I bought my first SLR in the 80s, a Nikon FG with the then new 35-105 zoom lens, but which I traded in for a more modern autofocus SLR when it started to arrive, a Nikon F-401x (which I still have). I've always regretted selling my FG so when I found a nice one on ebay I bought it, and I also found the original zoom, so now it's back where it belongs. On the fly I also bought an FE-2, the camera I really wanted when I bought the FG so now I have both…
Both cameras are now loaded with film.
Som street photography from a short photo trip to San Francisco spring 2022. Nikon Z7 and Leica Q2.
In and around Uppsala, Nikon Z7 with 70-200/2,8 and Leica Q2
Mallorca weekend
I got myself a point a shot camera that I can take with me daily. Takes great pictures when you get the focus right, which can be a little tricky at times. The images have superb resolution and can be printed large, exactly what I wanted. Focal length equivalent to iPhones (~ 28mm) so it is familiar. Wonderful optics and lovely well built.
Some samples.
Some of my prints in a public space.
The weather outside in November is not very attractive for picking up the camera and get out. So when I saw some dried rose buds on the kitchen table I thought I would try another idea.
The idea is a series of pictures of three, in canvas. I have tried the prints and it actually turned out pretty good.
October offered a number of occasions to pick up the camera. At the beginning of the month there were beautiful autumn colors in the nature around where I live and later in the month I made a couple of trips to some beautiful locations.
A short trip to Ireland and County Kerry in the beginning of the month gave the opportunity for a short sightseeing in the area of Killarney National Park and since I had the camera with me I did take som photographs. I also had a tripod with me on the trip but I did not bring it with me because the others in the travel company would have ben forced to wait for me every minute then and there was no time for that. So the shots are handheld or the camera is placed on a rock.
The area was fantastic and I will really try to get there soon again for a real photo trip.
Torc waterfall
Torc waterfall
Muckross House
Muckross Abbey
Muckross Abbey
The week after the trip to Ireland it was time for this autumn photo trip. This year to Venice Italy for a change of perspective and something other than landscape photography. The only miscalculation was that it was just me who realized it was off season .. there were an incredible amount of people, especially during the weekend, but I still managed to get som shots I am happy with but I would have hoped for som more morning mist even rain.
When I left, all of Venice was embedded in fog and the aircraft could not land at the airport. Then it was sad to be stuck at the airport with such conditions outdoors.
Made it out for a quick wander this weekend and lucky enough there were some mist that morning to complement the autumn colors.
I have not had the time to try out the Nikon Z7 so much in the nature but it works flawless and so does the Z85/1,8 and of course the 24-70, so far I’m very pleased with the swap from D850 and G-lenses. Big difference in carrying load.
Is it possible to shoot a wedding with the Nikon Z7 with only one card slot? And is it possible to shoot a wedding with only one flash?
Yes.
Almost 1700 images, and 800 with the flash firing on the same battery. I used Nikon´s Snap Bridge app for backup (2MB) for the portrait session, just in case, but I trust the XQD cards. The A1X worked flawless all evening. Mostly with the Soft Bounce mounted on top.
The Z7 is maybe an overkill for for weddings with its high resolution so the portrait session I shot in full resolution (RAW L) and the dinner and party in RAW medium.
So the game changes. I’ve used Nikon F lenses since 1985 and beside some DX lenses for my old D90 and a short zoom I still have on an old film camera I’m selling all of my F lenses and my D850 to jump ship to mirrorless and a Z7 and the new range of Z S lenses. I’m not going for the FTZ adapter.
I’m looking forward to a lighter system but with the same image quality and performance. The downside is that I will have to wait for a couple of weeks since its on backorder.
Shipping out
There hasn’t been much camera time this year so when I was going trough some (very) old images I can see that I have always liked dramatic skies, this one is 10 years old from Nice, taken with my D90 from the back of the hotel we stayed at.
Nice, France
Planning ahead I am thinking of a photo trip to Venice, in mid October, when its low season and a chance of morning fog, I really would like that.
I’ve been to Venice a couple of times, passing trough in the winter, and it has always rained. Though it would be a break from Iceland, Faroe and Lofoten and actually get the chance to eat a decent meal I haven’t made myself outdoors.
This is a pic from february 2010.
Venice
Some images from an exhibition this december in Uppsala. A joint venture with three artist, photography and painting.
Summer images from the south and the east of Sweden, and a local monochrome industrial capture.
A rather productive month despite a lot of hassle, but when you are off work you can take some pictures even at odd times during the day or night. It is still very long days and very high temperature.
I have shoot everything from city to woodland and some sunsets and sunrises and sometimes I have gone out with a specific goal for a capture, like the blood moon that didn't show att all, and sometimes just an random trip.
Better late than never here are some images from a very warm month of June.
It was a period of good light and mixed photoshoots, everything from the garden, lakeside, city and the old forest. All images are local since I have not been away on any photo trips for a while.
I went trough some pictures from last year and found this from a trip to Iceland last spring. It was flagged as an ok image but I had not applied any editing more than lens correction and added keywords.
It was taken early in the morning at Goðafoss waterfall in northeastern Iceland and I was completely alone there at the time. It was a rather gray morning and I used my Nikon D750 with a 16-35 lens, at 16 mm, and Lee filters. A polariser, a 2 stop graduated ND filter and a 2 stop ND filter. At f11 the shutter speed was half a second.
I always shoot in booth raw an jpeg and straight out of the camera a raw image looks, well, just raw..
It kind of shows the gray weather and overcast sky but the reality was not quite as dull as this and I also, somehow, managed to get a heavy vignetting from the polariser, I don't know why since that is not normal with this filter and it is normally handling the wide 16 mm angel very well.
The jpeg straight out of the camera isn´t much better either. a little more texture in the sky and brighter shadows.
Just a little more texture in the sky and brighter shadows but all in all pretty much as flat as the raw-file.
I must have seen some potential in the culling process since I put a flag on it, probably for the nice texture in the water with a good amount of movement, so lets see what a bit of editing can do with a image like this. All editing are made i Lightroom and nothing in Photoshop.
That's a bit better. A rather subtle editing with corrected white balance and black & white points. The overall exposure is decreased and the light increased with local adjustment with some radial filter, brush and some more graduated filter in the sky to lift the clouds and get some drama and texture. The colors are enhanced in the water for a more natural tone with the HSL-panel and then some overall adjustments in the tone curve. Thats it, pretty subtle but a big difference and a much better interpretation of what I actually did see that early morning.
If april was a month of little camera time, May is worse. Despite fantastic early summer weather I didn't get out more than a couple of times. June has started a lot better.
I did not manage to get out with the camera as much as I wanted in April but still got a handful of not too bad pictures I think, only local photos.
