Canon Master | AIPP & NZIPP Grand Master | EIZO Ambassador
Landscape and Travel Photographer
(Photographic book publisher)
Mike Langford lives in a town named Twizel, which is in the middle of no-where in the south of the South Island of New Zealand. He is a landscape photographer, travel photographer and photographic book photographer/publisher, with over twenty-six books to his name. He has been a Professional Photographer for over thirty-five years and an international photographic awards judge and presenter for over thirty years. Together with his wife Jackie Ranken (who is a fine art photographer), they run photographic workshops both in New Zealand and internationally. They are both Canon Masters, Grand Masters of both the AIPP and the NZIPP and EIZO ambassadors.
'As a travel photographer, book producer, educator and awards judge, the one thing you need to be is visually literate. Hence all the books in my office. Some are art books, some travel, others social documentary but all have a collective thought, which is to pass on knowledge to other like-minded people like myself.
Research and reference is a large part of what I do. Without it I would go into a project blind, so it's best to find out as much as possible before I go anywhere. Other photographer’s ideas are also very important – the inspiration if you like. It's good to know what has already been done and by who. It allows me to go beyond that and to create something new and different.
Technology is the tool and creativity the purpose.'
Capture:
- CAMERA: EOS 5D MK IV: The best camera I have ever owned. It has more than enough pixels for my output and a great dynamic range. The next step will be a new mirrorless Canon.
- LENS: Canon 24-105 f/4 IS II USM: This lens lives on the lens and records mostly what I think about when out shooting.
- LENS: Canon 100-400 4.5-5.6 L ISII USM: This is an incredible lens that lets me focus in on the subject no matter how far away it is. It also unites subjects through foreshortening.
- LENS: Canon Extender EF 1.4 x MK III: This is very small and lightweight piece of equipment that takes you places you have never been before without suffering something big and heavy.
- LENS: Canon 16-35mm f/4L IS USM: A great lens for telling stories - it gives you a who what where communication and shows where you are more than any other lens.
- TRIPOD: Induro Tripod head BHMI & Induro Tripod legs: Quick to use, lightweight and fits into my checked-in luggage.
- CAMERA BAG: F Stop Lotus Camera bag: Large enough to fit all my gear. Comfortable enough to wear for long periods of time and is acceptable for carry-on luggage when travelling on aircraft.
Post Production:
- MONITOR: EIZO ColorEdge CG277
- COMPUTER: MacBook Pro w/ 2.9 GHz Dual-Core Processor 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3: Hasn't missed a beat for five years and is great for use both in the office when attached to an EIZO screen or when travelling internationally on assignments. I only really use the 8Gb drive when travelling (when I must use computer memory as part of my backup). When in the office, I tend to use my external drives so the computer processing speed is kept to a maximum.
- BACKUP & STORAGE: Drobo 17.59 TB external drive, 2 TB Seagate portable drives: I back up everything on several drives all with the same reference folders. As with my travel external drives, one of these is always kept in a fireproof safe. When travelling I make sure that these drives are all kept in separate places - one in my checked-in luggage and the other in my camera bag. Both are also separate from my computer, which is my third form of back up when travelling.