Revisiting the Fuji Tri-X formula in the GFX50Sii. I still like it. It works well.

I keep coming back to the Google building as a subject because of its odd, curved architecture. It's different. And in different light it reveals different personalities. I was using the GFX 50Sii yesterday along with its 50mm f3.5 lens. The custom setting was my recently concocted Tri-X formula which was provided by the iPhone app, "Fuji Weekly." I also dialed in a yellow filter setting. To my eyes the images that come from these settings are a very close approximation of the Tri-X film, dosed in D76, that I remember from the 20+ years I spent in my darkroom. Making prints for clients and for myself.

The Google building has become a regular subject for me. I know many people can only photograph well if they are constantly in new locations. Basically, they love to photograph things that they've never seen before. I find that early shots of a stationary subject are more of a scouting exercise and that repeated exposure to a subject reveals it, and me, in a progressively different way. 

I am currently reading biography of Josef Koudelka and he suggests that he worked best in his own home country and in areas he returned to again and again. He likened the process to distilling a subject down to its essentials. 

I have the same photographer relationship with the building most Austinites refer to as "the Jenga Building" named so after the game in which players attempt to remove blocks from a stack without collapsing the stack. I have photographed it in all weather and all different times of the day and I keep coming back to it because I find the design both novel and intentionally humorous. The butterfly bridge is a good foreground frame. It's nice that an architectural team can, in this day and age, embrace a certain whimsy to some projects. It would be sad if all our new buildings were strict, rectangular boxes stood on end. 

As I am sure you are aware by now I enjoy photographing store window mannequins. They are a breed apart from the more introspective in store mannequins. This one in particular is a current favorite mostly because some crafty window designer decided to construct a risqué pose with the exposure of the plastic breasts being central to the display. I find it both funny and charming. I had a friend who was visiting earlier in the month from some smaller city in the midwest. His remark? "This would not fly in _______." 

Whether or not one enjoys the mannequins I have to say that the camera and lens do a great job showcasing detail. The braided strap on the purse of the mannequin is wonderfully detailed. It adds a lot to the blandness of endless white plastic. 

Actual, human window designers. Caught in the act of planning and measuring. 

I love being in Austin between Christmas and New Year's Eve. Downtown is uncrowded. The weather (especially this year!!!) has been almost exactly perfect. The days start out in the mid 40s and are quickly warmed up by the nicely angled Texas sun (as opposed to say...the UK sun. Only recently became aware that so many different suns rotate around the earth....) and by noon it's in the 60s. The strong but slanted sunlight, coupled with clean, clear skies, makes all the color pop. Which is kind of an odd thing to write in a blog post about black and white photography. But even in "monochrome" the special sunlight of mid-winter makes a difference. The skies are bright until about 5 or 5:30 in the late afternoon, and only after the sun sets does the temperature start to drop back down. 

I also love this week because traffic more or less disappears, lines for the hot food bar at the flagship Whole Foods Store disappear (which makes lunch much more enjoyable...) and reservations are not required everywhere. (I wonder, if Austin keeps growing and people continue to abandon home cooking, if we'll need reservations at places like McDonalds and Starbucks....?). 

I used to feel that the Fuji GFX 50 might be a smidge too big to drag around and make photographs out in the street with. If people would find it odd or intimidating. But no one bats an eye anymore at someone with a camera. Essentially they seem to see it as either a new and fun hipster thing or, if you are over 40, something their crazy uncle does because he never graduated from the last century. Either way it's become non-issue. Might be the invisibility conferred by age-ism. I don't care any more since I discovered I can also wear whatever I want.

"clue." Written on the envelope. 

Mindscape Capital. Made me think for a moment that all wealth is just made up and 

mythical. Not sure about Unknown Ventures but I think a lot of us depart on them every day.

With mixed results. 

You can always tell when I am serious about taking a photograph because I'll have the camera up to my eye. You can't imagine how insanely dorky I think it is when I see a person holding the camera out in front of themself with one hand while studying the screen on the back and waiting for the AF to lock in. Same folks who walk  around with their lens hoods put onto their lenses backwards. Don't like your lens hood? Just leave it at home. 

One of the few downtown mini-murals that has yet to have been destroyed by unwanted graffiti. It's been there since long before the Covid years. Elegant, but more so in color. Silly me. 

This steering wheel was on a matte black golf cart that was parked in front of Shiner's Saloon. It was parked on the sidewalk just off Congress Ave. I don't understand the allure of a customized steering wheel on a golf cart but I am neither a "car" guy nor a licensed psychiatrist... To each their own? Maybe. 

Not sure I'd get my hair cut and colored at a place called "Ceremony" but I'm a sucker for neon lighting on signs so I gave them points for that. Ceremony connotes lots of steps, lots of ritual. Seems like adding a lot of expectations for something as routine as hair care... 

There are a number of things I like about the Fuji medium format camera and its lenses. The format adds details to images that seem a bit more shy with smaller sensor cameras. Then there is the ability with the bodies to use hundreds of different film formulas people have created to match films you might have loved or looks that resonate with you in a good way. The lenses are very sharp and contrasty and, in concert with the IBIS of the 50Sii you can handhold them down at ridiculously slow shutter speeds. 

I love this Tri-X film formula because it adds filmic grain, gives a nice, contrasty look but still maintains a long tonal scale and well defined mid-tones. After some recent camera scans of actual film I now want to experiment with other favorites like Ilford PanF formulas. Can't images working with a monochrome only camera where the one formula for black and white imaging is baked in. But whatever floats one's boat. 

I also like the viewfinder, the rear screen and the top dials and top data window. But vis a vis the data window --- the always on nature of it is at first disconcerting. Eventually you get used to it. At least I did. No "deal killers" with this camera.

I spent most of last week swimming, walking, photographing for myself and, together with my wonderful partner, having great dinners with friends. Nice time to be alive, at least for most of us.

It was a fun holiday in which I added another Leica M240 to the mix (cameras should travel in pairs) along with a Voigtlander 75mm lens for the M mount. All good, all fun. More to come.

Hope your holidays were great. Welcome back to the blog.