If you are a first-time listener, hello & welcome, I hope you can understand my accent. If you’re a regular listener, thank you for coming back, I really appreciate you.
When I started the podcast my dream was to get 1000 downloads by the end of the first year. Well after 10 months the download count is at 2,300 and should pass 3,000 by the end of April. Which is incredible and way beyond my wildest dreams.
Before we get started I have to read a legal notice from my lawyers.
If you are listening to this podcast while driving a car, truck, or train, riding a bicycle, or even flying a plane, we can not be held responsible for you falling asleep and crashing. It’s your own fault for downloading and listening to this podcast.
OK, this week’s question is for you
What is the one thing that will improve your photography?
Well, I’ve been doing it every day since New Year’s Day, and that is taking a photo a day and publishing it online. Now I don’t just take one photo, I take quite a few and then publish the best one on Instagram.
It is way harder than I thought it was going to be. Some nights I’m sitting watching TV and realize it’s late and I haven’t taken a photo yet.
So why will this improve your photography?
When I’m looking around for something to shoot, I’m thinking about what that subject could look like. Whether I need to use flash, play with the depth of field, or both. Back when I was shooting sports my camera settings would hardly change from shoot to shoot, but now my settings are so varied. I have to think about which settings to use to get the result I imagined. They don’t all work out, some of them are not that great. That’s OK though, if I’m pleased with 2 or 3 shots a week, I’m happy.
I’m becoming more creative with every photo. I’m 57 days in and I can feel the difference in myself. What I’ll be like after the next 308 days is anyone’s guess.
So my challenge to you is to try posting a photo a day for 2 weeks, 14 days. Post them on Instagram and put #50mmframework at the end of your description. Shoot in JPGs if you like, that’s not important, make your own rules, just get creative for a few days.
The beauty of this is we all live in different places around the world and will get totally different results. I took a photo of a sunset through a crystal photo ball in the snow and posted it on the Facebook group. Albert Perez posted a great photo he took with a crystal ball in the warmth of California. I have to admit I was a bit jealous when I saw his photo, it looked so warm.
Even if you take one photo a week, post it on Instagram. Another member of the Facebook Group, Kevin Cowley, has posted a couple of photos on Instagram of Mt Hood in Oregan. One is a shot of the night sky and Mt Hood is at the bottom of the image. It’s incredible, search for #50mmframework on Instagram for all the images, and if you want to post on Instagram add #50mmframework at the end of your description.
Weekly News
Now, starting this week, if I find any photo news that is interesting I’m going to cover it in the podcast.
Luckily this week Canon has announced 2 new RF lenses. RF lenses are for the Canon mirrorless system.
The first one is an 800mm f/5.6 lens that can be used with a 1.4x or 2x extender. So with the 2x extender, the 800 becomes a 1600mm lens.
Next is a massive 1200mm f/8 that can also use extenders, and can double up to a 2400mm f/16 lens. Only extreme wildlife photographers will be buying the 1200mm model, and maybe security organizations.
Now the price is going to limit who will buy the 1200mm model. It’s priced at £22,500 in the UK, $29,000 US, $37,000 CDN, $40,000 AUS, and $43,000 in New Zealand.
So have a long hard think about it before you place your order.
Ok, so that’s it for this week. Get out there and take a photo every day, in fact, I challenge you to do a photo a day for two weeks and post them on Instagram. Don’t forget the #50mmframework in your description.
Right, that’s it, talk to you next week, bye.