out.
Continue reading “Cannock Chase Wander”Camera: Fujifilm X-H1 Lens: Fujifilm XF16-55mm f2.8
Camera: Fujifilm X-H1 Lens: Fujifilm XF55-200mm
Camera: Leica M6 | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2 | Film Stock: Kodak Portra 400
Last year I had a short dalliance with a Ricoh GR2. At the time I really liked it as a camera, but had an itch for a Fuji X100F instead and so sold it on to help finance the purchase of an X100F.
Continue reading “The Return of the Ricoh”A few images from the first two rolls of film shot on the Leica M6 this year.
It’s been sometime since I’ve shot film and so thought it about time I loaded my Leica M6 with a roll of film and got out to grab some film photos.
Continue reading “First Film Rolls of 2021”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2
I love shooting film but hate waiting to finish the film/getting the film back from the lab.
The instant gratification I get from digital, spending time out pointing a camera at things and being able to see those results instantaneously is almost like a drug. I don’t want to wait, we live in a world of instant gratification for almost everything and photography is no different.
Continue reading “A plan Indeed”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2
Camera: Fujifilm X-H1 Lens: Fujifilm XF16-55mm f2.8
Camera: Fujifilm X-Pro1 Lens: Fujifilm XF35mm f2
Camera: Fujifilm X-H1 Lens: Fujifilm XF16-55mm f2.8
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 35mm f2
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Voigtlander 35mm f2.5 Color Skopar
Camera: Fujifilm X-Pro1 Lens: Fujifilm XF55-200mm f3.5-4.8
Camera: Fujifilm X-Pro1 Lens: Fujifilm XF35mm f2
Camera: Fujifilm X-H1 Lens: Fujifilm XF16-55mm f2.8
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 50mm f2
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 50mm f2
Happy New Year to you. 2020 has been, well frankly shit for so many people all over the world…let’s hope 2021 improves dramatically for many people.
Continue reading “The Challenge”Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron 50mm f2
Leica M10-P & Voigtlander 35mm f2.5 Color Skopar
Happy anniversary to me and my Leica M10-P.
Continue reading “A year with the Leica M10-P”Fujifilm X100F
Camera: Leica M10-P | Lens: Leica Summicron-C 40mm f2
Fujifilm X-Pro1 & XF35mm f2
Leica M10P: Leica Summicron 50mm
A few days away in the beautiful Scottish highlands
We had a few days away last week for a trip up to Scotland after cancelling our overseas Summer holiday due to the current pandemic.
Continue reading “A short trip to Scotland”When I first started eyeing up X100F’s again, one thing I was interested in was the ability to use a filter system with the camera.
With the built in 3 stop ND Filter, the X100 series offers a great starting point, but if you want to try out long exposure photography a filter kit of some kind is required.
Continue reading “NiSi Compact Filter System”A few photos from the past weekend, shooting with just the Leica M10-P & Summicron 40mm f2. It’s a great camera for casual landscape and outdoor photography, the ease of use making it the perfect companion.
Continue reading “Leica for Landscape”