I've been working my way through Bruce Barnbaum's book The Essence of Photography and he exhorts us to slow down and take our time. As you probably know, he still shoot his black and white with a 4x5 camera. I agree with not needing 20fps with landscapes, however, I shoot a lot of high school and some college sports and while I bring home an awful lot of images from a ballgame, I feel that the this is where the newer, faster frames per second really pays off. I know many of the "old time" sports photographers didn't have the speed of today's cameras, it's made getting better shots easier. As always, I enjoy your posts.
Ron, thanks for writing. I certainly recognize the need for speed in certain genres. I was a cub newspaper sports reporter in my youth and I sure would have liked to be able to do lots of action captures. If there are topics you'd like us to cover, feel free to let us know.
Really good lesson in this post. Along with a buddy of mine, I have an exhibit opening in August of some of my desert photography (I am a Florida-based photographer and fell in love with the SW deserts only a few years ago). So that same buddy and I took a trip in April to Tucson to photography Saguaro National Park. That trip was the first time that I: a) took my GFX 100s and GFX 50sii and b) begin to look at potential compositions from the "will this make a good print" perspective. It certainly made for fewer images in total - and even fewer "keepers" - but I actually enjoyed the slowing down of this approach.
Les' story about the demise of his GFX100 in Patagonia has an ending now, stay tuned as I think it might surprise everyone. I'll let him tell it. I am assuming you didn't experience any gear disasters ;-)
I believe that youir "keeper" rate will improve, despite your slowing down, as you continue to get comfortable with the GFX system and with your discernment regarding printing. Good luck with both!!
Your sage words are pretty much the ones that I follow as well. I will occasionally do some bracketing if it appears that the lighting conditions are a bit dicey. I don't do sports or wildlife and don't need bursts of image capture. Even the street photography that I do needs at most 2-3 captures. Landscapes and nature's own mosaics require just thought and patience.
Thanks, Alan. Even with bracketing I've taken to simplifying my workflow. If I need a bracket I simply shoot one for the highlights and one for the shadows. Two images works well. I like your thought here: "Landscapes and nature's own mosaics require just thought and patience."
I've been working my way through Bruce Barnbaum's book The Essence of Photography and he exhorts us to slow down and take our time. As you probably know, he still shoot his black and white with a 4x5 camera. I agree with not needing 20fps with landscapes, however, I shoot a lot of high school and some college sports and while I bring home an awful lot of images from a ballgame, I feel that the this is where the newer, faster frames per second really pays off. I know many of the "old time" sports photographers didn't have the speed of today's cameras, it's made getting better shots easier. As always, I enjoy your posts.
Ron, thanks for writing. I certainly recognize the need for speed in certain genres. I was a cub newspaper sports reporter in my youth and I sure would have liked to be able to do lots of action captures. If there are topics you'd like us to cover, feel free to let us know.
Really good lesson in this post. Along with a buddy of mine, I have an exhibit opening in August of some of my desert photography (I am a Florida-based photographer and fell in love with the SW deserts only a few years ago). So that same buddy and I took a trip in April to Tucson to photography Saguaro National Park. That trip was the first time that I: a) took my GFX 100s and GFX 50sii and b) begin to look at potential compositions from the "will this make a good print" perspective. It certainly made for fewer images in total - and even fewer "keepers" - but I actually enjoyed the slowing down of this approach.
Les' story about the demise of his GFX100 in Patagonia has an ending now, stay tuned as I think it might surprise everyone. I'll let him tell it. I am assuming you didn't experience any gear disasters ;-)
I believe that youir "keeper" rate will improve, despite your slowing down, as you continue to get comfortable with the GFX system and with your discernment regarding printing. Good luck with both!!
Your sage words are pretty much the ones that I follow as well. I will occasionally do some bracketing if it appears that the lighting conditions are a bit dicey. I don't do sports or wildlife and don't need bursts of image capture. Even the street photography that I do needs at most 2-3 captures. Landscapes and nature's own mosaics require just thought and patience.
Thanks, Alan. Even with bracketing I've taken to simplifying my workflow. If I need a bracket I simply shoot one for the highlights and one for the shadows. Two images works well. I like your thought here: "Landscapes and nature's own mosaics require just thought and patience."