CameraCompanion

As an Amateur Photographer aspiring to be a professional, I have been attempting to reach out to the other 'branches' of photography in order to gain more experience in other areas. Press Events are certainly not my forte but recently I have found myself compelled to attend any form of local press event I can, whether it's a live concert or a fundraising event. I believe my newfound interest was partly influenced by this years Wimbledon Season and seeing the magnificent array of cameras in the background.

Last year I attended my first press event at a Beach Race in my local town and took endless amounts of photos. Once I had edited the images, someone suggested that submitting it to my local Newspaper would be worth doing as they are eager to publish photos taken by freelance photographers at the events...

I emailed and uploaded the image to be sure it was sent, waited a few days for the next paper to be printed, flicked through and wow (my genuine reaction)...there it was. I was astounded and genuinely filled with joy to see a photograph that I had taken, printed in a newspaper. It may not have been the Guardian or the New York Times but I still feel very proud and that with these kind of achievements, I am getting closer to having a career in Photography.

I hope these photos can inspire beginners or other fellow students who are considering Photography as a career!

❂ Issie

Recently I have been contemplating a decision that many Photographers will agree is particularly difficult if you have not been in the industry for long. Even though I have been a Photographer for about 3 years, I would not describe myself as experienced and completely knowledgeable in the field. I have owned a Nikon D3100 for a few years and definitely do not regret purchasing it as my first DSLR.

Now I feel the moment has arisen where I could consider upgrading my 'gear' in order to give me the next push from a little hobby, to a possible career. When I say gear, I actually only currently own the camera body and that is another reason why I am looking at upgrading - I haven't made the commitment to the lens ladder yet.

The whole debate between Canon and Nikon seems to be quite balanced and after watching countless reviews and videos on both, I have definitely come to the conclusion that there is a complex history to how either brand has tactically produced its long-standing line-up of Cameras.

Personally and from what I have learnt from my research, I think it is all up to preference. There are endless amount of 'Ifs' that I can refer to such as, if you fancy something new and different, go for the opposite brand to what you used to have or if you prefer the rugged feel of a Canon over a Nikon go for it! But those 'Ifs' are all dependent on you. You use the camera, you choose the camera. (Quite proud of that line!)

At the moment, I am trying to make the decision between Canon and Nikon and I am coming across a lot of difficulties. In other words, I find an amazing camera with nice specs and an overall good review but little things that could affect the outcome of the photos start the appear, which then decreases my interest in the camera.

For the past week I have been heavily drawn to Canon and its powerful range of APS-C Cameras (for reference, I am not ready to purchase a Full Frame camera) but only recently I have noticed how the 'specifications' of the Nikon equivalents are significantly higher. For example, I have been considering the Canon 7D and 60D where both have 18 megapixels and the 7D features 19 impressive focus points whereas 9 for the 60D. But the Nikon D5300, one of the 60D's competitors has an astonishing 39 focus points. Some may question why I have focused on focus points (see what I did there...), my response is that I am a passionate Wildlife Photographer and having a large amount of focus points can help achieve a more accurate image, especially when working with fast and cautious wild animals/birds. So where do I go, what do I choose? (If you have experience with either or both cameras and perhaps know which might suit my interests, please feel free to contact me!)

This post could easily become endless reviews and comparisons of the many Nikon and Canon DSLR line-ups but that could take a long time to write and a long (and probably quite uninteresting) time to read.

To swiftly bring this blog post to an end I can now reveal the announcement you've probably ~~not~~ all been waiting for:

I will be planning to post monthly from this date, which means in a few days time you could be reading another blog post...but we all know how unlikely that will be.

;)

❂ Issie

Hello everyone!

Today I am the bearer of great news! Well, great news to me...☺

Whilst on a Spring Walk a little while ago, I captured the moment a little blue-tit landed on a curved branch outside a Bird Hide. That description may not have stimulated your visual and chemical senses, but in my opinion, the actual image certainly does.

Personally, I like how the whole foreground and background is a blend of sharp branches and soothing warm colours. An oxymoron, yet beautiful in its own way.

