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Fuji in Europe Part 22 – Falling in love with Prague

by Mac Sokulski | Jul 8, 2014 | Fuji X, Landscape, People, Urban

One thing I have to say I like about the Czechs. They know how to play up to tourists. The old city hall tower has an observation deck, which is accessible and the views are stunning. Now, all the German towns and cities also had towers with observation decks. The only difference is that the Czechs were smart, and installed a nice elevator in the tower, Germans are a little more primitive, and if one wanted to see the top, one had to use the old way of climbing, namely stairs. I could almost say the this was a stair climbing trip. It was a hot and humid day, and since I’m lazy (one of the reasons I shoot with the Fuji cameras now) 🙂 , so having access to an elevator was blessing 🙂 . Of course if you feel like continue the masochistic ritual of climbing stairs, you can. The views from the tower, as I said above were brilliant. The whole city on the palm of my hand. The clouds started breaking allowing for sun to peak through. Even though there were a lot of people, all tourists and speaking different languages, they were friendly, and courteous. After the views from the tower, we started around the square, where at least 4 weddings were going on, and we turned our way towards the palace and cathedral.

Gear

The views from the city hall tower, required only one lens. Of course the Fuji 10-24mm, but because of uneven lighting coming from the beautiful skies, I found the HDR process to work best for these images. Besides the Fuji 56mm lens, I have to say that the Fuji 10-24mm is my second favorite lens. I really like the wide view it produces, and the quality of images. It’s light, and a joy to use. Images just speak for themselves.

Fuji in Europe Part 21 – Going to Prague

by Mac Sokulski | Jul 7, 2014 | Fuji X, People, Urban

A nice little drive of about 3 hours from Nuremberg and you are in a different country, different culture. Europe is pretty cool like that. Prague was always on my list of destinations. It is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and very photogenic. This also is a big minus, because the amount of people milling around the streets of the old town is staggering. Driving through Prague, one can feel the lingering ghost of old communist block. You can see it in the drab apartment buildings, stores, schools. It is slowly being updated and replaced, but I don’t think the old communist block countries can get rid of it entirely. Being Polish, it really brought a lot of child hood memories, and maybe because of this nostalgia I really fell in love with Prague. Funny thing, that whole day spent there walking, I can’t remember if I heard the Czech language. I heard everything else, french, english, german, even polish… strange.

Gear

I tried capturing images of Prague that were not touristy, and I failed miserably. There are so much to see, that during the day, you have to see the famous sites, just so you can say “I’ve been there!”. Also since Prague has been photographed by so many, it’s not easy to find something original. Dragging, as always, all my Fuji cameras and lenses, I still primarily shot with the Fuji 56mm f1.2 and the Fuji 10-24mm f4, and the Fuji x100s from time to time. There is always something interesting to train your camera on in Prague.

Fuji in Europe Part 19 – Street photography in Nuremberg

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 26, 2014 | Fuji X, People, Urban

Streets of Nuremberg

The streets in Europe are always full of people. I guess mostly because they are designed for walking, with wide sidewalks, and easy access to shops and restaurants. Unlike the city of Edmonton for example, and I would imagine most North American cities. I can walk my neighborhood, and see maybe 1 or 2 people every couple of hours. It’s silly. So naturally Europe lends itself to street photography a lot more than North America. It’s a lot easier to sit down in an outdoor cafe, and just point the camera at something interesting. This was exactly what happened. Walked around the streets of Nuremberg, doing a bit of last minute shopping, and sat down at the cafe, had some cappuccino, and just pointed the camera. Simple easy and quite rewarding. No wonder, that a very cool street photographer Valerie Jardin offers street photography workshops in Europe, among other interesting places 🙂

Gear

This was again another perfect time to test the Fuji XT1 and the 56mm f1.2 lens. After shooting with this combination before, I really liked the way it behaved on the streets. It’s fast focus worked almost flawlessly, and I really like the look the Fuji 56mm f1.2 can capture. Also I like the fact that I don’t have to be in someones face, and can capture the natural behavior, with out being seen. I’m not hiding behind bushes or buildings, but because the Fuji 56mm lens has enough reach that I’m not spotted by the subject right away. Also because the Fuji XT1 has an articulated LCD screen, I don’t have to raise the camera to my eye, thus making me even more unseen. Absolutely perfect for great street photography.

Fuji in Europe Part 16 – Nuremberg Castle

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 23, 2014 | Fuji X, Landscape, People

The Castle

The Nuremberg Imperial Castle is an impressive building dating from around 1150AD. It was restored to it’s original shape, as it was almost completely destroyed during the last war. The main Luginsland Tower is open to visitors, and can be climbed with a promise that one can actually see the Bavarian mountains. I was a little disappointed with the view, since the mountains turned out to be little hills far off in the distance 🙂 The view of the Nuremberg on the other hand is quite spectacular. A sea of red roofs punctuated by sharp points of church towers. It’s a beautiful sight. After we climbed down from the tower, we wondered about the beautiful gardens around the castle.

Gear

This is where I screwed up. Most of the shots from the tower were done with Fuji X100s. I did not realize that my compensation dial moved to -2, but putting the camera in the bag. I should have paid better attention, why the images were coming out so dark. I guess I was too excited to see the “mountains”, and the views from the tower. A lesson to be learned from that day. Check your dials before putting the camera to your eye. 🙂

Fuji in Europe Part 13 – All kinds of photography in Regensburg

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 17, 2014 | Fuji X, Landscape, People, Urban

Regensburg

This is one of the older cities that we visited during our European tour 🙂 So parts date all the way to 90AD, when Romans built their fort in the area. Of course there are “few” churches, and a beautiful cathedral. The stone bridge was built almost 900 years ago, but unfortunately it was under renovations, and we couldn’t appreciate the full beauty of it. None the less what we could see was spectacular.

Gear

This time all Fuji cameras got a nice workout. X-Pro1 was mainly used with the Rokinon 8mm fish-eye lens. Fuji X100S, was mainly used for street photography, and the new Fuji XT1 was used with 55-200mm. It was a lot of fun shooting all cameras. I thought about carrying 3 DSLR, with 3 lenses, and I was very happy that Fuji created those cameras. It’s a lot more enjoyable shooting small and light cameras. Specially when you want to take advantage of as much sights as possible. Best time ever.

Fuji in Europe Part 11 – Sunset and twilight in Nuremberg

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 13, 2014 | Fuji X, Landscape, People

Sunset and Twilight

After coming back from a long day in Wurzburg, visiting churches and practicing a little street photography, we had a enough energy left to visit the Nuremberg castle to see if we can catch the sunset. It seemed like a good location. Unfortunately after wondering about for a bit, and admiring the beautiful golden light of the setting sun, on the walls of the castle, we were unceremoniously kicked out of the grounds. The castle staff was locking it up, before the sunset. The nerve. We had to move. Since the sunset was a bust, and it wasn’t much of one anyway, we wondered around the old town to see a bit of a night life. There is nothing better than sit a street cafe, drink a good german beer, and observe people, quietly stealing their images.

Gear

Two cameras, two lenses. That is all 🙂 Fuji X-Pro1 with 10-24mm for landscape and sunset, and Fuji Xt1 56mm for streets. Perfect combo I think. Easy to carry, and not overly obvious. When taking images of people at the street cafe, the XT1 was quiet and discreet. No one had any idea, even my good friend, who was sitting beside me.