City Escapes Nature Photography: City Escapes Nature Photography Newsletter

CITY ESCAPES

Nature Photography, LLC

Newsletter

December, 2013

Thinking of Updating Your Gear? Try Renting First

I have a confession to make: I am not a gear head. I use my car, camera, computer, etc. until they die, unless I have a VERY compelling reason to upgrade them (and “ooh, it’s the latest version!” is not a compelling reason. Sorry.). I don’t know much about the details of cameras that I have not personally used, and I don’t read articles on the latest and greatest new gadgets out there. At shows, guests visiting my booth frequently tell me which camera they shoot with and expect that I will automatically know something useful about it. I almost never do, although if they have it with them, I can often help them figure it out.

By some schools of thought, I am severely handicapping myself by not upgrading my equipment every year 1.5 to 2 years. That line of thought holds that technology is improving at such speeds that by not taking advantage of the latest and greatest, I will lose out on the full potential of what cameras can do. To a certain extent, that is true. I counter that once my gear and my photography goals are more or less in line, it is better to spend my time and money improving and expanding my skills, feeding my passion, and directing my funds into other areas (such as photography trips) than to constantly be learning new equipment. Anyone who has had to deal with a software upgrade knows what I mean: unless it was genuinely necessary, an “upgrade” is usually just a euphemism for lost productivity while you try to learn the new system.

There does come a time, though, when that upgrade is indeed genuinely necessary. What do you do then? This question is often most difficult for the amateur photographer who is ready to step into the world of dSLRs (digital single-lens-reflex cameras, which account for the majority of digital cameras today that have interchangeable lenses). Why is this a particularly vexing problem for this category of photographer? Generally, amateurs do not really know enough about cameras or photography to ensure that they make the absolute right choice. This causes a fair number of would-be intermediate photographers to either go into a paralysis of in- or under-action, or convinces them that they need a very expensive, professional-grade camera that they are still a long way from being ready for. The first option keeps them from being able to stretch and grow as a photographer; the second is a colossal waste of money (by the time they are ready for a professional-grade camera, the technology will almost certainly be significantly improved, and the prices much lower), and might even end up intimidating them into not using their gear. The other difficulty that amateurs often face is that they don’t necessarily know what kind of photography they want to do. For example, buying the right gear to become a sports photographer takes a significant investment of funds. Discovering two months later that what you really like is landscape photography could only make your pocketbook, and perhaps your spouse, violently ill.

How, then, does one figure out what to buy? First of all, if you are not sure about what kinds of photography float your boat, pay attention to the work of other photographers: what images draw you in? Talk to someone in the photography world. Let them help you figure out what moves you, what it is that you want to capture or create. They should be able to give you at least a generalized guideline of what gear to look for to create your vision, if not necessarily specific cameras. Finally, before making a purchase, consider renting the gear you are considering.

What? Rent? That’s right, you can rent cameras. And lenses. And tripods, flashes, studio lights, light stands… The list of available items is pretty long. You can rent them by the hour, the day, or the week. This means that if you just need a specific piece of equipment for a single special event, you don’t have to fork out the money to buy it outright. It also means that you can test out and play with your potential new gear to see how you actually like it, instead of just guessing. Think of it as test driving the gear, just like you would a car. This has great benefits, as there are often small things that one doesn’t think to consider when evaluating the equipment that reveal themselves during the actual use of the item. Sometimes these small things turn out to be a great asset; other times, they are enough to make you want to toss the item out the nearest twelfth-storey window. Either way, you have the opportunity to discover them prior to plopping down a bunch of money.

If you do not have a camera shop in your area that leases out good quality gear, fear not. There are many companies that will mail the gear to you (for a fee, of course). When you are done, you simply mail the equipment back to them. While shipping costs can make this option significantly more expensive than picking items up in-store, it may still be cheaper than spending a good deal of money on a piece of gear you quickly realize you will not use.

Finally, if you do decide to go ahead and purchase instead of rent, ensure that you are allowed to return the gear within a certain, specified amount of time. Use that time to really put your new gear through its paces (without scratching or denting it, of course). That way, if you end up not being happy with it, you can still exchange it for something that is more to your liking.

Now then, it’s the holidays. Get out there and capture the magic of it all!

Thanks to All Who Came to Our Last Show of 2013

We’re done with shows for the year, but fear not! We’ll be back in 2014 with more images to make you laugh, sigh, and “wish you were there.” And remember that you don’t have to wait for a show to get your favorite image. Our website is open 24/7 and contains our complete current inventory.

December Specials

Share your love of nature with your friends and family! Get 10% off of boxed sets of Christmas cards when you order from our specials page. Each box contains two each of five different images, with a holiday greeting inside.

Fun Facts

In 2002, Congress declared December 12^th to be Poinsettia Day. Here are a few tidbits to help you appreciate this holiday staple a little more this year.

· Poinsettias were named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico in 1825, who brought the colorful plant back to his South Carolina greenhouse.

· Despite a long-lived rumor, poinsettias are not poisonous. The story originated in 1919, when a two-year-old child’s death was blamed on the ingestion of a poinsettia leaf. Multiple exhaustive tests of every part of the plant have proven the rumor false many times over, but the myth has been very slow to be overturned. This is not helped by the fact that eating the leaves may cause stomach aches.

· The myth of the poisonous poinsettia even led to a petition being submitted to the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1975 to require warning labels be put on the plants. The request was denied.

· How did poinsettias become associated with Christmas? The tradition dates back to a Mexican legend that tells the story of a poor girl on her way to church on Christmas Eve. Though the details of the story vary by the teller, the basic premise is that the girl was in tears on her journey, saddened that she had no gift to present to the Baby Jesus. She was then told that anything she brought, if truly given with love, would be the perfect gift for the Holy Child. She picked a bunch of weeds that grew beside the road, arranged them into a bouquet, and entered the church, embarrassed and ashamed by her paltry gift. As soon as she laid the bouquet on the altar, however, the ends of the leaves burst into brilliant red flowers, and everyone present knew they had seen a miracle of faith.

· The red leaves of poinsettias are thought to represent the blood of Christ, the white leaves his purity, while the shape of the leaves and flowers as a whole are thought to resemble the Star of Bethlehem.