Lithiumstate

Everybody around me, either friends or people whose blog and/or Twitter streams i’m following seems to be putting together a “best or favorite photos of 2009″ post. I have to admit I haven’t tought about doing it before but it’s such a great idea that creates perspective to your photography. Actually it wasn’t more than a week ago that I’ve gone trough all of my 150.000 images (!) to clear them out of duplicates (40.000 !) and sorting them in appropriate folders that I’ve come across the first photo’s I took with my trusty Nikon D50. For most part, the shots were all bland, not cause of the quality, the D50 after all is a DSLR from 2005, but more the choice of how I framed the shot seemed just like *ANY* other “point & shoot” style camera shot that you see everywhere. The thing with DSLR’s is you can create fantastic photo’s but in order to do so you have to go beyond the simple concept of “taking a snap” and try to think more in the sense of “How can I convey the most words and/or emotions with one single shot” each and every time. As such I’m also conforming to the popular saying of ” a photo is more than a 1000 words” – it’s true. Especially since I have dabbled alot into video editing in 2009, a properly shot picture can tell more than a 1 minute video.

My Nikon D50 has served me well, it’s been an excellent teacher being my first DSLR. I couldn’t have wished for a different Nikon model to teach me how to get into DSLR. Reason for this is mostly because the D50 doesn’t come pre-loaded with automatic scenes, live-view, custom (color) profiles and a plethora of other things that simply get in the way of taking a picture; that’s all you want to do in the first place anyway. Learning to do things “the hard” way so to speak, has made me a better photographer than a superior “easy to use” camera would have allowed me to be, and that I can say for sure having experienced working around different photographers during events and concerts; they all seemed to lack what I believe to be common sense ! Oh well i’m not the world’s best photographer either, nor do I pretend to be. With a 4 1/2 year old camera body, 2 prime lenses, one non-pro zoomlens and the SB-900 speed flash I can’t say that I’ve spent as much money as most people that call photography their hobby. I am however upgrading to a new camera. I have my mind set on the Nikon D700; which is a full-frame sensor enabled pro DSLR. It allows me to be more creative, and also to work more effeciently and faster. However, recently Nikon introduced the D300 S , an upgrade to their popular D300 pro camera.
It’s still a DX format sensor (i.e cropped) but it features the ability to record video at HD resolutions and includes the option to attach an external mic for proper audio; having been into video alot – and craving for better quality than my Flip mino HD offered i can certainly say that the choice between the D700 and D300 S is a very hard one to make.

Ultimativly; I think the D700 will suit me better, as aside from my trips to Japan, I don’t think there’s anything in particular I would like to put the effort of producing videos off in Holland.

Without further boring you to death; click on the jump to see some of my favorite/best photos of 2009.