“How do YOU deal with shooting in snow?” A common question of late so here are my basics. Understand be it snow or rain, my basic philosophy is if I can stand it, so can my gear. Now if I shot football and was stuck on the sidelines in a down pour with no possible cover for an hour, I might do things a little differently. But that’s not the case so I don’t use a cover for my gear when in these conditions. Rather, I have a dry, white towel tucked in my jacket that I use to BLOT my gear dry, I do not wipe! Blotting soaks up the moisture compared to wiping, which can force the moisture into cracks and crevices where it can cause harm. When I put my camera gear back into my MP-1 V2, it is as dry as I can make it so the moisture does not get transferred to the bag’s interior.
When I get back inside, the first thing that receives care is the camera gear. All the gear that got used is taken out of the MP-1 V2 and laid out normally on a bed. A clean, white bath towel then covers the gear until it comes up to room temperature. Once that is done, it gets thoroughly cleaned, every nook and cranny. Once the gear is all cleaned it get’s put back into the MP-1 V2 (or Think Tank) and closed back up. I then try to put it in the coldest place in the room for the next day. Surprisingly, the one location where I’ve had bad condensation problems is on the Texas Gulf Coast where there were no warm locations in the room so when the big lens came out, instant fog. But that’s all I do, I keep it real simple and for me, it has always worked.
The business of photography is a huge roller coaster ride. This is in part because it’s a marriage of our creative talents with those needing those talents to tell a story or sell a product. This means there are human beings involved and as soon as you add that to the mix, the roller coaster ride begins. Case in point, delivering to a client what they actually need compared to what they think they want. When it comes to a photograph or series of photographs, this can be a challenge where being a mindreader doesn’t always help. It actually requires acute listening skills and combining that with current trends with our spirit to visually communicate to come up with the perfect final result.
A simple example would be working with a photo buyer and in listening to what they are saying, even though they say they want horizontal format images, you add in the submission a couple of perfect vertical format images (or vise a versa) because that’s what the layout needs. Nine times out of ten, the switch in format was exactly what they needed. I’ve done that with entire subject matter for an article as well. The magazine is looking for an article on the Wildcat to speak about a particular battle. I deliver that text/photo package and add one on the SBD Dauntless which is a better fit. The Wildcat piece is postponed and the SBD article used in its place.
The business of photography always starts with the photograph but it by no means ends with it. Being informed, up with current news and trends with an open mind and heart sells more images then a couple of pretty sunsets. Knowledge coupled with passion are powerful business tools!
Constantly using the Keymission 360 (now have 4 of them) & 170 (now have 6 in housings), curiosity finally won over so now I have the Keymission 80. What in the heck for you ask? I was attracted by its incredibly small size cause this sucker is small! Because of that size, you can put it just about anywhere. Next is the ease of use. The touch screen LCD on the back permits quick and easy operation, whether you’re shooting video or stills. Now I have a couple of crazy thoughts about how I’m going to use this new tool but to be honest with you, it’s so darn cute I’m already in love and I’ve not even shot with it yet. mtc!
Wearing two hats when shooting, I look for, find, and use every trick I can to get the job done. Now you might be saying, “Hasn’t Moose done a product report on a monitor before?” And the answer is yes, a number of them. Why, cause I’m looking for that right one for the job at hand. The latest generation, the Elvid OCM-10-PSM FieldVision is just that. Here are the specs:
Elvid OCM-10-PSM FieldVision Highlights
10.1″ Display 1280×800, IPS LCD
Supports NTSC/PAL & HD
Composite, Component, SDI & HDMI Inputs
178° Viewing Angle Top/Bot L/R
Signal Analyzers & Auto Signal Detect
Waveform, Vectorscope, Histogram Overlay
Safe Area Markers & Focus Aid Function
DSLR Scaling for Full Screen Viewing
Five Assignable Preset Buttons
12 VDC & Sony L-Type Battery Plate
A natural question coming in after this morning’s post (at least the clean one), is what do I do with my time when “snowed in?” When that question first came in this morning, I laughed a lot! That’s because I never have a problem finding work to do no matter how much daylight I have or do not have. But there is one chore I do more off in the winter and that’s revisit images shot the previous year to see how my finishing might have changed and if images need to be updated. This can be a Pandora’s Box though as sometimes, there can be big changes like moving to Luminar for my B&W processing. Whatever I think I need to update in my DD workflow, I do by printing first the originally finished image and then the newly refinished image. I consume a bunch of paper and ink as the Epson 7900 turns them out, but the 24×30 print is still the gold standard I use. When it comes to showing all the flaws that might be in an image, that size shows them really fast. And when there are none, well, it’s just a gorgeous print. So while I might be “snowed in” (which we never have been) I’m pushing the ball forward looking to improve how I visually tell stories. Thanks for asking! :-)
I’ve come to the end of my two year search for the perfect handheld DSLR gimbal, the Feiyu MG V2. The video says it all, the button below takes you to all the gear we used.
