Welcome! Start here.

Nov 22

I had the idea to start a little blog for a few reasons: to connect on a more personal level by sharing less paid work and more personal work, to get off social media and to give a little more detail about my photography. I also quite like writing, so this is potentially a fun way to get myself writing a bit. I imagine this blog as a kinda virtual art show. I’ll share some of my processes, ideas behind photos, goals I have; things like that. I’m well aware that probably only one or two people will ever look at these, so if you’re reading this: thank you for being here and being interested!

My name is Jordan and I am Two Roos Photography. I am Australian but have been in Canada since I moved here by myself in 2013. I’ve been interested in photography for a long time- I’ve always had an interest in various cameras and liked taking pictures of things. As a kid I enjoyed playing with disposable cameras on family trips, playing with a fun i-Zone camera, later taking hundreds of photos on my first point and shoot digital camera. At one point on a family trip to San Francisco I got my hands on a fun little Lomography film camera and one with a fish eye. Finally around the age of 18, got my first “pro” camera, a Canon 1100D (I believe it’s called a Rebel T3 here in North America). A classic starter camera but honestly, I’ve taken a lot of pictures with it that I still love dearly. I began to use it less and less however, and only really used my phone to take pictures.

A little over a year ago, I started getting back into photography, and took some classes to re-learn what I had learnt over a decade ago- the exposure triangle and how to get “correct” exposure in full manual settings; the rule of thirds etc. Getting back to basics immediately improved the photos I was taking (even phone photos) and learning these rules helped me understand obviously how to be successful with them but also when to break them intentionally… though often there are Happy Accidents.

Wanting to make a business out of photography, I knew I would have to upgrade my camera body and lenses, and after researching and looking at the work of photographers I like, I switched over to Fujifilm and bought my XT-2. It was a little old, but still newer than my Canon and was a BIG upgrade and a more professional camera. I loved using it so much (still do), especially the very tactile feel with all the dials. A big draw for me to switch to Fujifilm was also their film simulations- which recreates the look of classic film. There are many “recipes” out there on the internet where people have shared various settings to create even more styles, and I have a few that I gravitate to, after I made a few adjustments myself. Film simulations give photos a nice look, straight out of the camera (SOOC) in Jpeg files. This means significantly less time editing (maybe even none at all) and smaller file sizes.

I buy almost all my camera gear used, and after flipping an XT 20, was soon able to invest in an XT-4.

So, here’s my most frequently used gear, with lens focal length in their full frame equivalent:

Fuji XT-4 (main camera body)
Fuji XT-2 (secondary body)
Viltrox 35mm f1.4 (classic focal length, similar to what our eyes see)
Fuji 50mm f1.4 (the nifty fifty. My absolute FAVE for portrait sessions, stunning bokeh and versatile focal length)
Viltrox 85mm f1.4 (my fave for events when wanting to get closer, or have my subject fill more of the frame)
TT Artisan 35mm f2 pancake (my new travel companion, small and lightweight, classic focal length)
Tt Artisan 11mm f2 fish eye (a beast for concerts and events, images stand out and the distortion makes people look slightly surreal)
Fuji 24mm f2.8 (used similar to above, but using it less since aquiring the fish eye)
Flash (used for vintage looks, creating shutter drag)
diffusion filters on all lenses
ND filters available for all lenses, used occasionally
DJI Mini 3 drone (definitely useful and can take cool photos but I won’t lie, this is mostly a fun toy)