What's In The Bag??

I read a blog post today by one of the bloggers that I follow, and it was about what he carries in his camera bag. It was a long list, and it definitely got me thinking about things that I'd like to have, but also about what I have in my own camera bag, so I thought I would go ahead and give a little breakdown to show what I carry around with me. All photographs, by the way (with the exception of my business card), courtesy of Google searches for the products being described and none of which were taken by me I am sorry to say.

First of all, when talking about what I have in my camera bag, I suppose I should start off by talking about the bag itself. Until recently I have been carrying my gear in the stock standard Canon bag that came with my lens, which managed to fit my camera, the flash that I have been borrowing and three lenses (one on camera) at a squeeze. On my recent trip to Cape Town, my Dad offered to let me take his older Lowepro EX 180, and it has proven to be the best bag for me (for the moment anyway). It comfortably fits my camera, four lenses, the flash and all of the extra bits and bobs like batteries, charger, cable release, business cards and more. I have yet to find myself short on space, and it is barely larger than the bag I was using before and infinitely more comfortable. I am sure that in the years to come, I will be looking at getting something bigger, but for where I am now it is a perfect fit for me.

Next I'd better talk about the camera itself. I only have one DSLR that I carry with me everywhere, and that is my Canon Kiss X4, also known as the Rebel T2i and the 550D. It is a pretty mid-range, beginner DSLR, and it is the camera that introduced me to photography. I bought it back in 2010 while I was in Korea, and it has grown on me to the extent where I never want to put it down. It is one of the loves of my life, along with Grant and Puddims, and though there are better cameras out there, I am not looking at getting a new one anytime soon. My Kiss X4 is my baby for now.

On to the lenses! First of all, the lens that I use most often is my Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM zoom lens. It is a lens that was given to me by a good friend of mine in Grahamstown (or someone that I consider to be a good friend, though he may think of me as more of a leach on his talent), Mr. Paul Mills. The lens itself is not in top notch condition, the reason he gave it to me being that it fell at some point, breaking the manual focus ring. It still works, but with difficulty, and I have managed to master it in my own way to make it work for me. It has replaced my original 28-80mm lens, and I have never really looked back.

One of my favourite lenses is my Canon EF 50mm 1.8 ii Prime lens which I bought while I was in Korea. I was a little silly when I got it, because I should have splurged the extra cash and bought it new, but instead I chose to get it second hand, and over time the lens itself has started to give me problems. But that does not stop it from being one of the most fun lenses that I own, and one that I use to give me a new perspective on life. It is wonderful in low-light situations and a lot of fun to play with, a good reminder that feet are the best zoom that a person can have.

My new baby (when it comes to lenses) is the birthday present that my parents got me this year, which is my Sigma 10-20mm f/4.0-5.6 Wide Angle which I am looking forward to having lots of adventures with! A wide angle has been one of my wishes for so long that it feels as though a world of possibilities has opened up before me, and I can't wait to take a nice long trip just so that I can test it out the way that it should be tested, on the open road.

My fourth lens, and the one used least often these days, is my Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Telephoto lens... although technically I can't call it mine since it is still on indefinite loan from my father. This is the joy of having a dad who understands photography and the costs of starting out - lenses on loan. Though I do find this lens to be good for a bit of Macro photography, I don't get a chance to use it often considering that I take portraits for the most part. And though a telephoto can give you the advantage of being able to take photographs from a distance, giving your subject the space that can so often let them be more themselves, I find that I haven't had a chance to use it in my photo shoots... yet. I still carry it with me should the need arise, and I look forward to the day when it will come in handy to capture that perfect moment from a distance.

To add a little spice and a little fun to my lens collection, while I was in Korea, I bought a set of extension rings to add to my collection. Though I don't use them nearly as often as I used to, with it being so much easier to flick the switch to Macro on my telephoto lens than dismantling the rings and changing, taking off and putting lenses onto the rings, I still find them a lot of fun to play around with and I've written a few blogs about them. I still carry them in my bag because, as I found out at a wedding last year, they can definitely come in handy.

With the lenses out of the way, it is time to get down to my other gear, or at least the gear that I carry with me. First of all is the flash that I have on loan as well (have you noticed how I have amassed most of my gear through borrowing, loaning and just pure luck? Because going over this, I have!) It is a beautiful Canon Speedlite 580EX which is on loan from my boss at work, and which works particularly wonderfully together with my new studio lighting (another birthday gift that I am looking forward to practicing with). With a tilt range that is practically perfect, it is the ideal on and off camera flash, and is an item that I would love to own for myself one day. For the moment though, I am just happy to get to use it on occasion and keep it in my camera bag until Dianne needs it.

