my gear
Sony A6000
I’ve been passionate about photography from a young age and have had many cameras, but this one was my first serious kit purchase and is also my first Sony. I bought it in early 2018 and though it shows its age (it’s slow, the crop sensor doesn’t perform that well in low light, it’s prone to getting dust on the sensor quite easily and has no 4k video) this little camera body from 2014 has gained cult status and there are Youtube channels and Instagram accounts dedicated to it. For my still shooting the A6000 still works beautifully.
Sony 85mm F1.7
This lens is massive and it feels unwieldy on the A6000, but it is fast, incredibly sharp and makes for my favourite street photography Sony set-up as it doesn’t make me feel like a paparazzo when I photograph subjects on the other side of the street. The portraits it produces never disappoint.
Samyang 12mm F2 AF E-Mount
Originally, I got this to take decent photos of the Milky Way after I didn’t get the results I wanted with my kit lens and oh, it is magical. But it turned out to be much more than an astrophotography lens, with fantastic bokeh in wide shots that always look sharp and cinematic. Great in museums and out in the wild.
Lumix GX9
I don’t remember owning a camera that is fun to use; this little body may only shoot 20.3 MP but it makes up for the relatively low resolution by having a ton of features (tilting viewfinder?!) and creative modes to play with. Switching from the Sony system, however, the learning curve was steep and the menus go on forever. But the compact lenses, snappy boot-up and the fact that it auto-corrects the lens distortion won me over and now I seldom leave the house without it. Extra points for the silver-top body making it look timeless.
Lumix 25mm F1.8
This beauty is basically soldered to my GX9. Being a prime lens, it forces me to get closer to my subjects but it is so fast and responsive that even when I don’t look at the screen to compose my shot, the results are always sharp. Shooting with this in Manual mode taught me more than all the Youtube photography tutorials that I’ve come across.
GoPro Hero 8
No fancy front-facing colour screens like its more recent iterations, this thing lives in whatever travel bag I carry. It’s great for documenting my bike rides, museum tours and visits to the pool and the time-lapse videos that come out of it are simply fantastic.
DJI Mini 2
An entry-level drone that fits the purpose of simply taking great photos and 4k video from up to 2km high, that is if you get to bypass the current EU restrictions on leisure flying. Even on JPEG, details are sharp, the controls are reliable and the little fellow resists the windiest of beaches. I always get a twinge of adrenaline whenever I fly it.
Samsung Galaxy S22+
My everyday tool to capture my creative process, scan documents and pretty much do what a functional adult needs to get done. For a fraction of the cost of a high-end iPhone, I get a snappy camera interface, super powerful manual mode tools and a more than decent 3x telephoto lens. Works great in low-light environments and it even does astrophotography. I know cameras are always innovating but it still blows my mind to think of the kind of photos I can take with a phone.
iPad Pro 12.9″ 2018
My only photo editing tool. Honestly, I won’t use Lightroom unless I need back up the day’s shoot or if there are some major lens profile/dust-on-sensor/vignetting corrections to be done. I get to edit wherever I want and there’s something very satisfying about selecting, tweaking and sharing with VSCO and Apple Pencil while holding the screen that I wholly enjoy; still unlike developing film in a darkroom but definitely more hands-on.