Everyday’s a beautiful day on the farm with the FUJIFILM X-T100

Summer is the busiest season on our small hay farm. While our crop is easier than most to maintain, there is still a lot that goes into caring for our farm. We bale around 10,000 bales of hay each season and maintain a few acres of corn. We have a lot of animals (that list seems to keep growing yearly!). As you can imagine, our days start early and end late.

I love to document our daily life and adventures. There is so much magic that unfolds here and I love sharing that magic with others. I am constantly exploring new ways to document our life on a farm in small town America. I was so excited to have the opportunity to test out the FUJIFILM X-T100 mirrorless camera with the FUJINON XC15-45mm F3.5-5.6 OIS PZ lens. This camera and lens combo piqued my interest because I am new to shooting with a mirrorless camera. I was interested to see if I would be able to capture the magical moments that unfold daily on the farm.

The FUJIFILM X-T100 is small enough to use while doing chores.

Morning comes early here. While others may grab a cup of coffee in the wee hours of morning, I grab my muck boots and head out for the day. My children wake early and head out to the barn with me. Before walking out the door I usually grab my camera, a lens or two, and a backpack to toss it in. But with the FUJIFILM X-T100 I only needed to grab the camera itself. Due to the small size of the camera and lens combo, I was able to just swing the camera across my shoulder. Compared to shooting with a DSLR, the camera seemed almost pocket-sized to me. The small zoom meant I didn’t need any other lenses.

The kids make a beeline for the part of our barn where we store hay bales, their favorite spot. They feed and play with our barn cats while I muck stalls and check on the horses. I love peeking in on them or standing back to watch them play with the cats and make hay forts. The small size of this camera allowed me to capture truly candid moments because it is non-intrusive.

The camera body with the lens was very lightweight and I was able to wear this camera all day around my neck and shoulder with no issues. Since I had the camera on me all day, I was able to capture moments I would normally miss because the X-T100 was so accessible.

Usually after checking the horses my youngest son helps fill the water buckets. He loves to drink out of the water pump. He is so proud because he now knows how to turn the water on all by himself. His excitement was priceless when he could finally lift the handle this summer. These are the moments I strive to capture in my work. With the X-T100, I don’t have to worry about missing milestones like these.

I can easily switch from stills to video without missing a moment.

Once the large barn is taken care of we head over to the chicken coop. This is the spot the children spend a lot of time during their day. They love holding the chickens and collecting the eggs. They listen to music as they sit in the grass, each one petting his favorite chicken. During this time I find myself taking more video then stills.

I absolutely fell in love with how the X-T100 captured video. The focus peaking allowed me to capture the endless surprises that happen when you pair children with chickens. I also loved that I was able to save my settings for shooting video as well as for shooting stills. This allowed me to bounce back and forth seamlessly between shooting video and stills without missing a beat.

The sturdy build of the FUJIFILM X-T100 made me confident putting it in my children’s hands.

After we finish caring for and playing with the chickens I grab a snack for the kids and we head out on our treasure hunt. My children really look forward to this daily activity. We bring a basket with us and the kids collect all sorts of neat things the find while hiking our trails. During this time, I allow the kids to use my camera to photograph whatever they find worthy. It’s a great camera for kids because it’s small and the buttons are placed so intuitively. They didn’t have to struggle to reach buttons while holding a very heavy camera like my DSLR. The durability and quality of the body made me comfortable putting it into a child’s hands.

Once they all have had a turn taking photos, I normally grab a few photographs of our finds. Nature photography is something I find so relaxing and enjoy doing around the farm. The X-T100 captures great detail, is very sharp, and the colors and skin tones it produces are beautiful.

I’m able to capture the moments that matter most to me.

Once we return to our home, the kids have lunch and I arrange the flowers we picked. Then it is time for nap and rest time. When they wake up they usually play in the pool for a few hours. They also enjoy playing on their playset, and picking flowers and berries that are abundant on the farm.

After dinner, we head out as a family to play outside. The kids play on their play set, catch tadpoles and frogs near the pond, or collect wild flowers. We then complete the evening chores and tuck all the animals into bed. During the summer months, I allow bedtimes to get pushed a little later and twice a week we end the night catching fireflies. Our hay meadows have thousands of them that appear as the sun sets.

I am able to capture the moments that matter with the FUJIFILM X-T100. This camera makes that possible with all its wonderful features. It’s durable, compact, and the shooting performance is impressive. It is the perfect camera to use daily to document my growing family on our farm.

All photos by Danielle Awwad

This is a sponsored post but opinions are those of the author.