Embracing the shackles

4 May

It has been a little while since I last headed out on a photo walk. This has mainly been down to my ND noggin having a bit of a hissy fit lately. It is hard to motivate yourself to go on a wander when you are struggling to decide what to eat for lunch. However, I finally got into a space where I could plan a walk. I decided to head into South Shields, jump on the ferry across to North Shields, and walk along the quayside into Tynemouth. The ferry has been off for a while after the North Shields landing suffered storm damage in January of this year.

I have a habit of making life difficult for myself, and today would be no different. I decided to place several challenges/limitations on myself. Firstly, I borrowed a camera I am very inexperienced with - a Fujifilm X-T5. Secondly, I could only take one prime lens - a borrowed Fujinon XF 33mm f1.4 (50mm full frame equivalent). Thirdly, I could only shoot using a film simulation recipe - I chose one called Fujifilm Negative which I found on the Fuji X Weekly website. Fourtly, I would restrict my editing of the straight out of camera jpegs to straightening and cropping. Lastly, I would only use AF-S focus mode with single shot (I usually use AF-C with Continuous Low shutter at 4fps). So, just the five shackles to contend with. What could possibly go wrong?!

The weather decided to be nice to me which is somewhat a novelty on a Bank Holiday weekend. In fact, it is raining as I write this, so normal service has been resumed. It has been a long while since I got the ferry across the Tyne and I was really looking forward to it. It is only around seven minutes to cross the river, but I always enjoy it. You get to see views from a different perspective as the ferry crosses the water. Just as I was arriving at the North Shields ferry landing, the DFDS North Shields to Amsterdam ferry was entering the mouth of the Tyne. Thankfully, I had my camera ready and managed to grab a few shots as it sailed past.

I had no thoughts on looking to capture certain types of photographs on my walk. I simply wanted to capture things that caught my interest. I am feeling a little lost in terms of my photography these days, and one of the reasons is I am unsure what it is I want to capture. By allowing the camera to capture whatever interests me, I am hoping that I will spot trends and help me find my focus again. This is the thing with photography - it never ends and your connection with it changes throughout your life. It is why the craft is both rewarding and frustrating in equal measure.

It has been quite a while since I walked along the North Shields quayside. It has changed so much since I last visited. It is great to see as it had fallen into disrepair and looked very run down. I hardly recognise it now. I will certainly be back as there are a few interesting pubs that require further exploration!

Early on in my walk I noticed how comfortable the X-T5 felt in my hand. You should never underestimate the benefits of a camera that feels good when held. I already knew that the camera looked stylish (not really something that is important to me) but it was more the feel I was interested in, along with the user experience and image quality. I quickly began to appreciate the tactile exposure compensation dial on the top plate. A small thing, but helpful. Please note - I am not being sponsored by Fujifilm.

I ventured on to the small beach to explore and met a dog (a cockapoo, I think) which seemed to be trying to tunnel through the earth’s core. She was full of energy… and sand. She was just one of many dogs out with their owners enjoying the sunny start to the day. It was like a rest day at Crufts.

I walked along the riverside and made my way up into Tynemouth. It was already pretty busy despite it still being quite early. The beach was starting to become populated as people embraced the warm weather. To be fair, in the North-East of England, we will take to the beach in fierce storms. We shall not be defeated by a bit of wind or rain. It is our duty to eat an ice cream on the sea front in sub-zero temperatures with sand whipping against your skin.

I’d found the 33mm lens to be fun to use. Maybe 50mm in full frame terms is something I should explore more. Next time I am out with my own camera, I might tape my standard zoom lens so it is locked at 50mm to prevent me from zooming like a loon, making me work harder for the image. Although the 33mm lens has a minimum aperture of f1.4, I found I was shooting primarily between f4 and f8. I actually like a bit of depth in my images to help with context and to create layers within the scene.

I took myself off to Tynemouth Metro Station to visit the locally famous Tynemouth Market which is held every weekend within the station itself. It was very busy, as it usually is, full of stalls selling everything from pastries to photographs, from jewellery to life coaching. And sausages. It was only when I saw the Ouseburn Coffee Company cart I realised just how thirsty I was. It is an ND trait that when the hyperfocus takes hold, things as trivial as fluid intake tend to float out of the mind like a cloud in a breeze. And since taking the X-T5 out of my bag, all I thought about was taking photos, looking for things that I found curious or interesting. Thankfully, the coffee helped greatly and I carried on.

I started to struggle a little with the noise and hectic nature of the market and needed to listen to my needs, despite wanting to carry on for a little longer. Sometimes, you have to do what is right for you even if it annoys you at the time. I jumped on the Metro and headed back to North Shields so I could get the ferry back across the river.

The revolution has been cancelled and therefore will not be televised

So how did I get on with my five-fold shackling? Overall, not too bad. Firstly, I enjoyed using the X-T5. My main gripe is if you are shooting with a film sim that has an adjustment to the clarity setting, it slows down the processing. Although not a massive issue during my walk, it was occasionally a mild irritation. With the X-T6 due for release soon (allegedly), I will watch with interest. I’d be interested to see how it differs to the X-T5 as it may reduce the price on the used market if enough people upgrade to the new model.

Only using the one prime lens was a lot of fun and made me think a little more about composition. I found the focal length to be enjoyable and the lens itself performed well. Using a film simulation for shooting mostly worked well. I liked the majority of the shots straight out of the camera. I think this aspect could be a fun but useful and creative addition to my photography. I feel they would take a bit of mastering as it isn’t as straightforward as you may think. In this way, it matches the experience of film photography; you use a film stock that suits the situation you are shooting.

Shooting in AF-S and single shot was an excellent experience. Instead of shooting several shots to make sure I got one perfectly sharp, I really thought about my technique and made the shot count. As a result, I had considerably less images to sort through once I returned home. This obviously saves time and storage, but also removes choice paralysis. Sometimes, I get trapped trying to choose between two almost identical images to work out which one I want to edit. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it is true. I’m nothing if not honest. The only thing I failed on a little is only cropping and straightening the images from the camera. There were a few (not many though) where I felt the jpeg wasn’t quite what I wanted. These single shot mixed with the film sim meant the editing process was much quicker than usual. I am not against editing - I quite enjoy it. I like to lose myself in Lightroom for several hours at a time, but it is also liberating to have the choice between detailed editing and a ‘quick and dirty’ option.

So that was my day with the X-T5 and the sunshine in North Tyneside. All in all, it was a great day out. There were a few images I quite liked from the day, which is nice. They may not be ‘Instagram bangers’, but I liked them and that is an important consideration.

Here are a few more from the day: