Last time I wrote about how I lost my creativity and inspiration for photography. I was just buying shiny new toys instead of observing my surroundings for interesting scenes. It ended with me selling all my equipment because I thought that photography was simply no longer an enjoyable hobby of mine. And that is alright, sometimes we lose interest in things or activities.
But even before I sold everything, I was lusting after one of those fancy Fujifilm cameras. I was interested in the X100 series of smallish rangefinder style cameras. I was intrigued by the use of marked dials for aperture, shutter, and exposure compensation. I was even more intrigued by Fuji's film simulations. I figured this was just me wanting to buy new toys so I never considered buying one. But a few months after selling my gear, I really wanted to go out and take pictures again.
So, long story short. I bought a used Fujifilm X100T which at the time had already been superseded by a newer model. I could have chosen one of the interchangeable lens cameras from Fujifilm but I deliberately wanted to limit myself to one focal length. I wanted to use the marked dials and rely as little as possible on electronic screens and menus. The X100's unique selling point was an optical viewfinder.
Film simulations are nothing special, really. They can be recreated with ease in software. But I more and more disliked doing post-processing with my images. I spend enough time in front of a monitor for work, and I did not want my hobby to be the same. Besides for me editing is often very repetitive. Having the film simulations in camera was great. Together with the optical viewfinder, the marked dials and the film simulations, it would be like putting a roll of film into a camera and waiting for the results later.
I used this camera from 2018 to 2019 and took (kept) 823 photos. I got some good use out of it.
Where I live, are neither mountains nor beaches. Everything is rather flat and sandy. But we do have a lot of lakes. This is one of them at around 6 pm. One reason I switched to Fujifilm was, that the larger sensor compared to my old gear was much better at capturing wide tonal ranges and minimizing digital noise. I think the colors are just amazing, and the picture ought to be printed and not viewed on a monitor.Architectural details are fascinating. These bricks might be up to 175 years old and they belong to a royal viewing tower. Imagine a time when having some cognac and enjoying a nice view over the area was considered entertainment worthy of the ruling elite.My humble self can not afford his own viewing tower, but some beer at a pleasant outdoor café is certainly part of a leisurely day. I think I just played around with my camera here, but for some reason I kept this picture.This is my "favorite" train station in Berlin. I think it is even the largest one. It is not pretty by a wide margin, and Alexanderplatz is surely not a pleasant urban space. But the square and train station are interesting throughout. You can see subway architecture from before the Great War, other subway stations are from the interwar years, additions and renovations done during socialism and finally modern touches that make it one of the most frequented stations in Berlin. The underground areas are scary and fascinating at the same time. I think this is a must-see for visitors, just hold on to your wallets, unfortunately. And maybe don't breath through your noses.A usually busy intersection in Berlin. This place is very typical for Berlin, the wide avenues lined by housing blocks. Berlin is in parts not really a walking friendly city. Sure, the sidewalks are spacious here, but everything is just full of cars, traffic, and noise. You can't just cross the street to check out a store and you would not want to sit and have a coffee outside. But just a few dozen meters left and right are calm residential streets with shops, cafés and a vibrant outdoor dining culture. I miss this place.