Marlee Dancing and a New Lens

 Marlee dancing, May 6, 2023. Fuji X-H1, Fujinon XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8

My granddaughter Marlee began dancing when she was just a tiny thing and over the years has spent thousands of hours practicing and performing. I've been photographing at least one of her performances each year since 2011. 

On May 6th I photographed her final performance as a high school student. On May 14th (coincidentally my birthday) she graduated from the Webb School of Knoxville with a high grade point average, and this fall will enter Indiana University, where she will take pre-med courses and minor in dance.

Over the years I photographed her dance performances with several different Canon and Olympus digital cameras, but in 2017 I switched to the Fuji system and began photographing her with, first, an X-T20 camera, and later, an X-H1. 

One of the first lenses I bought for my Fuji system was the Fujinon XC 50-230mm f4.5-6.7. It's an inexpensive lens, but very sharp, and was adequate for my needs. (See my pictures of pileated woodpeckers here.) However, the lens has one flaw: the mount is made of plastic, and while I was photographing one of Marlee's performances I accidentally dropped the camera with the lens attached and broke the mount. 

This year I replaced the 50-230 with a Fujinon XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 lens. It has a faster aperture, is very sharp, and most especially, has a metal mount.  And although it's heavier than the 50-230, it balances very well on the X-H1.

Even though the above photo of Marlee was made at an ISO of 12,800 it's tack-sharp and has almost undetectable digital noise -- about like a very fine-grained film. And with this combination of camera and lens I was able to capture a much higher percentage of "keepers" than I have in the past.

I'm going to miss photographing Marlee's dance performances, but I probably won't be driving to Indiana to shoot them. 

Please continue to pray for Louise. She's making great progress, but still has a lot of pain.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.