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Musings: May 23, 2025
Some musings while I’m away in Paris. Today I’ll be talking about technical difficulties, Panasonic’s new cameras, my new gear, and the unfortunate passing of master photographer Sebastião Salgado.
My mobile workstation. A lot going on in image. Capture One, K-Pop, a fine art nude, and Charlie Chaplin. What an odd combination.
I AM NOW EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES
Well if it isn’t Murphy’s Law, my old pal.
I’m writing this from my hotel room in Paris. Today, I woke up bright and early ready to finally post about my trip to Japan back in March. I spent a lot of time last week gathering images and on the day before my departure, I could have sworn I put the Capture One session on my hard drive with me. I get here and nope, they’re nowhere to be found. No worries! I can access my images remotely! I use an app that lets me access my computer back home. I fire it up and start exporting the files into Dropbox so I can access them here. I log in a few minutes later to check the progress and my desktop has several notifications telling me my hard drives have disconnected.
What the fu…
For hard drive storage, I use OWC’s Thunderbay enclosures. While they are fantastic for speed and durability, they have a fatal design flaw. The port where the Thunderbolt cable connects is too shallow so the cord will fall out if it isn’t support somehow (pressed against a wall for example). What’s probably happened is the cord fell out and now I can’t access those images. Not to mention I have some clients who need some photos retouched while I’m away.
Wait a second! This literally just dawned on me. I have an online backup of all my images.
I know this is starting to sound like an ad or something, but truthfully I figured it out. I should have copies of all my images in my Backblaze account. My entire computer is backed up to the cloud!
*checks account*
It works! Ah yeah, we’re back in business! I’m selling those Thunderbays when I get back. Never again.
Ok, ramble over. Here are some musings to hold you over!
RECENT PHOTOGRAPHS
Model: Iryna Berdnyk @irynaberdnyk
Studio: L’Atelier & Beyond @latelierandbeyond_studio
Location: Paris, France
ALL IMAGES SHOT ON THE SONY A7RV + SONY FE 28-70MM F/2 GM AND SONY FE 85MM F/1.4 GM II
Some portraits of Iryna straight out of the camera from yesterday. I said she’s becoming my muse and it seems that prediction is coming true. We do great work together and it’s been exciting to see her growth as a model in such a short time. I’m wishing her all the success as a model. She really has the “it” factor.
This shoot was fun. We experimented with some different looks this time around and I tried some new lighting equipment that worked out far better than I imagined. Those coming in a future post.
After taking such a long break in April, I was a bit worried I would lose my improved skills, but I think it’s once you hit a certain level of artistry, it’s hard to go back to what you did before. Practically impossible once your technique is refined.
Expanding on that thought, think about drawing if you’ve ever drawn seriously before. In the beginning, say when you’re a child, your drawings are rough. Crooked lines, bad proportions, etc. But as you gain experience and put in years of practice, your drawing is considerably better. No more crooked lines. People look lifelike. You’ve mastered highlights and shadows. Even if you wanted to attempt to draw how you were when you were a kid, you’d be unable to. The muscle memory is so trained now that you couldn’t draw as rough as you did when you first started.
Photography is very similar. Once your eye is trained, refined, and nurtured, it’s hard to go back to the style of images you did in the beginning or even a short while ago. You’ve arrived in a new place and there’s no going back. That’s quite comforting I must say.
Anyway, my work is better now and I’m proud of that.
GEAR TALK
Panasonic’s Recent Camera Releases
The Panasonic Lumix S1 II. Finally. But probably too late.
I know I’ve been hard on Panasonic over the past year or so. It’s really from a place of love and disappointment than hate. They have so much potential, but have routinely dropped the ball. They’ve sort of let their passionate community of fans down over the past few years. “Mid” releases, radio silence on any upcoming product announcements, and abysmal customer service.
I’ve been saying these things for years and people downplay it. In light of their recent releases people are starting to wake up and have started calling them out. Comments sections on product announcements aren’t all rosy like in the past. Now people are asking hard questions and throwing scathing criticisims their direction. And the shills on YouTube and photography outlets will try their best to get everyone excited for their cameras.
The shills are the worst. Clickbait video titles, using words like “King of cameras”, “Masterpiece” is just hyperbole by a bunch of phonies who likely won’t actually own the camera, but will try to convince you to buy it. The shills deserve their own post, so I’ll end my criticism of them here for now.
For Panasonic, the excitement is gone. You’ve burned the consumer too many times and now they’re the worst thing they can be towards a brand, apathetic. The S1R II got announced and it had cool specs, but nothing to sell your Nikon/Canon/Sony for. The S1 II just got announced and while the specs are cool, it still doesn’t outdo Sony’s 4-year old FX3. Not to mention people are now calling Panasonic out on a huge oversight I’ve mentioned countless times: “Where are the lenses?”
It’s hard to recommend anyone investing in the ecosystem when all the other major manufacturers have a well-rounded first-party lens lineup. Panasonic has released no new S PRO glass since the first year of release! That’s pitiful. Sigma has come out with TWO versions of their 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN ART lens in that timeframe. They either don’t have the resources or ambition to keep up with the big players in the field. And that my friend is why they lose.
An easy win for them would have been to release a full-frame GX8 style camera with small lenses to match. In this era of social media and content creation, where every young photographer wants to be a street photographer, it’s a no brainer to release a small, stylish camera that can be used in that capacity. For the street/travel/hobbyist photographer. Nope, instead they release that pitiful, crippled Lumix S9 that they can’t even give away.
Panasonic, hear me: GX8 style body, full-frame sensor (maybe the one in the new S1 II), 4K 60P no crop, no overheating issues, small lenses. Profit.
