Shooting with the Canon EOS R6 Mark II

I have been on a video shooting kick in the last few months.  I have been shooting with the Canon EOS R6 Mark II camera and the Canon RF F1.8 35MM lens. I went out yesterday and shot this 
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Shot at various depths of fields on the R6 Mark II with a 35MM f1.8 Canon RF lens.

Finally pushed over the edge

I have been pushed over the edge.  I've been pushed to do the photography full time now.  After 19 years of doing the I.T. career thing, I'm done with it.  It no longer makes me happy.  Actually, I haven't been happy with it for about 4 years now.  

Back in October of 2010, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer.  That was a shock.  I had my first surgery in November 2010.  I had my surgery on a Wednesday.  The following day, I got a phone call from the agency that I was working for at the time that my employer no longer needed my services.  A few years later, I came to find out my boss, whom I worked for for 2.5+ years thought I did nothing anyways.  Her words.  Why keep me for 2.5+ years if I did nothing?  Had my second surgery in August of 2011 because the cancer had come back into my lymph nodes behind my stomach.  I was on the table for 9 hours being dissected like a pig.  I was told to basically stay home from November 2010 to September 2011 when I was going through the cancer battle.  

From April 2010 to May 2012, I was taking photography classes at Algonquin College.  From November 2010 to September 2011, I was battling cancer, chemotherapy and finally my 9 hour surgery.  I missed once class during this time.  The only reason I didn't go to that class was because I was stuck in a hospital bed.  I was in the hospital for 5 days.  I hated those 5 days with a passion.  I could not even wipe my own ass because I was being pumped with pain drugs.  They finally let me go because I could finally take a crap.  It took me three or four weeks to recover at home.  My license was suspended and my then wife had to go to work.  I was basically stuck at home alone with my dog which wasn't that bad having a perfect golden retriever at home with me.

All through that one year, the only thing that kept me was my photography and my dog.  My soon to be ex-wife was a complete bitch.  So was her mother.  Come 2015, I finally got a divorce.  Best thing ever.  Through cancer and my divorce, photography kept me going.  I miss my dog too.  

I am having a really hard time in 2019 again.  The last couple of contracts have been a farce.  Basically I come to do a certain job and it's the polar opposite of what I'm supposed to be doing.  The people I worked with were uncaring, unsympathetic bleep bleeps.  Keeping it PG here.  I'm basically done with the whole I.T. thing in Ottawa.

The only good thing about doing the I.T. thing is that in 2017, just as I was starting to date my current girlfriend, I got a short contract in Calgary, Alberta for 4 months.  That is when I fell in love with Calgary, Alberta and the mountains.  Since then, I've been wanting, needing to go back.  I can't stand it here in Ottawa anymore.  The weather and people suck.  No one will give you a chance.  You need to have 5-10 years experience before you're given a chance to prove yourself.  Even with nineteen years worth of experience in I.T, I have either too much or too little experience in doing something.

I really want and need to move out west to Calgary or somewhere close to Calgary and do landscape, nature, wildlife photography full-time.  I know it's going to be hard.  It's going to mean long hours but I've been through worse.  Damn, I beat cancer.  If cancer can't stop me, nothing else will.

If you're a photographer out in Alberta and you need help, hit me up.  Message me through the blog here or email me at joe @ joeknows.photos.  I'm a good guy.  My photography is pretty good I think.  It could always be better.  I could always sell more on Shutterstock, Pond5 or Storybooks.  I'm a good guy and a hard worker.  Just don't screw with me.  I hold grudges.  For a long, long time.  LOL

I think it’s time

Over the past year, I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos on photography, travel photography etc.  I’m so wanting to do it.  Just go out and travel full time with just my cameras and document my life on YouTube.  The only thing I fear is a lack of income.  I make ok money selling my stuff on places like Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.  But not enough to make car payments, insurance, buy gas, upkeep on the vehicle.  The thing that makes me want to do it is when I was out west in Calgary for 4 months back in 2017.  I want to do photography and shoot videos full time.  I don’t want a boss.  I want to be boss.  I hate working in a cubicle dealing with office politics, the pettiness and the other BS that comes with office jobs.  Especially here in Ottawa being a government town, it’s just a hundred times worse because Ottawa is a politics town since it’s the capital of Canada.

Tomorrow I want to get new tires for my vehicle since I need them badly before winter comes.  I bought an air mattress and a couple of sleeping bags thinking this summer I’d be doing more camping on weekends.  Instead I do nothing except go to church on Sunday because the girlfriend enjoys doing that.  I totally feel left out.  I think it’s time to make a whole bunch of changes in my life.  I’m getting up there in age.  I’ll be 44 in about 3 weeks and I feel like life is just passing me by.

My Sony RX100 Mark VII is almost setup.  I’m getting my Lensmate attachment today along with a whole bunch of filters.  Now I just need Apple to hurry up and release the Photo Raw updates so I can actually use the Sony RX100 Mark VII with my 2018 Apple iPad 12.9” and I can ditch all the laptops that I’m currently using

I have a question for anyone reading this and doing the full time travel thing.  Where do you get your income?  YouTube, Shutterstock, an online store, working temp jobs somewhere for a week or so and then leaving?  I am so open to suggestions.  Please let me know.

