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Be Fearless with Your Gear Part 2

But you know, the bottom line is I am so concerned about moment and getting there because I'm not controlling things or stopping things that I can't I can't let the gear slow me down so what happens to me is that, like I'm constantly shooting like this right or like this or whatever and and that that that strap can only let you go certain places, you know, and then when you let go of it and it's kind of, you know, flopping around you're always worried about it you always got your hand on it and every time you go down to the ground real quick, you have to kind of make sure it doesn't bounce where is that if I'm gonna go to the ground, I just drop a camera real quick and I didn't get down real quick and then I can pick it up, you know? So so that's why I personally think that you know, these are just the way to go and so I used to use a domke straps and these old school like photojournalism straps and they were great, but then I got I got hooked up with with think tank and I became they ...

asked me to be like a affiliate works up affiliate for them and I'm like I would love to be an affiliate for you, but I actually don't have any of your gear on and I'm like not because I just don't want to I just I just you know, I just haven't needed to yet and, you know, and quite frankly, you know, I just haven't gotten around to it and they're like, well, what do you want? And I said, I'd love to try some of your camera straps in your belt system, and so they sent that to me and I'm like these are the ones like these are the best camera straps ever they are I don't know which camera is zooming in on this stuff, but these are very grippy on both sides can you guys see that you see that its grip on both sides where the other ones didn't have that on and they're really floppy see what kind of floppy they are and they're just non nondescript, so the last thing you want to do in my opinion is used the strap that came with the camera right? Because just like lens caps, you know how the back lens cap doesn't have any paint on the words with the front one does right and the straps have cannon or nikon all over him? I think they do that because that's just mohr advertising, right? So when tourists are walking around with their camera on with their lens cap on it, says kanan kanan kanan, right? So but I just you know, having that having that that all that stuff like I just started putting tape on my on my gear this is a this is a photo journalist thing I don't know if you've seen that before but a lot of photojournalists like tape up all of this stuff on their gear and I haven't done it to this one I don't know why, but I was like for for years I was like that come on, you're just doing that to be cool boy, does that really make a difference and like people just don't ask you about your cameras once you tape stuff up like what kind of camera do you use to make it's a black one, right? I learned that from I think I think john michael cooper do you know who john michael cooper is out of vegas? He should look him up he's amazing, you know, I think he said that he's kind of funny, but but I but I started doing that and, uh, you know, it really does kind of make a difference and it's just another thing that's not distracted it's almost like you're you're trying to hunt animals when you take pictures, right? And so you know you're in camel flies and out in the woods you don't want anything shiny it's like bear kudos, you know, barracudas if you have something shining if you're scuba diver and the bear recruit is like attracted to this shiny thing on your tank it'll just break you know everywhere you move it or try it right it's like the same things that you don't want these little things like get people's attention ondo that sounds crazy but you want to do everything you can to keep as inconspicuous with your gear is possible and that's why I do this as I walk into a wedding and small these lenses are so eighty five one point to write we talked about that yeah and I can't leave him I'm saying this in front of the world but I think that's like the worst one one of the worst lenses cannon makes for this type of work okay it is a brick it is heavy rights hugely heavy on your on your shoulder and it focuses really slow like every time I use it hit the focus but it's almost I think lenses like oh ok you know right it's a beautiful len like I mean like there's a reason why why it's so popular right? I mean like portrait photographers love that lens right one point to in the contrast and all that kind of stuff but for this kind of work this is it for me, right? This thing is so lightweight so small and it costs four hundred dollars like literally when I drop these I just go buy another one I mean, I'm like, is that there's no point in fixing it right? And it focuses like lightning fast like me, it's it's amazing! So consider that it really is amazing how it I mean, you see how different that is, the one the one two would be like, you know, and the lens hood is attached to the focus ring or used to be right, so the focus ring spins the focus ring does not have it isn't attention like this, it kind of spins freely, you know, more freely. And