Where my love for photography came from. not sure. I know late in HS I had a slr that I loved to take abstract pictures in B+W mainly. Sold off that camera right after HS to pay bills. It wasnt until I was in my 30’s when I got back into it. I worked at Spartan Motors and the marketing/brand manger Todd got me back into it. We had an Olympus e-20. Borrowing this worked well for some cool family shots, but as time and technology moved up (and no longer working at Spartan) forced me to buy a Nikon d50. this camera really got me back into photography. I had the kit lens plus a Sigma 17-200 (f 3.5-5.6) this camera had a much quicker shutter speed than the Olympus, making for some cool shots by the pool. I was still an “auto mode” person and that was ok.
My girls played sports, from hockey to softball. I coached them quite a bit do I never really got the sports photography bug yet. I took a few when I could, but that was it. Then came the time where they stopped listening to me as a coach (saw me as a dad more) and it was time to pass the buck. They were now being coached by someone else. I was one of those terrible parents that made coaches want to quit. I was approached by another parent who had a DSLR. She calmly told me “let me guess, you used to coach, so did I. Get a camera, it will calm you down” I wish I knew who she was, she was a parent form the other team. Well I had the d50 so why not. the next game I went with my D50 and started to take pictures. Dang it! she was right!. I was spending me energy trying to get good shots more than caring about what they players were doing, which in turn allowed the coach to, imagine this, COACH rather than deal with me spewing.
Well it wasnt long before I wanted to upgrade. (plus my boss borrowed it and busted the LCD, he was my boss what was I to do)I tasted blood and wanted more. Off I went and got the D90. Loved this lens. It was far superior to the D50. I was now regularly taking pictures at softball. some of the games went close to the evening. pictures where horrid. Blurry, Grainy, just ucky. Time for me to really start learning about photography rather than just taking pictures. thank goodness for google! Long and short of it, I needed better glass.
I really loved my sigma lens. And seeing how Nikon lenses were way more expensive, I started looking around for a decent zoom. I wanted the 70-200 as that was THE sports lens to have, but I found a sigma 50-150 2.8 used for a good price. Sold. What a great little zoom. I was taking better pictures because I could frame them in the picture rather than cropping. At this point I was “auto/Manually” taking pictures. seeing what the auto would set and replicating/tweaking it. This worked pretty well. but for the quickness I needed to swap around the field, what worked pointing towards home, didnt work when pointing to the outfield. I hit up google again. I started reading about Fstop. I found when shooting sports with e telephoto, f4 was the most popular setting. not the only one, but the mose popular. So I swapped out to aperture priority. WOW. that is when I started to reach the 50% mark of photos good enough to keep. The D90, although a great camera, was starting to lose its newness to me. I know not the best reason to upgrade, but it was one! My coworker had a couple of d7000 that he and his wife had a small photography business with. after researching, and talking ot him, I bought a used D7000.
So I know had a “real” setup, in my mind. 2 cameras. one primary, one secondary. pretty cool, I thought. It was at this time I wanted more reach. Again hitting up google. Strongly becoming a Sigma bigot, I noticed the 120-300 2.8. wow 2.8 throughout. that is cool. found a used First gen and bought it. (along with a monopod because this beast is HEAVY) This was crazy cool. It would could stretch and give me great shots. Looked cool too. But… standing near 3rd bas (or first) I could reach the entire field except for the base I was right near! wow, that sucks. so I would swap out innings for the 50-150. Each time I did that all I could think of is the dust coming in. I didnt like that at all. Another parent photog told me to just mount the 50-150 on my D90, put that on a neck strap, then leave the 120-300 on the D7000. amazing! now I could swap almost on the fly to get those close shots I needed!! woo hoo!!
taking pictures at every high school and travel game of my daughters became my passion. about 150-300 pictures of all the girls per game. Loved it. I was getting to the 75% mark now. Reach, like power, is addictive. I was looking at longer lenses. Mainly the sigma 150-600. But after thinking, if I got a doubler, I essentially would be at the same 600mm at 5.6 as the 150-600 lens. but at a much cheaper cost. So I bought a 1.4 and a 2.0. Works well. no the 600mm at 5.6 is not as sharp, but does good enough for non pixel peepers. I find I use the 1.4 more than the 2.0.
After tournaments, I was asked to take the team picture. the 50-150 at 50mm was pretty good. but it was old glass and I wish it were sharper. Ok, sigma, send something my way. I found that the 17-50 2.8 sigma rocked. Fit well in my arsenal. so I basically have 17-300 2.8. Life was happy and good. Then the kids graduated.
without kids in sports, what am I to do? well I still have plenty of friends who want me to take pictures of their kids in sports which is awesome as I Really enjoy it. I am not thrilled with the photos with the D7000 at high ISO, so I researched and bought a re-certified D500. amazing camera. The higher ISO allows me to take indoor shots with much less noise.
With the kids not in sports, I also want to migrate to different types of photography. landscape, maybe portraits. A friend pointed out that I love cars, why not start hitting up car shows and take pictures there. Sounds like a plan. now I am reading that 50mm or 85mm make great car lenses. I have the 17-50 but currently have a hole because my daughter is taking a college class and has my D90 with my 50-150 lens. the 50-150 has always been “good” but never really excellent, especially now that I see how sharp the 17-50 is. so back out shopping. I sold some DJ equipment to help fund it. I “retired” a year or so ago and really dont need all the stuff anyway. (kept enough for karaoke, but that is for personal parties) when I googled 85mm, one kept coming up. the SIGMA 85 1.4 ART. awesome! I get to keep my pure sigma line! It came in. Wow, serious Beast of a lens. but dang it is sharp. I havent been able to shoot in good lighting yet, but even in dim it is crazy sharp (was testing it out at ISO 2000, shutter 1/320 and f1.4. the relatively quick shutter was because my “model” was a 2 year old running around.
and that is my photography story. Lunch is once again over. Back to work.
