FUJIFILM X-T1 (56mm, f/1.6, 1/320 sec, ISO200)

Life can be tough and it gets tougher when we get older.

There is no way to deny that. When you are young everything is possible. There are only opportunities. You can do what ever you want and you can what ever you imagine. When you get older there are less opportunities. There are far more rules. Live gets more complicated. “We lose ourselves in work to do and bills to pay.” (Bruce Springsteen)

But the biggest difference between a child and a grown up is imagination. When we were kids there were no limits. There was a new wonderland behind each corner. Kids don’t need “think outside the box”-seminars they just think outside the box. Maybe we just need to get back some of the imagination we had when we were young.

Why I’m writing all that and what does it have to do with the images? Currently my friend has a tough time. He lost his job because the company he worked for for many years transferred the jobs back to Germany. Now he struggles to find new work. He is maybe one of the most educated persons I know. He is well-read and sometimes he can be a smart-ass but he is also a very emphatic. I hope he will find a new job soon. Maybe something that he always wanted to do. Not just a job that pays the bills.

Enough wisdom and philosophy. I should talk a little about photography. I took my Fuji X-T1 plus the 23mm and the 56mm to be prepared to take some portraits.

We went to a Japanese restaurant which is located in the 6th floor. We managed to get a seat at the window corner so there was plenty of daylight from two sides. As you can see from the EXIF data all shots were taken at base ISO. So technically it was very simple but I had to work hard to make my “model” relax.

I tried to shoot as wide open as possible to get rid of the busy background but there is no way to use f1.2 from such a short distance. Depth of field is just too shallow at f1.2. Usually I shoot at f2.0 or even f2.8 at close distance to gain some DOF but since the background was very busy I prefer the one taken at f1.6. The Fuji XF 56/1.2 XR is just fantastic. It is sharp even wide open and the Bokeh is great too. I would prefer if it would be a little smaller and lighter but there is a price to pay for speed and quality. My only real complaint is related to the autofocus. Face and eye detection work but it is one of the slower lenses when it comes to focusing. But otherwise no complaints. A truly great lens.

The shots are uncorked and there is no post processing except that I used VSCOs Provia 100F portrait preset to get a punchier look.

FUJIFILM X-T1 (56mm, f/2, 1/170 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (56mm, f/2, 1/170 sec, ISO200)