Saturday, October 06, 2012

Eddie Adams Workshop XXV

 This weekend I am working up at the EAW XXV.  This is THE Workshop.  For 25years The Workshop has given 100 talented photographers (2500) a chance to experience an amazing weekend of photography.  If you are not familiar with it you should look it up and see who the people are who attend and present to the students.  It's tough to explain the depth of learning and value of the experiences all who attend gain from The Workshop.
http://www.eddieadamsworkshop.com/
Fujifilm X-E1 and XF18-55 lens (except where noted).

Driving up to the barn I saw this stone bridge.
The barn where the workshop is held and presentations are done.
 The fabulous Gina Levay gets in motion
 I'm always on the lookout for neat setups of X series cameras.
The students arrive to the cheers of the coordinators of the event.
 Some heavyweight shooters were up early.  The legendary Bill Eppridge and Nick Ut were there to greet the students.  While the day rolled on Dan Winters, Eugene Richards, Howard Schatz and others arrived.

 Some of the women who make this workshop happen.  Mirjam Evers and Alyssa Adams.
Nick Ut known for his naked girl running down the road in Viet Nam shot - turns out I had breakfast next to her this morning.  Kim Phuc.
 Melinda Anderson who's father Walter gave an amazing welcome to the students.

 Cliff Hausner from the MAC Group who provide a ton of equipment and technical services on site.

 Arguably one of the most famous images - made by Eddie Adams in Vietnam.
 The students are all in the barn for lectures late night.  No sleep at this workshop!

 Besides 100 land based shooters we have a couple aerials as well.

 Howard Schatz does some studio portraits in the Barn!


 Chow time at the house for all the folks that make it happen!
 Someone always wants to play with the X-E1 so I get a bunch of these don't I look awkward shots.
 David Hume Kennerly hanging
 Love when I spot the old school film cameras rocking the peel-apart film.  FP3000B in there.
 Nikon has the new D600 in full force as well as the minute Coolpix S01.
Andre Constantini directs a workshop tradition.  A video of PSY - Gangnam Style.  Sorta - X100
 Gabe from B&H is in the house!  Looks like he just had some tasty country pie.
 Nikon Mark is in the viking mood as the sun sets.

 Editing begins in the barn.
 Of course there's always one PC to mess with the networking plans.  Jim tries to get it online for printing with the Fujifilm ASK machines.
 Afternoon siesta.
 Pete Hamil who has some terrific stories to share.
 Twilight falls on the barn.



The days are flying by and I'm switching between several cameras.  X-E1, X100, X-Pro1 and X-S1.  
There is a very special ceremony to honor photographers killed in action as well as the founder of the workshop Eddie Adams.  The people at the workshop are all given a yellow balloon and there are 6 red ones for photogs killed in action and 1 black one for Eddie.  The ceremony is performed by Native American Indians who are friends of the family and connected to the community.
It is very moving and in these pics you can see Nick Ut who's brother was a photojournalist killed in Vietnam and next to him is Kim Phuc who was the girl in his famous photo from the war of her running down the road naked after a village napalm strike.
These were shot with the X-S1 for the zoom capability.
 Joe from Manfrotto helps out with the balloon distribution.
 Alyssa Adams, Eddie's wife observes the ceremony with Tim Rasmussen.
Nick Ut and Kim Phuc observe the ceremony.


 The first balloon is released.  A black one for Eddie Adams.
 Then the others....

 Scott Allen leads a salute.

After the ceremony there was some brief down time to enjoy new friends.
 Cliff Hausner shows off to me that he's still shooting FILM in his Nikon SP.
 
The below pics from Sunday night are with theX-Pro1 & 35mm 1.4.
The MAC Group set up a photo booth and prints are hanging on the barn wall.  Output with the Fujifilm ASK 2000.
 The night came and the temp dropped and the fire logs were lit.
 The sculptor of the EAW tribute piece built the fire logs which are carved out trees with air canals to breathe.  The fires burns like a candle from inside out.





