Orange Is the New Bling

DSCF1303FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (56mm, f/1.2, 1/950 sec, ISO200)

I know not the strongest title but I could not think of a better one to post the pictures of those handbags and shoes that I don’t like.

Why do I even bother to write a blog post if I think those bags and shoes are hideous? And why did I take those pictures in the first place? It is all about color. The only reason why I stopped on this particular shopping window was its color. Orange!

Last week I was in Singapore and in the Marina Bay Sands Convention Center. On the way out I had to walk through the mall which is full of shops for luxury watches, handbags and shoes. I always wonder who buys all that stuff but maybe only because I don’t. Nor any of my friends or the people I know.

But those brands have made a terrific marketing job to make the people in Asia believe that this is part of the European lifestyle. As soon as people earn some money they start to buy those things. The people in Thailand seem to be the most affected. I saw a Rolex on the wrist of a stewardess of Thai Airlines. To have those status symbols means a lot. So it’s not only the super rich but also a lot of normal people who buy those things here. Unfortunately they are not very enthusiastic about cameras. As a consequence the only camera store in the whole complex is a Leica store. But a Leica is also more of a fashion and status item today.

DSCF1305FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (56mm, f/2, 1/320 sec, ISO200)
DSCF1306FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (56mm, f/2, 1/400 sec, ISO200)
DSCF1307FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (56mm, f/2, 1/340 sec, ISO200)

Back to orange. When I was a boy orange was my favorite color. Luckily I grew up in the 70s so orange was everywhere. Just as bold patterns. It was all an orgy of orange, brown and green. Wonderful!  In the 70s even the cars had bold colors like light blue, yellow, green or orange but then the colors disappeared. Today everything is white, beige, grey and black. And if we talk about cars you can add silver to that list. If you want to ride an orange car today you have no other choice but to get a Lamborghini.

So when I saw the orange shopping window I was delighted. I shot the handbags and shoes on display mainly because of the nice orange background but also because I had the Fuji 56mm lens with me.

I have the Fuji XF 56/1.2 R for some while now but never took it on a business trip to Asia because I didn’t like its weight and size. Big mistake! This is the first trip with it and so far it is the lens I shot the most. It’s such a great lens to pick out details because of its focal length but especially because of its fast aperture. The first image I shot wide open at f1.2 in order to separate the bag from the busy background. It makes no sense to try to take this shot with the kit lens because the background would ruin the image and because unlike the kit lens at 55mm this lens gives sharp results even at f1.2. As a result you have a sharp subject in front of a nicely blurred background.

I also shot the 56mm lens a lot from the Marina Bay Sands platform last night. The results are great. I will post them here soon. From now on I have to take this lens on my next business trips. So three lenses to cover it all: 14, 27, 56.

PS: Just in case you want to buy the bags here is the brand.

DSCF1302FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO1600)