so I'm going to tell you later about how I use auto focus, which may or may not, uh, blow your minds, but it might write, and so I like tio manual focus and auto focus at the same time on dh I'll get to that later I see some confusion throughout the crowd I don't know about fuji, but you know we go from there, so so so that's why I use that lens and I love it because it's so small and it's lightweight and it is really fantastic. Yeah, so do you use any speed light? Are anything on the wedding? Are just goes home use strobe when I have to, so at the reception pretty much usually write um stromile flash right? I uh I shot a wedding a few weeks ago in florida and it was the hardest way whoever shot and the entire ceremony and everything was like essentially in complete darkness on dh so I had to light everything which was very difficult especially for the way I shoot andi I'm going I'm going I'm not gonna get into lighting a lot today I can answer some questions but I'm also going toe you know I'll tell you what kind of used but I can't get into tons that's a whole another creative life thing I think but anyway so think tank just in case you're looking for it there's the think tank information I haven't affiliate and if you if you you know they said that I could do that so that you know so that affiliate code if you if you buy over over fifty dollars you actually get something free like a little pixel pocket thing with memory card holder or something like that so if you end up going there and buying fifteen dollars worth of these or whatever, they have a lot of wonderful stuff as well I also this is I also love using this to I only use this at pretty much at the ceremony if I needed the extra lens but this is their this is the think tank I think it's called the utility bill that would make sense wouldn't it yeah, it sort of looked at up anyway the's are the skin's so they really awesome because you can actually like I was talking earlier somebody said nice shirt to me and I said oh thanks I go usually I'm like, you know, in mountain man mode and people are gonna laugh about that too because I love outdoor gear and and somebody once said to me I was shown in this stephens she's like they're like the patagonia of camera gear you know, like they are really cool stuff really really really really well thought out things that you can that you can do and flip around there's lots of stuff I love this belt because when I'm at the reception I need what I need extra lenses at times which is I kind of defeat my own purpose and what I do at a reception and we'll talk about that a little later but ceremony if I need like a long lens that I put this on right right and it's just really awesome system and the cool thing is to see how these collapse so that way if you need to carry something else you could just have this around take the lenses out but then they're not like he's like he's like you know have you seen those belter like these modular but they stay the same shape so like when you don't have anything and they're like, you know it's like this you know and I don't like wearing it but like you're going to see me in my video today weren't then when you do use your strobes to questions are they on camera off camera and are using modifiers with them? Um they're both off camera off camera I uh again, you know, it's it's a it's a whole big topic, but I don't I don't like I personally don't like to bounce flash and because I'm not and I'm not really good at it, it takes a lot of thought process to bounce and to keep up with where you're bouncing off of friends of mine like ben and stuff they're amazing and that that's all they do at receptions and I envy that on dso for receptions, I have a system where I have an on camera flash all the time um and my assistant has an off camera flash that I use as well. So it's it's both and yes, I do use magnifier, right? And I'll we'll talk about that as well. I guess I won't talk about it, but it's actually a huge part of the these wonderful pds that I that I produced because I couldn't get to everything and I didn't want to dive into too much, you know, on the gear section, so we made we made a twenty for paige gear pdf that I have on our website to download yet by it of course but it's not that expensive is pretty cool anyway, so it's it's you know it kind of goes through and it shows it shows like all kind of different you know, the cameras I use where you can buy him I go through and I basically explained almost everything I just explained which is kind of cool so people khun can go do that this is this is this is why jump to this right? Yeah, so it worked out well, right? So this is kind of the lights that I use and I and I and I used the magma's is there a new light modifier which I love these things are so fantastic. Um so basically this is a new a new thing they just came out with and it's just a magnet and it and you can do gels which is cool or you can or you can uh uh grady my trusty assistant over here? Yes. No. Yeah, right. And so I love these things. They're awesome and they just really simple to use. And so I can just I have my assistant who has a flash and sheet he's funny because she made all these hand signals and so the magma and signal if I don't want