Woe is me vs. I'm lucky

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Shutterslam
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p.2 #1 · Woe is me vs. I'm lucky

A while back I was out at a group photoshoot replete with models, stylists, and hmua and 15,000 square feet to shoot in.

I brought every piece of shiny gear I could stuff into my rolling luggage. Profoto lighting and softboxes, gridded beauty dishes, softboxes, stands a D300 with a 17-55 , and a collection of primes. Well over $8k worth of gear.

I set up next to a younger female photographer who worked with an Olympus something or other, with a sync cable attached to a make shift flash shoe adapter hooked into a single fluorescent hotlight/strobe with what looked like a salad bowl converted into a beauty dish taped with packing tape to the strobe.

Ghetto doesn't even begin to describe the setup.

Boy did I eat crow when the shots came back. That young girl created some of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen with the some of the most challenging equipment to boot.

That made me think long and hard about how I shoot and what I realized that as much as the equipment matters to an extent, it's the vision of what you want to create that matters more.

That girl trounced me in the artistic and aesthetic department, and although I ended up with decent shots, all they amounted to were well exposed shots of terrible compositions.

Ever since that day, I've been working on shooting better with less. That and a bunch of other philosophical revelations have changed the way I shoot

I can now safely walk into BH and not worry about that next big purchase

In your case - if you have the love of a family - that automatically makes you the richest person on the planet (well at least one of them)

Cheers

ss

Jul 01, 2009 at 09:22 PM

Avi B
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p.2 #2 · Woe is me vs. I'm lucky

Frankly speaking Andre, you can just shoot vertical and stitch for landscape stuff

But long glass never loses its value

Especially something like a 300 f/2.8

No I don't have one. I have used one for a bit and wow

Jul 02, 2009 at 12:48 AM

Andre Labonte
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p.2 #3 · Woe is me vs. I'm lucky

Avi B wrote:
Frankly speaking Andre, you can just shoot vertical and stitch for landscape stuff

But long glass never loses its value

Especially something like a 300 f/2.8

No I don't have one. I have used one for a bit and wow

Hmmmm, I'm liking your logic

I made the same mistake about using one once. What a beautiful lens.

Jul 02, 2009 at 01:16 AM

luminosity
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p.2 #4 · Woe is me vs. I'm lucky

On a couple major websites, the best shots I've seen have often come from some version of the Rebel mixed with a kit lens and a 50mm 1.8. They're often photoshop geniuses, but not always, and it reminds me again and again that it's the photographer that matters most in the end.

Jul 02, 2009 at 01:23 AM

Andre Labonte
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p.2 #5 · Woe is me vs. I'm lucky

luminosity wrote:
On a couple major websites, the best shots I've seen have often come from some version of the Rebel mixed with a kit lens and a 50mm 1.8. They're often photoshop geniuses, but not always, and it reminds me again and again that it's the photographer that matters most in the end.

My avitar pic comes from a D70s and a 50 f/1.8. That little lens is as sharp as either of my zooms.

Jul 03, 2009 at 01:03 AM


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