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LET ME START by saying that I don’t pretend to be a great photographer. I’ve been one for over 50 years, but I find myself in a permanent state of learning, trying to improve, and adapting to new challenges. As much as anything, this site serves as my own notebook. A place where I can record my thoughts and share ideas that might be useful to others interested in improving their photography.

This comes partially as a response to some really poor advice that I see given out on a variety of photography websites. I won’t name names here, but the internet gave everyone a platform and anyone can profess themselves expert — even if they are far from it. I’ll strive to be a voice of honest opinion based on my own experiences that started in film and transitioned as an early adopter in the digital age.

  • B&H — B&H has been the place I’ve been ordering the bulk of my camera gear from for decades.
  • Adorama — I’ve recently tried Adorama a few times, starting when they had some used equipment that B&H didn’t. No complaints so far. Both of these companies have been great for photo gear purchases.
  • Nikon — Again, there’s nothing wrong with Canon, Sony, Fuji, etc., but I just happen to be a Nikon guy. I started with Fujica, then Olympus, and adopted the Nikon system with the F100, still back in the film days.
  • Tamron — I was one of the first 12 Tamron Image Masters but parted ways with them a few years ago. I still enjoy their lenses and will continue to consider them when making new purchases. I think Sigma is interesting as well, but can’t say that I’ve ever owned one so I’ll refrain from adding them to this list for now.
  • Rokinon — Another interesting and affordable lens manufacturer. I have a manual focus 85mm that ranks among my favorite lenses.
  • Irix — Irix makes a limited variety of lenses, but they are all really interesting. The build quality is very good as well.
  • MeFoto — My current choice for a travel tripod is the MeFoto GlobeTrotter. Nice and light and very compact.
  • ThinkTank — I’ve owned a few ThinkTank bags for my camera gear and I’ve found them to be extremely sturdy and well thought-out. While have have a few small bags by other brands for day outings, I think my ThinkTank will be my flight bag for quite some time.
  • Scottevest — I typically wear a Scottevest jacket on days that I’m flying. They have tons of pockets and most zip shut so they are very handy for carrying small bits of gear like chargers, portable hard drives, cables, etc. and you don’t have to worry about things falling out of the pockets when you drop the jacket into the x-ray bin in the airport. It really becomes an extra piece of luggage that isn’t counted by the airlines. In a pinch, a Scottevest can even make a serviceable camera bag with pockets sized to even hold a 70-200mm lens.

My current gear

I’ll include a list below of the gear I currently use for my photography. I never take all of this with me on one outing, but it’s the list that I pick-and-choose from for each project or trip.

  • Camera bodies: Nikon D850, D810 (both full-frame)
  • Back-up/secondary bodies: D700 (full-frame) and a D7000 (cropped sensor)
  • Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8
  • Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8
  • Nikkor 80-200mm (largely replaced now by the Tamron above)
  • Tamron 150-600mm G1 f/5-6.3
  • Nikkor 28-105mm macro f/3.5-4.5
  • Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye
  • Irix 11mm f/4
  • Nikon 35mm f/2.0
  • Voigtlander 40mm f/2 pancake lens
  • Tamron 45mm f/1.8
  • Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
  • Nikkor 60mm macro
  • Rokinon 85mm f/1.4
  • a few other all-in-one zooms including the Tamron 16-300 and Nikkor 24-120
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Michael C. Snell

Michael C. Snell is a travel photographer based in Lawrence, Kansas. After working as a designer and art director in the advertising and marketing industry for over 12 years, Michael left to pursue a freelance career in photography and design. Since then, he has had images published in a variety of publications around the world and his stock photography is available through Robert Harding World Imagery and at Alamy.com.

Michael is a member — and former Board member — of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). He is a past Chair of SATW’s Freelance Council and is currently the Chair of the SATW Photographers’ Sub-Council.