I just bought a new camera. I have been using my D810 for so long and so often, that replacing it feels like the end of an era. Over the past few months, I had started noticing something wasn't quite right in photoshoots.
There were several photoshoots where such a small percentage of the images were actually usable that I ended up considering them a failure. When you have spent hours planning concepts, preparing costumes and makeup, and finally creating the images, it's heartbreaking to discover afterwards that the equipment simply wasn't keeping up anymore.
After a bit of research, I decided it was finally time to retire the D810 and invest in a Nikon Z8. I wanted something that would hopefully carry me through another decade of photography.
To get comfortable with the new camera, I asked my sister Sarah to model for me so I could spend some time learning it. My sisters were my first ever photography subjects, long before photography became my profession. Every few years they still agree to spend time in the studio, helping me test out new concepts. It seemed fitting that one of the first studio sessions with the Z8 would be with one of them too.
I'm not a particularly technical photographer. I don't spend my time comparing specifications or collecting the latest gear. Once I find a piece equipment that lets me create the images I see in my imagination, I tend to hold onto it for as long as possible.
Even though cameras all do basically the same job, changing from a DSLR to a mirrorless system means changing habits that have become second nature over years of shooting. None of it is difficult to learn , but It is funny how even the smallest changes can feel enormous when you've been working the same way for so long.
It's not that the gear will magically make better photographs. It's that learning something new has a way of making the craft feel fresh again.
This self portrait I created in 2016, was taken after my very first camera finally gave up. At the time, buying a replacement felt like a huge milestone, shifting from Canon to Nikon and I remember thinking it marked the beginning of something new. At the time the idea that I could turn creating stock images from a hobby into a career was but a dream.
Now it’s time to see what I can create with it.
Jessica