I have been forcing myself to take the weekends off from the gym. It’s hard for me to not be active so I still try to go for a walk to get some exercise. Yesterday was actually a nice day out and a reprieve from the very cold weather we have been having. I asked my wife Anne if she wanted to join me for a photo walk but she decided to just stay in.
I almost left the house with my Nikon F4 and my last roll of black and film. I decided to save that for another day and instead grabbed my Nikon DF and the 35mm 1.8. What can I say, it was calling out to me.
Because it’s winter and I like to shoot wide open, I put an ND filter on the lens as well. All I had to decide on now was the destination. I decided to go walk around Downtown Fort William. It an older part of Thunder Bay, and it’s also where my studio is. It’s one of my favourite places to take photos.
I didn’t have an a planned route or objective other then to capture whatever I see. I should probably start setting goals or projects for myself in the New Year but for now I just wanted to take photos.
As you can see from the photos below, I shoot randomly. I look for angles and colours. I’m always framing in my mind. I don’t stay in one place to long, I simply move on to the next location. If I had all day to shoot and there were actually people out, I would probably hang around spots longer.
Without chalking it up to just being my ‘latest camera’, the Nikon DF is a pleasure to shoot with. The sound and feel of the shutter make me want to press it over and over again. I’ve also mentioned this before, and I’m sure many people will say it’s simply not true, but the image quality and tones and colours have a unique feel. Better then my X100F and D750. It reminds me of when I used to shoot with the D700. But this sensor is much, much better.
I think I ended up walking around for about 90 minutes. The whole time I was in the zone. Everything flowed naturally. I wasn’t really thinking about the photos, I was just taking them. It’s supposed to be warm st lunch today so I’m already looking forward to taking the DF out again.
