There’s definitely a feeling of knowing and trusting a camera, even though it’s just a physical object. I have a lot of different cameras these days that do different things, but I also have my go-tos that I just feel really comfortable shooting with. I’ve put them through their paces, and I just know exactly how to work with them. You need to get to that point with your gear.

Olympus OM-D EM1 (17mm f/1.8)

DSLRs are for professionals that need exceptional image quality for large prints and to look insanely cool when they’re lugging around a huge camera/lens. I don’t need any of that, so I use this small, light micro four thirds camera and a fixed focal length lens. I absolutely love this camera because it has physical buttons in all the right places for controlling everything, and once you get the hang of where they all are, it’s super easy to adjust for a photo without looking at the display or the viewfinder. You’ll also never see me swap out this lens. I shoot with it all the time, and I’ve become accustomed to visualizing the focal length in my mind. I can be walking down the street and frame a shot with this lens, in my mind. It sounds absurd, but my mind has become a physical extension of the lens.

iPhone X

You know it. Chase Jarvis used to always say “the best camera is the one you have with you”, and he could not be more right. I literally always have this thing with me. When I’m too lazy to lug my (already pretty small) OM-D, I can just slide my phone out and I have a pretty crazy camera with me. I’ve been using iPhones for photos since my iPhone 4S, and with each iteration the camera just gets better and better in leaps and bounds. Some of my best photos are shot with my iPhone, and again I use it so much day in and day out that I know it like the back of my hand. I can frame photos before I’ve even opened up the Camera app.

“the best camera is the one you have with you” — Chase Jarvis

In terms of Apps that I shoot with on my iPhone, the native Camera is where all of the magic happens. It’s quick, I can get to it from the lock screen without any extra effort. I can tap to focus, and if I’m feeling like I need that little bit more control, I can slide the exposure meter up or down. But I don’t have to spend too long ‘working’ on the setup for the shot, I can just focus on framing and composing the shot and stay focused on who or what it is that I’m actually capturing. I think that’s nice, if I need more control over a shot I’d have my OM-D but sometimes I just don’t and my iPhone is all that I need.

35mm Film

I own a couple of 35mm film cameras that I’ve experimented with on and off since I was younger. Having moved to California it’s been difficult to keep such an expensive and experimental hobby going. I’m hoping to spend more time working with film in the near future and improving my comfort with it as a medium.

3. Composing the Photo