Daily Inspiration #351 by David Hunter – The end of summer 2012 with the Fuji X100

September 4, 2012 Daily Inspiration, Fuji 70

End of Summer 2012 – with the Fuji X100

Hello Steve. For consideration, I am sending you photos that I took on my summer vacation. These days so many of us work so hard and we count ourselves lucky to get any vacation time at all throughout the year. I have not been on a vacation since last summer and I was just aching to leave the heated concrete jungle of NYC and visit my friends and family in Southern California. Dear to my heart are my nephews, Trevor and Kai, and my niece, Kiana. It was a magical day when the four of us packed up the car and drove out to Venice Beach to visit my old highschool friend, Vince, and his son, River. It was also a pleasure to meet Vince’s friends, Sam, Brigitte, and their son, Ashton, too. Together we all spent the day at the beach and had a sunset dinner eating fajitas and drinking margaritas. We made memories.

On my trip I brought with me the only camera that I own; the Fuji X100. I used to own the Leica X1 but I sold it because it did not have a built-in viewfinder and I was encouraged (by reading the reviews here) to purchase the X100. I was so pleased with the image quality of the Leica but I just could not deal with framing my photos through a LCD screen. I am so glad I made the switch to Fuji. For me, the image quality of the Fuji X100 equals that of the Leica X1 but the Fuji has better build quality and I can now frame my photos with the EVF/OVF. I find the menus in the Fuji to be a bit tedious and over complicated but I have grown to love the X100. Living in and photographing NYC, I find the X100 to be the perfect street camera. The Fuji X100 was a joy to use on my end-of-summer beach day too.

For these photos at Venice Beach, I used the Fuji X100 with a polarizer filter and I shot in full manual mode. I shot these photos with the intention of recording a memorable day with my friends and family but I was just so pleased with how the photos turned out. Like the ocean breeze, I find these photos to be simple pleasures. I used LR4 and Silver Efex Pro 2 to edit these pictures. I will make prints of these photos and frame them to give to my loved ones and new friends. It will be a nice token to remember our summer of 2012.

Thank you, Steve, for all your hard work and for inspiring me.

Regards,

David Hunter

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70 Comments

  1. I totally dig those first two beach shots… the color sceme is just gorgeous. The nicely desaturated soft touch you gave them… i have to try to get mine the same 😉

    kudos

  2. #1 and #5 are beautiful. #6 is, well..amazing! There is simplicity, emotion and a sense of time captured here that is hard to put into words. For me anyway. Very nice David!

    btw this is the first time I have commented on a photograph ever. Not much on the intertubes moves me photography wise. And the forums…(sigh)…the forums. I have come to sumise that there are two polar types in the modern photo world. The nose pickers (gear nerd left brain types) and a few artists. Ignore the nose pickers, David. Money or cameras can’t take them where you can go. Well done.

    • Wow, thank you Brian and thanks to everyone else for their encouraging comments. It means a lot to me.

  4. Love the set, you had captured the intimate and playful moments so well, thanks for sharing!!

  7. I loved all the photos. The 1st and 5th ones really got to me. I did not get to go to the beach this Summer. Brought back many great memories.

  8. These are excellent. They show off the bokeh of the lens really well- OOF areas are gently OOF, not totally wiped out as many people like to do to show off bokeh. The backgrounds are intelligible, and the subjects pop. Dang. I don’t want to want this camera again 🙂

  11. Great memories in these images. But the last one I feel evokes more then a memory for those involved. To me, it speaks to parenthood, protection, comfort, and love. I love that image. Thank you David for sharing these with us. And thank you Steve for sharing Davids images on your wonderful site.

    Dan

  12. These photos are somebody else’s creations for their own enjoyment. He didn’t have to send them in, but he did for us to look at, not to bash. The owner is entitled to “ruin” his photos any way he wishes as long as it creates the right mood and brings back memories for him. IMHO, that is what photography is about, and is the essence of what Steve’s site stands for, not presenting photos that are technically perfect for lab tests. I am confident that the owner of this site, these photos, and fans of this site would mostly agree. Please stop bashing and instead just send in your own photos that represent what you stand for so we can all enjoy them. Spread the peace man. The world already has enough wars.

    Kudos to the artist for creating moods that stand out. I agree that the final picture was very impressive.

  13. The last picture is the best picture I have seen on this site EVER whether it over post-processed or not. Sorry Steve 😉 It could be placed ot he cover of magazine.

  14. I also love the way you’ve post processed your photos i firmly believe most photos can benefit from post processing. To quote Ansel Adams ‘The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways’.

    VSCO film is well worth a look if you like silver efex pro 2 as it’s integrated in to Lightroom 4 better through presets but it’s a bit limited in the choice of films.

  17. James, If I’m not mistaken, the very name of Steve’s blog, “Daily Inspiration”, would suggest a certain tone to the purpose of it, none of which has anything to do with someone’s analysis of what is submitted. Where does it say, “constructive criticism” wanted, and if it is seen as the case, where was the “constructive” component of the comment? If someone is going to present themselves as the “guardian” of all things perfect in a photographic sense, perhaps some “inspiration” in their commentary would be helpful rather than a one line, self serving, holier than thou, rant?

  18. All fantastic photos. Some people are afraid to take their cameras to the beach, but these show some of the holidays best shots can come from there. Well done!!

