{"id":127373,"date":"2024-04-03T09:51:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T00:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fujifilmnxtc.wpenginepowered.com\/?post_type=xstories&p=4238524"},"modified":"2024-05-01T22:16:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T13:16:57","slug":"the-creative-peak-adventure-photography-with-matthew-williams","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/stories\/the-creative-peak-adventure-photography-with-matthew-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"The Creative Peak: Adventure Photography with Matthew Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Army reservist Matthew Williams takes the FUJIFILM X-T5 on a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to South Georgia to document sights unseen<\/h5>\n

Photography, at its heart, is an opportunity to make memories. Genres allow deeper exploration of themes and niche visuals \u2013 but always, the artform comes back to a record of lived experience.<\/p>\n

With that comes the chance to glimpse into worlds unlike our own. When those venturing far from the traditional path carry a camera, they carry us with them too. Looking at an image, the spectator can share \u2013 for a few moments \u2013 in an adventure they could otherwise only imagine.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Matthew Williams took this idea to the extreme, going where few have gone before. To the benefit of all those who see the resulting photos, he kept the FUJIFILM X-T5<\/a> close by as a travel companion.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo 2023 \u00a9 Matthew Williams | FUJIFILM X-T5 and FUJINON XF33mmF1.4 R LM WR, 1\/2200 sec at F3.2, ISO 125<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThis was an expedition run by the Corps of Royal Engineers, to put a team of 15 soldiers on the island of South Georgia to conduct exploratory mountaineering,\u201d Matthew recounts. \u201cWe flew to the Falkland Islands where we met our yacht, spent a couple of weeks getting it ready to sail, then took it 860 miles across the Southern Ocean. We spent a month on South Georgia exploring terrain that had never been covered before, over a series of four-day-long expeditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an army reservist, Matthew has long had a taste for adventure. Photography, however, is an altogether newer passion \u2013 at least in practice.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo 2023 \u00a9 Matthew Williams | FUJIFILM X-T5 and FUJINON XF33mmF1.4 R LM WR, 1\/8000 sec at F1.4, ISO 125<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cA year ago, I wasn’t a photographer,\u201d he states. \u201cI enjoyed documenting memories when I was out hiking, but I only had my phone to do that with, so none of the real process was there. When selected for this expedition, I decided I couldn\u2019t come away without having some great photos. I started learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father is a keen photographer, and he lent me one of his cameras \u2013 the FUJIFILM X-T2. I took it on as many trips as I could, getting a feel for it and practicing technique. Right before I left, I bought my own X-T5.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew\u2019s South Georgia expedition was no leisurely hike. Beautiful subjects were abundant, but photographing them often fell outside of a typical process.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo 2023 \u00a9 Matthew Williams | FUJIFILM X-T5 and FUJINON XF10-24mmF4 R OIS WR, 1\/500 sec at F13, ISO 320<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re up in the high mountains \u2013 attached to the same rope as up to four other people \u2013 you can\u2019t pause to line a frame up perfectly. For me, it was about taking opportunities when they came, and focusing on the emotion of the landscapes around me more than the perfect visual.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were times throughout the trip where I wanted to get the camera out, but it wasn\u2019t appropriate. I probably missed some good photos, but you can only get what you can get.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo 2023 \u00a9 Matthew Williams | FUJIFILM X-T5 and FUJINON XF70-300mmF4-5.6 R LM OIS WR, 1\/1000 sec at F5.6, ISO 125<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cOn the wildlife side of things, I had a bit more time and space to play with visual ideas,\u201d Matthew continues. \u201cWe moored up between excursions in Grytviken, which is an old whaling station with a beach, where we found several elephant seals giving birth and some penguins.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome wildlife images are wider frames with mountains in the background, but the ones I came away happiest with are those with tighter compositions. I was able to isolate a king penguin with the dark sea as a background, which draws attention to the majesty of the animal; it was beautiful lighting too. In the right place at the right time, all I had to do was position myself carefully and wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo 2023 \u00a9 Matthew Williams | FUJIFILM X-T5 and FUJINON XF70-300mmF4-5.6 R LM OIS WR, 1\/250 sec at F5.6, ISO 250<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The explorer surmises his overarching goal succinctly and delivers an important reminder: often in photography, beauty speaks for itself with little intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, I set out to achieve an honest depiction of what I found. I didn\u2019t want to skew that with a lot of visual trickery. What was much more important to me was telling the story of the whole expedition \u2013 from arrival to departure,\u201d Matthew explains. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not necessarily the most artistic person, but I\u2019m confident in my ability to make an image representative of how a moment felt.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other side, I wanted to enjoy moments fully, rather than worry about getting specific photos that represented them in a certain way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo 2023 \u00a9 Matthew Williams | FUJIFILM X-T5 and FUJINON XF70-300mmF4-5.6 R LM OIS WR, 1\/500 sec at F5.6, ISO 125<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This process is not as simple as it may seem, however. It requires presence of mind, pure artistic vision, and importantly, a highly capable set of tools. Alongside his X-T5, Matthew packed the FUJINON XF10-24mmF4 R OIS WR<\/a>, XF33mmF1.4 R LM WR<\/a>, and XF70-300mmF4-5.6 R LM OIS WR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn alpinism, every gram counts. You shave your kit down to the bare minimum. Food and equipment are simply more important than a camera,\u201d he says. \u201cI knew the X-T5 was very lightweight \u2013 then I added the fewest lenses I could for my landscape, wildlife, and portrait needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom experience, I also knew I got on well with the physical design of the X-T2 and saw X-T5 as an extension of that. It was exceptionally easy to use \u2013 especially in the cold environment where I could adjust the dials with gloves on. I couldn\u2019t have gone into fiddly menus, so it was great to have full manual exposure controls externally.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo 2023 \u00a9 Matthew Williams | FUJIFILM X-T5 and FUJINON XF10-24mmF4 R OIS WR, 1\/30 sec at F10, ISO 125<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cAlthough I was trying to protect my kit from the worst of the weather \u2013 because I needed it to last \u2013 full weather resistance meant I never had to worry much,\u201d Matthew adds. \u201cWhen we were sailing, a couple of waves crashed over the top of me and the camera, and of course it was freezing at high altitudes; the X-T5 handled it all fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

