Happy 2016 and reflections on 2015

I began writing this post on New Years day, 2016. Happy New Year to you all.

At the risk of jinxing it already, my 'new years resolution' is to take more photos :-) Probably not a stretch for a photographer. But for someone like me, who spends so much time agonising over camera purchases, it's worth making that commitment. I have finally, after many years of searching, found the camera and system 'for me'. Now I want to get out and start using it.

Josh on Christmas Day 2015. Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII with 9mm Fisheye bodycap lens.

2015 will always stand out for me as the year I went 'mirrorless'. I owned some pretty amazing cameras in 2015 (Canon 1D MkIII stands out), but none more-so than the Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII.

For a very long time I held on to my DSLR's, and had convinced myself that mirrorless was not for me. Oh how wrong can you be? I now truly believe that I will never own another DSLR. Even if Olympus folded (and they are having their problems), I would look at either Fuji or Panasonic mirrorless as replacements. Wouldn't even consider another DSLR.

NZ Robin. E-M5 MkII with Zuiko 40-150mm

2016 is going to be about the images, and not about the gear (so much). To this end, I took my kit with me on New Years Day and the family went for a walk to Coal Creek. On the way, we were stopped by this inquisitive and very friendly Robin. He showed no fear of us whatsoever, and posed just a few feet away from me as I snapped away with the 40-150mm f4/5.6.

The light level was very low, so the camera chose an ISO of 3200 (I have it set to Auto ISO ranging from 200 to 3200), which allowed my to get sharp images at around 125th sec.

As well as taking my camera with me and getting out with the family as much as I can, this year I also hope to be far more active in my local camera club.

The monthly meetings begin in February and I am going to try to make it to all the meetings, and submit at least one image every month for judging. I might post them on this blog each month, along with the judges comments. Might be interesting to look back and see how I went over the year? First up in February is 'Waves' as the set subject, although you can also enter 'nature' or the 'open' section as well.

Coal Creek Falls HDR. Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII and Zuiko 12-50mm f3.5/6.3 EZ. Processed using Photomatix

There are a lot of opportunities to go out and take photos coming up in the next few months. I'm going to try and take as many of those opportunities as I can.