Women In Photography

Over the years I've witnessed numerous conversations, blog posts and articles on the subject of women in photography - but every time those involved seemed (to me, at least) to miss a key point. 

It's good to own a woman for many reasons, but an important one is the blocking of lens flare in telephoto situations... when your long, manly arms just don't have the reach required to do the job adequately. This has been a problem for me, despite being roughly 6' 5", more times than I can count on both hands (one more reason to bring your woman, and her fingers along) - but was never more evident than on my recent wander along the south side of the Swale...

We start off with a shot straight into the sun at 135mm - which (unsurprisingly) results in a few problems with flaring... 

At 100mm and longer, the usual solution of putting your finger/hand in front of the sun soon starts to fail due to the inherent depth of field issues. The hand may seem to be just over the sun but the lack of focus soon blurs that into problems no better than the lens flare you're trying to eliminate...

The solution? Bring your woman! Once she's packed your sandwiches, rather than allowing her to sit in watching reality TV (after doing the hoovering, of course), it's okay these days to let her come out to enjoy the evening with you. With sufficient direction - once she learns her lefts and rights, relative to yours - this gives you the benefit of much longer 'effective arms' - allowing you to block out the sun at a distance and avoid the depth of field problems blighting your lone efforts.

If this alone wasn't enough to persuade you to occasionally let your woman out - bear in mind that they can also be used as wind shields on blustery days, they can hold spare bits during lens changes and can chat no end to passers by who would otherwise be bothering you.

So in the next couple of weeks, why not try taking your woman out and let me know how you get on?