Speaking of my birthday present, part of it is my new Elinchrom EL-Skyport Speed Transmitter which will live in my camera bag from now on rather than in the studio itself. It is what ties the flash to the new lighting system, and ties the new lighting system together overall, and though I have only played around with it so far, it is what is going to bring my studio photography to the next level. I can just tell.

Next up is my Aputure Shutter Release Cable that I bought for myself to try and attempt some astral photography, which I have only gotten around to once since the purchase. But this little device has been used for self-portraits and random odd-jobs that I would never have expected, and is one of the cheaper, but more useful purchases that I have made.

Along with the pieces of equipment, there are one or two other bits and bobs that I store in my camera bag, and this includes 3x memory cards, a second camera battery, a charger (not going to be caught without with that again!), camera and lens covers and, finally, some business cards (which I am also now storing in my wallet and my handbag since being stuck one too many times without them and looking a real fool talking about being a photographer and not having a card to give out.

And that is it! That is the gear that I have on me at all times, and next time I may go into talking about the equipment in my studio, particularly once I have given the new lighting system a real try instead of the playing around that I did on Sunday.

How To Act

I was reading a post yesterday from one of the blogs that I follow, and it was talking about people who don't want to have their photos taken. Now, I can understand that to a point. I really can. I am sometimes really not in the mood to have my photo taken at all. But there are times and places where it should be acceptable, and there are ways to handle it without offending the photographer or making them angry.

I commented on Kimberly Gauthier's post yesterday with one of the experiences that I'd had with a person who did not want to have their photo taken who I thought had reacted very very badly. But I experienced worse today, and I thought that I would share the experience.

I tend to take photos of anything I see. I understand that people don't particularly like to have their photographs taken, and I tend not to take too many of other people unless they are at events or doing something exceptional. I am not a big street photographer, because I understand that people don't like to have their photos taken, and I am shy and tend to avoid confrontation.

Tonight I was at a game of bowls. I was playing this week, so I did not have much time to find a subject for a photo. Not wanting to take of the people playing, I saw a drink lying in the grass. So I lay down in the grass and took a photo of it. Next thing I know, the owner of the drink has approached me and starts shouting at me for taking a photo of his drink. Now, I would understand perfectly if this was a photo of  him that he was concerned about. That would make perfect sense to me. I can equally understand if I was in the way of his game or was somehow distracting him. I ensured that I was not on the pitch, not in the way and, aside from taking a quick snap, was not being a nuisance. And yet he was so rude about it, that I almost burst into tears. I was horrified. I hate confrontation, but particularly so when I feel it is undeserved.

Now, had the guy approached me and spoken to me nicely, told me that I was distracting or that I was in the way somehow, I would have understood slightly better. Not much, because I don't think taking a photograph of a bottle in the grass when  you are 100m away on the other side of the green is cause for panic. It was not like I touched the drink or anything. I just saw it, saw that the light was good and decided to go for it. But I still would not have walked away feeling angry and hurt.

There are ways to react to not wanting a photograph taken and there are ways not to. Being rude is not going to get you anywhere. Shouting is only going to cause anger and resentment. Understanding and explaining, those help a lot. If you are kind about it and ask nicely, you are more likely to get a positive response from the photographer rather than a defensive one.

2012 Photography Goals

Good morning Ladies and Gents :)

It is that time of year again where holidays are around the corner, work is winding down and you start reminiscing of the year that has past and dreaming of the year that is ahead. A lot of the photography blogs that I have been reading have been listing their photography goals for 2012, and it took me about 3 minutes to write up my own, purely because they have been on my mind a lot recently. So here they are:

MY 2012 PHOTOGRAPHY GOALS


1. Get my website up and running.
This is something that is already in the pipeline. Watch this space within the next week or two for more details, but I am expecting to have my website up (not quite complete, but at least up) before the end of the month. Maybe even before Christmas. *Holding thumbs*


2. Build my photography studio.
For those of you who are not aware (i.e. those of you who do not follow my other blog about what goes on in my life rather than my photography) I recently moved to a new house. This house is still in Grahamstown, not far from where we used to stay, but is a lot bigger. It also has a double garage, and Grant and I have decided that we are going to make full use of this extra space - Grant by buying a table tennis table, and me by building a small and mobile photography studio. Mobile because, of course, I need to park my car in there at night. But imminently doable. The move, of course, has been quite harrowing on our budgets and so Project Studio will need to wait until next month to get its feet off the ground.

3. Create at least one printed portfolio.
I have been thinking about doing this for awhile now. I know that I intend to have more than one portfolio since I enjoy so many different types of photography - portrait, nature, events, etc. - but by the end of 2012 I hope to have cut down and printed at least one portfolio to show to prospective clients.


