Idiot level photography (I bought a camera)
work Tuesday 13th of January, 2009
We only did a small amount of photography during my degree, and frankly, I was shit at it. I always enjoyed working in the darkroom — I'd had a bit of experience developing black and white back in sixth-form thanks to my old friend Ed's dual-purpose studio/laundry room. But the actual camerawork — no chance.
Anyway, my last project at K was to put together the annual calendar which is sent out to customers and friends of the company. Long story short — this ended up involving a bunch of low-budget food photography, which meant I had to face how terrible my photographic knowledge is. So I decided I needed to get myself a proper camera so that I could learn at least a bit of photographic technique.
My previous experience of SLR photography was before digital became standard — I'm shocked by how much easier DSLRs make photography. Whether that's good or bad, I'll leave to the fields' experts. I'm grateful, to say the least.
Short short version: I now have a Flickr stream (feel free to add me as a contact), and have been carrying my camera wherever I go. Enjoying it a lot — it certainly makes you look a bit more careful at the world around you.
Comments - 4 so far
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Steve. Wednesday 14th of January, 2009.
Would it be cheeky as a mofo to ask how much your camera cost? Ballpark figure?
I like the car, reminds me of the menus on the Big Train DVD.
Andi. Wednesday 14th of January, 2009.
No worries - I got a Sony A200, which was the upgraded version of the one that I used for the food photography previously. I knew that I liked the features and that the battery life was really good, so I was pretty comfortable going straight for that one. Came with a standard lens kit, cost £250, give or take.
That said, on top of that, you also need a Compact Flash card (these are really cheap on Amazon - I picked up an 8gb one for about £30, and that holds around 550 10-megapixel RAWs). You also really need a decent camera bag before you're willing to take your camera anywhere.
One last thing (do a Columbo...) is that I picked up a set of macro lenses from eBay after coming in pissed one night. Turned out that they were a pretty inspired purchase. Close-up photography is like close-up magic - much more interesting.
Yeah, see what you mean about the Big Train menus - I only just watched it a week or so ago! Have you seen the IT Crowd menus, by the way? Best DVD menus ever, by a really long way. Possibly better than the series itself :)
David Bayleaf. Wednesday 14th of January, 2009.
I'm starting up a cryogenic witness protection scheme. Cool or what!
Steve. Thursday 15th of January, 2009.
Awesome, cheers.
Obviously not at the moment, but at some point soon I'd like to get a decent camera. Seems like it might be a good string to add to my currently wilted bow.