Notes on photography

Written by Kurt

In May 2002 I decided to get serious about forcing myself to take pictures – I enjoyed looking back at snapshots but never had the guts to carry a camera around and stick it in front of people to take pictures.  I shot primarily 35mm film until November 2003 and have converted almost entirely to digital since.

I usually don't take photographs as art per se; the most satisfying photographs for me are the photos that let me remember something I'd forgotten about or re-celebrate the way I (or someone else) felt at a moment in time.  After reviewing about 15,000 of my photos, the vast majority of my favorites have people I know in them – a relatively small number are abstract or artistic.  Lots of other people have more talent, better vision, and the patience and equipment for great artistic photography; I'm OK with buying their work rather than trying to imitate it.

I found a great article that echoes this.

Equipment

What I'm using now:

  • Point & shoot camera: Canon SD450
  • dSLR Body: Canon 20d
  • Normal zoom lens: Canon 17-55/2.8 IS (EF-S)
  • Long lens: Canon 70-200/2.8L and 100-400/4.5-5.6L IS
  • Flash: Canon 550EX w/ diffuser
  • Extras: Three 4GB memory cards, two extra camera batteries cheap from Ebay, a polarizer and UV filters to protect the expensive lenses, a LowePro camera backpack and Domke F-803 bag