About

Welcome to my blog, The Lazy Photographer.

So what’s the lowdown with LazyP you might be wondering… Here are a few fast facts to chew on:

I started out as a pure street photographer but I currently consider myself more of a documentary photographer.

How it all started: After being laid off from a job that was pretty much sucking the life out of my anyway, I decided to pick up this old Panasonic point & shoot camera (LZ2 – 5 megapixels – 6x zoom) I had tucked away in a drawer and take the summer off to learn what to point it at. To my inexperienced eye at the time, everything I shot was exciting, new and original, worthy of adorning the walls of Buckingham palace no less. Looking back on those old photos, they were mostly shit.

That’s where the idea for The Lazy Photographer came from, from me taking a summer off work to learn photography rather than finding a new job right away. Sure seemed like a lazy thing to do. Sure glad I did it. 

It wasn’t long before I decided to upgrade to a DSLR. After spending months pouring over photography magazines like a 13 year old who found his dad’s old Playboys, and agonizing about which camera I was going to adopt as my new baby, I ended up with a Canon T2i (aka 550D) with a very sharp and fast Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 lens to point at stuff.

Not soon after, I bought another amazingly sharp and fast, and WIDE, Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 lens. To round off the system I purchased a nice Canon 55-250mm F4-5.6 lens for longer zooms. I really enjoyed that camera system and would recommend those lenses in a heartbeat.

Back in the fall of 2012 I upgraded again to a full frame Canon 5D Mrk III with a 24-105 F4 L glass lens. I also bought a 50mm F1.4 prime lens. What a camera, is all I can say. I sold off my older T2i and those sweet sharp lenses and began shooting exclusively with the big boy camera.

In the spring of 2015 I added a wide angle lens to my family. A Canon 16-35 f4 IS L glass lens. Very sharp and wide.

In the fall of 2016 I bought a Fuji X Pro 2, which is a small rangefinder style camera. Some call it a poor man’s Leica. Along with the camera I bought a 23mm f2 prime lens (35mm full frame equivalent) and a 14mm f2.8 wide prime (21mm full frame equivalent). I’ve since purchased an 18mm f2 prime (27mm full frame equivalent), which remains on the camera most of the time. Nowadays I’m shooting street with the Fuji exclusively. I do use the Canon for paid gigs, though. They rarely come up.

I’ve taken a couple of short photography courses, but most of what I’ve learned has come from reading and the interwebby thing, along with a lot of practice. 

I ended up shooting for a local magazine for a while but have since moved on. I’ve also sold photos for private and commercial use. I sold one of my photos for use in a Nike ad, which was pretty darn cool. I won a small photography contest and was runner up on four other occasions. In 2012 I had my first exhibition where I showcased 29 of my favourite photos at The Beacher Cafe in a neighbourhood known as The Beaches here in Toronto. It was very well received and I sold four prints. 

I’ve published a book of photography and am currently working on a at least three follow-up books.

In August of 2018 I had an article published in Petapixel, an online photography magazine. You can check it out here, if you like: Street Photography and Photographing Children

I’m also an Admin for two street photography group pages on Facebook: Toronto Street Photography and Canadian Street Photographer.

About Me:

• I live in the east beaches of Toronto, Canada
• No girlfriend, sadly.
• My other hobby is creative writing – poetry, short stories, et
• I am also a freelance writer/editor – articles, marketing material, web content, etc.
• I am an avid reader and at one time collected rare and limited-edition books
• I play guitar, poorly.
• My dream is to one day shoot a documentary.
• I own a laundry hamper and am not afraid to use it.
• I love lobster but could never drop a live one in a pot of boiling water.

Advice:

• Don’t get too caught up about what gear to use. In the end it’s not the camera that makes you a better photographer but experience. Simply, go out as often as you can and shoot. The more you shoot the better you’ll get. Basically like everything else in life, right?
• Join a group of like minded folks who can help you learn how to take better photos.
• Focus on composition.
• Focus on understanding the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Once you’ve got that down, the rest becomes pretty easy.
• Don’t photograph people from behind without a very good reason, one that’s easy to see by your viewers.
• Shoot wide and get close to your subjects. Telephoto lenses in street photography should be avoided.

Follow Me:

• Instagram: @lazyphotographer.ca
• Ello: @lazyphotographer
• Facebook: Dave Bottoms
• Flickr: Dave Bottoms

I really like hearing from people, so please don’t be shy about leaving a comment or criticism.

So that’s about it for now. I might add more information as I think of it. If you enjoy my blog, please consider adding me to your blogroll.