Episode Transcript
[00:00:11] Speaker A: What is that?
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Well, good evening, lads.
[00:00:26] Speaker C: Good evening to everyone watching and listening along at home. This is the Camera Life podcast, the random.
The ultra random photography show. It is the most random photography show on the Internet, but it is. It's the 3rd of March, if you can believe that. Finally, February is over and this is episode 56 of the camera Life podcast, proudly brought to you by Lucky Straps. Yeah, speaking of lucky straps, how are you, Justin?
[00:00:55] Speaker A: I'm good. How are you, Greg?
[00:00:57] Speaker C: I'm all right.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: And how are you, Greg?
[00:01:00] Speaker C: Oh, hang on.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Well, strap me. I'm feeling lucky.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: I'm surrounded by Greg's tonight.
[00:01:09] Speaker C: And beards.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: And beards.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: You're letting us all down, Justin.
[00:01:17] Speaker C: Yeah, I need to get a Viking hat. I think it really. I think it works. It strangely attractive.
[00:01:21] Speaker B: Greg, if you want to get a hat, get ahead.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: I don't know what that means.
We've already got Tony in the. In the chat. He says first again. He's making it a thing to be first in the live chat and he's doing quite a good job on Monday nights.
Bruce Moyle says. Oh, my. Monday night again. That's right, Bruce, you've come to the finest, most fancy and technically sound photography podcast that there is.
[00:01:50] Speaker C: He says as his video froze in place for five seconds.
Yeah, look, it's Monday night here in. In Victoria, Australia. We're all coming to you from Victoria.
I. I'm in. I'm in a city. I'm in Melbourne. Greg's out in the sticks and Justin's even further out in the sticks, but Greg's coming to us live from a radio station. What's going on?
[00:02:15] Speaker B: I'm on Yarra Valley fm. I run the blues show at the moment, but I've turned it down.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: I was going to say, are you. Are you live right now? You're doing two shows simultaneously. Are you that good?
[00:02:24] Speaker B: There you go. There's. I'm. I'm playing.
I'm playing my radio show now.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: That's crazy.
Well, well done.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: Hats off to you.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Hats on to you.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: But look. Yeah, this is. This is us. It's Monday night again. It's coming around. It feels like it's coming around very quickly. It's like an episode of Severance. Has anyone been watching Severance? You have to watch Severance on Apple tv. It's phenomenal show. But anyway, that makes no sense to anyone.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: I watched. I watched that Zero Day show with De Niro and it was like. Yeah, you know. Yeah, yeah, it was pretty good. It was okay. It was all right.
[00:03:07] Speaker C: Fair enough.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: Give it a.
[00:03:09] Speaker C: Have you watched Severance Crackers?
[00:03:11] Speaker B: Ain't nobody got time for that.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: He's busy taking photos and doing radio shows.
[00:03:19] Speaker C: Running a radio show, doing podcast.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Television is so 1900s.
[00:03:24] Speaker C: Yeah, I know.
There's really good shows.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: For those of us that may not know you, Greg Greg 2, which Bruce has said here, it's like a progression. Justin to Greg, add beard. Greg V2 add beard and Viking hat. It's like evolution. We might get a T shirt made of the evolution.
Tony says it's good. Good to see you. Greg's.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Thank you, Tony.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Greg. Greg Carrick. Specifically for those that may not know you because you've been on the podcast before. Two times I think.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: I haven't and I'm a bit surprised you've asked me back.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: Oh, I know. You're our favorite.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: You're my favorite, Greg Desperation.
[00:04:10] Speaker C: No, no. We've got a list of like 100 photographers but we chose you. Crackers.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Oh, sweet.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: For those listening that don't know who you are, give them the, give them the 10 second rundown. Who are you? Why would you be on this podcast?
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Because you need someone who's professional in their outlook life and takes things very seriously.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Greg also has a YouTube channel and if you want to see some very fun and quirky photography content, always coming at things from a completely different angle. It's not your standard. Like, hey, I'm going to review the latest gear and teach you about the basics of photography. It's like, hey, I found a different way to do this. Or have you tried this technique or. I wanted to. Yeah. Actually there was someone I was looking at today and I ran out of time to watch the most recent one. I'm going to ask you about it. You can summarize it.
[00:05:09] Speaker C: I don't think I've updated Greg, but we've just published only recently, well, two weeks ago, the Camera Life Lucky Straps blog called Local Local Content Champions. And Greg Carrick, you, you're first up.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Am I the champ? The championships.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: I'll sue.
[00:05:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Probably should have asked you before I put it on there, but anyway, here we are.
But yeah, so Greg, you're, you're. You an ex photojournalist. You had an extensive career in photojournalism back in the film day too. Pre digital.
And more recently you've, you've, you've hung up your multi pocketed vest, swapped it.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: For a Viking hat.
[00:05:58] Speaker C: He swapped it for a Viking hat. Perfectly logical. And now you, you shoot whatever pleases you.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Absolutely. And that will be Coming up later in the show, because you got a particular question that I think was aimed at me. What the difference between being a pro photographer or shooting for yourself, you know, which is better to do, which is more enjoyable.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: I'm trying to get to that discussion.
[00:06:22] Speaker C: Point for a number of. But Justin just won't shut up.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: No, we've just kept forgetting about it.
I'm interested to hear what you see because you've done it, you've done both. Yeah, you've been there, you've done that and you've looped around and I'm keen to hear what you say about that.
So if anyone's keen, after the show, jump on Greg's YouTube channel and check out some stuff. The one, where's the one that I saw that was.
Yeah, this one three weeks ago, the secret to great photography. I was like, how can I not watch that video? It's the secret.
So I haven't seen it yet, but I've, I. Oh, you've got one from two months ago. That's the secret to better photos. You've got too many secrets.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: Right at the end of the youtubes I stop and you have to send me money before I reveal the secret.
[00:07:12] Speaker C: Nice, nice work, nice work.
So what have you been up to lately, Greg?
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Well, life's been very busy.
In fact, you know, it's been three weeks since I made a YouTube.
I'm.
My YouTube's usually about me experimenting with things, having fun, really with photography. That's my main thing now, you know, if it's not fun, why on earth are you doing it? So I'm midway through doing phone photography, shock horror, not using my Fujifilms and also a 20 year old early digital camera, which is fantastic. And I'm about to go on a two week road trip with my mum who's 92.
[00:08:03] Speaker C: Oh my God.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:08:05] Speaker C: Tell us about that. Is that, is that a. Are you traveling somewhere together for a purpose or are you just. Well, okay.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: And so she's trying to do it while she can. She's 92, she can still drive. All right.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: But yeah, we're gonna go along the east bottom, east coast of Australia, Victoria, then up into New South Wales.
I like doing coastal photography at the moment, so there's some good spots to stop and have have, especially night photography. You know, we'll be up all day visiting the towns, driving around and then at night I'll be out skulking around the coastline with my cameras. I don't know when I'm going to sleep.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Yeah, now Your. Your project of taking photos at night, you've. You do various types of night photography. I've seen you do try and capture the aurora and stars and things like that, but then you've. You've also got your. What do you call it? Your darkness.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: No light photography.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: That's right. Which. What style do you see yourself doing on this particular road trip?
[00:09:10] Speaker B: It depends if there's a moon or not.
If there's no moon, it will be no light photography.
But I'm hoping for some storms because I've recently got a lightning trigger that'll fit on my gfx. So I'm hoping to get some lightning happening in the next two weeks, but who knows?
[00:09:32] Speaker C: So how does that work? Because I've never. I've heard of them, but I've never seen one. How does that work?
