Hey Y'all ! Hope you're having a great week. Me? Well I came down with the Covid so I've got some time to catch up on my blogging so that's a good thing I guess. I recently took a photography trip with a couple of photo buddies down to the Low Country of Georgia and South Carolina. This was a 4 day trip with all kinds of photography to be had. Landscape, CityScape to Street Photography and even some Infrared. So there was a lot. What did I learn from this experience?  Well I learned that we did a lot of walking and being quick and nimble means that my kit needs to be that also. I thought I had it figured out. Not so much. My thoughts were that we were going to have 2 full days of shooting street photography and a full day or so of Landscape. So being me I figured that I would bring my street kit a Full frame Sony with some lenses and my trusty Landscape crop sensor kit with some zooms.  That made good sense to me at the time of packing.  My companions had it figured out more than I did they brought one camera and one maybe 2 lenses when we went into the streets of Savannah or Charleston I had my Full frame and at least three lenses with me .  I was carrying a 16-35, 28-60 and a 85 prime.  I just had too much stuff with me so I spent a lot of time changing out lenses and fumbling with equipment. Now don't get me wrong I got some good shots in but my comfort and my photography would have been better suited if I just had one lens and one body.  Maybe a 24-70 or a 24-105 would have suited me better than the combo of lenses I was taking with me. Of course my landscape stuff went with out a hitch .  So why is being a nimble photographer important?

Being quick and nimble especially in a city or urban environment is important because you are usually walking everywhere.  We were putting 10 to 12 miles in each day and lugging unnecessary equipment wears you down especially in the latter part of the day. The first day we were taking night time photo's of the fountain at Forsyth Park in Savannah and I was pooped.  It could have been a lot of factors that worked against me but one of them was the equipment that I was carrying. Having not to change lenses so often also makes you a better photographer because you can concentrate on the composition and not the focal length of the the lens that you have to change too. So even if I had made myself use just one lens like a 50 or a 35 I would have gotten better photo's .  But for me I think a 24-70 would have done the trick. Also I had two camera kits with me on the trip. I think for the next trip it will be one kit only. The reason that I took two kits is because I could. We had plenty of room in the truck we were riding in. This was the first time that I ever took two kits and may be the last.

What else did I learn? Well maybe for the street and urban stuff I don't need a super wide and if I do I can use my phone. Both of my photo buddies had iPhone 14pro and 14proMax and their shots with them were stunning. I have a iPhone 2020 SE which is an iPhone 8 hardware with iPhone 11 chipset in it. I still got some good photo's with it but am looking to upgrade to a better quality phone. For the landscape stuff I'm pretty dialed in I have three lenses that give me a range of 15mm to 525mm all I could ever want . My main lens is a 16-55mm 2.8 lens ( a 24-80 mm equivalent) that I love and 90% of my photo's are taken with. I also had a converted infrared camera with me that I got from one of my photo buddies. It’s a Canon EOS M that has been converted to Super Color IR and a 18-55 lens. I was able to switch back and forth pretty easily between my Landscape Sony and the Canon without having to unpack anything and enjoyed shooting both. Although this was the first time using the Canon and I don't quite have it all figured out yet. I do believe it will become a good addition to my Landscape kit replacing a point and shoot Lumix that I bought converted years ago.

So summary on what I would do different. Only take one kit. When shooting in an Urban environment one camera and one lens .  Use my phone more to take Wide and Panno's.  If you want to know more about being a Nimble Photographer there is a blog by Derrick Story called the Digital Story and he also has a website called the Nimble Photographer where he has many discussions and Tips on becoming a Nimble photographer.  I didn’t coin the phrase Nimble photographer but I try to live by it. Now I will always keep going out with friends to shoot new and old places. Because that's what photography to me is all about going out and having fun. So until Next week Get out and Shoot!