Wandering about with a Fuji X camera

I pretty much never go anywhere without having a camera with me. Most of the time that camera will be either a Fuji X100T or an X-T1 with the 18-135mm zoom. They're small, light, convenient, have great optics and lens choices, and take great pictures. Occasionally, when I don't want to have a camera conspicuously around my neck, I will tuck a Sony RX100IV in my pocket.

About half the time I run across something I want to photograph. I find this to be a high statistic since I am usually just running some errand in my familiar neighborhood. Nonetheless, there is always something -- an unusual light or weather phenomena -- that reacts with familiar subjects in a different way and presents me with a different way of seeing it.

Below are a few of the shots I captured this past week while wandering about.

This time of year the sun is low in the southern sky, and, since the grid of Avenues in New York runs north and south, the sun casts long shadows that can form interesting patterns. I waited on the corner of this cobblestone street for someone to cross it so I could capture this backlit image of high contrast and dramatic shadow with my X100T.

While walking down Fifth Avenue I noticed the sun reflecting off the windows of this office building and used it as the corner stone of a composition in contrast with the dark shape of the Empire State Building. Because I had the X100T with its fixed lens I decided to tilt to include the building tower. This gave me a a very strong diagonal like to work with in my composition. Ahhh...composition born of necessity.

This was taken on an overcast day. I liked the way the composition transitioned in tones from the bright sky to the light Flatiron Building that was framed by the darker building in the foreground. I also like the barren winter tree in the bottom right as a contrast of shape. Fortunately, I had the X-T1 with the 18-135mm zoom with me so I was able to compose this shot as I wished by picking the focal length. 

The first shot I did of this was an accidental blur. I liked the way it looked and repeated an up/down movement of the camera with a slow shutter speed until I caught a blur I liked. For this I used the Fuji 10-24mm wide angle zoom on the X-T1.