[00:09:39] Speaker B: Well, they work in different ways. Mine works when there's a lightning flash. There's some sort of light emitted at the start. That is, we can't see. It's not in our spectrum. So this thing picks it up, fires the camera in time for the lightning strikes.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: So have you read up much about settings? Like, what would you set your shutter speed at if you were sort of. Would you have it still pretty long trying to capture that lightning or do you still run it quick or what? What's the go.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: You just use logic. Like it's.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: I haven't got that.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Lightning is very fast, but when you see it, it often happens over a period of several seconds. The strike will come in. It might strike several times in one second and then there might be another one. So I set my shutter about three seconds just to see if I can get everything and set the aperture and ISO to suit the time of day.
[00:10:41] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: So it's shutter priority. Yeah.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: Nice. Very cool seeing some of those shots because.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I used to have to sit there and use an envelometer and just take photo after photo hoping for some lightning to happen.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Whereas this is a lot.
Hopefully easier.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Foolproof, some would say. Would you wear that hat for protection in the storm?
[00:11:07] Speaker B: Definitely. Oh, well, it's plastic. It might be. All right. You definitely don't want lightning rods sticking out.
[00:11:14] Speaker C: No, but I mean, that would make quite the photo if that.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: If you were in the photo. That would be amazing.
[00:11:20] Speaker C: Last Friday we ever took, but it'd be quite the photo.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Now, I. I don't want to risk losing your audio again like we did before the show started, but we're getting some. Are you getting that? Get crackly poppy sound?
[00:11:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: Other Greek I reckon it might be your cable, Greg.
[00:11:36] Speaker C: Okay, I'll be knocking the microphone.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: I'll leave it alone.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Oh, maybe. You reckon maybe the cable's hitting the mic.
[00:11:42] Speaker C: It was hitting the boom.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: Maybe.
Yeah, it's sort of.
I don't know. Okay, we'll deal with it.
[00:11:51] Speaker C: It's a random photography show. It's not. Not as perfect as the Thursday morning show.
Speaking of which. Oh.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Jinx. We've got Ian Thompson in the chat. Good evening, Ian. Tim Siamas says, I'll take any guy with a Viking hat seriously. And Paul says questions? I don't get this one. Looks like you're ready to start singing. Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: Is there a Spam song?
[00:12:19] Speaker B: Monty Python.
[00:12:22] Speaker C: I knew it would be something Greg's of an age.
What do you want to talk about tonight? We wanted to talk about Greg's question that came up earlier about is it better to be a pro or a hobbyist? So we want to cover that off. Yeah, I think it'll be an interesting discussion because I. I've. You've been a pro, Justin.
I've never really been a full time pro or even a. I don't think I've even been called myself. I'm a casual pro casually. I pro. I pro. Casually.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: You got paid for that last walker walk around gig, didn't you?
[00:12:56] Speaker C: I did get paid for my street walk, so that makes me a professional walker.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Yes, that's right.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: The reason I saw this topic, I saw an article that was written by a pro.
[00:13:11] Speaker C: I'll bring it up just quickly but you talk.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: But basically saying that their recommendation was don't be a pro because if you're an amateur, you can do whatever you want. You can take more meaningful images potentially without having to impress a client.
Yeah, basically it was. What's the guy's name? Simon Byrne.
Cool article, thought provoking.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: He probably watched my YouTube on it.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: But I took Umbridge with it. I took umbrage with his point.
There was Umbridge and I took it because basically he's been a professional photographer for 38 years. But the most enjoyable and meaningful work that he has been making has been his personal work. And so his advice is don't, don't be a professional photographer, basically, in a roundabout way. Read the article. I'm paraphrasing. Don't. He'll probably yell at me. Sorry, Simon and I kind of disagreed with that and I'm interested to know what you think. Viking Greg.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Okay, well when you started to tell me his priestess, I thought, yeah, that's pretty similar to what I would say, but I would go far as to say don't do pro work.
If it's, if it's a great way, an enjoyable way for you to make a living, then go for it. But his caveat that you are taking photos for other people is the main thing about being a professional photographer because you're using your gear to please other people. So you have to do that or you don't get paid.
So your whole mindset is, what does this client want?
And you work that out with the client beforehand and then you supply what that client wants, which means you have to put your own creativity to one side and produce results they are going to be happy with and will pay for.
So if your main work is being a photographer and you got a list of clients, more than 90% of the photos you're taking aren't photos that you would normally take.
So you're not exercising your creativity.
You. Some people say, oh, yeah, but my style is what sells my work partially. Sometimes your style gets in the way and people don't hire you. So I don't think a personal style is all that good as a pro photographer because you have to produce results in the style of all these other people, not your own.
So photography becomes work. Okay, it can be a good way to spend your working life rather than working in a factory, but it. Everything you're producing is geared for other people, not yourself.
And I found when I retired, all of a sudden I had trouble. It took me three years to go through a whole, whole lot of different genres and different ways to take photos for myself. Before I was happy and thought, yeah, this is me. This is my creative style. This is what I enjoy doing when I pick up a camera and I don't have to worry about anyone else. Like, even though I do YouTube stuff, if people don't like my photos, I'm not taking it for them, I'm not taking it for anybody else except me. And if I'm happy with my photos, then I've achieved success.
[00:17:01] Speaker C: I think it's fair to say that's a, I think that's a really reasonable explanation.
And I think, you know, in, in your work, regardless of whether it's photography or, you know, working in a factory, how you approach your, the mindset that you employ to approach your job will make a huge difference to whether you feel that it's a creative process for you.
And I think, you know, I think it's, it's all very well for someone 40 years later. To enjoy the safety of hindsight and obviously some privilege, having had that sort of career.
And I think there's also. There's a level of privilege involved in being able to say, I've got the skills to be a pro photographer and I could make really good money off it, but I'm scared it will ruin the fun for me. There's privilege in that, that you can actually make a choice not to work as a pro photographer because you have other opportunities, other skills, whatever it may be. So there's a whole bunch of factors I think comes into it.
You know, I never went full pro.
There's a number of things around that for me. One is I'm shit at photography. But the, you know, there was. I always had a fear of it taking away my love of photography. The joy element that I always talk about, I worried that it would make it. That it would make me a slave to it and I would no longer go out and shoot street photography when I wasn't working or, you know, that sort of thing. I worried that it would really cancel that out.
But, I mean, there are some. Some photographers out there who are very disciplined, who run a. Either a photography business or a gallery or work professionally, you know, weddings every weekend, who will also, you know, get involved in other creative pursuits, including photography, like casual photography. Like Jim, for example. I mean, Jim shoots weddings. He also does boudoir work. But I think when I talk to Jim about his work, when he talks about the boudoir stuff, there's definitely a new level of excitement there for him because it's a fairly new endeavor outside of the business. So, you know, I think there's a different example of someone going, well, I am a pro photographer, but I'm also going to, you know, strike out on a new path that's a little bit creative for me because I've done this for a decade.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:24] Speaker C: You know, so what, what do you think, Justin?
[00:19:32] Speaker A: I definitely agree with the. The sentiment that you can make potentially more meaningful work when you have full control, and you have full control when you don't. You're not relying on someone paying you for your work or even that sometimes, even if it's that thing that, like, hopefully if I create great work, it will make me money in the future. So you're sort of in full control, but you still have that thing in the back of your mind that hopefully this can provide for me in some way, whether, you know, I don't know, through selling prints or something like that.
