OCOLOY vol.1

My one camera-one lens-one year projects

My OCOLOY vol.3 2024/25

For my third year of OCOLOY I’ve decided to leave my Fujifilm XE1 which I had my first two years of OCOLOY for my Fujifilm XT2. Why? My XT2 is getting close to dying on me so I’ll take it on a last ride. A few buttons don’t work, only 1 SD-card slot work, the hotshoe for flash don’t work etc. The XT2 was the first camera that really made me fall in love with photography in ways I didn’t thought was possible. So this year will be my love letter to that camera.

I will use the 7artisans 35mm f1.2 mark ii. A really cheap, good looking, manual lens with a lot of character. I want to see what is possible with a cheap modern manual lens. I’ve also missed the manual focusing from the first year I did OCOLOY. / Johan O E

My challenges

I’ve given myself 12 challenges over the upcoming 12 months. Some challenges will really test my patience and others will be fun and educating. I don’t expect any challenge to be easy, yet I hope I will learn a lot on the way. I will still keep my mind free in my photography but concentrate on the challenges.

Streetphotography It’s good to start with something you feel familar with. I’m gonna try out a different approach to my standard way of streetphotography.
No people in my images This month is one of the most crowded months when it comes to people. Which mean I have to get away from the cities for a while or use my eyes more in crowded areas. The opposite of my first challenge
Portraits A month of envoirmental and streetportraits. I might even throw in some photoshoots. Including 10 strangers (people I ‘ve never met). I will be trying out different depth of field settings.
Vintage roadtrip vibes I plan to do a few roadtrips and hikes where I want to capture a feeling I get when I look at some of my favorite lifestyle photographers images. This month I also have to print 36 of the images.
Slow shutter All my shots have to be below 1/80 second. This is a perfect time to play around and try new things.
Black and white ISO 3200 Embrace the grain, I will set my ISO at 3200 and photograph the whole month like that in black and white,
Tripod Every image will be taken with my camera using my tripod.
Same subject Photographing the same subject for a month in creative ways. No idea yet of what to photograph.
Landscape Getting out in nature on the most boring month where I live. time to get creative
Double exposures in portrait mode Probably my hardest challenge this year. Using my camera’s build in double exposure while only photographing in portrait mode.
Minimalistic 1:1 crop I’ll try to keep my images simple with a minimalstic mindset and cropped to square 1:1 in camera. My SD card should only have 31 images at the end of the month.
Love This month I will try to photograph 31 things I love in life.

My two film simulations

Wanderlust - My color setting

This is a filmsimulation I’ve been working on for years to get right. Even though I’m not 100% happy with it, it turns out great with some tiny and fast editing in Lightroom. With a vintage glass you get a kind of film look which I like.

Classic Chrome

Fine+RAW

DR200

White balance Auto +4 red, -4 blue

Highlights +1

Shadows -1

Color -2

Sharpness +1

NR -4

Noirdic - My B&W setting

I prefer contrasty images and this is my try to get that Kodak TX400 film look. The higher the ISO the more filmlike.

Acros+Red

Fine+RAW

DR200

Highlight +3

Shadows +3

Sharpness+2

NR-4

I will also use a CPL, ND and Pro mist filter

MY OCOLOY VOL.2 SETUP

Camera: Fujifilm XE1. The XE1 is a 16.3mp, APS-C camera released in 2012. It has got the X trans 1 sensor, same as in X-pro 1. Weight 350g

Lens: Fujifilm XF18mm f2. A tiny autofocus lens with an organic rendering. With a crop factor of 1.5 it would be similar to a 28mm lens on a fullframe camera. Weight 116g

Total weight including battery 466 grams

Why did I chose this gear for my second OCOLOY

I wanted a big challenge for my second year and went from 40mm to 18mm. From manual focus to autofocus and from 5:4 crop to 1:1 crop. I shot the whole year in black and white as my challenge. A wideangle lens, in-camera 1:1 crop and in black and white made me rethink the way I create my images. It was definitely a bigger challenge than year one. I went from not really liking the 18mm focal lenght to loving it. It’s now my second favorite focal lenght. I could easily live the rest of my life with only the 18mm and a 35mm lens and be happy with that. During the challenge I sometimes missed a longer lens for portraits so I had to rethink, recompose and try new things. I think the 18mm is the perfect streetphotography lens for an APS-C camera.

Getting creative, moving my feet, training my eyes and exploring my mind.

A simple idea that went from a fun project to a community. A small print became a book project and so on.

A one year photographic journey to find out what photography is all about.

Playing around with double exposures, portraits, depth of field, composition and black and white etc.

Shot in Sweden, Norway, Spain and France.

I edited everything in Snapseed and made a 5:4 crop on all the images. I had the 5:4 crop in mind throughout the year.

my OCOLOY Vol.1 setup

Camera: Fujifilm XE1. The XE1 is a 16.3mp, APS-C camera released in 2012. It has got the X trans 1 sensor, same as in X-pro 1. Weight 350g

Lens: Konica Hexanon 40mm f1.8. A manual focus lens from 1978. Minimum focus is 45cm. Weight 140g

With a crop factor of 1.5 it would be similar to a 60mm lens on a fullframe camera

Adapter: K&F concept adapter Konica AR to Fujifilm XF. Weight 113g

Total weight including battery 603 grams

Why did I chose this gear for my first OCOLOY

For a few months I felt uninspired and I wanted a more vintage type of rendering in my images. Lightroom can make it look ok but with a vintage lens it becomes easier. Fujifilms 16mp X-trans 1 sensor also has a more organic than clinic look to its images. I found this camera very cheap, used online. The same week I got an old Konica lens from 1979 for 20 euros in a second-hand shop. I did some test shots and liked what I saw.

A lot of my favorite photographers used minimal gear so I wanted to try the same. I’ve missed a lot of shots while changing lenses. If I only carry one lens my mindset will be different and in the end I found it calming and less stressful. After a year of struggles and fun, I managed to capture some of my favorite images of all time.

The project has led to interviews in magazines, podcasts, Photo exhibition in art galleries, photography awards and lectures about the project.