Dunedin City Steampunk shoot

Here are a few images I took while having fun with friends, a camera and a flash. A bit of dress up in steampunk is a big change of look from corporate or family imagery. I used the Viltrox 27mm 1.2 for fuji X mount for all of the images and selected the Classic Negative film simulation for a more grungy effect on colours. Janine our model had some amazing items to wear.

Fuji X-T5, Viltrox 27mm 1.2

Fuji X-T5, Viltrox 27mm 1.2

Fuji X-T5, Viltrox 27mm 1.2

Fuji X-T5, Viltrox 27mm 1.2

Fuji X-T5, Viltrox 27mm 1.2

Fuji X-T5, Viltrox 27mm 1.2

In retrospect I think I would deinitely go with 2 strobes next time as we were losing detail in the shadows with only the key light, a Godox AD200pro. Shame to have those cool outfits and lose them to the shadows.

Building an image gallery for the Samsung Frame TV

I have been selling print and canvas products to people for a good number of years, mostly landscape photography images of Dunedin. When I saw the Samsung Frame TV I nearly fell over. I was totally blown away, a TV that looks just like a picture frame hanging on your wall. My head spins at its genius and potential. I love the matte screen, how there is an app for users to be able to download and display some of the worlds great art on the screen, but I love even more the opportunity to showcase my own work. So I have started saving images in the required 16:9 aspect ratio and file size specifications and from there the plan is to use them on my yet to be purchased frame TV and the ones I love will become a downloadable purchase option on my website shop. I’ll start a gallery below of images I’m taking for the project.

One aspect I am excited about is taking more sunrise/sunset images for digital display. Often I find paper prints of sunrise and sunset images can look dark and murky if there is a significant amount of shadows and blacks in the scene, or even look too colourful. But, with a digital display you can generally get a much better result. As I take more images for the Samsung Frame TV display, I will pop them up here in this blog.

Moeraki Boulders, Moeraki, North Otago, New Zealand.

Moeraki Boulders, Moeraki, North Otago, New Zealand.

Waldronville Beach, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Saddle Hill Rd, Dunedin.

Saddle Hill Rd, Dunedin.

Saddle Hill Rd. Dunedin.

Taieri Plains, Mosgiel.

Taieri Plains and Mosgiel

Hay Bales on Henley-Berwick Rd

New Zealand is in summer now and last night I visited the Henley Cheese factory. The conditions weren’t great and the image, okay, but nothing special. However, on the way there, I did enjoy a welcome distraction. I love hay bales, straw ones, not the kind shrink-wrapped in plastic, I hate those with a passion.

However, yesterday evening, as the sun was going down, I couldn’t help but turn my camera to the hay bales wrapped in ghastly green plastic on Henley Berwick road. The way the light was catching on the plastic, well, it was lovely, almost mesmerising.

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A tractor in the field, resting after a productive days work. GFX50sii, 35-70mm @70mm, 65:24 crop.

I couldn’t find an amazing composition, but it didn’t matter, I was just enjoying the display of hay bales dotted over multiple paddocks. Definitely worth a snap or 2.

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Henley-Berwick Road. Fujifilm GFX50sii 35-70mm @70mm

When I finally arrived at the Henley Cheese Factory, I’d already had my reward, not in pictures, because I couldn’t do the scene justice, but just by being there to see lovely fields of green plastic hay bales. Not something I thought I’d ever acknowledge. However, that’s the beauty of landscape photography, you never know what is going to look great under the gaze of an evening sun. Here below is a cheese factory pic from last night.

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Henley Cheese Factory, GFX50sii, 110mm f/2 @F8

I’m not sure if I’m getting a bit soft in my old age or perhaps just a little more grateful for the small things, but I did enjoy that hay bale surprise, and I look forward to the next one.

The Medium Format look on Fujifilm GFX: Fact or Fiction?

I have been shooting with the GFX system for over a year now and in that time I have often wondered if I would ever shoot a ‘medium format look’ type image. I have definitely seen the ‘look’ mostly courtesy of images taken with the Mitakon 65mm 1.4. The only fast GFX lens I own is the Fujifilm GFX 110mm F2. The lens has become my go to for portrait work, it has pop for sure, but I have never taken an image and thought, nailed it, thats the look, well, until recently.

I was on a photoshoot with Bulletproof Convertible a local Dunedin band. The band members have a real style about them, with fedora hats, braces and a couple even have beards. So they look damn cool, great subjects for photography. The location we shot at was an old abandoned railway tunnel entry. The tracks have been removed, but the location has shear walls, with shrubs and ferns climbing up the sides. The day was overcast and dark with the location only getting down light. So I cranked the ISO and started the shoot.

Then boom, I got one. I had the lens wide open and when I looked on the back of the camera it was like being transported back in time to Otago during the gold rush in the 1860’s. This is 2023 though, but the way the subjects looked and how the lens rendered the scene, kind of blew my mind. The image had an old film look.

One of the band members asked if I could deliver a sepia versions of the images. Usually I am a little reluctant to convert images to sepia (It reminds me of when I sold landscape imagery in gift shops and the shop owners requesting sepia versions as the browns suit home decor) but I gave it a whirl with my own colour grade and I have to admit, sepia, kind of made it cooler.

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Bulletproof Convertible

So is a medium format look fact or fiction on the Fujifilm GFX? Well, so far from my experience I think I have evidence of the ‘look’ occurring once, yep, just the once though. I look forward to the next occasion. Hopefully it doesn’t take another year.