For me it’s a confident model who can express that to the camera. Showing less is said to be more and often a confident model with an implied topless image is one of the sexiest images you can produce.
Strong defining light, some shadow and mystery. Its a theme I return to often.
The Suffolk coast has for a long time been a bit of a mystery. Small traditional inland towns and villages, relatively unchanged over the last fifty years, coastal towns like Aldeburgh and Southwold, often cut off in bad weather and in the past more accessible by sea than by land.
Today we find modern industrial ports like Lowestoft, the growing city of Norwich in the county to the North and sea side resorts like Great Yarmouth but these modern islands of metropolis are few and far between.
If you kept to the few main road that cross Norfolk and Suffolk, leading to these modern towns you would think the county was like any other. But you do not have to go far when you come across the old towns and villages seemly untouched by the passing of time. Traditional shops, cafes for tourists and the odd electrical car parking point and mobile phone tower give a hint of some modernity.
If your taking the scenic route to the Suffolk coast from Norfolk you will come across many small towns like Bungay.
A town you would not likely visit unless you knew of the remains of the castle. Though the lovely old churches are worth a visit. Wondering through the old graveyards in the late high contrast autumn sun, while not conducive to good photography is good for ones own well-being.
The old Norman castle was on the losing side of a number of battles but restored after Henry II confiscated the castle when the loyalty of the previous owner was called into question.
It featured in the fictional novel by Elizabeth Bonhôte, published in 1797, set during the first Barron’s war.
When one explores Suffolk, you are continually surprised by the number of traditional Italian restaurants, cafe’s and ice cream parlours.
There is a long history of Italians making homes in area, and good food and coffee is never far away.
Some of the old shops look like they could have been here for years, the modernity given away by ‘wifi here’ signs or the odd neon sign.
So whether it’s the food, the history, or to wonder the antique shops and find out the little fabric and quilting shops. There is something for all, unless you are after the busyness and noise of most places now.
Suffolk, the place of modern port cities, and tranquil towns and villages.
You have a camera, not the latest but still well capable. A selection of lens, flash, and more camera bags then you know what to do with, plus a few extra hidden in the back of a cupboard from your significant other.
What to buy next?
Well spend some money on trips out, flex those photographic muscles, maybe if your a wildlife photographer a trip to a local nature park, a holiday of a lifetime to somewhere you have dreamed off.
For the people photographers like me, get a mood board sorted with ideas, collect some cheap props.
I often take a bag of cheap sunglasses to the studio and let the model experiment.
Photography purchases to not have to be expensive. Just something that will get you out shooting.
If your looking at kit, then think about clothing if your into landscape or wildlife. Think about tripods and heads. For studio photographers investing in three C-Stands will enable lots of creativity and will last forever.
For me the list would be like this:
Props (hats, material, glasses)
Lighting Grip (eg C-Stands)
Backgrounds and gels
Reflectors
Modifiers
Flash Heads
Filters
Camera straps
Equipment bags
Cleaning equipment
Lens
Cameras
There is a lot you can invest in, to improve your photography before buying that new camera and lens. Also remember things like storage and backup for your files. I have a large NAS holding all my photography files, then a bunch of external drives holding backup copies. Then an external SSD for my Lightroom database, and backup jobs copying that database to two different computers and a cloud storage provider. But that’s a different post.
During this last winter, while walking Ted the Greyhound around the local Lincolnshire Villages I have been carrying the little Leica M10. Shooting scenes like the one above.
The Nikon’s have been seeing little use except for studio work.
Lots of fashion and some personal projects in the studio. Hardly using a Nikon Z camera to its limits. In fact they have been set to base ISO of 64, f/8 and 1/200 for optimum quality.
One soon starts to lose how to use some of the advance features of the camera unless you practice.
So on a few recent walks I have been taking the Nikon Z7, switching between modes, trying different things, to get the hang on the camera again.
It will not be long before the herons start to visit the local parks and build there nests.
Getting out and shooting wildlife used to be something I used to do many weekends. An early start and out to a local park with a suitable lake.
I think as I get older getting up early and facing the cold is less appealing. Not knowing while your there if the light and wildlife will coincide to enable some decent photographs, but when it does your glad you did it.
After my recent post on the Fuji X100 and also GAS. I had a look at second hand prices for Fuji X100. There keeping there value very well. Not quite as well as my Leica M4 which seems to have doubled in price since I bought it; but the original X100 is still going for about £500 on many sites.
With the release of the X100 VI prices on eBay have gone ridiculous with the new model hitting £5000! Many would argue that the retail price is too much for a fixed prime lens compact, but name another fixed lens compact on the market. We have the Fuji X100, Ricoh GR and the Leica Q, all targeting different markets.
Well, sometimes it is. A wildlife photographer in a hide without some long glass is going struggle. Wedding photographers likely need a fast wide angle and standard lens for low light and group shots, a general zoom in the 28-105mm range.
Street photography was once ruled by the rangefinder for the reason of the viewfinder seeing wider than the lens, you could see the picture develop and people moved in and out of the frame. An advantage that also the Fuji X100 has.
So yes you need the right equipment to do the job. I know of an amateur photographer that fell in love with the Leica Q2, used it for everything, and gradually went professional and started to specialise in watch photography. The Leica Q range, while an amazing camera, possibly one of the best compacts money can buy, closely followed by the Fuji X100, Ricoh GR, and the much missed Sony RX1; is not exactly a camera suited for that style of photography. So it was changed to a full frame Sony mirrorless and some macro lens. A tool for the job but not the heart.
There are cameras out there ideally suited for particular duties, then there are those that inspire, spur creativity and drive ones passion forward.
I love the idea of the Fuji X100. Fixed lens, range finder style, autofocus, a real viewfinder or EVF you can switch between.
For a few years there was issues with processing the RAW files for Adobe users due to the none standard Bayer filter, but Fuji finally started working with the RAW developers and things improved.
The last time I gave one a good try was 2015. I have come close to purchasing one several times but two things keep putting me off. Using the aperture ring is difficult, it is just to close to the body to easily use. Secondly the optical viewfinder looks poor compared to the viewfinder in say a Leica. If I did not own a Leica I doubt I would have noticed, and having autofocus in a small body carry anywhere camera is useful.
I am still very tempted and I was hopping to have a look at the latest version at the 2020 Photography show that was cancelled die to COVID-19.
That was the V model that I never got to see, we now have a few new V models available and the new X100 VI has been announced.
I would still like a small carry everywhere autofocus camera for when I am not carrying a Leica or my Nikon, and this is still high on the list.
As you can see above, I have blogged about this before and normally just going into to here, then relaunching Lightroom Classic is enough to fix it, but not today.
Luckily there is a hidden button to fix this.
If your on a Mac while in preferences and Lightroom Sync, hold down the Option Key (Alt on Windows) and a Rebuild Sync Data button appears, click on this and your Lightroom will restart and sync will be back working again.