Tools of My Trade

WACOM Intuos Pro Large

My go to tool for doing rough sketches for design work on Photo Shop and Illustrator. I do try to avoid the tool on InDesign and Light Room, and stick with a good ol' mouse and keyboard. If you can afford it, try it out, as the Intuos is a great tool that I picked up after doing some research into how I can use a "paint brush" in a digital format. After looking into Loish van Baarle's work I decided to take the leap and buy this amazing piece of equipment, that personally any artist should have.

Nikon F and Ilford Film

When it comes to traditional 35mm black and white film I stick with my mint condition 1972 Nikon F that I received from my father. I always use a tri-pod or bi-pod when I can as well as a light meter to make sure the film comes out the best as I can not review it like digital film. The best part of the Nikon family of cameras is that I can use any of my traditional lenses and digital lenses thanks to the universal bayonet system for all adding and removing of lenses to create a seemless universal application of camera and lenses. You have to remember as a traditional photographer, that I can not delete it, or retake it, and have to just continue the roll of film and hope for the best, so setting up the shot with my pods and light meters along with taking a few extra seconds to focus will guarantee the best chances of a beautiful shot. Ilford is the best in terms of quality and versatility with all film speeds, down to 100 for still portraits. 400 speed for versatility, and even 1000 for motion and industrial photos with alot of motion and subjects. The nice thing is, ilford is worldwide in terms of sales and can be found just about anywhere. I personally love to go to NYC and go to B and H and get all the camera supplies I need, and just walk around the city to find subjects and try out my new film. The truly nice thing about Ilford is that they also make wonderful silver gelatin paper for roughly a dollar a sheet if you can get a good price. I love using the warm tone paper so that it gives off a nice sepia tone quality and adds a hint of vitality to the picture and adds a nice historical look to the photo, as if it was from the 19th century, and Nadar took the photo, to hopefully inspire me and others to be on the level of quality of the old photo pioneers and masters, to hopefully be compared to Stieglitz, MapleThorpe, and Ansel Adams.

Nikon D5500

I work with a Nikon D5500 and all lenses and accessories that the Nikon family of cameras works with. It is a great middle of the road camera for someone who is starting out in the professional level of photography, and will help lead into the much more expensive and high end level of Nikon cameras like the D500 series and all the way up to the D4S master camera. I use manual F1.2 35mm lenses for close up portrait work.  I also use digital lenses such as the standard F3.5 18mm-55mm for a wide range of subjects, all the way up to telephoto lenses that go up to F5.6 at 300mm for long distance and landscape shots.

Oil and Water Color Paints

In traditional canvas work and wood panel work I use only oil paints. I will do a quick grey scale under coat in a neutral liquitex grey, but I solely work in oils for their chroma, life span, and versatility. Of course I do not like the clean up, or the steep learning curve but those are my only concerns as I personally see oil paints as a far superior medium over acrylic paints. My go to brand is Williamsburg as it is a great professional grade oil paint that is made right in New York state. I also like to work with Winsor and Newton and Sennelier for their oil and water color series that work well as under-paints for their oil line of products, and are much cheaper, on the higher end of student grade level paints.

Brushes

When it comes to brushes I try to go with a very cheap industrial brush to do large washes and toning of my canvases and panels, preferably cheap painters brushes from Home Depot or Lowes are best, so I can use very rough brushing techniques and not worry about damaging the bristles. I will then move up to a Artist Loft series level 3 professional brushes to do underpaintings. Michael's sells level 1 through 3, which are cheap but still very well made and great for the middle of the road in terms of art skill and value. When it comes to get into the fine work and detail, glazing, texture, and blending I stick to one brand above all else, Escoda, from Spain. They can be a bit pricey but Dick Blick or Jerry's Artarama are great places to look for sales on them. I use synthetic as it lasts longer, and when I get a bit rough with the brushes I am not scared of them breaking down on me. I would look into which type of Escoda works for you, depending on the medium, and style of brushing and effect you are looking for in your work. I personally stick with Modernista for soft delicate detail, but my main go to is the Opera series, as it is soft, but hard at the same time for versatility, not to mention the handles come in a beautiful crimson.