4. Be paid for at least one job.
This is one of the biggest tests for 2012. So far, out of all of the photography shoots that I have done, I have only been paid for one, and even that was a special deal for a friend where I charged her a third of my intended price. Don't get me wrong though - the photo shoots that I did were intentionally free of charge because I needed to get experience, needed to get a working portfolio before I felt that I could start charging. However, now that I have got some experience, I feel that charging clients for shoots is the next logical step. The rates are still likely to be lower than other photographers, because I am still an amateur, and negotiable for the same reason. But I am hoping to gain a meagre income from my photography, and by 2013 I hope to make a decision as to whether this is a viable business opportunity or nothing more than a hobby.


5. Have at least two clients who are not direct friends or relatives.
This is another of the big tests. I am never going to be able to make a business or a career out of photography if I am only photographing friends and family. It will especially be the case if I am not charging friends and family for sessions. I need to see if others find my services good or worthwhile, and the only way that I am going to find that out is if I put myself out there and see if anyone is interested in the services that I can offer. Here's hoping that I get the opportunity to have sessions with people in and around Grahamstown.


6. Purchase at least one new piece of equipment.
This is something that I am going to have to save up for and there are going to definitely be decisions to make. There are so many bits and bobs that I want to add to my camera bag (not to mention a new camera bag itself)! Most of all, I want a wide angle lens, but as that is the most expensive lens available, it will take some searching to find a good second hand one for a reasonable price. If I can't manage the lens itself, I am considering getting a wide-angle attachment for my lenses, and then I will look into getting other things like an off-camera flash, a new camera bag, a Lensbaby Composer (so cool!), lens filters and more.


7. Rebrand/Revise/Redo my Facebook page.
Every time I look at my Facebook page compared to those of other photographers, I feel way behind. This is partly because I am way behind on followers and partly because they all have uber-cool designs and logos and are constantly updating their posts, sites, photography, etc. This is something that I intend to do more of next year and I am hoping that it will lead to more popularity and more followers.


8. Gain at least one follower on this blog.
Speaking of followers, I have no idea how many people are following this blog, but the stats aren't looking too good. Most of my posts get between 5 and 17 views in their lifetimes, with photo shoots with friends (who pass the link on to others) getting far higher viewing stats. So I am hoping that this number will rise with more photo shoots and with the website. Speaking of which, there is going to be a little redecorating and renaming of the website going on. Keep an eye out.


9. Write at least one new photography blog post every two weeks.
Part of the problem with people not visiting the site, I feel, is that I don't post often enough on interesting subjects. Well, I tend to post on subjects that are interesting to me, but I definitely don't post often enough. So, one of my goals for next year will be to post a lot more regularly. I feel that once every two weeks will be enough to keep people interested, but not drown them in information that they don't necessarily want to read.


10. Do a new photography challenge every week.
And finally, I have set a goal to do a photography challenge every week. Some weeks I am sure will coincide with the challenges from the photography sites that I follow - sites like Digital Photography School and Photofocus. But there is also a book that I am going to be using as a tool for deciding on challenges. I am going to occasionally run my own challenges, and I am hoping that some people will participate in these challenges. You don't need to have a fancy camera, you could just use your phone. But I will be posting different ideas each week for photographs, and I am hoping that people will participate together with me. Consider it a 52-week challenge rather than a 365 day challenge. 52 awesome photos in a year? Totally doable.

And so there they are. My own photography goals for 2012. What are your goals, photographic or otherwise?

Starting out

I have been reading a lot of photography blogs, as usual, and started thinking to myself today that this blog is not what I want it to be anymore.

I started the blog as a way to post the pictures from my 365 day challenge, and when the challenge started failing earlier this year, the blog ended up becoming a sideline and more of a place to post the photo shoots that I have been doing. While that is great and I am happy to continue using this blog to post the photos from my shoots, I also think that there should be more to it.

I don't just want to have a blog that I post to once a month or once in awhile. I want this to be a photography blog - not just in terms of posting my own photography, but in terms of helping other people along with their photography. Since it is something that I am passionate about, and writing is something that I am passionate about, I want to join the two together to form a blog that other photographers would enjoy, not just the people whose photos I shoot. And so, I have decided that I am going to start writing articles about photography, starting from today. To ease into the transition from photographer to photo blogger, I want to discuss a subject that can be easily understood by looking at this blog from it's conception to this point.

When you are starting out as a photographer, people are going to give you a lot of advice, and that advice will vary from photographer to photographer, from blog to blog. But there is one piece of advice that always stays the same regardless of who you talk to - you need to get to know your camera.

Let me explain a little what I mean here. You can read your camera's manual inside and out, you can read every blog in existence, but if you have not picked up your camera and played around with it, I don't think you can say that you know your camera. While you know about the technical details of how your camera works, while you know the theory, there is a vital aspect missing from your knowledge of your camera, and that is experience. I would say the same thing for people who pick up their camera from the get-go and shoot in automatic mode for months, not reading a blog, not picking up a book, not even looking at the settings that are being used when a photograph is taken. There needs to be a good medium of theory and practice. If you only have the theory, you are going to be lacking in experience. If you only have the practice, you are going to be lacking in knowledge.

