Urban | MiKS Media Photography

Fuji in Europe Part 1 – Nuremberg Street Photography

by Mac Sokulski | Jun 2, 2014 | Art, Fuji X, People, Urban

Fuji on a Trip

This is going to be a series of posts of my little excursion to Europe. History repeats itself, as 3 years ago, I manage to get the first Fuji camera, the X-Pro1, a few days before the family European vacation, and the whole trip was shot with that. This time I manage to get the new Fuji X-T1, a day before I left. Mind you the venerable Fuji X-Pro1 still came with me. It’s a bit more beat up, from the 3 years of constant usage, and works better now, with Fujifilm constant upgrades to the camera. One thing I did wrong on this trip though, is I took too much gear. Having switched to Fuji X cameras from Canons, I found that I can take more gear, and have it weigh less than before. This time I over did it. 3 cameras, 4 lenses, batteries, and the bag suddenly became about 20lbs. Stupid.

The Cameras

So what did I take…. practically the whole Fuji arsenal. The images in these series were shot with the Fuji X-T1, Fuji X-Pro1, Fuji X100s, and lenses were 55-200mm, 10-24mm, 56mm, and Rokinon 8mm fisheye. Most days, I carried all that gear with me, you know, just in case. Surprisingly the lens I used the least was the biggest of the bunch, namely the 55-200. I just didn’t find the need for it that much. Next time, it’s going to stay behind. I didn’t do a lot of planning ahead, thus I packed everything. So there is a tip, plan ahead, and anticipate what you will be shooting, so you don’t over pack. My answer to this tip is of course, “what if!”… 🙂

The Images

I was trying to decide how to present the images I took on this trip. I mean they are a mixture of street, architecture, landscape, urban, and fine art photography, and putting them together in separate posts may be a little chaotic. So I figured that maybe documenting the trip day by day, might be best. At least it will be best for my memories, as I saw a lot, and photographed a lot.

Thanks

So all that aside, the biggest thank you, goes to the Wala family with out whom I would be at home, photographing Alberta prairies, and not gallivanting around Europe. Great, wonderful people who have their own blog about being Hooked on Europe, with a lot more facts, history, and images then this series will provide. That blog is a definite resource, for heading to Europe. So thank you, thank you for everything!

Mac

Hip shooting Fuji and 23mm Fuji lens in Las Vegas – Street Photography

by Mac Sokulski | Apr 14, 2014 | Art, Fuji X, People, Urban

Fuji to the rescue?

Street photography was never easy for me. I’m too big of a chicken, when it comes to pointing a camera, even a little Fuji X-E1 at strangers. It seems to me that every time I point a camera at someone on the the street, they will come over and beat me up, to a pulp. I like the work of people like Bruce Gilden, but I don’t have the guts to confront strangers like that. My way is discreet. I do a lot of hip shooting, or using long telephoto lens from a safe location 🙂 . Hip shooting is a gamble, specially when using a new focal length, which I’m not used to. This was the case when I mounted the Fujinon 23mm on the Fuji X-E1, and tried hip shooting the Freemont Street in Las Vegas.

Missed Opportunities

I’m used to hip shooting street photography, with a wider lens, so a lot of shots with the 23mm Fujinon lens were misses. Horrible misses. I knew starting this experiment I would need some practice, and it showed. Still, I was able to catch a few interesting frames, and didn’t get beat up… I think I can count that as a success 🙂 . Fuji X cameras are perfect for this type of shooting. They are small discreet and quiet. People do not notice you as much. It’s not like having a big white Canon lens. Maybe this summer I will be able to go out practice more hip shooting, and aiming my camera properly. Here are some of the shots I captured in Las Vegas. Enjoy!

Freemont street in Las Vegas to scantily dressed police women are crossing the street

freemont street in Las Vegas women exiting a store having a drink

freemont street las vegas a homeless disabled man sitting under a marquee

las vegas three women in striped dresses crossing the street carrying m&m candy bags

las vegas mother and daughter enjoying a rest on a busy street

las vegas a boy looking up in wonder on a busy street

Craigdarroch Castle – Fuji X-Pro1 in low light

by Mac Sokulski | Apr 8, 2014 | Art, Fuji X, Urban

Craigdarroch Castle

Coming back from the other side of the Vancouver Island, we decided for a short trip to Victoria. Unfortunately with highway construction that trip was long, and gave us a limited time in this beautiful city. So we decided to forgo most of it, and concentrate on the Craigdarroch Castle. As my wife described in her post, it’s a beautiful house built in the 19th century. Since Canada is a fairly young country, compared to the world standards, I would call this house a landmark of our history, yet it is not being looked after by any of the government agencies. It’s all done through volunteers. The passion of these people to preserve this place is amazing. We talked to one of the guides for more than 30 min about how the house was built, the attention to detail that went into design and construction of the house. It was quite an eye opener. You could feel the pride in the craft. I will echo my wife’s words… if you are ever in Victoria, you have to visit this gem.

Fuji X-Pro1 and low light

Photographing the Craigdarroch Castle on the inside proved to be a bit challenging. The Fuji X-Pro1 does not have an on board flash, so I had to bump up the ISO on most of the inside images because of the dark interior. Most of the following images were done an ISO 1000 and higher, and I think the camera performed very well. Also the contrasts of very bright windows combined with darker interiors, created very high contrasts. I could have used HDR, but I did not have a tripod handy, and the shutter speeds were already dangerously low for hand held photography. Plus there were a lot of humans milling around. So I opted for single image, and no bracketing. I was very impressed how the X-Pro1 performed in such challenging situation. So enough of the ramblings from me… here are the photos of the inside of the beautiful Craigdarroch Castle. Enjoy!