30 Days with the Fuji X100F: Day 1

March 6, 2017March 7, 2017 by kyle In photography Leave a comment

I’m beyond excited to be kicking off another “30 Days With…” photography project today! If you’re unfamiliar with my site, I periodically limit myself to one piece of gear for 30 days. I’ve done this twice before – once with the Fuji XF 35mm F2 lens and once with the Fuji X-T2 – and this time around it’s with the newly-released X100F. This little powerhouse of a camera is replacing my X100S, which is a camera that I’ve become very emotionally attached to. I never got around to doing a 30 Days With the X100S project (maybe someday…), so I’m super excited to be carving out some time to do this project on its younger brother. The X100 series has been my “desert island” camera (at least on the digital side) ever since I was introduced to the series three years ago, which makes it a perfect camera for this challenge!

Without further ado, here are the goals and rules of this project! I hope you enjoy it as much as I inevitably will! 🙂

For the next 30 days, I will post one image per day taken with my brand new Fuji X100F, and I will not take or post any images with a different camera.

The goals of this project are:

1. KNOW THY CAMERA. Ken Rockwell says “the camera’s only job is to get out of the way of making photographs.” Ideally, I want to be able to focus on the art I’m creating without getting distracted by the tools I’m using. The only way to get to that point, paradoxically, is to focus very intensely on the tools. You have to practice with your gear over and over until changing the settings is second nature. Only then can you focus exclusively on the art without getting distracted by the tools. This 30 Days project will give me plenty of practice with my new camera and give me a head start on achieving this second nature status. Fortunately, the X100F is very similar to the X–100S, which I’ve used countless times. And all of the new features are ones I’ve gotten used to with the X-T2…so this category should be pretty easy to accomplish!
2. FOCUS ON JUST ONE BRICK. This project will initiate creativity in my photography. Sometimes giving yourself boundaries can unleash creative potential that is otherwise hidden by the avalanche of possibilities. “Should I grab this lens or that lens? Should I take both camera bodies? What about a tripod?” And so forth. These decisions can lead to a mental fatigue that may end up resulting in not taking ANY pictures (it’s too much effort just to think about it…). For this project, these decisions will largely be eliminated, as they have been predetermined from the start. All that’s left is to take pictures! Furthermore, the enforced consistency of shooting and posting every day will force me to create even when I don’t initially feel inspired to create. This may seem like I’m forcing things, but in reality we often need to work our way into inspiration rather than wait passively or inspiration to arrive. Sometimes the days, weeks, years, and even lives pass by before the inspiration visits.
3. PROMOTE ART. While embarking on this adventure, I’d love to also provide a real-world review of the X100F. This is certainly not my top priority and there are already plenty of other wonderful reviews out there (with more to come, no doubt). That said, I think there’s something to be said for longitudinal reviews. If I can share my experiences learning about the camera while I’m learning about the camera, I might be able to offer a unique perspective. As was the case with the 35mm f2 and the X-T2, my hope is that this perspective will help supplement other reviews for those trying to decide whether to pull the trigger. While it’s quite likely that I’ll be gushing about how excellent the X100F is at various points throughout the next 30 days, my hope is that readers will also consider the impact of limiting one’s gear options and just making art with what you already have.

Rules

• I will post one picture per day that was taken with the Fuji X100F.
• While I must post a picture every day, I don’t necessarily need to take a picture every day. Unfortunately, shooting every day is not feasible, as I have a full time job and wouldn’t be able to fit every day shooting into my schedule.
• While I may post pictures from prior shootings within the 30 days, I cannot post a picture over a week old. This prevents the situation of shooting a bunch in the first couple days and then not shooting any more and just posting images from the first couple shoots. This behavior wouldn’t live into the spirit of the project.
• I will not take a picture with any other camera during this time period, nor will I post a picture from any other camera. Not even iPhone snapshots! I want to be extremely strict on this rule so that I’m forced to take this camera with me pretty much everywhere.

Before heading out for an evening photo walk, I’ll leave you with one of the first images I took with the X100F. I go on photo walks around my neighborhood almost every day, and the color palette of downtown Omaha is perfect for the Classic Chrome film simulation. I always missed it when I would go out shooting with the X100S, so I’m happy to have it in my pocket when I’m walking around with the X100F!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll enjoy the next 30 days of (over?) sharing images from this delightful new piece of Fuji gear! If you have any questions for me about the camera (or anything, really), let me know in the comments section below. 🙂