Equipment Thoughts
The most important equipment that you carry with you lies behind your eyes, comprising the way in which you see, the sum of your life experiences, what you have read, the music you like best, what you have learned from our teachers. The way in which you synthesize the whole of your life and bring it to bear on your image-making is far more important that which camera, lenses, and accessories you use. The hardware you own has much less to do with creating images that communicate and evoke strong emotional ties than the intangibles that you bring to the photographic process.
However, equipment does count for something. My advice to those looking to this site for equipment guidance is to buy the best lenses you can afford, skimping on whiz-bang camera bodies if need be. You can create first rate images with first-rate glass and all-manual bodies, but the inverse is decidedly not true. Lenses from Canon and Nikon are the best, though other major camera system makers produce quality optics as well, though not in the profusion of the two majors. Though I am a Nikon shooter, the decision on which system to go with is entirely personal. I was shooting with Nikon long before Canon became a major contender and have had no reason to switch, not to mention a major investment in Nikon gear. If you are already started on either system, don't switch unless you have a very good reason to. For a period of several years I used Olympus equipment extensively when traveling, creating many memorable images without being burdened with the heavier, more rugged, Nikon equipment.
Assuming you put out the significant investment to buy high-quality optics, it makes no sense to then degrade your images through use of low-quality filters. Look for high-quality, precision filters from manufacturers who cater to professional shooters. True, they are expensive, but look at it this way: you've paid lots of your hard-earned dollars to go on that photo-shoot of a lifetime. Do you want to entrust those never-to-be-repeated sunsets to a cheap graduated neutral density filter?
The equipment I take on any given shoot is tailored not only to what I expect to shoot, but to a possible range of circumstances. If photographing wildlife, for example, I will have the "heavy glass" but not the macro setup. However, I will have one or two shorter lenses handy in case something happens closer than the minimum focusing distance of the long lenses. The working distance from my car is also a factor in which equipment I take on a shoot. The only time that everything goes with me is when I am on an extended shoot covering a wide variety of subject material, and I am working out of my car.
I have been shooting with Nikon system cameras for forty years and have migrated through a variety of film bodies to being an all-digital shooter. My "basic kit" includes the Nikon D2x and D300 digital bodies, both fitted with Really Right Stuff L-Plates. My most frequently used lenses include the Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5, Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8, Tokina 28-80mm f/2.8,Nikon VR 17-200mm f/2.8, and Nikon VR 80-400. I also use the Nikon SB800 flash, with a flash bracket from Wimberley, and Quantum Turbo-Z battery. A basic filter set includes warming and graduated neutral density filters with soft and hard edges from Lee. Clipped to the outside of the Think Tank Airport Accelerator pack are one or two Photoflex Multidiscs. My tripod of choice is the Gitzo 1548, usually used without a center post, and fitted with an Really Right Stuff BH-55 ball head.
For wildlife work my basic lenses are the Nikon VR 80-400mm f/5.6 and the Nikon 600mm f/4. Both of these lenses are used with a Wimberley Head atop the Gitzo 1548. I have replaced the foot of the lens with a custom foot from Wimberley which shortens the height of the lens by about an inch and a half, and incidentally, enables the lens to fit in the Lowepro ProTrekker backpack without removing the QR plate. With these lenses I use flash arms from RRS.
For macro work I add to the basic setup a Nikon 200mm f/4 micro, and I also make use of a set of Nikon extension tubes, not only in macro, but on the big lens to enable me to focus closer than the normal 14' minimum on the 600/4. For panorama and macro work, I also use a MPR-192 focusing rail and a pair of mini-clamps from Really Right Stuff, who also supplies all the body and lens plates that I use.
Some work calls for one of my specialty lenses, a Nikkor 15mm fisheye, a 28mm Perspective Control lens, or a Nikkor PC micro 80mm f/5.6, turning the 35mm camera into a sort of mini-view camera with shifts and swings.
Photoimpressionist work may call for any of these lenses, depending on what am trying to acheive, but I frequently use an aging Sigma 300mm f/4 which was water-spotted after an unfortunate encounter with the waters of Chesapeake bay when my kayak capsized. This lens is no longer sharp enough (needless to say) for critical work, but I find that the blurring caused by the water spots does not detract from work where portions of the image are deliberately thrown out of focus.
With this arsenal at my disposal, I try to keep what's in the bag simple: only that which I have reasonable expectation of using. Time spent hunting through tons of gear often translates into missed shots. Remember that successful images are a product of your vision and not of the most advanced equipment out there.
Although I have migrated the bulk of my work to digital capture, when shooting film with my aging F5 and F100, I fit my choice to the situation, but mostly I use Velvia 100 for landscapes, abstract, and macro work.
About the images on this site.
Most images on this site are from 35mm film originals, scanned on either a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED or an Epson V700. Cropping and color correction as needed done in Photoshop in various iterations from 7.0 to CS-3. Digital capture images are currently cropped and corrected in Photoshop CS-3 as well. I work on a color-managed computer designed and built locally to my specification. Images are viewed on a calibrated Dell 2407 monitor while a secondary 19" monitor is used for menu items. I do the bulk of my own printing for display in the gallery and for sale to clients on an Epson 4800 printer.
Site design and maintenance by John Ellert, with a lot of help from Dreamweaver MX.
Hosting by Lunar Pages.
Page Last Updated March 8, 2008
Douglas Photographic Imaging
2300 E. Douglas Avenue
Wichita, KS 67214
316-264-3013
For film and equipment needs:
Hunt's Photo and Video
Contact Gary Farber for price quotes on film and photography supplies
1-800-221-1830 ext 2332 or visit: www.huntsphotoandvideo.com
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