On paper, the Nikon D850 promises much, it’s certainly a camera that I think Nikon have aimed to disrupt the whole market with by seemingly packing in as much as it possibly can. There are one or two other manufacturers out there lately who have fallen into the rather questionable habit of trying to pass off ageing tech in a ‘new’ body but with the D850 Nikon feels like they are going all out to deliver a dynamite combination of speed, resolution and flexibility. Amongst the questions I will attempt to answer here is does that spec sheet deliver real world improved outcomes over what has come before, and how?
There are already so many cliches in landscape photography and unfortunately the end of year review is probably one of them. Out they come, tripping over themselves in threes, the ‘end of year review’, the ‘my best shots of the year’ social media posts. Sure, it gets a little tedious when everyone inevitably comes to that end of year reflection all at the same time but that isn’t to say it doesn’t have its place and value. Reflecting on ‘progress’ can bring benefits and even reset some of our own perceptions – certainly over the years I became my harshest of critics and I probably convinced myself at times my photography had no value at all…
Picking favourites from your own work can feel like an almost impossibly difficult task so in true end of year review style, I’ve raided my Flickr favourites from 2016 and come up with a list of images, in no particular order, that made an impact or difference to me during the last year from other photographers.
Following up from an outstanding workshop in Snowdonia back in April with Greg Whitton (You can read all about that one BY CLICKING HERE), as soon as the batteries were running low again I thought it was time for another go in the Lake District. There’s nothing quite the Lakes in autumn, though it has to be said I really wasn’t coming for the trees and colour, but for the opportunities afforded by the potential for quickly changing light and weather. But after the amazing light of Snowdonia surely I couldn’t be that lucky twice right?
I’m always looking for ways to improve or evolve my photography. As much as the application of photographic technique very much depends on the individual, their interpretation and level of creativity, it is unfair to think all cameras are equal and offer the same opportunities. The D500 provides some complimentary options to a full-frame landscape kit that I wasn’t expecting and it’s now been in my hands for the last 24 hours…
You’d have to be blind as to what has happened to the UK in the last couple of weeks or so. If the news of Britain’s seeming imminent departure from the EU doesn’t bother you one way or other then what has happened to Sterling and the Japanese Yen recently might.
We’d all like every photography discussion to be about art and personal interpretation (I’ll do another blog post soon on this subject to balance things up) but you can’t get around the fact that without cameras there is simply is no photography at all (unless you’re someone like Paul Kenny!) so to conveniently ignore this fact seems both futile and a bit silly. In fact you’d have to be blind to the equipment allegiances that we form as photographers, I maintain that my own quest is that of product and image quality over any particular brand – it just so happens to be that Nikon seem to provide almost everything I need in spades for landscape photography.
It’s 5am, dark, I haven’t eaten, it’s zero on the temperature gauge, even though it’s the middle of April there’s plenty of snow underfoot, the equivalent of a small child is clinging to my back (my camera gear, not Greg), head torches are an essential requirement and for some reason I’m scrambling up the base of a ridiculously steep hill in Snowdonia asking myself for all the world what on earth I’m doing there.
New Year, and the first magazine feature of 2016 in Amateur Photographer Magazine on 16th January…
Although there won’t be any surprises in here from those that follow my ramblings, I’m still going to provide a few words here for reference on the 2016 camera bodies and what each one brings to my photography…

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