FUJINON XF400mmF4.5 R LM OIS WR x Sarah Dotson
Photographer Sarah Dotson celebrates freedom, family, and the thrill of the open road with FUJINON XF400mmF4.5 R LM OIS WR
Route 66 is an iconic highway that runs from Chicago across the country to California. Long stretches of it are desolate and dusty – conditions that wouldn’t usually lend themselves to a photo project. For photographer Sarah Dotson, however, it was precisely that reason that made it ideal, and she headed out with her father on their motorcycles to make images of their journey together.
“The roads are not perfect in any way, but that’s what makes the adventure,” she reflects. “I feel like freedom, creativity, and risk are all intertwined.”
With FUJINON XF400mmF4.5 R LM OIS WR and FUJIFILM X-H2S in hand, Sarah celebrated the 100-year anniversary of Route 66, and she treasured the opportunity to create photos that encapsulated her father’s spirit.
An Action-Packed Childhood
Sarah was born in Florida and grew up with a sense of fearlessness – which is to be expected, considering her family would often camp in the nearby forests surrounded by alligators. That intrepid nature led to pivotal moments that shaped her.
“I remember being four years old, and my brothers were going down a ramp with their friends,” Sarah says. “Of course, I hit the ramp thinking, ‘I’m going to crush it, I’m going to fly,’ but I didn’t have enough speed, and I fell off the end.
“I was on the ground, looking up at my dad, and I knew he was both proud and amused – he wanted me to try it out and realize the result for myself. I love that.”
Later, as a teenager, Sarah won a wakeboard lesson in a raffle. She was immediately performing 180° spins, so by the second lesson her father went and bought a boat.
“I think it was an excuse for him to get a boat, but he’s always been supportive of me and been along for the ride,” she says.
Becoming Free with a New Perspective
Sarah’s father went by his given name for much of his life, but then he decided it was time for a change – he chose to call himself Free.
He was working a corporate job and left in favor of starting a company with his family, making healthier choices like going to the gym, and riding motorcycles. “Free” became a way of living as much as a name.
“He started riding motorcycles in 2018, and that just became his thing,” Sarah explains. “He rode all over. He does 30,000 miles on his bike in a year.” It was almost inevitable that Sarah would follow suit, as befits her spontaneous personality.
“I was hanging out with my brother one day, and he decided we should do a motorcycle safety course. So, we did. Within three days, I was riding through Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City with my dad.”
Images That Tell a Story
Sarah not only inherited her father’s love of life but also his passion for photography. Her childhood was often documented by her father and his camera. At the age of ten, she couldn’t resist picking up his camera and playing around.
“While we were on these trips, I would make these images, and I thought they were the coolest things ever – which they probably weren’t because I was ten years old,” she laughs. “But I wanted to be like my dad and share that with him. That’s where my love of photography started.”
Now, Sarah’s photography serves as a professional creative outlet while providing cherished family mementos. When she and her father go on motorcycle journeys together, Sarah is often the one behind the lens and Free is in front.
“Whenever I’m creating an image with my dad, I can see his childlike joy shining through,” she says. It’s helped her appreciate that he’s living his life for the first time too, and it’s special for her to encapsulate his freedom in the frame. The photos are more than simply records of a route; they tell a story.
“It’s an honor to be able to give him something that he can bring home,” Sarah says. “He’s showing people because he’s so proud. It’s cool to look at those moments and see that we did it together. I made an image that is going to be forever lasting in our family.”
A Lens Built for the Challenge
That idea of legacy is partly what inspired the trip to Route 66, but so did the thrill. The roads are unforgiving, which is exactly what Sarah craves.
“At the end of my life, if I look back and see it as comfortable, I think it’d be boring,” she muses. “I’d rather see that I went for it and I failed. But at least I went for it. There’s something beautiful in that.”
Route 66 provides challenges not just for those riding it, but also for the gear. Dust, wind, and changing light necessitate a lens that is up for the task.
This is why FUJINON XF400mmF4.5 R LM OIS WR proved essential. Weighing just 1,245g (2.7lb) and with weather-resistance, it’s the perfect long lens companion for times you need reach while remaining nimble.
“I love having such a compact and lightweight lens,” says Sarah. “It’s not going to weigh you down when you’re at the racetrack or on the mountain.”
A Perfect Focal Length
The 400mm (609mm equivalent) focal length benefits Sarah’s automotive photography. It gives her the distance to bring the rider, road, and landscape together in a single image.
“Having a 400mm in your bag is great because you can use it for detail. 500mm can be too long while 200mm isn’t long enough for my subjects, so 400mm is perfect,” says Sarah.
“If using a telephoto sounds scary, this lens changes your perspective because the F4.5 aperture gives you that beautiful depth-of-field and background separation.”
Additionally, XF400mmF4.5 boasts Fujinon’s renowned quality that really makes photos shine.
“The image quality from this lens is incredible,” Sarah enthuses. “You get the sharpness, the contrast, and the compression that I need.”
When photographing motorcycles in the mountains, every moment counts. There are no second chances when your subjects are traveling at speed. You need a reliable autofocus, and FUJINON XF400mmF4.5 R LM OIS WR is more than capable.
“The autofocus on this lens is extremely fast,” says Sarah. “I set X-H2S subject detection to ‘motorcycles & bikes’, and it nailed it. I was able to get sharp images all the way through.”
With FUJINON XF400mmF4.5 R LM OIS WR, distant scenes have never been more accessible, rendered in stunning sharpness and color. For Sarah, it means she can preserve the freedom and fun her father taught her about.
