Behind the lens — June

Terry,

Nice to know we have some photographers in the area! (and some Nikon users at that ) . What equipment are you using? I just got started, Nikon D40, with the stock 18-55mm and the 55-200mm.

You should consider Flickr.com to increase your web presence. Theres a lot of options over there that have made my life easier.

AJC,
I also shoot with a Nikon, a D200, and am very happy with it. If it has a downside, it's that the file size of my photos are often too big for my laptop to handle with any speed, and newspaper print doesn't require that much detail. 

For fine art stuff, and when I can process on my desktop (a big honkin' Mac), I love this camera.

I also like D40. Its size is much more in line with my favorite film cameras (I always shot Canons before going digital). You should load a few of your shots here. It's kind of a pain to get started (no worse than Flikr), but once you're in, uploading is simple.

AJC,
Hey, thanks for writing. To answer your questions, I shoot with a Nikon D1x. It is one of their now out of date professional series cameras that's built like a tank. I've had it about four years. Great photojournalist camera, heavy as all get out, but I like it. I would love to be able to upgrade to the Nikon D2x. I know my fellow photojournalist, Mark Pettus wrote that he likes the smaller size of the D200, which I know is more in line with the D40. I personally find the smaller bodies too wobbly. I like the heft of the larger camera.
As for lenses, I have fixed Nikon 20mm 2.8 and a temperamental Sigma 150mm 2.8 macro lenses. My main lens is a 24-120mm vibration reduction lens by Nikon. Another tank of a lens is my old workhorse Nikon 80-200mm 2.8 zoom. The Sun also got a Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 zoom lens that is great for sports and wildlife shots. I also have a Sigma 24-80mm 2.8 that has been repaired four times. I've retired this one from work use...
As you can tell,  I prefer 2.8 lenses. You can get away with a much lesser camera if you have top notch professional lenses. My exception is the Nikon VR lens, but at this point, I wouldn't trade it. The vibration reduction compensates nicely for the higher f stop.
You also might find it interesting that I shoot manually, just as I was taught 30 years ago by my photography instructors at the University of South Carolina. I prefer to have complete control over my meters as opposed to letting the camera control the shot. I would encourage you to experiment with manual settings.
The other thing I do is shoot everything in raw format. I like having complete control over the image. After years of messing with chemicals and darkrooms, I love the digital darkroom. I love being able to work on my images wherever I go via my laptop.
I'm not much on putting my images out on various Web sites. I am however, working on building my own site that will feature a small sampling of my work. When I have it completed, I'll place the address in an upcoming blog, so be sure to keep coming back to our little photography forum here.

Terry

Terry Brown Staff Writer/Photographer (904) 287-0618 ext. 201 terry.brown@mystjohnssun.com

Terry, 

I love doing manual, i'm a control freak :).  I'm feeling the burn of having  a 3.5 and 4.0 aperture lens lately, and i can't wait till i can get some good glass. I agree on the hefty vs portable, but having a camera that you can take around easily is nice, though even when i take my d40 around i sacrifice that. I'm also feeling the burn from the D40's strict AF-S lens only (i'm generally using autofocus).

 @Mark, my setup is also a mac! 

 I wonder how many (hobbyist or pro) photographers we have in fruit cove.

-AJC