"The lens is a powerful extension of the eye, and yet what the photograph shows us, once the film has been developed, is something that the eye did not see or that the memory could not retain. Imagining, composing and creating are adjacent verbs. Because of composition, photography is an art."

- Octavio Paz, Shadows of Works: Art and Literature

I primarily use a Nikon D7500 DLSR camera (APSC format), and occasionally my iPhone.

My favorite lens, which I’ve used for most of my photos, is the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5. I also enjoy using my lightweight mini telephoto lens, the Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6. For better sharpness and richer color, I rely on my 35mm f/1.8 prime lens, and my most recent prime lens addition is the Nikkor 85mm f/3.5.

A while ago, I purchased a larger (and heavier) telephoto zoom lens, the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6, but I haven’t been fully convinced by its performance yet. My much lighter 55-200mm telephoto lens delivers better quality.

I’m aware that using a full-frame camera would significantly improve my results, but investing in compatible lenses would be quite expensive, so I’ve decided against it for now.

By the way, I don’t use lens filters, and most of the time, I’m too lazy to carry a tripod, which I always end up regretting in low-light conditions.

As for photo editing, I used to love Adobe Lightroom, but after upgrading my computer’s operating system, my Lightroom version became incompatible. I didn’t want to commit to the new Lightroom subscription due to financial reasons.

I’ve never used Photoshop but I was recommended Affinity Photo 2 as a high-quality and affordable alternative for photo editing. However, since Affinity Photo doesn’t include photo management, it’s a replacement for Photoshop, not Lightroom.

As a Nikon user, I now manage my photos in Nikon’s free tool NX Studio, but unfortunately, it’s not nearly as powerful as Lightroom.

Recently, I tried the NIK Collection plugins in Affinity Photo 2 and was quite happy with the results. I'm increasingly considering purchasing the **plugin suite**—let’s see!