Something aesthetic, something simple

It’s barely 6 AM. I’m not sure if I was awakened by the alarm or the cold. Though it’s already getting brighter and brighter, outside the tent it’s still quiet, with some fellow hikers sitting on the rocky edge of the ridge, watching the magic going on beneath us: an endless, white layer of cloud covers the valley, the peaks of the Southern Alps poke through as islands in the sea. And if there’s any way to top it all off, the most magical of mountains starts to catch the light of the sun. Aoraki. How did I end up here? 

I grew up in the quiet, visually not-too-inspiring town of Velence, Hungary, and was totally content with playing Lego and computer games for far too many years. Then, about 20 years ago, my godparents took me on a trip to Plitvice lakes in Croatia, and for that occasion, my parents trusted me with that one really basic film camera every family had. Needless to say the tranquil beauty of Plitvice opened my eyes in a way 30 odd film photos couldn’t satisfy. After that trip I was given an Olympus compact digital camera and started shooting everything and anything. From sunsets through the rooftop window, leaves, mushrooms, to holidays with family and school trips, I became the guy with a camera, who always takes photos and uploads them on Picasa. There was no stopping. But no progress either. Until in 2019, I discovered the Fujifilm X series. And Instagram. 

Oh my, that box of Pandora. By that time I’d already gone through a couple of cameras (I ditched my Olympus for a Fujifilm superzoom, then ditched that for a Nikon D7200), and started developing an interest for travelling to places my friends and family weren’t talking about. Iceland, Georgia, Montenegro, they were a huge learning ground for me, but I was still taking classic holiday snapshots. New Zealand was already on my mind, but I wasn’t ready yet. 

And then Instagram bit me. All those breathtaking images of places I’ve not yet seen, or already have but came home with terrible photos. Now I was craving to be a better photographer, more thoughtful, more passionate, more professional. My Nikon camera was perfectly capable but I never felt comfortable using it, so I decided I needed something else. A system that helps me grow, a system I can commit myself to in the long run. That’s when I met the Fujifilm X series. 

I was hooked by the retro look but practical handling, the capability of the bodies and the promise of great native lenses. I flew to Berlin with my brother to get a sweet deal on the X-H1 with the 16-55mm f2.8 zoom. It was love at first sight. Fiddling with the retro dials helped me make sense of shutter speed, aperture, depth of field. I was finally improving. 

My plan was to take a Working Holiday Visa in New Zealand and shoot the hell out of my X-H1. I had the visa, the gear, the plane ticket, I was ready to go in May 2020. So couple weeks before I was about to quit my job, Covid said „hello there”, and my plans went down the sewer. With months passing, my visa expiring and me sitting at the same job with a serious burnout, a feeling of being trapped and cursed started to get a hold on me. To avoid going crazy, I started taking weekend trips around Hungary, to explore our own backyard and to make use of all the gear I purchased for New Zealand. Photography saved my mental wellbeing. 

Then, after 2 years of waiting, as the world was carefully opening up again, New Zealand decided to grant me (and hundreds of fellow backpackers) a new visa, and the adventure was on. Joined by my girlfriend we roamed across the North and South Island of New Zealand in a crappy old Mazda MPV for almost 2 years. Half the time it was just as we imagined it: having dinner by the sea, sleeping under the stars and mountains, hiking the most beautiful trails in the world. And half the time it was a struggle to have enough drinking water, to get the car out of the mud, to find a job as our savings melted away. It wasn’t Instagram-like most of the time. But it was the greatest of adventures. And anywhere we went, we tried to make the most out of it and to take as many images as I could. To learn and be better. 

During the years I narrowed my niche down to landscape photography with a bit human element included. I’m not big on forcing a story behind every image. I always find that humans like to complicate things, try to explain the magic out of things and put them into boxes so we feel like we own them. But sometimes all we need is something pleasing to the eye, something aesthetic, something simple. 

The Fujifilm X system helps me immerse myself in the scene, to craft an image instead of taking a snapshot and to capture the colours I see there in the moment. For most of my images it only takes a couple of tweaks in Lightroom, some well-placed gradient filters and a little distraction removal in Photoshop to be publishable. 

Currently, I own a Fujifilm X-T4 body with the aforementioned 16-55mm f2.8 standard zoom, the 50-140mm f2.8 telephoto zoom, the 10-24mm f4 wide-angle zoom and the Samyang 12mm f2 for astrophotography. From all these lenses my most loved ones are the two f2.8 zooms. They are exceptionally sharp, gather enough light in most conditions and are simply a joy to use. Almost all of my favourite images were taken with these two lenses. The wide-angles come handy too, but I wish I could combine them into one lens, sometimes I find myself thinking about the Tamron 11-20mm f2.8. I really wish Fujifilm made something a bit more accessible than the 8-16mm f2.8. Also I’ve recently retired my X-H1 after it had been serving me well for the last 5 years, and I’m looking for its successor at the moment. Since fast burst speed is not on my list of requirements, I would better appreciate the larger sensor of the X-H2 or X-T5. Between these two, it’s almost a toss-up. I like the way the LCD screen of the X-T5 tilts, but because of the bigger lenses, I like the grip of the X-H line. 

What’s for sure is that the Fujifilm X series awakened such a hunger in me to become a better creator that I’m still trying to satisfy. The only question is: where will I end up?