Downtown | FUJI X WEEKLY

Downtown SLC Street Photography with Fujifilm X-T30 & Vintage Super-Takumar Lenses

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

Downtown Salt Lake City Street Photography

Walking Next To The Trax – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Earlier this week I was able to do some street and urban photography in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, with my Fujifilm X-T30. I had two vintage Asahi-Pentax lenses with me: a Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5 and a Super-Takumar 105mm f/2.8. I mostly used the 28mm lens, as its focal-length is more ideal for this type of photography. As you already know if you follow the Fuji X Weekly blog, I really love pairing vintage lenses with my Fujifilm cameras. They go together like peanut butter and jelly! I have so much fun with it, and for whatever reason using vintage lenses seems especially appropriate for street photography.

I used my Kodachrome II recipe, with Color set to +2 on some images, for the color pictures in this series. The black-and-white photographs are my Acros Push-Process recipe, except I set Grain to Weak, Dynamic Range to DR400, and Highlight to +3 or +2, depending on the picture. I like to say that you can “season to taste” my different film simulation recipes; it’s something that I do. If a scene requires something to be adjusted a little different in order to create a stronger picture, I will not hesitate to do so. While my different film simulation recipes work well as-is in many circumstances, sometimes they need an adjustment to best fit the scene.

Downtown Salt Lake City is a great location for street and urban photography. It’s pretty safe. Parking is easy. Getting around is easy. It typically has just enough going on for interesting pictures, but not too much where it feels crowded. It’s large enough that you can’t do it justice in just one visit, but not too large where you might get lost. There’s interesting architecture and art. There are interesting people. Downtown Salt Lake City might not be the most idealistic street photography location, but it is nonetheless ideal in many ways.

Federal Traffic Signal – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Urban Sunshine – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

1st & 4th – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Man On Main – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

The Joy of Train Riding – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Rail Riders – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

35 Minute Parking – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

City Winter – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Urban Mailbox – SLC, UT – Fuji X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Every Style – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Table For One – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Old Business – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Urban American – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Planetarium Platform – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Climbing Aboard – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Electric City – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Tribune – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 28mm f/3.5

Gateway Living – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 105mm f/2.8

Gateway – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Asahi Super-Takumar 105mm f/2.8

Salt Lake City Street Photography with Fujifilm X100F & XF10

Posted on October 28, 2018 by Ritchie Roesch

Salt Lake City Workday – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

I had an adventure in Salt Lake City a couple of days ago. My family and I rode the FrontRunner commuter train into the city and then hopped on the TRAX light rail train to traverse downtown. I captured it all on my Fujifilm X100F and XF10 cameras. These two cameras are both great for this type of trip because they’re small and lightweight and yet are capable of fantastic image quality.

Street photography is something that I enjoy, but it’s only been over the last few years that I’ve really gotten into it. Urban landscape photography is something that I’ve done off and on for two decades. While they are two different genres, they’re very closely related and it’s not uncommon to do both simultaneously, which is what you see in this article. If time allowed I’d certainly find myself wandering urban areas more, camera in hand.

Downtown Salt Lake City is one of the nicer urban centers in America. It’s clean, safe, pedestrian friendly and full of shopping, dining, entertainment and educational opportunities. It’s a great place to spend a day! It’s a great place to walk around with a camera or two, capturing the urban life and urban sights. It seems that I always come away with at least a couple of great images. There are a few photographs in this article that I’m particularly happy with. I hope that you enjoy them! Oh, and be sure to check out the video at the end.

B&W:

Upside-Down Frown – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

Urbanhood – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Boarding Anonymous – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

White Shirt Train Riders – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Blue Line – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

Joy Rider – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Uncompromising Photographer – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Library Basement Stairs – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Library Interior From Basement – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Bike By The Fountain – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Staircase Down – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Curve Down – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Salt Lake Urbanscape – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Light On The Floor – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Color

M12 M2 – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

Light Rail Curve – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

That I Can’t? – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

Sisters On A Train – SLC, UT – X100F

Coming & Going Passengers – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Stop, Look & Listen – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Where The Train Bends – Fujifilm X100F

Overhead Wire – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

Green To The Airport – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

Evening Commuter Train – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

Autumn Downtown – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Autumn At City-County Building – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Caution – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Look Both Ways – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Dressed In Red – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

Passerby Strangers – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

FrontRunner Station – SLC, UT – Fujifilm XF10

I’m not a video guy, but I wanted to try out the video features of the XF10, so I recorded some footage and made a short video of this adventure:

Recent Salt Lake City Urban Photographs

Posted on July 20, 2018 by Ritchie Roesch

Urban Crescent – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 16mm

I was going over the photographs that I’ve captured lately but haven’t shared yet on Fuji X Weekly, trying to group them into categories, and I realized that I have a number of urban photographs captured in Salt Lake City, Utah. I live about 30 minutes outside of Salt Lake City in one of the suburbs, and occasionally find myself venturing into the urban landscape.

