A short while ago I sent friend and fellow blogger Darren Coleshill, who writes the Photalife blog, a little email. I proposed we meet up and make a video together. The aim: to discuss the camera and video equipment we use.
Darren thought it was a great idea and so we set a date. Alas, things didn’t go too smoothly at first as either illness or poor weather prevented us from putting our plan into action and we had to cancel our get together several times.
Last week, however, the weather behaved and no one fell ill. We finally met and shot our video on the edge of some common land half way between our two homes.
Click play on the video below to see what happened. Hope fully you’ll agree we do a superb Ant and Dec.
I’ve wanted to do something collaboratively with Darren with ages so I’m delighted this came off. I can think of no one better to talk photography with.
Between the two of us, we arrived with an obscene amount of equipment. Darren had his Nikon camera and the world’s largest lens while I turned up with my rather basic Canon DSLR and basic GoPro. I did, however, redeem myself by bringing my DJI Phantom Drone and my Panasonic HC-V770 video-camera.
We flew the drone, flicked through Darren’s photography ‘Bible’ and I looked on in envy as Darren showed me around his camera. We also discussed techniques and how we go about shooting photographs and video in various scenarios.
We’ve both recorded our own versions of the video. Below you’ll find Darren’s.
We’re thinking of recording another video next month. This is where you come in.
Is there anything (…within reason) you’d like us to discuss on film? It could be photography or video related or perhaps about fatherhood and family life?  If you can think of anything, please either leave a comment below or on one of our videos.
We hope you like our videos and please don’t be shy of suggesting what we should record next month.
The downside of making a video with Mr Coleshill? It’s proven to be an expensive business for me. Having seen the lightweight camera tripod and higher-end GoPro Darren uses, I rushed off and bought some new equipment for myself.  Who knows what I’ll end up buying after we make our next video?
7 thoughts on “What’s in my camera bag? With Darren of Photalife”
Great collaboration guys, love both vlogs and seeing the different styles.
Would love to see a piece on the software you both use following …
So jealous of the drone too John 🙂
Oh the drone is great. Software would be an interesting one. I’ll put that on the list.
Great stuff guys, I need some time to sit down and watch both videos in full, but looking forward to future collaborations already.
Thanks Ryan. Hope you like the videos and if you have any suggestions, you know where we are.
Hi guys, I’m a novice DSLR user as to say I know the names of functions and can rustle up a decent snap. However, equipment! The names, pancake and telephoto for example. Could their be an idiots guide to lenses? Call them things like close up or long distance lens 🙂 or even longer lens.
That would be great and any suggestions for quality 2nd hand cheaper purchases too. Maybe a list of lens types/specs and suggested purchase for macro, portrait etc.
Ah, so you’d like some hardcore detail Phil? I think Darren and I can possibly help with this. We’ll let you know.
This is a great video post! With an increased popularity of blogging and vlogging, technology such as drones and GoPro’s have really become sought after products by so many people, they’ve become modern day ‘toys’ for anyone to enjoy and also capture lots of memories.