Equipment: my love hate relationship with it.
Most photographers that I know are equipment junkies. They can’t get enough of this stuff. Not me. I have a "less is more" approach to my gear. The problem is that I keep buying more and more equipment each year.
One reason is that digital gear does not last as long as analog gear. I have had more equipment failure in the last five years than I have in my twenty years of shooting. Also technology improvements in equipment seem to have me buying a new camera every couple of years. Now that ISO is reaching the range of 100000, which is pretty amazing, I will most likely be upgrading to a Nikon D3s in the next year or two.
The recent gear added to the kit is the Pocketwizard Flex TT5, a good piece of gear. For me to add artificial light to my style is a huge jump in philosophy. Natural light all the way (or as much as possible) for me. I switched to a prime lens, 35mm, before adding a flash.
My photo career is broken down in to decades, first ten years I was stuck in a studio using can lights. When I broke out of the studio I used a tripod and a reflector as my weapons of choice for adding additional lighting. Moving into my third decade of shooting I will blend in a little artificially light to the mix. (P.S. I am only 41 yrs old, all this "decade talk" is making me feel old).
Photo Tip: Every year challenge yourself to add a new element to your shooting style. This does not mean that you should go out and purchase new gear. Think of a weakness in your style or ask a fellow photographer for a critique. This year for me I added street photography and the blending of natural and artificial light.
This is what I love about photography and art in general: it's limitless.
