Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place & home

Posts tagged ‘My Vancouver’

My Fuji X70: Fujichrome Slide, Kodak Platinum 200 (XTrans2 recipes)

Above/featured: 1st Narrows, from John Lawson Pier.

My Fujifilm X70 mirrorless fixed-lens prime camera has been a big plus for photography at domestic and international locations. The built-into-camera film-simulations (e.g., Provia, Velvia) work beautifully in standard settings, but as I’ve never had a film camera, the advent of “camera recipes” to produce additional film-like settings stimulated interest in different colour or pictorial representations.

So far, I’ve tested these Fujifilm film-simulation (“film-sim”) recipes:

•   Ektachrome 100SW (saturated warm), simulating images with the Kodak colour transparency or slide films produced 1996–2002;
•   Kodachrome 64, simulating images with the Kodak colour film produced between the mid-1970s and 2009;
•   Kodacolor, “producing classic Kodak analog aesthetic closest to early-1980s Kodacolor VR200 colour film that’s been overexposed.”

( Click here for images )

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.

( Click here for images )

My Fuji X70: Ektachrome 100SW (XTrans2 recipe)

Above/featured:False Creek east, from Cambie Bridge – 12 Jul 2021.

A variety of film simulations in the form of recipes with different settings are applicable to Fujifilm cameras to create uniquely historical and/or vintage look to images. Fortunately, a number of recipes are available to apply onto Fuji cameras with X-Trans II sensors.

That’s where my Fuji X70 has entered the fun fray. Previously, I showed examples of images made with the Kodachrome 64 recipe, simulating images made with the Kodak analog colour film produced from the mid-1970s to its final run in 2009.

I wanted to try another film-simulation recipe: the Ektachrome 100SW (SW for ‘saturated warm’) described by Ritchie Roesch in Fuji X Weekly. Historically, the Kodak company produced the ‘Ektachrome’ line of colour transparency or slide films. From its introduction in 1996 to its termination in 2002, the ‘Ektachrome 100SW’ film with increased ISO sensitivity produced images with deeper colours and warmer colour balance.

At locations throughout metropolitan Vancouver over a period of four weeks in July and August 2021, here are images below straight-out-of-the-camera (SOOC) with the following settings:

  • ‘Velvia’ built-in film-sim
  • Dynamic Range: DR200
  • Highlight: +2 (High)
  • Shadow: +1 (Medium-High)
  • Color: -1 (Medium-Low)
  • Sharpness: 0 (Medium)
  • Noise Reduction: -2 (Low)
  • White Balance: Auto; +1 Red, -2 Blue
  • ISO: Auto up to 3200 (or fixed to 1000)

All recipes sorted by specific sensor are found here.

( Click here for images )

The Retired Draft Horse and the Last Pulled Log, Ken Lum, Kings Crossing, G and F Financial Group, Burnaby, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: “The Retired Draft Horse …”, by Ken Lum

I’m highlighting this month Chinese-Canadian artist Ken Lum: born and raised in the western Canadian city of Vancouver; he began studying chemistry at university before switching completely to art. Today, not only does he continue to make art, but he also comments about the contemporary and historical nature of art and about how art and society continuously shapes and informs each other. All of Lum’s pieces featured this month are located outdoors and freely accessible to the public at zero cost.

In 2020, Lum completed a sculptural work commissioned by Cressey Properties for its development in the city of Burnaby. “The Retired Draft Horse and the Last Pulled Log” resides at Kings Crossing at the intersection of Kingsway and Edmonds. Lum wrote in his proposal:

“… about a draught horse that is no longer called to work.The horse is a Clydesdale or a Persheron, the largest of draught horses that were commonly employed in British Columbia in the 19th- and early 20th-centuries. The log with chains on the Edmonds street site is meant to be in dialogue with the horse sculpture at the primary site of Kingsway and Edmonds.The larger than life size but not greatly larger than life sized horse surveys the modernity that has transpired since its working days in Burnaby and acts a sentinel of both the past and the future of the site.”

I made the photo above on 16 May 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (18.5/28mm). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-llo.

