Quinault Rainforest

After another long break from posting on the blog we return to where we left off. After I left New York I traveled to Seattle and went on a road trip through Washington and Oregon. My first stop was the Quinault Rainforest.

35mm 1/80sec, f/4, ISO 1000

It is an amazing place, especially if you don't have much time for hiking the trails around it. You can just drive your car and park it every few miles along the road and discover waterfalls, creeks, huge threes and moss everywhere.

35mm 2sec, f/16, ISO 200

I used my little joby tripod to take the long exposures. I would have preferred my old Benro tripod, but I was happy to be travelling light.

35mm 1/80sec, f/4, ISO 1600

Visiting Quinault was easily one of my best memories from the trip and it proved to be a nice test for the Fuji x100s. Low light hand held shots, macro and long exposures were all there.

35mm 2.5sec, f/16, ISO 250

You can actually do a loop around the lake in search of interesting spots, sadly the road changes from asphalt to gravel halfway through which is not as enjoyable.

A stroll in the woods

         I really wanted to take some Autumn pictures before the snow falls. Every year it's different, and you never know how long the season is going to be, it could be 2 months, it could be 2 weeks. I guess I should thank global warming for that! The weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity to get out of the city and enjoy nature.

1/1.3  f/16 at ISO200

           One place that I really enjoy and still haven't fully explored is the forest under the Dragalevski Monastery. There is a nice little river that allowed me to take some long water exposures for the first time with the Fuji x100s and it came out with flying colors.

10 sec.  f/11 at ISO400

6.5 sec.  f/8 at ISO200

I have been really impressed with the "T" function of the camera. It's like a smart "bulb" mode and it comes in when you want to have exposure longer than 1 second, since the knob on the camera only goes to 1/4. The 3stop ND filter gave me the opportunity to keep my ISO low where I needed it. Can't wait to go out again and find more stuff about the x100s!

1/30s  f/4 at ISO500

My girlfriend came with me and endured the cold and windy weather for the sake of the pictures! So, I want to thank her for that :)

48 Hours with the x100s - Part 1

            On my way to the farewell party of a friend of mine I stopped by an antique bookshop, where they have piles and piles of books, but its dead quiet, and incredibly tight. I didn't want for the owner of the shop to know that I am taking a picture, and the x100s was there to help me. I would never have taken my DSLR there, and the loud "CLICK" in that bookshop would have sounded like an explosion.

1/100s  f/2.8 at ISO400

It was already 8pm outside so there were a lot of people going through the underpass, and that was another opportunity to try out some low speed handheld shots of the crowds.

1/4s  f/8 at ISO800

There was another "guy" who was looking at the passing people with interest, but he was probably hoping for some food or a good scratch behind the ears.

1/15s  f/2.8 at ISO800

At the party I heard that there going to be fireworks, and I started thinking about the tripod that was sitting at home. But hey, maybe the Fuji is going to surprise me again and deliver some decent shots, after all...why not? It's handheld capabilities have been something that I was quite impressed with so far...

1/15s  f/2.8 at ISO1000

The next day I met with some friends at the Mall. They had their little daughter with them, and as all other kids she loves going to the rides, and since we were there anyway I decided to take some shots (handheld again). This one was my favourite.

1.3s  f/16 at ISO250

to be continued....