Landscapes in Black and White
You’re probably getting tired of hearing me rave about the Q2MR. I had to admit, I wasn’t quite sure what I was hoping for when I lost my mind and decided I wanted it (or Ann when she said to go ahead and buy it), but it has had its rewards. I really doubted myself when I made the road trip last year with Len and barely picked up the camera - did I waste my money? For the longest time I wondered whether I’d ever consider this a landscape camera. But our recent trips have made me realize that there is still so much potential for me to explore with it. And the results are so pleasing to work with.
While I have an L-bracket for it to use on a tripod, the Q2MR really comes into its own when we go light and I’m hand-holding the camera, making images on the fly. That freedom has given me the flexibility to explore image-making again in a way I haven’t in a very long time. Perhaps I’d become a bit stale in my visual experiments, or perhaps it’s just a change in the method of working that gives one a sense of newness, but I’ve been enjoying myself whenever we’ve decided to “go light” on an outing.
Going light means just the camera, a spare battery and the small filter pack I have for it. Given the black and white film “monochrome” nature of the camera, that means I can throw on a red filter to deeply darken the blue skies as with the image above (to accentuate the well-lit tiny branches in the background), or a yellow filter to slightly darken blue skies to separate wispy clouds in the image below.
When I’m walking around with camera in hand and little else, it also means I’m more inclined to point the camera at anything that might remotely provide an opportunity for a good image. And when I see potential in the frame, to work with it.
Otherwise, I pull the camera down and walk away.
It should come as no surprise that, given we went back to the ponds, I was frequently captivated by the flooded areas and the visual play between trees and water.
Staying at the same location for a few days has certain benefits. You become familiar with potential subjects, but it also allows you to explore techniques and to refine how you look at things, what you ultimately see and then make into an image.
The hard part is to not become repetitive in the type of images you make and to produce images that have unique qualities and aspects that others do not have.
But that’s the joy, and occasional frustration, with photography. Learning to see, and occasionally being surprised by your results.
Not all of my images were hand-held. When I went out with a full pack and tripod, I did a much better job of pulling out the Q2MR when I thought black and white was the way to go with an image than I did on my trip with Len. And I can’t complain about the results I can get. I just have to remember to think about image-making in black and white and returning to seeing those images before I raise the camera.
The fixed lens has its limits given that it is a wide angle lens, though the sensor allows for a substantial crop and the viewfinder will show the cropping for certain lens-equivalents. I’ve come to enjoy that aspect of the Q2MR, despite the reduced megapixel size. But when you’re in a confined area and want to work in black and white, it’s a great camera for the job and you have lots of megapixels for a near-endless degree of detail.
And, on occasion, I’d make an image with the X-T5 in color and then switch over to the Q2MR in black and white. Often slight adjustments need to be made in framing and intent, because rarely do color and black and white images have a similar feel to them. That too is part of the creative process that I find so enjoyable and I’m finally remembering to actually do it.
Yes, I’m certainly glad I’m remembering to grab the Q2MR during these trips. It’s such a joy in the hand and one cannot criticize the quality of the image it can make. Any deficiencies in the images are the result of human (read: my) error!