January, 4, 2006 archives

“your camera does not matter” by ken rockwell is a good rant about equipment fetishism in photography. i’ve been spending some money on equipment, but i try do not think it will make me take better shots, just different kinds of shots. this amur tiger shot wouldn’t have been possible without my 75-300mm zoom lens. i ordered a 50mm f/1.8 lens because it is cheap, should let me take pictures in lower-light conditions, and it has a fixed focal length that will force me to take pictures in a different way.

the 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 is on my wish list, but i don’t expect to get it for a while. i think it will be useful for my broadway/main/spring pictures, where i can’t get as much of the buildings i’d like because there’s only so far back on the sidewalk i can get.

after one too many times where having a cell phone would have been handy, i decided to rejoin the crowd. using virgin mobile, which means i’m only out $60/year for service if i never use it. (and $25 for the phone.)

i am more than a little bitter that i got assigned an 818 phone number. it’s, like, a total bummer.

the la auto show starts this weekend. although i am not really a car guy, i was thinking of going on sunday. i’m not picky when it comes to excuses to take pictures of things.