For the record, I don't do twitter but check out this gent's feed

[RodH 4,805]

Stan Collins photos

[Zenith4me 1,229]

He definitely lives in snow country.

 

Beautiful pictures.

[RodH 4,805]

As a long time amateur photographer, I appreciate his eye for composition. It's the one thing I've always struggled to master.

[Brian_at_HHH 2,589]

1 hour ago, Rod H said:

As a long time amateur photographer, I appreciate his eye for composition. It's the one thing I've always struggled to master.

I hear you, on that.  Same here - I've been at it for probably 45+ years, and I usually say I shouldn't be trusted with a cell-phone camera.  Composition is one of the toughest things to get right.  Almost anything else can become a technical problem, but composition is pure art.

[RodH 4,805]

And cell phones have truly shitty perspective. Too tuned for close-up selfies.

I'm a long time Nikon user.

Know your lenses, use your lenses...

[Brian_at_HHH 2,589]

The lenses don;t help, if you can't figure out which end goes where!

 

In truth I'm not quite that bad, but I do struggle with the composition, and lighting.  In my defense, one of my favorite subjects are my furballs which are all black - taking a picture of a black cat or dog, and getting more than a silhouette is a chore.  I do better at landscapes and airshows.  Back in the days of film, I was a Minolta (now Sony) user but when I finally let go I opted for the Canon route.  I have too many toys, but I've never taken the plunge for a decent wide angle lens.  One day - that can be almost as bad as OCCD.

 

Now, popping back to the original topic, the fellow in question has a real depth of subjects that he makes the most of.  I have to admit I'm drawn to the landscapes, and especially the sunsets (I'm a real sucker for those).  Beautiful work!

[AndrewJohn 7,217]

8 hours ago, Rod H said:

[…]

I'm a long time Nikon user.

Know your lenses, use your lenses...

 

Do tell, what Nikon(s) do you have, Rod?

 

My other OCD was ONCD (Obsessive Nikon Collecting Disorder).  I had an epiphany or brain-fade, when the cost of film/slides prevented saving for kids education..., and sold everything to some dealer in GA - just as digital kicked used values in the ass.

 

When I was a budding field geologist, having a camera was a requirement.  I picked up a Nikon FE in College, then an FM, for use in extreme (cold) conditions where the FE had trouble.  I ended up with an F3 body, too.   And damn near every Nikkor lens.  Never able to pick up the HUGE fisheye, though.  My favorite lens was the 58mm Noct - super optics, and really captured light.  The big Zooms were a lot of fun to pack up to the top of a peak, and sit and watch.

 

This guy's twitter feed reminds me of some of those times.

 

The concept of building on a sustainable (lasts 5+ years) body, and having a stable of lenses seems to have lost focus at Nikon..., every time I go into Costco, and see their Nikon line, change every month..., I wouldn't know what DSLR would be a good base, now... - but I still dream of getting back in with a good base body, and set of lenses.  I can't see going back to film/slides though, due to cost for my budget.

 

Nostalgia:

 

This was my checklist..., nearly had them all.

[RodH 4,805]

I sold off most of my camera gear last year when I was off work. It was mostly collecting dust anyway.

The only body I have now is a D7100. My missus has an old D90

I had a fleet of D200, D300, D500 bodies and grips, and most of the AF lenses under 300mm. Never really got into long range shooting.

 

The remaining lens are a 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, a couple 18-55s, a 10-20, a 16-85 and an 18-140.

The 35mm is on the camera 90% of the time.

 

Years ago I shot medium format, mostly Mamiya, plus an old Hass and a Fuji panoramic.

Did weddings to pay for the gear. Ugh.

 

The Hass is at the bottom of the Bay of Fundy at about 600'

In university I built an underwater housing with 4 ring-light flashes, foot trigger and a pack of 4 big gel-cel batteries. It weighed about 140 lbs and I rented it to the biology dept.

It got caught up on something at depth and they couldn't retrieve it.

 

 

 

[Brian_at_HHH 2,589]

Sorry to hear someone went fishing with your Hasselblad, Rod.  That's a crappy end for one.

 

I feel for you having had to do wedding work.  You were clearly a desperate fellow.  I've never done any semi- or pro work( for good reason), but I admire anyone who has.

 

When I went digital, I was planning to go Nikon, but I decided to do a bit of research and found they were starting to really fracture into a variety of lens mounts/focus controls, and that it was becoming really tough to know which lens would work with which body - especially at the entry level, where I was.  With Canon, there were only 2 options; APS-C and full-frame, so I went that route.  Nikon's are, however, a standard for a reason, and the resulting pictures show why.