These photographs were captured using an X-Pro2, X100F and X-E1. I’ve previously shared some other photographs from these outings in different articles, but the specific images seen here have never before been included in any article on this blog. They are straight-out-of-camera JPEGs, with the exception of one which received some minor cropping.

I enjoy photographing the urban environment because there is so much diversity. There are a lot of different things that you could focus on all around you, including architecture, street, colors, abstract, etc. Ten photographers could walk along the same road downtown and come away with vastly different images.

The first time that I attempted urban photography was in downtown Dallas, Texas, back when I was in college two decades ago. It was for a project in Photography 102, and I just loved it. If I could (and maybe I can) I would spend a lot more time capturing the urban environment. It is a heavily saturated genre, though, so capturing it in a unique or meaningful way is difficult. But, perhaps, the reward is found in the challenge.

Color:

No Overnight – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-E1 & Meike 35mm

Time To Come Home – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 16mm

West – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 16mm

US Alone – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 16mm

Fountain of Youth – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 16mm

B&W:

Walker Center At Night – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X100F

KeyBank – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 16mm

City Sun Monochrome – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 16mm

Afternoon Coffee Walk – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 16mm

Lines In Monochrome – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-Pro2 & 16mm

Road Trip: Seattle With A Fujifilm X100F – Part 3, Downtown Seattle, 1st Impression: Seattle Center (Day 4a)

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Ritchie Roesch

Downtown Seattle – Seattle, WA – Fujifilm X100F

Part 1 Part 2

The fourth day of our road trip was dedicated to downtown Seattle. After finishing breakfast at the hotel, we jumped into the car and drove to Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle, which is perhaps Seattle’s most iconic landmark.

We found parking and coffee and made the short walk to the tall, pointy tower, which we discovered is currently being remodeled. A glass floor is being added to the bottom. Thankfully the Space Needle’s observation deck was still open during construction and the elevator operational. We purchased tickets and had an hour to kill before our scheduled time.

Seattle Center, as it turns out, is home to a lot more than just the Space Needle. There are museums, restaurants, a monorail, a fountain and a park. This was the site of the 1962 World’s Fair, and Seattle has made it a destination. One could spend an entire day at Seattle Center and perhaps not see and do everything. It felt like this was the Pacific Northwest’s version of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, just without the roller coaster and with some homeless loitering.

We didn’t visit any of the museums, although if I had planned the trip better I would have. Instead we walked around for awhile, just taking it all in. We found a guy making huge bubbles, and the kids (ours and stranger’s) were going nuts for this. Soon it was time to take the elevator to the top, and see Seattle from Space… er, I mean, see Seattle from the Space Needle’s observation deck.

Even though I lived a few different places in the Seattle area as a kid, I never once went to the Seattle Center. I had never been inside the Space Needle. I’m not sure why, but my parents never took me there. It was a first-time experience for me as well as my wife and kids.

My three-year-old son would later say that riding the Space Needle’s elevator was his favorite part of the trip. It was a quick and smooth trip up, and soon we were overlooking the Puget Sound area, with spectacular views of the ocean, islands, skyscrapers and even Mt. Rainier. It turned out to be a lovely day to take in the views, with partly sunny skies and tolerable temperatures.

Inside the Space Needle they had some virtual reality goggles set up where you can experience (sort of) skydiving off of the tall building. My two older kids enjoyed this, it was an extra treat for them, the icing on the cake, to this memorable experience.

The Space Needle was a highlight of our trip, and my kids talked about it for days after returning home. It’s an iconic site that’s a must-see for anyone visiting the city. It should come as no surprise that it’s a great place for capturing photographs. Some of my favorite pictures from the trip were photographed here.

I used a Fujifilm X100F to capture these images. I started out with my wide-angle conversion lens attached, then, while at the top of the Space Needle, took it off for a few exposures. These are camera-made JPEGs using my Velvia Film Simulation recipe and my Acros Push Process Film Simulation recipe.