Monthly Archives: September 2015

 

 

Several years ago, I bought my first Fuji camera, an X10.  I got such amazing images from this $699. camera.  When Fuji came out with the X-E1.  I purchased one and on a trip to Nashville shot the image above with the “kit” lens the 18-55 f 2.8-4.  When I blew it up to 3′ x 3′ (that is feet by feet).  The print was made by Stephen Hart of Jasper Imaging.  The acrylic face mount print allowed the file to be seen in all it’s glory!  To this day knowledgable photographers viewing the print, can’t believe it was not made by a medium format digital camera.  After many viewings myself, I came to the same conclusion, the 16 mega pixel X-Trans sensor is one of the most capable image makers I’ve ever used!  For me 16 mega pixels is more than enough!

 

As I began to acquire the Fuji XF lenses i released that Fuji was on to something very, very special, well made, metal lenses with aperture rings and sterling performance!  As the lens line started to round out, they did something else very special, a series of single focal length, speed lenses (f 1.2 to f 2).  Just like the early lenses, I found these to be among the best I’ve ever used.

 

Fuji followed up with the X-T1 and all my needs were finally fulfilled!  How was I to know that one image made in 1:1 format with the X-E1 would lead to this.

 

Tomorrow I am flying up to Valhalla to Fuji’s corporate offices to do some video taping with them. This has turned into a great relationship!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

Had to sahre!

 

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

On Labor Day are you laboring?

 

labor noun1 manual labor: work, hard work, toil, exertion, industry, drudgery, effort, menial work; informal slog, grind, sweat, scut work; literary travail, moil.  ANTONYMS  rest, leisure.

 

I want to take the word toil.  To toil is to work under duress.  What are you toiling with today?  It could be cleaning out your garage, or getting everything ready for the family picnic, or maybe it’s something much more important!

 

I have a heart for the lost.  Why?  Because I was lost and now I’m found.  I was miserable, alone, scared, empty, wandering, purposeless.  I’m not anymore.  What changed my life?  I became fully aware that God is real, that He loves me, that He gave His only Son to allow me to have forgiveness.  It immediately changed my life.  Now why would I share this with you?  Because I have no idea whether or not you have come to this belief, and even more important, accepted Christ’s sacrifice for you?!

 

I have been asked how is this any of my business!!!???  Allow me to try and answer that.  When God enters your heart, you receive God’s love for others, for the first time in your life you truly care about others, even more than yourself!  When you’re deeply concerned for others, your most major concern is do they know “your” Lord!  Let me take a moment to clear something up.  Many nonbelievers think that believers think they are better than them, and they are making judgments about them.  They feel that someone that witnesses to them about Christ is in effect saying  “I’m good, and you’re not, and I think you need to get good like me!!”   In Romans it says that we all have fallen short of the glory of God.  The scripture doesn’t say, “some” have fallen short, it says “all” have fallen short.  Falling short of God’s desire for us is sin, there it is that word that turns so many people off.  It’s a hard word, and it’s even harder because we are all sinners.  No one wants to hear that, but it is truth and truth cannot be denied.

 

When you come to the full realization that you are no longer guilty and  being held guilty for your sins, it changes  you in ways that no one can understand until they feel that release for themselves.  I may know you, and then again, I may not know you.  But I do know that God loves you, that He wants nothing more than to have you choose to become a part of His family.  What do I gain from sharing this?  I don’t do it for gain, I do it because I don’t want anyone to miss the incredible blessing of belonging to Him.

 

If this finds you laboring today, searching for real answers,  I pray this point you in the right direction. I do not say this for me, but because if I know anything, I know God loves you, He wants to change your life forever, if you don’t know Him, I pray you will let Him to do just that for you!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Google:   I am Second  –  Nathan Schroer

 

Google:   I am Second  –  Ken Hutcherson

 

Great examples of faith in action!

 

 

I was having a phone conversation with one of my very best friends and great shooter, Jim Haverstock, I was explaining the whole which lens when questions and he said it really helped him see it differently, so that was good enough for me.  Let me share a pet theory and see if it helps you too!!

 

Our eyes see a very wide angle of view of the world,  but, we concentrate in the area of a “normal” lens.  Thinking in terms of full frame cameras, around 50mm.  So, if you shoot an image with lens that is even approximatley normal (for me that is between 35mm and 70mm), the image will appear much like your normal vision.  If you move to a wide angle lens or a telephoto, the view will change very much.  We can change how the viewer sees our images by the lens focal length we choose!  Just remember the further you go from the normal range the more extreme the image will get, sometimes this is just what you want, just know extreme will be used less than the normal range!  Of course if you shoot fast moving venomous snakes, a long macro lens might just be the right choice!

 

As illustrated in the last two blogs, we can learn to make a statement with our lens choices and position to the subject.

 

The image below shows what a telephoto macro lens can do, narrow the background, help throw it out of focus, and make the droplets become clearly the main subject!

 

 

In Bodie, there used to be, I say used to be because sadly this wagon wheel has finally collapsed from age, weather and exposure! But when it was still standing I photographed it with a 24mm lens to make it the dominant subject but with lots of depth of field, making the background an important part of the image support system!

 

 

Sometimes we have a lot of subjects, all over the frame and we want to show them all and make them all sharp, a f 8 aperture and telephoto shooting subject hat are all at infinity distance did the trick!

 

 

I shoot a lot of Americana and this old cash register was too good to pass up.  It was near Pike’s Fish Market in Seattle, and I wanted to make just the key part tack sharp, once again telephoto narrows the background, and most important makes the subject jump out!

 

 

So that is the point of this little exercise, decide what you want to do, choose the right lens, and make a great image!

 

Blessigns and have a great weekend!

 

the pilgrim

 

Couldn’t resist, one more deep depth of field example!