Some people have Bandcamp wishlists with 400 items, follow labels you have never heard of, know which blogs to check for a particular regional scene, and will spend hours chasing down a song they heard in the background of someone’s Instagram story in 2019. They have spent a lifetime collecting albums, listening to the good and the bad, and developing a personal taste that most of us will never have the time to build.
Washington is a photographer’s state. The light off Puget Sound, the mountains, the puffy clouds — I feel as though pictures take themselves. When I moved here, a funny thing happened, my phone camera started producing fantastic photos.
Three years later, people ask about the photos. What camera do you use? How do you get shots like that? This post is my answer.
I’ve been behind the camera since my days as an Instagram Husband in the early 2010’s — my wife the on-screen talent, me the art director. So I have opinions. If you want the full foundation, National Geographic Photo Basics by Joel Sartore is the book I’d hand you. What follows are my own notes — the gear I use, the habits that made the biggest difference, and what I actually wish I’d known earlier.