But what I disagreed with, with this article was. And I think you sort of touched on it was a lot of the things that he mentioned that he had found passion in with his own work. I don't know if he would have found those things had he not been a professional photographer for 38 years. And how many, how many doors that opens in terms of opportunities to learn. The thing with being a professional and, and Greg, you would know this for sure, Greg Carrick, is you get pushed into doing work that you would otherwise probably have not chosen to do because that's the job on the day. So you learn new techniques, you learn a way to make a subject. You learn about new. New subjects. New. Whether the subjects be people or industries or animals or something that you've never, you'd never crossed paths with before and then you've got to learn about. I think all those things open doors and shape you as a photographer and as an artist. And to say, hey, if, you know, I would have been able to make more meaningful work had I not been a professional photographer, I think sometimes that's misguided because all of those learnings from your career as a professional guide you towards what you're able to create in your personal work. So that's, that's the thing that I disagree with where he said, hey, I, you know, I kind of think if you want to, you know, you'll have more fun being an amateur. Because I did. It's like that might not be the case for everyone. What if someone keeps it as a hobby and never gets the chance to do those things that a professional career might have helped them do? You know, I just don't want. I don't think people should close doors to that sort of stuff is my opinion.
[00:21:52] Speaker C: I think also there's a presumption there that, you know, that someone who doesn't take up professional photography, they could, but they choose not to, is then in a position to acquire the sort of gear necessary to create.
You know, as a professional photographer, it's part of your. It's part of your toolkit. It's like a plumber. It's like a builder going out and buying new stuff. At Bunnings, it's no different. They're just tools for the job.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: But yeah, connections.
[00:22:20] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah, community and all of that.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: Grant or Grant's asked multiple questions. We'll start with the one that's on this topic before we get into the fun one.
[00:22:28] Speaker C: That's the most I've ever heard him say.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: Grant says, yeah, shut up, Grant. Grant says, does being a pro take away the love. And that's the thing.
It can.
But it. It's not just being a professional that takes away the love. I think it's if. If you end up doing work that. That you're not happy with, or if you're trapped in a business that isn't, you know, where you're struggling to keep your head above water, that sort of stuff can take away the love.
But it's not just. Well, I was a professional and I ended up not loving photography because I was a professional for a long time and I lost a bit of the passion for the particular type of work I was doing. But as you can see by the shelves behind me that constantly seem to end up with new cameras, I haven't. Haven't really lost the love for photography, but I just didn't want to do that particular work anymore as much.
[00:23:27] Speaker B: Yeah. So, yeah, I think everybody's.
[00:23:30] Speaker C: What you got? Sorry, Greg, did you. Justin, did you tell Greg what camera you got?
[00:23:35] Speaker A: I got a delightful Canon EOS 1N film camera with the 51.2 EF lens on it.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: Okay. Kudos. Having a film camera canon, you can. There's therapy sessions you can have for. Yeah, Canon users.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: Come on. You shoot Fujifilm, you can't throw. Throw stones.
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Hey, hey, hey, hey.
[00:23:59] Speaker C: You're outnumbered, little man.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: And I'm in the middle, too.
[00:24:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: Surrounded by beans.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: You look like a little boy compared to us.
With the pro work, it's everybody's different. The enjoyment can come not just from what you do, but the challenge of what you do. So being a photojournalist, the challenge was you had to think on your feet, be very quick, get the shot, the moment, etc. Move on to the next job. And it might be a totally different genre. You might be doing a community event and then go straight to sport and action and numerous genres all in one day. That's the challenge. And that. That was sort of thrilling and satisfying.
Whereas now, not working, taking photos for myself, the challenge is totally different. I'm not in a rush anymore.
I actually use a tripod. Tripod was the last piece of gear a photojournalist needs. Whereas now my cameras almost live on tripods. So much enjoyment of taking time.
You know, I can be out there, take half an hour to set up, and then shoot for three or four hours, one scene, and it's wonderful.
Different, different challenge. That's all.
[00:25:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it's a good point.
Jim's joined the chat. G'day, Jim. Hey, Jim.
Yelena's in on board. Grant Grant and Bruce Moyle I think makes a good point. The passion for what you were shooting can be hard when you need to do the same thing over and over. A writer can help it keep it fresh, which is what Crackers was talking about.
But also becomes hard when you are known for particular thing and style. That is very true. You know, if you're, if you're, you know, like Jesse, who I met at bfop, he's an elopement photographer and I would imagine that's a fairly, you know, he's often traveling, he's away a lot and I wonder after a while, you know, he's got, he's got a partner and I think, I think one young child and I think that's going to get demanding after a while, but that's what he's known for. So you know, sometimes we make, what's that saying? You make a rod for your own back where you kind of. Yeah, you know, this is, this is my genre and it's fairly niche and it, it gets in high demand in certain seasons and as a result, you know, I can't, I can't plan my life during that time because I'm involved. But I think it's also a good point that Bruce raises. If you take photography out of the equation and just make it, the passion for what you were doing can be hard. When you need to do the same thing over and over, you know, throw a rock in the air, you're going to hit someone who feels that about their job.
You know, where it's monotonous and it's the same thing over and over.
And, and that's where, you know, as a, as an adult you have the opportunity to potentially make choices about what you're doing, to look to expand what it is that you do for the same company or find a new company. It's no different for a photographer in a lot of ways. You know, you can start a new genre.
[00:27:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:16] Speaker C: Or you know, like what we've seen Jim doing with boudoir, like that's, he's taking a new direction that's completely aside from his wedding stuff and, and he seems to be really enjoying that. So.
[00:27:28] Speaker A: Yeah, when I talk to him, you can tell that he's, it's the like learning about a different type of lighting and, and like slowing down, you know, because weddings it's, it's fast paced, quick and dirty lighting, mostly available light.
You know, it's a very different method of working and I think it's that, it's that sort of new Troubleshooting and stuff that once you get to the sort of the point where he is with wedding photography. Yeah, I know he does. He does try new things and, you know, tries to evolve his wedding photography a bit. But there's only so much he can do in a day, like Bruce says, where you are known for a certain thing. You can't just not do that thing. You've got to deliver what the clients want and what you've been doing for 10 years and, and, you know, whereas when you start a whole new arm of a business or a new genre, it's. It's like a new, new fresh thing to play with and you can do it.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:22] Speaker A: In any style that you want. And I think that's what he's enjoying and that, and that's obviously like, that's what photographers can do as well, without. It doesn't have to be a business, it can just be a hobby. You know, you, you know, go and shoot landscapes on the weekend or whatever and you can do whatever you want and muck it up and it doesn't matter and no one's trying to. Yeah, yeah.
[00:28:40] Speaker C: Or you can just stand in a dark field at night with camera on a tripod and here's someone pushing a shutter button. Goes that you, Greg?
[00:28:47] Speaker A: On the Edge photography?
[00:28:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: Now we have to, apparently Eilish, so there's. There's questions back here. Okay. Eilish wants to know if Greg Carrick is the owner of a funny hats company or does he just own funny hats? And if so, what's the weirdest hat?
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Okay, this is, this is. This is probably the weirdest. I've had so many hats and a lot of them get stolen.
[00:29:21] Speaker C: So I.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: Don'T have as many hats as I've had. My collection is always small.
But yeah, I'm wearing this because without hair, the lights bounce off my skull and I would look terrible.
[00:29:38] Speaker C: That's quite a. Quite an extreme way to compensate.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: I didn't think you'd notice, but yeah, that's fine.
[00:29:50] Speaker C: I thought I saw you with horns last time, so I didn't want to mention it.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Great comment here from Tim. Unfortunately, it sounds like the podcast is already influencing gear purchases. Tim Siama says, Tim, you pushed me over the edge. Last week I bought the Tamar on 35 to 150 after a few months of sitting on the decision. Stellar lens. Thanks for the recommendation.
