Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”―
Regular readers of this blog know I like cars and even have a car photography website. In the automobile enthusiast’s world it’s long been a common expression that “you are what you drive.” What about photographers? Are we what we shoot?
Logically, your camera choice usually reflects your personality, workflow, and creative priorities or maybe it’s none of them. Maybe you just enjoy the way the camera handles and like it’s ergonomics. That’s a big deal to me and is the reason I sold my Lumix G9 Mark I; I hated the way it felt when using it. The design of the Mark II looks much better but even the price of a used model is out of my budget. I feel the same way about the Olympus E-M1X, although used prices on that camera are dropping close enough that I might be able to get one real soon now
Akihabara at Night
To put all this in perspective, I’d like to give readers a glimpse behind the curtain: I am not employed, under contract, or personally sponsored by any camera, photographic, or software company. The ads you see on this blog go toward, but do not fully cover the out-of-pocket costs required o keeping it operating. That’s why I’ve added a series of Patreon subscriptions that include special benefits that include access to uncensored posts but the number of those subscribers have, not so far, reached a level that make the blog self-supporting. If you are thinking about ways to help support the blog, those benefits are explained in this post.
When I mention any camera or lighting equipment or software that’s used to make photographs featured in this blog or any of my books, it does not constitute an endorsement. This is just the gear that I shoot with or maybe have reviewed and if you prefer to use something else that fits your style of photography or budget, go for it.
Information about the gear I use is included in my posts because readers asked me to include this information. That’s also why I try to include exposure data, in the posts. I think you should use this information just as a guide. I believe the attitude you bring to a shoot is more important than the equipment. Even if you were standing in the same place with the same camera/lens combination and exposure as me, your photograph would look different because everyone is different.
When I review equipment I put myself in the position of a reader who wants to know how well the gear performs. In all the writing I’ve done I have criticized cameras from all manufacturers because I’m not a fanboy of any brand and I’m not paid to say nice things about their gear. If I am biased at all it’s toward the truth, as I see it anyway, about a particular product and not based on its name or how many pros shoot it at the Super Bowl. All I want to know and tell you about is does the equipment work as advertised and is it a good value.
How I Made this Shot:These days I don’t travel as much as I previously did in the past and, to be honest, I’ve developed an aversion to airlines and airports but it wasn’t always that way. When I traveled extensively, I would force myself to leave the hotel room and get away from my laptop to explore the streets and make images at night, as I did when I was in Tokyo severalyears ago. It’s especially a lot of fun when I could talk one of my colleagues into going with me, as I did with Brian when he and I made images of downtown Daytona at night. When I shot the above image, I was alone walking the streets of Tokyo with only a Canon EOS Digital Rebel and 18-55mm kit lens. The exposure was slightly underexposed at 1/125 sec at f/7.1 and ISO 400 and then tweaked in Vivenza before plying Dfine, just in case..
If you have questions about equipment—or anything else—just click on CONTACT at the top of this page and I’ll do my best to answer.