RIP Martin Parr

British photographer Martin Parr dies aged 73

Martin Parr, a British documentary photographer, was known for his colour pictures of Britain. He is often named as an influential figure among street photographers these days.

The Guardian has a short retrospective of Martin Parr photography.

The also further pieces on or by Martin Parr, with his recent work:

– August 2025 — ‘There’s something very interesting about boring’: Martin Parr on his life in pictures

– July 2025 — Decks appeal: Martin Parr captures life on a cruise liner – photo essay

– April 2025 — Martin Parr catches the cherry blossom season in Kyoto – in pictures

Stata Center, MIT (11 October 2008)

I building with a reflective silver-ish siding. The windows are not aligned but rather in an curve, so is the buillding. Behind a more traditional modern brick building. To the side an even more shiny part of the building. That style is characteristic to Frank Gehry's style of architecture.
Stata center, MIT, Cambridge, MA
Building designed by Canadian American architect Frank Gehry.
11 October 2008
Canon 20D, Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX Fisheye.

Frank Gehry passed away this week. This is to my knowledge the only building he designed I have taken pictures of. It was last time I went to Cambridge, MA. It has been a while.

The Stata Center or Building 32 is part of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It was opened in March 2004. Source: Wikipedia

The picture was taken with the Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX Fisheye on a Canon 20D. The APS-C crop lead to less pronounced fisheye distortion. It was at the time my widest lens, which is an equivalent of a 24mm FoV on full frame.

X-E5 is still unobtainium

So I have a request for an X-E5 in black with a XF 23mm f/2.8 kit on a wait list at a Canadian retailer. It was days the announcement that I was put on the list. So I should be pretty much on top of the list. Turns out the camera in black is “back ordered” and the silver model comes in more often. I definitely want it in black.

At that pace Fujifilm will announce the X-Pro4 (whatever name the X-Pro3 successor will have) before I can even get an X-E5 in black.

November 2025 Links

Film news

DPReview just confirmed that Eastman Kodak has resumed direct sales of consumer film after more than a decade — This following the release of Kodacolor and the repackaing of both Gold 200 and Ultramax 400.

Trying Aerocolor — Erica Fustero tries Kodak Aerocolor that is sold only by the brand respooling it, even though most of them don’t say it. It’s a 100 ISO colour negative.

Fujifilm

The Complete History of Fujifilm X and GFX Cameras — An almost up to date timeline of the Fujifilm X and GFX line.

Leica

Pope Francis’ One-of-a-Kind Leica Sold for Nearly 100x Its Estimated Value — It’s not a camera that will shoot a lot if at all. It should be noted it’s a film Leica M, not a digital one. It’s serial number 5000000 (five million) so is the Noctilux 50mm f/1.2. It sold for €6,500,000 (instead of the €60,000 estimated)

Pope Francis’s Leica M-A set sells for 100 times its estimate at Leitz Photographica Auction — Same thing but this article also mention the bsck-up Leica M3 of the one gifted in 1958 to Queen Elizabeth II by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. It sold for only €156,000.

A closer look at some of Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite cameras — The Queen used many cameras. Including one similar to the M3 mentioned above.

Other

Digicams: The Cameras of the Modern Digital Rebellion — About that trend of using old digicams…

Link: First impressions: Lomography LOMO MC-A

I mentioned the Lomography LOMO MC-A recently. Kosmo Foto has had the privilege to shoot with one for a while and now have their first impressions of the Lomography LOMO MC-A.

Lomography is know for cheap plastic cameras that define the style of what people call “Lomography”, a sort of lo-fi photography.

Lomography’s new 35mm compact camera is a world away from simpler cameras like the LomoApparat or the Fisheye No. 2.

As it stands the LOMO MC-A is already on a different trajectory of more premium, with a build quality that feel solid with metal parts, exposure system, autofocus with manual options.

The test rolls seems to show good results. At ₤450 (CA$699) it’s definitely not cheap, but the result seems to be on par. This show the commitment of Lomography to film photography in general, as they also release a new film. Kosmo Foto expects to publish a more thorough review in 2026.

Fujifilm GFX 100RF Fragment Edition

Fujifilm still has supply issues where the X-E5 is still hard to find (still waiting on my notification from the retailer).

But now they announce a special edition of the GFX 100RF… a special collaboration with Japanese musician and fashion designer Hiroshi Fujiwara

Beside a few more specially designed accessories and finishes, like a leather strap, the camera is the same as the GFX 100RF, albeit with a higher price tag. On this special edition camera the Monochrome film recipe (and its filtered variants) is being replaced by the FRGMT BW recipe.

From Fujifilm, here is the official FRGMT BW FS Recipe:

– Film Simulation: ACROS
– Grain effect: Strong, large
– Tone Curve (Highlight): +4
– Tone Curve (Shadow): +2
– Sharpness:-4
– High sensitivity noise reduction:-4
– Clarity: +5
– Exposure compensation: +1/3

To get one you’ll need to reserve it starting 20th Dec 2025 at 11:00 (likely Tokyo time), and a lottery will attribute the very limited number and the price of ￥998,000 (including taxes). The regular version is sold for ￥822,200 at Yodobashi, making this about CA$1500 more.

Link: both eyes open – nine years with the Fujifilm TX-1

both eyes open – nine years with the Fujifilm TX-1 is an updated version the long term review I already mentioned last year.

The Fujfilm TX-1 (or its Swedish sibling the XPan) is still on top of my wanted camera list. The problem is more that it calls for a hefty price, which, despite being simple in operation, remains a fairly complex camera that will be hard to repair.

I still haven’t gotten a proper solution for shooting 65:24 either on film or digital.

“The New Era of Film Scanning”

From Soke Engineering: Knokke The New Era of Film Scanning.

Strips of slide film (positive) on a light table viewed in a diagonal orientation. The punchy colours brings joy to the photographer.
Strips of slide film on the light table.

The very short version: a new 35 mm film scanner with roll feed, not unlike the Pakon. But with modern parts, repairability, and open-source software to drive it. The software part is not negligible. You cannot use a Pakon without installing the software on obsolete Microsoft malware. Same for the very expensive Fujifilm Frontier, for for Nikon or any other vendor from decades ago. And without the software they are expensive bricks.

Their target price is €999 at launch, later €1599 (I do have questions). With an intent to scan a roll in 5 minutes at a resolution of 4064 dpi.

It’s still in a state of development, with a Kickstarter planned for Q1 2026, so it’s not available soon yet. But it’s good to see a renewed interest in that niche of equipment that the previous manufacturers have abandoned with their software no one can fix and that doesn’t run on modern computers.

I’ll make sure to post an update.