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Photo Safaris

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To capture my photographs I go on one of three types of adventures in Los Angeles, I call Photo Safari's.

I stay in my apartment’s courtyard or on it’s front lawn – this is where I get 90% of my insect and hummingbird photos.

 

I walk within my neighborhood and adjacent neighborhoods, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Hollywood, sometimes on a specific path, sometimes wondering without thought. I have a walking radius of about 10 blocks. If I walk farther then that, I have to take a bus home.

I go to specific places using mass transit – Santa Monica Beach, Downtown LA, Griffith Observatory

My Equipment

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I have a Sony a6500 Mirrorless camera, an 85 mm Marco lens and a 24-240mm Zoom lens. I’m not a “gear-head”, that’s all of the photography equipment I own.

I chose that camera for three reasons; 

  • 1) it is small and light, I can easily carry it all day…
  • 2) It has an APC size sensor, which is pretty close to full-size…
  • 3) It’s a Sony – I’ve never been disappointed in any Sony product I’ve ever bought, yes, it’s expensive – but, as dad would say, “you get what u pay for”

I chose the Sony 90mm Macro lens for photographing insects. When used with the APC sensor, it’s equivalent  to a 105mm lens on a full-size sensor – that’s plenty of strength to pull insects as small as an ant.

 

I chose the Sony 24-240mm zoom for any insect the size of a large bee –  to small animals such as humming birds and lizard – on up to squirrels medium to large birds. 

The Sony 24-240mm Zoom was the only purchase I regret. I should have bought the 100-400 Sony Zoom lens. the one I bought is just not powerful enough to capture what I see. It’s useful, and I’m happy that I have it – it works great, it is a Sony – but, it’s just not strong enough to capture what I see – chest la vie.