Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving—already! Time really flies by these days — everyone seems to be noticing this.

A couple of interesting changes have been developing in my photography lately. I did a Halloween-engagement party shoot. It was a fun party, and another excellent learning experience. While there were plenty of good images captured, I realized how much more I could have done using an external flash. I do occasionally rent one (as explained more below) but there really wasn't time for this event, due to another project earlier during the day.

Last Spring, at my high school reunion near Solvang, California, I was able to have an in-depth conversation about my work with one of the teachers — a graduate of the well-known Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara. It was very illuminating (pun intended). I was making an argument for avoiding the need for flash by using low light photography, perhaps even moving up to a Nikon D700 someday.

The teacher listened patiently, and then politely indicated the limitations of my strategy, particularly for shooting events, people shots & portraits. Even using a camera with excellent low light capabilities, he noted, there will still be times when there just isn't enough light, and potentially good images won't be captured, or not captured as well as they could be. He further suggested that having my own flash would also mean I'd really learn how to use it, as opposed to just putting the rental flash on auto, and hoping that it all just worked.

IAnother concept began to develop in my mind. In one of the regular podcasts I listen to, the two photographer-hosts mentioned that when they travel, particularly on long or overseas trips, it is so much easier to bring along their crop-sensors cameras, since those lenses are smaller and lighter, making a much easier, lighter "kit" to transport and use. They also like the additional reach with telephoto zooms, thus avoiding the need to bring the longer "big glass" lens along. It occurred to me that almost half of my photography already, in fact, involves travel, and hopefully will in the future. And most of my future trips would be candidates for a crop-sensor camera and their conveniently smaller & lighter lenses. Additionally my experiences using "big glass" have been less than positive — these lenses are too heavy and unwieldy to be much fun, especially for the types of shooting I like to do! So what would be the point of moving to a full frame camera, if I wouldn't use it traveling? Another podcast mentioned that there aren't many third party lenses for the full frame cameras, making such a transition even more expensive. Bottom line: I'm just not a full-frame/big glass photographer. Maybe if I were 20 years younger...

(continued in Part 2)