[00:30:10] Speaker C: Nice work, guys.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: Good job. That is a killer lens. It's one that I would love to try if Canon would please. Stop. Stop.
[00:30:23] Speaker C: I saw some comments this morning, Canon is still sitting tight on their full frame RF mount. No intention to release it yet.
[00:30:30] Speaker B: Really?
[00:30:31] Speaker C: Yeah, I saw them.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: Even with the, even with the, like the APS Cs have been coming out. I don't care about the manual focus. Zeiss Otis has come out. I thought it was just like it was, you know, cascading towards freedom. Freedom.
[00:30:46] Speaker C: No, they're stubborn. They always have been.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: Well, that's where the camera companies make their money from. Lenses.
[00:30:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: You buy one camera but you buy five lenses.
[00:30:55] Speaker A: So but Nick Nikon and Sony and stuff, they don't seem to, you know, they didn't lock their. I mean Sony, Sony were in a different position because they were establishing a mirrorless market early. So they were probably like, we'll take any third party lenses we can get. We just want to build, we need to build a big lens rope like so that people are happy to jump.
Obviously Canon, you know, people can adapt older lenses and stuff. There's a lot of other options. But Nikon didn't lock the Z mount down at all, did they? They were like, I mean it. People didn't come out with stuff straight away, but it wasn't long before they were pretty open.
[00:31:30] Speaker C: They took a while, especially with mirrorless. Because they were late to jump on mirrorless.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:31:36] Speaker C: Same with Nikon. Sorry, Canon, they were both late to jump on mirrorless. They thought it was a fad.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: Yeah. But once, once they come out, Sigma and Tamron started developing lenses because Nikon didn't lock them out of the mount.
[00:31:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: So.
[00:31:49] Speaker C: Yeah, well, all they had to do is change the mount and just refine the optics a little bit. Like the bodies are all the same across the mounts for like a Tamron lens. Like it's pretty much identical across the mount. You just. Yeah, they just tweak the.
Tweak the mount and the connectivity and you know.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: Bruce says he thinks Canon won't release the autofocus for RF full frame RF until they have what they feel is a full range in their brand. What do you think, Bruce, is. What are the lenses coming from Canon, do you think? What do you think they're still to release for full frame? What are we missing?
And also Jim says that I'm welcome to borrow his with that lens. Uh, and it looks like he's got a tiny little picture of Greg Carrick as the emoji there. I'm not sure he does.
What does this one say from Paul? My love of flying took a fairly big hit when I had to start supervising and managing It. So I don't plan to earn a cent with the camera. Okay. So you've been. You've been through this, Paul, with flying and had to. It's had to go through that going to a point where it's not a passion anymore and you don't really feel like doing it.
Yeah, that sucks. Yeah, well, don't do that with the camera.
[00:33:07] Speaker C: Well, those of you that. Yeah, all those of you in the. In the chat that have. Have done professional photography work before, let us know what your thoughts are on this.
[00:33:16] Speaker B: Yeah, don't be a jigalo.
[00:33:18] Speaker C: Don't be a gigolo. Yeah, we need you to. To note that. That time stamp there. So stamp it.
[00:33:28] Speaker A: While we're talking about this, do you want to. Just for. To keep it random, I can throw some images up that I took for free this week.
[00:33:39] Speaker C: Okay, let's do it just for fun. Let me see if I took some for free too. Did you? Lots of them.
I'm so generous. They're all free.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: Everything I do is free. Let me just get this set up, you guys. Greg's. Just talk amongst yourselves.
[00:33:58] Speaker C: Oh, whatever.
Okay, so Grant's come back saying that Jim, he left Nick on for a reason. He's not a child.
Jim's come back. You boys need to take this offline. He'll be back.
[00:34:15] Speaker A: Canon versus Nikon is a. It's a Taylor's oldest time.
[00:34:19] Speaker C: It is a tailor's office time. But.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: And I love it. I'm here for it.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: Yeah, you love it. Yeah.
[00:34:26] Speaker B: As Fuji users just watch the kids squabble.
[00:34:29] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: While you try to get your cameras to focus on a moving subject.
[00:34:35] Speaker B: Yeah, Focus, focus.
[00:34:41] Speaker A: All right, so let's see your images. So this. These are some photos from our gym. Once a year, our gym participates in a worldwide competition for everybody. It's not like an elite thing. It's not a. You know, anyone can go in it. Hundreds of thousands of people across the world do it. It's called the CrossFit Open and it's a very much a community event because everyone does it at the gym. People come and watch, cheer each other on.
And I decide. And Grant took some this week as well. I decided to bring the camera in, get some photos of people.
And this is what happens when you're not getting paid is most of the photos I edited in black and white because I thought they looked cooler. Whereas if it was for a client, you'd probably have to do them in whatever looks appropriate for their social media and their website and stuff. And it was really Fun. So I'm just going to run through some of these images.
[00:35:34] Speaker C: What did you shoot with Justin first?
[00:35:36] Speaker A: The R3 with the Canon RF51 2 shot. Everything on the 50mm. So.
[00:35:41] Speaker C: So just a basic camera and lens combo?
[00:35:43] Speaker A: Yeah, just your normal kit kit lens and crop sensor combo. You know, pick it up for 1200 bucks at JB hi Fi. No, I, I love shooting with the 50 and I always put it close to wide open because, I don't know, it's just fun. Some of them aren't insanely sharp when it loads.
[00:36:00] Speaker C: Jesus, look at the arms on her.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: Yeah, she's a legend.
[00:36:05] Speaker B: Everyone she carries. She carries a Canon Rams.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: They're medium format arms for sure.
[00:36:14] Speaker C: Oh, wow, that's a great shot.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: It's tricky lighting in there and. Yeah, working around to get sort of a bit. Yeah, the good lighting. Jim was at the gym.
[00:36:23] Speaker C: Hey, Jim at the gym.
[00:36:25] Speaker A: Jim was at the gym. Look at him go. Struggling away. He had to change the workout a bit because his leg's still recovering from surgery. But he gets in there and does it.
[00:36:33] Speaker C: What's the excuse for his arms then?
[00:36:35] Speaker A: Nothing.
So just trying to work with good lighting. I shot vertical a lot more than I normally do. I don't shoot vertical much at all. But I decided I just want like I was using the 50.
It was working well for the framing and blocking out sort of any distracting elements and stuff. Because gyms are usually a pretty busy looking place. They're not clean backgrounds. Yeah, there's lots of equipment stuff, so. And then just trying to bring in more elements into the foreground, find different ways to show people. This is Mark. Mark's a legend. He's a. What is he now, 73? He got in and got amongst it after the workout, dying on the ground.
There was, there was a bright, as you can probably see there. So the. Yeah, the strips, what do you call them in the. In roofs, like the skylight kind of strips.
[00:37:33] Speaker C: Oh yeah.
[00:37:35] Speaker A: The sun was directly above kind of that spot there. So it was actually casting almost a. Yeah, a shadow and it was just amazing. She was in a. In a spot of light. More dying on the floor.
These are all edited with a modified Masten labs.
There's. There's Yelena with her broken wing. She couldn't do the workout but she still come in and judged people even though she was still on endone. Nice work, you know.
[00:38:10] Speaker C: Hope you're feeling better. Hey, my little sly comment at Jim didn't go unnoticed. He says, happy for you to join me for a workout, Greg.
I, I think that would be.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: Oh, she's. And Yelena says not broken. It's not broken, it's dislocated. And then majorly surgeried. Yeah, but yeah, where else are we? Hang on, I think we're almost done. But yeah, shooting with that, that 50.
[00:38:39] Speaker C: Year old lens, it just destroys the background, doesn't it? Like it's.
