The scenario often goes something like this.... I'm watching a subject from a distance waiting for the right light or right moment or both to happen while trying to blend into the background when someone taps me on the shoulder and says, “Hi. Are you a professional photographer? I love taking photos too, can you recommend a camera I should buy?”

As a professional photographer people stop me all the time and chat me up about cameras. I enjoy it even if I miss the shot I was hoping to get. I know there will be another one coming along eventually. But I can't answer that question quickly. There is not one right answer for everyone.

First you have to get an idea of which type of camera is most suited to your needs. I'm going to clump cameras into four different types Cellphone, Point & Shoot, DSLR, and Medium/Large Format and above. There are some cameras that break these molds but those are pretty much unique items, and frankly I'm not going to talk about medium or large format cameras because if you needed it you would likely know that already.

In my opinion the Cellphone camera does a great job when you just want a quick snapshot and aren't worried about quality. Though they often lack in speed and image quality they have a great benefit of being pretty much with you all the time and you can usually quickly share the photo with a friend or send it to a website such as twitpic, facebook or flickr. There is also the space consideration to take into account since many cellphones are limited to how much memory they have built into them unless you have one that has an easily accessible external memory card slot.

A step up would be the Point & Shoot Camera and it is a great all around choice if you want something that will take great photos, is easy and quick to use, and has expandable memory space. They come in big and small sizes, with tons or little features, with lots of abilities or next to none, can create nice photos or poor photos, and can cost a princely sum or very little. Generally speaking the more you pay, the higher quality lens, better features, and larger image size you will get.
I've known professionals to pick up a point & shoot for a special ability or because it fits a need for a project. There is huge variety of point and shoot camera and knowing what you want to do with a camera really helps narrow down the options you need.

If I don't have time to talk with a person, I'll often suggest the Canon G12 (or whatever is newest in the series) or a Nikon Coolpix model but honestly sometimes this is too much camera for the person or not enough to fit their needs.

A DSLR (or Digital Single Lens Reflex) Camera is what most professionals and advanced amateurs use. If you care about image quality, the versatility of the camera, or want a specific feature such as a wide angle or telephoto lens then this is the type of camera you'll likely buy. Most DSLR cameras give you full manual control but also have full auto modes, and the price you pay can range from moderately expensive to dear Lord how much does that cost again? And the expense doesn't stop at the camera body because if you put a bad lens on a good camera body you still will have bad looking photos.

For the most part the amount you pay for a camera and lens together directly corresponds with the number of features and the quality of image. Expensive lens usually give better sharpness and the ability to take photos in natural light at high shutter speeds. If you want something to just pull out and take a quick photo, you can do it with a DSLR though it may be cumbersome at times to haul around.

If you did want to experiment with medium format cameras you could get a Holga which costs about $40. It's made of plastic, uses film, and doesn't give you much if any control, but sometimes just experimenting is half the fun. You could also look at buying a medium format film camera from a pawn shop, garage sale, or ebay. They can be fun to play around with, and you can push yourself out of your comfort zone and experiment.

In the next part of this series I'll talk about some of the questions to ask yourself when looking to buy a camera.

Every year as I get ready for contests and take a look back at last years work to see where I can improve or experiment more, I try to widdle down the thousands of photos I submit for publication to a few photos. I usually try to get this done by the end of the first week in January but I've had a busy January while learning to be a full time freelance photographer.

Here is a look at some of my favorite editorial photographs I created in 2010. If you have an opinion on them please leave a comment below or if you would like to know more about a photo leave me a note.

2010 Favorites - Images by Tim Norman

As I prepare to create a post including some of my favorite photos from 2010 there is something that bugs me about seeing the "Best of" postings around the internet that get posted on photographer websites, media blogs, and twitter and facebook postings.

As defined by Webster.com

best adj \'best\     superlative of good

1 : excelling all others <the best student>
2 : most productive of good : offering or producing the greatest advantage, utility, or satisfaction <what is the best thing to do>
3 : most, largest <it rained for the best part of their vacation>

Best is a definitive term but photographs are subjective. As much as a photojournalist tries to be objective in the moment of taking a photograph everything around them changes how and what they produce. Heck a photographer’s existence can influence without intention a subject’s actions and reactions.

Admittedly I've fallen into the trap of “Best of” postings myself and so do many photographers and companies as they try to quantify a previous year. I edit the thousands of photos I created down to a few every year not for the joy of it because honestly it ends of being a bit agonizing and difficult to decide which of your children to leave out of your "best". I do it to get ready to enter a couple photo competitions and because I want to display good examples of my work from the past year in one spot. It also helps me learn how well I did and where I need to explore and improve.

