New Year. New Decade. New photography

There is one full day left in 2019.  I haven’t done as much photography as I wanted to this year.  Haven’t done as much photography over the past two years as I wanted.  2020 will be different.  I told my new fiancé that in April I want to move out west to Calgary.  I really miss the mountains and the fresh air.  I hate being here in Ottawa.  I miss Calgary.  I hate the humidity of Ottawa.  I hate the winters.  I hate the summers here.  I would rather sleep in my vehicle or a tent under the stars.  I miss photographing the mountain landscapes.  When I was in Calgary 2 years ago, that’s all I did on my weekends.  Just spend my weekends in the mountains.  Now that I have my 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, I have room in the back to sleep.  I have pretty much all the necessary equipment except for a cooler for food and drinks.  But I could just spend $60 on a good sized cooler and use that for weekends.  In the next couple of months I will start looking for a job in Calgary.  I wish I could do landscape photography full time but I don’t know if it’s feasible.  I want and need it to be.  I am totally sick of doing the I.T thing.  My Sony RX100 Mark VII is a great camera to do landscape photography.  I don’t need a DSLR.  Actually for the photography I do, all I need is my Sony RX100 Mark VII and my 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  All the software I use is run on the iPad Pro.  I have Affinity Photo.  I have Pixelmator Photo.  Apple Photos is good enough now for doing just the basic edits.  A few months ago, I bought a book for Affinity Photo for the iPad.  I’ve started reading it but never completed it.  That will be my goal for the next 3 months.  Find a job in Calgary to sustain us and finish my Affinity Photo book.

I really don’t want to do any more wildlife photography.  Although it sells a bit on Shutterstock and Adobe Stock, I really enjoy landscape photography.  I like the solitude of being in the mountains.  I gave my fiancé my Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I don’t want to spend any more money on photography equipment.  Not for a while.  The Sony RX100 Mark VII does what I need it to do.  I shot the above photo with the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I shot the below shot with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I’ve sold both images on various micro stock stocks.  A full frame DSLR with an f2.8 16-35MM or an f2.8 24-70MM is not needed.  It’s not the camera, it’s the photographer.

More night photography with the Apple iPhone Pro Max

The 2010’s are coming to a quick close with New Years here in just 2 short days.  Fiancé and I went to play some pool and have some drinks last night and got home quite late for us.  Decided to step out onto the balcony with the iPhone Pro Max and take a test drive with the iPhone to do some long exposure night photography.  This was taken with the default Apple app.  3 second exposure, hand held off the ninth floor off our apartment building.  Edited in the default Apple Photos app.  I can truly say the iPhone has come a long way in the past 12 years or so.  Couldn’t do this 10 years ago, let alone a few years back.  I could make out some of the stars in the Big Dipper at the top of the frame.  The sky was noisy but in the Apple Photos app you can get rid of that.  I think in probably 3-5 years, you will only need an iPhone and an iPad to edit your photos on.  No more need for bulky DSLR cameras or point and shoots.  The hardware and software is getting much, much better.  The wide angle camera is pretty good so far.  Just needs optical image stabilization.  The zoom lens needs work as the image is shaky and noisy.

Night photography with the iPhone 11 Pro Max (64 GB model)

I got the 2019 Apple iPhone Pro Max (64GB model) earlier this month.  I got it just because of the 3 camera system.  It’s still a 12 megapixel sensor which is good enough for blogs, micro stock agencies and such.  I had my doubts as it is a small sensor on a phone regardless if it’s an Apple iPhone or an Android phone.  I honestly don’t get these 106 megapixel phones that are just coming out.  It’s still the same sized sensor.  No matter how many pixels you put on there, it’s going to be small.  Even full frame cameras shoot up to 61 megapixels.  The Sony A7R IV is such one camera.  Yes there are 100 megapixel full frame sensors but you’re paying up to $100,000 for those cameras.

The Apple iPhone Pro Max actually quite surprised me as to how sharp the above night photo is.  No noise whatsoever and the colours are actually pretty nice to look at.  I haven’t had a chance to shoot long exposure night photography on the phone yet.  With the cold Canadian winters here in Ottawa, I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to do that.  Personally I hate the Ottawa winters.  They’re cold and miserable.

