#279: Is it really all about the gear? Let’s get image dirty!

Kev and Neale return from their holidays, straight into the questions you’ve been sending in about photography and Fujifilm cameras. Questions today about learning from photobooks and what sorts of titles offer an opportunity to improve your photography, uninvited shutter speeds in auto ISO, a 56mm that won’t manually focus, how the change of seasons changes our personal photography, finding truly original creative paths, discontinued cameras we lament the passing of, the rise of content creation - is it a worry for professional photographers? Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Is wedding photography still a viable business for somebody setting out today and can/are content creators spoil the party, should I be using ChatGPT instead of Google, and how do I stop people smiling inanely in portraits? Also on the show, in-camera recipes, mobile Lightroom, packing light for a trek, compatible lenses for higher resolution camera sensors, thoughts about wide angles, Fujifilm’s 10-24 and Sigma's alternative, the real reason why battery chargers no longer come with cameras and smart investments: and what’s the smarter investment, a new camera or new lens? Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev and Neale discover the powerful secrets of ’the buried sausage’ and start to think about a new HoP event! Also this week, buying replacement STUFF, what to do when someone at a busy event asks you to avoid photographing them, Neale gets pinned against a wall by a Legionnaire, what guarantees can your contract provide in case of an unintended early demise, live view quandaries, setting up a new X100vi, Kev’s workflow, X Raw Studio and why is my tone out of LR a little muddy?  Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev and Neale get a proper ai roasting, though all is okay, as Mullins has received a windfall thanks to being a Pic-Time customer! Also today, the joy of using Godox on tour, is autofocus a reason to swap camera systems, GAS, brand loyalty, keeping your pictures safe on tour and shooting through prisms! We also have a book of the week, one close to Mullins’ heart: Great Bars of New York City by James and Karla Murray.  Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev muses about what to photograph next as he moves away from regular wedding photography gigs, whilst Neale is travelling the opposite direction having now launched his NEW podcast especially for wedding photographers called 1000 Weddings. Also, on the show, it turns out that Mullins found a level of real anxiety shooting weddings, although it seems he’s not alone. Today we appeal for new questions to the show to take us into Winter ’24, Kev has some suggestions on how to digitise old slides, best practices for capturing candids at social events, the ethics or ‘rules’ of privacy when publishing candid photos online, branding v style, shooting weddings as a guest, how Instagram works under the hood, and using a smartphone for street work.   Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

There’s joint relief in the houses of Mullins and James, and we’re not talking knees and back, as our eldest kidlings both pass their first major school exams with flying colours. Meanwhile in the land of photography on the show, lens weights, white balance best practices, will LR lose my images if I cancel my subs, what is this obsession with tech, making pictures that aren’t perfect, using one camera with one lens for one year. Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev’s sat under a storm cloud, literally - and not just because he’s back from his holidays! On the show, will Fujifilm ever produce a monochrome camera, just how good is the X-S camera, what are our favoured focal lengths and to convert or not to convert (focally) on the X100 range of cameras? Also, we discuss JPG simulations, the best/easiest way to archive a stack of film and building your main website on the Pictime platform. There’s a book of the week too, The Little Book of Camden Passage by Gary Williams. Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev is still frazzling on his Spanish sunbed, though the show goes on. We have questions about Lightroom and whether it’s necessary to upgrade your computer to cope with ever larger file sizes, swapping online sales galleries, can art prints actually sell and should I invest in primes? Also small cameras for street work, how shooting style changes as you ‘mature’ and the book of the week is Gregory Crewdson’s latest self-titled monograph.  Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

As Kev heads for sunnier climes we talk about life after weddings for Mullins Inc. as he counts down to his final nuptials gig, although he’s considering second shooting in a lomography style, maybe, perhaps. Also on the show, commercially and creatively making life simple, shooting professionally with the oldest digital cameras you can source, finding a replacement for the X-Pro3, what we’d like to see on an X-Pro4, the best camera system to switch into for fast moving monsters (or dogs), there’s some website advice from Kev, cleaning your camera with electrical contact cleaner (!) and hitting a mental brick wall creatively. We also have a book of the week and this one is a wonderful documentary about music photography by Robert Birnbach, called The Silence Between. Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev’s been doing what can only be described as speed-head-shooting, though his passion for country music is at last paying off as Neale eulogises about a Mullins favourite, Hank Williams. Also on the show, a shed-load of darkroom kit has turned up at Mullins HQ, the difference between dentists and photographers, using second shooters and assistants, going strength to strength with Viltrox, buying an X100VI alongside an X-T5, trying too hard and not feeling your picture making is improving, how tinnitus has cut short a career and how to photograph locations that aren’t necessarily so photogenic.  Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.