My Gear #7 - Jackson Wride

I'm Jackson. :)  I've only been into photography for two years now, but I can say I love it to bits.

Throughout my last two years in high school (which I just graduated from this year) I was conscripted as a photographer for all the events that took place around the school, often getting permission to skip some classes to shoot. I had a good time. I really aspire to photograph far away places outside of this isolated yet lovely city of Perth, WA. Much like Steve McCurry or James Nachtwey.

Anyway.. now about the gear!

(Going around clockwise)

First off is my very, very, very beloved Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6. Ever since I got this lens I don't think I've taken it off much. I use this lens for everything, although what I shoot isn't very diverse. I like getting close to subjects while also showing a lot of what's around them and this lens does that perfectly because it's so wide!

Secondly, this is an old National PE-387S flash. I don't often use flash, but this serves me very well when I do.

Now, a camera. My camera. This is a Nikon D7000 and I've had it since they were released. I can't express how much I love this camera. It just does everything that I need it for absolutely perfectly. It's also quite the workhorse of a thing. It's been dropped on hard surfaces and into sand, it's been rained on multiple times, had sea spray splashed all over it and it's survived a lot of dust. I haven't found any faults in it yet. It's my one true love.

Another lens now. It's Nikon's 50mm f/1.8D. Their cheapest 50mm but I think it's a fantastic lens. I don't really use it that often but it's great to have just in case I want something a little longer than 16mm. :P

Now another flash, a smaller one. A Sunpak Auto200. This is basically just used as a more powerful pop-up flash for my D7000 and on my rangefinder which I'll get to in a minute. ;) It helps on the D7000 as the pop-up flash leaves a shadow of my 8-16's irremovable lens hood at the bottom of the frame which is always nasty. It's a good performer, though it takes a few test shots to get a correct exposure, but once that's sorted it works a treat.

Last but not least is an old Zorki-4 from 1970 which used to belong to my great grandfather. It had been sitting in storage for god knows how long before I happily claimed it. Protected by a nice, rugged leather case, the condition of this is outstanding. Not a single scratch or scuff. This is, of course, used for whenever I get the chance to shoot in film. This fine beast is paired with a Jupiter-8 which is (correct me if I'm wrong) a 55mm f/2. I often just use the Sunny 16 rule for this camera since there is no built in metering system, nor do I have a light meter.

I rarely leave the house without some of this coming with me. And of course, the bag I use is a Lowepro Event Messenger 250. If I arrange it properly all of this can fit inside nice and snug but rarely I take everything. For my smaller pieces of gear I use Sanyo's Eneloop rechargeable batteries for my flashes and SanDisk SD cards for my d7000 (A 64gb and 16gb). I don't have any favourite films I use with my Zorki. Just as long as they're black and white. :)

My D7000 and the Sigma 6-18mm is my go everywhere duo. If that was the only combination I could have for the rest of my life, I'd be very happy to keep it. While not being a terribly fast lens, I still think it's fantastic and I love it.

That's enough talking from me. Here are some links which show some of my photographs. Enjoy!

www.facebook.com/jacksonwridephotography

www.realmofjacksonwride.tumblr.com

Cheers Matt, for letting me and many others be a part of this.

Thanks for getting involved Jackson. If you would like to get involved, follow the instructions here.