 After the Saturday night session there was an amazing fireworks show.  This easily rivaled any show I've seen before.  Not just due to the colors and environment but proximity to the rockets.
These shots were made at various exposures from ISO 500-1000 approx 2-10secs at F/8 or so.











Nothing like a quick light panel drawing with an LED from Manfrotto and Nelson working the artistry.  I exposed at 7 seconds ISO 400 @ F/8.




I am an employee of FUJIFILM North America Corporation.
The statements, comments and opinions expressed here represent my own, personal views and are not endorsed by, or affiliated in any way with, FUJIFILM North America Corporation or its affiliates.
bremler@fujifilm.com 

Friday, October 05, 2012

Fujifilm X-E1 and XF 18-55mm Lens



I took a walk around town this week and shot some images with the X-E1.  The newest camera in the X series should ship around Nov 1 in the USA.  
One thing that I always look for is the way a digital camera captures sky blue.  I was a big fan of Velvia and miss the look of a landscape with the rich hues of Velvia since I don't shoot film that often.  So when I took a walk on the High Line with the X-E1 I wanted to see what kind of blues it would capture.  Needless to say I am overjoyed with its performance.  I hit the Quick menu button and flipped the X-E1 in Velvia mode and set off.  As expected the images are sharp and vivid and this is from a pre-production body and lens (it is not without faults because of this so it will only improve).


The XF18-55mm lens has a few new features for XF lenses. 
There is optical image stabilization, and you can see the switch on the bottom left of the lens image.  Then there is an aperture ring which communicates the F/ number to the body when the lens is switched from the Automatic to Aperture icon.  This lets you spin the ring closest to the body to adjust the aperture values.
The next ring is the zoom ring, followed by the smooth manual focusing ring.
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujifilm_x_e1/ I messed up on earlier posts and left out the metadata - but these images should contain the exposure info.  I am also including some other images from last week which show some high ISO shooting.  Since this is the same sensor as the X-Pro1, image quality will be excellent when the camera ships at the end of the month.  The real excitement will be when the XF14mm hits the market as well.

Doesn't a bright blue sky make you feel good?  These images are not adjusted for hue and color - just imported with Aperture and exported.  I made very few tweaks for brightness since I clearly was shooting easy scenes to get the exposure correct (jpegs).  A polarizer filter also helps cut the glare down.

One major improvement which will be talked about once the reviews on the camera begin will be the amazing improvement in manual focus with the XF18-55mm lens.  The new linear focus motor makes the manual focus smooth and accurate.  It raises the performance the firmware 2.0 made to an even higher level.  So not to sound confusing - yes this LENS makes a difference on either body since it has a new focus motor system.  You'll see - you have to feel it to know.  As most have read - the new firmware has improved the overall performance of the X-Pro1 including the AF and manual focus, and this lens really kicks it up.

The new OLED 2.36MM EVF viewfinder is easy to work with and has a great viewing angle for use in all lighting situations (glasses on or off).  Having a pop up flash is a nice touch for quick fill outdoors (flash sync up to 1/180th).  More high ISO images coming soon - the X-Trans 16mp sensor puts out incredibly smooth high ISO image files.






 The new XF 18-55mm lens at 18mm then 55mm in the same scene.




 

















 So here are the low light images from the concert in Radio City Hall.

Yellow lights at ISO 2500
Final Head at ISO 1250
Stage Head ISO 2000

 Magenta Star at ISO 2000
 Blue Crowd at ISO 1600
 ISO 2500
ISO 2500
ISO 2500
 Meatpacking Club ISO 3200



























I am an employee of FUJIFILM North America Corporation.
The statements, comments and opinions expressed here represent my own, personal views and are not endorsed by, or affiliated in any way with, FUJIFILM North America Corporation or its affiliates.
bremler@fujifilm.com 

A Quick Look at the 1972 Hasselblad 500C/M

Just a few snaps of the awesome and durable 500C/M.