I’d dabbled with doing a series of photography casts, but stopped doing it when I realized there are SO many people out there far better suited to doing this. The real reason I stopped doing my screencasts is that I was focusing more on Aperture, and there is the excellent Inside Aperture blog and podcast that handles that much better than I ever could.
The latest example is the really great new Tack Sharp podcast from professional photographer James Duncan Davidson and amateur photographer Dan Benjamin.
This podcast is great for a few reasons – first of which is the range of expertise – James is an awesome professional photographer, shooting high end events with a wide range of sick gear (and recently started switching from Canon to Nikon, so it’s good to get a non-religious perspective on the gear, and I’ve been following James’ photostream on Flickr for years now. great, great stuff!) – and Dan is a high-end amateur shooter, so the conversation covers a wide range of expertise levels.
There’s no pretension in the podcast – they come right out and say that the only difference between professional and amateur photographers is that one gets paid to do it. Pros and cons to both sides of the coin, as it were.
I’m subscribed, and am looking forward to future episodes. They’re so far VERY well done, and informative. I’m planning on busting my (el cheapo) monopod out of storage to try out as a result of their discussion.
The problem I have is that I’m even more seriously jonesing to upgrade from my aging Canon XT body to something higher end…
Thanks for the recommendation, I’m now enjoying it too. Will you be jumping to Nikon now? 🙂 Xmas is coming… Suddenly feel the need for a white balance card myself – do you use one?
Nah. I’m brand agnostic. James is talking as a high-end pro, with a very specific set of criteria that he needs to fill, and for him that means Nikon at the moment. For me, although I’ve outgrown my XT, I’d be more than happy with a Canon 50D…
for white balance, I improvise. I use the white balance eyedrop tool in Aperture to select an item that I know is white or grey (nametags, white clothing, even eyes and teeth). Good enough for me…