When I was in grad school in Connecticut, I carried my Nikon D5100 everywhere. During those years I photographed everything and everyone (some of those photos are here). My roommate and I even experimented with analogue photography, turning our rooms into makeshift darkrooms. Some winter nights we stayed up under the warmth of the red light, developing photos until morning. Oh that magical moment of the photo appearing on the paper!
After graduation, when I moved to Boston, I continued photography for a while. But eventually, the weight of the bulky camera and its lenses wore me down, and I stopped. Taking photos with my phone never filled the same emotional gap. Last year, I began searching for a camera that was both powerful and compact. I’ve always dreamed of owning a Hasselblad, but it’s far beyond what an amateur like me could justify. Ultimately, I chose the Fujifilm X-T50—and I’m happy that I did. It’s small, elegant, full of features, and has a nostalgic charm. The film simulations and grain effects feel tailor-made for my retro-loving soul.
Learning the autofocus system has taken some practice, but I’m getting the hang of it. These are some of the first photos I’ve taken with it.
Picking up photography again feels wonderful-getting lost in time, finding beauty in random small things, capturing my environment the way I see and feel it. How is it that a technique invented nearly 200 years ago still feels so magical?
Once again, I carry a camera everywhere. And my old Nikon? It’s found a new home with a friend’s teenage daughter, who’s just discovering the joy of photography.
written by Behnoush Hajian
