The Chouara Tannery in Fes, Morocco. The oldest tannery in the world offered an incredible feast for the eyes and an even more pungent smell for the nose. I quite liked it!
#fes #fez #morocco #tannery #travelphotography
Our hike up to Mirador Las Torres. At the end of it, we were met with the stunning towers and a frozen lake!
#patagonia #torresdelpaine #miradorlastorres #landscape #chile
Our arrival to Torres del Paine was met with a heavy layer of fog that shrouded what was to be one of the most breathtaking views. For just a moment, as the sky opened, we caught a glimpse of Los Cuernos, one of the most brilliant and most iconic mountain formations in Patagonia. Stay tuned for that view, and then some!
#torresdelpaine #patagonia #chile #winter
A few posts ago, I mentioned having to get very close to the subject with a 28mm if I wanted to fill the frame.
First, I needed to shoot silently. I remembered that my Canon R5 (and I know other mirrorless cameras have this feature as well) has--in addition to a mechanical shutter and electric first curtain shutter--an electronic shutter that can fire off a shot without making a sound.
Second, I turned on high speed continuous shooting, so I can fire off multiple shots quickly.
Third, I shifted from spot focusing to vertical focusing. Since both the subject and I were often moving, it was nearly impossible to focus on the subject; I needed my camera to do the gauging for me.
And lastly, since I needed a faster shutter speed to freeze the image, I kept the ISO between 500-800 and kept my aperture higher between 2.8-4.5, and generally focused on adjusting the shutter speed.
There was a lot of guesswork required, since moving through the medina often meant moving from bright sunlit areas to dark alleys to artificially lit spaces. And since I didn't want people to be aware that I was shooting, I never looked at my camera while shooting. My arm was relaxed by my side, and I'd only turn my wrist up, down, right, or left to guess the composition of the shot. I kept my finger on the shutter dial at all times.
There was something so exhilarating about this way of shooting. A dance between skill, luck, and possibility.
#fes #morocco #streetphotography #travelphotography #28mm
Continuing from the last post...
My travels often take me to places where blizzards and thunderstorms are a regular occurrence. Gloves often do little to protect my hands from the cold or make it that much harder to shoot with.
I've shot with cameras that do little to weather these more extreme conditions, and they malfunction quickly when rain or dust comes into play.
This is why I initially upgraded from a Canon 6D to a Canon 5DMarkIV. While I loved the 6D, it was hopeless in wet conditions (I've tried using rain covers to no avail), whereas the 5DMarkIV survived torrential downpours just fine.
When I learned that the Canon R5 was weatherproof and had eye-tracking, I made the decision to upgrade a second time. Was it necessary? I hardly think so. I had grown so accustomed to my 5DMarkIV that tracking subjects well wasn't a problem.
So why make the change? Three reasons: Convenience, utility, and weight. The R5 offered an extra layer of assurance that I wouldn't miss that important shot I wanted, and it also weighed slightly less than the 5DMarkIV (which is rather significant as a travel photographer).
The takeaway here is that you, the photographer, is what really makes the difference. Through sheer will and passion for the subject, you will find a way to grow as a photographer and find the images you love, regardless of what instrument you have in your possession.
While I enjoyed shooting with the 28mm this past trip through Western Europe and North Africa, I think I'll be swapping it out for my trusty 70-200mm on my next trip. It may not be the most practical lens to carry while traveling, but I am entirely drawn to it, not unlike a sailor to a siren. If it'll be the death of me, then so be it!
#28mm #r5 #morocco #fes #travelphotography #streetphotography
Before answering the question I raised in my last post, I wanted to say something about camera bodies.
While there are very few, if any, who assume that having a better camera makes you a better photographer (and such an assumption can be dispelled rather quickly and definitively), there is still something to be said about having a camera that offers what you need.
I often tell beginning photographers that better cameras only lend themselves to convenience, though this is generally done didactically as to get them to focus on what they have rather than what they don't have.
But it's also true in significant ways. Having a better camera often entails that you will have to do less tweaking to get the shot that you want. Perhaps adjusting my ISO requires two less steps. Perhaps I have more custom settings that allow the camera to feel more fine-tuned to my specific needs. Perhaps changing from one shooting mode to another takes two seconds instead of four. And as a wedding photographer or a street photographer, just a couple of seconds could mean the difference between getting the shot or missing it.
However, none of these features improve your photography. A better camera will not elevate your composition, your ability to understand lighting, nor prepare you for the feel that each unique lens offers. Much of this is learned through experience and education.
That being said, a camera body can make a big difference in other ways depending on your intended use.
See the next post for more on why having the right camera can be significant. (And I promise I will get back to the 28mm lens!
#fes #morocco #streetphotography
