About me
My interest in photography was awoken during my early teens by my Grandmother who kindly gave me a 35mm SLR camera.
The camera had, by today's standards, a rather primitive light meter mounted directly above the lens which took an average reading of the entire light source in front of the camera. A scale of apertures and related shutter-speeds could then be consulted which were then manually selected on the camera before the shutter could finally be depressed.
At first, of course, it was a rather 'hit-and-miss' affair, especially since instant film developing was still a thing of the future and each film had to be posted away for developing for several weeks. However, experience was soon gained and it was an extremely valuable experience which taught me the basic principles of exposure and 'reading the light'.
Eventually I upgraded to a camera which had a more superior light meter and semi-automatic exposure, which I used for over 20 years.
During the early part of 2008 I decided to convert to digital - not only to embrace the advances in camera technology but also to be able to carry out digital image processing and so be able to control the whole process from beginning to end.
I always try to achieve the best result in-camera but make no excuses for the fact that I use post-processing software to maximise a photographs impact in much the same way as black & white film users did with their darkrooms in days gone by.
I recently added a compact camera to my kit. Camera technology has advanced so much now that this small piece of technology is almost as powerful as my DSLR but fits in my pocket. So now I have no excuse for not taking a camera during my trips around the British Isles.
My Camera Gear
I am not a big advocate of brand or model snobbery - I use what suits me for the purpose and so how much it costs or whose badge is on the front is of little interest to me. However, there may be people who would like to be reassured that I didn't need to spend the equivalent of a small car to take the images on this website.
The main equipment used by John Hallett Photography is:
K200D DSLR Camera
Pentax DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL (Mid-range zoom)
Sigma 10-20mm F3.5 EX DC HSM (Wide-angle zoom)
Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO DG Macro (Telephoto zoom)
Metz 48 AF-1 Flashgun
DMC-LX3 Compact Camera
Velbon Sherpa 450 Tripod with Giottos MH1302-652 Series 2 Ball Head and Velbon PH-157Q 3 way panhead
Find more of my photographs on Flickr:
www.flickr.com
Go to JohnHallett's photostream
All material on this web-site is copyright
© John Hallett 2008-2010
