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(on the ferry from San Francisco to Alameda, CA) It isn’t often that I post a photo taken with my iPhone here: In fact, this may be the first one. I’ve taken much nicer photos on the iPhone, but this one marks the occasion of loading my final roll of Kodachrome in Arthur Cox (my beloved Nikon F2). I’m going...
It seems a trip to casualty Apollo Camera in Oakland is in order. I pulled my beloved Pentax MX from my camera bag this evening, wanting to get this interesting shot of a seagull at the Ferry Building, only to find that the shutter mechanism felt very loose, like a tooth about to come out. I was able to fire...
I’m trying to be better about remembering to update my Gear Geek list whenever I acquire a new piece of equipment. I’ve updated it recently to add my Sigma 10-20 lens and a few other bits and bobs. I keep a link to it over on the right nav bar, so you can check back periodically, if you’re so inclined.
Black and White Photography, Third Revised Edition by Henry Horenstein My review rating: 5 of 5 starsThis book has been on my to-read list for quite some time now and now I realize why my photography instructors recommended it. Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual is a very rich, well-organized photography manual. Horenstein gives just enough instruction and detail...
John Hedgecoe’s Complete Photography Course by John Hedgecoe My review rating: 5 of 5 starsI’ve been dragging my copy of this book around with me for nearly 20 years now. It’s a great reference when I want to get back to basics and a source of inspiration when my creative well runs dry. If you can find a copy of...
The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world’s top shooters by Joe McNally My review rating: 5 of 5 starsJoe McNally makes great photography accessible to aspiring professional photographers (or serious amateurs). Every page is filled with great anecdotes of a successful career, as well as a paragraph or two of “how I did it” to accompany...
My latest equipment acquisition is the Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom lens. I got it specifically for scenic, landscape-y photos such as this shot of the Bay Bridge, taken from the ferry on my morning commute. So far I’m really loving this lens. It’s obviously not an all-around lens like a 28-135, but it beautifully handles most of the shots...
In early August I wandered around the Alameda Antiques Fair in search of a new-to-me medium format camera. I like my Holgas just fine but I was ready for an upgrade. Most of what I found at the fair was old Brownies, which I really didn’t want because they either took odd-size film (the Brownie I have takes 620–which is...
This has been a bad, bad week in the Flickrverse. Earlier in the week (Tuesday, I believe) they rolled out their multi-language localization feature. This project was a huge undertaking, not just in terms of writing code, but also bringing staff on board in seven different countries and training them. But, this exciting new rollout had a very nasty side-effect:...
Here’s a list of the gear that is in regular or semi-regular rotation: Canon Digital Rebel XTi Sigma 10-20 f4.0-5.6 lens Canon 18-55mm f3.6 EFS kit lens Canon 50mm f1.8 EF lens (the “nifty fifty”) Canon 75-300mm f4-5.6 EF lens Lensbaby 2.0 Canon Wireless Remote Nikon F2 w/50mm f2 lens Yashica Mat-124G Pentax MX (no longer functioning) Pentax 50mm f1.7...