Video nerds are a special breed. Photography geeks can inhabit a false sense of glamour. They can imagine that they’ll eventually be shooting supermodels for the cover of a glossy. Audio nerds can cling to a similar shred of unrealistic hope. Right now they may be shoving a beltpack transmitter into a fat, sweaty pastry chef’s underwear, but a year from now they may well be producing the next Sgt Pepper’s. Video nerds don’t really have an unrealistic ideal to keep them going. I guess they can daydream that they’re George Lucas’ cinematographer, sitting atop a large crane with a camera rig, squinting while making an imaginary frame with their thumbs and index fingers. But let’s face it. That person still comes off as a dork. Continue reading →

Here’s the situation: you or someone you know is a photography geek, it’s the holiday season, and the person in question needs a gift of some sort. What do you do? Do you buy them that full-frame DSLR they’ve been dreaming about all year? Hell no! I decided to make this list of 5 affordable gifts for photographers to help you out. It’s all stuff you can afford and crap that they will love. Continue reading →

It’s going to happen to you in the next few days and weeks. Your friends and family will unexpectedly corner you and ask you what gifts you want for the holidays. Despite the fact that you spend much of the year dreaming about buying production equipment, you will draw completely blank. Your loved ones will rightfully be annoyed when you answer “I don’t know,” because they know you dream about gear all day. Their problem is that they don’t know the first thing about gear you desire. It’s all a bunch of gobble-dee-gook to them. You’ve got to be prepared for this question, otherwise you’ll end up with a pair of cassette tape cufflinks this year. Continue reading →