[00:38:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:44] Speaker C: Subject separations really now these are great.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: And yeah, it's that sort of stuff that I think you can still do, you know, non professional photography, free photography, something for a community group or anything in some sort of. Anytime you want, you whip your camera out, you get some photos that people will love, do it for free because if it's a small business or something like that, they probably can't afford to, you know, to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a professional photographer to cover just a, you know, a random thing that they're running. And the best part is if you just tell them, hey, I'm just doing this for fun. You can take whatever shots you want and edit them however you want and you know, they get what they get. They don't really get to complain. So I'll do it.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: I'll tell you a story about been doing photos for community groups in Man Evelyn, where I live for decades and I'm sort of known by all those groups. Get Greg to turn up with your cameras, you know, because you do it all free and they love it. Yeah, I've backed off a bit from doing that and my daughter does it now and we'll turn up to an event, she'll turn up to event with her camera and they'll say, oh, it's Greg coming to take photos.
Come on, you got a photographer right there in front of you.
You don't need me.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: Maybe she's wearing the incorrect hat.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll have to give her this one.
[00:40:23] Speaker C: Yeah, you need to get another one. Make it a family thing.
Very cool. Should we have a look at some of some of Cracker's photos? I've got them here.
It will. Let me just share.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: Let's do it. While you're doing that, I'll see if there was any comments here that I have missed.
Bruce says I work as a pro cinematography and photo. I've changed my style and been a generalist more than a specialist because I found it hard to stay passionate on just one style.
Good strategy, good strategy.
[00:40:59] Speaker C: All right everyone see those?
So this was very last minute for, for Greg Crackers Carrick.
I only gave him morning today that I'll need some images. So he had them ready. He's. He's a busy man. He's often out and about standing in the dark or in the water in this case.
So we'll just go through some of Greg's images.
What sort of timestamp is about 3, 4 weeks worth of work.
[00:41:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Spread over several months I think. Just picked a few different shots. Yeah. And they're mainly when something happens you have to get out there with the camera because like the comet here, the comment came round, now it's gone. If you weren't getting out there with the camera you wouldn't be able to get the comment shots. So you keep your eye on things, especially natural events because you have no control over when you know the timing of those things.
So if comments come around star aluminum like a planets this week and all that sort of stuff into that, get out there and do it because next week won't be happening.
[00:42:19] Speaker A: How do you, how do you keep. And you say you keep an eye on this stuff, keep your finger on the pulse. How do you do that? What are your sort of, your methods? In some, you, in some groups you do those horns pick up some sort of radio signals from the stars. Like how do you keep on top of it?
[00:42:37] Speaker B: Mainly through media. I mean the comet was big news so everybody knew it was going to happen.
So that was easy. The auroras. I've got a Aurora Watch website permanently on my browser and so I can check when an aurora is likely to happen.
And it's not exactly spot 100 accurate but at least gives me a chance to get out to a location because the first time I got an aurora I had to go out and learn how to shoot it. So I didn't bother about great location. My photos of that first aurora, there's power lines going through and all this sort of stuff that was just a learning experience. But once you figure out how to shoot something like that, you then choose a location that's got good foreground and you know, good composition so you keep your eye on.
There's a lot of websites to do especially with astrophotography and apps on your phone you can get. So you know when things are going to happen several weeks in advance, you know, and you can plan and then look for the weather. Is it going to be cloudy? Is it going to be any use? Where's the moon? If you're down the coast, I've got a title chart because I want to know if I can get out on the beach to the rocks or am I Going to drown, you know, so there's quite a bit of planning ahead for natural events, but when it all lines up, you can get out there and get some great shots.
[00:44:09] Speaker C: Now, given that, you know, we follow each other on socials and I see a lot of your work being posted, there was a number of situations when this comment was going, correct me if I'm wrong, where you would say, the next day went out, clouds everywhere, but I still have a shot. You know, you still took the opportunity to get out there and sit up and stand in the dark and, you know, and be present to see if the shot worked out for you.
[00:44:34] Speaker B: Well, that's the other thing. I've made some YouTubes about this.
Have a plan B and a plan C and a plan D, because if things don't go well, you've driven two hours to a spot and you want to take a particular shot. If it's not going to happen, take other shots.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:52] Speaker B: You're out there at this wonderful spot, so use it.
[00:44:56] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:44:57] Speaker B: Be flexible.
[00:44:59] Speaker C: Yep.
Let's go through a few more.
Nice shallow depth of field there.
Did we talk about these last time you were on?
[00:45:10] Speaker B: Don't think so.
[00:45:12] Speaker C: No.
[00:45:12] Speaker A: I don't remember that one. What is that?
[00:45:14] Speaker C: I think we're looking at them outside of this space.
[00:45:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Fireworks.
I've sunk fireworks before, but they're typical firework shots, you know, bit boring.
So I come across this way of taking fireworks that I had to practice, and it's really hard to practice because where I live, you might have fireworks happening once a year.
How can you. How can you practice that? You know?
So this, to shoot fireworks like this, you have a shutter speed of maybe three seconds, and you start off way out of focus.
And as soon as the firework goes, if you press the shutter and you bring it into focus before the three seconds is up.
So out of focus, they're all fat and blurry, and then in focus, they're nice and sharp again. So that's how you get that sort of look.
[00:46:10] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. These sharp points.
I've never seen anyone do that.
[00:46:15] Speaker A: No, me neither.
[00:46:20] Speaker B: But, yeah, I have seen it before. It's not an original of mine.
[00:46:24] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I mean, you're out there giving it a shot. Yeah. And look at these octagonal bokeh balls. Like, they're really phenomenal shapes, isn't it? Like, if you went in close, you would have no idea that that was fireworks. It's almost like it's. Someone's done a macro of some exotic fruit or.
[00:46:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:42] Speaker C: Microorganism. Or something. But yeah, it's really quite striking, Greg.
[00:46:48] Speaker B: It's good fun to do when you get the results, think, hey, I nailed it.
[00:46:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it's funny. It's not, it's not something, you know, like pulling focus in video or something that you, you play with regularly, obviously. But yeah, doing it within. I'm trying to think if, if I've ever done it for a still for any shot. I can't, I can't, I can't recall doing it ever trying that technique on, on anything.
[00:47:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I think what I, what I, what I admire most about your photography, Greg, is that, you know, I haven't known you for a few years now and seen sort of work that you've done is that you're not afraid to try something that's unconventional and I think that's really powerful and I think there's a lot to be said for that in, you know, some of the lenses that you adapt to your GFX or your xe.
You know, you've, we talked last time you were on about, you know, using not cinema lenses necessarily, but projector lenses.
[00:47:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:45] Speaker C: Old lenses and then, you know, getting, getting a 3D printed mount just to make it work so there's no light leak and it sits on the camera nicely and you can still use it. So I think there's a lot, there's a lot to love about that approach.
[00:48:00] Speaker A: Even the, the live chat's loving it. Bruce says that's a cool technique I haven't seen before. And Paul says, I tried that once and ended up with something that looked like the corona virus.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: They probably still look good though, so.
[00:48:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah. Now what sort of firework was this one?
[00:48:20] Speaker B: This Just a flower at a local garden, but I used, yeah, ship the field and color separation, that sort of thing.
I just thought it ended up looking quite alien.
[00:48:32] Speaker A: So was that one of your fancy lenses?
[00:48:37] Speaker B: Possibly the Helios 44 too?
[00:48:40] Speaker C: Yeah, it's just that background, that swirl is really unique. You don't see that in modern lenses.
[00:48:47] Speaker B: No, no, some of the old projector lenses do that because they're not made for photos.
You get all sorts of weird effects.
