Jane Muller is the winner of the February 2019 FujiLove Magazine “Blur” photo assignment. Here comes Jane’s story behind her winning photograph.
A couple of years ago I started a little group which we call ‘The circle of confusion’ haha – its a subgroup of our local camera club. There are five or six of us and we go out shooting together a few times some months, with gaps when we all get too busy, and encourage each other etc. Plus we meet occasionally to do group sessions in LR and PS on our images, talk about what we’re going to enter into the next club comps etc. My personal aim for the C of C was to get out shooting more often and it has certainly helped to do that. And our shoots always involve coffee (after sunrises), a wee glass of wine (after sunsets) or some other convivial treat at the end.
Lately, I have been a bit annoyed with myself after getting home from a shoot and thinking “dammit, why didn’t I try this or that technique when I couldn’t do exactly what I had planned in advance”. I’m trying to slow down and think what else could I try. This time I managed to do just that, so it’s exciting to do well in the assignment with the resulting image!
We were going to the marina (in Napier, New Zealand) to shoot reflections at sunset. It was too windy for reflections, which would usually stop me in my tracks a bit, but this time I managed to stop myself and think ‘what other methods could I use to shoot this scene?’. I put an ND filter on (a variable one, its a cheap piece of junk but I am on a fiscal diet at the moment, so it’s all I’ve got) and took my camera off my tripod, and played with ICM for a happy hour. I was using my Fujifilm X-T20. Shutter speed for this particular image was 1 sec, at f/9, 41.3mm and ISO200. I used the XF18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. I tried various jiggles and sweeps with the camera and this was my favourite. I think it’s a little jiggle and a gentle short sweep. With regard to gear I am really trying to get the best out of what I’ve got. The X-T20, and the one lens. Of course I would like something a bit wider and something a bit longer and a macro etc., etc., etc., but I find I can have a very happy shooting experience with just what I have got.
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