I remember when I first started rock climbing, and I was so excited to be doing something new, something challenging. It was the same when I started out with photography. After a few months climbing I started to get a bit of a gear "collection". I had a rope, a few quick-draws, a handfull of carabiners, some cord, harness and rock shoes. I thought at this point..."well, I'm set now." Man was I wrong. One winter in the gym and I didn't think my shoes would last another season, so I "knew" I had to have a new pair, and while I'm at it, I should get a few more draws too, and another biner. A few months go by, and I'm planning a road trip...."should we get a second rope? and a few more draws?....Yep, better do that!!" Now, five years later, I've got so much stuff for climbing I could outfit a small army.
Funny thing about hobbies I think. I'm not gonna lie, photography has been the exact same for me. I first bought a beginner DSLR and two lenses and thought "what else could I need?" Turns out there is always something else you need...or should I say "want"!! I have recently gotten into off camera flash, and I love it. It's a whole different thing than shooting landscapes and wildlife. I still love that, and I think landscape photography is where my true passion lies, but using a flash adds another element to the game that I absolutely love. I'm lucky in a way too, as a good friend of mine also decided to purchase a flash recently, and he's a Nikon shooter as well, and got the same flash as me. Great!! Now the two of us almost have two flashes each!! (almost) I then made the mistake a few days ago and borrowed a macro lens from another friend, and I became quickey addicted to the degree of closeness that was achieved with this litty guy. I snapped this shot of the spider on the flower the other evening, keep in mind that that spider didn't even appear to my eyes until I focused on the flower and thought "holy crap, there's a spider there!! AWESOME!!" I spent a few minutes with that little guy and went back inside to avoid the return of the rain.
The first shot, for anyone who cares, was done in my kitchen, it's small, but it worked. It's a self-portrait I thought I'd do for fun. Mostly b/c I'm too lazy to ask anyone else to sit there while I learn what the hell I'm doing. This was lit with two SB-900's, one camera right at about 45 degrees to me @ 1/4 power (i think) and the other was to camera left at about 90-100 degrees to me @ 1/80 power and zoomed to 135mm. I did a bunch of post processing on this one, but I kinda like the end result, now I just need to try this out on someone other than me..or my extremely patient fiancee!!
Photos: Nikon D90, Sigma 105mm f/2.8, Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8
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