A friend identified a series of photos I’ve made over the past year that they wanted to have as prints. The matte prints all came in yesterday, and I was really pleased at how well Annex Photo made them.
Bathurst Station, Toronto, 2023
I hade three prints made, one from my Ricoh GRiiix (uncropped, 10×15), one from my Fuji X100F (cropped to 17MP, 10×15), and one from the telephoto on my iPhone 14Pro (9MP, 8.5×11). When I’ve shown the prints to others they can’t tell which camera made which image, nor do they see any notable quality difference between the prints.
Spadina & Grange, Toronto, 2023
Now all that’s left is to package and mail the prints to their owner!
For the past several years I’ve kept looking at the Leica Q2 as the next step in the camera I want to use. To be clear, I think I’m pretty proficient with the Fuji X100F but I’ve also been in situations where it hasn’t been able to perform, either due to weather or extreme low light. And as much as I like it there are things I find less than ideal about the Fuji, including the zone focusing system.
When I was in Quebec, recently, I held the Q2 for the first time, and got to play with it bit, and it convinced me that this was the next device I wanted to use to make photos. I don’t know that I’ll actually use it to make 28mm images and suspect I’ll crop to 35mm (equiv), but regardless I’m looking forward to using it when it arrives in the next week or so!
I’ve been shooting with a Fuji X100F for three years now, having gotten a used one for $800 CAD just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since purchasing it I’ve shot well north of 100,000 photos, and retained approximately 12,000 after culling.
In mid-October 2021 I built or adapted a recipe for monochrome images. In mid-2022 I found a ‘Leica-like’ colour recipe which I’ve kept in camera, though not used all that often. During my ownership of the camera I’ve made a lot of other recipes and just not really used them.
I’m back in isolation for the second time in 6-7 months and so took the time this weekend to update my Custom profiles. I know that others find these kinds of profiles/recipes helpful and so I thought I’d post them for others who are interested. In the case of Custom One and Custom Four I include a small selection of images that were made with the respective recipes.
Global Note
Ages ago I set my White Balance to Auto (R 2, B -2). My preference would be to have the white balance associated with each Custom mode but that’s only possible with the X100V, so I just have set this and left it.
Generally, I wanted to make sure that Custom One was the most commonly used recipe that I used. Previously, this was set to Customer Five which was fine (I had muscle memory on flipping back to it in the menu) but added more work than should have existed. I then tried to batch the ‘key’ monochrome and colour profiles together; Custom Seven is a default Acros but I don’t really expect to dig that deep into my Custom Recipes to get to it all that often.
Also, for the past year or so I’ve kept a Moment Cinebloom 10% on the lens, which gives images a slightly softer image and blooms light.
I have shot a lot of images with this recipe, probably to the tune of retaining about 8,000 frames over a year and a half. Generally, I find that in hard lighting (with strong shadows and bright highlights) that it benefits from dialling the exposure down by -⅔ to -1.0. In brighter light, however, I find that it works best to dial up exposure by at least ⅓ and often ⅔.
DR: 200
Film Simulation: Black and White
Grain Effect: Weak
While Balance: Auto
Highlight Tone: 2
Shadow Tone: 2
Colour: 0
Sharpness: -1
Noise Reduction: 0
Shocking LightWinter FlightToronto, 2023Toronto, 2023Toronto, 2023Queen & Bay, Toronto, 2023Toronto, 2023Royal York Hotel, Toronto, 2023
I do find that with this profile I sometimes use the Brush in Snapseed to either Dodge & Burn or increase exposure on faces when they’re hidden in shadows.
Custom Two—“Ilford HP5 Plus”
This is the recipe from Fuji X Weekly. I haven’t shot with it as of yet, but am curious to see how it looks as compared to my ‘normal’ (Custom One) monochrome recipe. Based on the settings it should naturally have a stronger contrast than comes normally with Custom One.
DR: 200
Film Simulation: Acros
Grain Effect: Strong
While Balance: Auto
Highlight Tone: 4
Shadow Tone: 2
Colour: 0
Sharpness: 0
Noise Reduction: -3
Exposure Compensation: 0 (Normally)
Custom Three—“Astia Kodak Ektar 100”
Another recipe from Fuji X Weekly! I like this as it’s punchy but somewhat soft in its nature. I’m going to be a bit curious to see how this looks with my Moment Cinebloom 10% Filter.
DR: DR-Auto
Film: Astia
Grain: None
White Balance: Auto
Highlight Tone: 1
Shadow Tone: 3
Colour: 4
Sharpness: 1
Noise Reduction: -3
Exposure Compensation: 0 to ⅓ (typically)
Note: while the recipe calls for 3 Red and -2 Blue, my white balance is set to 2 Red and -2 Blue.
Custom Four—“Leica Colour”
I have no idea where precisely this came from but it’s been the only colour profile I’ve used for the past year or so. I really like how saturated and bright it is, but really have no idea how much what comes through is really ‘Leica-like’. This was just the description provided by wherever I copied the recipe.
DR: 200
Film: Standard
Grain: None
White Balance: Auto
Highlight Tone: 1
Shadow Tone: 1
Colour: 3
Sharpness: 1
Noise Reduction: 0
Custom Five—“Punchy Classic Chrome”
I have a love of Classic Chrome, and added this to make it a little more saturated than typical. I also wanted to see about adding more dramatic contrast between highlights and shadows, which is something I often tried to do in post when I first shot Classic Chrome a few years ago.