Every year I shave the selection down to about 40 and then it becomes exceedingly more difficult to separate out photos that are technically good from photographs I like for one reason or another. Perhaps it was the obstacle I maneuvered, the adventure I took, or the feeling I had when I took a photograph but I often find those reasons coloring my final selections.

In one of my first portfolios back in college as I was searching for my first real paying staff photography job, I had one photograph in it that I wasn't in love with but everyone around me said was one of my best. I took the photo on a trip to Las Vegas with the the Bowling Green State University football team as they prepared to play in a bowl game. One of the Flying Elvi parachuted into a pep rally near a Las Vegas landmark and I captured it in black and white. I liked the photo, but I wasn't sure it was one of my best. Their comments influenced me to keep it in my portfolio.

So best? What is this "best" thing. When I'm editing my own work technical merits come into play but so does the emotion of the moment. Whether it is the emotion held by the photograph or the emotion I'm having at that moment in time. There are days when I prefer the happy photos and there are others when I prefer the sad photos. It is all subjective. Even the technical merits can be argued by those who want to delve deep into why a photos is technically good.

I judged a local monthly photo competition a couple years ago that one of my friends judged a few months prior. After the competition was over I was asked by several entrants why I had chosen one of the images as a winner. It turned out a contestant entered the same photograph of a lily in a vase on a black background into both competitions. From me I judged it as one of the award winners because I liked the use of lines and the contrast of the black and white. To my friend it wasn't even in the final selection and knowing this individual I know he doesn't find photographs of flowers to be all that compelling.

If there is one thing I've learned from being a judge and watching judging is that the final selection is subjective. Sitting in a darkened room while watching judges make their choices I’ve heard comments from seasoned veteran photographers during and afterward that disagreed with the final selection. If you sat a panel of different judges in the same room with the same photos you will discover that those same photos will not win the second time around or at the very least they will not be in the same winning order.

There was a photo a few years back that won first place that was clearly out of focus but was a decisive moment of a cycling event as a deer jumped out of the bushes and ran across the biking path. To the photographers I worked with and talked to, we were confused at what the judges saw and even wondered how it made it into the final pick. All we saw was that it was out of focus from movement of the camera or not being focus sharp in camera. Was the decisive moment enough to put it above the rest of photographs for that category?

I’ve personally had photographs that win first place in the Ohio Newspaper Photographs Association monthly contest but in the annual competition are dismissed in the first round of editing by the judges. I’ve even had a photograph I loved which did not place at all in monthly competition but took second place in the annual competition.

Judges are subjective. So are photographers when we make our selections. We are affected by our environment, our emotions and our subject’s emotions as we create the photographs. It is natural that despite all good intentions of bringing objectivity to it that our favorite photographs are subjectively chosen from the moment we click the shutter. So best is really the wrong terminology to use. I understand why though. It was started decades ago because It is descriptive and more definitive term than saying “Favorite Photos of 2010” or “Top Posts of 2010”.

I’ll try not to let it ruffle my feathers, but everyone should know the best isn’t the best all the time. They are simply someone’s favorites of the moment.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think.

Here are some photos from the event as well as a video I created. 

Martin Luther King 2011 - Images by Tim Norman

Remembering MLK in Dublin, Ohio from Tim Norman on Vimeo.

A collection of segments from the Dublin Community Remembrance Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Dublin, Ohio on January 17, 2011. The event took place in the auditorium at Dublin Jerome High School.

Here are a collection of quick videos I shot from different events I've photographed over the past month. I couldn't find something to do with them so I thought I would put them together as a collection of Christmas season videos. Enjoy.

Also a note, I'm starting to use html5 to embed the videos so I hope this works for everyone.

German Village from Tim Norman on Vimeo.

Performs play during the Village Lights in German Village on Sunday, December 5, 2010. Luminaries lined many of the streets in German Village where people took advantage of the carriage rides, caroling and other activities during the event.

Horse Drawn Carriage from Tim Norman on Vimeo.

Max Spangler and Carol Oakley drive a carriage from Heinlein Carriage Service in the Mariner's Cove subdivision on Sunday, December 19, 2010. Spangler's horses are named Ally (right) and Maggie (left).

Clintonville Community Choir from Tim Norman on Vimeo.

The Clintonville Community Choir sings during the Clintonville Christmas Tree Lighting event presented by the Clintonville Rotary at the Park of Roses Shelter House at Whetstone Park, 3901 North High Street, on Sunday, December 19, 2010.

Olentangy Liberty Tree Elementary Children's Chorus from Tim Norman on Vimeo.

Lori Walls leads the Olentangy Liberty Tree Elementary Children's Chorus during a performance at the Columbus Zoo's "Sounds of the Seasons" event on Monday, December 20, 2010.