B&W photography Archives - Page 3 of 5

The Fuji 55-200 – A User Experience

March 23, 2019March 20, 2019 by Kirk

lobster boats rockport ma — Lobster boats sitting at their moorings on a chilly windy morning in Rockport, MA.

In my journey switching from Canon to Fuji I have been slowly buying lenses. It’s a long haul selling off gear and purchasing new or used gear. I had been struggling with the fact that I did not have a long lens for the X-T3 yet and it was a struggle at times having to use my Canon 70-200 and 7D Mk ll instead of a Fuji lens.

A friend, John Barclay, who has been using the Fuji system for quite awhile suggested the Fuji 55-200. I was hesitant to even test it out because it is fairly slow and is a variable aperture lens. I’m a part time photojournalist so I was thinking I needed the 50-140 f2.8. Since I am transitioning to teaching workshops and shooting more landscape/travel work this lens was suggested instead of the 50-140. I will still own this lens but not at the moment.

I started looking for the 55-200 used on Fred Miranda’s site. I did find one after missing out on two of them. It was only $445. WHAT! Yes and in mint condition. It sells new for $700. It just so happened that I was on my way to an assignment when I picked it up. So outside the assignment I opened it up and brought it inside with me to shoot some images.

Jim Parks of Wingmasters talks about the Eastern Screech Owl to children at the Plum Cove School Monday morning. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/5/19

I was immediately blown away at how sharp this lens at 134mm (202mm equivilent) @f4.4. Incredible performance at ISO 2500 1/125s. So this got me thinking I could pretty much use this lens for more assignments even though it’s kind of slow.

Mike Lattof gives instructions to GHS athletes during the Gloucester High School off-season running and conditioning program Saturday morning. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/9/19

I was wondering what it was going to be like inside of a dark gym and I was not disappointed. It performed incredibly well. Now let me say that in the situation above I would probably have used the 50-140 if I had it but I was pleasantly surprised by what this little beauty can do.

In this situation I needed to shoot both ends of the rink instead of at ice level which is what I usually do. Again the lens was great. The autofocus was right on the money!

Gloucester High School Senior Robbie Horne hits a forehand during the first day of practice. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/18/19

Shooting against the light with my Canon 70-200 is incredible no ghosting no flare perfect. So I had no idea what this lens would do. It matched up really well with the Canon giving me great contrast and shadow detail along with great autofocus performance. This image was made at 1/1250 @ f4.2 so wide open.

Next I needed to see how it would do for landscapes and again I was surprised at the color rendition and sharpness of the lens.

Early morning light can be a challenge. Deep shadows etc.

I love the way this file converted to B&W. The original file in color is beautiful and again extremely sharp.

Overall I am really pleased with this lens. The biggest reason I purchased it is because it will be a great lens to travel and hike with when doing my workshops. For a little day hiking etc. and for working with students. My kit will be the Fuji 10-24 f4, 55-200 f3.5-4.8 and possibly the 16 f 1.4 along with the X-T3 and the X-T30 or I may leave the 16 out although it focuses so close it’s almost a macro lens.

Ansel Adams “In Our Time” a user experience at the MFA

February 19, 2019 by Kirk

The B&W images that Adams created back many years ago have always generated an emotional response in me. In my college years I started reading about him and looking at his images. His books were then not far behind. I started reading his Camera series with much of it over my head. But, it was Adams after all and there was no better photographer in my mind. His work really started me on my career path.

All that being said, I have probably seen most of Adams’ images either in books, calendars, or exhibit. So the idea of a new exhibit was exciting to me. What more could they do? The last exhibit I attended was the Adams exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. There were only a few of his most famous images plus some very large murals. It was underwhelming. I was disappointed. So this new one was exciting plus it was the MFA in Boston.

I wish I had a photo of it but as we went down stairs to the exhibit the emotions started to come back remembering my close connection to many of his images. The first thing to greet you before you go in is a giant mural of Adams atop his woody in the 40’s planning a shot with his 8×10 view camera. I have seen it before but not this large. My emotional connection came flooding back. There was the tall skinny Adams in his younger years at the height of his image making – wow!