So while some of their remaining customers have given in to full blown masochism, others with real professional and/or demanding needs have moved on. Buy anything but Panasonic these days bro. It’s over.
Some New Additions to My Gear Family
Before my trip, I picked up another Sony A7CR and FX3. I now have four cameras. Two A7RV’s plus these two. I know, I know, a bit excessive eh? I also bought a trio of new lenses. Two, count ‘em two, Sony 24-50 f/2.8 G lenses. And one Sony 16-25mm f/2.8 G Lens.
I’ll explain my equipment loadout:
A7RVs - My workhorses. They’re set up to shoot professionally. I just grab them and they help me produce the work I’m known for.
A7CR - My everyday carry/travel camera. It’s too risky to take my work cameras everywhere with me. When I’m traveling for shoots, I’d rather leave my workhorses where I’m staying and go with another camera that won’t be the end of the world if something happens to it. Sure there are cheaper options, but I still want the A7RV’s image quality. I’ve tried countless other small cameras, but despite my best efforts, I’m a bit of an image quality snob. No medium format though.
FX3 - My video camera. I’m not planning on shooting any film projects just yet, but I will be recording more behind-the-scenes video from my shoots as I work to build out my YouTube and other channels.
For the lenses, I have two 24-50’s as one will be on my A7RV at all times. It’s a perfect focal length for travel and everyday photography. The other will be used on the FX3 alongside it’s brother the 16-25. Those two small lenses handle all of my practical video needs.
While we’re talking lenses, I sold off all my Tamron lenses and have decided to shoot predominantly Sony glass. Don’t get me wrong, the Tamron’s were great in terms of size and affordability. However, in terms of image quality, I noticed a stark difference between them and some of my other lenses. The only third-party glass that remains in my kit is my Sigma 105mm f/2.8 DG DN Macro lens. That one delivers the same level of visual acuity as my Sony’s so it stays. I also prefer 100mm+ in terms of focal length for a macro lens. I’m not sure why 90mm Macro lenses are a thing. I digress.
My Dream Lens
Want.
The Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 GM Lens. $4,000 and absolutely beautiful. Zooms are so good now, you don’t experience the same quality drop versus primes as you did in the past. The Sony 28-70 f/2 GM is so good, I doubt I’ll buy an expensive 35mm or 50mm prime lens again. There may be times where I want the small size of a prime or the extra stop of light, but I don’t see the need for a 35mm or 50mm f/1.4 lens for the type of images I make. So my portrait photography kit would be the 28-70/f2 GM, the 85mm f/1.4 GM II and the new 50-150 f/2 GM lens. That would cover all my bases well into the future.
$4,000 isn’t anything to scoff at so I’ll be saving up for that one. It’ll probably be a Christmas gift to myself this year. Just put a little aside here and there over the next 6 months and it’ll be mine! Can’t wait to get one!
ON THE TOPIC OF TRAVEL
Traveling is fun, but in my opinion, overrated. It’s become such a thing people like to flex about as if they’re doing something spectacular. These days travel is fairly reasonably priced. If you save up, take advantage of some deals, you can travel. The downside for me is airports. In general they suck and plane rides are rarely comfortable unless you’re in fancy first class and even that is dependent on the accommodations provided by the airline. If you’re a photographer/creative, you may end up spending loads extra for bags to be checked then have anxiety hoping that all your equipment will arrive unscathed.
Then there are the time changes. I arrived in Paris on Wednesday, took a short 2 hour nap that evening and couldn’t sleep a wink that night. I literally stayed up all night and didn’t go to bed until midnight on Thursday. Finally, I feel more normal and adjusted to the time. Despite my best efforts, adjusting to the physical rigors of constant travel is something I’ll never quite get used to. It’s just a part of the experience at this point.
With that said, I won’t be doing any more traveling until September. I want to plant my feet for a bit and focus on things domestically before I jet off to another destination. I will travel within the US (Miami, LA, Mississippi, etc.), but unless a can’t miss opportunity presents itself, I won’t go abroad. I need to stay grounded for a while. There are a lot of things to work on and I’m unable to do that in the midst of traveling.
So for now, it’s Paris till Tuesday then off to Santorini for a bit.
I’m staying put once I return.
RIP SEBASTIÃO SALGADO
A brilliant photographer and by all accounts a wonderful person. RIP.
Today, master photographer Sebastião Salgado passed away at the age of 81.
I find his passing shocking after having gone to his exhibition in Barcelona back in March of this year. It was the first time I saw his work in person. Admittedly, I’ve known about his work for years, but never considered myself a fan. Don’t get me wrong, his work is brilliant. Masterful portrait, documentary, and landscape photography. It just wasn’t the type of work I was interested in early on, so I didn’t really follow his career as much as say Richard Avedon or Irving Penn.
However, after attending the exhibition, I came away with a newfound appreciation for his work and really started to understand his passion for the projects he pursued. Just look at these:
I could see myself pursuing similar projects in the future. Working with unique cultures and getting to meet such interesting people is a dream to a portrait photographer like myself. Yeah, there’s definitely a lot I could learn from Mr. Salgado.
The photography world has lost one another of the few remaining masters of the craft. We must appreciate them while they’re here and never forget them as people nor the contributions they’ve made to this wonderful art form.
Godspeed Sebastião Salgado. Prayers for you, your family and friends.
I NEED YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY QUESTIONS
As I’ve mentioned branching out into YouTube and having my own workshop eventually, I’m looking for questions from photographers regarding portrait photography. What are some of the things you would like to learn or know more about? Leave a comment below or shoot me a message on Instagram. I want to compile a fairly comprehensive list as I build the curriculum for the workshop and come up with topics for tutorial posts. Your contributions will be much appreciated!
Hope you enjoyed this post! Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below!
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