I recently read an awesome post from Robert Boyer titled the Fuji X-Series The Emotional Appeal. There Robert shared Bert Stephani’s views and experiences with the Fuji X system via youtube video. This video I had missed but I’m so glad I got a chance to see it. Brett’s views about personal and professional work are spot on. Sometimes I get paid photography work but most of my work is personal some more intimate than others but nonetheless personal. The key word  being personal and my Fuji XE1 & XF 35mm gives me such a feeling. I’m able to intrude more into those private spaces and photograph more from a different perspective. Its quite difficult to put words to feelings but such is the case with the Fuji X-Series.

Further down the post Robert elucidated some of the reasons he shoots film and a comment he made on this post really struck a nerve with me.

Also one of the reasons I still shoot film – sort of a level set every couple of weeks. Helps with the post processing too = what normal should look like.

I’d like to focus on the last part “what normal looks like.” Robert couldn’t be any more right about this topic. What is normal ? These days we presets like VSCO, Replichrome, and others trying to emulate what “normal film” looks like. I had the privilege of starting in film so I have a vague recollection of what normal looked liked in BW with Tri-X 400 ASA and pushing it and so forth. But I must admit, sometimes I can’t find my world with my photographic processing. I’m always torn between BW and Color. I suppose its part of the journey and I’m still learning to process and how to see, a lesson which I think never ends. Sometimes I succeed and other times I fail miserably. I suspect this happens to a lot of enthusiasts out there trying to find their “true north” as Stephen Covey would say. I wonder if great photographers and storytellers like Kevin Mullins and Johnny Patience had such thoughts early on. I wonder?

All images were captured with the Fuji XE1 & XF 35mm 1.4 wide open