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Commercial photography: Tone Bacon has sold photos from his portfolio for use in books, academic papers and corporate websites, a portrait photo-shoot for Telstra – used for large banners and phone box ads, commissioned for a book cover image, wedding photography and images published in The Mercury Newspaper. He has a growing selection of photos for sale on WireStock.
Tone not as yet entered any competitions.
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A lifetime in photography:
Since my earliest memories, Mum was always behind a camera. From a young age I would play with her Kodak Brownie Starlet. She gave me my first camera – an Agfa X-126 Instamatic (1976), when I was nine. I was hooked!
I studied photography as part of art class from grade 8 and into college mostly using the school’s Pentax 35mm film SLR’s. As soon as I could afford a decent camera, I bought a Yashica FX-D (1984) film SLR.
In my spare time during a 26 year career at The Mercury newspaper as a Graphic Artist, I taught myself Photoshop. I still use “CS6 Extended” – the last version you could purchase outright.
I purchased a 3.2MP Canon Powershot A300 (2004) when digital cameras reached a usable resolution. I also purchased a collectable Kodak DC40 from The Mercury – one of the first consumer built digital cameras.
I saved for a 6MP Nikon D40 (2008) with two kit lenses – in it’s day a smallish, light weight entry level DSLR with limited features. Good for bush-walking, I shot fully manual, edited RAW files and learnt heaps!
Next came the D3200 (2012), again, bang for buck and small – and of course, various smart phones – finally a camera always in my pocket!
Then came the drones! After buying a dud, I built my own from scratch, where I used an iLook+ then a Xiaomi Yi for still and video. I researched and found the Sony RX100 III (2015) as the smallest, lightest, RAW capable camera and bought one second hand. Mounting on a drone didn’t work out due to budget constraints but I loved this camera, the 8 kg of Nikon gear was put aside and the RX100 literally lived with me! The only thing I missed was an extended zoom.
In 2015 I completed a University of Tasmania Certificate in Photography and Social Media.
February 2019 I rafted the Franklin River and after much research, bought a newly launched GoPro Hero 7 especially for the trip.
Circumstances changed, finances improved and I began contemplating another upgrade. As I loved the Sony, I was considering a move to the full frame A7, when I met a local photographer through Flickr who used Olympus. I was very impressed with his images, Gary and I became good friends and after a play with his gear, it didn’t take much convincing to invest in the Olympus ecosystem and it’s unique features.
While saving and waiting for the long anticipated EM5 III release, I gave in to a great discount on a new OM-D E-M5 II and M.Zuiko 14-150mm lens (May 2019).
I quickly came to love the Olympus micro 3/4 system, it’s compact light weight, exceptional build quality, ergonomics and handling, plus the weather-sealed gear lends itself well to my off track adventures and shooting style. With Olympus’ unique features, it was simply awesome, feeling more like a scientific instrument in my hands than just a camera.
After the EM5 III release 5 months later, I weighed up the specs and decided to upgrade to a second-hand EM1 II. I patiently kept an eye out and eventually scored a low shutter count, studio used, mint condition bargain! (November 2019).
In January 2020, I purchased a mint second-hand 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens.
In February 2020, I purchased a hardly used 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens, and a few months later a wide angle Laowa 7.5mm with manual focus. Two cheap sets of Pixco 10 + 16mm extension tubes were added to increase the 60mm macro capability. My go-to lens is still the 14-150mm for it’s versatility.
I added a used Manfrotto Be-Free tripod and Olympus FL36 flash with remote flash triggers. The two filters I have are “Circular Polarising” and “Variable Neutral Density” (VND) – almost any other filter effect can be done in post processing with Photoshop. I recommend getting the largest size you need and using step-up rings to fit all your lenses.
It’s well worth being patient and hunt around sites like eBay and Gumtree.
March 2022 I purchased a new OM-1 by OM Digital Solutions for a low light wedding shoot.
In May 2022 I found a mint low shutter-count Olympus Pen-F for a great price and couldn’t resist! It pairs lovely as a second camera to the OM-1 but I actually like using it more, it just feels and handles really nice – like a camera should – with better controls for artistic effects.
June 2022 I found a local selling a 75-300mm ƒ/4.8-6.7 II lens with an Olympus EM10 Mark II cheap as he was travelling overseas. I brought them then sold the EM10.
Despite the passion, my photography gear has mostly been on a modest budget and I’ve enjoyed the challenges of working within their limits. It’s held me back a little at times, taught me LOTS, often forced me to be inventive, adapt to various situations and fully appreciate the gear I have now!
I love getting lost in my “photo head”, to drift away and see the world differently in composition and light, often ending up in places and seeing things I would never have expected. It makes life way more interesting, all inspired by my late Mum, who captured many fond memories that I can still look back on, thanks to her.
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For more info and tips about my current gear see THIS POST
and for an older gear post with many tips if starting out, see THIS POST.
Browse the menus ( at top right or below) for image galleries
or for earlier images, view my Flickr Photos.
Please contact me for bookings, enquiries or suggestions …
or to purchase a photo or hire me. Thanks for visiting 🙂
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WOW … that’s a lot of gear. At a workshop I attended many years ago it was asked what do we all do with our photography. It was interesting to the group that the women like to print, collect and share their work where the men were more into the gear! It could have just been that particular group but over the years I have found that men are more into the gear and gadgets.
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I’ve never thought about that before, but now you mention it, it rings true! I’ve always been into electronics and gadgets. I rarely if ever carry all my gear, but all of it gets used at times. Generally I try to pack light and only what I need for the intended subject or I’ll challenge myself to use a bit of kit or particular lens.
Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment on this page 😀
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Your office reminds me of a Ham Radio shack!
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There are 2 CB’s and a UHF in there now but reception is rubbish as I’m surrounded by hills. I was heavily into CB in the ‘80’s 😀 I built the office myself and added to the collection as I found bargains. Its getting a tidy up while I’m off so might get an updated pic 🙂
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