Making Do...

A lot of things had to be re-evaluated with regards to my photography business over the course of the past 12 months. The financial situation had to be dealt with. At that point the 600mm f/4 had to be removed. So we had to get out of the verbal contract that we were in and luckily the seller was willing to do so at the cost of the expense that we had already put into it which was a $2200.00 payment. So I am back to my 70-200mm with the TC-20EIII at the moment. And I’m busy with that trying to build up saleable images with the potential addition of Lee filters. Ultimately for the time being I will be concentrating on birds at Green Timbers, and landscapes wherever I can manage to photograph them. My wife has asked me to put together an acquisition list of the equipment that I need and slowly I will assemble it.

For hockey photography, as I have done in the past, I will be shooting with both a Nikon D300s and the potential acquisition of a D700 (I’m sticking to older bodies as the D500 and D810 are completely out of my price range at the moment). The other acquisition in the cards is a AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED wide-angle lens which would allow me to get shots behind the net and show the full game with all the players trying to go after the puck. I also intend to shoot landscapes with it so it will end up serving double-duty.

For wildlife, I think I will stick to the 400mm reach that I have with my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII with the TC-20EIII put on at least until I can get some cash-flow coming in from my photography.

My hope is that over the next three years that I will have three camera bodies with which to shoot with. Two D300s bodies and one D700 body; two sets of 100x150 Lee graduated ND filters (they come in hard and soft gradient varieties) and a sturdy tripod (I figure I might as well go for the top of the line Gitzo GT5542GLS (that tripod will be sturdy enough to hold a 600mm if and when I manage to get the finances to be able to do so) and I can still use my 70-200mm on a gimbal. It'll provide me with a steady platform from which to shoot. But until then, the situation is “make do with what I have currently…” May not be exactly what I'd like, but well...you have to deal with it and utilize the equipment to the best of your abilities.