Photos of my son taken on a Fuji X-t2 and 35mm 1.4 (Acros film simulation)

This past year of shooting film has really sparked my interest in black and white. I've always enjoyed it, but it was more of a "let's take this photo and see how it comes out in black and white". With film, using a black and white film, you don't have that luxury. You need to be intentional and try to see what the camera is going to see. It was very interesting at first having an idea of what might come out, but not really. Then there are different kinds of film stock out there and they react differently depending on lighting, contrast in the scene and on the subject as well.

Going back to my Fuji setup I'd always shot for black and white photos, but I always used RAW. This meant I'd have all the resolution and detail, but it would also be in color. Then I'd go in Lightroom and adjust the photo to a nice black and white. I knew all about the presets in the Fuji cameras and how great the jpegs looked, but there seems to be a mantra everyone is told when learning photography "always shoot in RAW, you'll regret it if you don't". For me I had shot in jpeg a few times, but did find the files to be limited when it came to editing. And not wanting to forget to change the settings back after always made me nervous. So I just kept the camera set to RAW and changed it after.
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But, with a year of film photography behind me I don't have those worries. Try shooting a roll of film and wondering if ANY of the photos will turn out. I'm a decent photographer so I know that even on my worst day JPEG photos would turn out mostly right.

So, I told myself, don't be scared of shooting in JPEG and embrace those awesome film simulations included in your Fuji camera. I didn't hesitate at all. I wanted to learn to see better in black and white and also to see what my camera could do.

I plan on saving the settings to my ACROS profile and shoot regularly in black and white to improve my skills.
​These are a handful of photos I took yesterday of my son. The first one is from before we headed out and the rest were taken at Barrett Park in Leominster, MA He's a great model, doesn't fuss in front of the camera (yet) and seems to have some curiosity in my cameras.

​For me this camera and lens combo feels right at home and I can't wait to take more photos.