On My Photography

My only equipment for photography right now are the following (so can’t afford more lenses *sigh*):

Cameras

• Canon 5D Mark II
• iPhone 5

Lenses

• Canon Zoom Lens EF  24-205mm
• Canon EF 50mm

I like to shoot on manual with my 5D–more freedom (still a learning curve though).  And I love to shoot with my iPhone because it’s good practice for shooting quickly with what essentially functions as if one is working with a prime lens.  No zoom, have to adjust for your subject and really focus on composition.  The best camera is always the one that is with you.  

I love digital photography with its crystal clear HD look.  However, having grown up in the 80s and 90s, I love the way film and polaroid photographs appeared when developed and how they aged over time.  I love the noise, the strange artifacts that did not come from digital software manipulation.  Sadly, digital photography is so good that we don’t get that stuff anymore.  Gotta get older cameras or those really expensive old school yet digitized camera bodies.  So this is why I like to shoot a lot with my iPhone.  Since it is only a camera phone–a device that is not primarily a camera–it comes with limitations that I like.

• It cannot adjust it’s ISO to the point that noise is eliminated.
• It has no lens zoom.
• It has no manual focus, that can give the true and deep shallow depth of field with a nice bokeh.  (Yes, the iPhone allows you to tap and focus.  But that isn’t the kind of focus of a DSLR.  That’s my point.)

Anywhoha… So because of these limitations to the iPhone, it challenges me to not hide behind the advantages opposite the iPhone’s limits, when compared to my DSLR.  Yes.  I believe some folks worship at the altar of DSLR’s power.  So I use my iPhone to practice on the subject and composition–not as much thinking about manual adjustments.

I am not a professional photographer at all.  I am self-taught and still trying to learn when I get some down time.  (There are so many resources these days–the primary function of schooling is almost just to get credentialing if it’s needed.  …probably isn’t these days.  Show good work, have a good work ethic, learn your tech.  Who cares about your credentialing.  Saw some Art Institute Photography graduates portfolios back in 2008, and thought, “What?!”  Enough said.  Wasn’t great at all.)  But again, I’m no expert.  I just feel what I feel in the moment and try to follow my emotions for every photograph.  That’s my credentialing–my heart.