Chris JL's photostream  

Often I should be doing other things, but I take pictures instead -- I guess this defines me as a compulsive photographer.

I use flickr as a scrapbook -- I should make a tighter selection one of these days.

Don't expect much from my stream. I capture simple things. Yet I see some beauty in them.



I have been playing with film cameras since forever. And I've always been shooting and printing b&w film. Than life became hectic (also changing too many countries too often) and I didn't touch a camera for about a decade -- I didn't see the point of taking pictures if I couldn't develop and print by myself, and I had a big prejudice against digital photography.



In the spring of 2009, basically by mistake, I happened to have a DSLR in my hands -- and it did not take me long before realizing that I still love photography. But digital shooting is a very different beast (and I still miss the grain of my favorite TMAX 400), so I'm slowly trying to learn to play this game. Therefore I spend a lot of time trying to learn from the many excellent photographers here on flickr -- yes, I go and read the EXIF data of your pics -- and I'm thankful to you all for sharing your work. This also implies that if you feel like commenting on my photos, feel free to point out my screw ups and give suggestions -- I'll be thankful.



All photos presented here are under my copyright and cannot be copied, downloaded or used in any way without expressed, written permission by me (but if you wanna use them for any not-for-profit purpose, just let me know and I'll be happy to authorize that).



P.S. I realized that I look at what other people use for shooting what, and this is helping me build my digital camera bag. So, here is what I shoot digital with so far:
- Bodies. Nikon D3s, D90 and D60, Fuji X100 (plus a Nikon coolpix and an iPhone for emergencies)
- Lenses. Nikon: 24-70mm f/2.8G (if I had to keep only one lens, it would be this), 50mm f/1.4G (love it - all you really need on a full frame), 35mm f/1.8G, 35mm f/2D,
18-200mm VR, 18-105mm VR (gone, but it has served me well), 18-55mm VR. Tokina: 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X PRO (highly recommended -- great on DX and a good 16mm prime on FX).
- Tripods. Manfrotto 190XPROB with ball head and a super tiny&light Sony one.
- Lug around. Many bags depending on set up, but the Billingham Hadley (large and regular) are my favorites.
- Filters. I use a lot of circular polarizers and ND filters (and good quality clear protective filters too when in nasty environments)
- Workflow. I shoot raw, so I must do some post processing, but I keep it as old fashion as possible (e.g. you will not find cloning et similia in my stream - I'm into photography, not CGI).



Well, if you managed to read up to here, you are a pretty remarkable one - have a good day :)