DR: 200
Film: Classic Chrome
Grain: None
White Balance: Auto
Highlight tone: 2
Shadow Tone: 2
Colour: 1
Sharpness: 1
Noise Reduction: 0
Custom Six—“Punchy Pro High-Neg”
I…haven’t really ever taken a photo with Pro High-Neg before. So I don’t quite know how this recipe will play out or even how much I might use it.
DR: Auto
Film: Pro High-Neg
Grain: Weak
WB: Auto
Highlight: 1
Shadow: 1
Colour: 1
Sharpness: -1
Noise Reduction: 0
Custom Seven—“Acros Bland”
This is a pure Acros recipe with no changes. I just want it present to be able to quickly flip to it and try it out at some point.
DR: 200
Film: Acros
Grain: Off (Acros increases grain normally as you exceed 800 ISO)
I’ve spent a lot of personal time behind my cameras throughout 2021 and have taken a bunch of shots that I really like. At the same time, I’ve invested a lot of personal time learning more about the history of photography and how to accomplish things with my cameras. Below, in no particular order, is a list of the ways I worked to improve my photography in 2021.
Fuji Recipes
I started looking at different ‘recipes’ that I could use for my Fuji x100f, starting with those at Fuji X Weekly and some YouTube channels. I’ve since started playing around with my own black and white recipes to get a better sense of what works for making my own images. The goal in all of this is to create jpgs that are ‘done’ in body and require an absolute minimum amount of adjustment. It’s very much a work in progress, but I’ve gotten to the point that most of my photos only receive minor crops, as opposed to extensive edits in Darkroom.
Comfort in Street Photography
The first real memory I have of ‘doing’ street photography was being confronted by a bus driver after I took his photo. I was scared off of taking pictures of other people for years as a result.
Over the past year, however, I’ve gotten more comfortable by watching a lot of POV-style YouTube videos of how other street photographers go about making their images. I don’t have anyone else to go an shoot with, and learn from, so these videos have been essential to my learning process. In particular, I’ve learned a lot from watching and listening to Faizal Westcott, the folks over at Framelines, Joe Allan, Mattias Burling, and Samuel Lintaro Hopf.
Moreover, just seeing the photos that other photographers are making and how they move in the street has helped to validate that what I’m doing, when I go out, definitely fits within the broader genre of street photography.
Histories of Photography
In the latter three months of 2021 I spent an enormous amount of time watching videos from the Art of Photography, Tatiana Hopper, and a bit from Sean Tucker. The result is that I’m developing a better sense of what you can do with a camera as well as why certain images are iconic or meaningful.
Pocket Camera Investment
I really love my Fuji X100F and always have my iPhone 12 Pro in my pocket. Both are terrific cameras. However, I wanted something that was smaller than the Fuji and more tactile than the iPhone, and which I could always have in a jacket pocket.
To that end, in late 2021 I purchase a very lightly used Ricoh GR. While I haven’t used it enough to offer a full review of it I have taken a lot of photos with it that I really, really like. More than anything else I’m taking more photos since buying it because I always have a good, very tactile, camera with me wherever I go.
Getting Off Instagram
I’m not a particularly big fan of Instagram these days given Facebook’s unwillingness or inability to moderate its platform, as well as Instagram’s constant addition of advertisements and short video clips. So since October 2021 I’ve been posting my photos almost exclusively to Glass and (admittedly to a lesser extent) to this website.
Not only is the interface for posting to Glass a lot better than the one for Instagram (and Flickr, as well), the comments I get on my photos on Glass are better than anywhere else I’ve ever posted my images. Admittedly Glass still has some growing pains but I’m excited to see how it develops in the coming year.
I’ve created a series of recipes for my Fuji X100F and it’s been immensely satisfying to capture images and they look exactly the way I want, with no editing required aside from minor crops. Definitely check out Fuji X Weekly if you want to get started yourself!
Toronto is home to Ontario Place, which was once a park that had splash pads, rides, a Legoland, and more. It was opened in 1971 and hugs Lake Ontario. It was closed in 2012 for redevelopment and, since then, has largely languished as successive governments have suggested ideas but none have come to fruition. Ontario’s official motto is “A Place to Grow”, and by extension Ontario Place itself is a place that has since grown up and is now slowly wasting away due to government neglect.
It’s also one of my favourite places in the city to visit and photograph, and especially during the pandemic when it has been relatively quiet and free of people. It’s both a very calming location and one that has very interesting buildings and urban ruins to photograph.
(Highway Views by Christopher Parsons)(Modes of Locomotion by Christopher Parsons)
It’s getting warmer in Toronto which means that people are inclined to be outdoors; there are more cyclists and skateboarders in Toronto than I think ever before, and they’re all using the paths that are typically used predominantly by people who are walking or jogging.
(Unity Run by Christopher Parsons)(Light Rails BW by Christopher Parsons)
Each year, I’ve managed to find or access or photograph a new part of the park that’s succumbed to lack of upkeep, and this year is no exception. An enterprising soul laid down some boards to cross over into part of the flume ride which meant I could see it for the first time! I suspect that it’ll only be a matter of time until a provincial government finally gets its way and tears down these ruins.
(Towards the Apex by Christopher Parsons)(Down We Go by Christopher Parsons)(Flume(ing) Graffiti by Christopher Parsons)(Landlocked by Christopher Parsons)
I’m sure that more and more people will be using the park this year it’s limited attractions, and especially as more Torontonians get vaccinated. While I’ll miss feeling like the park is my own, it’ll be terrific to have another part of the city return to normality.
(Goodbye! by Christopher Parsons)
(All photos shot using an iPhone 12 Pro and Fuji x100f, and edited using my presets in Darkroom.)
Excited Pixels 