Inside My Camera Bag | Jim Nix

Hi there – my name is Jim Nix, I live in Austin, TX and I run a travel photo blog known as Nomadic Pursuits. It’s great fun, and I usually post ~5 images per week, plus I throw in some iPhone shots from the road, just for fun. It isn’t about the gear, is it? Ok, good, just checking.

To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

-Elliott Erwitt

I also tend to write a bit, mostly about photography and photography-related subjects, but I’ve been known to ramble a little bit here and there too. Sometimes I start typing and I end up somewhere completely different. It happens.

As the name of my blog implies – or does it? – I love travel, so the site is mostly a travel photo blog, but it also incorporates my other interests – namely, travel itself and awesome, inspirational quotes, many of which center around travel!

I am a firm believer that getting out there in the world is the best education available!
We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.

– Hilaire Belloc

I travel a bit for work, sometimes around the US and sometimes halfway around the world, so I pack up the Nikon and the tripod, and whenever I have time after work, I hit the town and take lots of photos! It’s great fun and allows me a bit of work/life balance that I was never able to attain prior to finding photography.

It also satisfies my desire to “collect evidence”. I guess in some ways that is what photography is all about to me – collecting evidence. Evidence, in a good way, as in yes, I saw that sunset – I climbed that mountain – I went inside that famous church – I saw my child ride his/her bike for the first time – I stared into the depths of that river – I married that beautiful lady. Evidence, not for bragging rights or anything boastful, but for memories. Memories are personal treasures that last forever and small mementos, like a photograph, can bring them flooding back.

Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.

– Miriam Beard

I believe that photography – and I mean active photography: exploring, chasing light and choosing your composition – can fundamentally change you as a person. It changes what you look at, how you look at it, and perhaps most importantly, what you see.

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

– Wayne Dyer

As far as my photographic style, that one is hard to define. I love HDR – I’m using the word love here – and do take quite a bit of HDR shots when I am out shooting. I guess my primary photographic subject are cityscapes, but with HDR I also really enjoy landscapes, architecture, seascapes, bridges – lots of stuff. I tend to produce colorful and expressive photographs – it’s just what I like…so I guess that’s my style!

Thanks for having a look and let me know if you have any questions!

Find life experiences and swallow them whole. travel. meet many people. go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. try everything. exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life.

– Lawrence k. Fish

My gear:

I typically carry all my gear in a small backpack, plus a few other things like memory cards, extra battery, etc.

Nikon D700 full frame body
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 wide angle lens
Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens
Manfrotto 190CXPro4 carbon fiber tripod with ball head
iPhone 4S
MacBook Pro 15″ Retina display
Aperture
Nik Software suite
Topaz Labs suite
Photomatix

www.nomadicpursuits.com