Battered is Better - No not a discussion about blue cod....

I love 'battle-worn' camera gear. I get the warm fuzzies whenever I notice that the black anodizing has worn through to reveal bare aluminium near a button or switch on my camera body. My pulse quickens when I spy a piece of rubberised plastic slowly dissolving after hundreds of hours of contact with my (apparently quite grimy) hands.

I can't profess to have reached this level of wear & tear but my 4 year old D2X is just starting to get good. No real monster dings or scrapes, more of a cumulative patina of pragmatic decay - including a very stubborn and quite crusty spot of egg yolk ingrained in the rubber at this year's toga party riots in Dunedin.

Toga threesome: glad you lot are having fun.... I'm still finding egg on my gear.

I can trace this admiration for deterioration back to 1997. Sarah & I were at a weekend workshop with Art Wolfe and Nikon had sent some kind of ambassador/legend guy along to show off 800mm lenses and the recently released F5 body.

Nikon F5 - creator of many a late night fantasy during the 1990's and possible vanquisher of bears

This dude was seriously cool. Not that he thought so at all - which, of course, is why he was so cool. He had the air of a survivor, a war-torn photo-journalist turned nature photographer who had seen things that would leave poseurs such as myself looking for a new career.

Apparently his pre-production F5 had been quite instrumental in his continued ability to breath. Casual (yet reverent) inspection suggested that en-route to the workshop, our man had extricated himself out of tight spot with a Kodiak bear - by using his F5 as a club.

Furthermore, It appeared that upon reaching his car he had succumbed to a spot of shock and, for reasons known only to him, attached his camera to the tow ball of his car and high-tailed it to the nearest bar (180 miles away in Anchorage).

His camera looked absolutely shagged. The finder prism was dented in, rubber was torn off, only about 40% of the black anodizing remained - but apparently it still worked like a charm.

Nikon couldn't have orchestrated a better PR campaign if they tried (frankly, I doubt that nikon marketing could never do anything that clever).

I was sold on nikon from that day onwards and despite my grumblings I still am. Their pro body build quality and performance in really tough environments is as exceptional today as it was 15 years ago - cue the Kodiaks!

TA

I forgot to mention......

That our recommended New Zealand camera stores listing is now up on our site.

Anyone needing some new gear should check it out.

TA

NZ Photography Hotspots - Mt Cook/Lake Pukaki

My blog has segued quite dramatically towards becoming a parenting and relationships column recently. The web has enough of that 'content' already, so I thought I had better get some photography postings up before I find myself sharing my to-die-for pecan and maple muffin recipe with you!

So it is with great pleasure that I announce the release of part 1 of our 2 part Mt Cook photo-guide here.

We have also posted several shots from our recent trip on flickr ,so check them out. Everyone is going gaga over Sarah's shots and I am now feeling inadequate vulnerable and under-appreciated - think I'll go bake a tray of my incredible mocha banana brownies OMG they are sooo goooood!!!! I'll get the recipe up tomorrow ;-)

If you have found us on blogger, remember to drop by our website to view our New Zealand Photography :)

Welcome to the photo autocracy

Howdy, welcome to the photo autocracy - future home to my un-censored ramblings, ruminations and randomisations (as well as a fair amount of alliteration).

I will be using this 'forum' to keep you up to date with articles, postings and work in progress over at sisson.co.nz - our website/store. This blog is an opinion-piece, pure and simple, and while little or no effort will be expended in researching or preparing posts, I can guarantee with almost 50% certainty that 50% of what I write will be 50% accurate some of the time. This almost certainly makes the information on these pages about 200% more accurate than most of the crud that poses as 'expert advice' on the web.

So the ball is in your court - read my articles, edit out the bits you don't want to believe and take the rest as divine gospel - perfect!

What you will find me writing about in the future:

• New Zealand Landscape photography advice
• General photographic philosophy
• Photographic gear advice and opinions (mainly nikon)
• Our photographic adventures
• Digital photography tips & philosophy
• New Zealand travel advice
• Anything else that cranks my tractor

Just a note on comments, although the blog is called the photo autocracy I have given a nod to the forces of democracy by enabling comments - think of it as a benevolent dictatorship. Feel free to post positive comments, I see little point in disagreeing with me as your opinion will undoubtedly be misguided and inevitably wrong. Hence, I will not be engaging in discussion, debate or good ol' fashioned flame-fests on the comments board.

Yours benevolently - The Autocrat