A trip down memory lane

Have you ever looked back at some of your VERY first photographs that you took ? Those photos that you were SO proud of and couldn’t wait to post on social media platforms, hell some out there might have been confused why National Geographic weren’t calling them begging for the rights to publish their photos in NatGeo!

I decided to do this recently and boy did I find a few “beauties” on my external storage devices that made me smile and also wonder what I was thinking at the time.

My first genre of photography

I started out with Avian (bird) photography because as birds are everywhere it would be easy to find them to photograph. Little did I know that this type of photography also requires expensive equipment in forms of long focal lengths etc (I will touch on this later).

Equipment journey over the years

  • 2012 (Canon 450D & 18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM)

    • Looking back how did I think I could do bird photography with such a short focal length? The beauty of photography is that despite there being guidelines the creative approach is unique to each of us and what we use our photos for is a personal choice.

  • 2015 (Canon 7D & 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM)

    • I started getting serious about photography as my wife and I started visiting Pilanesberg National Park on a regular basis. The quality of my images improved due to the longer 250mm focal length meaning less cropping of my images (the 1st image below of a Lilac-breasted Roller was the first image taken with this combination).

    • For those of you that are looking for a lens with a focal length of 250mm, the 55-250mm from Canon is an absolutely stunning lens that is not only light and incredibly sharp but also budget “friendly”.

  • 2016 (Canon 7D mark II & 100-400mm L IS II)

    • This is a GREAT bird photography combination as it offers an effective 640mm of reach due to the 1.6 crop factor of the camera body. It can be paired with a Canon Extender EF 1.4x III which fits between camera body and lens which extends the focal length to 896mm — this is the perfect bird photography combination!

    • My wife and I visited Giants Castle in Drakensberg in 2019 to photograph the Bearded Vulture - see an image of this combination below.

  • 2017 (Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II)

    • An incredible lens and one I had always dreamed of owning - it is one of the more expensive Canon lens’ but worth every penny! This is my everyday “go to” lens for bird and wildlife photography.

  • 2019 (Canon 5D Mark IV & Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 L IS USM)

    • I started getting serious about landscape photography and purchased my first full frame camera - the Canon 5D Mark IV. This camera is AMAZING and even to this day I get blown away at the quality of the image that you can take with this sensor!

    • I needed a quality wide angle lens so the obvious choice for me was the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 L IS USM - it is SO sharp and a perfect lens to be paired with the 5D Mark IV!

Image gallery

  • Canon 7D & 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

Lilacbreasted Roller web.jpg

  • Canon 7D mark II & 100-400mm L IS II

Bearded Vulture #2.jpg

  • Canon 5D Mark IV & EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II

Lilac-breasted Roller.jpg

  • Canon 5D Mark IV & Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 L IS USM

Kalk Bay Harbour 1.jpg

No matter what your equipment is the most important thing to remember is to get out into nature (once Covid-19 lockdown restrictions allow of course!) and make some memories that you can look back on in the years to come!

Till next time…

PhotographyMark BooysenMemory LaneComment