Fujifilm
Make the Switch ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Disillusioned with her DSLR, Jovis Leigh Howieson visited her local camera shop wit the intention of buying one brand – she came out with two FujifilmX Series cameras instead
JOVIS LEIGHHOWIESON Photographer and founder of womenstreetcollective @jovisleigh
FUJIFILM CAMERAS CHANGED my life. I know this sounds cliché, but it’s true. I’m looking at the world differently, I’m happier, and much more aware of what’s going on around me. I’ve also learnt a lot about myself – I love being out on the streets and feel so alive taking photographs. It’s very different from where I was a few years ago. I didn’t know much about photography, but wanted to get into it with a camera for travel and holidays. I bought a Nikon D5200, because people around me had Canons and Nikons. The problem was that the D5200 was big and cumbersome – too industrial. It didn’t inspire me; it didn’t even make me feel that I wanted to learn how to use it. Eighteen months later, I’d hardly used the Nikon and my photo ambitions had not moved forward – it just wasn’t working for me. Then I looked into street photography and thought: ‘I have to do this.’ I went to the camera store, and, because I own lots of Sony stuff, said: ‘I want to do street photography and buy a Sony camera.’ I was totally green and the guys in the shop just laughed. But they were great and took me through every brand. I kept on coming back to the Fujifilm products I was being shown, the X-E3 and X-Pro2. I loved their look and seemed simple to use – fitting my hands perfectly. When holding them, something in me came alive and there was excitement and passion – I felt connected. I thought these were the cameras I needed to do street
BICYCLE MAN, LONDON EYE This was the first picture that made me say, ‘I can do street photography’. On Westminster Bridge, I saw him jump off his bike and then onto the ledge. I thought I have to take this. I was shaking with excitement. Fujifilm X-E3, XF23mm f/2 R WR, aperture-priority AE, 1/60sec at f/8 and ISO 800
“I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true. I’mlooking at life differently, I’m happier, andmuchmore aware of what’s going onaroundme”
After I’d bought my Fujifilm cameras in February 2018, I booked a flight to Cuba the following month. At this stage I still didn’t really know how to use the cameras. I had a lot of failures, but went out and met local photographers. After Cuba, I went to New York, then I tried to go to a different city every month – Berlin, Prague, Paris, Amsterdam, Istanbul. If I wasn’t travelling, I was out shooting in London, mostly in the West End. I was travelling a lot before the pandemic, all for street photography.
photography, but I couldn’t make a decision. So, I got one of each, together with two lenses: the XF23mm f/2 R WR and XF16- 55mm f/2.8 R LMWR. I have since added several more XF lenses, because I enjoy portrait and wildlife photography. My outfit includes the XF56mm f/1.2 R and XF 100- 400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR. At The Photography Show last month, I bought the XF16mm f/1.4 R WR. I also have a Fujifilm X100V compact, which never leaves my side.
26 Photography News | Issue 93
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