Fuji X-Pro1

I was shooting around Jermyn Street last year when I was struck by how unstructured our clothes had become particularly for those people not doing white collar jobs.  Sweat tops, sweat pants, overalls, dungarees.  It was all soft and comfortable and easy to move about in but it has also arguably made us soft and sloppy in our posture and gait.  Time was when even factory workers (watch some Mitchell and Kenyon) wore tailored clothes.  Not expensive fabrics of course but the clothes had a structure made up of folds and tucks and pleats all stitched into place all designed to stop us slouching about about.  My father spent a large part of his working life on building sites as a carpenter and I recall him going off to work wearing a dark tweed jacket and heavy wool trousers. The lovely people at Fujifilm UK lent me an X-Pro 1 camera with a 60mm lens and I used the 5th anniversary of The Tweed Run, a sartorial little jaunt through London town on two wheels, as an opportunity to take it for a spin (apologies in advance for the puns).   It was all weft and warp.  Before the DuPont family gave us lycra this was the everyday wear of cyclists. 500 riders all in vintage attire with some going the extra mile (again, sorry) with their vintage machines including a penny farthing. Neither age nor gender was a barrier as they rode from Marylebone to Trafalgar Square via Saville Row in their finery.   Most of the participants here would probably be shocked to know that in 1895 someone wrote a List of Don’ts for Women on Bicycles which was published in the New York World newspaper. The woman below (and her partner) had a technical problem and were walking back to the nearest pitstop but not before being stopped several times by tourists to have their photograph taken. I didn’t ride (my bike is going for a service) and instead pursued them on foot from Marylebone.  According to their published timetable what should have been a leisurely ride (circa 1910) turned into a sprint which I suspect was an attempt to finish before the predicted downpour so I stuck to fully automatic and let the X-Pro 1 figure everything out.....

Since the purchase of my Fujifilm X-E1 and have built up my kit for it I have changed a lot as a photographer in my style of shooting as well as my ability to see shots out of just my general surroundings. Going from a large DSLR to the small mirrorless was quite a jump for me, and then adding manual focus lenses was another very big jump that I had to get used to. One major difference that I noticed when photographing in the street with a DSLR compared to the Fuji was when you pull out the X-E1 no body takes any notice of you, blending into the scene becomes so easy. And being able to blend in and go unnoticed while photographing in the street is a very important to get those candid moments. I love using the Fuji with the manual focus lenses, you really have to take your time and think about the shot you want to take. Photos aren’t just snapped away with a heavy trigger finger like when I am photographing sport, I have to slow down and think which can being some terrific results. I have found that even though I am not as quick with the manual focus combo compared to my quick autofocus DSLR’s I think more about my photography as a whole and not just technique and simple settings. Another thing I love about this kit is how easy is it so travel with, walking around for 5 and 6 hours with my small Think Tank bag carrying my X-E1 kit compared which is a lot smaller and lighter than my DSLR even with just one zoom lens (I have the 2.8 L’s) and the fact that the Fuji produces such beautiful photos in such a small size is brilliant. Practice with the manual focus lenses has also made me faster with focus than I originally thought I would be which is also a nice surprise. Even though I have only recently taken to street photography I have taken some photos that I really like and I feel that this type of shooting has really improved me as a photographer and made me more aware of my surroundings. I am developing the ability to see something out of nothing which has made me a better photographer and my confidence in my work has also improved.I will be heading to the UK towards the end of this year and I am very much looking forward to walking around London again with a much smaller kit. I did it last year with my DSLR and large lenses and got some nice shots that I was happy with, although I do very much like the idea of walking around London for 6 hours with a bag that weighs less than half the one I used last year. Below are some of my street photos from my last trip to London.

Sample Pictures by Peter Tachauer