Haven’t posted in a while due to traveling and having a loaded schedule after I returned. It’s like all my clients decided to all book on the same week November 11-17. I was shooting every single day last week, but this week I got a breather. Thank God!

I’ll talk more extensively on my travels in another post.

As much as modern photographers talk about gear, I don’t hear enough conversations about the actual process of working as a photographer. The grueling hours, the planning for a project, working with clients, negotiating jobs, the failures, etc. It’s camera, camera, lens, lens, as if that’s the only aspect of what being a photographer is like. It’s a lot of work despite the glamorous appearance of the profession.

I was glad to have a break this week because I’m currently preparing for a trip to Seoul, South Korea on Monday. I’m working on, probably my biggest, personal project yet. Not big in terms of scale, but big in terms of importance to me personally. I’m hoping this one will lead to more trips to Seoul in the future, but I’ll expand on my thoughts about it more in this post. On to the musings!

GEAR TALK

Sony Alpha 1 II. Great specs, but feels like an incremental update. My A7RV is safe.

Lots of gear announced and released in the past several months. Most recently Sony announced their successor to the flagship Alpha 1, the Alpha 1 II. I had the Alpha 1 back in 2022 and it was a beast of a camera. I’ve since shifted to the A7RV and couldn’t be more happy with it. Looking at the Alpha 1 II’s specs, it is an impressive camera, but more of an iterative update(same sensor at the original Alpha 1) than a tour de force of new technology. At $6,498, I probably won’t be buying one. There’s no need. I wish they would have had open gate video recording given the sensor, but Sony doesn’t seem all that interested in that. For the price point though, I can have my A7RV and buy an FX3 for only a little more. I’d rather have two cameras instead of one, so it’s a pass for me.

Fuji’s GFX Eterna Cinema Camera. Looks good. How will it perform?

Fuji announces their Fuji GFX Eterna Cinema Camera. This should have been a very exciting announcement that had all the film/video heads excited with glee. But I think it was met with a “meh” from the masses since Fuji’s first foray into an actual cinema camera utilizes the same sensor featured in their GFX 100 II camera. The GFX 100 II is brilliant for photography and the video quality is superb, but there are issues with a massive sensor with such a high megapixel count for video. Namely, very pronounced rolling shutter. It probably would have been better if Fuji’s first cinema camera used a much lower megapixel count, medium format sensor. Imagine the Eterna with a 12-megapixel sensor and dual-native ISO like a medium format FX3? Now we’re talking. Who knows, maybe this one will be a homerun, but I have my reservations.

Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 Lens. Favorite zoom lens ever. Full stop.

One of the benefits of being in the Sony full-frame ecosystem is the sheer amount of available lenses. One company who I feel is the unsung hero of lenses on E-mount is Tamron. Their zooms are fantastic. I use the Tamron 28-75 lens on all of my portrait shoots and absolutely love that lens. So much so, I rarely use any primes that are covered by its range. I have the Sigma 50mm f/1.2 DG DN lens and hardly use it. I have the Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM lens and hardly use it. For the way I work, the Tamron is much more versatile and delivers a look I love. The extra reach on the end makes it a great portrait lens. And it’s the focal lengths in the middle of the range that really make the difference. 50mm, for example is often too wide for me. But 55-63mm? Perfection! If I want something slightly wider I can stay in the 40-50mm range. It also helps when working with models who move a lot and I’m not trying to lose limbs on the edges of the frame when they go into a spontaneous pose. There are a plethora of 24-70mm lenses on the market and it seems like a new one is announced every year, but the 28-75 range is perfect for my needs, for portraits. It’s versatile, lightweight, focuses fast, super sharp, and cheap. What’s not to love? I’d prefer a little more on the wide end for events, but for my use case it’s perfect. Shout out to Tamron for such an amazing little lens.
In relation to my last point, I’ve decided to sell both my Sigma 50mm and Sony 35mm lenses. I don’t need them. And I have this new thing for eliminating waste. If I’m not using equipment on a regular, consistent basis, I’m getting rid of it. This has lead me to not purchasing much new equipment in months. There are small things like a memory card here or there, a fresh backdrop, but no major camera or lens purchases. I’m very happy with the equipment at my disposal and it’s been great investing more time and energy into production rather than gear. That’s truly where the difference lies. Gear is fun and exciting sometimes, but it’s great when you think of a project and now you have a budget for it. I would recommend spending 70% on production and only 30% on gear. That seems about right in terms of balance. Or maybe 80/20? You get my drift.
Repurpose instead of resale. I have a Think Tank Production Manager 30 rolling case that I’ve used for years whenever I go to my client’s location here in New York. It’s served me very well and is still in excellent condition. But it’s big and heavy. Once I changed from AC powered monolights to battery powered lights for location shoots, my kit downsized tremendously. So I switched to a much smaller Tenba rolling case that I’ve also had for years. I pondered selling the Think Tank and I tried, but no takers. Instead of wasting a lot of time only to get a couple hundred bucks, why not use it for something else? This also prevents me from buying a new case, when the old one will do just fine.

