Photography that feels tranquil
Why I love morning walks with my X100v
If you’re a frequent viewer of my YouTube channel you night have seen a few episodes of my POV series where I strap the GoPro to my chest and record my street photography. I’ve been really enjoying these early morning walks along the coast. The nearest seaside to me is Southend in Essex.
A common type of street photography I find myself enjoying is the typical chaotic central London rush hour shoots. That is a street photographers playground for sure. But recently I have been drawn to the more quiet and peaceful atmosphere which lends itself to a different style of photography. Whether I’m in London during sunset of by the coastline during sunrise… you know I have my Fujifilm X100v in hand to capture my surroundings.
These photos were taken during one of those quieter and more tranquil mornings along the coast.
In my POV video from this mornings walk I used a quote from Stephen Shore which I think beautifully represents what I was trying achieve in these photos.
“So what happens if I try to maintain that kind of awareness in the midst of life?
There's so much to be experienced just in average moments.”
A lot of the time, when I simplify my photography I am happier with the results. Whether it’s a simple approach and I'm not looking for anything creative or a simple composition and I’m looking for a minimal aesthetic. Whatever the outcome may be, keeping the process simple often means I’m happy with the outcome.
Just the infamous Fujifilm X100v seems like the most obvious piece of kit for this style. I couldn’t imagine bringing a full frame body + lenses + a camera bag with me on these kind of outings, that would switch up my mood completely and therefore definitely effect my approach. I usually stick the camera in aperture priority (most of these photos shot at f4/ - f/8) then point and shoot. I might occasionally adjust the composure comp up or down a stop depending on my composition or lighting but all in all, when shooting with the x100v it’s very straight forward.
All of these photos were taken in RAW (although I do always shoot FINE+RAW just incase I only want to keep the lovely jpegs) edited with my Presets. They are Lightroom Desktop and Mobile presets available below.
