FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec, ISO200)
Art comes in many different forms and shapes. This is one of my favorites. Murals.
Because of three reasons: 1. Those paintings are big and when it comes to paintings bigger is better. 2. They are on walls so usually they are covering a grey wall and there are enough grey walls already. 3. They are accessible for everybody and part of the daily life.
And there is reason number four for me: If I see them it means that I’m abroad. I haven’t seen a mural in Austria and I don’t think that there are many of them in Europe (beside of Northern Ireland of course). I have found those in Albuquerque, NM when I was looking for the city center. The first three pictures cover one mural called “The Mother Road”. It is designed by Joe Stephenson and it is a tribute to the Route 66 that cut through Albuquerque.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/340 sec, ISO200)
The picture was too big to fit into one frame so I took three images. My favorite is the one above. It gives you an idea about its size thanks to the truck that parks around the corner. I was happy that it was a truck and not a Toyota Prius.
But this is the South West of the USA and you will find much more trucks here than on any other part of the planet. Here the truck is like what the Volkswagen Golf is in Germany or Austria. The car that sits on every corner. The truck looks much cooler though and according to the latest news it might be cleaner as well. Well, I’m not one hundred percent sure if the last statement is true.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/550 sec, ISO200)
Beside murals and trucks there is another thing that identifies that the image is taken in this part of the world: Customized motorbikes. I didn’t take long to get the right vehicle in the shot above.
As you can see I switched back to the 14mm lens for all those shots. The reason is simple. It just allows for wider views and that really fits here. It shows the wide crossroads and more of the beautiful sky at the same time. I got so used to the wide angle that it is very hard to go back to the kit lens. It always feels too tight and on top if it there is some distortion on the wide end that the 14mm lens does’t have. A slightly wider lens like a 16-70/4 OIS could be a good solution but I also consider to simply get the XF 10-24/4 OIS some day to be more flexible. This lens would give me the option to shoot really wide in towns but also to zoom in if necessary.
Sometimes I think that on a vacation there is no need for a standard zoom at all. A wide angle zoom and a tele zoom will lead to better shots. On this years trip to the USA I mainly shot with the Canon 16-35/4 IS on the Sony A7R and the Canon 70-200/2.8 IS on the Canon 6D and I did’t miss a lot beside a lighter substitute for my big tele zoom and my DSLR. But that’s a different story.
Coming back to Fuji. I think a X-T1 plus XF 10-24/4 OIS plus a XF 55-200 OIS is hard to beat for a light weight travel combo. Just add an XF 35/1.4 for indoor shots or portraits with shallow depth of field and you are all set. If you don’t bring more stuff you will enjoy your trip and you don’t need to worry during check in.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/420 sec, ISO200)