essential kit:
sharpies, ideally 2 colours, 1 black
carry tape. I use blue/red electrical insulation tape, so it's dark but you can still write on it with said sharpie.
Blackberries or similar smartphones are godsends. GPS and a 3g connection just make life so much easier...
Lanyards - shoot a lot of events, and quite often they'll give you a dangerous piece of ribbon, or worse, string, to hold your ID pass. Replace it with a snap release lanyard.
EARPLUGS. I haven't had any problems working in some of the loudest enviroments you'll find outside of reading festival pit, with surefire EP3's, and they're acoustic tube compatible too if you use radios.
A climbing style carabiner lets you quickly attach your camera bag to the bottom of a light stand as a sand bag.
If you are charging, you need public liability insurance and at minimum 2 bodies and 2 lenses and 2 flashes. End of.
Keep your kit packed to go.
Know the sandisk cases that pro cf cards come in? Or other nicer, card cases (sd users, 7dayshop have them cheap atm). Card label up = ready to use, card pins / write on label up, used, do not touch. Alternatively, Two card cases, preferably that are different, and stored on different parts of you. Format all your cards before you start shooting so that you never have to format in the field, all this reduces the likelihood of mistakes. Be methodical but fast. What goes where needs to be habit.
Your camera is a tool, it does not need to be overly mothered. Look after it, yes, but overly obsessive lens polishing and sensor cleaning will probably just rub in dirt (especially in the field) or whatever and at some point make it worse. And it being in (light) rain for a couple mins probably won't hurt it either. Insure it, and you're covered either way. Job done.
Shooting events, carry a small LED torch and a lighter. If working with bands, promoters or similar, a pack of smokes can buy you extra shooting time or favours too.
'available' light is anything that you can get to hand... the sun, a 1980s speedlight, or profotos.
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. be meticulous but fast. This comes only with practice.
You can get plastic AA battery holders off ebay, dealextreme or 7dayshop. Sharpie this onto them:
+ <--------
alive
to know whether batteries in them are dead or alive. Put some tape on one side if you need to be able to tell in the dark.
Get it right in camera. Never mutter the words 'I'll fix that in post' (unless presented with
really bad raw material...
).
Where it matters, buy well, buy once. Where it doesn't, getting a piece of plastic that doesn't have the nikon or canon sticker on it will leave you money for stuff where it does matter.
It's all too easy to blame your own inexperience, lack of skills or scope on the equipment that you have, and use this as justification to spend money on new shiny toys that will just further distract you from taking photos. Get comfortable with the kit that you've got. Learn to use it as an extension of your eye. Only when you regularly come up against barriers imposed by your equipment (or the need for additional equipment to securely take on paid jobs) do you need to investigate new expenditure. We can all have a quiet moment alone in the toilets with the D3s/1D4 spec, but would it really help me take more creative photos? More original ideas? No.
That said, sometimes a new gear purchase can provide the motivation to shoot more, or new things, or from a new perspective, so aren't always a bad thing. A tripod, or a fast prime, are probably 2 of the best examples of this. Sometimes it's something as small as an ND filter or a wireless flash trigger, neither of which need run you over £20 at the start...
It is often better to fix the technical stuff, and then worry about what you are shooting. minor adjustments to the technical stuff can come quickly while you're at ease with the subject, but if you're at ease with the technicalities and not the subject, you won't get great pictures. Technically accurate, maybe, but often...missing something. Look at most photos that make you go 'daaaamn' and it's not the execution as much as the content that evokes that kind of response.
'Nice shot!' 'criticism' doesn't help anyone. Some people might be more up themselves than myself, but I would far prefer one deeply critical but indepth comment to a thousand 'nice shot!'s. Even one thing that you like about it (and don't just say 'the colours'....) is better than nothing if you can't see anything wrong with it! On the other hand, some people don't like having their work torn to shreds when they post it online, so be polite...compliment sandwiches work well
Many years ago I read an article by a famous photographer who maintained that there is an excellent photograph of absolutely anything. You just have to find it.
Shoot lots, and enjoy what you shoot.
