Porto.
Mar, 2020Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
What you see is Gaia, Portugal -- home of the cellars of Port wine. I'm standing in an area of Porto called Ribeira, which is oddly the most beautiful and central, yet decrepit part of Porto. Spanning the Douro river is the Eiffel Bridge, connecting the twin cities.Time
The time of day where everyone is walking around looking for a bar to drink at.Lighting
I turned my camera on Black & White mode, so I was looking at the scene directly in monochrome. In my view, B & W photography should not be an afterthought -- imposed on an image in post-production. By seeing the vista in B & W you can get a great sense of the lighting and the different ways you can manipulate the camera to create your image. I twiddled with the ISO mainly, until I had a scene that really glowed, without sacrificing any of the deepness of the night.Equipment
I had just upgraded from a Nikon D3200 (the worst good* camera money can buy) to a Fujifilm X-T30. I was using the kit lens it came with (XC15-45mm), which kind of feels like a piece of shit honestly -- being lightweight and plasticky. It's a really slow lens. I'm honestly amazed that I got that photo, given I wasn't using a tripod. But I tend to dig the aesthetic of grainy high ISO photos (I've gone many days with my D3200 cranked up beyond 3200 ISO, completely oblivious to the fact I forgot to change my settings to be more appropriate* for the sunny day). Most of the time I'm happy with the result anyway, chalking it up as real Wabi-Sabi.Inspiration
I was walking around with my lover, having a tender moment by the river. She had brought me there times before when I had visited her, so I knew to bring my camera in case the urge came over me. I don't really set out with much of a plan to capture photos. I don't want to get greedy and disregard the moment by being hellbent on taking photos. I used to be a bit like that in my early days, and the consequence is not really having a good episodic memory of the moment. Reflecting on this photo now, I see a lot of the moments that envelope this photo, and that shows me I was pretty grounded this time.Editing
Yes, just a bit of post-process. I isolated the boat and brightened it up as much as I could without making it look disjointed from the background. Might have messed with the curves too, but I don't really have a coherent strategy when I do that, so I can't tell you what I did exactly. I like to border my photos with a color from within the photo. I use Photoshop.In my camera bag
My Fujifilm X-T30 with that shitty kit lens I mentioned, plus this really fast (1.7) 50mm Minolta manual lens that I attach with an adapter. I recently got myself my first proper lens -- Fuji 10-22mm -- and I have a Fuji XF 55-200 waiting for me at a store. Sometimes I bring my Minolta srT with me too, but it's heavy as hell.Feedback
We are more than we can frame. Don't lose yourself in your camera, my friends.