Then my wife and I went into the exhibit and started to see that not only were Adams’ images present but also the works of other photographers (like Muybrige and Watkins) that influenced him. Then also contemporary photographers rounded out the exhibit.

A collection of small Adams prints on display.

The MFA has in it’s collection some 450 prints by Adams which is part of the Lane Collection and these are the images used for this exhibit. They are mixed with works by other photographers both contemporary and before and during Adam’s time. Thus the title Ansel Adams, In Our Time.

Overall the experience is pretty good but the prints from the Lane Collection are not as I expected. Many are old and small and the larger ones seem to be either printed too deep or under lit in the exhibition. Thus a disappointment to me. One of my favorites is Mt. Williamson (a great name) from Manzanar, CA. The print was in pretty good shape and a pleasure to look at.

I wish this image was larger than 11×14 but what can you do. I have seen some of the contemporary work and the pano’s with old images inserted were pretty cool. The large burned forest images were also nice. They went along with Adam’s image of the same.

The work I was most distraught over was that of Catherine Opie. They were two large extremely out of focus images which were done that way on purpose. Thus to show how recognizable certain areas of Yosemite were because of the images Adam’s had made. In my opinion a complete waste of wall space. They even had a video interview with the “artist” sorry, another waste of time. I walked on. Some other large works were double exposures or layered images of recognizable scenes for Yosemite (I think) might have been the Snake River in Wyoming.

Overall the experience was pretty good but not what I expected.

As you walk out you are forced into the gift shop – to be expected I guess. Then you get to see one of my all time favorite images made by Adams is a 20 ft. high mural. Wow it was so cool. I made my own interpretation of it.

I absolutely love this photograph of his. It was insane to see it the size of an enormous wall. Then we were off to the cafeteria for an expensive lunch. The Adam’s imagery was all around us.

You could not escape it. This image here of the Snake River and the Grand Teton’s is one of my all time fav’s.

Folks enjoying an expensive lunch.

The exhibit goes until Feb. 24, 2019. So go on in and enjoy and make up your own mind as to what you think of it. As a huge Adam’s fan boy I was not overly impressed. The theme was an ok idea but poorly executed. Why they had to go find the weirdest contemporary imagery to go with it is beyond me. The influenced contemporary photographers should have been represented by work that clearly shows Adam’s influence not bizarre imagery. The work of Muybridge and Watkins that influenced Adam’s – great idea!

I think you get the picture – sorry for the pun, couldn’t resist.

Sailing with Schooners

September 19, 2018 by Kirk

Here on Cape Ann with have a schooner festival every year. It’s a grand affair and it harkens back to 1928-1939 when schooner races happened regularly. This year the schooners Columbia and Bluenose 2, both replicas, one brand new and the other recently completely refitted visited Gloucester for the occasion. I was lucky enough to ride out to greet them on the schooner Ardelle. It was an incredible experience. Both schooners are magnificent.

The schooner Columbia sails by Niles Beach in Gloucester shadowed by a small Herreschoff designed sailboat.

When photographing sailing yachts it’s helpful to keep in mind some loose rules. If the yachts are large you need to show scale or their majesty is lost.

The schooner Bluenose 2 before entering Gloucester Harbor

Try to shoot with a long lens to compress the field of view and only include a portion of the sail area. If you can see people on board it also adds scale.

Showing action also helps to give a majestic view to large sailing yachts.

Adding context to the image gives the viewer a sense of where the yacht is. I was lucky here as as the schooner entered the harbor and we were behind and to the side which gives us some context with this image.

Ardelle and Bluenose 2 — Passengers aboard the schooner Ardelle watch the Bluenose 2 sail by.

I also chose to tell a story by using a 21 mm lens and showing the passengers on the schooner I was on. Again showing context.

schooners Ardelle and Lynx — Schooner Ardelle owner Harold Burnham talks with passengers as the schooner Lynx sails by.

The 21 mm lens again pulls in another schooner going by and one in the distance all while the owner of the Ardelle Harold Burnham holds court at the bow of the Ardelle.