I edited the above photo in Apple Photo on my 2018 iPad Pro with the 12.9” screen and the 512GB SSD HD.  I read a comment on some forum a few weeks back which has kind of stuck with me. It basically stated that iPhones and iPads are going to be the future of photography.  I’m 90% sure that comment is correct or will be correct in a few years.  The Apple iPhone Max Pro is almost there.  The sweet point for me for a camera lens is the 24-200MM.  The Apple iPhone Pro Max already has the 13MM wide angle lens equivalent which is fantastic for wide angle photography.  Just need the lens to go up to 200MM or maybe even 240MM lens and no more DSLR or mirrorless cameras will be needed.

Time lapse time

I haven’t shot a time lapse in a long time.  Decided to shoot one this morning going to work.  I shot it using my new Apple iPhone Pro Max with the new camera system.  It was quickly edited in Apple Photos.  I am actually quite impressed with the Apple Photos app on the iPhone and the iPad Pro.  The link is here: https://youtu.be/_BDz-Z4Jfz8  Please feel free to like and comment.  I think I’ll be putting it up for sale on Pond5, Shutterstock, Videoblocks and Adobe stock.  I’ll upload to all of them when I get home tonight.  Luckily don’t have to go anywhere tonight and see anyone so I have time to upload the time lapse.  It’s a short 23 second video.  I wish it took me 23 seconds to get to work.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max and the 2018 Apple iPad Pro

I finally did it.  I braved the crowds on Black Friday at Best Buy in the east of Ottawa yesterday.  Needless to say I was not pleased with the crowds in the store after work.  But in the end I got the Apple iPhone 11Pro Max(64GB) model.  There were a few reasons I wanted the iPhone 11 Pro Max listed below:

1. The 3 camera system
2. New network
3. More portable than the Sony RX100 Mark VII
4. Battery life
5. Apple ecosystem

Ok.  So these are a few of the reasons.  I am really enjoying the three camera system on the iPhone.  I can shoot time lapse, slow motion and standard HD photos.  All cameras use the 12 megapixel sensor which is good enough for stock photography which is what I shoot.  I also sell my photography on Redbubble and Fine Art America.  You can find all the links on the right hand side of the front page on this site.

Secondly, I was on Freedom Mobile.  If you want a reliable network, do not go with Freedom Mobile.  If I was in the middle of downtown Ottawa, I’d have the crappiest reception that you can imagine.  I’d on their, what they call “Nationwide” LTE network.  On this network, I’d have 500MB of downloads per month before I’d hit their limits and my speeds would drop to 3G.  I’d get descent reception in my apartment but I’d be on my own Wi-Fi network.  If I was out of city limits, I’d be on their “Nationwide” network again.  I decided to go with Rogers.  I’m not a big fan of their customer service but they’re slightly better than Bell.  I was with Rogers before I switched to Freedom and not I’m back again.  

Thirdly, yes the Sony RX100 Mark VII is a very versatile and portable camera.  I love it and will continue to use it as my main photography camera.  But for quick and easy stuff, I’ll be using the iPhone 11 Pro Max.  The iPhone doesn’t provide as much control as the RX100 Mark VII but for quick and easy shots, it’ll do.

Fourth, the battery life seems to be fantastic.  I haven’t had it for a day yet but with daily use the battery is great so far.  More daily use will be needed to judge the value.

And fifth, I love the Apple ecosystem.  Especially using the iPhone, the iPad Pro and Apple iCloud.  I pay Apple about $13 a month for 2TB of data storage to back up my photos and necessary documents.  I don’t do any dongles, even with my iPad Pro.  Especially now if I’m going to use the iPhone 11 Pro Max for the majority of my photography.  Especially if just go do walk around photography in downtown Ottawa.  For wildlife photography, I’ll still use my Sony RX100 Mark VII.  Even for my landscape photography I’ll use the Sony RX100 Mark VII camera since I can add physical filters.

My 2018 Apple iPad Pro setup

Just missing the Sony RX100 Mark VII and the Apple iPhone 8 Plus which actually took this photo and you’d have my complete setup.  I think next week when Black Friday comes around, I’ll go to Best Buy and get a new Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max with the 256GB hard drive.  Yup, life is good.  I think I’ll be using the iPhone for a lot more of my landscape photography.

This is sort of new

This is kind of new for me.  I’ve had bosses in different buildings in the same city.  My current boss is in Victoria, British Columbia.  I’m in Ottawa, Ontario.  We have a 3 hour time difference.  I’ve never had a boss in a different province that’s more than half way across the country.  At least I won’t have a boss who will be looking over my shoulder.  I hate bosses like that.  LOL

The perfect setup. For me.

