Month: December 2024

My year in Pictures started in January with a fashion shoot with Hannah in the studio.

This one made my photo of the month for January.

The weather was not great in February but this shot grabbed while walking the dog has great atmosphere.

March was landscapes, and a continuation of my coffee shop project.

In April I visited a new studio, Kate was my model.

I continued to add shots to my suite project.

I had a fairly quiet summer, mainly just snapshots and getting ready for a shoot in August, a farm and with a lovely farmhouse giving us lots of options.

The barn and the fields gave us so many great pictures.

The following month I met up with Amber for a shoot at a home studio.

October was a shoot with the lovely Ash, lots of low light experimental shots, and art nude which I cannot share on here as I try to keep it family friendly.

November and December were quiet, and Ill share my December picture of the month tomorrow.

So in summary some nice work, and some good additions to my coffee and my suit project.

What was my favourite shot, I think this one below with Hannah.

The Z9 is now three years old and this month sees v5.1 with new video releases such as shutter angle. Customisation of histograms and waveforms and bug fixes.

There have been a few calls recently on social media and YouTube that the Z9 needs an update. I am sure Nikon are working hard at it but currently this camera is still the most proficient all rounder on the market.

Its become a tradition for me to post this each Christmas Eve.

On the Biking Blog “Ride it like you stole it!” which is sadly no more by Dave Dragon, there was a poem “The Biker’s Night Before Christmas”.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pad,

There was nada happenin’, now that’s pretty bad.

The woodstove was hung up in that stocking routine,

In hopes that the Fat Boy would soon make the scene.

With our stomachs packed with tacos and beer,

My girl and I crashed on the couch for some cheer.

When out in the yard there arose such a racket,

I ran for the door and pulled on my jacket.

I saw a large bro’ on a ’56 Pan

Wearin’ black leathers, a cap, and boots (cool biker, man).

He hauled up the bars on that bikeful of sacks,

And that Pan hit the roof like it was running on tracks.

I couldn’t help gawking, the old guy had class.

But I had to go in — I was freezing my ass.

Down through the stovepipe he fell with a crash,

And out of the stove he came dragging his stash.

With a smile and some glee he passed out the loot,

A new jacket for her and some parts for my scoot.

He patted her fanny and shook my right hand,

Spun on his heel and up the stovepipe he ran.

From up on the roof came a great deal of thunder,

As that massive V-twin ripped the silence asunder.

With beard in the wind, he roared off in the night,

Shouting, “Have a cool Yule, and to all a good ride!”

Its not something I do often but it can be fun doing a Christmas photoshoot.

The Nikon Z8, a small powerful mirrorless camera with no real compromises. With 45 megapixels it’s quite the all rounder.

So why the question Z8 or the new Z6?

Well the fact is they complement each other quite well. The photograph above was taken a a photography show. Poor light and quite a few shots taken. I took my Leica M for several reasons. Smaller but also at 24 megapixels good low light performance especially when combined with the small fast Leica M lens. Often when shooting events and weddings many photographers including myself prefer 24-36 megapixels to make editing large batches of images quicker.

So if your a Z7,8 or Z9 user and shoot events; especially low light events at higher ISO adding a Z6 to your bag might be a good idea.

Studio work is where high megapixel cameras work best, or landscape work on a tripod. Your not limited by ISO and can maximise image quality.

At events or location photography you may be working fast, not working with a fast f/1.2 or f/1.8 prime but more likely a f/2.8 or f/4 zoom. Light will be lower, may be less space, those ISO settings are going to have to climb. This is where the a camera like the 24 megapixel Nikon Z6 makes more sense.