Photography News 91

Fujifilm

Make the Switch ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Fujifilm convert Wendy G Davies loves a good decisive moment. For her, a day out on the streets photographing is like meditation – she gets in the zone

MY FAMILY GOT me serious about photography. I bought my first DSLR – a Canon EOS with a couple of zoom lenses – in 2009 to shoot my sons playing rugby, so I was out on the touchlines every Sunday. A few years later, my daughter did photography GCSE, so she had to shoot light trails and lots of other creative stuff. I was taking her here, there and everywhere. I had my camera with me, too, and got more involved in photography that way. I upgraded my Canon to an EOS 7D Mark II, joined a camera club, and tried different genres.

But it was street photography that really grabbed me – I remember seeing inspirational images at the club. It was on my birthday when I went to London’s Brick Lane and shot one of my most successful pictures. It only scored eight out of ten at the club, but won a selector’s silver medal at the Southern Counties Photographic Federation championships, and a gold medal at the 2019 London Salon of Photography. That gave me confidence and I thought: ‘I’m actually quite good at this, so go for it.'

I went on a course in London with Brian Lloyd Duckett of StreetSnappers, and later went to Venice and Lisbon with him. I also know a few folk from the StreetSnappers Facebook group and we meet up to shoot together – we recently went to Liverpool for the weekend. It’s just a nice community and everyone encourages each other. I was using my Canon EOS 7D Mark II for street, but it’s heavy and my wrists ached after a day’s shoot. On a trip to Lisbon, I borrowed a Fujifilm X-T1 from a friend and took that with my Canon. Half my pictures

were on the Canon and half on the X-T1. When I got back, I bought the X-T3 with the XF23mm f/2 R WR. Later, I went for the XF56mm f/1.2 R. Earlier this year, I bought the tiny XF10 on sale, which I’m really impressed with and has delievered some cracking shots. Much more recently, I got the XF18mm f/2 R, and it’s been on my camera ever since – I love it! I also have some legacy Pentax lenses I use via an adapter. On the X-T3, I use aperture-priority AE and auto ISO, with the minimum shutter speed set to 1/500sec during

WENDYGDAVIES LRPS Member of Alton Camera Club wendygdavies.com Instagram: @wendygbd

LONDONCALLING Fujifilm X-T3, vintage Pentax manual focus lens via an adapter, aperture-priority AE, 1/640sec and ISO 320 in Auto ISO mode

26 Photography News | Issue 91

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