My Gear Pt. I

Let me begin by quoting Scott Bourne from This Week in Photography, "Nobody makes bad lenses or bad cameras anymore." That being said, I researched my camera gear very carefully before I purchased it in the fall of 2007. My decisions were based on the fact that we would be traveling to Europe in the summer of 2008, and I wanted to travel light. I also wanted to maximize the quality of equipment for the least amount of money (which is always more than you've budgeted when you are buying camera gear). I spent considerable time in camera stores, handling cameras from both Canon and Nikon. I didn't consider other manufacturers as I wanted to be able to access the large number of used lenses, speedlights, and other accessories available. I settled on the Nikon D80 because I really liked the way it fit my hands and the controls were intuitive to operate. My next decision after deciding on the D80 body was what lens to buy. I was tempted to purchase the inexpensive "kit" lens, but decided instead on purchasing the best glass I could afford. I settled on the Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4 and have been very happy with this compact, very fast and high quality lens.
I especially like the shallow depth of field that is achieved by shooting with a large aperture, resulting in a smooth, silky background. Whenever I purchase a new lens I also buy a high quality UV filter which protects the front element of the lens from dust and scratches.

I spent the next few months taking hundreds of photos with my new system, getting to know the controls, options, and settings. I found this combination of camera body and lens to be excellent for many types of photography, but found myself getting frustrated with not being able to "bring in" many subjects because of the short focal length. I knew that I would soon be looking for a longer focal length zoom lens. While I was saving up for my next lens I purchased several additional memory cards, an extra battery, and a remote shutter release so that I could take long exposure photographs with the camera mounted on a tripod.

In November of 2008 I began shopping for a zoom lens that would cover a decent range and still be compact and high quality. I did lots of research and after much consideration chose the Nikon 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 VR lens. I really like this lens. I've taken about 90% of my photos with this lens and it is as close to an "all-in-one" that you could hope to get. Having the full range of focal lengths from wide-angle to moderate zoom in one lens does not come without some sacrifice in sharpness, speed and minor darkening of the corners at 28 mm. With this pair of lenses, the 18-200 mm and the fast 50 mm I was almost set for travel photography.

To round out my gear I acquired a good quality circular polarizing filter to fit the 18-200 and a 120 GB Hyperdrive Colorspace, which is a portable hard drive with a screen and built in card reader. This device was perfect for storing my digital photos so that I could clear off my cards and keep shooting. This particular model is quite reasonably priced and the internal rechargeable battery can be charged with a USB cable, AC adapter, and a car charger. I also took along a second portable hard drive which I used to backup the Hyperdrive whenever I had access to a computer.
My last purchase before our trip was a good quality camera backpack. I looked at several LowePro bags but I wasn't happy with the quality of the stitching and velcro closures. I tried out one bag in a local camera store and as I opened a velcro tab, the stitching let loose. Not impressed. I ended up choosing the Customary Barge backpack from Crumpler. I like this bag because it looks like a regular backpack instead of a camera bag. The bottom half has storage for a SLR camera, an extra lens and some accessories. The top portion has enough room for my rain gear and odds and ends. It also has a full padded sleeve for a laptop which can accomodate my Toshiba Tecra laptop. About a month after I bought my backpack, I stepped on one of the buckles for the waist belt and broke it. I sent the good folks at Crumpler an email and they sent me a free replacement waist belt. I was very impressed with their customer service.

Freedom

I've been making pictures for a long time. I got my first camera, a Kodak Brownie Holiday Camera, when I was about seven years old. I got the camera from my dad who has been an avid photographer for as long as I can remember. As I was reflecting about my start in photography, I remembered that I still have a photo album with shots in it from that first camera buried in a box in the basement. The above shot is from one of my first rolls of film, taken with that camera. I don't remember exactly when or where it was taken, but it must have been on one of our many family road trip vacations in the mid 1970's. (In talking on the phone with mom and dad, it must have been taken around Cardston, AB on our way to the Black Hills in South Dakota in 1971). My dad was a teacher and my mom worked at the local public library. In the summer our holidays consisted of driving, camping, and seeing the sights. This photograph is special to me because it is so similar to many recent photos that I have made since resuming my photography with a digital SLR camera. There's something about an open road and a beautiful landscape that is the essence of freedom. When it is cold outside in January, I often think about packing up our tent trailer and heading off on a road trip with my family. I'm so grateful to my mom and dad for the lifestyle they led and to my dad for sharing his love of photography with me.

This photograph was taken on Highway 40, just north of Highwood House in Kananaskis Country, Alberta. It was taken with my Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200 mm VR lens at 18 mm, 1/100, f /9.0 and ISO 200. I'm eagerly watching the mailbox as I just purchased a vintage Brownie from eBay. I can't wait to get it.

Big Rig at Sunrise

For the past while, as I drive to work in the morning there is one particular view that catches my breath. At this spot the vehicles on the highway are silhouetted against the morning sky and their tires appear to be just barely touching the pavement. Each morning I try to be in place at 7:50 am to see the show. The challenge of how to capture this scene has occupied my thoughts for weeks, and when a big rig rolls by I want to capture the moment. This past Saturday I parked my van and got out my camera. At 100 ISO and maximum aperture my shutter speed had to be at 1/13th of a second. It was pretty cold and I didn't want to be standing there for long so I squeezed off about 15 frames in about 10 minutes. With my fingers freezing I worked at carefully panning to ensure that the vehicles remained as sharp as possible. This photo was the best of two photos I made that featured semi-trailer units.

Comments and questions are welcome.

What it's about

I am a photographer and a teacher. My full-time job is working as a vice-principal of a junior high school. In between my roles of husband, father and educator, I make photographs and learn about photography. I learn by doing, reading books, magazines and websites, listening to podcasts, and reading the blogs of other photographers. I love learning new things and then distilling this information down to a usable form and then sharing it with others. That is what this blog is about. My goal is to share my photography, new techniques, cool resources that I've found, and my thoughts on why I enjoy photography. If you have thoughts or feedback, please leave a comment or send me an email.