How my photography with the Fujifilm X100V becomes a way of life

My name is Cindy Kleinecke, and I live with my family in north-east Germany. I was born there, grew up there and have stayed there ever since. I’ve always loved being out and about in nature and that’s where my passion for photography began to grow. At the age of 14, I held my father’s camera in my hand for the first time. It was a real analogue camera with film that you had to take to the photo shop later to develop. Even back then, I was fascinated by natural light, so I took my first pictures on the beach on the island of Rügen at sunrise, and I loved it when the sunlight fell through the leaves of the trees.

I like to get up early and have the first few hours of the day all to myself. Everything is still quiet then, and I can capture the start of the new day with my camera. I usually follow the light intuitively with my camera or discover small details that I would probably walk past without a camera in my hand. Photography allows me to perceive my surroundings much more consciously and intensively. My photography is, therefore, an important tool for me to be more mindful in everyday life. And that’s why I’ve always had my Fujifilm X100V in my handbag since March 2024.

Before that, I photographed with the Panasonic Lumix G9, but I didn’t want to take it with me in every everyday situation because of its size. So, after 5 years with the Lumix, I decided to switch cameras. In the past, I always wanted to have a large camera because I thought it would allow me to get even more out of my pictures. So I started my photography journey with an analogue camera, then a small digital camera and in my early 20s I got my first large digital SLR camera from Sony. This gave me the feeling that I could take really professional pictures for the first time. With a blurred background and beautiful bokeh. I taught myself to make all the settings manually. Since then, I have hardly ever photographed in automatic mode again. I learnt manual photography by simply trying out all the settings and then looking at what it did to my pictures. Of course, many pictures were overexposed, underexposed or blurred at first. And the focus was often off. But at some point, I got the hang of it. Because I simply tried again and again with different objects and locations.

I was often drawn to photographing nature, where I developed an eye for the small details. That’s why, after the Sony camera, I decided in favour of the MFT camera from Panasonic. I didn’t attach much importance to a large sensor. Over the past 3 years, however, my photography has changed. I’ve moved away from nature photography towards the moments and things that I encounter in my everyday life. I now love photographing architecture that I come across on my travels. I also like travelling and capturing all the impressions, such as beautiful accommodations, restaurants with delicious food or the hidden gems of the place. My fascination for natural light has always remained. I only ever use the light available in the situation. I have never worked with flash. I like to underexpose my pictures a little to bring more contrast and, thus, depth into my pictures. However, I also like the soft light and therefore always use a blackmist filter on my Fujifilm camera, and the aperture is usually set to F2.0. I’m now very minimalist in my photography, as I only shoot handheld and, therefore, don’t use a tripod. I also don’t need interchangeable lenses as the Fuji X100V only has a fixed 23mm lens. Initially, I was worried that this would restrict my photography, but it’s quite the opposite. Having only the 23mm has made me even more creative and flexible in my composition.

Before I used the Fuji, I always photographed in RAW so that I still had all the options for development in post-processing. However, this also meant that many pictures remained unprocessed and unpublished because, as a full-time employee in public administration and a mum, I often didn’t have the time to edit them. That’s why I now only use the Fuji’s film simulations and JPEG format. The images come out of the camera ready to use, and I love the results. The Fujifilm X100V has become a way of life for me when it comes to photography. I would never have thought that such a compact camera could inspire me so much. I finally have the opportunity to capture all the wonderful impressions and emotions in every moment and to recall them later when I look at the pictures. Because that’s exactly why I take photos.