the magnet on I go like that I'm pretty easy to work for yeah anyway so yeah cool make sense so yeah, the pds are really, really, really awesome I'm really excited for them and and you know so now if you go to the if you go to the store and stored out working photo dot com and you can you can purchase those and there's like bundling which is cool you can buy them all for a cheaper rate stuff like that as well as workshops, which is huge so it doesn't seem like you get in here often, but when you get a new piece of year new lens and your body is there a process with which you, uh like how do you learn it and like it or you just start shooting it yeah, I mean yet set it up, you know, for all your preferences and I'm going to talk a bit about that, you know? But now you know, I just do it I mean, I can't practice I used to practice is to try and practise, right? So I used to get like I would try and practice like new like auto focus like things or something like that and I'd be like it's so silly like I'd be sitting in my studio and I like purposely put it out of focus and then I like just like swing and try and focus well, quick on something and I'm like that doesn't work, I have to just, you know, look like an idiot I just had t use it, you know, I had to use it, right? One thing that I that I, you know, that I'm certainly going to talk about is, you know, harp on is you have to know this like the back of your hand, right? You have to there's just no other way around, right? When I was in college, I had my old film camera and I used when I was learning, I used to sit there and watch tv with the back of the camera open, and I would run through all the shutter speeds. Then I would watch the shutter opening close, and I would kind of I don't know why, because I'm just a geek, and I like how things work. I wasn't I was like, I am going to learn how the shutter moves, you know? I wasn't that wasn't like that I was, but I think that really helped me, right? Because I could learn I could listen. I learned to listen to this shutter and know when I'm like that's not right. That's too low you know you got you got to hear that teo got you know and then but you know what, right? Right? So you just you have to know this like the back of your hand and you have to get rid of all things that are going to slow you down right? I equated teo race car drivers right? So nascar but I'm sure all of you guys are nascar fans bit jim is anyway and so on and so it's uh not this anything wrong in nascar I'm just saying, you know, it's not for everybody okay, so but, you know, when they build a car right, they are building the car to the specs that they had to build it to be safe, right? But they're going to use the thinnest a medal that they can use that's going way the the least when they build that car because all that stuff adds up and it slows the car down it's the same thing with this stuff, all those things that are that are that are slowing you down with your gear are going to slow your down in your photography and you're not going to hit those moments right? So on that note, all of my important buttons on my cameras that I don't want to mess up especially my lenses they're all taped off you see that the auto focus button is taped off in auto focus mode is the last thing I want to do is bump that button and then guess what it's in manual focus but guess what these lenses you guys know that ultrasonic means that you can auto focus in manual focus at the same time right did you know that yeah so when it says ultrasonic right from that means that you don't actually this button the auto focus in manual focus button is actually pointless the way I use it and I'm gonna explain that a little bit on how I use my auto focus and and so if it's an auto focus you can actually manual focus and auto focus it at the same time doesn't have some nikon lenses and so far older lenses or off brand you have to be like manual focus or auto focus button it's different on that so I taped all that stuff off that I don't want anything to happen to write another thing I tape off is I tape off the the diop ter here do you guys know about that right so the diop there is this little adjustment you see if I can you know see that little plus and minus adjustment right there right that's for your eye too it's basically if you wear glasses you have to now adjust the viewfinder to your eyes so that way it looks sharp right? Well if you bump that it's happened to me, and I'm like, I'm looking through the viewfinder, and I'm like this it's not focusing its not focusing, even though it is focusing it doesn't look like it's focusing, so I don't need that. So I taped that office well, so basically, I go through all my all my stuff, and I'm like, and those air basically only things that tape off. But it's, like I've even had people. I know that tape off this this dial, but now there's a lock on it, see nowt to worry about it. Otherwise sometimes you bump it almost, and urine bulb, you know, bull biz. Hey, you're like, oh, it's working, and then all the sudden it's like no it's not working because the shutter is open. The entire bulb is when you hit the button and it takes the picture the whole time until you let go with a button, so you don't want that.