warning: This page is pretty nerdy and is mostly for all those photographers who I know are stalking my website, and also just to make me look clever.

Momma don't take my Kodachrome away...

The other day I saw a little bridesmaid take a picture with one of those awful disposable table cameras and then stare quizzically at the blank cardboard back. "Well you see sweetheart, before you were born..."

gratuitous "I'm a photographer" shotI'm proud to have shot weddings in the film days, but relieved I no longer have to! Digital cameras let me shoot more, faster, check my shots and get them to you quicker. And quality levels have certainly surpassed 35mm film. But the same rules of lighting and composition and emotion still apply just as always. Contrary to common wisdom, you can't just shoot and shoot until eventually you take a good picture. As a professional I have to achieve a rather higher success-rate ;-)

That's the MOST important lesson - the camera can't make you a good photographer. You'd expect Gordon Ramsay to have the best equipped kitchen, but I bet he could make better food in mine than I could in his. Or if Lewis Hamilton and I lined up on the grid, him in my car and me in his McLaren, I'd probably just break it before we were off!

The beautiful Nikon D700

I've used Nikon kit since I started, and I'm so in love with what my equipment can do I can't imagine ever changing. Unlike amateur DSLRs, the D700 has a full frame sensor, which gives amazing quality images in low light levels. This is crucial in dimly lit churches, wedding receptions and all kinds of places. It also snaps into focus and tracks even the fastest moving kids around with no trouble.

Don't forget the lenses! There's no point in having a 10 megapixel sensor if you're just going to stick it behind a crummy little lens. Think about it, the lens carries the image, and the sensor records it. A 3MP sensor behind a professional lens is better than a 10MP sensor behind a bad one. You're just getting 7 million extra pixels of blur! My lenses are nikon professional zooms at f2.8 for greater light-gathering and flattering portraits, and prime lenses for working in near darkness and top quality sharpness.

The miraculous iTTL creative lighting system

For a lot of people this is the only reason necessary to choose Nikon. I have plenty of experience in studio lighting, and Nikon speedlights let me use some of this on location with portable, battery powered, wireless kit that creates beautiful, flattering light anywhere. Including indoors if it's raining. Check out strobist.comto get up to speed on this stuff.

Hi, I'm a mac...

I always made and looked after my own PCs until a couple of years ago when I made the decision to switch to mac. I decided the power and reliability were important enough to pay the extra for. When you depend on your computer as much as lots of us now do, it seems daft to try and save a few hundred quid on a lesser machine. The mac just...works. Plus the macbook pro looks really really cool for slideshows at wedding receptions.

I use adobe lightroom on the road and back on the desktop to edit and enhance my pictures, and photoshop for the occasional bit of, um, massaging!

PS

Any other photographers out there who haven't got in touch yet, please do. There are a few of us who like to meet up and chat every now and then. We're the friendly ones!