Hi, and welcome back to my little blog about my life as a dad, partner, photographer, and writer. I’m really enjoying the opportunity to document how and why I love photography and all that is associated with it. The creative joy I receive from the end-to-end creative process keeps me going and is like good therapy for my mind and soul. I also love the process of exploring photographic principles, practices, and experiences in the articles I write here, and for my clients. If I’m asked to write about a topic that I’m not confident in, I take the necessary time to learn and practice that topic to become confident – or at least confident enough to believe that the content is accurate. 

I’ve been busy of late – as mentioned in my last blog – Juggling Life, Photography, Work, and Play. In the last few weeks I’ve had Covid, photographed a concert, written a lot of articles, and had the opportunity to get out and about with my camera. I also mentioned in my last blog that I went on a street walk with the Fuji X Aus community. I had organised that street walk to explore up and down the Yarra River in the heart of Melbourne. It was a great morning, and we had a solid turnout of members from the community. As part of organising that first walk, I also scheduled a second one the following week for those that couldn’t make the first one. That took place on Saturday morning.

The meeting place was Federation Square, just outside of Flinders Street Train Station. It’s a handy and convenient meeting place in the city as train lines from all over Melbourne arrive there. There’s also a tram stop and parking at the rear of Fed Square. I arrived a little earlier and grabbed a coffee and some eggs before heading out and making the most of the gorgeous morning light. I had made the decision to shoot in black and white. More specifically, I set my Fujifilm X-E4 to shoot with the Acros film simulation. While I still shoot in RAW, I have the Acros film sim appearing in my EVF and on my LCD. As a result, I have to be more conscious about the shots I compose and how the tonal values and contrast play a greater part in the overall image. Later, I reapplied Acros to the RAW images in Lightroom while converting them to JPEG for this article. 

After reviewing my street photography images from the past three months, I realised that I use colour elements within the composition to add to the story. I love that we live in a vibrant city and make the most of the colourful people, places, and street elements to tell a story. However, I decided to spend the day shooting in black and white only as a way to challenge myself and shake things up a little. I was partially inspired by a friend who joined us for our street walk last weekend. He isn’t a Fujifilm photographer, but I let him join us anyway. I’ll forgive him for his sins! He was shooting with a Leica Q2 Monochrome – a compact fixed lens Leica ideal for street photography. Its sensor can only capture black-and-white images. His shots were gorgeous and demonstrated the true beauty of black-and-white compositions. 

I was travelling with a light kit – just the Fujifilm X-E4 and the Fujifilm XF 23mm F2. In my bag, I had a spare battery and some clearing gear. As always, I carried my camera in hand at all times, supported by a wrist strap. Just as well as, at one point, someone bumped into me and my camera tumbled from my hand! Luckily, it safely dangled from my wrist strap with no damage. I met up with another seven members of the Fuji X Aus community and gave them all a heads-up about our plans for the morning. We were taking a street walk to explore some Melbourne laneways and then deeper into the CBD to Chinatown before returning to Fed Square for a coffee. And with that, we set off from Fed Square at a slow, comfortable pace. 

I love these kinds of events as I get to spend time with people who speak my language. Talking about cameras, lenses, settings, experiences, learnings, and of course, travels. We had a couple of the group from the previous week join us and a few that I haven’t seen in years. We crossed Flinders Street and headed north into Hosier Lane. It’s a popular attraction given the cobbled street, canyon-like buildings to either side and the fascinating street art on all the walls. We emerged onto Flinders Land and headed east while exploring some of the smaller laneways along the way. We finally arrived at AC/DC Lane – named after the Australian Rock Band. It’s another gorgeous laneway with walls covered in both random street art and huge murals. Melbourne laneways are an eclectic mix of grungy spaces boxed in by some of Melbourne’s oldest buildings. History is both within and upon the walls. 

From Flinders Land, we strolled further north along Exhibition Street to Little Bourke Street – the home of Melbourne’s Chinatown. We took our time strolling down through Chinatown, witnessing and photographing the people and places. We stepped off Little Bourke and made our way south down Swanston Street towards Fed Square. The morning light was falling across Swanston Street, allowing us to capture some interesting shots of light and shadow. We arrived back at Fed Square – a few of the group left us there to catch public transport from Flinders Street Station. The remaining four of us grabbed a coffee at Mabu Mabu before calling the meet-up officially over. 

It was another great street walk and one that I really enjoyed. Yes, I was able to grab some interesting shots that I really like. But more importantly, I got to hand with my people. People who have similar passions and interests in photography and being visually creative. I intend to organise some future street walks and a couple of alternative events in the coming weeks. During both of the recent street walks, I’ve had a number of questions about camera settings and overcoming issues with navigating the camera menus. I’ve also had others ask my opinion on the best gear for certain situations. Based on that, I’m thinking of holding a sit-down event at a cafe with a big table. We book a table and set the time, and Melbourne Fuji X Aus members can join us for morning tea and to talk gear and all things photography. For now, I need a weekend off so I can spend more time with The Doctor, the kids, and the pets. Happy shooting. G