Today’s Post Joe Farace
“There is nothing to talk about” she said. “I’m just a freak that’s all.” ― Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I’ve always believed that photography was the universal language and somewhere during its 150 years of existence it has evolved a language of its own. Back in the pre-digital days when certain people became more obsessed with the camera, lenses and photographic ephemera than they were with the images that the cameras created, they were called equipment freaks or sometimes equipment snobs.
Nowadays, the term pixel peeper gets tossed around a lot with some shooters being accused of having GAS aka “gear acquisition syndrome,” a term I’m not all that comfortable with, much like some peoples use the term “capture” to describe a photograph or how others type “desent’ on social media when they really mean “decent.” But unless you’re living a monastic Cartier-Bresson-like existence making photographs with just one camera and a 50mm lens, chances are you own a lot of gear, perhaps to be able to capture that “ultimate image.”
What My Gear Says About Me
The short answer is that it says that “I’m old” or maybe “I’m cheap” or maybe “I’m old and cheap.”These days my workaday digital cameras are Panasonic and Olympus mirrorless cameras and occasionally Canon EOS full frame and APS-C DSLRs.. You may or maybe not be surprised to learn that since 2021 some of the photography I’ve engaged in—with the major exception of video—have been shot using film. The big exceptions are the infrared sessions like today’s featured image that was captured using a DSLR that was converted for infrared with a Tamron 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Di-II wide-angle zoom.
About this photograph: This looks like it’s an industrial building but it is not. This is a residence. And not just any residence but, back before Mary and I moved to Daisy Hill ,I really, really wanted to buy this house. Located even further north than our previous home, this house was modeled after an historic firehouse and had many interesting amenities, including an elevator!
I photographed the “firehouse” with a 10-megapixel Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi that had been converted for infrared capture using Life Pixel’s Standard IR (720nm) filter. The lens was a Tamron 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Di-II at 11mm with an exposure of 1/100 sec at f/15 and ISO 400 with a plus two stops exposure compensation. The RAW file was opened in Adobe Camera RAW and converted to monochrome with Silver Efex using their Neutral preset,
For What It’s Worth
All of the cameras and lenses used to make the photographs that you see on this blog were paid for with my own money. Two exceptions to that rule are cameras —a Panasonic Lumix GH4 and an Olympus E-M10 Mark I—that were gifts from my wife. Whenever I use and write about one of them I usually mention they were given to me by her. Occasionally these days, I get equipment from lens or camera manufacturers for me to review for this blog. You may be surprised to know that after reviewing any of this equipment I have to return it to them. There are no freebies, at least not for me.
Since I pay for all of my own gear you’ll probably notice that some of the cameras I use may seem “old” and occasionally I’ve received e-mail from readers asking “why are you using that old thing?” I’m not an equipment freak for another good reason: I can’t afford to be.
I’ve found that Life Pixel does a great job with IR conversions and they’ve done some of the conversions for my Canon DSLRs and all of my Panasonic Lumix G-series cameras. This is not a paid or sponsored endorsement, just my experience.
New copies of my book, The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography are available from Amazon for $43 with used copies starting around thirty bucks as I write this. My book Creative Digital Monochrome Effects has a chapter on IR photography and is available new from Amazon for $11.46 with used copies starting around nine bucks as I write this.