So I bought a camera. The first camera I ever bought.
* anyone alive in the 80’s will get the joke. And if not: wikipedia it.
it all started with a photo hunt
A few weeks ago, some photographically-minded friends of The Man suggested a photo hunt. This differs from a scavenger hunt in that there is no list. Much like hunting game, you go for a long walk with something to point at things and pull a trigger on. Except you always come back with something, and you don’t have to eat it. Because it’s photographs. I came back with a large batch of those and a severe case of camera-lust.
where I borrowed a micro four thirds
I owned no camera, so I borrowed a Panasonic GH-2 from The Man, whose camera collection is approaching the double digits. A few months ago, you may remember he loaned me a lovely little Ricoh to play with. I ended up leaving it at home after making it halfway through the manual. I had. To read. The manual. The GH-2? I just started shooting straight away. Everything made sense, it fit in my hand, was easy enough to sling around and generally shoot with.
and now I own one
After that, I took The Man’s advice, and started monitoring ebay for the cheaper and slightly less sensitive little sister to the GH-2: the G2. The sensor stores in 12MP instead of 16.8 MP, but since all I wanted to do was play with lenses and have manual controls, spending £160 on a camera with a lens made more sense than £700 (the retail price of the GH-2). This is one of the first photos I took. My best friend sent me flowers on the day before I moved out. Aren’t they beautiful?
here it is, with a bonus lens!
Because of course I couldn’t possibly just use the basic kit, could I? I adore having a shallow depth of field, and the kit lens for the G2 only goes down to f 3.5. So I did a bit of ebay scouring and found an old Canon 50mm f1.8 lens. Beautiful, fully functional, and totally manual, just the way I like them. It cost me £30. Nearly as much as the FD-to-micro4/3 adaptor I had to buy for it (another £26).
It takes lovely photos, such as this one of the stitching detail on my satchel:
and the goal of all this is, you know me, UX-related
I decided to buy cheaper kit, with a less advanced sensor than what I could properly afford (sort of afford… that’s what savings are for, right?) because I am not sure what kind of photos I take. I’ve only had one camera – the Rollei 35s – for twenty years. It has a simple 35mm lens at f2.8, and you set the distance by estimating it. You can’t look through the lens. The effects you can achieve are slightly limited, and, of course, it uses film. I have no idea what anything more complex than that can accomplish. And I want to find out. Let’s see which lenses I gravitate towards, and what kind of photos I take most often. Portraits? Landscapes? Macro shots? Go figure. Something to learn from.
I will find out, as postulated, what is my UX of photography.