I've put this page together not to show off photo hardware, but to answer questions regarding how I do things. Photography enthusiasts are a curious people and like to know how and why other photographers use certain things or have certain things. Digital has produced such a steep learning curve that photographers have a serious need to share details regarding procedure and equipment integration.

I've collected this over a period of about 15 years. I try to get one item each year. No non-professional needs this much stuff. Some of it was left over from my days as a sports photographer in college and high school. Other items scratched a creativity itch.

I started with the Nikon F4s, which only gets occassional use as a camera dedicated to black and white photography. I also have a couple of prime lenses (50, 105dc), a macro lens, and a couple of newer Nikon zoom lenses like the 12-24 and 28-70 AFS.

I had to buy these as their older third party equivalents showed chromatic abberation or sharpness problems on the newer D100 digital camera. The problem wasn't with the camera, but the fact that it showed everything with such great detail. Those were never issues when using 400 speed black and white film. I also have an infrared filter, polarizing filters, and a light meter. I also own an external battery for extreme cold weather photography.

For digital photos I use a Nikon D2H or D100. I personally consider it a higher quality method of recording images than 35mm film. Newer pro cameras can beat the D2H or D100 in many ways except for value. Those differences are probably indistinguishable to most people in prints that are smaller than two feet in size.

While I prefer natural light for most photos, I also have a pair of used studio flashes and umbrellas. This creates bright rich colors and incredible detail indoors. It is also necessary for wide angle indoor photos or indoor photos requiring depth of field. Outdoors, it reduces facial shadows. You'll never see redeye with off camera flash like these.
I use two computers at home. One is a modest Linux workstation primarily for internet use and file backups. The other is an Athlon 2800xp with 1GB ram used only for managing digital photos. I have the key stacked double-deck like an organ keyboard.

This XP machine is also color managed with a profiled monitor. (I have the puck which helps calibrate the monitor). The printer uses an ICC profile from Cone Editions / Inkjetmall.com. Color profiles are necessary to get accurate and predictable color; every piece of digital equipment creates colors differently and with different capabilities.

Here is a 300mm 2.8 ATX Tokina lens. It is used mostly for work - photographing microwave radio paths and antennas on towers. For non professional use, it is great for shallow depth of field and keeping a distance from the subject.
A large external hard drive provides quick and convenient backup of images. I leave it disconnected when not in use to minimize the possibilty of surge, lightning, or operating system related damage.
In addition to the external hard drive, the images are backed up over the network to my Linux server. That in turn backs up remotely to another file server in an offsite location. This means three copies exist of every image. Losing data is not fun and will happen to people who don't take special precautions.
Here is the Epson 7600 color printer using Ultrachrome pigment inks. This produces archival quality color images upto 24 inches in the shortest direction on roll or sheet paper. It is part of a small family of Epson printers that define the standard for professional photo and artwork printing. Call it archival inkjet, Giclee, digital printing, or whatever you want. During the last decade, the standard was Iris. This decade standardizes on the Epson family of professional printers.

I keep the printer stored in my darkroom and it connects by ethernet to my computers. The darkroom was chosen as it is dust and hair free. Prints need about half an hour to cure after they print out and it is best to avoid dust rather than clean dust. I can also process and print black and white in the darkroom. The ocassions for that are rare.

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