Finding Depth of Feeling

5 minute read

Finding Depth of Feeling

Kirth Bobb, a wedding and portrait photographer based in Washington DC, explores the deeper meaning behind a photo with GF80mmF1.7 R WR

Photography is much more than just making images for Kirth Bobb; it’s about telling stories, preserving moments, and provoking feeling. Coming from an engineering background, and brimming with creativity, using a camera to frame the people and world around him offers the perfect balance between art and science.

“With photography, I can be creative and still exercise the technical part of my brain,” begins Kirth. “My formal education is in technical disciplines, but I think most people have a creative spark in them somewhere – you know, everyone’s drawn a picture!

“I had a moment in my life where I lost someone – the most important person to me. And it was a photograph that kind of kept that person alive, so to speak. That photograph made me appreciate the gravity of what I was doing with my camera,” he explains.

Kirth aims to build this depth in every photograph he makes. In his mind, this explains the importance of the way an image makes you feel and the questions it makes you ask. “There’s a photograph, but then there’s a story, right? What was happening? What were they feeling? It’s all about the depth of that feeling.”

He continues: “People pick up old photographs to transcend the present and reach a space where they’re reliving something or being reminded of someone. And I think of those elements with every single photograph I make. Whether it’s a street photograph, a photograph of my children or a commercial photograph of a business executive, it’s evidence that something existed in this time.”

This very same thinking applied to Kirth’s recent project with GF80mmF1.7 R WR, which is designed to celebrate the diversity of the American people. “In the current climate of our country, I think it’s important to ask what an American family looks like” says Kirth.

“I think there are people who have a clear idea of what the typical American family looks like. And because they think that way, they think that other families in America don’t deserve all the goodness, protections, and liberties that come from being an American family. But I beg to differ. I think juxtaposing this beautiful family, who is rich in ethnicity and culture but still American, against our monuments kind of makes sense to me. I want to tell the viewer that this is an American family too,” he explains.

Using GF80mmF1.7 for this session was new in a bunch of ways for Kirth. First and foremost, the 63mm equivalent focal length is not one that he is used to using. “I’m used to using either 35mm or 85mm. I feel 35mm makes things ‘real’ and 85mm helps you find the beauty in things. I think 63mm offers a sweet spot in the middle ground. And it’s a focal length that I’ve never really photographed at before. So, for me, it’s exploring and seeing in a new way,” he reveals.

He was also very impressed with the lens’ extensive weather-resistance. Until now, he’s tended to reserve large format photography for studio work, but GF80mmF1.7, and indeed the whole GFX system, has opened up a new world of possibilities “One of the really cool things about having this lens, especially now, is that the weather in DC can get interesting. Today it was foggy and there was a ton of moisture in the air. Those are conditions that may have made me pause before creating in large format without GF80mmF1.7. But having a weather-resistant lens means I can use it freely. I don’t have to worry about putting a plastic bag around it. I can just work.”

GF80mmF1.7’s speed also receives plenty of praise from Kirth, because the versatility of its wide maximum aperture makes it great for working on location. As the world’s fastest-ever lens with autofocus (AF) for a medium or large format mirrorless digital camera system, it is possible to work handheld with a level of freedom that has been impossible in large format previously. When this was combined with edge-to-edge sharpness that truly makes the most of the high-quality GFX sensor, Kirth was able to make the most of the renowned FUJIFILM color that he loves so much.

“One of the things that I’ve always enjoyed about the FUJIFILM system is its color science. I don’t really have to play it safe when it comes to composing different colors, because I know that FUJIFILM products maintain that integrity. There’s never a great distance between what I was photographing and what I was experiencing. So, when I get to post, I’m not spending a lot of time on the computer fiddling with stuff.”

Photo © Kirth Bobb | FUJIFILM GFX 50S camera and GF80mmF1.7 R WR lens, 1/200 sec at F11, ISO 320

Summing up his experience with GF80mmF1.7, Kirth enthuses that the lens can create a level of image quality and feeling that is hard to resist for wedding and portrait photographers like him. “I think the portraits essentially end up looking like wall art. And GF80mmF1.7, together with GFX system cameras, is like an artist’s dream.

“With this combination, you can literally stop the experience of seeing a person at the eyes and, to me, that’s magical.”

GF80mmF1.7 R WR is now available at your nearest FUJIFILM Authorized Dealer. Learn more and read the full specifications here.


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