home
Photography
/media
One of These Days ™ I'll make
a much better interface to this publicly available , but for now I just take semi-logical
groups of images and dump them into roughly dated and named
directories. Images which are either complete technical failures
(focus, blur, exposure, etc) or that would incriminate/excessively
embarass folks don't get put up, but almost everything else does.
S/N ratio is a little low in some places, but I've found that many of my
favorite images would have been in the trash on a first edit. Some of my thoughts on automatic metadata generation and access systems for photographers are online.
philosophy
There are many reasons I might be inclined to take a
picture and put it up on the web, but for the most part I'm interested in
ensuring that I can maintain an accessible and interesting record of what's
going on in my life. I subscribe to the notion that a picture is "taken" from
a situation -- either by changing the dynamics of the situation, or at least
altering your participation in it. Thus, for some of the most picturesque
moments in my life I've happily left the camera in the bag or at home. On the
other hand, if I take pictures from a situation I feel that it is only fair to
share them with others.
workflow
If you could call it that, I use a fairly simple set of steps and tools to get my images up on
the web. That document tends to be out of sync with current practices, but
it worked back then.
equipment
Like just about everything else, it's possible to get so
wrapped up in camera equipment that you forget what you were trying to
accomplish in the first place. I've found other people's gear comments useful
when trying to figure out how they make images, so that's why I list mine. My
camera stuff is nice enough that it's quite clear that the difference between
me and somebody good has nothing to do with their camera or lens.
I've always had access to some sort of
point-and-shoot camera but didn't get really interested in having more
control over the creation of an image until mid-college. Some of the
EOS gear is overkill for what I do, but lots of my friends shoot Canon
and we can share gear.
- Canon EOS gear
- Canon EOS 20D (listed under Digital)
- Canon EOS D60 (listed under Digital)
- Canon EF 20/2.8 USM (January 2003)
- Hoya HMC 72mm circular polarizing filter for EF20/2.8 (August 2003)
- Canon EF 70-200/2.8 L IS (August 2002)
- Canon EF 50/1.4 USM (late 2006)
- Canon EF 1.4X teleconverter (July 2005)
- Canon EF 17-40/4 L (November 2004)
- Canon 18-55/whatever (November 2004) - for sale -- couldn't find 20D kit without it
- Canon Speedlight 550EX (January 2002)
- Canon off-camera shoe cord 2 (January 2002)
- Canon TC-80N3 timer remote release (August 2003)
- home-made remote release for long exposures (built May 2003)
- Canon EF 28-105/3.5-4.5 USM (June 2001; sold July 2003)
- Canon EF 50/1.8 (June 2001-2006)
- Tokina AF193 19-35 for Canon EOS (January 2002; sold late 2002)
- Canon EOS Elan 7E / BP-300 (June 2001; sold August 2002)
- Canon RC-1 infrared remote release (sold August 2002)
- Daniel's Sigma 70-300/4.5-5.6 APO macro (December 2001; returned November 2002)
- Nikon manual
- Nikon FG20 that I "borrowed" from my parents
- Nikon 50/1.8 series E
- Sigma 35-70/2.8-4
- Tokina 200/3.5
- Digital
- Canon EOS 20D (November 2004)
- Canon EOS D60 w/ BG-ED3 grip (July 2002)
- Canon Powershot G2 (January 2002) (see my page of Powershot
G2 fun)
- Aiptek Pencam 1.3 megapixel (for sending up on model aircraft)
- Kodak DC280
(summer 2000; given/returned to my mother spring 2002)
- misc
- Sandisk Ultra 256 MB CF card
- several random brand 256 MB CF cards
- Lexar 80X professional 2GB CF card * 2
- Lexar 40X professional 1GB CF card
- PhotoFlex 5in1 32" reflector
- PhotoFlex soft gold/white 20" reflector
- Bogen 681B monopod (April 2003)
- Bogen 3021B-pro (055proB) legset
- Bogen 3413QR (ProBall 308RC) ballhead. This combo would also double
as a good LART
if the need ever arose.
- REI-branded Ultrapod II (mini-tripod)
- LowePro Orion AW bag
- el-cheapo Sony digital voice recorder (for exposure notes when using
film or names when doing PJ work)
- AlienBees: 2*B400, 1*B800, softbox, umbrellas, stands, etc
- PocketWizard Plus radio slaves (so much better than the ebay ones I tried that I've almost forgotten how expensive they were.)
Camera gear weighs a lot. I have an Excel spreadsheet where I weighed all of
the stuff I carry around most of the time. The broad overview and detail views in HTML are probably
the easiest way to look at it. Conclusion: I'm usually carrying 13 or
14lbs in my bag.
I occasionally rent nicer lenses for the Canon EOS system from Professional Photo Resources in
Atlanta, so far including the EF 20/2.8, 100/2.8 macro, 70-200/2.8L,
300/2.8L IS, 300/2.8L, 300/4L, 400/2.8L, 400/2.8L IS, and 600/4L.
Their phone number is (404) 885-1885 and they are a
pleasure to do business with.
fair-use philosophy
See the legal info about pictures if
you have any questions about how I use my photographs
other people's pictures
Philip Greenspun has photo.net, an excellent example of
photography, Internet ethics, and community. Vadim Makarov also has a really nice
page.