  20. I really love the connection.. the warm feeling I got when I look at the first and last moments

    thats is so heart warming

    thanks for your vision and sharing it with us

    William

  22. Inconsistency? Post processing? A tiny, bad-ass camera that can fire a frame without a sound, and give you files that would allow such opinions/options? Go Fuji…Go! The X100 rocks. Period. And you, David Hunter, have an eye. Thank you.

  23. Thank you all for your kind comments and critiques. I did not use PS to edit these photos. Everything was edited in LR4 and Silver Efex Pro 2. The colors in the third to last photo were not saturated post-process. Not only were the colors on the beach at sunset spectacular but I used a polarizer filter too. That’s what gave the 3rd photo it’s appearance. There was no offense taken by any words here. Again, I thank you for your comments and I thank Steve for posting my photos. Everyone has been encouraging.

    • Great reply David. You have enlightened me on the effect of using a polariz filter, which I have never done. Again, great images, which I viewed as such, not as family holiday snapshots.

  26. Gary, there have been other photo sites wrecked by the Pollyanna Brigade where everything was reduced to “great capture” or, “thanks for sharing”, and any hint of constructive criticism was berated. It all becomes very twee, complete with self-appointed guardians of the “community”. I’m not particulary interested in the details of someone else’s family, but David has most likely submitted his snaps for analysis rather than mandatory lauding.

  27. Not sure if you have found your identifiable style but I would suggest to you that you keep pursuing the B/W tone and composition of the last image. I think you really have something there and you might want to think about expanding more of your work in that direction. Very well done sir!

    • I just want to clarify that I wasn’t inferring you need to find a style or hadn’t found one already, just that if you were experimenting ( I know I still am) to see what fits your eye best that you consider working from that template in the future.

  29. Nice pictures, especially last one (could go to photostocks)
    But honestly I don’t get why is everybody so excited

  33. Amazing pictures, especially the last one! Keep up the good work. I have the NEX-7 and NEX-C3. I will be posting some of mine and hope it could be featured as a daily insparation too.

  34. #4 looks like it was taken with a 40 year old roll of colour negative that’s been lying in the sun; interesting even though it’s been done before. Some others look either under- or oversaturated. No post processing? Fortunately I still have the full use of both my eyes.

    I like ’em though. I can’t really find any particular style pattern but hey, who cares?

    The last one is a classic, really great image.

    Very good camera, great photographer that could try and find a more consistent style?

  35. My first comment on this site. What a beautiful, classic, time-captured group of pictures. Literally some of the most emotionally time captured pictures I have seen in some time. Thanks for sharing.

  38. They all tell a story, trigger memories, and elicit emotion. For me that’s what it’s all about. Nice work.

  40. Nice work. From the looks of the beaches, it’s not too far from where I live. The last photo is simply beautiful. If you crop just below the man’s ear, You will have a timeless classic. Nice moment! It just proves that Good photos are everywhere and rewarded to those who are disciplined enough to carry their camera. I need to learn from this 🙂

    • I actually agree with CL. It would create a completely different picture. Either way, the last pic is outstanding!
      I’m loving my X100! Just need more practice. : )

  43. Super stuff. Good memories there for sure. Also I’m interested in the shallow depth of field you’re getting as well. I hadn’t realised the X100 could be as effective at subject isolation.

  45. Beautiful photos and yes the last one is spectacular. I have lots of cameras and lenses but there is something about that X100 that makes you want to bring it with you.

  48. They are all great images. The fourth one looks a bit like an old, aged filmic/analogical image! Love ’em all!

      • Photos 3, 4 and 5 have great composition but unless I’m blind, they have, among others, been post-processed . How much, is a question of opinion; personally I think way too much. For example, the blue hue in picture 4 is not eye pleasing at all and I don’t really see what the photographer was trying to portray with such treatment. You are entitled to your opinion, try to respect mine. If not, I don’t see the relevance of having a comment section on your site…

        • The photographer obviously likes them just the way they are John or he would not have sent them in, so your ‘comment’ in Steve’s ‘comment’ section is pointless and a waste of our time. Perhaps you should consider the old adage of, ‘if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all’. Oh, and for the record, I really enjoyed the set.

        • Mr.Doolittle. How do you know that Mr.Hunter “ruined” his photos? Everyone sees the world in their unique ways. Sometimes it’s blue and yellow and sometimes it’s black and white. It’s what makes us all special. Otherwise we all be the same. And that my friend would be a “ruined” photo 🙂

        • The problem is not your opinion John. The problem is completely how you expressed it. “Why do people ruin their photos with so much PS is beyond me…” your original comment is worded in a manner that states what you wrote as fact. It is rude and non constructive and many including myself would completely disagree with it. Perhaps you could have written it in a way that said “I like the content of the photos but for my taste the PS was a little heavy.” says the same thing but in a way that respects the photographer and his great set of images.

          • Maybe, there is too much emphasis on B&W photos? Hmm… The power of positive thinking: Do COLOR photos annoy lovers of B&W photos? Remember all that negativity when I suggested color popping in just one last photo of a beautiful B&W tattoo? PS is a wonderful tool in so many positive ways.

    • Lovely pics, I really don’t think there is too much PS. Remember any camera film or digi is just a capture device, its what one does with that file/neg that makes it really interesting.

      • I totally disagree. I never post process mine beyond contrast and levels having come from the darkroom days and I don’t even know how to do these advanced software treatments. I think it looks amazing though. I wish I knew how to do all these cool things and had the time to do it

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