Los Angeles. The Angels. The City of Angels. La La Land. Tinseltown. LA. The Entertainment Capital of the World. Whatever you choose to call it, there is no denying that Los Angeles is an epic city to visit. It is a place that has a soul.
I was in Los Angeles in March to spend some time in the sun after a prolonged and cold winter, and to give my girls time to enjoy the city, Universal Studios and of course a few days at Disneyland. As always, I managed to sneak in a few hours of street photography here and there, including a day spent with fellow Official Fujifilm X Photographer Rinzi Ruiz in downtown LA.
I recently found time to edit and process the images I shot during that trip, which I am happy to finally share with you in this two part series. All images were shot as jpegs on a pre-production copy of the Fujifilm X100F, with a little post processing in Lightroom as needed. If you are curious about my configuration and camera settings for street photography you can read about them HERE.
Before we get to part one of this series I’d like to share a few quick thoughts if that is ok:
First: It is important to always try to create balance in your life. This trip was very much about spending quality time with my family, but they know how important my photography is to me so we always strive to balance family time with my need to shoot. I love them for that.
Second: My style of shooting changed a bit for this trip. I am usually a patient photographer, often waiting up to an hour for the right subject or the right light. Because I was time limited on these short excursions, however, I found myself shooting in a more reactive and less methodical manner than I normally do. I think it is good to come out of your comfort zone from time to time. It makes you a better photographer.
Finally: This trip, and some of the international attendees at my workshops this summer, serve as a great reminder to me of how small the world really is now. It is an honour to represent Fujifilm as an Official Fuji X Photographer and to be in a peer group with amazing artists like Rinzi, people who I can connect with during my travels all over the world. I am also so appreciative of the friendships that I have made with people from around the world through the Fuji community. I count myself fortunate to know so many of you.
I hope you enjoy these images. Part two of this series can be viewed HERE.
Until then,
Ian
Talk about chasing the light! Such thoughtful frames that easily lead your eye to the subject. A wonderful first entry in this LA journal.
Many thanks my friend!
Absolutely love these images!
Thanks! I only had two quick outings that trip to shoot, but the light and the city definitely cooperated.
Cheers,
Ian
The favorite area of the X100F is the street photo. This is perfectly demonstrated here. With great talent.
I agree, it is almost the perfect camera for shooting documentary style on the streets.
Cheers,
Ian
Truly great photos. Would love to see the SOOC images and how they compare to the finished pieces. I’m not always able to get the punchiness of these and not sure if it’s because I’m not being bold enough with my post processing or if it’s the photos themselves. Cheers.
I’ll put together a short video on how I process images leak these.
Cheers,
Ian
Great photos and very inspiring! Some pretty harsh lighting and extreme light contrasts but I love the way you handled some of the more challenging situations. Beautiful graphic quality to the extreme contrast photos.
Hello Richard!
I love high contrast light, it works so well for street photography. Many thanks for your kind words!
Cheers,
Ian
Great images Ian. Some nice timing and moments and fantastic shadow compositions. I love my X100T for candid street. I suppose I’ll have to upgrade to the F at some point! 🙂
I love the T, but the F is a worthy upgrade for sure. 👍
Fantastic photos Ian. I really like the Classic Chrome treatment. It has such a nice look to it. I was curious if when you take these photos, are you varying the height at which you take them? And are you shooting through the viewfinder each time or is it a mixture of EVF/OVF?
Hey Scott!
I change up angle and position all of the time. I rarely shoot just one image of a scene, but instead try to always “work the scene” and get the best image that I can. Often this isn’t the first image I take, but one much later once I’ve figured out how to bring all of the elements of the scene together.
I am about 50/50 bringing the camera up to my eye versus just holding it lower and shooting off the rear LCD. Again, it all depends on the scene.
Thanks for commenting!
Cheers,
Ian
Considering between x100f vs xt-20 and came across this. Very nice pictures. 🙂
Many thanks Erica, both are excellent choices!
Cheers,
Ian