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 that I like cars (and even have a car photography website.) And 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?
Today I’d like to give readers get a glimpse behind the curtain:
You should know that 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, my out-of-pocket costs to keeping it operating.
My mention of any equipment or software that are used to make photographs featured in this blog or my books does not constitute an endorsement. This is just the gear that I shoot with or maybe have tested/reviewed and you may prefer to use something else that fits your style of photography or budget.
Information about the gear that I use is included in my posts because readers have asked me to include this kind of information. That’s also why I try to include exposure data, even if you were standing in the same place with the same camera/lens combination and exposure as them, your photograph would look different because everyone is different. Ultimately I think you should use this information only as a guide. I strongly believe the attitude that you bring to a shoot is more important than the equipment.
When I review equipment I try to put myself in the position of a reader who wants to know how well the gear performs. In all of the writing that I’ve done I have criticized cameras from all manufacturers because I’m not a fanboy of any particular brand or are paid to say nice things about their gear. This is probably why I’m not sponsored or supported by any camera company. 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 or how many celebrities use the camera. All I want to know and tell you about is does the equipment work as advertised and is it a good value. That’s my only bias.
How I Made this Shot: I don’t travel as much as I did in the past and, to be honest, I have developed an aversion to airlines and airports but I wasn’t always that way. And when I did travel, I would force myself to leave the hotel room and get away from my laptop to explore the streets and make some images at night, as I did when I was in Tokyo several years ago. It’s especially a lot of fun when I would talk one of my colleagues to go 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. 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—ust click on CONTACT at the top of this page and I’ll do my best to answer.