In my travels, one constant annoyance has been booking studios and them not having certain lighting equipment available. So I started thinking, “Why not just bring my own lighting equipment?” A eureka moment, ya know? Now I’ve repurposed the Think Tank case to be my case when I travel on a plane whether domestic or abroad. It fits all the lights I need and some grip equipment, all while not going over the 50lb limit. And it’s built like a tank so I’m not worried about anything getting damaged in transit. Why I didn’t think of this before is beyond me? But age brings wisdom they say. What equipment do you have laying around that could be used for something new?
Backpacks are better than rolling cases in airports. Last trip to Paris I took a Think Tank rolling case. It was nice, but navigating the airport with it along with other bags proved to be a hassle at times. Before I went to Lisbon in October, I decided to switch to a backpack instead and oh man, was that the best decision. Having your hands free to do other things should not be understated. Getting food, chugging water, retrieving your boarding pass, getting on and off the plane, etc, was all considerably easier. A bit heavier of course, lugging equipment on your back. But for the often short stays in airports, it’s more than worth it for the convenience and versatility.

MUSINGS

Heading to Seoul on November 26th. Can’t wait.

They say you should never meet your heroes, they’ll surely disappoint as the quote goes. I’ve been fortunate to meet a few of mine in passing, but never had a back and forth conversation with them. Choosing instead to keep my distance, saying the odd hello or tell them I’m a fan. To my surprise, I had the pleasure of meeting one such person recently and they were more than I could have expected. Chill, approachable, and a great sense of humor. More like a regular person and not a celebrity. We chatted on Zoom and it was the most surreal experience. They even agreed to do a shoot with me! Crazy yeah? I know, I know. The little schoolgirl inside of me is going crazy with excitement! Squeeeee! lol. But the professional in me is all, “Focus. You need to make sure you have this and also this, also this. And don’t forget that. And also…” So I’m headed to Seoul next week and I couldn’t be more excited, anxious, ready, unprepared, giddy, nervous, etc. All the feels.

For the past couple of weeks since my return from Europe I’ve been preparing for this shoot. As my Dad says, “Son, always remember the six P’s. Proper planning prevents piss poor performance.” I’ve taken that to heart and have been dotting my T’s and crossing my I’s. Wait… Now, I’m pretty much ready, all there is to show up and execute.

This shoot sort of puts an exclamation point on an already incredible year. I truly don’t think it can get better than this, but we do have one month left. I feel truly blessed and humbled by all the good lately. This year has been utterly fantastic. I’ve gotten to shoot with every single model I’ve wanted to work with, travel to places I’ve been excited about, make some great friends and professional contacts, and cap it off by photographing my favorite celebrity in Korea. Best year both personally and professionally, easily.

Can’t wait to share more about it after the fact. I’ll give you more of a behind-the-scenes look at the entire process. Wish me luck!

Till next time. Fighting!