What camera do you have?

Sorry guys! I've been a bit slack with the blog lately! The weather hasn't been too kind here on this side of the world lately (besides the last couple of days, they have been beautiful!). We're really into the swing of winter now having 4 degrees the other morning.. brrrrr!

Anyway I don't have any photos to share right now (boo). I will do in another week after our next photowalk on Sunday. For now though I wanted to share this email subscription I get every week. Its from Elizabeth Halford - a photographer who is based in England. You can find out more about her here. I really enjoy her style of writing and photography - its fresh and fun! I discovered her when reading one of her articles on the dps website.

If you are a keen photographer like I am., and/or enjoy learning more about photography, I really encourage you to do what I do and get online. There are thousands of very inspirational and informative blogs and websites that can help you improve in your passion. I find that email subscriptions are also very handy & convenient. Websites can often email you updates as they appear on their websites. If you think its not relevant for you, you can just delete it. But often I like to quickly browse these subscription emails and get my daily fix of photography info. (I sound like an addict huh LOL) Its just great!

Below is one subscription email that I felt I needed to share. I hope that you also find it inspirational, challenging and eyeopening!


Q. “Last year I bought a Nikon D80 as a “more professional grade” camera for myself. Lately, I have been kicking myself because it just seems that Canon shoots better portraits, and my husband says I am already too invested to switch. So, I know that you are a Canon user…did I make a mistake, or can I achieve the same gorgeous shots with my Nikon that I feel others get with Canons?”

A. Hi Kelsey! Oh, I’m so RELIEVED that you asked me that. I really should have thought to cover that myself since I know it’s probably the #1 reason baby photographers quit in the embryonic stage of their discovery. The answer is NO! A Canon isn’t better than a Nikon. And a point and shoot isn’t worse than a DSLR either (yeah yeah I know, people…boo…hiss…get over it!) Photographs have EVERYTHING to do with the photographer, not the camera!

Now you wonder: under what authority do I make such bold statements? Many years of experience, that’s what! Here are prime examples:

• The best photos I’d ever taken until recently were when I first discovered that I loved taking photos and had a little Casio ultra compact ‘credit card’ camera. I wasn’t concerned about settings or sexy lens flare. I just learned composition and emotion and those photos are on my wall to this day.
  
• My best wedding to date was done on a Canon 450d. Moving up doesn’t mean your pictures will be better, it just means that you will think you have to work less for them and they’ll be worse. Don’t fall for it – you still have to work HARD.

Now Kelsey, you said “…that I feel others get…”. This means that you’re comparing yourself to other photographers. Which is great. It drives us to be better. Not so great if you’re looking at photos on the Flickr front page like a 14 year old looks at Britney Spears on the front cover of Seventeen Magazine. Those photos have some serious post-processing ‘editing’ work done on them to make them look like that.

When I’m down in the dumps about my photography, I like to go on Flickr and look at the before/after galleries. Or check out Before & After Monday here on my site. It’s so SO good to see what professionals’ photos actually look like before they have been edited. They’ll probably be a lot like yours!

Another thing…camera envy never ends. I now have a 7D and still sulk about my photos not being “as good as their photos”. But it really has so so little to do with the camera.

One thing I've learnt from upgrading from my previous camera, is that just because you don't have the BEST camera on the market, doesn't mean you can't take intriguing and interesting photographes that people will enjoy. The person who is behind that camera makes all the difference. People always ask me., wow your camera takes awesome pictures., hey what about me!!! LOL You still need to know HOW to use it!

I think its so important to realise this and never look down on yourself just because you don't have the latest gears. Of course better gear does give you a few more options, just because you have a super mean camera doesn't mean you are automatically going to be a pro. It still takes alot of practise, experience and hardwork as Elizabeth has outlined in her answer above. Hope you enjoyed that Q&A as much as I did. Enjoy your weekend!

Ok., I just have to have a picture to go with my blog post! A favourite using my old camera Fuji s1000 & a simple tripod, a much cheaper and less sophisticated camera than my 50D and yet I still love this picture...I know I'm bias (pic of my bf) haha but you get my point. »