Spitalfields Market and the Fuji X100

This is a real pull from the archives: one of the first photographs I took with the original Fujifilm X100 and started my love affair with the Fuji X system.

It's not a technically great image and I'm sure I'd make a much better job of it today, but it is a part of me starting to get a feel for that fantastic little camera that is the X100. Six years on, I still view it as a classic camera of the digital era: it helped popularise the more retro style picked up by lots of mirrorless cameras since, but more importantly it picked up the best bits of those old manual film cameras: the hardware controls that actually enhance the shooting experience.

The X100 was the first camera that truly made me want to constantly take it out and take photos. Now, I absolutely adored my Canon 5D Mark II, but it was a camera of great quality rather than a camera that particularly inspired me. The magic ingredient Fujifilm found with the X100 and later X cameras is creating cameras that make you feel so good taking pictures that they inspire you to take more.