So I’m sitting here at work waiting for my computer to get setup and finally getting my access to the network.  I brought by 2018 Apple iPad Pro with me today to watch some videos and do some light reading.  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my computer setup and my photography setup.  I have the 2 terabyte backup plan with Apple.  I’ve had it for several months now.  I think I’m currently using about 270GB worth of data.  Most of that is my photography backup.  I am really happy with the Apple ecosystem.  How simple and easy it is to access pretty much everything.  

My current photography setup consists of a Sony RX100 Mark VII, a Canon Vixia HF R80 camcorder and an Apple iPhone 8 Plus.  My contract with Freedom Mobile is almost up.  Actually May 2020, I’ll be free of Freedom Mobile.  I am not entirely happy with Freedom Mobile.  Their network coverage is absolute garbage.  I could be right down town here in Ottawa and be on some other company’ network or I could have 1 or 2 bars.  The reception is absolutely horrible.  I honestly don’t like Bell or Rogers.  They’re overpriced and their customer service is atrocious.  Mind you Rogers’ network is pretty good.  They’ve had to up their game with the amount of data they give to customers having gone from 4GB a month to 10GB a month. They are about $20 more expensive a month.

What I’m trying to say is that I’m looking into the idea of just using my 2018 Apple iPad Pro and the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max (256GB) model to do all of my photography and all of my computing needs.  I don’t use Photoshop or Lightroom on my iPad Pro.  Just use Pixelmator Photo on my iPad Pro to edit all of my photography.  I could use the iPhone as well to shoot all of my footage.  The iPhone has excellent video quality and it takes excellent photos.  All of this with a phone.  All my stuff would be backed up to the cloud and be accessible via WiFi with my Apple iPad Pro.  Something definitely to look into.

What’s the point of having a Point and shoot or a DSLR camera?

I’ve been thinking about the state of photography over the past decade. How things have changed in the last 10 years.  I’ve been shooting for stock photography for the past 5 years.  That’s how I make a part of my yearly income.  I’ve noticed over the past three years, while my portfolio on Shutterstock has gone up five fold, income has gone done by at least thirty to forty percent.  I’m still shooting with a Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I shot with a Sony a7II and Canon EOS 6D camera bodies with various professional f2.8 lenses costing thousands of dollars.  The return on investment has not materialized over the past several years.  I don’t shoot weddings, portraits, school kids.  I do mainly landscape and wild life stock photography.  I haven’t printed my photos in about 4 years or so as ink costs about $240.  That’s $240 for 8 cartridges to fit into my printer which lasts maybe 15-20 prints.  I don’t shoot do art shows.  Just shoot for stock.  

I’ve been thinking of getting rid of the Sony RX100 Mark VII and just shooting with the Apple iPhone 8 Plus for now.  I’m probably going to upgrade my phone to the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max in early 2020 when my contract with Freedom Mobile is up.  From what I see, the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max is an excellent phone with a fantastic camera setup.  I hardly go to Parc Omega to do wildlife photography as the park no longer offers viable spots to photograph the animals without getting some fencing or glass in the shot.  Particularly,  it’s difficult, if not impossible to photograph the Arctic or Timber wolves as there is either high fencing or glass in between my camera and the animal. 

I’d be crazy to get rid of the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  It’s a very convenient, portable Point and Shoot camera.  I can fit it into the same case as my iPad Pro and not have to worry about braking it or losing it somewhere.  I find the iPhone to be more convenient but the Sony RX100 Mark VII a far more professional camera especially for travel.

I think my next photographic purchase will be a better drone.  I don’t typically fly a drone in the winter since, by the time I get home, it’s pitch black outside.  I’m saving up my photography money for a better drone than the DJI Spark.  I don’t know what kind of drone I’ll get since I have a huge hate on for DJI and the way they treat customers.  Plus, DJI being a Chinese company does not help.  I’d rather support a Canadian or American drone company.

The future of photography

I have been pondering the future of photography over the past few days.  I started photography about 15 years ago as a hobby.  I bought a basic DSLR back in 2004.  I had no understating of ISO, aperture, shutter speed etcetera.  I learned over a few years about exposure and such.  I upgraded my equipment as well as I learned more.  I shot Canon from 2004 to about 2017 when I switched to Sony cameras.  In 2015 I started doing videos as well.  I shoot for micro stock.  Primarily landscape, wildlife and such.  No weddings, portraits, or family photography.  I really enjoy the solitude of being out in the mountains with just my Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I used to have full frame cameras such as the Canon EOS 6D and the Sony A7II.  Had pro lenses as well.  They cost a pretty penny.  Now I just use a point and shoot pocket camera.  I get the same, if not better photos out of the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I find that the experience and imagination of the photographer is more important than the equipment used.

