Camera Dads

Phil’s oldest child, now a freshman in high school, is on the football team which means Phil has had a lot of cool opportunities to take photos of him and the rest of the players. He’s now the official team photographer, and in this episode we talk about how he got here, some of the gear he needed to buy, and a few important techniques for getting great shots of all the action on the field.

Intro/Outro music: A New Piano (Radio Edit) by Torley Wong. Used with permission.

Phil and Simon return to Camera Dads after a five-year hiatus! We haven’t been podcasting but we have been camera dad-ing, and in this episode we talk about the things we have been learning over the past few years as well as our vision for the show going forward. It’s great to be back, and we’re super excited for what the future holds for Camera Dads. Thanks for being with us, and we hope you enjoy the show!

Phil and Simon tackle the sometimes-tricky subject of what to do regarding videos of kids. From DSLRs to mobile phones, 4K to digital frames, this is a lively discussion that any parent with kids and a camera is sure to appreciate. We’d love your thoughts on the issue as well, so please feel free to comment below.

Sigma’s new 40mm f/1.4 Art lens is an amazing piece of glass, and is capable of creating some astounding images. But is it a good choice for busy parents? Listen to, or watch, Simon’s review to find out.

Phil and Simon discuss everything they use to carry their camera gear, from simple straps and backpacks to full-on luggage systems such as the Peak Design Travel Backpack.

Phil and Simon share their thoughts on how to know when to bring the Big Camera And All Your Lenses vs. just packing a mobile phone or pocket camera. While we don’t necessarily arrive at an answer, we do have a lot of fun along the way…

Is the Fuji X100F the ideal camera for busy parents? Despite its high price tag, it offers a massive number of features that could very well appeal to parents looking to upgrade from a pocket camera or their mobile phone.

Phil and Simon talk discuss everything you have ever wanted to know about family portrait sessions. Phil shares his experiences with getting regular formal photos taken at a local shop called Portrait Innovations in his hometown, and Simon shares his thoughts as the person who is usually on the other side of the camera taking the photos.

With a smartphone in every pocket and one-click uploads to Facebook and Flickr, does it still make sense to print pictures anymore? After all, when you share a picture online thousands of people can see it and leave comments, whereas a printed picture will only be viewed by a handful of people and might fade over time. And why go to the trouble of getting prints of your kids made when they grow up so quickly? Phil and Simon discuss their approach to getting photos printed, how they decide which prints to order, and why there is still a valuable place for printed pictures in today’s digital world.

Examine things around you at very close range and no matter what you look at you will see a whole new world of color and creativity. Phil and Simon have had an interest in this type of close-up photography for years, and it’s a fantastic way to explore the art of picture-taking while getting to know your surroundings on a whole new level. In this show we will explore a bit of our history with Macro photography (possibly stemming from a microscope we had when we were kids?) and how things have developed over the years. We don’t have macro lenses but we both currently use close-up filters for a similar effect, which is a great way for busy parents on a budget to explore macro photography as well.

We decided kind of at the last minute to forego our planned topic for Episode 8 and instead have an off-the-cuff discussion about our experience photographing last week’s Solar Eclipse. We saw it together with our families and some friends in Beatrice, Nebraska, and even though things didn’t exactly work out as planned we still had a fun time, met some really fun people, and came away with an experience we will remember for the rest of our lives. In this episode we talk about how we approached the event from a photography mindset, what kinds of plans we made (if any), and what we learned that has helped shape how we approach other photography opportunities. Phil got some fantastic shots of the Eclipse which you can see on our Facebook Page too.

Having children served as a catalyst for both of us and sparked a renewed interest in photography because we wanted to get better pictures of our newborn infants. We both realized that mobile phones and pocket cameras weren’t quite cutting it, and we wanted something more that would really capture those precious early days in much higher detail. In this episode we talk a little bit about the camera gear we bought to help us get better pictures, but mostly we will focus on the experience of what it was like to document the first few weeks of our childrens’ lives. We’ll touch on a few techniques that we found useful and how our styles changed with each subsequent child.

What good is a camera that can’t zoom in and out? A lot, as it turns out. We’ll discuss our experiences with lenses that zoom and lenses that don’t (called Primes) and why both are good in different situations. Each of us has experience with both kinds of lenses and we will explore how we have used them, what their different strengths and weaknesses are, and why dads (or moms) who want to take better pictures of their kids might be better off with a lens that doesn’t zoom at all.

Taking pictures at home or around the neighborhood is one thing, but what about when we pack up for vacation? Do we bring our cameras, lenses, tripods, and macro filters or leave all of that at home and just go with a pocket camera or mobile phone? Is there a middle ground that can meet our needs without worrying about not having what we need to get the shot? (Or does it even matter if we get the shot–after all, we’re on vacation!) We’ll talk about our own approach to vacation photography and what tactics have worked well for us over the years, as well as some challenges we still face.

Many parents have kids who participate in traditional sports such as baseball, football, soccer, basketball, etc. In this episode, we talk about the kinds of sports our kids have played and the challenges we’ve faced in trying to get good photographs. Different sports require different techniques. With this in mind, we’ll be discussing both the equipment and the techniques we use to get good sports photos under varying circumstances.

Today’s show also features a guest appearance by Nebraska photographer Ben Hollingsworth, who shares many things he has learned over the years with photographing all manner of sporting events. You can see some of his sports-related photographs over at his website, Prairie Rim Images.

Photos, photos everywhere! We’ve got photos on our phones, photos on our computers, photos in the cloud, and a few even printed and hung on the walls. Especially after a celebration such as Christmas or a kid’s birthday, your collection of digital photos has no doubt increased by a few hundred, or maybe even a few thousand.

In this episode we will explore our own methods of storing pictures, organizing them, and making sure we can find the pictures we want when we want to. How do we decide which photos are keepers, and what do we do with the large percentage that aren’t worth saving? Phil relies heavily on Google Photos as a central component of his picture management solution, while Simon is more into Lightroom and doesn’t do as much with cloud-based solutions.

With presents to open, treats to eat, and people to see it can be a big enough hassle just to survive the Christmas holiday season much less actually take photos of everything. And if you do want to document the drama do you use a DSLR, mobile phone, pocket camera, or just let Uncle Bob take care of all the pictures while he relaxes in his easy chair? In this inaugural episode of Camera Dads, we will discuss our approach to photographing the holidays: everything from taking pictures of the kids while they unwrap gifts to candid shots of friends and family to even risking a few formal poses in front of the Christmas Tree. We’ll also discuss our philosophy behind holiday photography and how we know (or don’t know) when it’s time to put the camera away and just enjoy the moment.