Ian Taylor

<p>I fly all the time with my gear, usually on budget regional airlines around Asia. I never have problems, I don't take any of the precautions mentioned above. I just carry my stuff in a Domke or ThinkTank bag and get on with it. I stopped carrying cables in my carry-on a few years ago and haven't been separately screened since then. </p>

<p>Underexposure with a magenta cast. Can be fixed in post.<br> That lens is definitely not the tool for a dark venue with no flash. Wedding photography really demands the proper gear for any situation. And backup.</p>

<p>I was talking to a busy camera shop owner in Hong Kong and he said Canon is holding it's own, but Nikon is way down. </p>

<p>It's a just a tool. How can it be "counterproductive"? <br> I use mostly primes for my work, but there are times that a zoom is the only option. <br> - Fast moving events where you can't 'zoom with your feet'<br> - When you need to get wide and tight shots one second apart<br> - When weather or atmospheric conditions don't allow lens changing<br> I know professional photographers, mostly from news organizations, who use zooms for 99% of their careers.</p>

<p><em>"Film is archival." etc etc</em><br> A pro photographer friend of mine lost a huge chunk of his life's work to a fire at his printer's facility. Ten years of rare Cambodia images starting in 1990, all gone.<br> I have my life's work (digital starting in 2005) on three separate hard drives in various locations. My work is safer than any film photographer's. </p>

<blockquote> <p><em>"I don't count them as serious photography but they are a compromise better than no camera at all at hand."</em></p> Hahahahaha! How do people come up with this stuff? There are pro photographers who have used the same focal length for their entire careers. Get over it. For me normal view is 35mm btw. </blockquote>

<p>In the past couple of years I have worked toward lightening my camera bag, especially for travel. First was the M9, then the Fuji XT1, now the Sony A7R2, which is the best small camera on the planet IMO. </p>

<p>Focal length is about 5% of the battle on those shots. Somewhere between 50 and 75 I would say.<br> The other 95% is model, pose, lighting, mood, processing, moment, framing etc.</p>

<p>When I shot weddings I loathed the fauxtographers always getting in my way, sometimes even getting mad at me for asking them to move. So disrespectful and unaware. Go shoot something else ffs.</p>

<p>The Batis 85 is a amazing lens, I have been using it on an A7R2 so I can stop carrying the two kilogram 5DMK3/85L combo. <br> If the quality is the same, it will be a winner for sure. But as mentioned above, I wouldn't spend that on a super-wide AF lens. I've been using the Canon 24/1.4 with the Metabones and that's wide enough for me. Most people shooting architecture are going to go TS I would imagine.</p>

<p>Incredibly monotonous boring subject matter that will pay basically nothing IMO. Zero creativity, it doesn't really deserve much more than $20/hr really. If you are in it for a quick buck, that's a recipe for disappointment. <br> Actually the "talent pool" is incredibly shallow, the number of fauxtographers with gear is very high. You have to separate yourself from the pack with skills. You will not gain any skills with a factory job shooting some car dealership. It takes time and perseverance.</p>

<p>No pros are shooting products on LF anymore, that was over 10 years ago.<br />Just do research on tilt-shift lenses, those will do the trick.</p>

<p>I can't see how they have a case if you have a release, but I ain't a lawyer.</p>

<p>Nice. Camera movements are alive and well.<br> Check out <a href="http://scottconarroe.com/indexBR2.html">Scott Conarroe</a>. </p>

<p>Agree with Brooks.</p>

<p>I have done a bunch of two to four week kayak trips in the Indian Ocean with various kits. Dry bags are OK but there is little or no padding in case of contact with hard surfaces. And if any moisture at all gets in the bag and the bag is hit with direct sun, the humidity inside goes to 100% and can destroy or damage everything. <br> <br /> Pelican is the way to go for 100% safety IMO.</p>

<p><em>"say up to ten images and a fee of $1500"</em><br> And you wouldn't get the job.<em><br /></em></p>

<p>Everyone is different. I did deposit and balance on the day.</p>

<p>Depends on the usage. Go to a stock image site and use the payment calculator to get an idea. $1000 per image is way too much unless they are a Fortune 500 company.<br> I don't deal with all that stuff, I just set a decent hourly rate with a number of hi-res files, hand them over, get paid and forget about it. </p>

<p>I fly with a full kit probably 10 times a year. On the advice of an inspector I stopped putting cables in my carry-on around five years ago and haven't been pulled aside since.</p>

<p><em>"And your work is elsewhere?"</em></p> It's right in front of you. Lots and lots of it....

<p>Yes, the perfect camera is being released next month.</p>

<p>I see little or no Photoshopping in this image. There is no special tripod otherwise subjects would be out of focus. <br> Moonless cloudless night. Camera on a tripod with exposure set paying attention to the "500 Rule". Light painting the foreground with a flashlight or possibly strobe.<br> These kinds of shots are basically two shots in one. Background exposure then dialling in the correct amount of fill for the subjects. <br> The biggest clue is a one minute trip to the photographer's website. He specializes in this type of night shot. It's photography, not fauxtography.</p>

<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/530/18790573709_4a7e6d0209_c.jpg">

<p>Say what you want about McCurry, he didn't spend his life sitting on a cushion playing on the intergoogle, typing about photography. He worked ridiculously hard for those images and put himself at considerable risk. Sure he has a shtick (who doesn't?), but he created his own look. When you think that he did much of it on 25 ASA slide film, that is quite a technical accomplishment as well. As a portrait photographer, I love of many of his images, like <a href="http://www.oldskull.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/McCurry-oldskull-09.jpg">this</a> or <a href="http://www.namespedia.com/image/Mccurry_5.jpg">this</a>. They look easy, but they're not. He is a master of soft directional light. (Sometimes I even find myself trying to find that <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IanTaylorPhotography/photos/a.673723966022928.1073741847.171846589544004/686342598094398/?type=3&theater">same light</a> for some of my subjects. Never quite get there though!)<br> I doubt he will lose much sleep over people finding him boring, he's probably out shooting. As an aside, I saw him speak once, and it was very dry. He seems like a private guy who would rather be out in the field than sucking up adulation, unlike many of his peers.</p>