Our Place Studios » Photography Gear

Just Call Me Benedict Arnold…

cj — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:05:15 +0000

After much thought and deliberation, I have switched sides: I am now a Nikon Guy. I’ve owned Canon for a few years now but decided now was the time to switch. To people who know me, it’s not really a surprise: just as I start getting comfortable with something, I do something to totally mess it up. I’m lucky my wife is resilient or we would never have gotten together! I’m not saying I had reached some kind of pinacle with my Canon shooting, but I was starting to get results that were consistent with the way I was seeing them in my head, which is a great first step. Still, with all the learning I’ve been doing and all I want to do, I decided Nikon was the best direction to go.

Although those who have sworn their allegiance to one or the other, ultimately the truth is the equipment doesn’t much matter. It’s really getting your brain to talk to your hands to guide the equipment to get the closest representation to your vision you can get. Light of course plays the biggest part, but your brain needs to be able to interpret that light, gauge how best to capture what is in that light, and what is NOT in that light, and create something that is worth looking at more than once. Prime glass is nice, but I’ve seen people get amazing images using a point and shoot or a consumer level digital camera.

So I decided to go with the Nikon D90. I liked the reviews, it’s capabilities, and it’s price.

I also got the 18-200mm Zoom lens. It’s a great lens for many purposes, is well built and produces sharp images. I like it very much.

I also wanted a fast, sharp lens for portraits and settled on the 50mm f/1.8. Wow is it sharp! I’m going to use this lens a LOT!

So now I’m back almost to square one as far as working with the technology. There’s much to learn, which really, is the whole reason I shoot. It’s become an essential part of my education as a person. I couldn’t imagine life without it.

I’m Flickr-fied!

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:48:01 +0000

Since Santa brought me Adobe Lightroom for Christmas, I have been cataloguing all of my old shoots. As I’ve been rolling along, I’ve decided to update the blog by importing my old photoblog text with some updated photos from the shoots. Up until now I’ve used a Word Press plug-in to host images and put them into a nifty slide show. Well no more! I have officially joined the land of Flickr, where I can join the Strobist group (like I need to drink any more of that Kool-aid!), post my images, and with a few clicks, enjoy other people’s work as well. I feel a little nekkid right now, for the most part this site and my work have been seen by friends, family, stalkers, and a few others who stumble onto it. Putting things on Flickr open me up to all kinds of trouble: image theft, critique, more stalkers. I’m keeping my fingers crossed this isn’t the case. I’m hoping maybe I can meet other people who are like me who like to try to capture beauty in its many forms, learn about light, and push the technology to do things it wasn’t meant to do, all while having fun, meeting cool people, and learning all along the way.

To be continued…

Check Out My Equipment!

cj — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 05:40:38 +0000

Something that seems to be common amongst photographers is comparing equipment–photography equipment that is. I wonder if it’s a gender thing. I remember taking the family up to a state park when we lived in West Virginia and found the most beautiful waterfall. We shot for a while when I see a photographer approach with a young model and her mom. While the mom and daughter prepped, the photographer chatted me up. “Whatcha got there?” seemed to be a friendly enough question. I should have known better. I showed him my camera and I swear he made a face like someone made him eat poo. I stayed friendly, figuring he was showing off for his client. He showed me his camera, which of course was a lot “better” than mine. I left, knowing that it’s what’s behind the camera that counts, not the camera itself. I should have stuck around for a bit and watched him interact with the model and her mom. I probably could have learned a lot, both in what to do and what not to do.

Anyway, I shoot with this:

I also have a film camera:

I have a few lenses and am saving up for a few more. I really want this bad boy right here: I don’t care much about what kind of camera I use, but that red stripe around the lens means quality. I could have a crap camera but with primo glass, I can get a razor sharp image.

For now I’ll just have to settle for what I’ve got:

So there you have it, my gear. I could go into lighting, but seeing as how that’s what I’m working on learning, I think I’ll hold off until I get a better grip on it.

Here’s some photos of Leah from a recent photoshoot using the above mentioned equipment (can’t have a post without pictures, can we?).