36 mega-pixel full-frame camera. While I'm not swayed by shear mega-pixels...as that's not always a sign of quality...this does look to be a very nice camera, quality wise. I'm going to have to think long and hard on my purchase decisions now as getting something brand new would have a longer life while the Canon 5D MkII is at it's end-of-life, production wise. While it's still a fine camera, it's update should be announced this spring. We're talking about a model that's over three years old now. But again, it's still a fine camera as-is. 

Decisions decisions...

Yes, I could buy a cheaper camera with a cheaper lens, but the quality of the final image will suffer. I suppose in the coming months and years people will judge my work as to whether it's "quality" or not...and weather I could have just done it all with a camera-phone. But it will be my job to differentiate myself from the weekend hobbyist and the professional and the only way to do that is with the quality of the final image.

The Simpleman family were gracious and charming, giving the impromotu situation we were dealing with. It really was guerilla photography with challenges such as last minute location scouting and a certain 2 year old that didn't want much to do with having his picture taken. But it worked out well for everyone. 

So, for me, it comes down to either Canon or Nikon as my two choices for gear. I’m also looking for full-frame DSLR’s for the top in IQ (image quality), and that again leads me to Canon or Nikon. Sony has a full frame camera, as does Leica. I’m not that impressed by Sony’s noise levels in any of their cameras, and I’m not crazy about their proprietary hot-shoe (even though you can get adaptors). Then there’s the Leica M9, which is a full-frame rangefinder. But my camera and lens choice below, lighting gear and stands combined wouldn’t even cover the cost of just the M9 body alone. I just can’t spend that much on a body. My cash is limited (for now), so it has to go a long way.

Okay, rationalizations are in full swing here and that’s gotten us down to two camera systems. Which will it be? Canon or Nikon? Flip a coin perhaps? Mmmm, no. I’ve decided to go with Canon for a few reasons. First, I have experience with their digital SLR’s, having owned the 20D years ago. While I shot a lot with Nikon in my film days (having had an F2, F3, F4 and an N90s), I haven’t touched their digital endeavors. I’m also more familiar with Canon’s lens line-up, and this is really where I have to go with Canon. I’m only looking to get either system’s high-end lenses due to their wide apertures and rugged, weather sealing. I’m going to be shooting with children and families and dogs and cats and everything else in a variety of conditions, so being built like a tank helps. Nikon has the equivalent lenses, but they are so much more expensive. The main lens I’m going to be shooting with at first is a 24-70mm 2.8 and Nikon’s version costs over $600 more than Canon’s. That’s $600 I can put elsewhere for my initial equipment.

And the 5D Mark II from Canon has been going further and further down in price to where it’s now below the $2k mark at some places. Yes, I realize that it’s replacement will probably be announced this coming March or April (which means getting it around June or July), but it’s still a great full-frame camera with excellent IQ and low-light quality. I could wait until next summer, but I need to get out there and start shooting....and soon.

1. A Domke F2 shoulder bag. This is a great walking around bag. Originally designed by a photojournalist, it's a soft bag that actually can hold a lot of stuff. The dividers inside can be removed and there's lots of little pockets along the sides for various goodies. While it's good for walking around and getting equipment quickly, it's not very protective as it's basically just a tough canvas soft bag. I may need to get something a little sturdier to haul stuff around with. But I'll figure that out later. For the moment, this is fine.

2. A Polaris incident/flash meter. I picked one of these up a long time ago. I wasn't even sure they were still made, but they're nice and cheap and simple to use. I used it in my film days for manual only medium format cameras, so I'm not sure how much I'll be using this since modern digital cameras have all kinds of visual metering solutions such as histograms. But it's handy to have in any case.

3. Op/Tech USA classic camera strap. These are good for distributing that heavy camera around your neck. Again, not sure if this is going to be needed much as I may go back to my view-camera days of having everything on a tripod.

4. A Lenspen. Everyone needs a Lenspen!

5. Not shown: Manfrotto 3021 tripod legs. I don't even think these are made anymore, but they're great legs. They're not the nice and light (and expensive) carbon fiber legs so many love now, but these get the job done. The thing is…I have no tripod head for it. It was one of those things where I was gonna get a nice ball-head, but never got around to it. Which seems to be the mantra of my past photographic experiences: "never got around to it". But no more!

So there we have it. That's what I have to start. Now I can go fourth and conquer the photographic world! Okay, so I'm starting with humbling beginnings. But it's a start.

Next up: What camera/lens system to invest in.

At this point in time, I am totally bereft of photo equipment, so I have to start from scratch on everything. And while I've been a photographer for over 35 years, cameras, lenses and other equipment have slipped through my fingers after being bought and sold as needed. Between ebay and craigslist, it's almost too easy to sell your equipment. Some of my past work is already on this site, but now I'm starting over. I turn 50 next year and it's time I took this thing that's consumed most of my life seriously. There is a career for me in photography. Yes, you heard that right, there's careers in in photography in this over saturated, everyone-has-a-digital-camera world. The only issue is what you want to do and how hard you're willing to work.

I'm going to use this blog now to track what equipment I decide to get and why. It will include the creation of a viable portfolio and the work involved in finding clients. I'm doing this in the open with the hope that someone will find value as I fumble around with my decisions. While future clients may come to this blog and look at my amateurish endeavors in getting up to speed with equipment, I hope they will see it as me being totally open and honest.

The knowledge of photography isn't what's holding me up. It's all up in my head. It's just the nuts & bolts that need to be addressed. Join me in my journey to obtain those nuts & bolts, and hopefully obtain writing skills that can come up with better metaphors.

Next up: I take stock in what little equipment I do have.

Scott's open letter is about Adobe's decision to only allow owners of the most recent versions of Photoshop and Creative Suite to upgrade to the CS6 versions, when they become available. What that means if you didn't upgrade to CS5 or CS5.5, and are still on CS3 or CS4, you'll have to pay full price if you want to upgrade to CS6. This has put the many people into a financial quandry.

The rumblings across the blogosphere following an announcement like this often turn to changing software packages. GIMP always comes into play when people talk about full (and free) alternatives to Photoshop. While I applaud the work people have been putting into GIMP, it's just not an alternative to Photoshop. I have to rely on Photoshop as my main source of income, and since I work on it 9 to 10 hours a day, it's become an extension of my arm. No way could GIMP do half the things I need it to do. The same go for several other PS alternative packages. Some have very nice features, but no one package can replease Photoshop.

I also don't see GIMP ever getting past PS either. It's been around since 1996...that's 15 years now to surpass Photoshop in terms of usability and user base/usage (which is important when working in a workflow environment and exchanging files between clients with different color profiles for instance). It's always "one day this will be great" type of thing. Sorry, some of us have a lot of work to do and can't wait for that day. I do want there to be a viable alternative to PS because I don't like Adobe's practices, but GIMP isn't that alternative. It's been 15 years of "just wait until the next version!".

Also, he's a man after my own heart as I often shoot manual on everything. When I was traipsing around the world with a view camera, manual-mode was all you had.

His website, www.keessmans.com states that it's still under construction...something I can emphasize with. But you can also check out his work on Google+.