11.17.2017 Tomasz Lazar

Catch a Glimpse by Tomasz Lazar

Tomasz Lazar

Born 1985 in Szczecin, Poland. An independent photographer, a graduate of the West Pomeranian University of Technology, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology.  Winner of photography contests in Poland and abroad (e.g. World Press Photo, POY, CHIPP, Sony World Photography Award, the International Photography Award, BZWBK Press Photo, Grand Press Photo, Lumix Festival for Young Journalism or Grand Prix at Łódź Photo Festival). His work was published in newspapers and magazines like: New York Times, Newswek International, Sunday Times Magazine, New Yorker, Los Angeles Times or New York Magazine. He is a coffee-lover and a good music enthusiast. He derives pleasure from spending time with other people and devotes most of his time to photography. Recently, he is constantly on the move.

My journey with Fujifilm started in 2012/2013 when I was shooting my first work with X-E1. In that time I couldn`t imagine that Fujifilm will think about medium format camera, but at some point the dream‘s come true and they realized GFX.

My journey with Fujifilm started in 2012/2013 when I was shooting my first work with X-E1. In that time I couldn`t imagine that Fujifilm will think about medium format camera, but at some point the dream‘s come true and they realized GFX.

First touch that I had with GFX was in Tokyo, March 2017. I flew back to Japan to finish my project about Aokigahara Forest, also called “Suicide Forest“. I’ve started working on this topic the previous year during the summer time. At that time I’ve also done project with the FUJIFILM X-Pro2 and FUJINON XF100-400mm about the biggest train station in the world called Shinjuku. The whole story, idea you can read on X Stories.

Sea of Trees

 

So after finishing the project near Kawaguchiko Lake I had one more week in Tokyo. I wanted to check how the GFX would work on street and documentary conditions. Additionally everything was happening during Sakura time (Cherry blossoms season). This is an amazing time when families are spending time under Sakura trees and a lot of people walk across the parks. First impression was how good the design is, and how good it fits in hand. You can feel that it was designed very carefully for working photographers, who spend hours shooting in different conditions. The size of camera is comparable to DSLR, but this is the digital medium format camera.

Each day in Tokyo I spent 8-10 hours shooting on the streets. The first plus was the battery. I’ve used only 2 batteries per day, so big improvement of the capacity. I was really curious how the AF will work, while shooting on the streets. This camera is mainly used by commercial and landscape photographers. The AF and the shutter work a bit different than in X100F or X-Pro2 but I didn’t need much time to adjust to this. GFX allowed me to capture the moments that I wanted to freeze in the frame while walking across Tokyo. There were situations that I couldn’t catch but all camera sometimes makes “small” problems. During shooting I wanted to have this cinematic look so I’ve mainly focused on using two lenses, small and compact GF63mmF2.8 and GF120mmF4 lenses.

For the framing I could use the high definition electronic viewfinder, titled screen or special EVF tilting adapter EVF-TL1. Not all conditions allowed me to use only classical electronic viewfinder. I really enjoyed using the tilting screen with GF120mmF4. It gave‘s me also change of the perspective at some of the images.

Next important thing that we shouldn’t forget about is the quality and color reproduction. I knew that this big sensor could capture all the details. Some of the images I shot at ISO 4000 and they looked great. But what I liked the most was how this sensor reproduced the colors. While shooting I could check the images with touched screen by zooming in and out.

When I was shooting and working on the project “Catch a Glimpse”, I wanted to share some of the images while working. I’ve used to this Fujiflm Camera Remote App and JPEGs from the GFX. The quality of the JPEGs was great and full of the details.

I’m not sure if the all features, that this camera is giving, are going to be usable for documentary or street photographers. But I think I want to use this camera more and more for commercial and my personal projects. Framing all those moment with great quality.