Thorpeland Photography

Focus on Photography

For several years now I've considered photography a mild hobby. I took photography back in college, I enjoyed it, but I found developing film too time consuming and tedious. But I came away from that semester with some nice portfolio shots. After college I bought a Sony Cybershot DCS-50 and toted it everywhere I went. That little 2.1mp camera probably took somewhere around 15,000 pictures over the time I used it. I took it on vacations, took it to work, took it to hang out with friends. I was often called a "tourist" by my buddies because I snapped so many pictures. Digital camera's made photography fun again. I could immediately see the result and could easily share them online. This of course led to the creation of Thorpeland.com, my homepage. It was here I would post hundreds of photo's of my friends, family, hobbies and travel. Still, photography wasn't really an "art" to me. It was more a way of documenting my life and those in it. Which I supposed in a way is a form of art. Anyhow, after a few years of that I decided it was time to get a little more serious about my photo's. I wanted to learn about using a camera again and get caught up on the progress digital photography had made on true SLR camera's. I did my research and in 2004 purchased the Canon Digital Rebel (300D). This was a great into Digital SLR and fairly advanced for what it offered at the time. I quickly discovered how far digital photography had come. Techniques learned long ago in my college photo course began to come back to me as I learned how to make use of the camera's settings and abilities. A new door had been opened once again and this time I had a true "tool" to make use of.

I began to take ton's of photo's and create galleries online. The next year I entered a series of my work into a local photography contest and won 2nd place. This was encouraging and further deepened my photography interest. Then, in 2006, I hit a motivational wall. Just nothing in the part of the world I lived in motivated me in any way to take pictures. I put the camera down. I probably only took a few dozen pictures during the span of six months. Nothing felt worthy of taking pictures of or being creative over. I was just.... blah.

It wasn't until I went with Emily to her family reunion that I made myself take my Canon Rebel along and snap a few pics. I got a few good shots during that trip and began to feel the creative photo bug again. Except this time it was stronger! I re-visited my old Flickr account and started uploading. I purchased the no-upload-limit pro version and started building a sort of portfolio. Flickr is a great tool for photographers! You can view and study others work and is great for stirring creativity.

This sudden re-resurgence of interest in photography convinced me it was time to update my almost 4 year old Canon Rebel. I did my research again and this time settled on the Canon 30D. The 30D is pretty much Canon's entry camera into their professional line. It has most the technical features of the full professional cameras, only lacking the true full 35mm image sensor. Which was good enough for me right now. This camera retails for around $1100 but I was able to find a better deal and made the purchase! I also picked up a Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens. After getting used to this new camera and lens and seeing it's potential, I wasted no time in booking a couple photo shoots. A couple posts on craigslist and I had shoots booked for that coming weekend! The first for a couple celebrating their 8th wedding anniversary and the second, that night, for a movie screening party in Dallas. Both shoots taught me something, I need better glass. So, back to the research lab.

I knew that Canon's best pro lenses are referred to as "L" lenses. The L standing for Luxury. And with luxury, comes the price. But, if I wanted to take my photography to the next level and possibly begin to pick up some side work I needed to consider an L lens. I finally settled on the Canon 24-105mm f4L lens. At around $1000, this is considered by many as a great 'walk around' lens that can also take very nice portraits or landscape shots. The best value for my money. A quick check of my financial resources and I made the purchase. This lens will really get a good workout this weekend as there are some events I'll be taking it to. Which leads this story up to where it's at now. Im now enjoying photography more than ever and I have the tools to really start to do something. If you'd like to visit my Collections, CLICK HERE to have a look!