What goes thru a photographers mind - Todays Photographer is Gary Simmons

Today's photographer is my good friend, Gary Simmons. I first met Gary three years ago at our local photo club... that quiet guy in the corner that always presented great images and had a stream of photos on Flickr... after a few times out shooting with him I got to know him and realised the wealth of knowledge he offers.

 

Now Gary is teaching photography for the Photographer's Lounge be coming with me to Tanzania this April for my workshop to Tanzania... a trip that he will no doubt be producing more images that will continue to impress people...

 

Take it away Gary...

 

Whenever I talk with people about photography, I always stress that photographers should be ‘making’ photos.  Great photos don’t just happen, so you need to use your brain. Picking the right time of day, right light, weather, lens, composition, editing... all these elements and more are available to us to ‘make’ a photo its very best.

 

But... Sometimes you can throw all that out the window.

Blinded by the Light - A photo by Gary Simmons


This is my favourite winter photo in my portfolio, and swings far closer to ‘taken’ than ‘made’.  I was out on a day trip with my kids to try dog sledding.  My new Canon 60D was around my neck just to shoot photos of my kids having fun, and get some practice with the new camera.  Walking back across the field, this shot just jumped out at me.  Right there, right now, just lift the camera to my eye and shoot.  I couldn’t wait to get home, run it through Lightroom and show it to everyone.

Sometimes you will spend days/weeks working on capturing the perfect shot... and sometimes not.  So keep your camera with you all the time if you don’t want to miss the easy ones!

Gary Simmons
facebook.com/garysimmonsphotography
flickr.com/gsimmonsonca

The Photographer's Lounge - Our Amazing Group Of Photographers

Over the past year I have had the pleasure of meeting, and working, with some fantastic people. I feel lucky to have connected with them all and I am grateful for all the help they have given me while I have worked at getting the Photographer's Lounge off the ground. In our fist year of operation we have lead some amazing workshops and planned many more in the next two years.

This group of fantastic people I have to thank are the talented group of photographers that work with the Photographer's Lounge. Each, in their own right, are some of the best photographers that I know... heck some of them I followed faithfully years ago while I was still an enthusiastic hobbyist...

I have listed them all on my website in our photo gallery... head on over to our gallery page and see some of the amazing photos by the following photographers.

Jamie Douglas / Denise Ippolito / Rick Sammon / Scott Slocum

Hal Schmitt / Gary Simmons / Jay Terry / Jim Zuckerman

 All of their images can be seen here, http://www.photographers-lounge.com/gallery/

I would encourage any photographer to attend a workshop with any photographer from this group. In addition to what work they do with me, they run some amazing workshops on their own... follow the link to their websites from my gallery page.



Shutter Tripping Podcast - Cleveland, Clubs and Compliance

Please have a listen to episode #4 of Shutter Trippings podcast with Tom Baker, Kevin Pepper and guest, Gary Simmons.

http://shuttertripping.com/2012/10/03/cleveland-clubs-and-compliance-shutter-tripping-episode-4/

Photography gear suggestions for a Tanzania photo safari

The African safari dream vacation is booked.

Now comes the tiem to make sone decisions -- what camera equipment do you take with you to get the photos you sooooo want to show off?

Camera bodies:

Take a main body and a spare if you have one. One will suffice... but two is optimal.

On my next Safari I will be taking the Canon 5D MkII and the Olympus E30.

Lenses:

I suggest full coverage from wide angle to telephoto.  On my next photo safari to Tanzania I will be taking the 11-22mm f2.8-3.5 wide angle, a 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 and a 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 with a 2.0x teleconverter for my Olympus body.

For my canon body I will have a Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 and a 17-40mm f/4.0L

Flash: 

An external flash is also a suggestion. Filling in shadows and creating proper lighting indoors and when shooting local tribes people is something a flash will help you with.

Camera Bag:

A backpack camera bag is ideal. You'll want to be able to carry your equipment on to airplanes to avoid theft, so a backpack works best.

I will have my gear in a LowePRO protrekker 400 as it will fit both my bodies and lenses in the bag while I am travelling.

Tripod.

I am not going to tell you that this is a deal breaker… you can choose to shoot in any light situation you want… but why chance it.

I will take a monopod , a beanbag and a light carbon fibre tripod. Chances are you will be using the bean bag most while on safari and when not using it the ISO adjustment will compensate for any low light situations. But for golden hour or blue hour shooting you will be kicking yourself in the butt when you see a scene at low light and you have no way to steady your camera for a couple seconds.

Storage Media

I shoot all my photos in RAW and will take a minimum of 5 media cards for the 7 day trip. Each card will be a 16gig Sandisk Extreme CF cards and will hold between 800 and 1100 images on each card.

Other accessories:

Take a rain cover for yourself and your camera body if you are going to be there in the rainy season like we will. While rain last for very short periods of time in Tanzania, the down pours are hard.

Batteries and chargers:

 I have four batteries for each camera body and I will take them all. I will also be taking chargers with the appropriate wall plug to charge my batteries as they drain. You can also buy a solar panel charger from a company called voltaic systems for a couple hundred dollars if you want to go that route.

Filters:

I will be taking my entire cokin P series polarizers and ND filters with me when I travel. I also have an assortment of Tiffen filters I use.

At some point on your safari you will wish you had the right filter. Harsh light or bright skies and darker foregrounds will definitely have you scurrying to borrow someone’s filter if you do not take your own.

Lens cleaners and cloths:

Take cleaners and cloths for both your lenses and sensor (if you know how to clean your sensor) If you are not careful when changing lenses you can easily get dust on your sensor.

If an African Safari is something you have always wanted to do, check out our trips in the next couple years on the Photographers Lounge.

We also have just a fun African holiday with a group of us coming up in April 2013. The photo safari price is under $4000 and includes all your land based costs and food... Shoot me an email if you are interested... kevin @ photographers-lounge.com . Its just going to be a great holiday with friends in Tanzania.... taking photos, sharing stories by the fire under the full moon in April of 2013, making new friends and enjoying the beautiful country of Tanzania.