[00:48:57] Speaker C: Very cool.
Here's an aurora we're speaking about earlier and this is one of your no light photos, although obviously the sky would probably be lit up a little bit.
And then we're on to a couple of little time lapses to share.
These are only a few seconds each.
[00:49:17] Speaker A: Oh, that's cool.
[00:49:19] Speaker C: That's very cool.
And the amount of satellite traffic is crazy.
[00:49:24] Speaker A: Isn't it?
[00:49:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:25] Speaker C: We'll play it again. I'll play it again.
[00:49:28] Speaker A: Any idea what the, the real time, duration of shooting that was? Any, any rough idea?
[00:49:35] Speaker B: Like a couple of hours?
[00:49:36] Speaker A: Yeah, couple hours.
[00:49:37] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:49:38] Speaker A: And you just hung out. You just sit in a chair and watch the sky.
[00:49:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:43] Speaker A: Listen to the show get off.
[00:49:45] Speaker B: You have to amuse yourself.
But that's one of those times where you go out to do something specific. If it doesn't happen, well, don't waste your trip. Like if an aurora didn't happen, then I'll just do the asteroid.
[00:50:00] Speaker C: I'm just gonna slide this.
[00:50:01] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:50:03] Speaker C: I'm just gonna slow this one right down, Greg. Just so people can take a moment because it's very subtle. There's a lot of lights from the road on the cliff you can see that asteroid, the comet slowly making its way towards the horizon line. And obviously the stars are moving and everything like that. So rotating.
I think that's it for you.
[00:50:26] Speaker A: So just quickly, where are we just looping back through before I ask you a few questions about gear, Greg, because that's what this show is all about.
I photographed speedway for my local club for a number of years. Great fun on the night. Not, not. So doing the post production on 1,000 plus images. 100% that, that bit does suck. That's why shooting JPEG can be fun. But still, still just going through the images because you can't just give people everything otherwise they'll be out of focus stuff. And a million of the same shot and you know, curating your images down does give them more impact. But yeah, I agree going through them all when you're not getting paid is painful.
[00:51:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
So sometimes you have to learn to limit yourself or they will build too much expectation in the future. So instead of a thousand shots. Yeah, 300, you know.
[00:51:23] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:51:25] Speaker A: That is true.
Now most of those shots you would be taking generally with your GFX that we just looked at.
[00:51:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I use a mix of mainly Fujifilm cameras.
I do have the GFX here and save money. I use old vintage lenses like the Fujifilm. What is it, 20 to 35 cost 4,000 bucks or something? Yeah. This is an 18 to 35 Pentax kit zoom. Yeah, you can pick them up for 50 bucks and it pretty well covers the medium format sensor. It's stunning what you can do thankfully with you know, mounts, adapters. It's great.
[00:52:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:52:18] Speaker B: I do own a couple of GFX lenses but they're the cheap ones. I got the 50 I got the 35 to 70.
I can't really afford anything more than that, so. So old film lenses are great.
[00:52:32] Speaker A: If Fuji, If Fuji rang you and said, hey, your YouTube channel is so amazing, we want to gift you one GFX lens, what would you pick?
[00:52:43] Speaker B: 20 to 35. It's my most used range.
[00:52:49] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And how much are those?
[00:52:52] Speaker C: Just about to look it up.
[00:52:53] Speaker A: You're under the G mount.
[00:52:55] Speaker C: What was it, 20 to 35? Yeah, 20 to 35. It's an F4. It's 4. 4100.
[00:53:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. They're hefty lenses, aren't they?
[00:53:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Brilliant. Perfect resolution. Everything about them is spot on. But. Yeah, yeah.
[00:53:16] Speaker C: Just not the price.
[00:53:17] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the tough thing. It is. The tough thing about that system is it's just, it's. Everything's that little step up in price and that adds up if you need three or four lenses and if they're all a thousand dollars more than you know.
[00:53:32] Speaker C: Well, they're mostly about double.
[00:53:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:35] Speaker C: Like they're double what the X Series stuff is, generally speaking.
[00:53:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:53:39] Speaker C: So it's, you know, it is.
I know Fuji is trying to sort of flog the enthusiast GFX appeal, but you've got to be a cashed up enthusiast.
[00:53:53] Speaker B: That's why, like with the XE4, my most used lens, it's on all the time. TD Artisan.
[00:54:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:54:01] Speaker A: So is that manual focus?
[00:54:04] Speaker B: Yeah, 25 mil, manual everything.
Manual focus, manual aperture and I just love this thing. It's.
[00:54:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:54:14] Speaker B: Fantastic. And cost of pittance, you know.
[00:54:16] Speaker C: Yeah. It looks so good on that camera too.
Balances really well.
[00:54:22] Speaker A: Here's a. Here's a fun question to probably bring us to the end of this show because I do need to keep it somewhat, somewhat on time tonight. Tim Siamas, a new favorite commenter, says serious question before we move to gear. How do you all manage gear acquisition syndrome? After all, it's about the images we create. But being a gearhead and into photography, it ain't easy.
You might have answered your own question, but yes, it ain't. It ain't easy.
[00:54:54] Speaker C: It isn't easy. Can I, can I share my story quickly?
[00:54:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, you go.
[00:54:59] Speaker C: So I, I've. I've had gas, I've had severe gas and fomo.
And when I first started out in food, when I first started out in Canon, I had a little bit of money, so I kind of went a bit silly and bought lots of L series glass. And then I realized they were all too heavy and carrying them hurt, which is why I moved to Fujifilm, but I made the same mistake. I probably bought even more Fujifilm glass, thinking, oh, it's smaller and lighter. So I bought twice as much, twice as much as any photographer would probably need.
And then I ended up selling a bunch of it because it just wasn't being used. And so I think you reach a stage. I, well, Justin's not quite there yet because he can't even grow a beard. But you reach a stage. I feel you reach a stage where you go, you know what? I'm good with what I've got.
And I know Greg's been in that space for a little while and sorry to speak for you, Greg, but even some of the guests that we've had on the show, oh, look at that.
It does look like Costa. It really does look like Costa from the abc.
[00:56:02] Speaker B: Yeah, he's too tall.
[00:56:05] Speaker A: I got a beard. It's just really itchy and odd.
[00:56:08] Speaker C: Anyway, attention seeker.
Oh dear. Now you can't get it off.
Where was I? Rude? Yeah. I think you reach a level of maturity and a point where you go, you know what? This is enough. I really like what I'm shooting. It doesn't happen for everybody. Because, you know, having worked with camera clubs, lots of camera clubs for lucky straps and, and other my own endeavors, there's a lot of, you know, retiree photographers that are chasing that next lens.
So it, you know, I don't think it ever goes away. I think you can appreciate it. I mean, Justin's a classic example. He's, he's got some level of self control. He sees a lot of stuff he loves. But he will do an incredible amount of research on every product to work out which one is right. Yeah.
And, and I can confidently say that he will know everything about that lens before he's even hit by.
[00:57:04] Speaker A: It's a problem.
[00:57:05] Speaker C: It's not a problem. It's a great way to do it. You're not blindly making purchases just because you're like, you know, you're, you're making sensible choices and it's your money, you can do whatever the fuck you want with it. Really, you know, it's whatever makes you happy, man.
But I've reached a stage where I've gone, you know what? I'm running with an XC4. Same camera as our good crackers Carrick here. And, and I've got like four small prime lenses, you know, and I generally use one the most.
And I think I just, you know, and it depends on circumstances too. Like, I've been in a situation Where I've had to sell a bunch of gear because of finances, got hard. Like when I became unwell a few years ago, I sold a bunch of my canvas stuff because I couldn't actually see myself picking up a camera again. You know, I was in a bad state and.
