10.10.2020

Fujifilm X-T4 + XF16mmF/1.4 R WR: 240s, f/11, ISO160

Eventually I hope to have a post-date post between this one and the last update in August, but I’m having issues importing photos from that memory card. The re-lockdown, lockdown-part-deux, or whatever one would call it has been a challenge. Personally, I don’t have high highs or low lows so I’m not always aware of how I’m feeling. I’ve just been more lethargic and less active trying to do my part to reduce the curve. It wasn’t until last week when the beaches and parks were reopened and I was able to play some tennis and take some photos that I realized how heavy I had been feeling.

For those following me here on the website, you may know that I plan to reduce my social media footprint in 2021. I’m selling my investment in social media because I’ve been frustrated by the tyranny of the algorithm, the quantity of political posts that divide people, the targeted ads that are a constant reminder of personal information being sold for-profit, and the increasingly onerous terms and conditions that seek to profit on contributors’ content. I want to say that I was positively influenced this week. Seeing my peers share their post stage-zero-lockdown photos inspired me to set my sleep-tracking WatchOS alarm and make the effort to enjoy nature again.

Affectionately named: Kenway’s tree by my landscape group, conditions for photographing it are most optimal when the tide is high and there’s little to no wind. I’ve been here once when these conditions were both met and left with one of my favorite photos.

Fujifilm X-T2 + Zeiss Touit 12mmF/2.8: 122s, f/11, ISO200

My goal for today’s visit was to get a vertical photo that I like because eventually I hope to make a calendar out of portrait-orientation landscape photos. I definitely need a few more tries at this to get it right.

My current landscape lens (if y’all haven’t noticed by the EXIF data I share) is the Fujifilm XF16mmF/1.4 R WR. To be honest, I never really loved the 24mm equivalent focal-length, which is also why I never owned one of the 24-70mm f/2.8 lenses my whole photographer life. It always felt like an awkward focal length on either side of the equation… Not wide enough for landscapes, and not telephoto enough for that head shot portrait compression. I started shooting landscapes with as wide a lens as I could get a 2.8 aperture on. As a portrait first photographer, I preferred prime lenses, so I carried the philosophy over to my landscapes. I preferred the 2.8 aperture for my landscape lenses because it opened up astro-photography possibilities, though I never really got seriously into it because the hours weren’t so conducive to my sleep schedule. I no longer have that Zeiss 12mm f/2.8 Touit lens because eventually I discovered 20-21mm (full-frame equivalent) was my landscape sweet spot. It was wide enough to frame nearly every scene, yet not so wide as to make distant objects too disproportionately small. There was JUST enough distortion in the corners of the frame to make a a landscape feel more epic. I purchased the Fujifilm XF14mmF/2.8 R lens for that very reason. Then the shop I worked at added this Fujifilm XF16mmF/1.4 R WR lens to the rental line-up and Tony, the shop owner RAVED about what a magical lens this new 16mm lens was. I, naturally, poopooed it having formerly owned the Zeiss Distagon T* 25mm F/2 ZE lens long before when I owned a Canon EOS system full-frame camera and never enjoyed the focal length for portraits OR landscape photography. One day, when the Fuji lens wasn’t being rented, I took it out for a spin. I mean, even at 1.4, what kind of bokeh could a lens this wide achieve anyway, right? Surely not enough for portraiture. And as I had already confirmed to myself, it wasn’t QUITE wide enough for those epic cornered landscapes.

Fujifilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16mmF/1.4 R WR: 1/8000s, f/1.4, ISO200 (Ruby before tearing an ACL 😔)

It was then that I discovered how buttery smooth the lens transitions from out-of-focus to in-focus areas and how contrasty and sharp it was and how little distortions there were. I admitted that I was wrong about this lens, and I sold my 14mm lens and replaced it with this one. I decided I’d get used to shooting landscapes with it, and I gained a wonderful environmental portraiture lens to boot.

This is all to say that while I have gotten quite accustomed to this lens for landscapes, I’m not entirely satisfied with today’s tree photo. It fills too much of the frame for my taste. The trouble with backing up from this position is that unwanted elements will start entering the frame 🤔. So it’s back to the drawing board.