Fujifilm's new baby. GF670

This is why I love Fujifilm. This is Fujifilm's new FILM camera, the GF670. The medium format camera is obviously a folding model, and is aimed at professional photographers. Fujifilm plans to release it at PMA this year.

Two thumbs up for Fujifilm for going against the "grain". This is a great pillar for holding film up as still being available in the near future. Its wonderful that a MAJOR player in the photo industry is still  manufacturing and developing film, but is also making NEW film cameras for PROFESSIONALS. This camera isn't some Polaroid replacement for the hipster masses, although Fuji does have one of those (which is cool in and of itself), but this is a brand new classic style film camera aimed at working professionals. If this isn't a bold statement about how film still has a role in the professional workplace, I don't know what is.  Fujifilm has also been taking out whole page adds in high end photography magazines advertising film and posing the question, "In a digital age, is it possible to have a renaissance in film?". Fujifilm certainly thinks so, and I'm one hundred percent behind them.

Getting things underway.

So, to begin this blog, I want to write about a thought that I've been having for a while now.

A couple years ago a friend of mine and I were in a field throwing the Frisbee when we saw another group of people playing a larger game. He insisted that we try to join in. I protested and tried to keep the game between the two of us. Being the kind of person he is, he, then and there, tried to dissect my unwillingness to join the game. He said "I think I know the problem. You've spent too much time behind the camera." His statement was certainly convicting. I had spent a lot of time behind a camera taking pictures of other people doing other things. I had gotten into a few sports but had quit for one reason or another. Had I really spent too much time behind the camera? Was I really just on the outside looking in to a world of activity while I sit helplessly behind a window taking note? No. Yes, a camera can be used as a tool to remove one's self from a situation. Journalists in a war zone would be thought of as sick if they did not have their cameras and were only there to observe. As long as they have their cameras between them and the action they are "non combatants".

But photography is so much more than just a documentation. Documentation is the obvious use, but I don't believe I photograph in order to document. To be honest, I don't know why I take pictures. It feels right I suppose. It feels natural. I love the feeling of satisfaction I get when I look at a photograph I just took and know it to be "good" in my eyes. I get feelings from mine and other photographer's photos. They make me think and they also allow me to appreciate an image that I may not have been able to see before.

So I don't think that anyone can spend "too much time" behind the camera, as long as they themselves are satisfied with what they are doing.