Its been exactly 30 days since I last had a chance to walk the streets with my Fujifilm X100F.
(This piece was originally written in November.
I still love my camera though.)
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Total repairs cost: 170 (nearly $190).Whew.
Let me make one thing clear right now: The X100F is no flimsy piece of tech.
Those are marks of grit, true battle scars.
The X100F hasnt simply been a camera to me, its been a source of inspiration.
It makes me more daring when I walk the street.
It forces me to be on my A game.
It lures me into reacting to my surroundings and pursuing the scent of the unknown, the unpredictable.
I was attending a blockchain event in Paris on April 15, 2019.
As usual, the event was a drag, but I had some plans for the night.
I had matched a stranger on Tinder the day before and I was meeting her in the city centre.
I got home, took a shower, got dressed, and headed out to catch the metro.
So I went back and picked it up.
ButI had to know.
I texted my date that Id be late and I wandered off towards the smoke.
I wasnt the only one.
There were suddenly swathes of bodies running away from the smoke, and as many people running towards it.
Many had their phones out, snapping videos of the menace.
The closer I got to the source of the smoke, the fuller the streets got.
At some points, cars could barely pass through.
Drivers kept angrily honking at the crowd, but nobody bothered to clear up some space for them.
Neither did I, I kept inching closer with determination.
With proximity, the noise intensified, and so did the crowds reactions.
Then I finally saw it with my own eyes: A large cathedral was going up in flames.
The Notre Dame was burning down, bit by bit.
The cathedral had proudly stood there for centuries.
Minutes later, its spire had crumbled to the ground, along with 750 tons of stone and lead.
By the next morning, much of the Notre Dame was only dust and ashes.
And I was there to witness it all.
The truth is the photos I took on that day are hardly my best.
I have yet to put them up on Instagram, and Im still debating whether I should.
Dont get me wrong, the X100F is far from perfect.
It doesnt really matter, though, because Ive learned to love it.
This is the key in of relationship I have with the X100F.
Im not its master, and neither am I its servant.
Were a great tandem together.
Sure, I have a tendency to get clingy to inanimate objects.
When they break, I go to the next model (or brand) that does the job better.
Its not like that with the X100F, though.
All images in this piece have been snapped with the X100F.
Theyre all heavily edited (and some heavily manipulated).
If youre interested in a closer look at my creative process, follow meon Instagram.
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