about me
I'd always liked the idea of getting into photography but beyond trying to take half-decent photos on my phone I never did anything about it.
I bought my camera in summer 2025 and, given I've been travelling around for a while since then, I've had loads of great opportunities to use it.
It's made me want to get out more and it forces me to really pay attention when I'm walking around so I think it's made travelling even more enjoyable.
But the best thing about it has been that I had never considered myself creative and photography has convinced me that I can be if I try.
equipment
I've had a few people ask about my camera or how to get into it. I started with my phone for a while just to get better at composition and to figure out if it's something I wanted to put money into.
When I got a "proper" camera I took it out with me constantly but it took a while before my photos looked better than what I could take on my phone.
Anyway this is the camera and the lenses I use:
- Fujifilm X-T50
- Fujifilm XF 27mm F2.8 R WR
- Viltrox 56mm F1.7
- Fujifilm XC 50 - 230mm F4.5/6.7
- Sigma AF 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN
I also have an Olympus Pen-EE2 which is a half-frame camera from the '70s. As the name suggests, each photo only takes up half of a normal exposure of film so you get twice as many exposures per roll, with the trade-off being lower resolution photos.
approach to editing and AI
It is tempting to use AI to clean up a photo. Taking a photo and then seeing a dark spot from where the lens was dirty is frustrating, for example.
But, as AI becomes more prevalent, I'm convinced that little imperfections are important and they reflect the real world conditions of photography. i.e. the lens was dirty because my camera had been dragged up a mountain and had slept in the tent with me for weeks.
I use Adobe Lightroom Mobile for my photo editing which has some AI functionality built directly into its tools. Of these I only use the masking tool, I don't use generative AI for any of my photos.