And I thought, well, I might as well just get rid of it. Someone might as well have it.
So, yeah, it also depends on, you know, what you can afford and all that sort of thing. Anyway, that's my.
[00:58:06] Speaker B: Another point is what. What are you feeding yourself with all the time? If you're getting on YouTube and watching gear reviews constantly, cut back on that. Instead, watch photographers who actually go out there and take photos don't talk about their gear. Some of my favorite photographers, they're even Australians, get out there and they never mention camera, ran, lens, nothing. This is how I'm taking this photo. You know, it's about the photography, not the gear.
[00:58:38] Speaker C: Yeah. And look, Greg, a lot of people that we've had on the show, especially in recent weeks, you know, they're fairly humble about their gear selection. You know, some of them are still shooting with. With analog.
Who's Alex Frain we're talking to. What was. He's shooting with some stuff that's quite old now, isn't he?
[00:58:56] Speaker A: Yep.
Oh, was he still running the D850 or was that. No, that was. That was.
[00:59:03] Speaker C: No, that was Brown Lucas.
[00:59:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Most recently.
[00:59:05] Speaker C: Well, there's another example, like he hasn't moved it. Mirrorless.
[00:59:08] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. But he's still got. He's still got extremely capable equipment. And not that Alex Frains wasn't, but Alex Frame. That's right, he was a D700, which is considered by most people just, just general photographers to be outdated, whereas no one would really consider the D858 outdated. That's a. That's a modern business, DSLR, but it's. It's the best of. The best of DSLRs. Whereas the D700, you know that, that was the camera Jim was shooting with when I first met him, before we started our business 12 years ago. You know, like it's a. It's an old camera, but he's creating great work with it and he.
[00:59:48] Speaker B: You'll find that.
[00:59:49] Speaker A: And he's like, I know it.
[00:59:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:59:51] Speaker B: In the professional field. Yeah, they use, they know their gear. They use their gear. They're not buying every new body that comes out every year. That's ridiculous. Waste of money.
[01:00:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:00:03] Speaker B: So they use stuff that's 10, 8, 10 years old because it works.
[01:00:08] Speaker C: Yeah, that's very true. The G850 came out in 2017.
[01:00:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:00:16] Speaker A: So that's still awesome.
[01:00:18] Speaker C: Whatever.
[01:00:21] Speaker A: When, when did the D700 come out?
[01:00:25] Speaker C: I'll just do your work for you, will I?
[01:00:27] Speaker A: I'm busy.
[01:00:30] Speaker C: Aren't any of your ground staff around to help you?
[01:00:33] Speaker A: Busy opening up a new lens that I purchased.
[01:00:37] Speaker C: That's 2008, the D700.
[01:00:40] Speaker A: So, so that's what Alex. Frame shooting with that, that is definitely considered an outdated camera. And, and like I said, like his work is, is great.
[01:00:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:00:49] Speaker A: So I think you're on, you're on the money there. When you say feed yourself with. Not with the latest gear but with. Yeah, with either photography techniques or photography work or get out and shoot.
[01:01:05] Speaker C: More importantly, go and take the lens that you've got.
Take the lens that you've got and go out and shoot as much as you can with it until you can shoot it blindfolded in your sleep. Like, what have you got there?
He said it was a lens.
[01:01:22] Speaker A: No, it's Alex Frane's book.
[01:01:24] Speaker C: That is his book.
[01:01:25] Speaker A: So there's an option, buy a book, a photography book like this one, Distance and Desire. The cool thing about this is it actually says what each image was taken with.
Not, not to too much detail, but it'll be like medium format film or 35 mil film or whatever.
And that'll. That'll stop you from looking at a new camera because there's no new cameras used in this book.
[01:01:53] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a great idea.
[01:01:55] Speaker A: The other book that helps me when I'm dealing with gas because I'm a, I'm a sports photographer a lot of the time. Problem with sports is new gear does make sports photography not just easier. Like it can make you more capable even if you're an amazing photographer and you can take great photos with the gear you've got. The new gear might make it easier, faster, more reliable.
Lots of things lighter. Lighter is always a common one. Whether it's lenses or bodies or whatever. There's many reasons for sports photographers to be like, I need the next thing. So something helpful for that is a book like this.
This is the book that you can buy for, from the Red Bull Illume Photo Awards that was going every three years. Every three years everyone submits their images and massive amount of images, huge competition. And then all the winners and short, short lists go into this book. In the book it'll tell you what it was shot with. So you go through there and you go, fuck, that's a good shot. Geez, I'd love to be able to make work like that. And then you look at it and it'll say, oh, this doesn't prove my point.
So this, the page I opened to says shot with Liger M. I'm like, oh, yeah.
[01:03:25] Speaker C: How long ago was it shot with Leica rim?
[01:03:27] Speaker A: It doesn't. That doesn't help my gear acquisition syndrome.
[01:03:30] Speaker C: It was but like, like, it like M. A long time ago, wasn't. They weren't pretentious.
[01:03:35] Speaker A: No, but this is. So this one we shot with, you know, Nikon D810 with a 24 to 70, you know, like it's, you know, so you can flick through and look at stuff and be like, well, you start to remember, hang on. People were making great work long before this new lens I really want come out. Yeah. So that's.
[01:03:51] Speaker B: That's some ways this thing.
[01:03:56] Speaker C: What is that?
[01:03:57] Speaker B: Yeah, laugh it up.
[01:04:00] Speaker C: That's one of the first digital cameras.
[01:04:03] Speaker B: Yeah. It's a conica Minolta.
It's 3 megapixels. And I won the competition with this.
I don't care what you got.
[01:04:14] Speaker A: What was the competition least megapixel.
[01:04:22] Speaker B: I want to. I won several hundred dollars and a free exhibition out of that.
[01:04:30] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:04:31] Speaker C: Wow.
[01:04:31] Speaker B: So I don't care what you got. Use the phone. Just get out there and take photos.
[01:04:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree. I think there's a lot.
You know, you can park some of that FOMO gas or reinvest some of that energy into education, reading a book, watching a podcast or a YouTube video or. Or just getting out with one camera, one lens and just working it to death.
[01:04:54] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the other thing is, like, constraints are very useful for creativity. I'll almost all the time, like, I almost never want to take all my equipment, despite what Craig says about when I went to the river that one time. Never going to tell you the truth ever again, Greg.
But most of the time, seriously, like, if I'm traveling or whatever, I actually spend a lot of time. Time in my brain thinking about what the ideal choice of gear will be. Oh, if I take just, you know, this one lens for wide stuff, this one lens for some other stuff, maybe a prime, you know, instead of just being like, all right, take all my gear everywhere. And. And part of that is fun for me building like mini kits. What. What's my mini kit for today? And like the. The ultimate pair down, like Greg says, is one camera, one looks lens. And that's. That's like what I did for the. The photos at the gym. It was just like I just take that in the 50 mil. I didn't even put anything else in the car. Oh actually I did because I had to bring some stuff for Grant just in case, but didn't come out of the car, just walked in with one camera, one lens. It wasn't even a question.
And that's really fun.
[01:05:58] Speaker C: And yeah, we'll put aside that that one camera and lens was an R3 and a 51 2. We'll put that bit aside. It's, it's. The point you're obviously trying to make is limit yourself somehow. Straight.
[01:06:11] Speaker A: It's fun now. Yeah. Just to put the whole other side of this argument before we, before we get to some comments and wrap this show up.
If you want some gear and you can afford it, don't feel bad about it either, you know, like, like even if you, even if you're like, well I'm not a professional or whatever but if you, if you can afford it and you really want to play with the lens. The cool thing about a lot of photography gear is it doesn't drop a lot of money fast.
