Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

July 24, 2009

Holy hell, I just made the biggest impulse buy of my life! We were planning on purchasing only the 35mm 1.4L OR the 50mm 1.2L. Guess who got both.

Plus, a bunch of stuff that we’ve been ordering over the past couple months and shipping to my mom’s house has all arrived, so we opened everything up and laid it out on the table to assess. And holy hell again, we now have a LOT of gear:

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not actually a gear head at all. I hear people say you need a good camera and good lenses before you start shooting weddings, but my first couple of weddings that I did with a Canon Rebel XT (a $400 dollar camera) and a 50mm 1.8 lens (a $50 dollar lens) I am just as proud of as the ones I’ve done with my Canon 5d Mark II (a $3,000 dollar camera) and a 50mm 1.4 (a $400 dollar lens). Now, hopefully I’ve improved as a photographer in composition and technique, and of course having better equipment makes my job much easier. But, I’m not advocating running out and buying yourself a load of gear in hopes that that will help you have a successful business. I genuinely don’t think that how expensive your camera is has anything to do with how good you are at shooting weddings.

That being said, I am unbelievably excited to use my new lenses and equipment to hopefully be able to create lots of amazing images. Just for fun, I took another picture of the same set up with my new 24mm tilt shift. LOVE.

For those of you who are gear heads, here’s a list of what we’re now shooting with.

2 5d Mark II camera bodies
1 40d as a backup camera body
Backup batteries
1 50mm 1.2L
1 50mm 1.4
1 24mm tilt shift
1 20mm 2.8
1 35mm 1.4
1 85mm 1.8
1 17-40mm 4.0L
1 580ex flash
1 540ez flash
Cactus wireless triggers/receivers
Hot shoe to pc adapter
2 Manfrotto tripods
Manfrotto superclamp
1 umbrella
10 4 gb CF cards
2 8 gb CF cards

Also included in the photo:

My new HP computer, which is already enabling to post process photos at a much quicker pace.
3 external hard drives where we back up all client photos.
200 Moo business cards
1 Sandisk card reader
1 new iPod Touch because my last one got smashed when I got smashed in the accident:

Eeeeeeeeeeejole, that’s a lot of expensive crap. Our running total of money spent on the business is now up to $15k but I think (thank goodness!!!), we’re about done spending. Sure, there will always be repairs and equipment replacement that we’ll have to do, but the major investment is hopefully done. By the end of this summer we will hopefully have paid off everything we have (or basically paid our personal account back with our business money) and hopefully next year we can start to make a profit. What I’m saying here is, people, pleeeeeeeeeease keep hiring me!

It always makes me laugh when people in Chile say things like, “Wow, you must make a lot of money charging those prices!” Ummmm….yeaaaaaaaaaaaah right Those people clearly aren’t photographers who know how much decent equipment will run you!

And for those of you who aren’t photographers, here are a couple pictures of Chicago that S. snapped while he was out on an architectural tour of the city by boat (I was shopping for a dress for my friend’s wedding next week, WOOHOO!!!).

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12 Comments

First in! (yes, I'm a little boy haha)

Can't say I'm not jealous of the ammount of gear you've got there (specially of the 20mm 2.8)… but setting that aside it's really encouraging to know that you actually started out with an XT and that you got here after all the effort. What you say about gear helping in getting your job done is true, but the best piece of equipment a photographer has is actually himself, his creativity and his will to keep on going, and you're a living proof of that. Props to you, Kyle!

Anyway.. hope you're doing fine and fully recovered from your accident.

Saludos y nos vemos en alguno que otro foteo si es que la uni me lo permite jajaja.

(I really like that last pic although that building's corner coming from the right of the frame bothers me a little.. just a thought.. )

Comment by juanandrsmardones — July 25, 2009 @ 1:43 am

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yay for gear. And hey, I'm in Chicago right now, so I recognized that view pretty easily! missing you at blogher, but happy to know you're well and on your way!

Comment by eileen — July 25, 2009 @ 9:25 am

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Man do I miss Chicago in the summer. I remember doing one of those architectural tours right before I moved away last year. Don't spend too much time playing with your new toys, go out and enjoy the city!

Comment by The Lucky Gypsy — July 25, 2009 @ 10:34 am

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Can't wait for you to tilt/shift our faces off at our sessions!

You certainly said it perfectly about photo gear.

Do I NEED 15k of photo gear to shoot my clients events well? No. Do I have 15k of photo gear to shoot their events anyway? Yes. It's much easier to push the creative envelope when you become less limited by your equipment.

We purchased 16 new 4 gig CF cards earlier this year so i recognize what is going on in the center of the photo.

P.S. My favorite part of the first photo is your shoe in the bottom Adds a little bit of life to the pile of technology.

Comment by Kai Heeringa — July 25, 2009 @ 11:31 am

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You said it much better than I did…the gear helps but the photographer's creativity and will to push on through is really what creates good photos.

Ojala que haya otro foteo en Octubre cuando yo este de vuelta!!!!

And in that last picture I actually love the composition with the other building coming in. Otherwise I think it would be pretty standard and boring. But then again, different strokes for different folks. If we all liked the same thing, the world would be boring!

Comment by kyleracine — July 25, 2009 @ 12:42 pm

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Man, we should've planned this better and we could've met up in Chicago! oh well, next time, right?

Comment by kyleracine — July 25, 2009 @ 12:42 pm

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The good thing is that I can play with my new toys…and enjoy the city. They come with me everywhere I go

Comment by kyleracine — July 25, 2009 @ 12:43 pm

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I'm so excited Kai! I'm practicing with the tilt shift so I'll be a pro by the time your session rolls around. I can't wait to meet you guys!

You're exactly right of course, the good gear frees you up a little bit.

And yep, that's my tennis shoe after a jog

Comment by kyleracine — July 25, 2009 @ 12:45 pm

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That is ton of gear! How awesome! I think you're totally right that it doesn't make or break you as a photographer, but I'm sure it helps with efficiency (new competer = faster editing and processing perhaps)and image quality! Will you have problems with la aduana coming back to Chile with all of that???? I hope not!

Comment by Tyffanie — July 27, 2009 @ 10:09 am

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Congrats on all of your new gear! You totally deserve it. I promise that one day I'll hire you to take pics of me somewhere in this beautiful world.

Great pics by Seba!!!

Comment by GlobalButterfly — July 27, 2009 @ 12:28 pm

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That is ton of gear! How awesome! I think you're totally right that it doesn't make or break you as a photographer, but I'm sure it helps with efficiency (new competer = faster editing and processing perhaps)and image quality! Will you have problems with la aduana coming back to Chile with all of that???? I hope not!

Comment by Tyffanie — July 27, 2009 @ 5:09 pm

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Congrats on all of your new gear! You totally deserve it. I promise that one day I'll hire you to take pics of me somewhere in this beautiful world.

Great pics by Seba!!!

Comment by GlobalButterfly — July 27, 2009 @ 7:28 pm

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