An Ode to the Fuji X100s | Sean Kelly Conway
My most influential camera was surely the classic Leica M6 I bought mounted with a 35mm Voigtlander Color Skopar Lens (above), and kept loaded with Kodak Tri-X for nearly a year. Inspired by my reading of „Leica as a Teacher“ I wanted to give myself some parameters and develop a cohesive style of photography for the street material I was shooting in Korea at the time. I was also in love with the greats of Leica photography, who swore by the value of this simple machine. The camera served me well, and travelled across Asia, keeping pace without miss. I learned heaps from the constraints, and if photography is sometimes called the art of omission, I can’t stress how much the constraints of a fixed lens and BW film taught me about the craft. I loved it’s intuitiveness and inconspicuous size- easy to pack, and pull out without alerting everyone to the fact. It opened up those quiet, quick moments, when everything is illuminated- and one needs to capture things with click of their eye. Upon returning from Asia I began doing more commercial photography and my workflow shifted much more in the digital direction. I would often keep my Leica around, but found myself using it less and less. I had tanks, but no scanner, and the couple labs doing color processing in the area where expensive and sub-par (still have about 30 rolls of film in my chest). It started to gather dust, and I was finding less and less time for my personal photography. Eventually I came to sell it, luckily the hold their value impeccably well. But I needed a replacement. I looked at the Leica M, but couldn’t spend $6,000 for a mediocre digital sensor camera just because it was made in Germany. I opted for the Fuji X100s, and it became my new personal camera, that I could keep in my bag most of the time, and even take on jobs- usually just to capture an off kilter moment……..
Source: www.seankellyconway.com
Fuji X100S
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