I am definitely getting the Sony RX100 Mark VII

I am definitely purchasing the Sony RX100 Mark VII when it comes out.  I keep using just the Sony RX100 Mark VI for all of photography and footage.  I want the Sony RX100 Mark VII for the audio jack and the better focusing software and hardware.  The only downside of this excellent little camera is the battery life now but I already have multiple batteries for the RX100 series so that should not be any issue.

I want to pair the Sony RX100 Mark VII with my 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 12.9” screen and 512GB hard drive.  Once Apple iPadOS comes out next month, I will definitely not need a physical computer, either a tower or laptop.  Having USB-C on the iPad Pro, I’ve already purchased a hub with another USB-C port, 2 USB-A ports and this hub can charge the iPad Pro as well.  It’ll be the one dongle life.  I can pack everything into a slim laptop bag I got last year.  I can carry my Sony camera, Apple iPad Pro and the Canon Vixia HF R800 and I won’t have to worry about the weight of all the equipment while travelling.

As for what’s going to be connected to my 2018 Apple iPad Pro will be a 4TB hard drive and my Blue Yeti Mic.  I have the Apple AirPods v2 connected via Bluetooth.  I can connect wired AirPods to the the Blue Yeti Mic to monitor the volume for when I start the podcasts.  I think this will be the best setup a mobile photographer/videographer/podcasted can have.  

I just wish Apple would release Final Cut Pro X for the Apple iPad and Audacity would release their software for recording audio.  That would be an excellent setup.

This weekend is the August long weekend here in Ontario, so we are heading down to Sandbanks Provincial Park which is located between Kingston and Belleville, Ontario.  I’ll be taking the Sony RX100 Mark VI and my DJI Spark.  I’m not planning to do a whole lot of pro photography but I am planning to do some.  The girlfriend and I decided to sleep in the rear of the vehicle.  I bought an air mattress along with some sleeping bags.  It’ll be the first time we sleep in the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport AWD.  We’ll be staying at the Flying J truck stop in Napanee, ON.  Access to bathrooms and close to restaurants for that early morning breakfast.  Then off to the beaches of Sandbanks P.P. 

The perfect computer that really isn’t

The perfect computer that really isn’t a physical style like computer but is a computing device.  Of course I am talking about the 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  I’ve been using the 2018 Apple iPad for a week now as my daily driver to check and reply to emails, media consumption and photo and footage editing device.  I have not even touched my Windows 10 based PC or my early 2013 Apple MacBook Pro.

What I love about the iPad is the portability and accessabitilty.  It is always on and always with me.  I can be setup in less than 15 seconds.  Just pull it out of my carrying case and plop it onto a table.  I have all the apps that I could possibly want.  And the apps are totally inexpensive.  I think I pad $20 Canadian for Luma Fusion to edit footage.  I bought Affinity Photo for $29 for the iPad Pro.  Those are the most expensive apps that I’ve purshased for the iPad and they are all that I really need.  I bought some blogging software for $7.  I’ll have to buy an FTP app to upload footage to Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.  The Apple Pencil 2 is now my mouse.  It’s exactly like a mouse except in a different form factor.   I can take my iPad Pro along with my Sony RX100 Mark VI with me anywhere and I can just blend in without carrying a huge DSLR and laptop with me.  Just my iPad and my pocket camera.

The downsides of the iPad is the dongle life and no support for external hard drives connected via USB-C.  Hopefully iOS 13 will at least fix the external hard drive problem.  You can already connect a 4K monitor to the iPad Pro   I really don’t want to connect to a WI-FI external hard drive.  While working with the iPad, I’ve found workarounds and solutions to the iOS 12 file system.  I haven’t tested my SD card holding my Sony RX100 Mark VI shots yet.  I plan to do that this weekend.  I’ve read somewhere Sony and the iPad file systems are incompatible but that’s just a rumour so far.  I want to test it out for myself.

Now time to go do some photography.

Niagara Falls - Canadian side

Yes, the Canadian side of Niagara Falls is much nicer looking then the U.S. side.  The girlfriend booked a hotel in 3 weeks so we're going to Niagara Falls in the winter.  It's hopefully going to be warm but I doubt it with this polar vortex hanging around eastern Canada.  But it's only going to be the weekend and we'll be in the hotel for the most part.  It'll be nice to take pictures of the frozen falls and something that's not photographed much by anyone else as it's too cold.  

That's why I love the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  It's such a small and versatile camera which shoots fantastic footage and photographs.  It's actually a better camera when the person using it knows how to use it and take magnificent footage and photos.  I want to shoot the falls in 4k.

I think in the next week I will be buying the 2018 iPad Pro with the 1TB hard drive and the 6GB of RAM.  My early 2013 MacBook Pro can't handle 4k video files and my 2018 Windows computer doesn't have the software to edit video.  And I really don't want to spend money on the Windows laptop to upgrade the memory and second hard drive from a 5400RPM 1TB HD to a 1TB SSD.  I could also upgrade the RAM from 16GB to 32GB.  But I really don't want to spend another few hundred dollars on the laptop.

