Urban | MiKS Media Photography

Fuji in Europe Part 10 – Street Photography in Würzburg

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 12, 2014 | Art, Fuji X, People, Urban

Würzburg The Streets

With any European city there is always ample time to devote to street photography. There is so many people, and so many interesting things happening, that it’s not hard to catch interesting images. Most people don’t really care about being photographed, as there are so many tourists with cameras, that it’s a normal occurrence. Having a small kit comprised of only Fuji cameras this makes it easier, as I didn’t stand out from the crowd with a little camera.

Gear

This was a perfect time to try out the Fuji XT1 and 56mm f1.2. I had a variable ND filter on the lens, so I could shoot wide open in the bright sunlight. Focusing was fast, but not always accurate. Don’t know why, but the lens sometimes completely missed it’s mark. It wasn’t very frequent, but enough that it got a little annoying. Of course the X100s wasn’t neglected. It’s stealth proved to be quite helpful in capturing some interesting images. Enjoy!

Fuji in Europe Part 9 – Würzburg The Residence

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 10, 2014 | Art, Fuji X, Landscape, Urban

The Residence

As pretty much all the cities in Europe Würzburg, dates to early early times, and of course a church gets built first 🙂 Dating back to 748 AD. The Residence was built in the early 1700. It’s a huge building, with beautiful gardens in the back. I was told not to take photos inside… but I’m a bad man that way… 🙂 The art, sculptures, and fresco’s by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, are absolutely astounding. It was a real pleasure to visit, and see that people took pride in their craft, and everything was done with care and passion. There was no room for “that’ll do” thinking.

Gear

I knew I should have mounted my fisheye lens on the Fuji, when we entered the Residence. I didn’t, and was a little intimidated when I was told that no pictures were allowed inside. I still tried to capture the beauty of the place with carefully held Fuji X-Pro1… hip shooting, just for my reference. Fuji is perfect for this type of shooting. It’s almost completely silent, and doesn’t attract attention. Since I was shooting rather blind, unfortunately most images did not make it, but there is still a few that shows the splendor of the place.

Fuji in Europe Part 8 – Sad history

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 9, 2014 | Art, Fuji X, Landscape, Urban

History

One cannot escape, being in Nuremberg, the sad history of the place, namely the Zeppelin Field. It’s a very strange place, with a very creepy feeling to it. Of course this is where the Nazi rallies took place. The place is a falling apart. I had a chance to stand where Hitler stood during the rallies…. didn’t want to. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do this. It’s a sad place. The Germans are trying really hard to distance themselves from the Nazis, and war. There is a statue of Bismarck very close to where I was staying. It’s rather neglected and standing among tall trees, so it’s almost invisible.

Gear

I did not take a lot of pictures of the Zeppelin Field. There are tons out there, and really the couple I took where for me only, as memories that I’ve been there. Mostly the Fuji 10-24mm f4, was used. It was a good thing I took that one, since the building is massive, and it would be hard to capture it all in a narrower lens. Here are some images from that evening…

Fuji in Europe Part 7 – Around Nuremberg

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

Nuremberg

After a little excursion to France, we spent the next day resting, and taking in the sites of this beautiful city. Parks parks everywhere. It’s quite amazing to see so many green spaces, where people can walk, relax, and actually enjoy a little bit of silence from the busy streets, and busy life. The buildings of the old town are quite something as well. In the parks there are always people, walking, biking or just enjoying nature. It’s beautiful, really beautiful.

Gear

Two cameras, two lenses. I knew that the main reason I brought so much gear with me, was that I did not want to switch lenses. I had the wide angle 10-24mm f4 mounted on the Fuji X-Pro1 and the 56mm f1.2 on the X-T1. I find shooting this way best, because I don’t have to worry about switching lenses, if a scene lends itself more to a wide angle, than a medium telephoto, and vice versa. This also eliminates the possibility of dust getting on the sensor. Yes it’ more cumbersome and the bag is a lot heavier, but I have choices 🙂 Even though the bag filled with cameras was about 10 kg in weight, when walking around the city and taking pictures, I hardly even noticed it. Here are some shots from walking this day… enjoy!

Fuji in Europe Part 6 – Street photography in France

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 7, 2014 | Art, Fuji X, People, Urban

Streets

Both villages that we visited in France were absolutely teeming with people. A perfect place to try out street photography. It wasn’t easy at first as there was literally too much to take in. Once the jaw dropping first impression passed I could think and concentrate. It wasn’t easy at first, since being quite introverted, I never liked focusing attention on myself. I tried telling myself that I will probably not see these people ever again, so who cares what they think. I had to do this quite a bit, to get myself in the proper frame of mind. It worked 🙂 … and the silent Fuji X100s helped.

Gear

For this the most often used camera? Yep, you got it, the Fuji X100s. Although I did try the X-T1 and the 56mm f1.2. I brought a special graduated ND filter with me, just so I could shoot at f1.2 in the the day time. I wasn’t disappointed. The combo of either X Fuji, and the 56mm lens is just wonderful.. really wonderful. That lens is sharp, even wide open, but I did experience a bit of strange behavior when auto focusing at f1.2 with the Fuji X-T1. I found the AF hunting a bit, and not lock on the proper subject. It only happened a few times, so I think it was probably a user error, but will test it more. So here are some street photography from France… Enjoy!

Fuji in Europe Part 2 – Nuremberg Urban Landscapes

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 3, 2014 | Art, Fuji X, Urban

Fuji Keeper

This European excursion was really rich in images. I was quite surprised, since I didn’t shoot so much. I ended up with a lot more keepers than usual. I don’t know if it’s the Fuji cameras, or just me wanting to get good images, with out coming home with a tons, and deleting a whole bunch. So slowing down and actually enjoying the experience of using the too many Fuji cameras, that I dragged with me.

Urban Scapes

The first day was spent walking around, and getting acquainted with the surroundings. There was a bit of street photography and I think one can call urban landscapes… I hate all these terms. Nuremberg, is one beautiful city. Leaving Canada, just when the leaves just start poking out, and arriving, where everything is luscious green, and all the flowers are in bloom was a bit of a shock. It was a little hard to point the camera that day. Everything different, everything new, and interesting. Good thing I had my very very good friends from Hooked on Europe guiding me around, and showing me most interesting places. Here is some images from that day, enjoy!