The market is also changing.  The biggest change in the photography market I find happened in 2007 when Apple released the Apple iPhone.  That put a camera in everybody’s pocket.  The iPhone has come a long way and it completely changed the photography market.  Now anyone can be a photographer.  I’d say 98% of people can’t tell the difference between a printed photo that was shot on an iPhone 8+ or a Sony A7RIV.  In the end it’s the skill of the photographer using the equipment he/she has..

In May 2020, my contract with Freedom Mobile ends.  I want to get the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max.  I’d need at least the 256GB model.  I find the 64GB doesn’t allow that much storage for shooting 4K/60fps footage.  I want to try using just the iPhone and iPad Pro for all my photography and editing needs.  The iPad Pro is a media consumption device which doubles as a laptop replacement.  Now with IpadOS 13.2.2 released, I don’t need a physical laptop running whatever flavour of the day of O/S.

If you look at my Shutterstock portfolio, you can’t tell what camera was used to take any particular photo with a particular lens.  I have sold photos shot on the iPhone, a Samsung Galaxy s7 Edge, a Canon EOS 350D, Canon EOS 6D, Canon EOS T3i, Sony RX100 Mark IV, V, VI, VII and the Sony A7II.  I bet in that 3-5 years, DSLR’s are going to be relics of a bi gone era.  Everyone, and I mean everyone will be shooting on a smart phone.  You can see the stats now.  The big camera brands such as Canon, Nikon, Sony are seeing their camera sales falling.  There will always be a need for high definition, high mega pixel cameras for scientific research.  You can’t do astrophotography with a phone yet.  There are dedicated cameras for astrophotography.  There will a need for specialized cameras for looking at cells and microbes.  Phones won’t be able to do that yet.  Who knows what the future holds for these kinds of cameras.  100 years ago, we were learning to fly.  70 years ago, we put a man on the moon.  40 years ago, a home computer was non-existent.  20 years ago, the internet was coming into its own.  Who knows what technology is going to be invented in 20, 40, 70 or a 100 years ago.  In the Back to the Future movies we were supposed to have flying cars right now.  

Technology evolves.  Attitudes change.  Tech just gets better.  Some of it for the better and most of it for the worse as it changes society for the worse.  But that’s just my opinion.

Consolidate and simplify your photography

I started doing photography seriously back in 2006 or so.  I bought my first DSLR that year with the kit lens.  I had no idea how to use the camera at all.  I never took a class.  YouTube was not a thing back then so I couldn’t learn off of what others did.  In 2010 I took classes at my local college.  In 2017, when I was in Calgary, I was using three Canon EOS 6D bodies with three different lenses.  I left Calgary with a Sony RX10 Mark II and a Sony RX100 Mark V.  Today I shoot with the Sony RX100 Mark VII and edit everything on a 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 12.9” screen and a 512GB hard drive.

I am consolidating and simplifying my photography setup along with the rest of my life.  In May 2020, my cellphone plan comes up.  I currently have an Apple iPhone 8 Plus which takes really good photos.  I’ve uploaded a few shots to Shutterstock, Adobe Stock and some of those photos have sold.  I’m not saying I’m going to get rid of my Sony RX100 Mark VII because it’s really an excellent camera.  It’s portable.  It’s got an amazingly wide lens at 24MM and it can extend to 200MM.   I’ve always stated that the best camera is the one you carry with you.  I always carry my iPhone 8 Plus and my Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I always have my iPad Pro with me as well.  I am totally sucked into the Apple ecosystem.  I subscribe to Apple Music and Apple TV+.  I also have the 2TB iCloud subscription.  Basically I give Apple $25 a month for the services.  I don’t use my Windows 10 laptop and my 2013 MacBook Pro.  It’s too old and slow for me now.  And Windows 10 sucks.  I really enjoy the Apple ecosystem.  It’s really seamless and works really well.

Whatever equipment you have, I hope you use it and are happy with it.  Just keep using it.  Keep learning.  Keep supporting.  And all that fun stuff.  I’m still looking forward to moving to Calgary in the spring of 2020.  