On more creative fronts, Matthew was most impressed by the camera\u2019s malleable 40-megapixel RAW files and AI-driven subject-tracking autofocus capabilities. Together, they allowed him to record maximal detail with seamless accuracy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo 2023 \u00a9 Matthew Williams | FUJIFILM X-T5 and FUJINON XF33mmF1.4 R LM WR, 1\/1000 sec at F11, ISO 160<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe camera works exceptionally well,\u201d he effuses. \u201cThe ability to nail focus straight on specific details, then follow them through frame, made life so much easier. When you\u2019re trying to focus on the moment and getting the emotion right, you don\u2019t want to be distracted by technical details.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a raw record of every scene, so I knew nothing was lost and had full control when editing. I did use Film Simulations in the moment to guide my eye, though. Looking through the viewfinder at a monochrome scene, you can see exactly how the final image will look, then fine tune the details accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo 2023 \u00a9 Matthew Williams | FUJIFILM X-T5 and FUJINON XF10-24mmF4 R OIS WR, 1\/125 sec at F11, ISO 125<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Reflecting on what he\u2019s achieved \u2013 both personally and photographically \u2013 Matthew remains understandably proud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went in knowing I had to succeed, not only for my own selfish reasons of putting some nice photos up on my walls, but also to share the experience. The military perspective was important, but more broadly, it\u2019s a beautiful part of the world which unfortunately not many people will ever see first-hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy with the photos I made. My only wish is to have stayed longer and explored further,\u201d he concludes. \u201cBut this was an incredible opportunity, and that gets to live on when people view these images.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army reservist Matthew Williams takes the FUJIFILM X-T5 on a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to South Georgia to document sights unseen Photography, at its heart, is an opportunity to make memories. Genres allow deeper exploration of themes and niche visuals \u2013 but always, the artform comes back to a record of lived experience. With that comes the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":127374,"template":"","category":[2084,1006,1202,3211,320,1986,565,7180,9140,8307,9189],"post_tag":[],"b2b-solutions":[],"class_list":["post-127373","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-be-inspired","category-cameras","category-category","category-x-series-mirrorless","category-products","category-x-series","category-stories","category-x-t5","category-xf10-24mmf4-r-ois-wr","category-xf33mmf14-r-lm-wr","category-xf70-300mmf4-5-6-r-lm-ois-wr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 11:00:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/127373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=127373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_tag?post=127373"},{"taxonomy":"b2b-solutions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/ja-jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/b2b-solutions?post=127373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}