Find the Colour

For my One Camera One Lens One Year project so far I've used a single Capture One preset, intended to emulate Tri-X film pushed 2 stops. I've been happy with the look, and have become used to pre-visualising scenes with it in mind, with some success I think. But spring is here now: in the past few days the weather has improved markedly, and along with it a kind of nostalgia mixed with a longing to try something new has arisen in me. I've been poking around with some other C1 presets and came across one I'd never really given »

OCOLOY Week 12

This week was a nice change of pace as we went up to see Zoe's parents for Easter. It's been just about a year since we were last in the North West, and although I don't really miss it, it was interesting to go back and see what, if anything, had changed (not much, it turns out). I also finally got my bike, which I'd left in the old house in Liverpool and had been meaning to get back ever since we moved down to Lowestoft. It needs new tyres and innertubes, and a good clean, but once it's fixed »

OCOLOY Week 11

I'm really starting to enjoy using this camera and lens combo now, and more importantly it feels just as comfortable and familiar as my X100 did after a year of use. I no longer feel constrained by the 50mm-e field of view; instead I'm simply accustomed to it and am able to recognise or dismiss potential scenes accordingly. The lens itself is not much of an issue either: for the type of shooting I do, I don't feel particularly limited by it or the X-E1. Neither is particularly fast, and the camera's viewfinder is kinda small, but they do the »

OCOLOY Week 10

A little late posting this week, as I've been very busy at work, on top of needing to get my car fixed. Anyway, week ten! One fifth of the way through, and I feel like I'm really starting to get comfortable with the 50mm-e focal length now. I'm finding it much easier to pre-visualise framing, so I'm able to move to a position, bring the camera up to my eye and have things more or less look how I expect. The Suffolk Punch blossom telegraph bridge cable Oulton Broad zetec sunset receiver »

Oulton Broad

I recently went to nearby Oulton Broad, a large lake and marshland west of Lowestoft. Luckily the weather was shiny, and although a little chilly, by the time I'd done a fair amount of walking I was plenty warm. Hopefully when the weather warms up a bit more Zoe and I will go out here for a picnic, and have a walk around the local town. The view east from Bridge Road, looking towards the rail bridge. A jetty leading towards the rail bridge. The same jetty, but viewed from the south. I'm not sure if there are still boat »

OCOLOY Week 9

There are clearly not enough pictures of cats on the internet so this week I took some more. flag texture shed roof coin jar ornate shadow The Junction playground wobbler dry flower buds »

OCOLOY Week 8

I confess I was quite slack this week, not taking any photos at all until the weekend, and even then only getting out for an hour or so on a dull, cloudy evening. Still, it was good to get out for a walk over to the beach again – with the bad weather it's not really been worth it very often. I also had some more thoughts on the 'dishonesty' of adding grain to my photos even though practically speaking the source data is mostly noise-free. The key word is 'mostly': while shooting at up to around 1600 ISO results in »

OCOLOY Week 7

After a bit of a slow start Wednesday to Friday, the weekend was really productive for me: each day I went on a nice long walk up Lowestoft's main shopping precinct and high street, then back along the seafront. On Sunday the weather was cold and grey and windy whereas Saturday was bright and sunny (but still pretty cold and windy). Surprisingly though I feel like the pictures I took on the dull grey day were on the whole better than the ones taken the day after. Perhaps they suit the industrial look of the area or the bleak brutalist »

OCOLOY Week 6

This weekend Zoe and I paid a visit to Beccles, an old town a short drive away. Unfortunately the weather was rather dull, and being Sunday all the shops were shut. On the other hand, this meant the place was very quiet and peaceful. I've also been very busy at work lately, too, which has meant I've not always had the energy for making a good effort to get out and take pictures. Still, the short trip to Beccles was quite productive, so it's not all bad. dev work boot hinge papered shop antique shops have you paid and displayed »

OCOLOY Week 5

Bit of a lazy start to the week, but by Sunday I was much more active, and went on a nice walk. Sadly the weather was flat and grey, but I saw that as a challenge. Morrisons shower scrub 6P29 fragile bench wood's edge curvy hangout flags »

OCOLOY Week 4

For this week I've gone with the suggestion to stick with just one processing preset in Capture One – Robert Boyer's Tri-X +2, which is a grainy, contrasty and 'vintage' look that I really like. Admittedly, it's a bit... dishonest, perhpas? I mean, the output from the X-E1 is nowhere near as coarse-grained – the picture below shows a 100% crop comparing the normal Tri-X preset (with grain amount and granularity reduced to 10% or so) to the Tri-X +2 preset at its default: this is from 'slow country lane', below It's a bit of a conundrum really: I like the grainy »

OCOLOY Week 3

Gosh what an uninspiring week! Perhaps it's just the initial excitement of starting a New Project wearing off, or perhaps lack of sleep, but this week I really struggled to find motiviation, and on a couple of days didn't even bother to get out of the house for a walk. Sidenote: I'm still using Capture One 8 for my pictures, but I'm trying out Robert Boyer's B&W film presets, specifically Tri-X and Tri-X +2. Not sure this week's pictures really do the presets justice, although I do like the more contrasty shadows based on what I've seen so »

OCOLOY Week 2

This week was a mix of clear skies and bright winter sun, and dull overcast days where it was a struggle to find anything interesting to shoot. I'm quite pleased with my efforts to consistently go for reasonably long walks (at least 30 minutes) every day, one of which was after sunset -- I think in the future I'll try to get more pictures at night, to explore the possibilities. abandoned delivery bird bath fence post Lowestoft inner harbour beach path at night this picture, and the 'bird bath' and fence post pictures above, are all from the area around »

One Camera, One Lens, One Year: The Beginning

I've previously written about the use of my Fuji X-E1 and XF 35mm f/1.4 lens, and how it still doesn't feel completely natural. This project is, in part, an attempt to overcome that. Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer wrote a post last year specifying the details of the project, and I'm going to stick to it with one exception: instead of printing the photos, I'm going to choose one photo to work on, then output it from whatever editor I'm using (Capture One Pro 8, which I plan to stick with) and add it to a draft »