Why the Sony RX100 Mark VII is the best camera (for me)

As a stock photographer, I carry my camera with me everywhere.  It’s either in my coat, jeans or shorts pocket when I’m out and about.  it’s just the perfect camera for me.  Some may say it’s just an overpriced point and shoot that’s a bit better than a phone camera.  I actually beg to differ.  Just because it’s got a one inch sensor with an attached 24-200MM lens, doesn’t mean it’s not a professional camera.  It is a professional camera because it’s with me every minute of the day.  I was going to buy the Sony A7RII with the 24-240MM lens.  But that combination would cost me about $4000.  And that combination would not be with me all the time just because of the size.  I carry the Sony RX100 Mark VII with me everywhere along with my 2018 Apple iPad Pro.

I can do all sorts of photography with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I can do portraiture, street, landscape and wildlife photography.  I can shoot during the day and at night as seen with the above photograph of the fireworks.  This was a 3.2” photograph at f9 and ISO 100.  No noise.  No shake since I had the camera on a tripod shooting with an intervalometer.  I can attach all the adapters I need to.  It is essentially the perfect camera for me.

I am a stock photographer

No weddings. No portraits.  No family shots.  Only landscapes of nature and wildlife.  With my Sony RX100 Mark VII and my 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  No huge cameras.  No heavy laptops.  If I need to get closer to something, I walk towards it.  If I need to be farther away from subject, I walk away from it.  Easy as that.  I enjoy my independence.  I would rather be in my car with my camera driving to somewhere new.  Photograph something new.  Experience something new.

I honestly don’t need the latest and greatest anymore.  I am truly happy with what I have.  I have the best camera.  I have the best computer.  Why?  They are always with me.  I have decided to just do photography and shoot footage with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  High quality photography and high quality 1080p video.  4K files are way too big and take too much time to process.  The 2018 Apple iPad Pro just flies through 1080p footage.  I keep learning about the iPadOS everyday.  Learn something new with it.

April 2020, I have decided to move to Calgary and be near the mountains.  I want to pay off my debt and just live simply.  That is my goal.

More Parc Omega photography with the Sony RX100 Mark VII

So I took a day off from work last week to go to Parc Omega for the day.  We got our first snow fall of the season and I wanted to photograph some animals in the fresh snow.  I’ve been trying to convince myself that I need a full frame, high megapixel camera and a really fast computer to do landscape and wildlife photography.  That just isn’t true.  I’ve been using my Sony RX100 Mark VII camera and a 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 12.9” screen and a 512GB hard drive for the past six months to do all my computing and photography work.  If I didn’t say what equipment I was using no one would know unless they asked and I told them what I was using.  It is not the equipment, but rather the photographer.  Photography is pretty easy to learn.  Anyone can shoot decent photos.  You just have to have an eye for it.  You have to see the composition.  You just have to take the camera with you.

The above photo was taken at Parc Omega in Montebello, Quebec.  It was taken with the Sony RX100 Mark VII, edited on a 2018 Apple iPad Pro in Pixelmator Photo.  Literally just one click and voila.  Does not take much.

Shooting panoramas with the Sony RX100 Mark VII

So shooting panoramas with the Sony RX100 Mark VII is a bit different.  The lens is equivalent to a 24-200MM on a full crop.  The above shot I had to shoot vertically composing 2 shots together and aligning them in Affinity Photo on the iPad Pro 12.9”.  Colour corrected in Pixelmator Photo.  That’s it, that’s all.  The Royal Dominion observatory has a pretty cool sundial in front of it.

I have to get used to working in Affinty Photo on the iPad.  I have two books that I have to read before I leave for Calgary in April 2020.  That is my goal.  I’m actually surprised the photos were able to be imported from the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I guess Apple updated its Raw engine in iPadOS 13.2.  I’m actually able to import all the files from the Sony RX100 Mark VII into Photos.  The Sony RX100 Mark VII came out in May and only now does Apple update the RAW engine.

On a side note, I don’t think I’ll be purchasing the Sony A7RII camera, lens and battery grip combo.  I think the Sony RX100 Mark VII is good enough for me.  The 20 megapixel, 1” sensor is big enough and good enough for the photography that I do.  I don’t want to be saddled down with a huge camera and lens combo.  Now that Apple has updated its RAW engine in the iPadOS, the Sony RX100 Mark VII is just great for me. The RX100 VII and the iPad Pro a great combination for a mobile photographer.  I’ve been looking at the Henry’s and Vistek websites and there is absolutely nothing that I want or need for my photography.  I’m probably going to give the Sony RX100 Mark VI to my girlfriend so she can do photography as well.  I’ll just buy some more batteries and another battery charger.