Salt Lake City Street Photography

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 a Fujifilm X-T30

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

Antithesis – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Last week I did a little photo walk in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. I’ve been itching lately to do more street and urban photography. Salt Lake City is a very nice and relatively safe downtown, making it an excellent location for this type of picture adventure. It’s not all that far from where I live, so I really need to get there with a camera more frequently.

The particular day and time of my visit turned out to be quiet. Sometimes downtown Salt Lake City is bustling and busy, and sometimes it is nearly dead. This was definitely one of those nearly dead times. On one hand it feels like you can take things at a slower pace and just absorb the atmosphere, but on the other hand there seems to be fewer photographic opportunities for street pictures. There are pluses and minuses.

Nearly Scraping – SLC, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

The number one subject that I encountered was the homeless. Like any urban area, there are homeless all over. It seems like Salt Lake City has more homeless than it should, but I think the generosity and compassion of folks in this region might make it seem favorable for those in that situation. I don’t want to dive too deeply into what could be a long rabbit hole regarding the homeless. I’ve talked with several. Had coffee with a couple. Given a car ride to one. It’s a sad problem with few, if any, good solutions. The status quo isn’t effective. There are people trying to help, and there is help for those who really want it. Some just don’t want help, even though they are clearly at rock bottom. I know that photographing the homeless is taboo for some. I would say that ignoring the plight isn’t helpful.

I used a Fujifilm X-T30 camera with a Fujinon 35mm f/2 lens attached to the front for these pictures. I’ve heard many people say that the 50mm-equivalent focal length of the lens isn’t ideal for street photography, but it all depends on how you use it. I appreciate that this setup is fairly small and lightweight, which does make it useful for this genre of picture-taking.