Fotoeins Friday: “From shangri-la to shangri-la”, by Ken Lum

I’m highlighting this month Chinese-Canadian artist Ken Lum: born and raised in the western Canadian city of Vancouver; he began studying chemistry at university before switching completely to art. Today, not only does he continue to make art, but he also comments about the contemporary and historical nature of art and about how art and society continuously shapes and informs each other. All of Lum’s pieces featured this month are located outdoors and freely accessible to the public at zero cost.

These look like wooden shacks along a creek or small river. In 2010, Lum completed a sculptural work commissioned by the City of Vancouver next to the four-star Shangri-La Hotel, as a “reminder of contested local histories.” Meant only as a temporary display, the piece was eventually removed. In 2012, the District of North Vancouver purchased Lum’s piece; a modified smaller version of the sculptural piece is installed at Maplewood Flats, in the very same area where shacks had once populated the mudflats along the northern shores of Burrard Inlet. Represented are houses once owned by artist Tom Burrows, writer Malcolm Lowry, and OrcaLab founder Dr. Paul Spong.

I made the photo above on 3 Jul 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (18.5/28mm) with digital teleconverter set to 33/50mm. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-llf.

Monument to East Vancouver, Ken Lum, East Van, VCC-Clark, Millennium Line, SkyTrain, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: “Monument for East Vancouver”, by Ken Lum

I’m highlighting this month Chinese-Canadian artist Ken Lum: born and raised in the western Canadian city of Vancouver; he began studying chemistry at university before switching completely to art. Today, not only does he continue to make art, but he also comments about the contemporary and historical nature of art and about how art and society continuously shapes and informs each other. All of Lum’s pieces featured this month are located outdoors and freely accessible to the public at zero cost.

In 2010, Lum completed a large sculptural work commissioned by the City of Vancouver. The work “Monument for East Vancouver” is situated in East Vancouver, standing above a rapid-transit station over the filled-in area of former tidal mudflats. Also informally called the “East Van Cross,” the sculpture situated in the “working class” or east side of the city faces west towards the wealthier parts of the city, including downtown and the west side. The symbolism regarding economic background and the specificity of place will be obvious to people of colour. Lum once said:

“… It’s a crucifix, that’s what it is – a highly charged symbol. Christ suffered on the cross. East Van suffers on the cross. The point (is): someone is suffering. And immigrants suffer the most …”

“Ken Lum”. ed. Grant Arnold, Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 2011, p. 123.

I made the photo above on 31 May 2014 with a Canon EOS6D mark1. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-lkW.

A Tale of Two Children: A Work for Strathcona, Ken Lum, National Works Yard, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: “A Tale of Two Children”, by Ken Lum

I’m highlighting this month Chinese-Canadian artist Ken Lum: born and raised in the western Canadian city of Vancouver; he began studying chemistry at university before switching completely to art. Today, not only does he continue to make art, but he also comments about the contemporary and historical nature of art and about how art and society continuously shapes and informs each other. All of Lum’s pieces featured this month are located outdoors and freely accessible to the public at zero cost.

In 2005, Lum completed a permanent work commissioned by the City of Vancouver for its public works yard on National Avenue. The work “A Tale of Two Children: A Work for Strathcona” is not only a nod to his formative years growing up in the Strathcona neighbourhood, but provides different views to children and their changing (and precipitous) views regarding self-worth within a society that’s already prejudged them.

I made the photo above on 1 Jun 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (18.5/28mm). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-lkF.

My Fuji X70: Kodachrome64 (XTrans2 recipe)

Above/featured: South portal, Lions Gate Bridge – 25 Jun 2021.

I wrote about how the Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime has been great for my photography. Fujifim prides itself on good to faithful reproductions of film simulations (film-sims). For the most part, I’ve used the default or “Standard” setting, equivalent to the “Provia” film-sim which is one of 11 film-sims built into the X70.

