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.
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.
