Change

z6

Discontent with my job, car, home, neighborhood, society, discontent with life. Not fair, Discontent with people, their opinions, with the content that fills their socials, the lies, the facades, the fakeness, discontent with your reaction to my discontent. Discontent with you. Riddled with bullets of perceived disapproval, I am discontent with myself, those habits, my impulsiveness, the lack of knowledge of self. Heaviness coming in like the tides on a shrinking planet and the high ground is becoming scarce. With the pressure building, things start to manifest. This patch of dry land’s diameter creeping closer to zero, light seems to dim, all I can do is accept. 

Things got genuinely hard for me, and I prepped with tools. I passively and actively started trimming the access from my life and this meant drastic change. I decide to move with the tide, though not wholeheartedly but flowing with it reluctantly. "I need a new camera". This time around the upgrade wasn't the primary process in my brain, but it was definitely necessary. I again was tempted to leave the Nikon plantation and grab a Sony, and like last time, Nikon came through. The Z6 and Z7. Shiney new mirrorless flagships and exactly what I was looking for; lightweight, 4k, 120fps @ 1080, backwards compatibility with my old glass, a low light God, & used the same batteries as my last two. 

Experimentation was brought back with this one. A whole new format warranted a period of learning, which breeds creativity. I do have complaints, but they pale in comparison to what I love about the Z6. I know somethings going to (has already) come along that will have me google searching, review rabbit-holing, and holding in B&C. I know there will be a point where an upgrade will be completely necessary, but until then, I have an inventory of more than capable hardware to pretty much take any job, as long as I have some idea as to what I’m doing 

Just the body, thats all i want

d750

Living up to all of the expectations. Its 2016, 1-year post-divorce and things are “good”. I have a nice job with great benefits, I bought our 1st home, My little one is in a “good” school, and we live in a “good” neighborhood. I’m in better shape than I was while enlisted and, my locs are dope lol. A lot of things seem to be going in our favor, what better way to solidify and document this new found prosperity than to upgrade a little hardware!

“Just the body, that’s all I want”, didn’t know which one, but I had a starting place, the D4. It was a beast, but far outside of my budget. I’d stumbled upon it while researching my first upgrade to the D7000. I now know what I need as far as performance goes with photography, but there are now specific requirements to be met for video. Also, I need wireless capabilities and a plus would be if it used the same battery as the 7000. All of that being said, I decided on the D750 and it took less than a week lol.

With the 750 I’ve captured what I believe is a special perspective of Las Vegas. I started with house parties and open mics around town. It led me to another side of a city that is seen in a very specific way. I’ve pushed it to the limits in multiple ways and thought I broke it many times over. I sharpened my eye in photography and dove into video on its back, but the fact that I’m partial to using the ambient was, in my opinion, what made me “good”. This was also an important factor in what I planned on upgrading to when the time came.

New Additions

d7000

New additions are always a treat, especially when they add value to your life. In 2011 my daughter was born. In preparation for her arrival, I felt it was appropriate to upgrade from the D40. 

I had already started researching cameras and one of the main features I was looking for was something that could shoot 1080p @ 24fps. By the time we were expecting Jade, I knew exactly what camera body would be fitting for a new family, Nikon's D7000. 

There are maybe a dozen childhood photos of me, at least that I know of. It was like little itch, the kind that feels like it's below the surface… you could never get to it. The D7000 was the scratch to it. This was also a time of transition; I was out of the military, a newlywed, living in Europe, and unable to get a job. Photography turned into a therapeutic activity. 

This camera was a symbol of creativity and exploration. With Jade being born, I started to play with portrait work on top of experimenting in many other styles e.g. landscape, Astro, architecture, macro, & food. I story-boarded and shot (partially) a short film, "The Suicide" .

Something I could change a lens on and shit

d40

The winter of 06, I'm preparing for deployment. I make the conscious decision to not bring a camera with me, but to buy one once there. Buying a new DSLR tax-free, with tax-free money was the obvious reason for my thinking, but this was also my first DSLR. Up until then, I'd had various point & shoots and  “big zoom” cameras, "I wanted something I could change a lens on and shit" 🤣

Skip a few weeks, hop an ocean, and reduce green levels by 98%… Qatar. I had been there long enough to be completely inspired by my surroundings, a base, in the middle of the desert, with amazing sunrises and even better sunsets. A place so monochromatically tan, you develope a synesthesia like sense when you see green or something. 

Black box, golden accents, white outlined D40 and it’s kit 18-55mm lens… Inspiration. The battery needed to be fully charged, in my opinion so, 3 beers, 1 ill-gotten Jameson, and a Dfac run later I was at play. The first feature I used was bulb! I had a flashlight and time, so I captured masterpieces like a star, an attempted signature, and a wiped landscape. I wouldn’t say it was the beginning of photography for me, but it was definitely a shift in what the word meant to me.

The D40 remained my primary until I upgraded in 2011, it wasn’t hardware-specific.