Much like a roller coaster – Part III

I always bring up the weight and bulk of a camera. X2 is what people so-called as a compact model. In fact it’s not all that compact if you’ve played or own the X1/X2. You’d know it’s considerably solid and heavy duty. That in return to a heavier body then the point & shoot compacts. It happens all the time when I had a bad day not coming up with photos at all. I put it all on the bulk, the weight, when the street is packed with people like the shopping districts of Hong Kong, lugging around with the X2 isn’t all that happy. You just wish what’s in your hand is a lighter piece of gear. FORGET IT!

When a photographer do not trust in his/her gear, how good can he/she do in his/her work?? It doesn’t matter if we’re actually invisible, we just won’t do well with it. I’d found ways to bond with my camera. And recently I discovered another way by putting the camera right on my desk next to my mac. It does help me to love my camera more. At least, I’m visually attached to it 🙂

I always believe in space yields better creativity. A fair amount of space is a hyper-boost to allow inspiration sinks in. In contrary, A very crowded street is just not easy for creative photography. Most of everyone is walking (fast), It has to be done fast, well composed – despite of the messy narrow environment. Sometimes I just think slowing ourselves down by stepping aside, watching everyone passes by might offer me chance to observe the city life.

At this point in time, the word ‘Money’ does not leave my head. It’s troublesome..The first photo of Part II had expressed my current feeling in personal life well. Just like a branch of leaves (being me) trapped between the barbed wires surrounded by all the cold, faceless, modern skyscrapers.

While photography cannot actually giving me an answer, I look at it as an assurance even only at my level. Anything I interested doing in life, I could follow my will and have it going. There’re challenges whether we decide to dodge it, face it or live it. We get to choose.

Everyone loves looking back, I’m no exception. I regret that I wasted so much money on camera gear this year. From Lumix and a couple of m4/3 lenses to FujiX100, to my current X2, It a heavy price to pay and get to what I want while I’m not financially able to fund for it. Now I could only look at it as a tuition fee i paid to carry on my life project.

Much like a roller coaster – Part II

Photography

(To Part I)
I like describing photography cycle as a roller coaster. There are certainly highs, for sure; there’re also the lows. Nevertheless, the process and cycle are continual. The only factor that affects the ‘loop’ is how much time we give to it, that determines how big or how small our loops are.

I can’t tell whether I’m not interested in shooting photos during the day or simply i like the dark sky and city lights. I know my day job prevents me from shooting when there’s daylight. I squeezed time to do a few photo runs at my lunch breaks last week. It’s short and intense. I managed to pull off with shots that I’d never thought of. Last week I even spent 3 lunch breaks just to shoot photos. All in all, it’s good experience. As far as I remember, I could not recall when’s the last time I had a good day shooting during the day apart from my lunch breaks. I’m loving the low ISOs photographs.

So you know my experience with the X2 is almost all happening in the evening. My ISO setting goes as high as 6400 and sometimes even at 12500 when necessary. The key to produce images is not keeping the ISO as low as possible, it’s to keep my images as in focus as possible.

I found traveling out of district not really helping my photography. I may see new places, new things, and that do not directly multiply to my photos. I’d spend less time travel just do what I can near where I work and live. It’s challenging to find my subjects/materials at the same district almost daily. I wander the same park, same streets, same bridges…But then the other photographers had done the same. It’s totally possible to come up with new fresh looks every time. It’s a skill to learn from the masters.

Continue to Part III

Much like a roller coaster – Part I

Photography

My past 3 weeks can be described as a ‘roller coaster’ ride. It’s very typical for an enthusiast finding difficulties seeing enough interesting things and materials for photo inspiration. I’d started this series from zero. It took me 3 weeks to gather enough frames i liked. I finally uploaded to my PC for developing.

It’s always nice to look back my work from time to time. Especially with a relatively new camera X2 had already been with me for 2 and a half months. I brought it to my business trip in Macau with only 2 weeks of brief familiarization after purchase. If you ask me again, was that preparation enough? No way. I screwed on quite a few shots that could be potentially good ones. If I got a chance to do it again now, I can confidently say – I’m a lot more ready.

Like many others, I did not see a light at the end of a tunnel; on my first few short outings. I also had doubts to myself, why persist without an auto-focus that I was used to already? why adjust my distance from 28mm to 35mm? I could not even answer myself but to accept the fact that ‘because I already made up my mind to stick with the X2 since day 1’. It’s a commitment I kept until this day. I believe it’s also the only way to continue, not only because of the camera; but for a bigger picture – for my photography.