Fuji X in Fashion (and short fashion film)

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guest post by Jon Macapodi – website

My name is Jon Macapodi, I’m a Fuji shooter and work as a freelance fashion photographer in New York City.  You can view my work on my website.

When I started doing this full-time about six years ago, I was fully entrenched in the Nikon system. My first experience with Fuji was with an [shoplink 46368 ebay]S5 Pro[/shoplink] I had borrowed, and it left an impression that in some ways still ring true today, “Unparalleled colors and skintones, quirky operation.” After that, based on my love for Fuji’s color science, I purchased a used X10 as a “day-off” camera. Immediately I fell in love with the straight out of camera jpegs, and even the aforementioned quirkiness (in this case, the super high dynamic range pixel-binning party trick of the X10). I began using the X10 for some personal work, then actual work, when the technical limitations of the camera wouldn’t interfere with the creative goals or requirements of the shoot.

I shot heavily with the X10 for about a year alongside my Nikons, and it was probably the most influential year for my work from an artistic standpoint: the inherent limitations as well as strengths of the X10 really pushed me to produce and become a better portrait photographer and deepen my creative vision for women’s fashion without relying on the visual “crutch” of full-frame DOF on f/1.4 glass.

I traded in my X10 for the X100S upon release and it was the death-knell for Nikon in my camera closet.

Fast forward to today, and I’m now fully invested in the X system, with an X100T + TCL, X-T1, X-Pro2, and the 16mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4, 56mm f/1.2, and 90mm f/2 and the Rokinon 135mm f2 (I really wish Fuji made one of these…). For the longest time I was holding onto my D800 and some glass for occasional video booking, but once I saw the quality, color, and undeniable “Fuji Magic™” present in the video files of the X-Pro2 I gladly sold what the remainder of my Nikon collection.

Today’s Fuji’s are still not without occasional “quirky operation” moments (especially as a video tool), but the X-Pro2 particularly is the most enjoyable and complete photography tool I’ve ever worked with, and it continues the tradition of the X10 as a catalyst for creativity in my work in women’s fashion.

Here’s are some samples from a shoot this past week, including a short fashion film shot on the X-Pro2. Credits: Claudia Todman @ RE:QUEST Model Management, styled & shot by Jon Macapodi, beauty by Claire Beevers @ Smith & Brit.