Photography is freezing time

Our eyes are in fact small cameras that enable us to see the most beautifull things. So why should we use a photocamera? Because of two things. First because it enables us to freeze time on a specific moment with a specific light, and share it with the rest of the world. Secondly because of the limitations of the camera it enables us to see the world in a way we can't see it with our own eyes. Now that's what makes photography such a beautifull thing to do. It keeps surprising us.

A brief history of me

When I was young I always was fasinated by the Minolta HiMatic of my dad. A couple of years later I got my own Olympus Stylus type of camera. It was able to take some awsome pictures and sometimes I manage to capture what I had pictured in my mind. However I didn't know anything about Aperture, Shutterspeed and ISO relations. I just took pictures.

When I got in my twenties I thought I could afford myself an SLR and regained interest in shooting photos. I bought a minolta 404si, a basic SLR with a 28-80 kitlens. I rushed in to the forrest and soon discovered that the things I love to shoot were either too close or too far away. As a result I bought a 70-300 F4.5-5.6 Sigma lens. The cheapest there was, because back then I didn't know that the price tag was actually related to the lens quality. To be honest, I just shot some great pictures with it. After developping the prints looked quite nice.

Then the digital SLR era kicked in and they became affordable for the amateur photographer. In 2008 I got my self a Sony A200 and since I had the Sigma 70-300 I didn't have to invest in a new lens. In that same year however I bought a Tamron 90mm Macro lens. Wow what a great lens that was. Even back then I didn't always know what I was doing though. In times I got great shots with nice bokeh, but why that was I really didn't know. Reading on the internet there were so many stories and info about it, it was dazzeling.

Time went on and in 2010 I went to Brasil in the Amazon delta and ofcourse I took with me the Sigma. I made some very nice pictures but not all were great and at 300mm the Sigma didn't seem to perform that great. That was probably because I didn't print out the photos that often, an judged the photos at 100% on a computer screen. I started testing and it seemed the Sigma performed better on the old minolta then on my new Sony. I sold it because I didn't like the quality anymore, especially compared to the Tamron 90mm.

Captive Eagle • A77/70-300G • Posted by Alphabart on june 24, 2012

Karl Bannov

After Brasil I really got curious about my camera and his abilities. However I didn't exactly know what I was doing. Why werent my photo's sharp at 300mm? Why did that Flash always popped-up when I didn't want it too?

I decided to take a course on photography and found one near my house. The teacher is Karl Bannov who is a former DJ and a top class photographer. He developped a Photo Category Protocol for his students. This enabled them to learn their camera settings in a fast and easy way and always get sharp photos. After my first course I was really enthousiastic, I started to understand why my photos were bad. I decided to do a followup course, and again I was amazed with the results. Karl's courses really help to understand the machine and the art of photography in a simple way. I still follow some of his courses occasionally because it's just great fun.

Currently

It's been a year since the last course with Karl and I must say I used the techniques he tought quite often. By now they are actually basic knowledge and I don't have to think about it that often. I've also upgraded my equipment to a semi-professional level. Having a Sony it isn't that easy as they only have 4 camera's in that segment, and two of them are fullframe and taken out of production. That left me with the choice of an A65 or A77 where the A77 benefits from Micro-Adjustment and Weather Sealing. It became the A77! Great camera, super fast and great for tracking birds in flight. The lenses that I now have are also of Semi-pro quality: SAL16-50 F2.8 SSM and the SAL70-300 "G" SSM where the SSM is the silent autofocus and the "G" stands for Goldline. Basically it's a guarantee that your lens is tag sharp wide open on all focal lengths, and it is!