I learned about other film-sims, particularly those applicable to the older X-Trans II sensor that’s in my X70 camera. I’ve been interested in digital reproductions of “old” colour slide film, and seeing how images over a variety of subject matter appear with a film-sim that looks a little more like “old school film”. Ritchie Roesch describes in Fuji X Weekly the differences between the Kodachrome II and Kodachrome 64 film-sims; the former resembling the look of Kodak film from the 1960s to the mid-1970s and the latter echoing the final version of the film-type from the mid-1970s to 2009. Roesch provides additional historical context to the development of Kodachrome film here.

Here I’ve used the Kodachrome 64 film-sim recipe with the following settings:

  • ‘Classic Chrome’ built-in film-sim
  • Dynamic Range: DR400
  • Highlight: +2 (High)
  • Shadow: +1 (Medium-High)
  • Color: 0 (Medium)
  • Sharpness: 0 (Medium)
  • Noise Reduction: -2 (Low)
  • White Balance: Daylight; 0 Red, -3 Blue
  • ISO: Auto up to 3200 (or fixed to 1000)

All recipes sorted by specific sensor are found here.

( Click here for images )

Memorial for the Kamloops Residential School, Robson Square, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Vancouver: Memorial for the Kamloops Residential School

In late-May 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced the discovery of 215 children buried in a mass grave at a former residential school near Kamloops, British Columbia; ground-penetrating radar was used to locate the remains.

During a period of 160 years, the Government of Canada in concert with churches constructed residential schools in a state-sponsored process of “aggressive assimilation” to make children of Indigenous people “less aboriginal and more white” with instruction in English and Christianity in order to erase the children’s traditions and cultural ties.

More than 150-thousand children were sent to some 130 residential schools across Canada between 1830s and the 1990s. Forcibly removed from their homes and parents, children of Indigenous peoples were forced into the schools where they faced neglect and physical and sexual abuse. Physical records indicate a total of over 4000 children deaths; the actual number is very likely much higher. Many children were not buried properly, parents were not notified about what happened to their children: many children who were forced into residential schools never returned home. For years, survivors have told their stories about what happened inside those schools: there is every expectation more mass graves and more children will be found.

The systematic removal of indigenous children from their families disrupted, divided, and destroyed living generations of indigenous families, robbing people of their respective culture and language and the wealth of lived experiences shared between generations. According to the terms and definitions laid out in the 1948 United Nations’ Convention, Canada committed genocide against their Indigenous Peoples. The destructive effects of white colonialism upon Indigenous Peoples in the country is not only historical but continues today with inequity, intransigence, obstruction and obfuscation, and injustice.

A makeshift memorial was quickly created at the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery at Robson Square. It’s worth noting the Art Gallery is presently housed in the former provincial court house which opened in 1911 and would have served as a “legal” instrument of white- and settler-colonialism. That this National Historic Site is the location of an improvised tribute to the loss of life and dignity caused by state-sponsored acts of genocide is an enormous juxtaposition.

June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada.

Memorial for the Kamloops Residential School, Robson Square, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com Memorial for the Kamloops Residential School, Robson Square, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com
Memorial for the Kamloops Residential School, Robson Square, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

“Are we human?”

Memorial for the Kamloops Residential School, Robson Square, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com
Memorial for the Kamloops Residential School, Robson Square, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

“Bring our children home.”

Memorial for the Kamloops Residential School, Robson Square, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

As a resident of Vancouver, I’m a guest on unceded traditional territory and land of the Coast Salish First Nations: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam). I made all images above on 1 June 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-l2C.

Canada150, Canada Day 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Canada Day 150: the 5th annual marathon (2017)

Featured: Of the 150 people to become new Canadian citizens, 3 of the youngest Canadians cut into the cake for the cameras on Canada’s 150th birthday at the Citizenship Ceremony held inside the Vancouver Convention Centre.

For the 5th consecutive year, I’m out and about on the Canadian national holiday. 2017 is a special year with the sesquicentennial or 150 years as a nation. Over a “marathon” lasting 16 hours from about 5am to 9pm, I’m going from one part of Vancouver to another of the metropolitan area to photograph people and locations dressed up or covered in red; many events are happening on the city’s waterfront at Canada Place.

Here are 17 photographs for Canada Day, 1 July 2017.

( Click here for images and more )

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