So be careful about you, what price you pay for it and stuff like that. And you can potentially even not lose much money. If you try out a really fancy GFX lens for six months and then decide I probably didn't need to spend five grand on that. You'll probably get four or four and a half maybe even now probably four back for it. And it's like yeah, that sucks but it's not like if you, as long as you can afford it, I mean go for it but, but don't feel like you need to to create good photos because yeah, you could, you can probably do it like with a 3 megapixel.
[01:07:14] Speaker C: Camera.
[01:07:17] Speaker A: Now. Comments.
[01:07:19] Speaker C: Yep.
[01:07:21] Speaker A: Speaking of going back to Greg's gas, Grant says, I didn't want to say anything when I met you, Greg, but now that you've brought it up and Eilish says, I thought I could smell something.
Talking about your gas. It's a little funny.
[01:07:36] Speaker C: Now I get it.
[01:07:38] Speaker A: Stinky gas joke.
Paul says, I got the little RF16 mil 2.8 prime at BFOP last year. Tried some Astro this morning out in the mallee. Didn't have high hopes but genuinely impressed at how sharp it is. Do we really need four thousand dollar lenses? That little lens is sweet.
That is an awesome lens. It has a few limitations but you just work with them and don't worry about it.
I've got. So you've said here, Paul the next comment was I might not need the RF 15 to 35. 2.8. I've got that lens as well and I've got the 16. There's a ton of times when I just take the 16 as my wide lens and, and it is awesome, awesome to shoot with. It's got a completely different look and that look I like for a lot of the shots. It's got a little bit of a fisheye. It's not quite as flat and linear and yeah, enjoy it. And yeah, they're like, they're like 400 bucks or 500 bucks or something. Canon's done a good job with a few of those little lenses. They're made lightweight, cheap little lenses.
Tony says. Hey, Grant. Hi, Eilish. Hi Jim.
Grant also has the 16 2.8. Absolutely fine for landscapes. Taking any photos with that? Great. I don't know if I've seen any photos from that lens. You might have to bring him on the show next week.
And that's about it really.
Bruce says the amount of gear that I've got is ridiculous. Nice. Me too.
[01:09:04] Speaker C: I feel, you know what you got to do, Bruce? You got it, Bruce. You got to just sell it off. Sell it off and then buy the one thing you really wanted.
[01:09:13] Speaker A: What is the one thing you really want, Bruce?
[01:09:16] Speaker C: What is it? What do you need?
[01:09:18] Speaker B: What do you want?
[01:09:19] Speaker C: Two different questions.
[01:09:20] Speaker A: Is it a liker?
Grant, Grant, Grant shot some film. He got it back this week. It's excited me. I've got two rolls of film here that I need to get developed and I've got in the fridge. I haven't shot on my new camera yet. They're from the, one of the Nikon film cameras. But shooting film is another thing. Unfortunately it doesn't help gas because you want to buy film gear, but what it can help is buying. Instead of wanting to buy a four or five thousand dollar GFX lens, you might just want to buy a four or five hundred film camera and play around with cheaper older lenses. So it can maybe just. It gives you some stuff to play with or similar to the way you play with vintage lenses. You know, that's a form of gas. It's just way, way, way, way cheaper and you can have a lot of fun playing around with a ton of stuff. So.
[01:10:14] Speaker C: Well, I think the other thing with vintage lenses, and correct me if I'm wrong, Greg, is that you've got to problem solve a bit more to make them work sometimes.
[01:10:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there you learn, you have to learn to live with Their limitations.
You know, my, my Pentax plastic kit lens on the GFX is in no way comparable to a GF20 to 35.
However, it does the job well enough for me not to have to spend $4,000 because I'm taking photos for myself now.
[01:10:50] Speaker C: Yeah. And if you're happy with the outcomes and you. And there's also satisfaction in being able to create, you know, art from something that majority of people would consider substandard or, or yeah, you know, hacking. You know, there's no. And I think that there's a lot of pride to be gained in that and a lot of self satisfaction. You know, even just not only just shooting for yourself, but actually solving the problems and making the images come out that you're happy. And I think that's, that's the joy of photography.
[01:11:19] Speaker B: One of the favorite lenses I use on my GFX now is a single element lens from an old Kodak Bellows camera. And I've been able to 3D print them out for that so I can focus with it. It's got minimal aperture from the old Kodak Film Bellows camera. The lens is about this big, about the size of a 10 cent piece. It covers, it more than covers the Fujifilm sensor because it was made for light. Know 4x5 single was beautiful.
[01:11:53] Speaker C: Yeah. Wow, that's pretty cool.
[01:11:57] Speaker A: Very cool.
[01:11:58] Speaker C: On that note, boss, did you want to wrap it up or should we. Should we wrap it up? I'm sorry.
[01:12:03] Speaker A: Yeah, we better call it, we better call it a night. We've gone over time again. We always do.
[01:12:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:12:08] Speaker C: And. And Crackers has got to go sharpen his horns, finish up his radio show.
[01:12:12] Speaker A: I was going to say he's got to check the radio show still playing in the background.
[01:12:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I haven't spoken for an hour.
[01:12:20] Speaker C: First of two shows tonight, so he's a busy boy, our Greg Carrick.
But look, on that note, for those of you watching and listening along at home, thank you for joining. Thank you for jumping on the comments and letting us know your thoughts.
This has been the Camera Life podcast. This is our random photography show. It's Monday the 3rd of March. Crazy. Crazy that the year is starting to speed up.
Don't forget that we have a show coming up this Thursday, 9am Australian Eastern Daylight Time.
And we'll have a guest on for that whose name I can't remember off the top of my head.
But look, don't forget to like and subscribe. Audio podcasts will go up eventually when the boss gets to it. And tomorrow and tomorrow. Yeah, sure.
But above all else, I'd like to. All hail the Viking leader. That is Greg Carrick for joining us tonight and for sharing your wisdom and your, you know, your approach to the craft. You've got a lot of. You've got a lot of credibility behind you, and we love having you on. And I'm sure that our guests love hearing you.
[01:13:30] Speaker B: I'm trying to lose as much credibility as I can.
[01:13:37] Speaker A: What hat you gonna bring on next time?
[01:13:40] Speaker C: Challenge is on, Greg.
[01:13:42] Speaker A: And just to wrap up. Bruce. Yes. We'll get you on for a podcast. You can talk us through all of your gear. That would be amazing. Yeah.
Paul says thanks for the comments on the 16 mil. Grant says he has shot the aurora on the 16 mil. So sorry, Grant.
Tony wants to sponsor Greg for a background look.
[01:14:01] Speaker C: Yes, please.
[01:14:02] Speaker A: In the dark there.
[01:14:03] Speaker C: Well, I don't actually want a light back there because this is my son's bedroom and he's in there. Well, you know, he's trying to sleep. He's not even.
[01:14:12] Speaker B: You look like Holly. You look like Holly. For Fred Dwarf.
[01:14:16] Speaker C: Oh, thanks, mate. That's his bed over there.
Yeah. Don't want to turn the light on. That's for sure.
[01:14:22] Speaker A: But thank you. Finally.
[01:14:23] Speaker C: I appreciate the spot. Finally got a sponsor.
[01:14:25] Speaker A: Tim. Tim says good night, all. Thank you. Thank you, Tim. Thank you, everyone in the chat. Thanks for keeping us having a good time on Monday nights. And I'm gonna roll our awesome song.
[01:14:37] Speaker C: We'll see you Thursday.
Go do the side look.
[01:14:54] Speaker B: One more time.