Anyway I am digressing, so I was casually scrolling through Twitter when I came across an official BBC account, @BBCEarth and one of their posts caught my eye. It was a Wildlife image sent to them by a photographer and I was intrigued to know that the BBC account shares and posts your photographs. This motivated me to choose a recent image and send it in. And this is the outcome! Whilst it may not be a huge achievement in other perspectives, I am very proud of this and I believe this is the start of possibly my career.

I would love to know what you think about this photo and how you think it could be improved.

Thank you!

❂ Issie

G'd Afternoon,

Welcome back to my blog! As I write this post today on the 1st of January 2015 (and posting it 3 months later...oops), I am reminded of the happy memories and achievements that I have made throughout 2014.

Similarly, as I look back over this blog I am reminded of the motivation and courage that started it. Back in Summer 2014, I was bursting with inspiration and ideas for how I could publish my work to the Internet. However I soon found myself with other commitments that took up a substantial amount of my time and left me with very little time to even write a blog post.

Fortunately, as of this year, I have given myself several 'resolutions' and goals, one of which is to devote a large portion of my time to this blog and more importantly, to my Photography.

Before I ramble too much, I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who has visited my blog since it was launched!

For this post, I have featured one of my favourite landscape photos of which I took in 2014. I gave it the title 'Early Sun' because, whilst it was almost Sunset, I feel the burst of sunlight represents the beginning of something, in this case, the beginning of a fresh, new blog.

[Image to be placed at later time]

❂ Issie

CameraCompanion

Hello everyone!

Today's blog post is about a short trip I took to a local Nature Reserve where Photographers like myself have access to some amazing Bird Hides. The first time I visited this reserve I was stunned by the amount of Wildlife that surrounded the area. There were all manners of creatures; from Whooper Swans to Flamingos, Kingfishers to Geese! Along with the thriving nature, there was a thriving but serene atmosphere that made me feel very welcome.

One of the Bird Hides I was keen to visit first was the Kingfishers, unfortunately the time of the day was too late for any signs of seeing them. However there were plenty of beautiful Butterflies swooping past us in a flash of mostly white and red, I believe from the Cabbage Whites and the Red Admirals with some occasional brown from the Meadow Brown Butterfly!

The most eventful Hide of the day was one of the largest but surprisingly one of the quietest. The Hide had an extraordinary view over the magnificent landscape and most of it was covered in long grass and reeds. This began just in front of the hide and continued for at least a mile and amongst those reeds were, of course, Reed Warblers!

After about half an hour of just watching them diving in and out of the reeds I managed to count at least 3 different Reed Warblers. Those who are Bird experts will know that Reed Warblers are extremely fast animals that appear for mere seconds before disappearing back into the reeds. This obviously made photographing them a challenge, but I wasn't ready to give up easily. Over a long period of sitting and waiting I managed to capture several in-flight and stationary shots of the Reed Warblers of which I am very proud of. However, even with the 300mm Lens I was using at the time I could not get close enough without producing blurred images. Therefore, instead of uploading one image, I decided to pile my 4 favourite images into this blog post. Voila! If you have any feedback for the photos or if you have any questions, please feel free to comment or tweet me @CameraCompanion!

Thank you very much for reading this post and I can't wait to share more moments like these with you all!

✪ Issie

Hello there! Welcome to my first blog post!

So, this is it! The beginning, the origin, the starting point of my blog and I am extremely excited to share this experience with you!

The aim of this blog is simply to share my passion for photography with the world, in the hope I can inspire and motivate many other photographers to achieve their dreams. Personally, I dream to become a Professional Photographer and experience this exhilarating hobby as a serious career. I am extremely excited to share my photographic adventures and I hope that over the next few months this blog will grow into a buzzing community of photographers from all over the world. During this process, I am especially eager to read your responses and feedback for my photos, as I am keen to learn all of the tricks and tips concerning photography.

In return, I am very happy to share my photography knowledge with any of you and if you have any questions or queries about any of the equipment I am using or even the settings on my camera, you can tweet me at @cameracompanion . You can also follow me to receive updates about my next posts or adventures!

To begin this journey I would like to share with you, as the first ever photo to be uploaded to this blog, an image that I have named "Orange Bay".

Thank you very much for reading this post (especially if you've come this far hehe) and I can't wait to share my photography adventures with you!

✪ Issie

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