So what should you do as a beginner photographer? First of all, I would highly recommend at least flipping through your manual. It will tell you some of the aspects about your camera that will be finicky to learn, even through experience. I speak from experience here. When I first got my Canon EOS 550D, I had very little idea about what the various buttons did. I had played around with a Canon before, but never this model and there were a number of new buttons that made no sense to me. I automatically turned to manual mode and tried to change the aperture. I couldn't. I turned the dial that I had turned on the previous Canons that I had used, I pushed buttons and nothing happened. This is where my manual came in handy. I would never have guessed that the little button that looked like a magnifying glass could be used to switch between settings, allowing me to change them one at a time. Different models have different buttons, different methods and different features. Looking over your manual will at least tell you what some of these features are and how to use them.

While you are reading through your manual, I would highly recommend picking up your camera and testing out the settings that you are reading about. Reading is one thing, practicing is another. Sometimes you need to try your hand at something to completely understand it. Once again, understanding the theory of how it works does not mean that it will come across in your photography. Test your camera out.

Next, I would highly recommend finding some blogs to subscribe to. There is a wealth of knowledge available online from experienced photographers, and a number of people going through the same thing that you are. You can learn from both the experienced and the experiencing. It can help having someone to chat to about the problems that you are experiencing, particularly when that someone has experienced the same problem in the past. At the bottom of this post you can find a list of the photography blogs that I have subscribed to. Make sure that you find one that speaks to you. I subscribed to a large number of photography blogs at the start that either never posted anything of use (or never posted at all), posted articles that were far too advanced for my level of photography, or posted blogs that made me want to fall asleep. Everyone has their own personalities, and you need to find a blog that suits yours. I would also highly recommend looking at other people's photography. By doing this, you accustom yourself to good photography and you will find pictures that will inspire you to greater heights in your own photography.

Finally, I recommend taking up a project. For me, it was a 365 project - a photo a day for a year. This meant that, even when I didn't particularly want to, I felt that I had to pick up my camera and take a photo. I learned a lot this way. For example, I learned how to take photos in a number of different lighting situations - how to juggle shutter speed, aperture and ISO, when to use my flash and when not to, how best to use the light sources that I had. I look back on some of the photos that I took in the beginning that I thought were great at the time, and cringe now and all the mistakes that were made. But I also know that my mistakes back then influenced the photography that I do now. Now, I am not saying that everyone should take up a 365 day project, but I do think that you should set yourself projects and goals, even if it is trying to take a photo a day for a week, or a photo a week for a month, or trying to take pictures related to a particular theme or a particular feature that your camera has. But essentially, I highly recommend that you pick up your camera as often as possible and practice as much as you can using the different functions that your camera has so that, after a few months, you will no longer need to think about the settings that you use - they will just come naturally.

As promised, some of the blogs that I follow. I use Google Reader to follow my blogs, as I find that it allows for a great reading platform and means that I am integrating my photography blogs in with my friends blogs, my news blogs and my humour blogs. Please note that the links below are to the RSS Feeds for the sites. This means that if you use Google Reader, adding them to your reader will automatically let you follow their posts.

Beyond Megapixels is a photography blog that is run by Tiffany Joyce and Steve Russell and occasionally features guest writers on a variety of subjects. I find it useful as Tiffany and Steve cover a large range of topics and often have differing opinions on how things should be done, which makes for both interesting and educational reading.

Digital Photography School is a school run by Darren Rowse mainly, but featuring a large number of guest contributor posts on a range of subjects, camera and lens reviews by a number of experts in the field and challenges and competitions that can be both challenging and educational when you are starting out and just plain fun once you have got the hang of things.

Photofocus is entirely run by Scott Bourne, who has a wealth of knowledge that he is ready to dole out. He is an expert and well known in his field, and does occasional giveaways. While these are usually not open to South African readers, as the prizes need to be delivered to an address in the States, I personally would not mind paying for the shipping and customs tax to have a brand new Canon 7D sent from my Aunt in the States to here.

Through the Lens of Kimberly Gauthier is a blog written by an amateur photographer that I have recently started following. She has a number of insights into starting your own photography business and her blogs are both easy to read and fairly entertaining. While it is extremely handy learning from the experts in the field, sometimes you want to hear form someone a little more on your level, and Kimberly is great in that way. She takes great photos and can share the ups and downs that she has experienced in trying to get her feet off the ground as a photographer.

What the Duck is just a fun comic that I recently stumbled across and absolutely love. LOVE! Very cute, very witty, very funny and often very true.