Urban Photography | Fotoeins Fotografie

Posts from the ‘Urban Photography’ category

My Fuji X70: Kodacolor (XTrans2 recipe)

Above/featured: After Girard: Vancouver-Strathcona, 14 Oct 2021.

The Fujifilm X70 mirrorless fixed-lens prime camera has been a real boon to my approach to photography for personal projects both domestically and internationally. To satisfy my curiosity, I’ve provided examples of X70 images made with two Fujifilm analog-film simulation (film-sim) recipes:

• Ektachrome 100SW (saturated warm), simulating images with the Kodak colour transparency or slide films produced between 1996 to 2002;
• Kodachrome 64, simulating images with the Kodak colour film produced between the mid-1970s and 2009.

In this post, I examine the Kodacolor film-simulation, a reproduction of which Fuji X Weekly’s Ritchie Roesch describes as “producing a classic Kodak analog aesthetic.” According to Roesch, the digital film-simulation is closest to Kodacolor VR analog color film from the early-1980s, whose ISO200 version is still available for purchase as “ColorPlus 200” (Kodacolor 200).

The following film-simulation recipe creates images similar to the look of “Kodacolor VR 200 (film) that’s been overexposed.” My X70 settings are:

‘Classic Chrome’ built-in film-sim
Dynamic Range: DR400
Highlight: +1 (Medium-High)
Shadow: +1 (Medium-High)
Color: -2 (Low)
Sharpness: 0 (Medium)
Noise Reduction: -2 (Low)
White Balance: 6300K; -3 Red, -2 Blue
ISO: Auto, up to 6400 for “grainy” appearance (or fixed to 1000)

The recipe above is for the X-Trans II sensor; the corresponding recipe for an updated or more recent sensor is found here. All other recipes sorted by specific sensor are found here.

The following images were made at locations throughout metropolitan Vancouver. Minor adjustments to brightness level, rotation, and geometric distortion have been applied from straight-out-of-the-camera (SOOC) to posting.

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Devonian Harbour Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Public art in Vancouver

Above/featured: Left: “Search”, by J. Seward Johnson Jr. (1975). Right: “Solo”, by Natalie McHaffie (1986). Devonian Harbour Park, 14 Jul 2021 (X70).

Based on what we see in person and online, the quickest version of street art may be defined by the variety of art appearing on side walls of buildings, big and small. Most will think about paint, graffiti, and murals, all of them in the here and now. But we shouldn’t forget any art that’s out on the streets and publicly accessible.

Below are a handful of examples of public art in the city of Vancouver; the following is a visual expression of my fondness for sculpture whose origins sweep back to the 1st-half of the 20th-century.

“A Tale of Two Children” by Ken Lum (2005)
“Golden Tree” by Douglas Coupland (2016); “Salish Gifts” by Susan Point (2015)
Lions by Charles Marega (1939)
“Reconciliation Pole” by 7idansuu / Edenshaw, James Hart (2017)
“Salmon” by Susan Point (1995)
“Saltwater City”, by Paul Wong (2020)
“Welcome Figure”, by Darren Yelton (2006)

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Strathcona, East Vancouver, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Ordinary rejects

Above/featured: Night glow on a black tub-chair at a bus stop – 7 Oct 2021.

The intersection between modernity and ordinary is extraordinary in its vast reach, covering all corners of the planet by land, sea, and air. Consider what we have in our homes, and how much or little of it will get recycled. We might pause to consider how a piece of furniture lives or is used by a family; how they must have once been excited to buy chairs, couches, and beds, only to throw them out when they were deemed surplus to requirements, how much is tossed out in a regular or periodic “clean out” and/or in the process of moving out from a residence.

Below are images of abandoned items, whose likely destination is the dump.

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Shantung Street, Portland Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong, fotoeins.com

Artificial light

Above/featured: Shantung St. at Portland St., in Mong Kok, Kowloon: Hong Kong – 12 Jun 2012 (450D).

Like many, my preference in photography is for as much natural light as possible. However, there are always exceptions, and a big one is the introduction and/or necessity of artificial light within a scene or picture. Over the course of my photographic journey, I’ve come across some wonderful examples of artificial lighting. I hope you enjoy the examples I’ve provided below, including (my love of) neon signage.

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Lions Gate Bridge, Seawall, Stanley Park, First Narrows, Salish Sea, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

The wide field

Above/featured: Vancouver landmark: two towers of the Lions Gate Bridge – 17 Jan 2014 (6D1).

Some time ago, I wrote about my photographic journey which has included a point-and-shoot camera, an introductory crop-frame camera, a consumer-model full-frame camera, and a compact mirrorless camera.

The way people see the world is best encapsulated at focal lengths typically around 35mm. Portraits of people start at about 50mm, and go as “long” or “tight” at 80mm. With larger zoom glass and longer focal lengths, “action at a distance” becomes accessible; examples include “close-up” views or moments at sports events or bird-watching from afar to avoid spooking the birds. At focal lengths below 35mm, the accessible field of view becomes much larger; for example, one of the “widest” fields can be found with a super-wide piece of glass at around 16mm.

I’ve made photographs across a wide variety of focal lengths: from wide (16mm) to long (480mm). I once imagined I would spend most of my time photographing “long”, at focal lengths beyond 100mm. I soon learned I prefer photographing (well-)below 50mm, with the lion’s share of my images in the “wide field” at focal lengths in the range 24 to 28mm.

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