COVID YEAR IN A NUTSHELL
The year 2020 was pretty fucked up, let's face it and admit it. More than half of the weddings were canceled or postpones to another year and even some weddings from 2021 were already postponed indefinitely or to 2022. It brought a huge income drop and concern for the health of the whole family and our loved ones was also almost everyday topic. This is how 2020 could be described.
Fortunately, not everything was so bad and when I look look back, I dare to think that sooner or later it will seem more positive..
I really don't want to make light of all the problems around, but I prefer to look the whole 2020 in a positive way and this is how I want to remember the year.
- free time for our family
- business optimization and improvements
- transition to mirrorless system
PHOTOGRAPHER WITHOUT WORK = MORE FAMILY TIME
Wedding photography business is mainly seasonal and it is quite common in our country that we do not have as much time in spring and summer as we would like to have because of the work load. This year has changed that. Spring lockdown was in a way a kind of blessing for us and we enjoyed it to the fullest with our family.
We spend every day in the woods, on a bike, Ondra and I went to sleep outside and camping, which are all activities that we don't normally have that much time for. We have made up for previous years and we already know that we do not want to return to the old tracks with a lot of work and full weekends. Instead, we are already planning for something between this year and the busy one.
TIME FOR IMPROVEMENTS
Making a living with a photography is a business like any other. The fact that it is also a hobby is, in a way, a curse to the creative person. The photographer wants to create constantly, capture memories and be creative, which is why he doesn't have time to look back, find out what he's doing wrong and what he could do better. I am no exception, although I am aware of this problem and I'm trying to prevent it.
This year, thanks to the months when I couldn't work in a camera in my hands, I stopped completely and went through the basics, what I can actually do for you, what I'm good at, what I like to do and the most important how I can help you.
I had enough time to prepare new ways of how your photos can look like (believe me that digital files are just a beginning), I started with reorganization of the studio, which I want to finish next year, and improved my entire workflow.
It was often enough just to solve small things that I had wanted to do for a long time, but for which there was never time due to the amount of work. Now, thanks to all the free time I had for the improvements, I'm looking forward to process being faster, so I can finish photos for you sooner, and at the same time that I have more time for my family.
TRANSITION TO MIRRORLESS SYSTEM
To cover also gear talk and make photographers happy, here are a few lines about cameras. As a longtime user and lover of Nikon, I have been more and more attracted to competing brands and mirrorless cameras in recent years. I'm not hiding that the accuracy of the Sony system impresses me, but it has never been so important for me to make me change the whole system and leave Nikon.
I've borrowed Sony cameras a few times, and I've always found out it's not a camera for me, mainly because of the ergonomics that just don't fit. But it doesn't change the fact that I've wanted to switch to mirrorless for a long time.
When Nikon introduced the first generation of mirrorless cameras two years ago, I was looking forward to it. But the one card slot disappointment was for me a no go and the reliability of focusing in the first firmware version was not entirely perfect, so instead of purchasing a new Z system, I bought another D850 at that time.
Note - Before anyone starts explaining to me that one slot is not a problem, please don't. I photographed weddings already a long time ago on film and yes, after switching to digital, I photographed for a long time on the D700, which also had only one card slot. But those times are gone. I'm used to more certainty of two slots and if I can choose, I just don't want to have only one slot anymore. I'm paranoid about losing data and I don't want to explain to clients that they won't have photos from the wedding, even if it would be only 1 bride in 100 cases. No, thank you.
But the mirrorless attracted me more and more, and after the introduction of the R5, I strongly considered moving to Canon. However at that time the second generation of Nikon Z was already about to be launched and promised to fix most of the problems I had with the original Z6 and Z7. So I decided to wait and then compare whether to stay with Nikon or change the brand after 17 years.
Well, it turned out well. Although Nikon still doesn't reach the accuracy of Sony and Canon's autofocus and eye-af only focus on a shorter distance compared to the competition, it doesn't limit the way I work and that's enough. For me the quality of the lenses, ergonomics and the output of Nikon cameras are why I want to stay with Nikon. So I already have the Z6II at home and a set of prime Z lenses too. The Z7II and the 70-200 are already on the way and 50/1.2 will be in my bag soon as well. Now I'm most looking forward to the launch of 85/1.2, maybe 135/1.8 some day and I will be satisfied.
But let's be honest - mirrorless cameras are still not perfect, there is still a part of work where DSLR works better. For example for photographing a night wedding party, where you really party hard on the floor almost in the dark, Z system in not ready yet. That's why I keep my D850 and some F glasses. However, 80% of my work is already photographed on Z6II and I believe that a new firmware will help cover the rest. The only thing I'm sorry about is that Nikon doesn't do 28-70/2 like Canon has. That lens was one of the biggest temptation for me to switch to Canon. I would buy it from Nikon immediately.
If you are interested in this topic of the new Nikons and the transition from DSLR to mirrorless, or if you have any specific questions, feel free to email me. I can give you more detailed informations.
Final words? This year made everything a little more complicated for us. The extremely low number of weddings makes me still feel sad. After all, the wedding are still a source of energy for me. Equally important was the large drop of income that I have to deal with. But more family time, selfdevelopment and business improvements and relaxation made up for it all. I definitely don't want the following years to be the same, but even if they were, we would survive and enjoy them.
So let us all wish that the coming years are better and learn from this year what he has taught us and what he has given us.
Have a great time and I hope that we will rock in 2021 again.
your wedding photographer
Jindrich
