Last weekend Perth experienced one of the largest photo events of the year, Photo Live Expo. This year was my third year in a row that I have attended the ever growing event. There were a large variety of exhibitors in the main hall. All your big camera brands were present (Fujifilm had a nice central location in the hall). Photographic associations, education centres and photo accessory businesses were also on hand. Tripods, bags, filters etc. It was a great show floor. I was there was the morning and it was full of energy. For the first time this year they had a whole section dedicated to videography gear too.
Another great part of the event was the photo walks, workshops and guest speaker sessions. While I didn't go to a guest speaker session this year, for the last two years I've been and I've always found them very inspiring and insightful. Next time I would like to give one of the longer form workshops a go, they seemed fairly interesting. This year I finally made it to the Fujifilm photowalk. It was one of the first sessions at 9am, bright and early on a Sunday morning. It was great to catch up with some familiar faces from the Fuji X Aus group as well as meet some new Fujifilm shooters. The walk was led by the talented Fujifilm X Photographer Dan Avila and Fujifilm Australia Head Trainer Warwick Williams. Both Dan and Warwick were very generous with their knowledge. Thanks to Fuji X Aus and Camera Electronics several of us even managed to try out some Fujifilm gear for the photowalk!
I was excited to try out the Fujifilm X-T3 camera body, the 23mm f1.4 and the 16mm f2.8. The X-T3 was definitely more responsive than my little old X-T10. X-T3 files also seem to be of better quality too (presumably from the better sensor!). I mainly used the 16mm f2 during the photowalk and I wasn't used to such a wide field of view. As it was a relatively short walk, I didn't get to experiment fully with it. It was great to try out shooting some group shots and also architectural shots with it. The 23mm f1.4 was great in the expo hall. As I was used to the 23mm focal length already, it was very easy getting used to that field of view.
I got to chat to other Fuji X Aus members during the photowalk and on the expo floor. As well as meet some of the staff from Fujifilm Australia and other vendors. Here's our favourite Perth Fuji X Aus reps, Chong and Gus at the expo.
If you're from Perth and have yet to check out Photo Live Expo, be sure to do so next year. Thanks for stopping by today.
J.