The search for the perfect camera – from a pro tog’s perspective

Taken on a Sony A200, entry level DSLR. 6secs at f5.6 on the ‘crappy’ kit lens.

Note from Admin: Here’s an excellent guest post with exceptional images by Paul Richards who’s a professional photographer in the UK.  Enjoy!

I am a professional wedding photographer in Cornwall, UK, who specialises in documentary style photography. Honest storytelling is at the heart of what I do, and the only posed shots I do at a wedding are the group shots. I am somewhat of a purist photojournalist, so I won’t interfere at all, not even to move a wedding dress into a better spot, I’m only interested in finding the truth of the day. To me, life in all its glory is more than beautiful enough without being staged. [continue reading…]

Cupcake Baking Class at Butter Lane:

Sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in a certain mind frame or pattern, so this year, I’ve been making it a point to try new and interesting things.  I’ve been making huge efforts to broaden my horizons as they say.  One new adventure in this quest of mine was to go to a cupcake baking class at Butter Lane.  This was actually my sister’s idea.  Now, this doesn’t seem like such a big change but I bet many of you haven’t actually eaten anything that I’ve cooked before.  Trust me, you don’t want to.  I like you all too much to feed you what I cook ;).   [continue reading…]

Artisan & Artist DCAM-7200 Bag Review:

There are some great camera bags out there these days from many different manufacturers.  My personal favorites are the Billingham bags, which I’ve been using pretty much all of my photographic life.  I have a Hadley that’s over two decades old, which I’m still using today.  Other excellent bags come from Think Tank, Fogg and Domke.  Those are just the ones off the top of my head.  Artisan & Artist is known for making excellent camera straps but they also make camera bags.  Generally, my everyday bag is the compact Billingham M Combo, so I’m always looking out for cool, small bags that are great for daily use.  One bag that I’ve been eyeing for quite some time is the Artisan & Artist DCAM-7200, which is what I’m reviewing today. [continue reading…]

Cool Street Art in Williamsburg:

It’s finally Friday, and I’m sure many of you have plans for this Memorial Day weekend.  I thought I’d post something bright and colorful to get the weekend started.  The place that I get my hair cut temporarily moved from Alphabet City in Manhattan to Williamsburg in Brooklyn.  It’s a bit of a trek to get there from where I live but it’s been nice because it forces me to leave the comforts of areas I normally shoot. What I’ve been noticing a lot around Williamsburg (at least in the limited areas that I’ve been exploring) is really cool street art literally painted on buildings.  I just love seeing stuff like this.  Here’s a pic I thought I’d post up.  The artist has credited himself in the artwork.

I just love the colors, and I believe stuff like this looks great in photographs.  I think it’s amazing that someone can do something like this on a wall of a building with what I assume is spray paint.  It was especially nice seeing all of these colors on one of the rainy, dreary days that we’ve been having.  Here’s what I mean by dreary.  This is a pic taken on the same day:

Setup of choice for this particular day was the Leica M 240 and the 18mm Super Elmar.  I hope all of you have a great weekend!