Q: Why the Bristol Faire?
A: My entire family loves going to the Faire. (wife Kim, and daughters Erican and Kirsten). Most of the time, we all dress the part, but on occasion I forgo the garb and don my camera instead. The Faire is, quite simply, ripe for a photographer. There are so many different subjects to concentrate on, yet they all revolve around people. It is this vast array of different poeple that make the Faire so interesting. Couple that with my love of candid photography, and you have all I need for a perfect day of photography.

Q: Are you a professional photographer?
A: No, just an enthusiast. I started taking photography 'serious' when I was in my early teens (I'm now in my early 40s), but never took it 'pro'. I was scared that if I made photography my vocation, that it would lose it's magic and become just 'a job'.

Q: What camera equipment do you use?
A: My main camera is now a 12.1mp Nikon D3 digital SLR. I purchased the body late last year and have been blown away by the image quality and low light capabilities.

My Nikon D2x will now be my primary backup camera.

My main lenses are the Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR (vibration reduction), and Nikon 300mm f/2.8. Notice that all of my lenses are f/2.8. They give my the ability to use a lower ISO speed and shoot in lower light. But just as importantly (when using the longer lenses), they give a pleasingly short depth of field. What that means is that the subject is (hopefully!) in focus, while the background is a painterly soft focus.

Q: How are the images processed?
A: All images are shot in Nikon RAW format. This uncompressed, unprocessed file format gives the photographer exceptional control over exposure, color temperature, and other important controls even after the image has been taken. After processing of the RAW file in Adobe Bridge (and, sometimes in a beta version of Adobe Lightroom), the photographs are further processed, cropped, and saved as JPEG in Photoshop CS2 on an Apple Macintosh. The process is further enhanced by the use of a Cintiq 21UX monitor, which allows me to draw directly on the LCD screen with a special pen instead of a mouse.

Q: You have a nice photograph of me. Can I use it?
A: Yes, go right ahead, as long as it's not for any commercial endeavour. But, please, if you post it anywhere else do credit me as the photographer. Additionally, if you would like a higher resolution image for printing purposes (the images posted are compressed for the web), or would like an image for a commercial application, drop me a line (meierm at execpc dot com) and we can discuss your needs.

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