I owe a lot to Fujifilm. Not only Fujifilm, but their acros film simulation to be even more specific. Since roughly 2008, I have been wondering through my days with a camera in hand in one way or another. While many people started picking up photography as a hobby during the lockdown years, I started to reach for my camera less and less and sold nearly all my gear besides my Fuji X Pro 2.

It wasn’t until mid 2022 that I picked it up to snap a few photos of our garden progress. It just happened to have been left on JPG and Acros from the last use. The spark came back in full force from there when I looked at that set of pictures. For the next few years, I solely used that camera with acros for everything. I cannot get those years back that I missed documenting, but if it wasn’t for Fujifilm, I probably still wouldn’t be photographing as much today.

Fast forward to this past weekend, Fujifilm was in Minneapolis at the Walker Art Center hosting their annual, “Create With Us,” event. This featured workshops, portfolio reviews, photo walks, gear cleaning, tech talks, photographer presentations, lots and lots of swag, camera testing stations, and best of all, like minded, Fuji loving, photographers.

I made the trip up to attend for the Sunday ticket. Saturday was mostly workshops, but featured many accredited photographers you got to spend the day with and learn from. This would have been a great thing to attend, but sometimes you need to pick your battles when you have to drive over for the day. Sunday was a jam packed day and kicked off with an amazing presentation by Reuben Wu discussing his landscape photography and light painting using his Fuji GFX 100RF.

If you are unfamiliar with Reuben and his work, you need to look him up and watch his video on Fujifilm. He is a Nat Geo photographer that isn’t afraid to brave the elements to achieve his work. Reuben uses light painting to bring an emphasis to the landscape while leaving it unaffected. It was great to hear him talk through his philosophy when it comes to his art as well as his gear needed. You can find him at @reuben on most social channels and is worth the follow. I got to take his portrait after his presentation and chat a bit. He is a very down to earth a funny guy.

Right after Reuben, Fuji hosted a tech talk with featured guest, Ritchie Roesch. If you have used Fuji cameras, then you have probably used a “recipe” on your JPG files. Ritchie is the creator of the Fuji X Weekly site and has an app with hundreds of different looks you can dial into your camera. He is the one that coined the term “recipe” for the looks you plug in. The presentation was more gear related, but an awesome insight into the nuances of these cameras and how they are special.

I had some time to kill, so after those two talks, I headed over to the main building to see the booths as well as talk to some other photographers. They had tables set up with camera to try, a whole instax wall, a soda “receipt” bar where you could mix and match drinks to your flavor in classic Fuji cups, models posing and so much more. Fuji went all out for this event and put a ton of thought into a fun / creative environment. The great thing about Fuji is the passion they have for their users and how much they want to meet the demands on what real world users need.

I highly recommend attending one of these or tuning in monthly to the Fuji Tech Talks. If one of these is near you, it’s worth the trip! I will be watching my calendar for next year!!