But yeah, I'm looking forward to shooting Niagara Falls and spending some time with the girlfriend.

I am trying to convince myself

I have been watching a lot of these Youtube videos where people live in their Jeep or another vehicle and just drive around North America and discover Canada and the continental United States even going up to Alaska and the Yukon.

I've had the itch for the past three years to do this.  I'd probably say the last 7 years.  Lets just say that when I had cancer back in 2010/2011, I've been wanting to go out on the road and just travel.  I don't get to do much since I work 5 days a week and just pay bills to keep my head just above water.  I don't want that kind of life where I just go to work and pay bills.  There is a lot more to see than just a cubicle and the 4 walls of your home living room or bed room.  Life is more than that.

I've been thinking that early next year, I trade in my 2015 Hyundai Elantra for a Jeep 4 door and just live and travel in that.  I'm very afraid of not being able to buy food or pay for my bills.  I've always worked and I hate living off of donations.  That's why I don't use services like Patreon or GoFundMe.  Those are great for raising funds for like AIDS or cancer research.  But to live off of the donations of others I find troubling.  I don't make a lot of money with my photography.  A few hundred bucks here or there.  I probably need roughly $3500 a month live after tax.  I probably make $200 a month with my photography.  The photography money is not steady either.  Some months I make more and some months I make less.  I make a few bucks a month with the blog, but again, nowhere near where I need to be.  I have a Youtube channel but I hate being on camera.

I would love to travel the United States.  Go from state to state.  But I can't legally work there and I would need to support myself.  You really can't travel in Canada in winter.  Last year when I left for Calgary in early March, I got stuck in North Dakota for 2 days because of a snow storm in a 95km/h wind storm. At one point it felt like my hotel room was going to fly away and end up in Kansas or somewhere.

I don't mind the snow.  I actually love the snow but I do like the weather in Arizona in the fall.  2 years ago I was on vacation in Arizona and fell in love with the state.

Right now, I'm trying to lose 50 pounds before the end of March 2019.  I feel like the next six months will be life changing.  I know the old saying of: the only thing to fear is fear itself.  And that's my biggest fear right now.  Not fear.  But the unknown of how I'm going to support my travel financially. If you have any thoughts or advice, just post it in the comments.

I have to go back

This place is just so amazing.  The American Southwest is completely mesmerizing.  I went there 2 and a half years ago.  It was about 10 months after my divorce.  I was not in a good place emotionally and I just needed a break from work and everything.  I've never been on a vacation by myself to anywhere.  I just needed a place to relax.  I had two choices at the time as I remember.  Either go to Arizona or California.  

In California, I wanted to go on the Pacific Coast highway for a few days and I wanted to go see a couple of the national parks.  I remember watching several YouTube videos and seeing all the homeless in San Fransisco and Los Angeles.  That alone swayed me to go to Arizona.  One of my profs in college went there and I remember seeing his pictures of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley.

Needless to say I made the right decision.  I instantly fell in love with the state when I landed in Phoenix.  I've always wanted to see the Grand Canyon.

Lets just say even with the louse cold weather I had an amazing time.  It's an amazing wonder to see in person.  Never seeing it before and walking up to the cliff to see the majesty of the Grand Canyon is a once in a life time experience.  I only spent about 6 hours at the Grand Canyon but what six hours those were.  I am hoping to go back very soon to try and recreate the experience.  I would suggest that you go there as well as it should be on anyone' bucket list.

Been away for a while

The Rockies in B/W

I have not posted in a while.  I have been extremely busy since March.  Also, a lot has changed in my personal life.  First off, back in March 2017, I left for Calgary for what I thought was a three month contract with the National Energy Board.  Turned into a four month contract.  I also started dating a wonderful woman back in January 2017.  I am still with her and we actually moved in after I came back from Calgary.

I spent a lot of time in the rocky mountains on my weekends when I was out in Calgary and I have to say I fell in love with the environment when I was out there.  I took roughly ten thousand photographs while in Calgary.  I traveled to Vancouver, Seattle, Tacoma and back to Calgary while out in the wild, wild west of Canada.

A lot has changed in the past 8 months.  All for the better I think.  Got a new girl.  Got some new digs.  Got some new photography and video equipment which I will talk about in a later blog.  Needless to say, I am back in Ottawa looking for a job.  I am still doing a lot of photography.

I will be updating the blog more often now.  Stay tuned!

Been a busy few weeks!

So several weeks ago (three to be exact) I went on a solitary vacation to the state of Arizona.  I have never been alone anywhere.  I was always with either a friend, family member, ex-wife etc.  I was never alone with a camera anywhere.  I needed this trip to clear a few things up.  I wanted to be alone to think, clear my head and do some photography.   I think this particular image says it all for me.  Life's a journey, not a destination as the song says.

It was an awesome vacation with just a few hiccups.  But what vacation and life in particular don't have a few hiccups.  I got what I needed.  It was an awesome time to regroup and collect my thoughts.  I now know what I want out of my life and it's time I go and grab it.

Oh by the way, I missed Forrest by 5 minutes!  ;)