A Lazy Photographer Speaks Out

Mark Toal is just wrapping up an extended period of travel and will be back soon. In the meantime, here’s one of the “Best of Mark Toal”

Today’s post by Mark Toal

I’ve never liked using a tripod, I quit my first photo class when they wanted us to use a 4×5 view camera. When one-hour photo came along I left the darkroom behind. When digital cameras came along I was more than happy to stop using film.

I think I was made for small mirrorless cameras; camera that is always with me either over my shoulder or on the car seat beside me. I can pick it up and shoot without people even noticing me. I also find that shooting from the LCD screen as opposed to the viewfinder lets me get closer and communicate better with my subjects. They seem to be less intimidated when I don’t have a large camera in front of my face. Here are some examples of photos that I’ve shot while traveling around Portland, Oregon.

As I’ve written before, I walk around with my camera set in Program Mode and the ISO set to Auto so I’m ready for any situation. As soon as I see something, I raise the camera and shoot! Then if I want to stop and adjust the shutter speed, ISO or aperture at least I have the photo in case the moment that caught my eye changes. I do, however, shoot in the RAW format and process the files in Lightroom and Photoshop which I’m pretty lazy about too.