It’s early in the morning, and I am sitting at the departure gate at Florence Airport. I'm returning home after nearly two weeks of travel and street photography in Italy. Florence gets more than 11 million visitors per year. In a city of about 370,000, that’s a lot! With so many people focused on their time in Florence, street photography becomes more comfortable as it’s easier to blend in without much notice from anyone else around you.

While exploring Barcelona last month, we experienced a variation of weather. Initially, I was worried. Would I not experience Barcelona in what I imagined—beautiful weather and a favourable climate I love? After capturing only around 100 photos from the first 24 hours, I remember thinking, “I’m not going to get anything from this trip.” I was patient. I pushed that frustration aside and enjoyed what was before us regardless of what was to come.

As you probably guessed from the title, Barcelona was our destination for an impromptu trip. We had some fun choosing where to go. I listed each option on small pieces of paper, and we each chose our top three. If one location matched, that was our choice. Only after that would we look at accommodations, flights, and the weather. Travelling at the last minute is exciting, but something so close to embarkation time can get expensive.

Numerous iconic locations in New York include Grand Central Terminal, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty. These landmarks have been around for many years. And with some well over 100 years old, they have become synonymous with New York. Other recent additions to the city are becoming well-recognized, including the location we will discuss today.

Last month, I completed a personal project focusing on the uptown area of my hometown, Saint John, New Brunswick, in Canada’s oldest incorporated city. For that project, I focused on the uptown revitalization and what I remember growing up in the city. I wanted to use black and white as the absence of colour can convey a nostalgic throwback to the past and direct the viewer’s attention solely to the composition, shapes, lines, light and shadow.

Located in the province of New Brunswick, Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada. That age is evident, especially in the historic architecture, most prominently in the uptown area. Nestled along the Bay of Fundy in Canada’s eastern province of New Brunswick, Saint John has a storied history that stretches back centuries.

Earlier this year, I flew to London to spend a week exploring the city and doing street photography. Since I would walk quite a bit there, I kept my gear minimal. That included the Fujifilm X-E4, my current travel and street photography camera, the 35mm f/2, which is compact but also a superb lens, and the 18-55mm f/2.8 for more range if needed while not being too big of a lens.

When you want to have a person in the frame for a photograph, it can sometimes be a challenge to take that photo without them noticing what you are doing, especially when there are not many other people in the general area around you. I’ve yet to run into any issues taking photographs of people on the street, but like anyone who does so in public, I have been noticed.

For my trip to New York last month, I used my Fujifilm X-E4, which has now become my only camera choice for travel. I had limited myself to only the 35mm f/2 to travel lighter and make my composition and photography choices easier. In addition, I was also able to utilize two film simulations, the same ones I had used in London the week before this.

Street photography can be challenging. When street photographers venture out with a camera in hand, they have to accept that they will miss some shots, and they also have to prepare to take photos even when unsure of what might happen. As photographers, we have many gear/options to choose from, and part of what makes a photographer good at what they do is the knowledge they have of the gear they use.

I spent a week exploring the city and doing street photography in London in late February and early March. While I was excited to get to the city again, arriving at the end of February, I was concerned about what kind of weather I’d be experiencing there. Checking a week before departing, the forecast was quite optimistic, with a mix of sun and cloud for the week and an average of about 6°C, but a week-out forecast is not the most accurate, and I was aware that this could and probably would change.

The world of photography has many different genres; sometimes, those genres have aesthetics that blend into others. Street and travel photography are two genres that share a lot but also have aspects that make them differ, and we will look at the similarities and differences between street and travel photography and how they relate to each other.

I have been shooting with Fujifilm for a few years now, starting with the X-E2 from years ago. I loved that camera for its size and photo quality. It remained my No. 2 camera for travel for years, and although it was only 16MP, it was mostly fine for travel photography. When I used the X-E2, I never experimented with JPEG or any of the included film simulations, as I thought that RAW would be best in any situation.

As part of my ongoing street photography project, I walked around downtown Halifax, capturing photos using a different simulation. I was using the Fujifilm X-E4 with the 35mm F2, and the recipe I chose was the Kodak Portra 400. Also, I have been shooting both JPEG and RAW in the instance that I wanted to process my RAWS differently, but for the times I have shot both, I never bothered much with the RAWs.

On Saturday, I spent about an hour walking around downtown Halifax, capturing street photos as part of my HFX Street project. I primarily focused on Queen’s Marque, located at the Halifax Harbour. Queen’s Marque is a new public space that had its grand opening about a year ago. The $200 million investment includes a lovely waterfront walking area surrounded by new retail and commercial, restaurants, and a boutique hotel.