Last week I was hired to photograph a 3 day conference in downtown Toronto and I was pretty excited to do so, for a couple reasons. The main one being that I got to be a part of an amazing conference for ONWA, which you can read about on my professional blog here. The second reason was that I could not wait to get out and do some street photography. Lastly, I was very anxious to try out my new X100F. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to do very much street photography. However, I still managed to go for a quick walk around the block one evening, and managed to get some keepers and test out the new camera.
I little back story about my experience with Toronto. I lived all around the Toronto area off an on for about 9 years back in the day. During that time I was working as a Graphic Designer, which I still do here in Thunder Bay. But, it wasn't until I moved back to Thunder Bay about 9 years ago that I really got into photography. Being back in Toronto now so many years later and with my new 'outlook' so to speak, was almost overwhelming. It's hard to explain, but I was looking at everything through a fresh set of eyes.
Don't get me wrong, Thunder Bay is a beautiful city, but you'd be lucky to find 10 or more people on any given block at one time, unless you it's an event of some sort. As I walked out of my hotel room onto Yonge Street, there are hundreds of people, not to mention all the architecture and history. I joked to my wife Anne that it was almost too much. I simply wasn't used to it. That did not stop me from wandering the area and looking for interesting compositions. In a perfect world though, I would have had 8 hours to just take my time and enjoy it. Alas, I only managed to get out for about 1 hour the whole trip. We are going to a concert in August, so I plan on leaving a lot more time during that trip since it's strictly a vacation and not for work.
As I mentioned above, I recently acquired an X100F. I actually traded in my XPro 2 for it, seeing as how I just wasn't using it enough. I originally owned the X100s but sold it a couple years ago to fund some of my Nikon purchases which I still have today. It was like being reunited with an old friend, I felt right home using the X100F. Boy was it fun to use as well. Don't get me wrong, I could have easily brought one of my Nikons but I wanted something indiscreet and portable.
All the photos below were shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom. I'm always amazed at the initial colours coming out of pretty much any Fuji camera. The X100F is no exception. I can't wait to really spend some time with the camera.
